Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tsutsumi Kaina stood at the end of the bridge to Tartarus on the mainland.

What had just happened?

It felt as if one moment, she was sitting in her prison cell, trying, as usual, to not let the isolation get to her, when suddenly she was escorted to a room where some men in suits were waiting. These men introduced themselves as representatives from the UN, who wanted to ask Kaina some questions about her time working at the HPSC’s personal hitman while she was still operating as a hero. She scoffed at this notion at first, even when she learned about a massive data breach that had occurred as a result of a battle between heroes and villains, revealing the true circumstances that led to her incarceration.

To the rest of the world, she had been seen as the ideal hero for most of her life, praised and adored by the public for her heroic actions as the hero “Lady Nagant,” until one day for some reason she had gone crazy and killed her hero partner in cold blood, and sent to Tartarus as punishment for her crime.

Oh, if they only knew.

These UN representatives told her that they mostly just wanted her testimony to verify how accurate their findings were.

Sure. These were actually UN representatives. They knew she was innocent of the crime she had been accused of. They actually wanted to get her out of here. That was actually going to happen. Right. Kaina had just assumed that this was a means for a new regime to take over the old HPSC, or more likely the old regime to take on a new name to satisfy the public. Sure, they told her that they were lawyers, that they wanted to secure a release for her wrongful incarceration, but she had heard that kind of song and dance before. She had nothing better to do though, and figured that she might as well take the off chance that she could actually screw over the HPSC’s president that had her sent to Tartarus in the first place, so she just told them the truth: she had gone on black ops missions for the HSPC, assassinating villains deemed too problematic for the HPSC to allow to run free, along with corrupt heroes whose crimes the HPSC didn’t want the general public to know about. At first, as a naïve hero student, she had been convinced that she was “doing this all for the greater good,” “that she was doing a necessary public service,” “maintaining the sanctity of heroism.” She was killing actual bad people; these were villains who were about to commit acts of terrorism, fake heroes that brought shame to the name of heroism and were using their positions to increase their own wealth and fame at the cost of innocent lives. She had bought those lines for a while, but the fact was that each death weighed on her conscience more and more, to the point that when an adoring fan ran up to her while she was out patrolling, saying that she wanted to be just like her, Kaina could practically see the blood on her hand after she had shaken the girl’s hand. Finally, when the HPSC president ordered her to make two corrupt Heroes “go missing,” she openly questioned for the first time whether she was doing the right thing, if the lack of transparency towards the public was akin to brainwashing. When Kaina refused the order despite the president’s insistence, he gave a veiled threat that she might be the next one to go missing. That was when she had actually snapped, killing not a fellow hero in an argument, but the fat sack of human waste threatening her life, painting his office with the splatter from his head as she blew his brains out with her Rifle Quirk.

The “UN representatives” didn’t seem that surprised by Kaina’s story, and thanked her for her time. She just rolled her eyes, expecting to be led back to her cell. Instead, to her greater confusion, her handcuffs were unlocked. She almost gave into the instinct to take the opportunity to make a break for it, when she was handed a new change of clothes, a suitcase of 300 million yen for reimbursement for wrongful imprisonment, and an apology on the behalf of the government of Japan. She was escorted outside, over the bridge to Tartarus, where she was dropped off at a bus station. Kaina hadn’t moved from where she had been left.

There were guards, but they weren’t paying her any serious mind. There was just an open expanse of road leading to the city. No walls. No bars. No prison fatigues. Even if this was somehow just an elaborate hoax, it felt like a huge, needless risk to just leave her out in the open like this.

Okay, that was oversimplifying things; there were actually quite a few people there, much more than one would expect at the nearest bus stop outside of one of the most secure prisons in the world. There was a massive, growing crowd of people gathered outside the bus station. Thankfully, none of them seemed to notice Kaina. Wearing sunglasses and a black ball cap that concealed her indigo and pink-streaked hair, any passerby probably assumed that she was an off-duty prison guard and paid her as much attention. Instead, the crowd of civilians was gathering in anticipation for something.

Only a few minutes after Kaina had been dropped off at the station and the fact that no one was trying to force her back into the prison began to hit her, the reason for the gathered crowd made itself known. An armored prison vehicle drove up to the gate to the bridge, where heavily armed riot-officers held back the crowd that began to shout at whoever the truck was bringing into the prison.

Kaina recognized the type of truck, used to transport high-profile criminals. Whoever was being sent into Tartarus was someone that could possess connections that warranted being driven around in a tank. There was still a window that Kaina could see through though, allowing her to recognize the prisoner.

It was the current HPSC president. The one that had replaced the president that Kaina had killed, and who was responsible for sending Kaina to Tartarus to prison in the first place. The blond, mid-aged woman locked eyes with Kaina, apparently not believing what she was seeing. The president, normally so confident, clean, and domineering, was pale, as if she had just come out of the hospital, only to be dragged here. Somehow, past all of the chanting and jeering protesters, the president happened to see Kaina. As she was being escorted into Tartarus. From where Kaina had just left. Possibly even to the same holding cell.

Kaina’s mouth twitched.

“He…hehe…”

The window was apparently soundproof, but Kaina could see the president glare at Kaina and suddenly scream and beat at the glass as the vehicle drove her away. And for the first time in over a decade, Kaina laughed. She laughed so hard that she couldn’t breathe, but she had enough presence of mind to make sure that she was still staring at the former “madam president”, ensuring that this would be the last thing she’d see before the cow would spend the rest of her life inside a steel tomb. Kaina kept laughing even as the armored vehicle drove away over the bridge. A few of the crowd edged away from her, thinking that she had lost her mind, but who cared about them. Kaina was outside Tartarus, she was going to make the most of this.

Finally, Kaina managed to get ahold of herself. The crowd was starting to disperse.

So…

That was it?

Her imprisonment was just…over?

People actually found out the truth and she was allowed to walk free?

It was that easy?

There was a bus arriving, set to head off to a city. Which one? Did it matter, as long as it wasn’t here? And yet, Kaina didn’t take it. She didn’t trust it. She didn’t trust that she was really free yet.

When an animal is caught in the wild, only to be released later, it won’t immediately rush out from the crate it was carried in when the door is open. It doesn’t trust that it won’t be hurt the moment that it steps out of the crate. To the animal, the crate is a place to hide, a narrow area where big predators can’t easily reach in and try to grab it. In these cases, the people (maybe they’re researchers, maybe they’re wildlife vets, maybe they’re interns,) will have to sit and wait for the animal to finally feel safe enough to finally leave. You can imagine how those people will feel confused, and perhaps a bit annoyed that this big, dangerous animal that they had caught isn’t just leaving. Perhaps that was how the prison guards felt as they watched Tsutsumi Kaina staring off into the ocean, ignoring the bus as it was departing, the next one not set to come for another two hours.

Kaina stood outside the bus station, staring out at the ocean. She could breathe in the air. Smell the salt water. Feel the sun on her face. She was out.

Kaina didn’t even think to take the bus. Maybe she was paranoid about being tracked, and wanted to throw anyone off that might try to follow her, to force her back into the grisly, “necessary” business of killing. Maybe she just wanted to run. Either way, without warning, she suddenly broke out in a sprint down the road. No one stopped her.

It had been a long time since Kaina had been allowed such free use of her legs, so she was obviously cramped by the time she had stopped running. However, her discipline had never left her, and when she did finally collapse on a bench at the next bus station, she was dozens of miles away from Tartarus. It was only here that Kaina bought a ticket to the next town over, booked a room in a hotel, showered for an hour (wasting as much water as she damn well pleased, even being able to fill up the tub and just soak,) ordered a pizza with the works and a liter of soda, and turned on the news as she wolfed her food down.

The battle that the UN representatives told her about? It was real, but it was far more damaging than they had described. Thousands of people; heroes, villains, and civilians, had all died at Jaku, which had been essentially reduced to rubble from the rampages of Shigaraki and Gigantomachia. Technically, the heroes won, but only due to the sacrifice of a young man not even yet out of high school. In the chaos afterwards though, innumerable scandals of the HPSC and hero society came to light; Endeavor forcing his wife into a Quirk marriage and abusing or neglecting their children, blackmail, bribery, assassinations, institutionalized discrimination, sexual misconduct, and lastly, what the HPSC had forced Kaina to do. The PLF’s attack on the HPSC headquarters, followed by the investigations of the UN, had revealed everything; how Kaina had been directed to kill villains and corrupt criminals deemed too risky to be allowed to walk freely, how Kaina killed the previous HPSC president when he had threatened her to continue her work, and how she had been framed for a crime that she had not committed and thrown into Tartarus. It was all there, all made public.

This had been growing for the past few days, with new revelations being made of the underlying corruption of hero society, to the point that Japan’s membership in the WHA had been rescinded. By the time that Kaina was up to date on everything that had been happening, the prime minister made an announcement:

“Though the UN investigation is still ongoing, the findings it has brought to light so far have been deemed requiring immediate response. Due to the decision of the WHA to withdraw membership from Japan, and the reveal of how badly our hero system has failed to uphold justice and order, it is the decision of myself and of Parliament to dissolve the HPSC, and to integrate our pro heroes into Japan’s police force and emergency services.”

