"You're watching that again?" Kasen asked his boss.

Dabi waved off his underling, and continued watching the TV. Kazue Matsushita was on screen. She was still a journalist but now had her own show, interviewing politicians and others of interest. She was dressed sharply in a tailored suit and sat in a trendy chair. Across the small table, sat Representative Imoku Kakurete. He wore a similarly tailored suit but wore it with such aplomb that he made it seem completely natural. Sitting beside Kazue, he was far more in control. The ribbon badge that marked him as a Representative was affixed to his left breast pocket where a rose might have sat if he'd been a normal businessman.

"I don't get why you watch that boss," Kasen said. He'd said it before when Dabi watched politics. For the Leader of the... Acting Leader of the League, he had a big interest in politics. "And Toga is here."

Dabi nodded. His underlings might not understand why he watched politics but he did. He did it to gain insight into Imoku and he couldn't do it in person. Anything the man told him had to be viewed from multiple angles. The only time Imoku was straight forward was with orders to the League. Dabi waved as Himiko walked in. She was spinning her large knife around one finger. It was a blatant hint that he hadn't yet replaced the blood vial in it. "Where have you been?" Dabi demanded.

"The boss wanted a couple of things," she replied.

Dabi jerked his eyes away from the screen. Kazue was just beginning the interview and it would be small talk for a while. His motion was enough for her to explain.

"He wanted to know about ExplodoKill the other day," she said. While Himiko was more than happy to call Imoku Izu, something Dabi didn't fully understand, she was always careful when others were around. Most didn't expect that. They saw the exuberant woman and never looked deeper. Dabi knew better. Toga was as much a villain, and as skilled as them all, in her own way.

Kasen looked fascinated. This was not the first time he'd heard one of the League's Executives refer to the boss, but it was always interesting how casual they were about it. He had no idea who the man might be. He wanted to know.

"You explained?"

Toga nodded. "As much as I could. He wasn't alone."

"He's never alone." As a Member of the House of Representatives Imoku was seldom alone. That's why Himiko worked with him the most. She could change her appearance to fit in and Dabi knew that Imoku had provided her with several blood slides to ensure she looked appropriate. She probably had a position as one of his staffers.

"It's still good that you got away." He said, referring to the other day. She'd sat in that chair then and he'd had it replaced since then. The smell of the sewer just did not wash out.

"He can't explodokill in a sewer," Himiko reminded him. "Though are you going to replace it?" She brought out her knife again.

"Maybe," was all he said. It was going to be annoying to replace the blood. High End did not like bleeding, except in the ring.

"Yeah... but there was something odd," Himiko said seriously. "I didn't tell you last time, 'cos I wanted to tell the boss first."

Dabi jerked his head at Kasen. The man looked disappointed but knew better than to complain. Dabi glanced to the TV. Imoku was still smiling and was answering something. From the way he was gesturing they were still talking about easy things. The door closed.

"What was odd?" he asked after he was sure Kasen was gone. This particular room was sound proofed, but he knew there were quirks that could get around that. He watched the shadow of the man move down the corridor.

"He knew about Imoku."

"What? How?" Dabi demanded, half rising.

This was bad. This was very bad.

Though... If the vigilante knew, why hadn't he told anyone? He might be a vigilante but Dabi was sure he had at least some legitimate contacts. After all, he was a villain and he had them.

"I don't know. It's not like he was going to tell me!" Himiko replied.

Dabi nodded. Maybe this was why Imoku wanted ExplodoKill taken out. Actually, that made a lot of sense. And, as always with Imoku, there were layers that he could see. Having the League become active again taking out a vigilante meant that while the public would still see them as villains, initially they wouldn't be dangerous villains. It was a subtle difference but it would give them time.

"Did he say anything about why ExplodoKill would know him?" Dabi asked.

"No," Himiko replied. "Though Izu said the brat probably fished in the right places."

That didn't sound like Imoku but Dabi resolved to ask him himself. Later.

Dabi rolled his eyes. "Are you ever going to explain that?"

