Chapter 93

.::Saturday Night Raid::.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Nedzu asked.

"Positive," Nemuri replied crisply, gaze focused on the road. It was eleven at night and she was driving on a largely empty country road with only her car's headlights to illuminate the way, her boss's voice coming out of the car speakers.

"You're under a lot of stress," he commented almost idly. He was only a voice on the phone so Nemuri couldn't see his expression, but she could hear the concern in his tone, faint and masked as it was. "There's still time to adjust the plan. I understand if you want to focus on the search for Present Mic."

Just the reminder had her stomach twisting in knots. The search had barely started but it already became clear that Hizashi wouldn't be found today, his cell phone's history taking him around several chunks of Kantou, Chuubu, and Kansai regions. With him missing, that made two missing kouhai. Given Nemuri had started with three adorable kouhai before her graduation, and had also recently lost Ochako, having him go missing was just the icing on a very shitty cake.

Still, she kept a strong face, even as she had a death grip on her steering wheel. "We've been working on tracking this group for months now, and we've put a full month into planning this raid," she said firmly. "I might not work in the field as much these days, but I'm still a Pro Hero. I know how to keep my priorities in order. If I back out now, you'll need to reorganize all the plans, and people will potentially be left to suffer even longer."

"Very well." If Nedzu was pleased by her decision, he didn't make it too obvious, tone deliberately neutral with his characteristic cheerful undertones. "As long as you're certain this won't hinder your performance."

"It won't," Nemuri promised. "These bastards need to go down."

The targets were a group of thieves who had become increasingly notorious, even if they never made the news. They were discreet compared to most villains, targeting warehouses, corporations and factories after hours to minimize witnesses and publicity. It had taken months to determine just descriptions of who might be involved, because they had a way of disabling cameras and would kill witnesses.

The murders had been enough to get serious attention from police and Pro Heroes.

More recently though, they had been suspected to be preparing to branch into human trafficking.

Nemuri didn't know the specifics of how they'd reached that conclusion; she hadn't participated in the investigation, and had been brought on towards the end for the actual raid. All that mattered were that they'd determined the thieves would be meeting with another group strongly suspected to be involved in international human trafficking. The details shared in the initial briefing had her skin crawling, and she knew that nothing would stop her from making sure both groups went down.

And now, here she was, heading to the rendezvous point alongside Snipe. Dressed not in her famous costume as Midnight, but instead, a long trench coat and thigh-high boots.

Just a trench coat and thigh-high boots.

"I guess it's at least more convenient for your Quirk," Snipe commented wryly.

"It really is!" Nemuri gushed, wrapping her arms over her chest as she wiggled her hips with a gleeful smile. "I was so disappointed when the Commission made me switch to that bodysuit! It's so good to go back to the original roots of Midnight!"

"Guess the one good thing about being out of the public eye is that you can get away with that kinda stuff," Snipe huffed. "Actually surprised you got away with that in high school."

"Oh, I have my ways," Nemuri replied with a wink, and left it at that. "Anyways, enough small talk for now. We're almost there."

"Right," Snipe muttered and their pace slowed, taking in their surroundings. The group had holed up in the back of a bakery on the end of a largely empty strip of stores facing several rundown office buildings. The whole area was shabby and rundown, the kind of place that had people wary of visiting after dark. No one was out at this hour, only a few windows lit up. Even the streetlamps flickered, one completely dark.

They'd done a few checks of the street in advance, spent hours memorizing the layout of the area, and as they neared the final corner they came to a complete halt. "This is where we split up," Snipe said lowly. "I'm gonna get in position. You sure you're good to go solo from here?"

"Please, this isn't my first rodeo, cowboy." Nemuri flashed a coy smirk, making him give another huff. "We've done all the research on these guys, this should be fine. Just give me five minutes after I actually go in the back if I don't give you the signal." He nodded and headed off, leaving Nemuri to continue onwards alone around the corner.