Kaina stared at the screen, not hearing anything else, whether it was the shouted questions of frantic reporters towards the prime minister, the wails of people in the rooms adjacent to Kaina’s, or the shouts and cries of people outside in the street as they began to riot.

The hero system had been dissolved? It was gone? Actually gone?

Kaina had learned about the corruption of hero society when she had been made a tool to enable it. When she finally refused, when she fought back and was arrested, she had harbored bitter feelings in herself, going into Tartarus in the hopes that one day, everything that the HPSC had worked to hide would come to light, that people would realize what a rotten façade the hero system was. It had been her dream, something that she would hold onto in the moments when her isolation within the steel tomb of Tartarus felt like too much. She’d think about a day where the rose-tinted lenses that everyone wore would finally be shattered, and they would see the rivers of blood that ran beneath their shiny utopia, where that sanctimonious, hypocritical sow of a woman who ran the HPSC would be dragged out of her office before the public and shown as the criminal that she was.

That didn’t mean that Kaina had ever actually thought that would happen. She had sworn off her naivety when she had killed the previous president, and she realized how false the idea that the heroes were good guys, the villains were bad guys, and goodness would always win. She realized at that point how farcical those ideas were, and by extension, how the corrupt organization that had controlled Kaina for her entire life had sunk its claws so deep into society that it was never going to be excised.

But it just had. The HPSC’s corruption had been revealed, people could see the inherent failures of the system, the prime minister had dissolved the hero system, and Kaina had seen the HPSC president being dragged into Tartarus.

It had happened. Everything she had dreamed for. The system that she had grown to despise was done. And she was free.

She should feel happy. She should be laughing, crying in joy, dancing around in her room despite the clear shock and horror everyone else in the country was probably experiencing. In truth though, Kaina didn’t know what to feel. All of this…it just felt too good to be true.

“Lady Nagant! Lady Nagant!”

Kaina was on patrol, when she was stopped by a group of kids, excitedly running up to her.

“It’s really you!”

“You’re so cool, Lady Nagant!”

“I want to become a hero just like you!”

“Just like you!”

“Just like you!”

Nagant saw herself in the kids, wearing her school uniform, grinning wide and excited to be able to live the dream of becoming a hero. She saw them, growing up, their hands stained with blood, just like her.

Kaina snapped awake, hyperventilating.

It didn’t take her long to calm down. She had this dream before. It was the same procedure as usual: Realize it was a dream, calm down, try to go back to sleep since there wasn’t anything else to do in prison, and nothing she could do to stop kids from chasing after a devil’s bargain disguised as a dream come tr…

Oh.

There weren’t going to be any more girls chasing that dream any more. And Kaina hadn’t woken up on her hard, cramped cot in a steel cube; she was in her new apartment. She had a nice bed with clean sheets, in an open room, and if she wanted to, she could turn the light on. She could just keep the light on instead of it being controlled by the prison. In Tartarus, the lights would come on or be shut off at set times, putting everyone on the same schedule. Now though, Kaina could wake up, stay up all night, and if she wanted to, turn off the lights during the day, close the shutters, and sleep while the sun was up.

She settled on turning on the lamp that was next to her bed. The light illuminated her bedroom, showing it to be pretty austere. The apartment was furnished with what Kaina needed to sleep and store what few clothes she was able to carry, but not much of anything else.

The barren apartment reminded Kaina too much of her blank, colorless cell in Tartarus. It wasn’t as if the guards would have let her decorate. Now though? It began to hit her that this room was hers, and she could do anything she wanted with it.

Several hours later, Kaina was out again with her hair dyed black to ensure no one could recognize her, splurging on whatever cute merchandise she could find. Plushies, mahou shojo merchandise, adult-size onesies, she took whatever she could carry back to her apartment, only to immediately leave to go on another shopping spree. Some people might find it odd that a government assassin would be interested in this kind of stuff, but she just liked cute things, ever since she was a girl, and she wasn’t a hero or a government assassin any more, so who cared what anyone thought about the grown woman openly lugging around Sailor Moon posters?

Most people didn’t take notice of her anyway. While Kaina was gleefully spending her reimbursement money from her wrongful imprisonment, she was still watching her surroundings, always ready to drop whatever she was carrying and fight anyone who might try to drag her back to the hellhole of Tartarus or the hellhole of her past life as a hero. Most people that she passed on the street or working in the stores that she visited though seemed too shellshocked from the announcement of the dissolution of the hero system of the day before. They barely seemed to notice Kaina, or really, anything else, walking around like zombies, their eyes hollow and empty as they took in the collapse of their dreams. They were either in a fugue state, or they were twitchy, looking around as if they were preparing themselves for someone to attack them, or perhaps to attack someone themselves.

On her second trip out for the day, Kaina managed to find a place to stop for lunch, a diner called “Burger Queen.” It had been over a decade since Kaina had eaten a burger. She wasn’t even necessarily a huge fan, it was just that now she had a chance, and she was going to take it. The burger didn’t disappoint though; Kaina swore it was like eating the burger from the end of The Menu. So, of course she ordered two more. Yeah, it was probably going to make her sick, but it was hard to have impulse control when she was finally free to eat whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and how much she wanted after having her meals regimented at set items, set times, and set amounts. As she was eating her third burger though, Kaina noticed something outside.

“Fake heroes! Fake heroes! Fake heroes!”

Kaina heard chanting, and saw a crowd gathering down the street. Vaguely, she could recognize a figure that they were gathering around.

“Hakamada?” Kaina said to herself, recognizing Best Jeanist’s iconic ‘jurtle.’ The ‘Fiber Hero’, or perhaps the ‘former Fiber Hero’ had his hands raised, trying to calm the crowd over whatever it was that they were getting worked up about, but his presence seemed to make everything worse, as the people were suddenly riled up like a swarm of wasps, running around in a frenzy, shouting, throwing garbage and rocks everywhere; at Hakamada, through windows, at each other. Hakamada’s attempts to quell the riot only seemed to make everything worse, as his attempts to bind the rioters once they started to get violent only led to a different group of people breaking out in a rage further down the street.

“Um…ma’am?” the cook spoke up to Kaina, his only customer at the time. “I think you should get away from the windows…”

Kaina did what the man asked, the chef even allowing her behind the bar for added protection as they waited for the riot to calm down. Meanwhile, Kaina watched as Hakamada desperately tried to keep people safe.

Kaina had become a hero around the same time as Hakamada, so they were relatively familiar with each other, and there was a time in which she had even considered him to be something of a friend. By the time that he had broken into the Top 10 and started to get the kind of clearance that gave him an idea of the kinds of things that the HPSC had Kaina do, it was also around the same time that she was starting to have questions about the hero system. She had tentatively started to share her concerns with him; that perhaps they were hiding too much from the public about the kinds of things that heroes did behind closed doors, that the way that the HPSC set up the ranking system was unfair, that perhaps one day, these sorts of problems would boil over and the public might get angry about it. He simply patted her on the back and told her not to worry, that the HPSC wouldn’t do anything nefarious, that they could trust that they were in the right as heroes, and that if people did ever find out about their black ops missions, even if they would be shocked at first, they would understand and be forgiving towards them.

Oddly enough, seeing Hakamada struggle, Kaina didn’t feel like going out to say “I told you so.”

“Sweet little bumblebee, I know what you want from me,

Dubi dubi du dah dah

Dubi dubi du dah dah

Sweet little bumblebee, more than just a fantasy,

Dubi dubi du dah dah

Dubi dubi du dah dah”

Kaina unashamedly listened to the bubblegum dance music, her sense of awkwardness gone even disregarding the fact that she was alone in her apartment as she was cooking. That morning, she felt like getting pickles, and decided to use that as the impetus to learn how to make Polish ‘Zuppa Ogórkowa’, or ‘Dill Pickle Soup.’

After eating out, it hit Kaina that rather than force herself to eat whatever bland fare a guard would bring her, she could choose what she wanted to eat. She could go to a restaurant and pick something, or better yet, make something herself. So, one of the first things she used with her free time was to take up cooking. In Tartarus, Kaina would have to eat the same bland fare a prison guard would slide through her door every day. There was little to no variation, just enough to keep her alive. It didn’t matter if she didn’t like it or if she wasn’t hungry, she’d have to eat it, or she wasn’t going to get anything else. Now though, she could choose whatever she wanted to eat.

She knew how to cook before she went to Tartarus, or at the very least, she knew how to work a stove, but there had only ever been so much time she could make something for herself when her job required her to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Now though, she had time to learn. She made pancakes in the morning, topping them off with whatever fruit or candy she felt like. She spent an entire week learning how to perfect a tsukemen dish that she would get from a 24-hour restaurant in her hero days. There were times where she’d get the faintest niggling of a desire for a particular dish that she didn’t have in the kitchen, only to immediately go and pick up the ingredients for whatever met her fancy at the time, even if she had only just gotten groceries the day before, or she couldn’t realistically fit everything in her fridge. If she didn’t have enough room, she could just dump it, after all.

