"So just to be clear." Hawks started, clearly struggling to contain his disbelief, "You think that two of the mystery vigilantes in suits are a couple of dead U.A. students."

"Sure." Kaina stretched out on Recovery Girl's sofa. It was comfortable, but she was promised alcohol hours ago and comfiness could only go so far. "'Dead' students."

Hawks' face visibly dropped at her speculation. Not angry, just disappointed.

"I'm just telling you what I saw." Kaina rolled her eyes; the world had gone down the drain and into the bowels of the Earth within two years and he seriously thought seeing a 'dead' kid made her insane? Though the suggestion the Todoroki kid was one of the other mystery faces was pure speculation on her part – just seemed like the simplest solution given all the facts.

Not a sane solution, but the simplest.

"Could've been a disguise Quirk making them look like Midoriya, but then why go to the trouble of disguising the disguise? Which leads to the question of who would have the resources to manage a cover-up like this-"

To his credit, Hawks cottoned on to her suspicions remarkably quickly. "Look, The Commission may have had some problems-"

"'Some'?"

"-but there's corruption and dirty secrets and then there's faking the deaths of Hero students for literally no good reason."

"All right, flyboy." as much as Kaina wanted to believe everything was the HPSC's fault, because it was easy, and 90% of the time it was also correct, she had to admit there wasn't really a decent explanation for why they'd fake the deaths of some random(ish) kids. "You got a better idea?"

Hawks paused for a few moments, mind obviously searching for something which would explain one or two dead kids strolling around and disguised as nondescript ghosts; enough for Recovery Girl to return with a drink (finally) and for Kaina to make her leave the bottle. Just as the old woman was retreating back to the kitchen(?) grumbling about liver disease, Hawks' eyes finally lit up.

"I bet they're clones!"

Kaina took a moment before finally savouring some alcohol – shittest vodka I've ever had, but I'll take it. After getting over the crone's horrendous taste in booze, she gave Hawks a flat stare. "So are we sharing the same tinfoil hat or…"

"Think about it!" Hawks leaned forward, a serious yet almost eager look in his eyes. "Midoriya died, but I've heard he was supposed to have some absolute monster of a Quirk. Todoroki was the same – we all heard how he was viewed as-" he coughed, glancing at the door Enji had left through, "Well, you know. But they died; potentially incredible Quirks lost to the grave. But who have a keen interest in Quirks?"

"Politicians?" Kaina shrugged. They were constantly raving about looser and looser restrictions on public Quirk usage nowadays. "Humanise?" though they were less 'keenly interested' and more 'keenly removing'.

Hawks leaned forwards more. "And who is known to have extensive resources and experience in genetic engineering." Kaina stared at him, disbelief slowly fading. "And have such a complete lack of morals that cloning dead teenagers with powerful Quirks probably wouldn't even be in their top 10 shitty acts committed this week?"

The League of Villains. Because of course.

"… I hate the fact that makes sense." she groaned and sank further into the sofa. "I really do." Apparently cloning was a sensible solution now. That was just depressing.

"This is big." Hawks was evidently ignorant of Kaina despairing over just how fucked the world had really become. "I need to call this in-" he paused, glancing at Kaina before looking away. He then turned back with a smile that was far too forced for her liking.

"Hey-"

"No."

"But I didn't even-"

"No."

"Can you let me finish?" his smile was straining, so Kaina gestured for him to continue. "If I'm right- heck, even if I'm not, this is a pretty huge deal. So we're gonna need as much information as we can." he coughed, "Soooooo I'm thinking that maybe- in exchange for fair payment, maybe a pardon, yada yada, you could…" his voice turned into a squeak, eyes all but pleading. "Come give a full testimony at the HPSC HQ… Maybe…?"

Kaina gave him a warm smile back. When he put it like that, what other answer could she even give?

"No~"

"C'mon, we can be generous- clean slate, hefty reward, that warm fuzzy feeling from knowing you did the right thing-"

"Tell you what." Kaina interrupted what was sure to be another standard spiel, "You have until I finish this," she hefted the full bottle of some disgustingly diluted spirit in her hand, "to convince me. Sound fair?"

"… Sure, I can work with that." either Hawks was severely overestimating his persuasive ability, or massively underestimating Kaina's alcoholism. "So if we just base this off of my own second-hand information, it's not as credible as if we have some first-hand- woah." considering his reaction to her downing the bottle inside of fifteen seconds, she was going to assume he'd done the latter.

Still shit, but I'll still take it. Kaina savoured the burning sensation at the back of her throat.

"Ok, time's up." she turned around to face the back of the sofa, "Wake me when shit's normal again."