The empty strip mall looked even more desolate at night. Of the shops that weren't empty, only the bakery had the lights on, the windows radiating a yellow glow that felt more sickly than warm. While it had a sign saying "Open" on the glass door, the tables were empty and no one stood behind the counter. That wasn't a surprise; their research indicated the bakery made more sales doing deliveries than customers visiting, which worked better for the heroes.

A bell rang when Nemuri pushed open the door, an automated chime that felt more at home at a convenience store than a bakery. The interior wasn't exactly cozy or homey, either. The cheap lighting gave everything an almost artificial feeling, the orange walls feeling almost dreary and suffocating, and the off-white tile flooring feeling dirty. At least the counter looked clean.

It only took about a minute for a skeevy looking man to emerge from the back, face twisting with disdain as he eyed her. She recognized him instantly from the briefing as a member of the trafficking group that had set up shop here. The name escaped her, but she recognized his arms, which had a silver tint compared to his face. Vertical lines ran the length of his arms, up to the point the silver ended at his wrists. She couldn't see his legs over the counter, but she knew they had a similar covering.

Steel Wraps, the briefing had called it. That silver material could actually peel away from his arms—though not completely detach—and be manipulated freely. Despite being just as hard and metallic as you'd expect of something with that sort of sheen, they were incredibly flexible. Which made them great for restraining victims.

They wouldn't protect him against Somnambulist though.

"Can I help you?" he asked gruffly, clearly displeased at having to deal with anyone, and Nemuri heaved a large sigh.

"Got anything sweet and warm to help mend a broken heart on a chilly night?" she asked melodramatically, and the man snorted.

"Lady, this is a bakery, not a bar," he said dryly.

"I know, but I'm not going to any of the skeevy dives around here," Nemuri replied with a snort and eye roll. "And like I said, it's cold. Do you have any idea how little a trench coat does to protect against the cold?"

The snarky quip had the man's attention, finally glancing down to notice her noticeably bare legs between the hem of the coat and her boots. She could see the moment he clocked onto the fact she likely wore nothing underneath, his eyes flickering with interest though he kept his expression largely neutral. "Didn't think to check the forecast or something?"

"Didn't think it would matter. I was expecting to spend a nice, warm night with my boyfriend. Just found out I was the other woman instead." Nemuri scoffed and folded her arms with a scowl. "Bastard didn't even have me at a love hotel, it was the ratty place he shared with his actual girlfriend. Guess he thought she was staying the night at a friend's or something."

The man let out a low whistle. "Guessing she wasn't too happy?"

"She walked in on us and went ballistic," Nemuri confirmed with a huff. "Can't blame her, I wanted to claw out the bastard's eyes too," she dug her fingers against her arm, and noted how the brief movement drew his gaze to her manicure, "but of course she focused on me like I knew about it too. Got kicked out into the cold and barely had time to grab my coat and shoes."

"Shoes," the man repeated with a faint smirk as he eyed her thigh-high boots.

"I was expecting a sexy night, okay!" Nemuri snapped irritably. "I wasn't expecting to get kicked out in the middle of it! Hell, it wasn't even the middle! We didn't get past the freaking foreplay before the door suddenly opened and killed the mood!" She threw up her arms in disgust and irritation, the perfect picture of a woman who had a lot of pent-up... frustration, so to speak.

"Yeah, yeah, that'd definitely suck," the guy muttered, seeming more amused than sympathetic to her supposed plight. "So, follow-up question, why don't you just call a cab and go home? Why come here?"

Nemuri let her arms fall to her sides with an exasperated groan. "I would, but my phone's still back in that shithole, and no way I'm going back right now. That bitch was literally breathing fire when I ran out."

"Damn," he whistled.

"I know, right?" She rolled her eyes. "So yeah. I'm gonna give her a bit to chill out so she doesn't turn me into ashes on sight. Who knows? Maybe after she roasts that son of a bitch she'll be reasonable enough to let me help her bury the body."

"How long do ya think it'll take for her to calm down?"

"Not sure. Probably at least half an hour." She paused then, turning to look at him almost speculatively—and very obviously.