As Kaina was cooking though, she saw a shadow swoop by from the corner of her eye. The instant that she had activated her Rifle Quirk and pointed her gun arm behind her, she heard a scream from the apartment upstairs, followed by a faint crunching noise from the ground below. Kaina moved to the window and peeked down, seeing a body in a business suit on the pavement with a slowly growing pool of blood.

“Tetsuo! Tetsuo!” a woman’s voice cried out from above in despair as a few bystanders gathered around the body.

Slowly, Kaina edged away from the window. There wasn’t anything she could do about this. She generally avoided efforts from her neighbors to get to know her, realizing that it would probably put them on edge to know who she actually was. However, her experience in reading people and situational awareness had allowed her to pick up on a few things from the apartment regardless. She knew that the man from the apartment above her used to have an administration job in a Support Gear company in the city. Of course, with the dissolution of the hero system, that had meant that his livelihood was gone.

This wasn’t a rare occurrence. There had been a rash of suicides on top of the rampant crime, riots, and general social unrest ever since the collapse of the hero system. Quite a few people who had committed suicide weren’t even related in any obvious way to the hero system the way Tetsuo was; there were only so many ways the mind could cope with a change so overwhelming. Kaina had made sure to stay up to date on current events, partly to be informed, partly in the hopes that she might be able to satisfy some sense of spite for seeing the world that betrayed and used her fall to pieces.

This didn’t feel particularly satisfying.

Kaina went back to her soup and turned her music up, singing along to drown out the sound of sobbing from upstairs.

The news had been getting repetitive, and most people were recommended to stay indoors unless they absolutely needed to go out. Kaina felt reasonably confident that she could handle herself in the face of any riot or thug taking advantage of the country’s weakened law enforcement, but wasn’t interested in getting into a fight either. She had gotten enough food to last for a while, and it wasn’t as if she had any family or friends to visit, so she decided to just spend the day binging on mahou shojo anime.

Today, she was marathoning the entirety of Madoka Magica, technically a bit of a departure from the cutesy stuff that she usually watched. The characters were still cute, but there was a nuance to their circumstances missing in other anime, a dark undercurrent to the system that the magical girls fought under. Kaina remembered when she had first watched this series when she was younger; she admired Madoka’s heroism, kindness, and optimism, her desire to save everyone. Now though, watching Madoka and the horrors that she experienced, Kaina felt numb, and saw how naïve Madoka was, even if she admired her goodness. She wondered how Madoka would fare in the world of pro heroes; if she would be able to maintain her belief in a happy ending, if the corruption of the system would wear her down, or if she would simply end up destroying herself in a futile act.

Kaina sighed wearily as she slurped up some tsukemen. Maybe someone like Madoka could have been a true hero, but she had yet to ever meet someone like that in real life. And even if someone like that existed, the system would have taken advantage of their image and used it to draw in more idealistic fools to be made more cogs in an ever-growing abomination that wore the façade of heroism. Heck, that was practically what they had done to All Might.

…Maybe it would be good to switch to watching Pokémon for a bit.

Kaina’s thoughts were interrupted by her door bell buzzing. This immediately put her on edge. She didn’t talk to the neighbors, she didn’t have any friends or family who would want to visit, and she hadn’t ordered anything. She started to bend her arm into its rifle form when she paused and took a breath.

“Keep it together, Kaina. Just because someone you don’t know is at the door doesn’t mean that they’re someone you’re going to need to shoot.”

Still unwilling to completely abandon caution, Kaina crept noiselessly towards the door and looked through its peep hole. She immediately pegged the man standing there as a government employee, but not someone who would be used to carry out the kinds of work that she did. He was scrawny, with thinning hair and thick glasses, and clearly in need of a break considering how heavy his eyebags were and how nervous he seemed. He was a pencil-pusher, not a triggerman. That begged the question of why he was here. Even if he wasn’t looking for her for any malevolent purpose, Kaina knew better than to trust anyone from the government.

“Ms. Tsutsumi?” he asked, knocking again. Kaina weighed the option of not saying anything in the hopes that he would just go away.

The man knocked one last time.

“Lady Nagant?”

That got her teeth on edge. She didn’t want to take the risk that one of the neighbors might hear.

“What do you want?” she growled through the door, making the man flinch, though he did his best to regain his composure.

“Um…I’m a representative of the new Department of Emergency Services, and I was wondering if I might be able to come in and have a word with you?” the man said, speaking towards the peep hole.

“No.” Kaina answered. Unless the man had a warrant, she was under no obligation to speak to him.

The man froze awkwardly.

“Uh…it’s just…we’ve been trying to locate former heroes. We’d like to offer you a chance to join the Emergency Services…your skills would certainly be invaluable…”

“Lady Nagant, we need you! You’re the only hero who can do this kind of work! I know that it’s a bit grimmer than the hero work that the public knows about, but that makes it all the more necessary! We need the public to trust that our society is strong, and these…deviant elements would throw that trust into question! I just need you to…make them disappear.”

“I said no.” Kaina growled again.

The man blinked, his mouth hanging open as he stammered.

But he still wouldn’t leave…

“Ms…Ms. Tsutsumi…please…we need your help…the country needs your help…I know that the HPSC betrayed you but…!”

Kaina gave no answer beyond cocking her rifle arm, making sure that the bespectacled worm on the other side of her door could hear it. This finally gave the man the picture as he paled, stepping back in fear.

And yet, he still didn’t leave.

Kaina readied her rifle arm, ready to fire a round through the thin wood of the door and the man’s skull.

“I’m…I’m sorry for bothering you, Ms. Tsutsumi!” The man stammered, followed by his rapidly retreating footsteps. Kaina kept her Quirk ready for a minute more. When she looked through the peep hole again, she was able to confirm that no one was there anymore.

She had gotten complacent. Of course they wouldn’t leave her alone. With the country as bad as it was, who else did they have left to clean up their messes? They would lure her back in with sweet-sounding promises, telling her that she was “serving society,” “performing a necessary duty,” and “protecting the people from behind the scenes,” only to have her fill up a new graveyard. And the moment that she started having doubts, or started to get old and slow, they would make her and all mention of her disappear.

No. She wasn’t going to let them do that.

They knew where she lived. She had to get out of there.

Perhaps she should leave the country altogether? Start over somewhere completely different, far away from the HPSC. Kaina shot that idea down pretty quickly. The instant someone found out about her, whether it would be a foreign government or a criminal organization, they would try to force her to work for them. Japan was the only country that didn’t have a hero system currently after all, and it would be easy for the government of the U.S. or China to claim that they were strongarming her for ‘the greater good,’ that they were ‘giving her a chance to make up for her past misdeeds.’

So, no point in moving. She just needed to figure out a way to protect herself where she was. She needed to take some time to think, to plan, to prepare herself for the next time someone tried to visit her, to force her back into becoming a murderer. Kaina took a breath and retracted her Quirk. She felt her arm tingling though, and looked down. She was shaking. Why was she shaking? She had killed so many before…

She was about to kill that man. Even years later, the reflex was still there. It was so easy. Too easy. This shock brought Kaina back to the present.

“What the hell am I doing?” Kaina asked herself.

She was about to kill some scared office worker. And for what? It was clear that he had nothing to threaten her with. The HPSC was gone, she had seen the president heading into Tartarus. They didn’t have the resources any more to force her to do anything. The Japanese government didn’t have the resources to do anything; they were floundering so much that there was talk of asking for UN assistance just to help police their own country.

What was wrong with her?

Actually, that was pretty obvious. She had been gaslit into becoming an assassin under the guise of a hero for over a decade, and had spent another decade inside a prison meant to be a punishment for someone who deserved worse than death. Maybe it would be better to ask what was right with her.

So, what was she supposed to do about this? Who exactly could she talk to? A psychiatrist? That would have been hard enough in this country even before it started turning into the set of a Mad Max movie. Family? All dead. Friends? Most probably dead, terrified that Kaina would want to kill them, or otherwise be someone that Kaina actually would want to kill.

…Maybe she could start with taking a walk to clear her head.

The general public had been encouraged to stay indoors while what accounted for Japan’s law enforcement attempted to restore order to the country, so the streets were mostly barren. Kaina wasn’t overly concerned though; she was probably the most dangerous thing in the city at the moment, and she needed the fresh air after cooping herself up for so long.

That being said, it wasn’t improving things too much for her mental state.

They’re going to come back for you. The next time that they visit you though, they won’t send some pencil pusher. There will be men in tactical uniforms, assassins with undetectable Quirks, ready to drag you into an unmarked van. So what if the HPSC has been dissolved? Do you really think something that ingrained in the culture could be so easily removed? You know that the suits in the government will just form something under a different name with the exact same purpose.