"Define 'normal'"

"Good point; don't wake me up."

"Aw," Hawks groaned, "But I do my best work as an alarm clock."

"Shush." she slurred back.

"Wanna hear my impressions?" Despite insisting that no, she really didn't, he was soon giving a painfully accurate impression of an annoying alarm. So accurate that even burying her head into the sofa couldn't put him on mute, nor could smacking at his general direction.

"Why do you even care?" Kaina groaned into the sofa cushions.

"I told you already." Hawks sounded halfway between condescending and exasperated. "It's better to get a primary account which I can support than-"

"Not that." Kaina was already more than aware of the HPSC's standard procedures. "I mean-" she tried to cram herself further into the sofa. "Why do you care?" Hawks didn't respond. "You know how shitty the Commission can be- you have to know by this point. You've seen the dumpster fire of a city- country- of the worldwe live in. You aren't even allowed to do anything against the assholes who're responsible- heck, you watched them kill your allies and now you have to make nice." she turned her head away from the backside of the sofa; not much, but just enough that she could catch Hawks' face. "So how do you still care?"

He paused for a moment, quickly hearing her question for what it was. If he'd been able to respond right away, Kaina would've called bullshit. She could've waved him off, and gone back to sleep. Unfortunately, he didn't respond right away. He took time to consider it, clearly trying to piece together an answer before speaking.

"First of all." Hawks took a tone finally resembling something serious. "They weren't my allies. They were my friends." he looked down. "I watched All for One butcher my friends. All while I couldn't do a thing." Kaina kept watching; all that explanation did was make her question more pointed.

"As for how?" he laughed hollowly, rubbing the back of his head in what was clearly a practiced reflex. "It's more a question of how could I not… Or maybe how can I not. Because while those friends may not be here, I always wonder: What would the do if they were still here? Would they sit back and watch the world crumble around them?" he scoffed, "'Course not. They'd do something. Maybe not exactly as I do, but…" his face took on a lighter tone, his eyes softening like he wasn't really focused on Kaina anymore. "I think Kugo would've been more focused on picking up pieces than trying to keep it together; he had a bunch of charities for the less fortunate that I've tried to keep running where I can. Not 100% sure what Tsunagu would've done – he was pretty insistent on positive image, so maybe he would've done what I have. Probably better, of course. And he would've been more involved in keeping the new HPSC's reputation respectable, not just keeping an eye on the internals. Shinya I think would've stayed more under-the-table – now there was a guy who did what was necessary, but only when necessary." he hummed, "Come to think of it, he might've joined the Assembly, or at least helped as much as he could without implicating himself. Now Rumi?" he laughed, "She definitely would have. The second she could walk she'd have been figuring a way to take the fight back to those freaks. Honestly if she'd been the one to make it, I'm not sure she'd have had enough sense to go a month before challenging the big cahuna again." he laughed at the thought, before settling into another silence with a smile. Kaina chose not to interrupt, both out of whatever respect she could muster and knowing it was probably going somewhere.

"I used to wonder why he didn't kill me too." his smile faded, an absent and unreadable thin line replacing it while he nodded in place, "But after a while I realised why. If any of the others had survived? They might have had some kind of chance at stopping him. They had bravery, ingenuity, integrity. But me? I'm used to just doing what I'm told. Just an enforcer of the commission's will – I think he was counting on that. On making sure I could stabilise the HPSC that agreed not to mess with him. And now we're two years on, the new commission is fine and dandy, there's not really a reason I should still be alive. But I'm still here." he heaved a long sigh. "I'm still here." he turned to look at Kaina. "And now I've got some small, tiny, infinitesimally miniscule chance to do something, to try and find some way to bring down the thing hanging over all of us- or at least kick it in the shins- by cracking whatever this is rght open. Butif I stop going, if I just roll over and stop caring? I might as well not be here. I might as well be spitting on whatever efforts my friends would've put in." he managed to find Kaina's eyes despite burying herself under cushions. "I might as well have died with them."

She waited for him to go on, but it soon became clear he was finished explaining. Not that she'd really expected any more, but part of her had hoped he wouldn't leave it at that. Kaina could still remember the time she'd first been a Hero. She'd grown up in a Japan swarming with crooks, Villains and Yakuza mobs, and while All Might had been going for a good decade or so by her graduation, but it would still be a good few years before it fell to truly 'civilized' levels. Being selected by the Commission themselves for special assignments had practically been a dream come true. In those early years when the justification had sounded noble, she'd even enjoyed it.