Now, these people? They liked easy targets, particularly women for obvious (and disgusting) reasons. That was why Nemuri had chosen this specific approach, playing up the role of a jilted lover to its fullest. A woman who'd been kicked out of her boyfriend's place in a part of town she clearly didn't frequent, largely nude and without even her phone to call for help.

In other words, a perfect target.

She saw the man stiffen as her eyes roved over his body, noting some more details. Heavier muscles under his uniform shirt than you'd expect of a simple bakery employee, and that uniform was too tight to hide a switchblade or other weapon. Not that he'd probably expect to need one with his Quirk. Had he not been a disgusting scumbag, she might have found him attractive.

Her lips curved into a coy smirk, making it clear she liked what she saw. Nemuri leaned forward on the counter, crossing her arms so they'd rest under her chest as her eyes returned to his face. As expected, his eyes were riveted on the small bit of cleavage visible around her collar. "Say, any chance you've got a break coming up anytime soon?" she purred.

Getting into the back room was laughably easy after that.

The guy had absolutely planned to use her as an easy mark, leading her down a hall to a "storage room" because that would be much better than going out into the cold. No doubt this "storage room" contained many of his cohorts. They knew the building had a basement where they'd likely do most of their business, and her job was to get there and kick off the raid with a nice, big cloud of Somnambulist. Absolute best case scenario, they would all be there and she could take them all out in one go, ending the raid in an instant.

Of course, they knew it wouldn't be that easy. Nemuri was simply the first wave, to try to take out as many as possible. Snipe would play her backup, either following if she didn't come out in time, or else joining the second wave as her direct support. His costume's gas mask made him one of the few who could resist her Quirk's effects without needing other special gear.

In the meantime, other Pros would also start to sneak inside to search for any victims and get more accurate information for the second wave. Nemuri could already tell that some of them had started their own infiltrations, mainly because she caught a glimpse of red phasing through a wall in her peripheral vision. It was brief, but she pegged it as Lemillion's cape immediately.

Luckily her "host" hadn't noticed, too focused on talking her up. She smirked as he wiggled his eyebrows in what she supposed he thought looked sexy and alluring, which it absolutely wasn't. She played along though, pretending his pickup lines weren't lame as hell. Seriously, she'd seen teenagers with better lines than this guy.

He finally opened a door to reveal... an empty storage room. "Ladies first," he purred.

"Ooh, a man with manners, huh?" she teased, swaying past him while quickly analyzing the space. No one around, just shelves and boxes of ingredients and equipment. Damn, did this guy think this was an actual hookup? Looks like she might have to change plans already and use her Quirk now.

The guy didn't follow right away though, and she glanced back to see him standing in the doorway scowling at something down the hall. Or rather, someone, she realized as he began talking lowly. "What're you doing?" he hissed in annoyance.

"Better question is what are you doing?" a lazy voice replied. Male, not too deep, not that it helped narrow down who it might be. "How long does it take to sell a cupcake or whatever?"

"Just, go back! I'll be down in a bit!"

"What, got company?" Nemuri asked, hand on her hip. Her "host" stepped back as another man stepped into sight, head turning to glance at her. Gray hair in classic one-eye-covered emo hairstyle and a matching eye, and notably not wearing the bakery's uniform shirt. Not someone from the trafficking group, but she recognized that he matched the description of one of the thieves they'd been investigating originally. They still had no idea on his Quirk though, which could be a problem.

He eyed her up and down before turning back to the trafficker, looking rather unimpressed. "Seriously?" he drawled.

"What?" the other guy said with a shrug. "Look, we've got time tonight. Gimme half an hour, okay?"

"Bold to assume you'll last that long," Nemuri snorted.

"Sweetie, I know I can," he huffed. The newcomer just watched the exchange blankly, nose wrinkling with slight disgust.

"You know this goes against the rules," he grumbled. "The others are gonna be pissed when they find out." Nemuri saw a chance and stepped forward.

"Who says your bosses or whoever have to know?" she purred, letting her eyes trail over his body. Lanky build and baggy clothes, no obvious sign of his Quirk, and hard to tell if he had any weapons. Better to take him out as soon as possible, and two would be better one. She jutted her hip to the side and slid one leg out so that the front of her trench coat would shift enough to highlight the bare skin. "You're not that bad looking either. What do you say? I think there's room for one more."