"Explain what?"

"Izu? His name is Imoku!"

"Imoku is too formal!" Toga told him. "Izu is so much more fun!"

No. She wasn't going to explain it. He knew Izu was short for Izuku, since Himiko had once called him that but he didn't know anything else. Given Imoku's response that time and her chimed 'only in private' it must be a pet name... But he would like to know the origin. Not that badly though.

Dabi turned up the sound on the TV knowing he'd get nothing more. And if Himiko hadn't gotten away from ExplodoKill as cleanly - he winced at the thought of that word especially with the air fresheners still in the room to cover the sewer smell - then the vigilante would still have had to fight through his guards before getting here.

"-QERI?" Kazue said.

Himiko wasn't the only one to jerk at the word. It was fair to say that they both had the same reaction. When had that become public!?

On screen Imoku displayed no reaction. "Ah, the new initiative of the Justice Department," he said easily. "I believe young Toogata had been inflating the case somewhat. I think what the public should be focused on is the simple fact, that if they have done nothing wrong, then there is nothing to fear."

"But destroying quirks?" Kazue sounded horrified.

Imoku sat back in his chair. "QERI has been designed to be used only in the most heinous cases. Those of repeat offenders, where no amount of therapy or rehabilitation will work."

Dabi winced. He knew what that meant. Their cases. The Leagues. Except Imoku had given them immunity.

"And, we already have something like it," Imoku continued. "We have quirk suppressant drugs and quirk suppressant cuffs. There's even an implanted drug. QERI is merely the next step."

"So why don't we just go with those?" Kazue asked.

Imoku looked tired. "Because there have been cases where repeat offenders have been equipped with an implanted suppressant and they just cut it out," he said delicately. "QERI can't be cut out, it cannot be removed, and so the problem of a repeat quirk offender using their quirk to hurt anyone ever again is solved."

"You aren't afraid it will become something like the bullet that was used to suppress Sir Nighteye's quirk?"

Dabi snorted. Himiko wasn't as restrained. She chuckled. They remembered that.

"No, I'm not." He shook his head artfully. His green curls swayed with the movement. "While I am only peripherally involved with BioSimip Industries, I know that their security is good. They create QERI only when the Department of Justice orders a dose, and the formula is kept under lock and key. Unlike the unfortunate incident with Sir Nighteye, it will not be stolen."

"We should do it!" Himiko interrupted, almost singing the words.

"Do what?" Dabi asked. He knew if he ignored Toga when she was like this, he wouldn't hear anything of the interview. He touched the remote to record what was left. He'd have to watch it later, after Toga was gone.

"Steal the formula," she continued singing.

Dabi drew a long suffering breath. "That won't help his position," he pointed out.

Himiko giggled. "We won't actually steal it," she said. "I doubt we could get past the security."

He gave her a look. With the Noumu they could just ram straight through it.

"It's not a physical thing we want. We'd have to access the servers," Toga reminded him. They didn't have much skill in that.

"An attack won't actually help Imoku," Dabi pointed out again.

"A failed attack will."

He blinked. A failed attack. It went against everything he'd ever learned but... what would it do. It would highlight QERI but apparently someone was already doing that. It would show it was protected and it would reveal the League.

But they were about to reveal themselves anyway. Imoku had said they could go wild when they took out ExplodoKill, and given what he'd done to Himiko, Dabi had a feeling that would be sooner rather than later. He tapped his finger on the remote as he thought.

"I don't think Imoku would like one of his businesses attacked." It was an unspoken rule that in as far as possible, the League didn't attack the businesses Imoku owned. It wasn't a big problem. He didn't own that many they would be interested in.

"It would show that QERI is secure. It would also bring ExplodoKill's focus to us, which is what we want."

"He's already hunting us." Dabi felt obliged to point out. She had been sitting there a few days back, stinking of a sewer because of the fact he was hunting them.

"So we have to be seen every now and then, to keep his interest. Besides, it's not like it's going to be a true attack. We just have to be seen, raise a ruckus and then retreat."

