"The first site was a bust; nothing even looked suspicious. We should get to the next location fast. There's no telling when the Pros will show up." Todoroki was mainly talking for his benefit because he knew Accelerator didn't care enough to continue the conversation. He just kept walking, his hands shoved into his pants pockets.

"You know, you're essentially worthless to me as a partner. I memorized the map locations before you even started whining about not getting to join in on their mission."

Todoroki sneered at him, "Well if that's the case, why aren't you using that power of yours to jet ahead and go then? You weren't my first choice for a teammate either."

Accelerator sighed heavily and shook his head, "Because setting off my Esper ability could be a quick way to get ourselves noticed. And since you punks seem to value stealth right now, I felt it would be better to keep it simple. Although the idea is getting more tempting the longer this conversation lasts."

A vibration from Todoroki's pants pocket alerted him to a phone call. Uraraka was on the other end with the latest news.

"Hey guys, how's your progress so far? Deku and the other Esper cleared the first location and just arrived at the second."

"We're about to do the same, approaching it soon. Nothing was going on in the first place we checked," replied Todoroki.

"Okay, I'll let you know if anything new comes through. Stay safe out there!"

"Yeah, no problem we'll be just fine. Later." Todoroki hung up the phone and relayed her information to Accelerator. "We may end up converging on the fifth location if we don't find anything here either."

Accelerator kicked the ground angrily, "It doesn't matter which building it is; I'll be the one to save her. You 'Quirk' users just step out of my way and let me do what I do best."

"And what is that exactly? Destroy everything around you? From enemies to friendships and everything in between?" They recognized the building they were looking for and crouched behind the low stone wall that surrounded it. Accelerator followed and took a spot to the right of Todoroki, leaning against the wall for support.

"Friendships for me are few and far between. Sumire is one of the few people I can call a friend and feel like I'm telling the truth."

Todoroki had expected another rage-filled monologue from the Esper. His response caught him off guard. He still didn't know much about how the two of them ended up friends and dared to put his thoughts into words. "So... about Sumire. She's told me some details about her past, but when it comes to that Institute place, she's hesitant to tell me anything. That's where the two of you met, right?"

"Yeah. I'm sure she's at least told you that place was a shithole that destroyed children like us that were abandoned or orphaned. All in the name of 'Science.'"

"Well, that's the idea I got from it, but she's never wanted to talk about it. Just like her scars. I never tried to push her to talk about it, but she'd just change the subject or say that they were her fault. Which is why I believed you were the one that gave them to her at first, considering her reaction to seeing you for the first time in years."

Accelerator thought back to accidentally seeing Sumire in the bath years ago, the first time he'd personally seen what her ability did to her. The slash across her back that developed after she used her power to stop him from leaving the safehouse ran through his mind next, and he cringed at the memory of her lying there helpless and wounded.

"It's her ability that does it. Whenever she came into direct contact with an Esper, she'd take their ability, but it would also physically wound her. The degree of severity increased the higher the Esper's level was. The number she was given, 37, was out of a group of 47 students that were there when the SAI first opened. By the end, she was the only one left out of that group. They systematically forced her to come into contact with the other students in their experiments, knowing it would hurt her. At the time she only believed she was copying their abilities, but she later found out their power was completely taken from them, and no one ever saw them return."

Todoroki was in shock, horrified at the conditions she had been put through as a child. "That's... that's just so horrible. But it's obvious that it was the fault of those bastard scientists, why would she say it was her fault?"

"We went back to the SAI to find her records so that Anti-Skill could form a stronger case against the Institute and close them down. We found them, but the contents only hurt her more. It turns out that once it was discovered that she was taking abilities rather than copying them, the Institute began 'disposing' of the students that lost their powers. She blamed herself for their deaths. Each scar is a life that she believes ended because of her. We tried to convince her that wasn't true, but learning that information wounded her more profoundly than any of the marks on her body ever could." Accelerator could only stare off now, his memory bringing back the last images he had seen of her, falling from the roof of the SAI building.

His eyes glassy and wet, Todoroki slid his thumbs across to rid them of the tears that had formed. The Esper had been right; he had no idea at all what they had been through at that place. Learning all of this just made him want to find her and pull her close to him. He wanted to shield her from all the bad in the world, to fix what had already been broken. His voice wavered as he asked one final question. "The accident?"