Gray-hair emo just turned to stare at her, eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly. Though he didn't say anything, she could tell exactly what he was thinking:

I did not sign up to watch or join a porno.

"Know what, knock yourself out," he said after a second, turning back the original creep. "I'm heading out." That had Nemuri snapping to attention, and the other guy as well, face quickly screwing with irritation.

"The hell you mean, you're heading out?" he demanded harshly. "You can't just leave! We're just getting started—"

"Hey, guys!" emo shouted, turning to face the way he'd come. "Haru brought a chick to the closet up here to bang!" Nemuri could hear a stampede of footsteps rushing up stairs from the basement, estimating at least three people coming up.

"Seriously?" original creep hissed, and emo smirked.

"Like I said, knock yourself out," he said, clapping Haru on the shoulder before brushing past him towards the front of the store. More people in the bakery's uniform appeared, looking rather irritated at their colleague.

"Are you kidding me, Haru?" one of them snapped. "For the last time, if you find an easy mark, just bring them to the fucking basement! It's fucking common sense! You have no idea what kind of powers these chicks have!" They weren't even trying to be subtle anymore, apparently confident in their numbers' ability to subdue Nemuri if she panicked or tried anything.

Too bad that those numbers were exactly what she wanted.

By the time they actually glanced at her, she'd already opened her trench coat to expose herself and let the violet mist roll off her skin. Her flasher-esque trench coat costume in high school hadn't just been a style choice, it had been practical. With only a thick belt slung over her hips and panties to cover anything, her skin had absolutely no obstructions to block her Quirk. It spread quickly, and the men all sucked in sharp breaths of surprise.

"Nighty night, boys," she cooed as they collapsed unconscious, pulling out her earpiece from her belt. She tapped a button to turn it on before inserting it into her ear, and then pulled out handcuffs and zip ties to restrain them. "Four down. Had to take down group in back hall, don't know how many are still active in basement. Currently working on restraining them, but don't know if anyone heard. Hall is now full with the aroma, but it's already clearing out."

"Copy that," Snipe's voice crackled. "I'm coming in."

"Can you identify them?" Nighteye's voice added.

"Can't remember names, but Quirks are Steel Wrap, Pocket Space, Liquid Armor and Dinosaur Morph." The last two had been noted as heavy hitters in the briefing. Liquid Armor could create a surprisingly strong liquid armor that made it difficult to deal any damage, and Dinosaur Morph could, well, morph parts of the body to match the equivalent part on a dinosaur. Which included sharp claws and talons, very thick and powerful muscles, and even horns and spikes on various body parts.

Still, they were far from the only heavy hitters, and she could already hear footsteps rushing up stairs from an open door down the hall. The mist from her Quirk had already started dissipating, so she didn't know how effective it would be on whoever came up. Fortunately she didn't have to worry too much, because at the same moment the person emerged so did Snipe, the gunslinger bursting into the hall and shooting the man in the leg.

From there, the raid kicked into full gear. More heroes flooded the building, the ones who'd already infiltrated like Lemillion directing them to points of interest. Nemuri and Snipe withdrew to wait outside, since many of her colleagues couldn't equip their costumes with gas masks. Instead they helped take out stragglers who escaped, and assisted the police with apprehended villains and victims as they were brought out.

The next hour passed in a rush like that. At one point three villains managed to get into a delivery truck parked behind the bakery, forcing Snipe to shoot out the tires and causing it to careen into a wall. Nemuri meanwhile had to use her Quirk to sedate not just some particularly rowdy villains, but also one poor woman who had a panic attack after being rescued and brought outside.

The entire scene was just hectic, and by the end of the raid Nemuri felt exhausted. Still, when she saw a flicker of movement and turned her head to see someone rushing around a corner at the end of the street, she immediately moved to pursue. It could be a curious civilian, or could be a straggler who'd managed to sneak past in the chaos and was making an escape. Either way, investigation was needed.

