A group of underaged looking pimps turned a corner and entered an alleyway. Darkness enveloped them immediately, as though the bright neon lights in the main city had all gone out at once. An unsettling silence hung in the air.

Felix ripped off his fake moustache the moment he left the view of the public. His classmates’ amateur disguises definitely weren’t fooling anyone, and the clothes they chose were anything but comfortable. Still, they didn’t want to risk standing out as kids in a shopping district, so they had no choice but to put up with their terrible cosplays.

Momo slowed down, frowning a little as she stared at her receiver. The two blinking dots had almost merged by now, which meant that the transmitter should be in the building right in front of them.

“We’re here already? Are you sure?” Felix stole a peek at the device. “This ‘Kamino Ward’ place is pretty crowded. Doesn’t seem like a nomu could simply waltz back into the villains’ hideout without drawing attention.”

He heaved a secret sigh of relief. They were nowhere near the bar that the League frequented. Whatever the case was, he was glad he could still keep his cover for at least a little while longer.

“The GPS signal is indicating that we’ve reached, though…” Todoroki muttered. “Also, just because the villains are here doesn’t mean that our friends are as well.”

Tenya seized their hands. “Remember, no fighting.”

“It’s okay. Doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” Kirishima said enthusiastically. He was holding a night vision binoculars with one hand and trying to climb the short wall with the other.

“Kiri-” Ochaco lowered her voice quickly. “Kirishima, what the hell are you doing? You’re going to get us caught! Also, how did you get those binoculars? Aren’t they, like, super expensive?”

“I bought them because I thought we’d need it. Who cares about the price?” The red haired boy was still trying to scale the wall. “Help me out here, I’ll take a closer look.”

Ochaco tapped him casually, and he began floating upwards. Tenya and Todoroki held his legs down to prevent him from flying away like a stray balloon.

“G-guys? I… I think this is the place where they manufacture Nomus.” Shock and fear possessed Kirishima’s voice now. “Holy crap, there’s… there’s a lot of them!”

His feet touched the ground.

“Nomus? Are you sure?” Todoroki asked in a serious tone.

“Positive.” Kirishima nodded hard. “But it seems like they’re all hibernating though. No one else is in the room.”

“Looks like we got to the wrong place. Our friends aren’t here.” Tenya turned to leave. “Let’s head back-”

“No, wait.”

The group turned to Momo.

“Those monsters have caused us and the heroes so much trouble,” she said. “If we can gather enough evidence, the heroes can eradicate the nomus at its source. We would be fools to waste this golden opportunity.”

Everyone else except for Felix and Tenya nodded earnestly.

“No way, it’s too dangerous. If they come to life at the wrong time, we’re all dead.” Tenya shook his head vigorously.

“I believe they need to be activated to awaken,” Felix pondered out loud. “We’re not going to set them off just by being near them. Still, it’s a little dangerous for us.”

Kirishima pumped his fists enthusiastically.

“Easy. We get in, collect our evidence, and get out. Quick adventure. No fuss, no muss. Who’s with me?”

~ ~ ~

Felix kept his telekinetic senses on edge as he floated silently along the deserted corridor. There was no one else in the building except for the beastly corpses in the room ahead, but he could not afford to let his guard down. With the nomus’ madness and his classmates’ vigilance, a single wrong move would spell his doom. There’d be no second chances this time.

He raised a finger, ripping out the padlock on the door easily.

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A dim green light greeted the students as they took in the sight before them. Rows of vats lined up in the laboratory; each one of them holding a deformed monster suspended in some sort of glowing green liquid.

“By the gods…” the boy whispered, swallowing back bile.

Although All For One was his ally for now, the lengths that man went to will never cease to disturb him. The gross violation of the sanctity of a human body, the defiling of meta abilities, the corruption of its human soul; this megalomaniac had the heart of a true villain.

“Hey, Yaomomo.” Ochaco picked up the transmitter from the floor and tossed it to the girl. “Lost and found.”

Momo nodded her thanks silently, before continuing to fiddle with the computer at the front of the room. Tenya kept a lookout from the windows, while Kirishima busied himself snapping pictures of the nomus.