But even considering that, she could lift the rose-tinted glasses enough to remember the bad. They had barely been months out of school when she'd heard of a classmate she'd known being badly injured. It was nothing; Heroes got injured all the time. A few months later and she'd heard one went missing. It was fine; probably undercover work. A year after graduation had been the first death. Well, it was not like she'd really known them.

She hadn't had any singular grand final battle where everything she'd cared about was lost. And at the time, she'd barely even noticed. By the time the deaths were really piling up she was too concerned with the Commission's increasingly shady assignments to really pay attention. She hadn't had any way to contact the world while in Tartarus.

While Hawks had watched everything he cared about die over the course of a single day, everything Kaina cared about had slipped away while she wasn't even looking.

"We have an open bar for staff off-time~" the impossibly positive gremlin tried to pull Kaina out of her thoughts, sunny smile back in full force with eager eyes. "I could get you in~"

Damn it all. Kaina huffed. Why couldn't the world just stay bleak and depressing? Why couldn't everyone just accept the shit world was? It was easier that way.

"You better."

"What's your name?"

"Show me your tongues."

"Who are you working for?"

"Show me your tongues."

"Why did you attack us?"

"Pretty sure the answer is 'show me your tongues'." the strange masked man merely grunted affirmative to Monoma's sarcasm. Toru paused her questioning and tried massaging her temple to keep down the headache. Do dead souls have headaches? Maybe it's lingering pain from getting my head smacked around. Do dead souls have lingering pain? Probably not the most pressing question, but it was far less mentally exhausting to consider than the question of what just happened.

Monoma was standing by Toru while questioning the violent stranger, who they'd tied up with as much rope and plastic as they could find lying about in the old warehouse. Though she noticed Monoma was occasionally touching at his forearm where the man's brass knuckles had slammed into it, wincing slightly at the sensation. She was hoping it was early bruising and not anything more severe. Tokoyami was taking a breather to the side, more obviously battered from the man's beat-down but not sporting anything too serious. Spinner was still unconscious, while Toru's brother was sitting in the dark trying to recover from what sounded like the mother of all migraines.

And Cerberus was cheerily grinning despite – or maybe due to – the carnage the man had wrought, because of course.

"Why do you want to see our tongues?" maybe changing the line of questioning would give something more useful.

"'Case they're black." the answer just made Toru massage her temple more firmly.

"Wait," Monoma perked up, "You think we're on Trigger?"

"Don't know." the man shrugged, "'Till you show me your tongues."

"You know what he's talking about?"

"Trigger; it's this…" Monoma shook his head, "Well, it's a little complicated, but the important part here is that it's a drug that boosts your Quirk at the cost of losing control of it." he paused, "And also it makes your tongue go black. Something about messing with blood flow, but I'm not 100% on the details."

"Trigger, mixed improperly with powerful stimulants, can result in irregular blood flow and improperly oxygenated haemoglobin." Doku took a break from sitting in the dark to recite random information like he was reading a textbook, "While this can visibly manifest as blackened tongues, the true danger is internal: This damaged oxygen supply can result in hypoxia throughout the body, leading to numbed sensations, muscle degradation, arrhythmia or bradycardia, confusion and drastic mood changes, while extreme cases can lead to cardiac arrest, seizures, and/or permanent brain damage."

Toru slowly turned to her brother, a motion mimicked by Monoma. "You certainly seem knowledgeable. Did you know all that Monoma?"

"Can't say I did."

"What about you, Tokoyami?"

"The true chaos of such vile intoxicants is a realm I have yet to truly-"

"Sounds like he doesn't know either." Monoma summed up the point.

"Hm." Toru nodded slowly. "So… Anything you'd like to share with the class?"

Her brother looked away awkwardly. "No…" Toru crossed her arms stared harder at him. He looked to someone else for help; Monoma mimicked Toru's stance. Before long Tokoyami and Dark Shadow had joined in, and she even thought the insane man might were it not for the fact he was tied up. Cerberus instead sent an 'innocent' grin when his gaze fell on her, and he thankfully at least had the sense not to mistake that for a sign she'd help. He finally looked towards his lizard partner, but Spinner was still unconscious on the floor-

"Argh!" until he wasn't, suddenly leaping up to a crouch and back into a defensive stance. Maybe he somehow felt Doku's gaze on him, maybe he had a superhuman sense of timing. Honestly, Toru wouldn't put it past Cerberus to have somehow roused him to consciousness with demonic bullshit because she thought it'd be funny. "What- what's happening?!"

"Our… friend" Monoma nodded to Cerberus, who sent a neutral glance back which quickly had him continuing, "took down the freak who knocked you unconscious." he nodded to the insane man.

"Hey." the insane man nodded back. Spinner actually gave him a small wave.