She turned the corner just in time to see the person disappear into an alley, seeming to confirm the latter. Nemuri pushed herself harder as she raced after them, knowing that if they cut through to another street it would become harder to find them. There would be too many directions for them to go—

She skidded to an abrupt stop when she reached the alley to find someone waiting. The alley had no lights but it still took only a second to recognize it as the gray-haired emo thief from earlier, leaning casually against the wall with hands in his pockets. "Yo," he greeted with a nod. "Glad you caught up, Midnight."

Immediately Nemuri went on guard. Completely unknown Quirk, confident demeanor, waiting for her after deliberately luring her over. Even worse, he wore something dark over his mouth that she just knew was a respirator mask, even if she couldn't see it clearly. He already called her name, so he obviously recognized her despite being out of the spotlight and her usual costume. This screamed trap.

As if sensing her thoughts he spoke up. "No, it's not a trap. I just want to talk." Her first instinct was to make a snappy quip expressing her doubt, but then a thought suddenly popped into her head.

"You're Blank Slate, aren't you?" she asked, and the man dipped his head in affirmation.

"Yep, in the flesh. Good job guessing." He lightly clapped in applause, the sound dampened by his gloves. She couldn't tell if it was meant to be mocking or not. "Usually people need me to actually say it out loud to confirm it, and even then it's hit or miss if they recognize the name. Never had someone guess on our first direct interaction."

"Well, I've heard plenty about you," Nemuri huffed, still eying him warily. Direct, he—they?—said. That meant they'd probably seen each other before, but she hadn't known. That was the thing about Blank Slate: no one knew who they were, their Quirk, their alignment, anything. She couldn't even be sure of their gender, because reports tended to vary.

They were by far one of the most mysterious figures in the underworld, someone who only a handful knew they had encountered. All anyone knew was that they tended to infiltrate villain gangs under a variety of guises. The Heroes didn't even have a solid motive for the times they had identified Blank—and sometimes, they couldn't even tell what exactly Blank had done.

Nemuri herself only knew about them because Shouta had been the one to pick up on their existence, and had dedicated a good chunk of time to investigating them. If he hadn't noticed a pattern in some encounters, she had to wonder if anyone would know of Blank's existence. They usually only got identified by people who caught up to them during an escape and knew about Blank. Only a handful of exceptions existed, the most prominent being when they spoke to Hizashi over the summer to ask about Shouta.

The thought had Nemuri's gaze hardening, finally getting an inkling to why they had singled her out. After all, this trench coat was the exact same one she'd worn as her costume back in high school—including that ill-fated internship with Shouta. "Is this about Eraserhead?" she demanded sharply.

"Yeah, just curious if you've found any signs of him yet," they confirmed. She should have known. Shouta held the record for encounters with Blank by the sheer fact he was the only one who knew the signs, and Blank seemed to be interested in him as a result. "I don't expect you to share developments if there are any, but there's some interesting rumors in the underworld lately."

"Like what?"

"That he spent the last six months or so as a trophy of some two-bit gang before they got wiped out," Blank replied bluntly, apparently not one to mince words. At least they didn't try to make it sound casual and friendly; Nemuri would have been pissed given the topic at hand. "Good news is he's still alive."

"Any chance you know where he is?" she asked briskly, and Blank paused, seeming to study her for a moment. Nemuri knew her response likely revealed she already knew about it, but she didn't care to play this coy game of back and forth. Not when she could get information.

"Don't have a location to give, if that's what you're asking," they finally said. "Sorry about that. The Alliance is notoriously hidden, and any sudden moves will have them packing up and relocating. One wrong move, and they're gone. And no guarantee they'll leave the prisoners alive." That had her fists clenching and teeth grinding ever so slightly. So even if they had the location, any rescue attempts would be incredibly risky. "But my sources do say he's alive at least."

"And what, being tortured or interrogated?" she muttered darkly.

"Not exactly," Blank replied with a small huff, sounding darkly amused. "So turns out Shigaraki's upbringing left him with some... weird ideas of what makes a good present."