“This is… impressive,” Todoroki said, and Felix turned to him in horror. “Vile, but still impressive.”

Felix stilled his tongue. It was clear why Todoroki would think that way, considering that his quirk was borne of eugenics breeding by his abusive father as well.

“The nomu that attacked me in the forest was smart enough to distract Bakugo and put me to sleep,” Todoroki said, inspecting the vats. “If that one was able to behave rationally and possess telepathic powers, who knows what the others are capable of?”

“O-or maybe it was just programmed with a mission?” Felix laughed nervously. “That’s probably why it saved Tenya’s brother too.”

The room fell silent suddenly.

“Pagonis, I never told anyone about that.”

A chill went down Felix’s spine. He turned to the voice, only to see Tenya approaching him with a look of disbelief on his face.

“N-no… it was on the news, remember? You must’ve missed it-”

“Tensei only revealed that information to me in private. Nobody else was in the hospital room.” Tenya was uncomfortably close to him now. “How did you know what happened?”

Felix’s mind worked frantically. The only other excuse he could think of was to simply admit that he had telepathic powers and gleaned that information from Tenya’s mind accidentally. But doing that would only draw more suspicion to him as the culprit behind the forest attack.

“I’ve been meaning to ask as well, Felix.” Todoroki stood up. “When I was knocked out by the creature back in the forest, the presence I felt in my mind was the same as what I felt when you touched me during the sports festival. Care to explain?”

“Guys..? What’s happening?” Ochaco asked, her face a picture of confusion.

“Right…” Kirishima spoke up as well. “Now that I think about it, how did you know that nomus have to be activated before they can move?”

A buzz of static interrupted the moment.

Felix whipped his head to the computer, which was playing some sort of video recording. A girl’s screams of pain were almost deafening the audio input, while a faceless man could be seen observing from behind some kind of mirror. The boy’s eyes widened in recognition. It can’t be…

“Marcia!” He rushed to the screen, pushing his fingers against it as though he could somehow enter the video. A group of researchers were doing some sort of experiment on his sister to mess up her meta ability.

“No! What’s going on?” Felix cried out, desperately trying to stop them from hurting her. His mind spun with the revelation.

His sister isn’t dead. All For One is involved in this. Those men are hurting her. His sister isn’t dea-

“Hey, Pagonis!”

Felix fell to the ground as Kirishima shoved him roughly. Tenya and Todoroki dragged him back to his feet.

“Tell us the whole truth, dammit!” the boy yelled.

Ochaco approached him slowly, sadness and disappointment written all over her face.

“Tell us it isn’t true…” she said. “You… You’re not with the villains, are you? You wouldn’t betray us like that, would you?”

A huge shadow blocked out the moonlight from the windows before he could reply.

Felix reacted quickly, emitting a force field around his friends before the truck crashed downwards onto the laboratory. Rubble crashed all around him as the entire building collapsed, but he held onto his psionic shield. A familiar face loomed over them.

“Mount Lady?” Momo sputtered, lying among the debris.

“Felix Pagonis, you are under arrest for- Wait, what are you kids doing here?” The giant lady tilted her head in confusion.

Felix’s gaze darted to the two other heroes by her side. Apart from Edgeshot, an unfamiliar hero was also present. He was dressed neck high in denim jeans, to the point where it covered more than half his face as well. His blonde fringe was neatly combed to the side, and it hid his left eye.

The psychic made the first move, blasting a huge psionic beam at Mount Lady’s face before she could react. She collapsed instantly, and Edgeshot disappeared from view.

Dozens of strings clouded his telekinetic senses as blue fibres rushed towards him like a swarm of flies. Psionic energy exploded from Felix’s body, shredding the strings easily. Edgeshot yelled in shock as well, returning into his full form as he hit the ground. The boy darted forward with a burst of speed and made contact with his body, telepathically putting him to sleep immediately.

His clothes constricted around him this time as he cast his gaze to the last hero. It was obvious that this man’s quirk had something to do with fibre control, which meant that he probably only had the physical durability of a regular person.

Felix flicked his head, and a huge piece of rubble crashed into the fibre master from behind. The man toppled as blood began seeping into the soil.

A whispered apology left the villain’s lips as he turned back to his classmates.