"And now," Toru didn't want to lose this specific thread of conversation, "we were curious as to how your friend here knows so much about Trigger."

"Oh, Doku?" Spinner grinned, thankfully missing the frantic 'shut up' motions her brother was making, "Yeah, he's pretty great; won't find a better cook this side of Musutafu." All eyes turned once again to Toru's brother.

"Thanks, Spinner." he said with sarcasm it would take a deaf idiot not to pick up on it.

"No problem, man." Spinner didn't pick up on it. "What did I do?"

"So…" Toru tried to keep her voice level, but promptly failed at the task. "Just to be clear- just to make sure I'm understanding you right: You've been taking highly illegal and damaging chemicals, modifying them yourself despite having, I assume, zero lab training-" his refusal to meet her eyes confirmed that fact, "-and injecting yourselves with these customised narcotic super-steroids to go attacking dangerous people – thugs and gangsters and the fucking coastguard apparently – before finally planning to attack a base of murderous psychopaths while HIGH?!" just- what- just- I can't- "Why would you even think to do that?!"

"Because we had to!" Doku shouted back, moving on from nervous guilt to 'righteous' anger "You think we could have gotten all this" he gestured towards the pile of weaponry, "by playing nice?" he cupped his hand to make a small, roughly-even white cube out of light, shifting the colours evenly through red, green, blue, and back again. "I can make basic shapes that have a single, uniform colour. He has scales." he gestured to Spinner, who couldn't help but wince at the statement. "That was all we had; all we have when you strip it down. We can't fight these- these monsters- who can kill you with a touch, can bathe you in flames, or just order humanoid abominations to do it for them. So we levelled the playing field."

"By getting HIGH?!" Toru really felt like that part shouldn't be getting glossed over.

"By fighting fire with fire!"

"You don't fight fire with fire!" Toru yelled back in exasperation, "That just gives you more fire! You use water! Or rock! Or that foamy stuff from fire extinguishers- it's in the name!"

"You should both be ashamed of yourselves." the insane man that had assaulted them agreed from the floor, still thankfully tied up.

"… No seriously, who are you?" Monoma was still hung up on that.

"It would appear in seeking to cast away the darkness you only succeeded in casting a greater shadow-"

"Tokoyami." Toru said calmly. "Shut up." he wisely nodded in acquiescence after a brief pause. She took a moment to compose herself before re-addressing the main issue. "Now… Hagakure-" it felt weird to call her brother by their family name. "- I… can understand that you feel you need to do something to… avenge your sister, however-"

"It's more than that." her brother brushed her concern aside with a bitter frown, "If the people responsible for her d-" he bit his tongue, clearly frustrated. "If they were being punished for their crimes I could let it go. They're not. If they were being hunted by the Police, by the Heroes- by anyone in charge, I could let it go. They're not. If they'd reformed and were genuinely trying to make amends, I might be able to let it go. They're not." he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"So yes, I know we're in over our heads. I know we're probably the least qualified to do anything about this. But the people who are qualified won't do anything!" he spat out, "They've made agreements, signed treaties; they're content to let monsters roam free all out of fear that things might get worse if they fight back." Toru once again found herself wondering just how things had gotten this bad. The silent air and crumbling buildings had been obvious wandering through the city, but to think they were just symptoms of something like this…

Why does he have to have some decent reasons? He was still being an idiot, of course, but it wasn't like she could just smack her brother around the back of the head for being a dumbass as usual and move on. Why did the world go to shit? Oh, right, because a bunch of psychopaths led by a gamerTM took over Japan.

I hate this.

"So no matter what you say, I'm going-"

"Can I come?"

"to prove that-" Doku stuttered after the outburst from their crazed prisoner. "What?"

"Can I come?" the strange man repeated the question in a gravelly voice. A moment passed with no one knowing how to respond to that.

"No, seriously," Monoma was first to break the silence, "Who are you?"

"Knuckleduster." the man sported a brutal grin. Toru was busy mentally sighing at his name to really respond to it. "I got some intel a while back that they're dabbling in Trigger."

"And you choose now to bring this up?!" Monoma squeaked, "Why?!"

"I like his style." the man nodded towards Doku.

Great. Now he's getting encouragement from the crazy hobo-vigilante. Because her day had just been too easy thus far, she really needed a challenge or two thrown her way. And from the almost proud look his face, her brother was taking that encouragement in the worst way possible.

"The girl's right though."

"Don't listen to-" Toru paused, too quick to disagree with whatever he said because that seemed like the best course of action until now. "Wait, what?"