Nemuri couldn't hold back a groan at the implications. "Dammit, he really was captured as a gift," she grumbled to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. They'd gathered as much from Lady of the Night's read on the poster Hizashi signed for Shigaraki's brother, but not much else. At least, not that had been reported to Nemuri yet.

"Fortunately, he shouldn't be in any serious danger," Blank continued. "No torture or crazy plans for him. There's an active order for Alliance grunts to leave Eraser alone or face Shigaraki's wrath for upsetting his brother, so no risk of anyone with a grudge doing something unless they're genuinely suicidal. Some people have been griping about it."

"Still doesn't guarantee he's okay." From the sounds of it, Shouta's life currently lay in the hands of Shigaraki's brother, who they still knew next to nothing about. All they had were old accounts of Midoriya Izuku being nice and a hero fan, but that had been eight years ago, half the boy's life. Living with villains was sure to twist him somehow. "Do you know anything about Shigaraki's brother?"

"All that's known on the streets is that the kid's not involved with Alliance business, and Shigaraki's very protective of him," Blank replied with a lofty shrug. "Word is he's basically just a civilian, not really involved in business. Shigaraki seems to go out of his way to keep him out of it, so not many people know him. At the very least though, he's not a sadist," they added. "So as I said, no serious danger."

Blank pushed off the wall, making Nemuri briefly stiffen in anticipation of an attack. "I just wanted to pass that on in case you weren't aware. I only joined those thieves to get intel on that trafficking group, but your side clearly has it all under control. Break a spine or two for me, would you?"

"Bit violent, don't you think," Nemuri remarked, eyes narrowing.

"Human traffickers aren't exactly deserving of leniency," Blank retorted. "Believe me, if I hadn't recognized you..." They trailed off, and Nemuri felt an involuntary shiver at their dark tone. Something told her "Haru" had come very close to something worse than a simple arrest.

That had something else clicking in her head. Every now and then, they'd bust up human trafficking operations to find at least one member severely beaten. More than one had their spines broken almost strategically, rendering them unable to ever walk again, and none could tell who had done it. They'd claim ignorance on their attacker, just saying that they felt a sharp pain in their backs before passing out and waking up paralyzed.

Well, looks like Nemuri might have finally found one of Blank's motivations for infiltrating villain groups.

"Anyways, that's all I wanted to say," Blank continued casually, turning to continue walking down the alley. "Mic seemed pretty frantic when I asked about Eraserhead, so be sure to pass it on to him."

Nemuri's stomach flipped at the reference to Hizashi, jarred by the reminder of his current predicament. More importantly though, Blank's comment made it clear they didn't know he was missing. That meant whoever had taken Hizashi prisoner hadn't spread word yet—or at the very least, Blank hadn't heard about it from their sources.

"Has the Alliance kidnapped any other heroes?" she asked. Blank paused, turning to glance over their shoulder at her.

"Not unless it just happened in the last twenty-four hours. Sincerely doubt it though, capturing heroes isn't the Alliance's normal style." Nemuri's teeth grit at the reminder. If Hizashi had met them, there very likely wouldn't be a body, given Shigaraki's Quirk. The fact Shouta had been spared rather than killed on the spot was practically a miracle. "Should you really be telling me someone's missing though?"

"You don't even know who it is."

Blank hummed and nodded. "Fair enough. Guess I'll be on the lookout for missing heroes. I hope you find this person before I do though," they mused as they turned forward. "Outside of raids like this, I typically don't find heroes in pleasant circumstances."

Before Nemuri could even think of how to reply to that, Blank vanished. Just flickered and then blinked out of sight, making her startle and look around wildly. The alley was empty, not a trace remaining that anyone had ever been there, and she scowled before turning to head back. Searching for Blank wouldn't matter right now; she had no idea where they went, and the raid took overall priority.

For now, she headed back to the bakery, tapping her earpiece to turn on the mic. "This is Midnight. I just ran into Blank Slate. They infiltrated the thieves with intent to investigate the traffickers. They were that guy with the gray emo hair."

"Thank you for the heads up," Nighteye said. "I assume they escaped?"