"How did I know you'd ask about that next... The head scientist and I had a feud, and unfortunately, she was used as a pawn to force our final confrontation. She..." Accelerator felt his throat seize up, emotions that he usually disregarded were running unchecked now. "She stopped him from killing me by directly slapping him in the face. She stole his abilities from him. Just when he was about to lose, he set off the explosives he had planted earlier. Sumire had a violent reaction, she'd never come into contact with a Level 5 before, and... and the building was falling apart from under us. She almost got thrown off the roof but I grabbed her by her gloved hand. When I tried to reach for her other hand, she refused and said she didn't want to... to break me. Then, I lost her." Accelerator cleared his throat and deeply sighed. "Does that answer all your questions now?"

Todoroki only nodded, making sure his own voice was under control again before answering. "I'm sorry for everything I've said and done since you came here. I was so wrong to judge you as the one that hurt her. I'm very sorry for that and all that you've had to live through."

The other boy just shrugged it off, "After I lost her and went out on my own, I did a lot of bad things. I admit that I'm not a good person. I'm one of the worst pieces of shit you'll ever meet. But after seeing her again after so long, after all the horrible stuff I've done... It's almost like there's a part of me now that can hope to put all that behind me. She makes me feel like there could be a positive future for a bastard like me."

"I get what you mean. She has the kind of positive outlook on things that make you feel that no matter how bad things have been, the potential for something good is always just ahead." Todoroki smiled as he remembered walking with her around the school and the talks they had shared. Accelerator noticed the expression on his face and looked puzzled.

"What are your intentions with her?"

Todoroki snapped out of his daydream and looked at the Esper. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"That look on your face, what you've been saying about her. The fact that you're so goddamn defensive over her... What are your intentions, do you like her or something?" Accelerator stared at him and waited for an answer.

He never thought that the guy would be so direct about it, so the question caught him off guard. Should he say how he honestly felt? What if that just made them enemies and rivals once again? But with their tragic past, it seemed doubtful that he could believe he still stood a chance with her now.

"I do care about her, a lot. But I think that we should leave the question of who has Sumire's heart up to her to decide herself."

"For once, I think I can agree with you. Are you ready to check this building now?"

Todoroki nodded, and the two picked themselves up and carefully made their way towards the side of the building. Judging from their view through the windows, nothing seemed out of place. Just a typical storage warehouse that was closed for the evening. Todoroki pulled out his phone once they had gotten back a safe distance and called Uraraka to report their findings. She confirmed that Deku and Touma were still at their second location, but would meet them at the last one soon. He hung up the phone and relayed the news to Accelerator.

"Alright, if we get there first and there's any trouble with Midoriya we can rush over there if necessary. Ready to go?" He offered a hand to the Esper that was crouched down on the ground.

"Yeah, let's go get her back," Accelerator said as he took the young Quirk user's hand and got to his feet.

The final site wasn't in an isolated location like the others. This one wasn't in a busy part of town, but there was still nearby traffic and the occasional pedestrian. The windows were positioned higher up than the others as well, which would make surveilling the scene slightly more difficult. The two teammates carefully assessed the area and then decided to approach from the side.

Todoroki walked ahead of Accelerator, approaching the building more swiftly. A noise behind him drew Accelerator's attention away for only a moment, but the distraction was enough to allow one of the gates that had been used to abduct Sumire to open up on the ground beneath Todoroki and swallow him up right before his eyes once again.

Accelerator yelled out in disbelief, "No! Come back here and take me you dumb bastards!"

Fortunately, the source of the gate that had stolen Todoroki was just inside of the building they were approaching. Todoroki landed on the floor of the bar room, disoriented that he had started out walking upright only to be dropped suddenly. He quickly got his bearings and stood back up, noticing the familiar appearance of Kurogiri behind the bar.

"So it was you guys that kidnapped Sumire. What could you possibly want with her, she's no villain. Not even close."

Another familiar person appeared before him, his face shrouded by that disgusting hand-shaped mask like the last time they had faced each other. He sat next to Sumire, his left arm wrapped around her neck with four of his five fingers placed against her throat.

"Welcome to the party, little hero-in-training! I remember you from the attack on the USJ, yes. You took out a large group of villains, so I know you're no slouch when it comes to combat. But before you decide to act rashly, you should realize that only one finger stands in the way of you ever getting to see this girl in one piece. Now if you think you can clear the space between us before my last finger makes contact, then consider me defeated. It's your gamble, hero."