"You need training." the man- Knuckleduster sat up, somehow managing to adopt the look and tone of a lecturing mentor despite being bound, bloodied and completely bonkers. "You've got guts, and guns, but if you run into their base without training or experience you won't be running out." he nodded wisely, as if he'd said something contemplative rather than the blindingly obvious. "We'll need to train your teamwork, hand-to-hand, weapons handling, non-Triggered Quirk use, athletics, spatial awareness, parkour, climbing, scouting, driving, off-road driving, structural engineering, geology, aerial combat-"

"Aerial what?" Monoma scoffed.

"Wait, wait." Dark Shadow hushed him, "I wanna see where he's going with this…"

"The point is that right now your rookies; pups; unblooded babes. We'll fix that, but it might take weeks. Months- years, even, until you're at a level-"

"Uh," Doku interrupted, "We think they'll pack up and move within a week or two once they realise someone figured out where they are."

"Then we have a week or two-"

"Uh," Toru interrupted, "I kinda only have a few days-" Cerberus coughed, "A day or two-" she shook her head, "A few hours?" she nodded after a brief consideration. "I only have a few hours-"

"Then we have a few hours." Knuckleduster announced, "So we better get started! Could someone take this shit off me?" he gestured towards the bindings holding him. "Need to take some more painkillers." he laughed uproaraciously. "My hand's wasted."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Monoma asked skeptically.

"I could've let you run off into a League of Villain base untrained, uncoordinated, and soon-to-be unalived."

Monoma glanced around at everyone. No one could stand the embarrassment of holding his gaze longer than a couple of seconds. "… Good point."

It was more than evident they were biting off more than they could chew, and a few hours of training with a crazy yet admittedly competent Vigilante (or maybe he was a Hero; maybe their standards had tumbled down a ravine in two years) was hardly going to change that. But while Monoma seemed aware of their poor odds he quickly brushed past it with grim determination at the prospect of actually hitting the League of Villains; Spinner and Doku seemed wilfully ignorant of just how dangerous this endeavour was and refused to hear otherwise; 'Knuckleduster' (she still couldn't get over that name)didn't attack them the moment he was freed, instead making to begin instructions, so that was a good sign; Cerberus was Cerberus… Tokoyami's worried look betrayed the fact that he was the only one present besides Toru aware of what a bad idea this was. She had to tag along to keep her reckless idiot of a brother from getting himself killed, what was his excuse?

I really hope the others are doing better…

'Hello there'? Izuku considered it a miracle he was able to keep his face a blank visage in place of the incoherent screeching he so deeply wished to indulge in.

'Hello there'?! All the greetings in the world; 'A pleasure to make your acquaintance', 'It is an honour to meet you', heck he'd take 'Hi' at this point. But no. He'd seen the physical manifestation of Death, an (un)living legend, an actual, literal goddess, and decided that the appropriate way to introduce himself was through a reference that stopped being funny over a Century ago.

I'm going to die. And at this point? It was entirely deserved. If she demanded his life for such supreme indignance, he wasn't sure what defence they would be able to muster other than 'Understandable'.

"We apologize for intruding on your domain, Lady Izanami." but by the miracle otherwise known as Justice, the death god had her attention diverted before she could misinterpret Izuku's words as insulting, rather than just completely clogged by awe and terror. "I come as representative of Hell; Justice, arbiter of souls." she gave a slight nod.

"And my…" she eyed Izuku for a moment, clearly struggling to sum up their frankly ludicrous relationship in a single word. "ward, Izuku Midoriya," and the connotations of that word brought a number of questions to mind: Did Justice view him as a child? Was she simply referring to acting as guardian over his safety? As a guide through the supernatural? Did that give him protection under her? Should he feel insulted? Maybe, but the embodiment of death standing before him had a certain way of sending those questions into the 'for later' pile. "Whose safety I am entrusted with until we complete the task for which we have ventured into this realm-"

"You mean until you successfully take property which belongs to me?" her words sounded neutral enough. A certain hint of amusement, even. But Izuku was confident there was an undertone of venom there.

Well, it was a nice plan while it lasted. He'd honestly been thinking they had a chance of helping for a good few seconds there, but then death goddess. Still, he tried to push his pessimistic assessment down and keep a neutral, respectful smile on his face.

"Again," Justice, meanwhile, was doing a much poorer job hiding impatience behind gritted teeth. "It was not our intent to rob you, merely to obtain a small sample-"

"Which was mine-"

"Which evidently is no longer possible due to the fact someone else beat us to the punch." she paused, "Which I must admit is a surprise, considering your apparent attachment to this particular corpse."