"Yeah. I'll give a full report later, just giving the heads up. Heading back now." She tapped it again to turn off her mic as she returned to the bakery. She got barely anything out of that encounter, and was no closer to knowing if Hizashi was even alive, but she could think about that later. For now, she had some traffickers to capture.

Meanwhile on a nearby rooftop, Blank Slate seemed to flicker into existence, the gray-haired man frowning as he watched Midnight walk away. As she vanished from sight he turned and walked away from the ledge. "She's gone, Onryo," he called almost lazily. "You can come out."

"Good." He turned to see a woman now standing by the stairwell. She wore a dark catsuit, with forest green hair pulled into a high ponytail, and had a long black, tube-shaped bag slung across her back. Her mouth pulled into a sour scowl as she grumbled, "Did you really have to lure a hero over here?"

"Sorry, couldn't really talk too close to the place without other heroes hearing about it." Blank shrugged, crossing his arms with a sigh. "I expected the heroes would pick up on the little 'slips' I made with those thieves, but they were faster than I expected. I thought we'd at least have a day or two before they'd show up. Guess we don't need to shadow those bastards like we planned."

"Yeah, they should be able to take care of it from here," Onryo commented. "Tracking down shady connections is one of the things that Commission is actually good at. Why'd you want to talk to that woman, anyway? Was she actually a hero?"

"Yeah, Midnight. Just wanted to tell them Eraserhead's alive so they can relax."

"Eraserhead, huh," Onryo repeated thoughtfully. "So they know he's trapped with the Alliance now? Should be interesting to watch how the heroes react to that."

"Just don't mention that next time you go to the bar," Blank snorted, lifting a cardboard box to reveal a phone. "Really don't want them to figure out it was me."

"You mean you don't go with a different face every time?" Onryo asked wryly, and he snorted again while tapping out a text.

"Nah. I cycle through a couple, but it's hard to make connections when you have a different face every time." He pressed send and glanced over. "By the way, have you heard anything about any other missing heroes in the past couple days?"

"Nothing on the news or from my contacts, not that I have many," Onryo said with a frown. "Did Midnight mention someone else?"

"Yeah, but didn't give a name. I get the sense it must have happened pretty recently."

"You'd be better off asking Karasu than me. I don't really do much networking beyond the people he sets me up with. I only go to that bar because it's the only place I can get a drink where I don't have to worry about running into someone I used to know."

"Already planning on it," Blank replied, just as a response arrived. A few seconds later an inky black vortex opened next to them. "And there's our exit." Onryo's eyebrows rose at the portal.

"Not sparing any expenses tonight, I see," she said. "Don't expect me to chip in for this. I don't feel like charging you the regular fee since I didn't actually work tonight, so just cover this and we'll call it even."

"A woman who actually cares about honor, huh?" Blank mused with a smirk. "I like that. Pretty refreshing to see after dealing with crooks all the time."

"I'm not interested in sex or romance right now," Onryo declared flatly as she strode forward, and Blank nearly stumbled in shock.

"H-hey, I wasn't—I'm not hitting on you!" he sputtered as he jogged after her into the portal. Any further comments were cut off as he entered and it closed behind him, leaving an empty rooftop with no traces anyone had ever been there.

Blank Slate was first referenced appeared way back in Chapter 10, and has been referenced a grand total of three times, but now FINALLY appears in person!

To my fellow writers: writing a 100% original raid is trickier than I expected. So many more aspects to planning it than just regular fight scenes. Special thanks to the discord server for giving me some ideas on hideouts that AREN'T abandoned warehouses, and also for helping me brainstorm the name Steel Wraps. (Related: if you guys remember me asking about how a "morph into any dinosaur" Quirk would actually work, this is why I suddenly asked.)

Also, Midnight wearing a flasher trench coat, belt and thigh-high boots is actually her canon costume from high school. As much as I find her main costume to be super impractical and uncomfortable looking, I just love the fact she used a flasher trench coat as her costume and find it so hilarious.

Question for next time: what are some of the more memorable original raids you've seen in fan fiction? (As in, NOT a standard variation of the Shie Hassaikai raid to rescue Eri.)