Kaina took a breath, trying to calm her inner thoughts. Her surroundings though didn’t do much to cheer her up though. Contrary to the hustle one would expect from a city as active as Musutafu, it was mostly barren, with the majority of its citizens too scared to leave their homes or businesses. A lot of said businesses were clearly struggling though. It seemed as if every other building that Kaina passed on her walk had a ‘FORECLOSED’ or ‘OUT OF BUSINESS’ sign, the windows covered up with plyboard, or smash by some vandal. A city this big, with so few people out, with entire streets absent of people, felt to Kaina as if she was walking in some apocalyptic wasteland.

One of the buildings Kaina walked past was an obvious former hero agency, considering the eyesore of architecture it was; with a stylized black-and-yellow striped caution band wrapped around it, labelling it as the “Death Arms Hero Agency.” The style choice confusedly matched the additional, official caution tape wrapped around the building by police, marking the building as a crime scene from the various acts of vandalism done to it after the hero quit. The windows were smashed, the walls had graffiti covering them saying ‘QUITTER!’, ‘FAILURE!’, ‘WORTHLESS FAKE!’, etc., and a scorch mark on the wall indicated that someone had attempted to set the building on fire at some point.

Musutafu had been a popular city for heroes, perhaps because of UA being located there, so there were numerous other hero agencies that Kaina passed as she walked, but almost all of them were in a similar state as the former Death Arms Agency. A few were in the process of being vandalized as Kaina walked by them, with grimy figures spray-painting lewd images or phrases on the agency walls, only to scamper away like rats the moment they saw Kaina observing them, as if they could sense that she was a former hero.

The streets weren’t completely abandoned though, as Kaina could hear shouting in the distance in a few locations of Musutafu, as people chanted slogans similar to the ones that she had read spray-painted on the walls of hero agencies. Perhaps protesters were moving from building to building, finding new targets of their ire depending on which agency buildings had been abandoned yet or not. Kaina could hear more protests around areas of the city that she knew had government buildings; probably a more consistent target of people wanting to find something to be angry at. UA seemed to be a major focus of protests as well; perhaps because there was a possibility that the school might still have someone that would shout back.

Eventually, Kaina stopped, trying to find a quiet place to herself, but even with as empty as the streets were, and as much as she avoided the sounds of shouting, she could still hear the echoes of riots and vandalism resonating through Musutafu.

It was strange. In a way, this was what Kaina had hoped for over the last decade of her life; an end to the façade of the hero system. No more HPSC, no more children being duped by flowery promises of fame and noble purpose, no more hypocritical or naïve slogans gaslighting everyone into ignoring the rot of their society. Everything had been laid bare, the people that had hurt and manipulated Kaina into killing people were in prison, it had all just come to a crashing halt.

Looking around Musutafu though, a city empty of anything but vandals and bits of litter rolling around like tumbleweeds, it felt like a hollow victory to Kaina. Yes, the hero system was gone, but in its place was…this.

Kaina shook her head, hoping that finding something nicer to distract her. She ended up wandering towards the wealthier part of Musutafu. Yes, she knew that a lot of those buildings were constructed from the largess of the hero system, with deluded fools dressed in spandex making money for a select handful of bureaucrats, but it would be like walking through a museum. Yes, the stories of how everything got there were usually ugly, but they were nice things to look at, at least.

However, most of the buildings in the ritzy part of Musutafu weren’t doing any better, with some being vandalized as much as the former hero agencies, and a few with active angry mobs shouting outside of them. In hindsight, Kaina realized that she should have known better; most of the businesses in the country had gotten successful because of the hero system. Without the system, a lot of the owners of the businesses would be suffering, in addition to being another target of the ire of public opinion.

The last building Kaina came across was the Todoroki estate. She was surprised to see it mostly untouched. Even though she knew that Endeavor wasn’t actually in his home, but had been transferred to the Fujiya Hospital, and his remaining children should be seen more as his victims than complicit accomplices, she honestly expected the general public to not care and target them as well, if only to pick out someone else to blame for their problems. Small favors, she supposed. Just as she observed this though, she saw someone leaving out the front door of the building. He was blond man with golden-brown eyes, wearing a respirator mask, and weakened nubs of red wings sticking out of his back. As he walked out, the man sighed, exhausted and coughing.

“…Takami?” Kaina spoke out loud in surprise.

The former No. 2 Hero Hawks, now known just as Takami Keigo, froze in place before turning towards his old mentor.

“…Tsutsumi?”

Kaina had heard about what had happened to Takami; working undercover as a double agent with the League of Villains in an effort to subvert the group, tipping the heroes off to the League’s operations in taking over the MLA and to their location, allowing the heroes to launch a surprise attack, culminating in the defeat of the newly christened ‘Paranormal Liberation Front’. Of course, because of the actions of the villains Dabi and Skeptic, the majority of the public only knew about his assassination of the villain Twice, framed as Hawks toying with a mentally unstable man before stabbing him in the back.

Kaina however knew Takami from much further back than that. Like her, Takami had been brought into the HPSC at a young age, albeit for him it was far, far younger. He had been practically sold to the HPSC by his deadbeat mother, and like her, trained as a hero, but also in the arts of infiltration and deception. She had been one of his teachers. At the time, she hadn’t thought much of training a child for the purposes that she had been, she had just told herself that the HPSC had done the same thing with her and she had turned out alright. When she had been arrested though, one of her greatest regrets was the fact that she knew that Takami would be put to the same use as her.

“Tsutsumi?” Takami asked again, his voice sounding raspy through his mask, his injuries a result of Dabi’s retaliation against the hero for killing Twice. Despite his pain though, he took a step closer to Kaina.

Kaina expected quite a few emotions from Takami; fear of her reputation as an assassin, anger towards her for participating in his training, but his voice carried more confusion, and daresay it, happiness, at seeing her?

“What are you doing here?” He asked.

This was probably the first conversation Kaina had with a human being in the past month apart from her nearly shooting that government representative. She decided to put aside her confusion for the moment.

“I wanted to go for a walk.” She answered. “What are you doing here?”

Takami looked towards the Todoroki household.

“…Just checking up on someone, I guess.”

Kaina looked towards the house. She remembered back when she was first training Takami, in the moments that he allowed himself to be more excited, to act more his age, he had expressed an admiration towards Endeavor as the man that caught and arrested Takami’s father, a wanted murderer. Considering what had been revealed about Todoroki Enji and how he treated his family, this was probably hard on Takami, especially with the issues he had with his own father. However, that begged the question of who Takami would have to visit here. From what Kaina knew about the Todoroki family (who had unfortunately been put in the spotlight by the tabloids following Dabi’s reveal of Endeavor’s abuse,) the only person who lived here was Todoroki Fuyumi, the only daughter of the Todorokis, a school teacher just about Takami’s age…

Kaina felt the faintest hint of amusement at the thought that occurred to her, but she had enough sense not to bring it up in the light of their current circumstances.

“So…how are you?” Takami asked.

“I’m fine.” Kaina answered with a shrug, not wanting to talk about her nightmares, her paranoia, her fear that she was going to be forced back into killing people, or the missing last decade of her life. “How about you?”

“Fine.” Takami answered with his own shrug. Kaina though stared at his respirator, along with the nubs of his wings on his back. “I got beat up at Jaku, but the doctors said that I should recover with time. A few days ago, I couldn’t even speak, had to use a text-to-speech app on my phone just to talk to anyone.”

Takami’s voice got raspier the longer he spoke, having to cough as he finished speaking.

“Do you need me to help you get back to the doctor?” Kaina asked in concern. Takami waved his hand dismissively.

“I’m fine…” he said while he got his breathing under control. “It’s just a problem when I’m out walking. I’ll be able to take this off and breathe more normally once I get somewhere to lie down.”

Kaina frowned at that statement.

“Do you have somewhere to lie down?”

Takami froze in surprise, as if he had only just considered that question himself, before going back to his relaxed voice, likely hoping that Kaina wouldn’t notice.

“I’ll be fine, I’m just going to be getting a hotel.”

Kaina thought for a moment. When she was working with the HPSC, they had added her living accommodations to her agency; in hindsight, it was another way to control her, by being the means through which she had housing. They likely used the same methods with Takami. However, considering the hero agencies were all being shut down, that probably meant that Takami had lost those accommodations. She looked again at the nubs of Takami’s wings, and listened to the distant shouts of people looking for anything and anyone to blame for their problems. The former No. 2 hero, in a severely weakened state, on his own without even a safe place to live would be the ideal target.

“…How about you come with me and crash on my couch for the time being?”

Takami stared at Kaina.

“You…want me over at your place?”

Kaina shrugged.

“It would make me feel better to know that you were somewhere safe.” Takami still seemed hesitant, so Kaina added, “We could make fried chicken!”

The offer of his favorite food finally got to Takami.

“Alright teach, you got me.”

“Giga Drill is gone.” Kaina said to her handler over the phone.

“Wonderful.” The man said in the same tone he had used to congratulate Kaina since she was a child. “You’ve done an excellent service to society Lady Nagant, you should be proud of yourself.”