"Please." Izanami – and Izuku was really trying to just accept that name – scoffed, "Unlike some, I am not so keen to meddle in mortal affairs that I would interfere with common grave-robbers." she said it flippantly, and Justice gave her best not to give much reaction, but Izuku quickly realised that she'd (maybe not-so-subtly) been prodding for an answer.

She said 'Common grave-robbers'. Not demons, not angels, not kami or yokai or devils or gods or spirits or whatever else kind of supernatural forces who'd consider his Quirk a filling snack. A possibility Izuku hadn't really considered until now, but it was nice to know it wasn't one he would have to deal with. He went to ask for more details, before remembering Justice's advice: Calm, polite, and don't speak as much as possible.

Right. Izuku let out a small breath. Just trust Justice. He never would've thought to try and turn this potentially-fatal surprise encounter around to get information. She's got this.

"Though I suppose you must be rather desperate, given the state of things." Izanami didn't hide the smugness in her tone, instead amplifying it by drawing a writhing pool of interlocking beetles into her hand (don't think about it, don't look too hard, don't think about it) which soon morphed into a traditional paper fan, purposefully hiding all but the edges of her smile behind it. It also hid some of the cracks occasionally appearing around her mouth, and creatures you could sometimes catch within, which Izuku was beyond grateful for. "I suppose direct interference must be preferable to watching your supposed superiority slip away."

… What? It was a good thing he was leaving Justice to do the negotiating, because he'd officially lost track of what was going on.

"Hardly." Justice scoffed, "Unlike some, I am not so desperate for power nor approval as to let it influence my decision-making."

"Then you intrude upon my domain for, what?" Izanami's scarlet eyes narrowed, "Entertainment?"

"In search of a way by which we may return balance to the world." Izuku thought that was quite a nice way to phrase their adventure thus far. He was also confident she was lying throug her teeth. At this point, he wasn't sure if Justice was doing it to help Izuku, because she was bored, or out of spite (probably some combination of all three), but he was reasonably confident global harmony ranked less than zero in her list of priorities.

"'Balance'." Izanami scoffed at the term, clearly no more invested in the state of the world. "An arbitrary and ill-defined concept. Who are you to claim whether the world as it stands is balanced or not? To decide what should be done to restore it if not?" she waved her fan to the side vaguely, woodlice crawling over it while cockroaches fell from her sleeve. Izuku was getting used to standing in place, holding his breath, and trying really hard not to think about it. "Let humanity wipe itself out for all I care; the scales will be balanced at zero."

"That's…" from her tone and look, it almost seemed like Justice was trying her hardest to not just agree with the death goddess. Then Izuku remembered her speech from earlier regarding her general feelings towards humanity and corrected himself: She was definitely trying her hardest to not just agree with the death goddess. "… A certain interpretation." and failing. "But an extinct species won't exactly facilitate healthy afterlives."

"Extinct?" Izanami chuckled. "Hardly. I may not care much for the fate of humanity, but that does not make their situation so dire. My homeland may be enduring something of a 'rough patch'-" Izuku couldn't help but feel that was something of an understatement, "- but those that remain hardly find themselves on the brink of extinction. Even beyond these shores you would find countless wretches foolishly clinging to their interpretations of order. Their numbers may have been set back some Centuries, but I would hardly call that 'extinct'." she shook her head with a confident smile. "Though I suppose the extinction of humanity as a whole is not your fear, but rather a specific subset."

Justice eyed her carefully, trying to decipher her words and coming to a conclusion far faster than Izuku could've ever hoped. "You seriously think I'm doing this to, what, keep a healthy population of Christians?"

"You seriously expect me to believe otherwise? That your lot have remained content for so long, yet venture out the moment your superiority is threatened for a wholly unrelated rationale?" Izanami sneered, "How many old gods were forced into seclusion so Christianity could claim its place? How many deities have perished so that it might consume further lands? How many mortals put to the sword to hold your faith's self-assured righteousness?"

"What, and Japan's got a squeaky-clean record when it comes to starting shit with other faiths?"

"These lands may not have a history of absolute peace." once again Izuku couldn't but feel that was something of an understatement, "But it is a pacifist's paradise compared to what your followers have done throughout the ages in the name of their beliefs."

"Look," Justice tried to bite back her frustration, "I wasn't the one making the decisions and starting wars when other beliefs threatened to get more popular, the humans did a fine job of that themselves-"

"Yet you stand here doing the same." Izanami countered, "The moment the power of your pitiful pantheon starts to wane, you come here to steal from one which still holds any fragment of worth."

"'Pitiful'?" Justice scoffed, "Over two thousand years of history, one of the most populous afterlives on Earth, shaped the face of the world for most of that period, versus some rinky-dink pseudo-religion that never made it outside an island in those same two thousand years?"