"I don't like failing." It was bad for the League.

She gave him a look. It wasn't failing if it was helping Imoku, and if it was contributing to making sure ExplodoKill found them - when they were ready for it.

"All right," he sighed. "We'll do it." The fall out wouldn't be that bad.

"Yay!" Himiko cheered.

"Now, go away while I plan how we will lose this," Dabi ordered.

Toga grinned at him before she rose and left the room.

He huffed, and looked over to the TV and grimaced. The interview had ended. Sometimes Himiko had the worst timing.

-afp-

Katsuki was bored. He understood he needed to take some time to heal after that bitch put a knife through his hand, but he'd been checked out. Despite being in a sewer, he was clean. He'd caught nothing and in a few days his hand would be better. It was currently bandaged. They had no one with a healing quirk but there were acceleration drugs and he had managed to get some of them.

At least Aizawa had managed to find something for him to do, but it was boring. He was acting as a guard for some company called BioSimip Industries. He wasn't even an important guard. He got the foyer. That was it. The way the others looked at him, they thought he wasn't even worth that.

Eh, they were all extras. He was only staying here because BioSimip Industries produced quirk destroying drugs. Well... according to Mirio they did, but according to Deku they only did it when the government ordered it. He'd been far too smug when he'd said that. Bakugou had wanted to reach through the TV and explode him.

He comforted himself that Deku would fall. It would just take time and he was part of the team working on shortening that time.

That didn't make this any less boring.

If the League had any sense, they weren't going to attack here. It was too easily predicted. But the League were villains and villains were stupid. Except Deku... Deku was worthless but Katsuki had to begrudgingly admit that he wasn't stupid.

They weren't going to att-

The thought died as he glanced at the security screens. The foyer security point wasn't at reception. No one would want him on Reception anyway. He was honest enough to admit it, and he didn't want to be there either. Instead, the security room was behind reception, in a room lined with screens. Part of the wall behind reception was the door, and this entire room was designed like a panic room. The receptionist, if threatened could retreat here. And he could see everything outside.

Others could too. There were other security points with the same feeds but Katsuki was sure he was the first to see it.

On one of the feeds there was a man. Medium build. Blond. He had two day stubble and there was a scar or something running up his forehead. He looked stressed but not so stressed that anyone would notice him.

Bakugou remembered him. Twice.

He hit one of the silent alarms. It was not so much an alarm as a warning alarm. It sent a message to the main security point. While he was happy dealing with this himself, Aizawa had been insistent that he follow BioSimip's protocol.

The phone rang. "What is it?" the voice was bored. They were going through the motions.

"There's a member of the League outside," he report.

"For fucks sake, newbie, keep your reports real!"

Katsuki growled at the response. "Listen here, you shit, when you get kidnapped by those fuckers, you tend to remember them. One of them is outside, and where there is one, you can beat there are othe-"

He never finished the sentence. There was a huge roar from outside and something crashed through the front glass doors. Even in a world where people could be large, it was enormous, and black and strong... It was one of the fucking Noumu's! Bakugou didn't recognise it specifically but he knew what the exposed brain meant.

The receptionist screamed, and the rest of the rats that infested the reception scattered. At least they were that intelligent. As part of Hero Studies, they had to learn about crowd control and how, originally the moronic public had been hurt because they strayed too close. Eventually they'd been trained to keep their distance.

With the removal of Heroes, the public had quickly forgotten safe distances but when their arses were on the line, they could scurry like rats.

The Noumu wasn't interested in them. It seemed to have been used as a tank. Several members of the League followed in its wake. Dabi, Twice, the bitch, Spinner, Mustard... Shit! All the commanders were here. The only one he couldn't see was Kurogiri but there was another woman in the line up. That was probably Ujiko

Fuck, that meant they were attacking for real.

Bakugou hit the alarm. The real alarm. He couldn't be sure the fuck wits in the security room would have noticed. The receptionist finally remembered her job and dove into the room.