Kaina did not feel proud. Giga Drill was scum; a hero who used his position to take advantage of teenage girls from hero schools through internships that he had offered. However, when one of the girls had told the HPSC about what the hero had done, they had dismissed the case. True, they had made Giga Drill face consequences for his actions, but there was no acknowledgement of what those girls had gone through. As far as the public knew, Giga Drill was just going on an extended leave of absence. After some time, the HPSC would tell the story that the man had ‘valiantly died in the line of duty.’ He would still be seen as a hero by the rest of the world, possibly even given a plaque or a statue honoring him in his old hero school, one that the girls that he took advantage of would have to see every single day.

“Lady Nagant…is something wrong?” The handler asked over the phone. Kaina hesitated. Perhaps this was a chance she could say something, maybe she could suggest an actual change.

“Sir…I think that we should come clean about what Giga Drill did. Those girls he hurt aren’t going to get justice if people still see him as a hero.”

“Nagant, Nagant, Nagant,” the handler tsked. “You know we can’t do that. Don’t you see what kind of an egg that would put on our face? People need to know that they can trust heroes after all.”

“But sir,” Nagant pleaded, “what if someone else tries to take advantage of girls like that again?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” the handler said, “We’ve already issued payments to the families of those girls, there’s no harm done!”

No harm done?

No harm done!?

“Although, now that you mention it…one of the girls hasn’t been quite cooperative. We’ll need you to make her go away.”

Kaina felt her heart stop in her chest.

“…What?”

“Kill her, Tsutsumi. That’s an order.”

“N…no!” Kaina shouted. “How could you ask me to do something like that?” she had never been given an order like this before! How could they think something like that would be justified?

“Are you refusing your order?” the handler asked in a dangerous voice.

“Yes!” Kaina shouted again. “I’m not going to kill someone innocent!”

“That’s too bad.”

Suddenly, Kaina was hit by a massive explosion that tore her room apart. As Kaina hit the floor, a massive wooden beam fell on her, pinning her down. Everything was spinning, she couldn’t see or hear anything but ringing, but the moment her hearing came back, she saw the cracked screen of her phone that the handler was still talking through.

“It is quite unfortunate, Lady Nagant, you were very useful to us.”

Pinned beneath the debris, Kaina heard approaching footsteps.

“Fortunately, there will always be those willing to do what’s right for their society.”

A hand roughly grabbed Kaina by her shoulder, holding her down. She looked, and saw the face of the girl that had wanted to shake her hand, her hand glowing red and pointed between her eyes.

Kaina snapped out of it, grabbing and twisting the hand holding her down, kicking the debris off of her and twisting her attacker’s arm around, activating her Rifle Quirk in the same move to point at the back of their head.

“Wait, wait, Tsutsumi!” Takami’s voice cried out.

Kaina blinked. She wasn’t in her old agency, she was in her apartment. She hadn’t kicked debris off of her, it was her bed sheets. And it was Takami whose head she currently had pinned to the wall with her Rifle arm.

Shaking, she pulled away. Carefully, his hands in the air where she could see them, Takami turned around.

“…You were screaming in your sleep. I guess I just made things worse, huh?” he tried to joke.

Kaina was still panting. Takami looked down, and Kaina realized that her Quirk was still active. She quickly retracted it, and Takami took the opportunity to leave.

Kaina didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. She had nearly killed a man that she had known since he was a child. She could still remember when Takami first met her, and the innocent joy in his eyes as he realized that he was going to have a hero of such acclaim teaching him…

Kaina wretched, doubling over the side of her bed as she barely fought off the urge to vomit. Eventually, she calmed down enough that she was able to crawl out of bed. Much to her surprise though as she walked into the living room, she saw Takami was still there, lying on the couch as he flipped through the news on his phone. He looked up and shot her a smile.

“Morning!” he said as if he was pretending that she hadn’t nearly killed him the night before. “Sleep okay? Sorry I scared you like that, dumb move, I know.”

Kaina stared at Takami, unable to believe it. He was still there?

Thinking about it though, Kaina remembered that Takami didn’t exactly have anywhere else he could go. She had initially only intended to have Takami sleep on her couch for a night before he could find somewhere more permanent. He had certainly tried to find somewhere else, not wanting to impose on his old teacher for too long (that was just what he said to her. The real reason they both knew was what they both knew about the things that the other had done. In a bizarre way, they were the only ones who could understand each other…but the difference between them was that Kaina was one of the people who had helped put Takami in the position where he would go and do those things. Obviously, an uncomfortable arrangement, for Kaina at least.) However, finding an apartment for Takami was a lot harder than they had anticipated. Besides the general issue of finding housing in the turmoil of society at the time, the moment anyone recognized who Takami was, they immediately turned him down. No one wanted to be associated with the HPSC hitman that had murdered a man with a mental disorder in cold blood. (One landlady was dumb and entitled enough to say this to Kakami’s face, and Kaina had to fight the urge to feed that woman her own teeth. How the hell could anyone judge Takami for what he did? He risked his life every single day he was spying on the League, gave the heroes the window of opportunity that they needed to attack, and took out one of the greatest threats in the League before he could unleash a literal, ever-growing army on the country. And people rewarded all of this by treating him like the plague. Fuck those worthless, ungrateful peons.)

“Y…yeah…” she said, not wanting to think about the previous night herself. She pointed her thumb towards the kitchen. “Hey, you hungry? I was thinking of making chicken and waffles.”

That was a lie; Kaina was going to eat cold cereal out of the box while she watched Tokyo Mew Mew. The offer though surprised Takami so much that he couldn’t muster the will to say no.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yeah, my treat.” Kaina asserted, immediately getting to work with the meal. Working though made her feel sick, staring blankly off into the distance as the chicken fried.

Here she was, giving Takami a bribe so he wouldn’t think about the horrible thing she had just done. How much had the HPSC rubbed off on her?

“Takami…I’m sorry…” she eventually managed to work up the courage to say out loud.

Takami finished folding up the blankets on the couch to make it look nice when Kaina spoke.

“I’m…I’m so sorry…” Kaina repeated again.

Takami stared at Kaina for a moment before sighing.

“It’s okay. I get it.” He answered with a more sincere smile.

And didn’t that just make her feel worse? Takami didn’t seem to be bothered though as he gratefully dug into the food. Despite his issues with finding housing, Takami had been improving steadily since Kaina had invited him to her apartment; his wings were growing back, and he hardly needed the respirator mask anymore. As the two were cleaning up the dishes, Takami spoke up again.

“Hey…so…” Takami said. “I was wondering…”

In the time that she had gotten to know him, Kaina had found only one thing that got him to speak with that hint of fear, and despite the events of the previous night, she felt the urge to smirk.

“See…Fuyumi’s brother is going to be coming over for dinner tonight, and she invited me to spend it with them.”

“Aww…” Kaina teased, actually managing to illicit a blush from her old student. “You’re getting to know the family…”

Ever since Kaina had started letting Takami sleep in her apartment, she had noticed that he had been making a lot of calls to the daughter of the Todoroki family. He excused it as just wanting to check up on the family of the hero that had once inspired him so much, wanting to make sure that they were okay after going through so much turmoil, but Kaina could tell there was something a bit more there.

“Haha…right.” Takami tried to ignore the teasing and continued; “The thing is, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me.”

Kaina stopped scrubbing her pans.

“It’s just…you know,” Takami went on, “you might like to spend some time with people. I mean,” Takami shrugged, “I get it if you want to want to binge Pokémon again, it’s your choice how you want to spend your time, but…” Takami shrugged, “it might help you to calm down if you had someone to talk to.”

Kaina repressed the urge to wince at Takami’s verbal jab, choosing not to respond as she continued to clean. Takami took advantage of the fact that she didn’t say no, though.

“Fuyumi knows who you are, by the way, so she’s not going to judge you.” Takami shrugged. “I mean, we’re all kind of in the same boat, aren't we?”

Kaina wasn’t particularly enthused about the idea, but she couldn’t argue with Takami’s logic. There was only so much time she could spend cooped up in the apartment, after all.

“…Okay.”

Several hours later, the two were making their way back to the Todoroki mansion.

By this point, Takami’s wings had grown back almost to the point that he could use his Quirk without hurting himself. That being said, Kaina was glad that she was walking with him. From what she had heard, Takami’s old hero agency had been attacked by arsonists, even though the building itself was supposed to be repurposed. She didn’t like to think how someone would react to seeing him walking around. Unfortunately, even though she had let Takami borrow her hair dye and he was wearing a coat to cover up his wings, it wasn’t a perfect disguise.

Such was the case when the two were cutting through an alleyway as a shortcut, only to bump into a man that smelled of liquor as he accidentally swayed into Takami, knocking his coat loose. The man immediately noticed Takami’s wings.

“Hey…it’s you! You’re Hawks! You killed that Twice guy!”

Takami sighed.

“Look, man, I’m just out for a walk…”

“How the hell are you not in prison?” the man demanded furiously, anger growing on his face and supplanting any confusion he might have had from his intoxication. “Why the hell haven’t they executed you?”

“Buddy, I got questioned by a UN panel, and they all agreed that I did what I had to do to stop the League from killing even more people than they already had…”

“Oh, sure, the guys from the government said that.” The man said contemptuously. “But we all saw what you did! We saw you kill a man with a mental disorder when he was just trying to run away!”