Izuku wasn't sure whether to feel insulted by that. On the one hand, it wasn't like he was religious (and if his memories of the Shinto underworld were accurate, that was probably for the best). On the other, it felt like she'd just backhanded his country's entire history and culture. More to the point, however:

What the Hell are you doing, Justice?! She'd said be polite, she'd said stay silent, she'd said this would be dangerous, she hadn't said to piss off the death god with childish bickering about which religion had the most followers!

"Rinky-" Izanami began sputtering. The embodiment of death itself, whose form was riddled with decay and exuded an aura of pure dread, began spitting feathers over a casual slight towards Shintoism before eventually re-composing herself. "The rich history of our pantheon is not measured in such paltry terms, nor concerned with matters of mortal influence in worthless lands! It is more complex, more nuanced; purer-"

"'Purer'?" Justice's grin looked like the cat that caught the canary. She didn't seem to notice Izuku frantically gesturing to shut up, because whatever she was going to say- "Well I guess that would be important to someone with such an… intimate relationship with their family."

If Izuku wasn't already dead, he'd say he felt the life drain out of him. Instead, his will to live simply poured out of his shoes to join the nearby deceased. As expected, the goddess didn't take that comment particularly well. What parts of her face that weren't red were either purple or black, cracks splitting further and further along her head while even the insects within seemed to writhe faster before imploding into pure darkness.

Izuku took the moment to zone out of the conversation, completely done with everything as he now was. While the goddess raved at Justice, who replied with callous glibness and clear irritation in equal measure, Izuku took a moment to wonder what on Earth Justice was thinking getting into this argument.

Was it possible that she was just defensive about the religion she was a part of, that somehow Izanami had simply pressed her buttons and she'd pushed back too hard without thinking it through? No, he quickly decided. Sure, she like to mess with people a bit, but this goes beyond that. For the most part, Justice had been collected throughout their entire journey. The only exceptions that he could remember would have been when Cerberus nearly ate Todoroki's soul, and when it seemed like the entire point of coming to Earth turned out to be an impossibility built on miscommunication.

He felt like those were pretty fair circumstances to lose your cool, honestly.

But then what's the point of this… Was she purposefully provoking Izanami so that she'd be easier to fight?

"You insolent, JUDGEMENTAL, BARBARIC-" no, while it was clear she wouldn't be thinking as tactically as usual, the ground clawing upwards from underneath her and graves around them shifting told Izuku that trying to goad her into anger probably wouldn't be the best combat strategy. He'd freely admit he could be wrong, but it just didn't feel like the best route to take, especially not if diplomacy had been an option.

Maybe it's for… inter-pantheon justification? Maybe if Izanami threw the first blow, they could use it as justification for violence before other supernatural entities? Or maybe get one to intervene? The latter seemed unlikely, as they were still trapped in an evil fog controlled by the goddess they (she) were actively annoying, so getting outside help sounded difficult to say the least. Plus, considering that Justice implied One for All (and by extension, Izuku) would be sought after by afterlives the world over, interacting with them at all sounded like a mistake. But then, that would similarly mean the justification motive wasn't all that credible.

But then what? The only advice Justice had given him was to stay calm, polite and quiet. He'd largely succeeded in quiet, and he'd say he was doing 'calm' pretty well given his ability to distance himself and analyse things despite the insane and loud argument between two enormously powerful supernatural beings that was happening before him. He'd tried his best to be polite, but-

Wait… he thought that point over again. What would be polite in this situation? Letting Justice and Izanami argue until they were blue in the face (or purple/black and whatever colour demons would get, in this case)? No. His eyes widened in realisation, hand slowly reaching his chin as he considered the possibilities. The polite thing to do would probably be excuse myself or something. But the fog wall was still cutting them off from the rest of reality, so that would probably prove difficult. So failing that… Break up the fight? He glanced again towards the arch-demon and death-goddess that were practically at each others' throats. No way I'm strong enough to intervene- at least not physically!

But if he approached the situation diplomatically, tried to break them up with not violence, but words, then maybe he could get somewhere. He should be able to calm Justice down easily enough because, well, they'd literally gone through Hell together. Getting the chillest person he'd ever met to simmer down should be child's play, especially as this must have been her plan all along. But the death goddess? Doing that would probably be tricky.

Unless… he tried to connect the dots. I'm… on her side? Maybe if it looked like he was providing backup, or supporting her point, she'd at least be content enough to see him as less of a threat?