He flexed his bandaged hand, his eyes fixed on the screens. He could move well enough and, he grinned as small explosions danced on his palm, blowing away the bandage.

"Stand firm!" The order came from the security room.

Katsuki slammed one hand down on the comm. He didn't need noobs telling him what to do, except as he went to leave the room, he heard the lock slam home. "Let me fight," he screamed.

"Stand firm!" the order was repeated. This time though, Bakugou could see various rent-a-cops pouring into the reception. Where the hell had they been hiding?

The Noumu roared and charged forward, mowing them down. It was a slaughter and it was one he'd seen before. He focused on the League. The Noumu was just raw power.

They were just standing there. Mustard was surrounded by a haze of gas but the rest were... what where they playing at? Weren't they here to steal QERI? Or was their mission just to be seen? Why?

Why bring the focus on BioSimip? What was Deku playing at?

Most people saw Bakugou's rash and brash attitude, they didn't remember that to get into UA's hero course, he had to have a brain to go with his skills. And he hated not seeing the plan!

Or did Deku know he was here, and was showing off? Except... As much as he hated to admit it, Deku had never done that before. There was only that one time, when he'd learned the truth, when he'd confronted Imoku Kakurete and learned that he was Izuku Midoriya... Though now that he knew did Deku feel the need to show off?

He was going down.

"I have a quirk license!" Bakugou growled at the comm. He didn't actually have one but what did that fucker know wouldn't hurt now and if it got him out there, it didn't matter. He could deal with this crap. At the very least he could deal with the League, he could get them to talk which would answer some of his questions.

They were just standing there, almost posing while the Noumu made mince meat of the rent-a-cops.

"The police are on the way."

"And what the fuck are they going to do?" He demanded.

Against the Noumu, they were going to be meat bags, or like the receptionist who was cowering in the corner. She wasn't even looking at the screens. "Shut up woman!" Bakugou growled. She was whining.

"Newbie, you will stay there!"

On the screen Bakugou watched as Himiko turned to Dabi and said something. The fire villain released a few bouts of blue flame. Mustard helped, producing some sort of explosive gas and the room was filled with flame.

It still made no sense to him. They were just standing there. The woman he assumed was Ujiko said something after she looked back outside. Dabi yelled something.

The Noumu turned. On the screen he could see black swirls appearing.

Fuck! Katsuki knew what that meant. They were going to get away. He looked at the door. The receptionist was at least away from it. It would be a pain to actually have to drag her. It only took a step or two until he was standing at the door. Bakugou put both hands on it. He didn't have his gauntlets, but he had a lot of practice.

The door was reinforced but he was stronger. He knew a lot of people who were stronger. It exploded outwards. Bakugou ignored the way his injured hand stung. He'd reopened the wound. Instead he leapt through the hole he'd made and looked around.

There was noise and dust. Katsuki was prepared for that. He'd been gazing through smoke all his life. He could see the Noumu moving. It had reacted to his explosion and was turning, though it was still casually batting away the rent-a-cops. They really should have known better. The League was reacting as well. Dabi was half in one of Kurogiri's portals but was shouting something. Toga was nowhere to be seen. Not surprising. She had probably already left. Mustard was near Dabi and Twice...

Bakugou's eyes widened when he realised Twice was lying on the ground. Blood was pouring from a wound on his head. He was down. There was a chunk from the wall near him. He assumed it had hit the Villain.

Katsuki didn't even hesitate. He jumped towards the villain. Twice wasn't the one he wanted. He wanted that bitch. He wanted them all but Twice would be a beginning. He slammed one hand on the villain's neck, locking his legs around him and holding his other hand out. Bakugou grinned at the League, his red eyes meeting Dabi's blue. He could see the way Dabi's eyes widened.

"Try it!" Katsuki invited. Dabi could probably get him with fire, or Mustard could with gas, or even the Noumu but if they did... he had Twice. He knew villains didn't care about each other, but the League had been together for a long time. The Commanders at least tried not to kill one another.

"Noumu!" Dabi yelled.