“He was about to unleash an army of clones on everyone…” Takami tried to explain.

“I don’t care what your damn excuses are!” The man started to back away, but kept his aggressive expression. “Let’s see what everyone else thinks when they hear you’re here!” The man cupped his hands over his mouth, “HE…Gack!”

The man had attempted to shout out, only to painfully gag as Kaina shoved her Rifle arm into his mouth. She had hit him so aggressively that she had pinned him against the brick wall of the alley by the back of his throat.

“Tsutsumi!” Takami tried to get Kaina’s attention, to try to calm her down, but she had enough of this.

“You shut the hell up, you worthless piece of garbage.” Kaina growled to the man as he frantically coughed and gagged on the rifle shoved into the back of his throat. “If this man here hadn’t done what he had, you and everyone you know would be dead. Don’t you act as if the League were filled with noble people when every single one of them knew that they were working for a psychopath who had murdered two children and was planning on murdering everyone else.”

Kaina leaned her head forward until he was face to face with the man, who was frantically crying, hands shaking over the arm ready to execute him, but too scared to touch it for fear of setting the former hero off.

“You have no idea what he had to do, how much he put at risk to help you ungrateful bastards. You say a goddamn word to cause trouble, and I’ll pop your head like a zit, you understand?”

“Yyygggmmmpphhh!!! Yyygggmmppphh!” the man answered, frantically trying to shake his head up and down. Finally, Kaina pulled her rifle arm out, and the man, spitting and coughing blood from the force of her attack, ran crying out of the alleyway.

“…You didn’t need to do that, Kaina.” Takami eventually said. “I could have just flown away.”

“…You didn’t deserve that, kid.” Kaina answered. She shook her head, exhausted. “I’m sorry, I don’t feel up to talking to anyone else tonight, I’m going home.”

Takami sighed.

“Alright. I should be able to fly back without any issue. You take care of yourself, Tsutsumi.”

The two departed, and Kaina took to wandering aimlessly through the city, still cautious of distant echoes of protests, along with the faint glow of another fire being set. She sighed, disgusted by what she was seeing. Were these the kinds of people that she had been fighting to protect? Was this the real face of the society the HPSC duped her into serving?

Finally, the day came where Takami’s doctor cleared him, and his wings were confirmed to be back to their full glory. He celebrated by lapping the city of Mustafu a few times, grateful to finally be able to fly freely without being couped up anymore. Kaina tracked him in his flight, bemusedly smiling at his exuberance before heading back inside; he had mentioned that he had a few errands to take care of for the rest of the day.

Once Kakami came back to the apartment, he did something somewhat confusing to Kaina; he put on his old hero costume. When he noticed her watching him, Takami gave Kaina a grim smile.

“Feeling nostalgic?” Kaina suggested, even though it had only been a bit over a month since Kagami had last worn it.

“Just making sure everything still fits the way it should before I go on patrol again tomorrow.”

Kaina blinked in surprise.

“Patrol?”

Takami shrugged.

“Yeah, the police aren’t really sure what else to do with the heroes that are trying to integrate with them, so they’re mostly just having us try to do the same things we did before until they figure out how to change things up.” He looked wistfully at his aviation jacket. “I’m kind of wondering if they’re going to just have me stick with this since its probably the best thing to wear with how fast and high I move. Maybe they’ll give me something in blue to match everyone else eventually.”

“Wait…you’re joining the police?”

Takami looked at Kaina quizzically.

“I mean…yeah? The government’s trying to keep all the heroes they can, so I’m just going to try to make the most of whatever it is they’re going to try to do with me.”

“Ms. Tsutsumi, I promise you, you are going to be a great service to society. Your skills are exactly what we need, and there isn’t anyone better for the work that you do!”

Takami was apparently able to pick up on the apprehension Kaina was feeling, as he tensed up as he looked back at her.

“…What is it?”

“…I don’t think you should do this.” Kaina answered.

Again, Takami blinked.

“Why not? I’m not a pro hero anymore, but this is the closest thing that we’ve got right now…”

“Takami…” Kaina interrupted, feeling her heart beat in her chest, trying to tamp down the thoughts that were screaming at her, reminding her of how she was the one who had trained him for this purpose, to make him into a government agent, to fulfill whatever duty they deemed necessary. “You already got out from the HPSC’s thumb. Don’t crawl back under a new one now that they don’t have the power to put you back under again.”

Takami stared at Kaina.

“…Tsutsumi…the HPSC’s gone…”

“Do you really think that whatever is going to replace it is going to be any better?” she snapped. “What do you think they’re going to have you do?”

“…The same stuff I did before?” Takami tentatively answered.

“Exactly.” Kaina said, stomping up to her old student, pleading with him not to fall back into the same trap that he and her had been caught in. “They’ll send you out on the same missions, to do the same stuff, to hide the same bodies. You know what you were trained to do. What I was trained to do. People aren’t just going to let those skills go, especially not if you’re just going to give them a chance to abuse them again.”

Some of the confusion left Takami’s face as he began to understand what Kaina was getting at, replaced with…pity?

“Kaina…they need my help.” He gestured to the window outside. From their view, the two could see a swath of vandalized businesses and homes. In the distance, the two were even able to see the blackened remains of one of the buildings that had been set on fire during a riot. “Someone’s got to do something about this.”

“Why?” Takami snapped again. “What do you owe to anyone out there?” she got up into Takami’s face. He did not retreat, and he just seemed upset that she was acting this way, which just made her angrier. “You lost your childhood because of people like the ones asking you to put that costume back on. You lost your innocence. You put everything on the line, and how do people thank you? They hate and fear you, even though you’re one of the biggest reasons why they’re all still living. You can’t even show your face in public without someone starting a riot trying to lynch you. Why would you want to help them?”

“Well, what else can I do? I can’t just sit back and watch everything burn.”

“Why not?”

Takami, normally so calm and composed, noticeably recoiled from Kaina’s statement. She felt bile in her mouth as she spoke, but forced it down and kept on with a rant that she had been holding in for years.

“Why shouldn’t we just watch it burn? Why not just let this rotten society face the consequences of their actions?” Kaina walked back to her living room with her arms spread wide. “I’ve got everything I need to live my life! Why shouldn’t we just let those rotten, ungrateful bastards fix their own problems?” She gestured towards the wide-eyed Takami. “Why shouldn’t you? Why go back to the same kinds of people that made us hated in the first place? You know as well as I do that they’re not going to trust you. You know that kind of reputation doesn’t go away.”

Takami stared at Kaina as she panted from her shouting. Eventually, he bowed his head and spoke in a quiet voice.

“…I want to keep kids from thinking that no one is going to save them.” He said in a quiet voice.

“I…I thought that heroes didn’t exist. I thought that my mom and I were never going to get away from that man, but then Endeavor showed up and finally stopped him! He showed me that heroes exist, and I want to be a hero like him!”

Kaina winced at the memory of Takami still as a wide-eyed, innocent child, though Kagami didn’t notice with his head down.

“Look…it does piss me off how people treat me.” Takami admitted. “Twice…I wish I could have convinced him to drop out from the League, but he was going to help them kill a lot of people, and I wish that people could realize that, and that the footage Dabi showed was taken out of context. I wish that I got something out of nearly getting burned alive.” Takami threw his hands up in frustration. “So, yeah, people are being assholes to me. And yeah, it sucks that the HPSC used me the way that they did. I had hoped that if I worked hard enough, I might be able to change them from within, make them less corrupt, but looking back, I really should have realized how much they played me.” He looked up at Kaina before wincing and looking away. “I can’t help but wonder if they were going to have me start to take someone else under my wing the way you did. Maybe whoever comes to power next is going to try to use me the way the HPSC did, and I’m not going to lie, I’m going to be on my toes to try to keep that from happening to me or to anyone else again.”

Takami sighed before looking back at Kaina.

“The fact is though, people still need help. Maybe they’re not saints, but neither am I. Look…I’m not All Might. I don’t have clean hands. But considering Endeavor is still in the hospital…I am probably the most skilled person in the country for this sort of thing, and I want to use what I’ve got to help them.”

He shook his head and shrugged.

“Things aren’t going to get any better unless we do something.”

Kaina couldn’t look at Takami in the eye, but he gently patted her on the shoulder.

“I don’t blame you for not wanting to get involved with any of this again, but this is my choice.”

Kaina idly slurped up some cup ramen. It would have tasted better, and maybe even made her feel better if she had gone through the effort to make it herself, or maybe make some tsukemen, or gyoza, or anything that took more effort than popping a cup in a microwave, but she didn’t have the energy to.

Takami had left about a week ago. While he hadn’t found any apartment willing to take him on as a tenant still, Todoroki Fuyumi had invited him to move in. Takami confided when he explained this to her that while he and Fuyumi both felt they might be moving a bit fast, it was ironically something that her brother and mother had encouraged, not feeling comfortable with her living alone, especially not with the stigma that had attached itself to the Todoroki name (though they were going to be legally changing their family name to Himura for this reason.)