No, more than that, it would- I don't know, 'endear' her to me, I guess? If he showed his support when she was being 'attacked' like this, then she'd probably look at him more favourably. More favourably than a common grave-robber, at least. He had to hide his smile as he finally put Justice's plan together.

She riled up an all-powerful death goddess just to give me a chance to get on her good side! He still couldn't believe the lengths Justice was willing to go to for him sometimes. And to think she trusted him to deduce her plans from such basic instructions! But being as slow as he was he almost didn't pick up on it in time – maybe they'd have to come up with some kind of code- No, later!

If he just sided with her, that wouldn't lead to much. She might favour him a bit more, but that could just wind up with him being spirited back to the Underworld with a mildly benevolent ruler. No thanks. He tried to think of an alternative, but found himself at a loss due to how completely out of his depth he was. It would be so much easier if he knew how any of this worked-

Wait. He paused at the thought. Maybe that's the way to go.

"Guess I just don't see the appeal in killing, what was it? 500 people a day just because big bro wouldn't spend quality time with you anymore."

"Impudent WRETCH, you have NO IDÉ̶̬̺͈̰͌̋́A̷̢̲̣̳̹̻̬͂̌̚-"

"That's right!" his exclamation stopped the argument dead in its tracks. The two slowly turned towards Izuku, curiosity buried beneath layers of rage. He resisted the urge to swallow down his fear, lest it be heard amongst the silence.

No turning back now… "You are, of course, correct, Lady Izanami." he tried to bow in a formal, respectful yet not entirely subservient manner. It had sounded easier in his head, and he quickly stood back up to stop looking like an (even bigger) idiot. "We don't have any idea." he gestured towards himself and Justice. "We know not the trials you have endured, the impossible challenges you have accomplished. All I have heard is folk stories; tales passed down the ages, filtered through the lens of humanity and, I imagine, whosoever originally granted us those stories. Similarly, I imagine all that Justice would have heard must have been tainted by the interpretations of other demons." he glanced towards her, and the demon soon nodded briefly in affirmation.

"So, of course, while I'm sure any rumours we may 'know' about you are surely spurious-" he was pretty sure that was a word. "-they are still the only things we 'know' about you. Lies of your character mixed with vague truths to lend them credence. So, I beseech thee." he cleared his throat, coming to the crux of his point and praying he hadn't laid it on too thick nor used any words wrong in his attempt to sound fittingly flowery:

"Please, tell us of your story, of what truly happened that cast you into this role, so that we may better understand our transgressions and come to a just agreement."

His piece said, he he looked to the goddess and hoped for a response. He tried his best to show earnestness in his face, to repress his instinctive repulsion of her form and convey his curiosity in a way that hopefully wasn't creepy. Because this was it: If she took poorly to his request, if he'd just inserted his transgressing foot in his blasphemous mouth, he had a feeling this not-so-civil conversation was going to turn into an outright fight. He didn't know with absolute certainty the power scaling of divinity, but from what he'd gathered he felt confident that the odds of him and Justice, both waning from everything else they'd been through thus far without rest, against a goddess of death completely refreshed on her own turf were in the 'Supremely fucked' category of combat.

She stood there for what seemed an eternity. Looking down on him with blood-red eyes; cautious, skeptical, probing. Like she was peering into his soul, determining whether his request was worthy of a response or scorn, of discussion or disaster. She was evaluating him. Judging him. The thoughts behind those eyes were shrouded behind a fog thicker than that she held domain over. But eventually, her face relaxed. Her unreadable expression morphed into the smallest of smiles.

"Very well. I shall tell you my tale of betrayal. And then I shall decide what fate awaits you beyond these graves."

At least he had a story's worth of time to think of a better plan.

A/N:

Hey, I'm back. It's been... a bit longer than 2 weeks, I'm aware. Not sure what ended up taking this one so long, just a lot of little things: Life in general left less time for writing; the conversations ended up being hard to direct to where I needed them without feeling too OoC; Toru's section has ended up needing way more setup and exposition than I'd expected, etc. etc. etc.. Still not happy with a lot of it, but while I could spend weeks trying to make this chapter slightly better, I think it's important to get it out and keep moving forward so I can actually hope to finish the story one day. And that's not counting other fics - I've got one out still stuck on 1 chapter even though I've got like 8 only in need of minor editing just because this has taken all my focus, and that's not getting into the multitude of others I want to write.

Anyway that was a long way of saying yeah I know it's been a while and that's starting to become a pattern; really hoping I can try and get back to a schedule but at this point I'm honestly not sure how realistic that is. Also as always feel free to comment with thoughts predictions concrit etc. etc., you know the spiel; hope to see you again in a couple of weeks!

Really hoping...