Kaina didn’t realize how much she had appreciated Takami’s presence in the apartment until he was gone. He was someone she could talk to, someone who understood part of what she felt, someone that she understood. Watching anime on her own wasn’t the same as having Takami there, even if she sometimes had to compromise on what they watched (she did have to admit that Uncle From Another World was pretty funny, even if some of the references were seriously out of date.) Even though he had left, he still made sure to call her every few days. She always pretended that he was going to mooch off of her food again, but privately knew that he was checking up on her, knowing that she didn’t have anyone else to talk to.

Worse, she couldn’t get what he had said when he had told her that he was joining the police. There were times when she wanted to shout at him, when she wanted to beg him to stop, to not make the same mistakes she did, and then there were times where she just felt so proud of him.

She still checked up on the news. She still didn’t get any satisfaction from what she read about society falling apart.

Things finally came to a head when she was watching the news about a new riot breaking out in Mustafu.

“We’re getting reports of riots breaking out in separate locations of the city all at once. Each riot started in a major political, commercial, or transportation hub. It’s clear that these riots are far more organized than in the past.” The reporter frantically spoke to the camera on the scene at the Musutafu courtroom as a crowd of people wearing skull masks were trying to force their way through the police’s attempt to hold off. Kaina could make out some of the chants the masked rioters were shouting:

“Reject the Creatures of our society!”

“How many other Spinners are we supposed to put up with?!”

“CRC forever!”

The Creature Rejection clan. Of course. Kaina was familiar with them, even though the HPSC had never deemed them a significant enough threat to send her after them, though in hindsight, Kaina thought that some of the HPSC officials might sympathize with their anti-heteromorph views. Frowning, Kaina flipped through the news feed on her phone, getting live updates on each of the locations the CRC was rioting at:

One mob was rioting through the streets of Takoba, a poorer district where a lot of heteromorphs had to live. Another was trying to force their way into a hospital. Another into the National Bank. The last location chilled Kaina, as a crowd was rampaging through the metro station, cornering a group of heteromorphs that had sealed themselves inside a subway car that had been force off of the tracks. Police were there at each site, but it was clear that they were being overwhelmed. The only help the police had at each location was a single former hero attempting to combat the most violent rioters.

Kaina watched as Sakamata Kugo, formerly Gang Orca, who despite being one of the most targeted individuals at the courthouse he was trying to protect, still stood his ground as he wrestled with a Clan member with a Muscle Enhancement Quirk.

Yamada Hizashi, formerly Present Mic, was in Takoba, using his Voice Quirk to try to repel rioters, though he struggled as they were attempting to rush at him from multiple angles, forcing him to back up as he tried to fight.

Hakamada Tsunagu, formerly Best Jeanist was helping the police reset their breaking cordon by entangling rioters forcing their way through it.

Katamari Kuri, formerly Enigma was attempting to block the CRC’s attempts to ram trucks into the National Bank with her Mass Expansion Quirk that turned her into a giant black blob.

Kamiji Moe, formerly Burnin, one of Endeavor’s former sidekicks, had stationed herself on top of the subway car the CRC was trying to break into, holding her ground against the bigots and forcing them to step away with handfuls of fire.

Each of these former heroes were fighting odds far beyond what they should be expected to handle, but all without the praise that they had previously known. Several of them had been victimized in their own way by the society that they had fought to protect: Sakamata, despite being acknowledged enough to become the No. 10 Hero of the country, still had his physical appearance lambasted by the general public, being ranked third among “Heroes who look like villains.” Katamari had been treated even worse, being attacked as a villain even back since her early days as one of Ingenium’s sidekicks. Others were reviled by the public for their failures, or their perceived failures, despite working just as hard: Hakamada was seen as an example of the hero system’s decadence, despite having abandoned his fashion business in order to focus his efforts on helping the police. Yamada was demonized along with his other colleagues from UA for never reigning in the now infamous Bakugou Katsuki. Kamiji was blamed for the familial abuse her boss had committed, even though there was no way she could be blamed for what Endeavor did in his personal life.

All of these people, leftovers from a broken system, sometimes even victims of it, still trying to help the society that villainized them.

“I’m getting reports that the former No. 2 Hero Hawks is attempting to assist, but is caught in an aerial battle with several CRC members!” the reporter announced.

“Takami…” Kaina breathed as she saw phone footage of her former student skillfully swooping past skyscrapers in combat with his own opponents; some having grown wings of their own, some propelling themselves like rockets, and other attempting to ensnare him with wires or tentacles. Though he was far more skilled than any of them, it was clear that the CRC had accounted for his interference and was coordinating in a way that he couldn’t immediately respond to.

“…Screw it.” Kaina said before running out the door.

Keigo rolled out of the way of a torrent of flames that a masked CRC member was blasting at him while using it to fly. Normally, he’d have no problem with this, but another Clanist with a Wind Manipulation Quirk was making it difficult for him to direct his feathers. Suddenly, he felt a tendril hook onto his leg.

“Got him!” a Clanist shouted, having ensnared Keigo’s right leg with a transformed tentacle as he attempted to dodge past a skyscraper. He heard what sounded like an oncoming missile and braced for impact.

BANG!

The CRC member that could turn his limbs into jets shouted in pain, clutching the sputtering remains of his right leg as he suddenly careened out of control, ramming into another Clanist with a Limb Extension Quirk, causing the two to topple to the ground. Keigo recognized the sound of the gunshot, and felt his heart soar at the realization of what had just happened. The Wind Manipulation member suddenly fell out of the air with another Bang, giving Keigo the opportunity to finally make use of his feathers, which zipped out, snaring several of his distracted opponents and slamming them into the ground as more CRC members were sniped out of the air. With the skies clear, Keigo noticed a flashing light from a distant building signaling him to come over.

His old mentor was waiting for him, her Rifle Quirk active.

“Get me somewhere high.” She ordered, to which he obeyed with a grin.

Hero society, particularly Japanese Hero society, had always looked down on guns, something which Kaina realized in retrospect would have made it difficult for her to achieve acceptance without the HPSC’s manipulations. The fact remained however that no matter how strong you were, a rifle shot, even when Kaina used nonlethal ammunition, could usually take anyone down. Using Takami’s feathers to take her to a better vantage point, Kaina was able to take out most of the strongest threats that the other former heroes were facing. Coupled with Takami’s speed, the two were able to quickly neutralize the CRC’s attempts to run amok. Sakamata was in combat with the Brute CRC member when he was suddenly knocked out by a bullet impacting the back of his head, allowing him to use his sonic waves to paralyze the rest of the rioters at the bank. The trucks that Katamari was getting battered by had their tires shot out. In the open area of train station, Kamiji found that her opponents were all forced to run for cover to avoid getting sniped, allowing her to get the trapped passengers to safety. Hakamada was joined by Takami, who took down the rioting Clanists before they could react. Yamada was finally given a break as red feathers hitting from multiple angles flanked the Clanists trying to outmaneuver the Voice Hero.

But for some reason, when all was said and done, Takami brought the other former heroes to Kaina’s location. He just shrugged and grinned under her annoyed glare.

“They wanted to thank you.” He explained. When Kaina kept glaring at him, he walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “They know who we are, and what we’ve done. At this point though, considering the mess that we all got ourselves into with the HPSC, we’re just glad for whatever help we can get.”

“Tsutsumi…” Hakamada said, stepping forward, his head bowed in remorse. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I didn’t take what was happening to you seriously. I…I had just assumed that we were heroes, that the people we worked for would do the right thing…”

Sakamata stepped forward.

“You saved a lot of people, Tsutsumi. We are sincerely glad that you came to help, despite what we had been led to believe about you.”

“Endeavor never went that far…” Kamiji said grimly, “but I kind of understand now what it’s like to realize that the organization you were working for wasn’t all something to respect.” The woman flashed Kaina a smile. “It’s nice to be reminded that I’m not alone and there’s still some stuff left fighting for.”

“…It’s been hard lately.” Katamari said. “We don’t get much support, and now that the hero system’s gone, it feels as if I’m seen as a villain more than ever.” The young woman grimaced before smiling at Kaina. “I was scared that this was going to turn out a lot worse than it did. Thank you for helping us.” She said, bowing in respect.

Yamada spoke up, looking exhausted.

“I thought that was going to be it, you know?” the man said, slumped over. “There’s…there’s a lot of things that I feel like I’ve got to make up for, and I’m glad that I’ve got a chance to keep trying to do that, thanks to you two.”

Kaina looked at the former heroes spread before her, expressing their gratitude to her, treating her as a hero again. She’d be lying if she said that it didn’t make her feel a bit better about herself.

“…You’re welcome.” She answered simply.

“Ms. Tsutsumi…” Sakamata said, standing up straight. “We understand if this was something you chose to do merely on a whim, but I believe that I speak for all of us that if you chose to lend your aid with the force, we would be grateful.”

This was something that Kaina still doubted. Sure, these six former heroes might welcome her, but they could hardly speak for every other police officer. Then again though, this was a lot more people than she had in a while rooting for her.

The other heroes were giving Kaina her space, but Takami was looking at her expectantly.

Kaina couldn’t deny it; going out into the field, actually fighting for something, or at least someone that she believed in, it felt good. It felt good to fighting for anything at all. She felt how she did before she had met the HPSC, when she believed she could do some good in the world.

“What do you think?” Takami asked.

Kaina took a breath.

“…You’re right. I want to help too…but you know me, Takami.” Kaina pointed out. “You’ve seen the kinds of things that I’ve done, the ways that I’ve snapped. I’m not sure if I can help others when I need help myself.”

“I think we all need that kind of help.” Yamada pointed out grimly.

“We’re all just trying to sew ourselves back together.” Hakamada added. “Trying to take what we have and sew it into something good, and to try to not make the same mistakes we did in the past. One thread at a time.”

Kaina groaned, even as she had to repress a snort, remembering Hakamada's clothing puns. She looked again at Takami.

“If you still don’t want to do this, or if you need more time…”

“No…I think I’ve spent enough time cooped up.” Kaina admitted, looking out at the wreckage left over from the riots. “I need to do something now.”

Two years later

Kaina and Takami watched from a window in the upper floors as the new recruits came into the building, standing in a line as Chief Gori called them to attention.

“That them?” she asked, pointing to the crow-headed boy and the solid shadow sticking out over his shoulder from his navel.

“Yep. Tokoyami and Dark Shadow.” Takami responded. He seemed calm, but even as talented as he was in masking his true feelings, Kaina had trained him and knew his tells, the faint dilating of his pupils, the straightening of his wings as if tensing for takeoff; he was nervous.

“You sure you want to do this?” she asked.

Takami shrugged as if the challenge didn’t bother him.

“I’d rather us not hover around each other awkwardly until one of us snaps. If they’ve got a problem with me, I’d rather them air it out now.”

As Gori was talking to the recruits, Kaina noticed one of them, a tall, black-haired girl that Kaina realized was the heiress of the Yaoyorozu Conglomerate, observing her and Takami from her peripheral vision, her eyes widening in a brief moment of surprise and recognition before refocusing on Gori without anyone else noticing.

“Not bad situational awareness…” Kaina noted.

Once the new recruits had gotten familiar enough with the layout of the station and had a break before having to go out on duty, Kaina and Takami went down to the mess hall. The two saw Tokoyami and Dark Shadow on their own as they were leaving the locker rooms, and Takami took his chance. Kaina hung back, wanting to give her old student the privacy he needed to talk to his old students, but also wanting to be around in case things might get ugly. Takami wasn’t sure how Tokoyami and Dark Shadow would take seeing him again. He had taken them on for their Work Study back in their first year, but that was before he had become a pariah for his work for the HPSC and the assassination of Twice.

“Wish me luck!” Takami said to Kaina as he approached Tokoyami and Dark Shadow.

Kaina could see Takami greeting the two, who reacted in shock and surprise as expected. What she didn’t expect was the two would then throw themselves around Takami in a hug, exclaiming his old hero name excitedly, before realizing that they were in a public area and immediately trying to recompose themselves, blushing. Takami laughed it off, clearly relieved before inviting the two to talk. Kaina smiled, letting them have their privacy.

About an hour later, Takami met Kaina back in the mess hall, his unease gone.

“So, it went well?”

“Pretty good.” Takami answered, nodding with a grin. “They seemed glad to see me. It’s not all roses and daisies; they were pretty shocked to find out what the HPSC had been doing like everyone else, but they don’t seem to hold that against me.” Takami sat down, a faint glum look momentarily coming over him. “I almost feel like they should a little more, but I guess they were more concerned about me getting injured by Dabi. I kind of feel guilty for not talking to them since then.”

“Well, better than you expected, at least.” Kaina pointed out. “You three were talking for a bit, were you just catching up?”

“Yeah.” Takami sported a smirk. “Turns out they got a girlfriend when they were at UA.”

“Wait…you mean Tokoyami has a girlfriend, they share a girlfriend, or…”

Takami shrugged.

“I…think we’re just saying that Tokoyami has a girlfriend, but she also likes Dark Shadow…I don’t know, it’s something they’re figuring out.”

“Huh. So, you going to go back to teaching them?”

“If they’ll let me.” Takami said as he took a bite out of his chicken. “I’d certainly like to. I’d like to teach them what I know. Make sure that they don’t make the same mistakes I did.” He added wistfully.

Kaina smiled, though the comment made her think. She wished that she had been better at teaching Takami not to make her mistakes.

Perhaps it was hearing about Takami’s excitement about his mentorship, but Kaina decided to ask another question.

“So, besides this girlfriend of his, did Tokoyami and Dark Shadow mention any other students of note?”

Takami probably realized what Kaina was fishing for, but didn’t push it.

“Well, there’s two that they talked about now, the same two that they talked about the most back when they were doing their Work Study;” Takami pointed towards a green-haired young man sitting with the former members of the Hell Class, though unlike their uniforms, he wore a simple dress shirt and tie. “If I’m right, that guy over there? His name’s Midoriya Izuku, sounds like he’s working as one of our new analysts. Those two baby birds told me that he’s one of the biggest reasons why they’ve got such a good relationship. Also…” Takami paused uncomfortably, “Nezu took him on as his personal student.”

Okay, a bit too scary for Kaina’s liking.

“And the other one?” she asked.

Takami pointed over towards Yaoyorozu. In the brief moment that Kaina observed her, she noticed how the other members of the Hell Class interacted with her; deferring to her, giving her a look of respect that Kaina would only ever see in soldiers towards a trusted general.

“Yaoyorozu Momo. Apparently, she’s kind of the leader of their little group. Those two really make her sound impressive.”

Kaina continued to observe Yaoyorozu, resolving to keep an eye on her. She didn’t make any immediate decisions, instead wanting to get a handle on the girl, along with the rest of the new recruits. Despite several of them showing talent over the next few months though, it really was apparent that Yaoyorozu had earned the respect of Tokoyami and Dark Shadow, along with the rest of their peers, and eventually the rest of the police force. She was extremely intelligent and methodical, but also demonstrated a surprising ability to adapt to changing circumstances, able to handle threats that took Kaina years of training under the HPSC to deal with. Eventually, she decided that she wanted to cultivate this talent.

On the day that she decided to talk to Yaoyorozu, Kaina observed Yaoyorozu at the firing range until she decided to approach the young woman. Even with her safety goggles and ear protection on, Yaoyrozu was able to realize someone was approaching her and turned.

“Sergeant Tsutsumi.” the girl corrected herself, bowing to her superior. “It’s good to finally meet you. May I help you?”

Kaina took a look at the target sheet that Yaoyorozu had pulled in.

“Good grouping.” She observed. “But I think you can do better.”

Yaoyorozu looked at Kaina, curious.

“Do you think you could show me how?” she asked.

Kaina smiled, looking at the Glock that Yaoyorozu was practicing with.

“From what I can tell, you’ve accounted for distance, bullet drop, and wind direction, but you haven’t taken your heartrate into account.”

“What do you mean?”

Kaina activated her Rifle arm, pointing it out to Yaoyorozu.

“When you’re aiming at something from far away, even a small jolt can make a big difference, including the jolt your heart makes through your arm when it beats. The trick is to shoot between heartbeats.” Kaina deactivated her Quirk and looked at Yaoyorozu. “So, start with listening for your own heartbeat. Close your eyes, and block out any distraction.”

Yaoyorozu frowned, but did what Kaina said, closing her eyes and trying to block out any noise. Thankfully, it seemed that she was patient, as she didn’t wince or complain that it was too hard, simply standing still and listening. Kaina stayed quiet, letting the heiress work.

“…I’ve got it.”

“Good.” Kaina said, sending another target sheet down range. “Now, pick up your gun, find your heartbeat again, and fire between the beats.”

Again, it took a moment before Yaoyorozu fired, but it was shorter than the first time before she fired. She took another moment to find her heart beat again, fired, took another moment, and fired. Each subsequent shot took a little less time.

Kaina pulled the target sheet back. Each shot was a bullseye.

“Wow…thank you, Sergeant…” Yaoyorozu said as she observed her work.

Kaina looked at her a moment longer.

“Would you be interested in anything else I could teach you?”

Yaoyorozu stared at Kaina with wide, excited eyes.

“Absolutely! Thank you, Sergeant!”

Kaina sighed, but smiled. Yaoyorozu was enthusiastic, like she was when the HPSC recruited her. Kaina would make sure to give her student the guidance she needed.

The former Lady Nagant still had nightmares. She still sometimes saw blood on her hands. But she had people with her now who understood that, people who wanted to help her, and people she could help. It was likely that in the job that they had, there would be more occasions that would give Yaoyorozu her own nightmares, if she did not have them already. Perhaps it was inevitable. Kaina didn’t think that she could stop that. She could however be there for Yaoyorozu and the next generation when they were awake, to help them deal with their pain, and pass on what she knew to them.