"This is not about guilt or innocence.

The point is, it's time to turn the page."

-Charlie Luken

---

{I assume that we're almost done with this... trouble of yours, right? I've been away from my master for too long already."

The only response she did get - from Dabi, of course - was naturally sarcastic.

"Master? How spicy, Gray-chan."

Without the slightest change in expression (a sentient lightning bolt was somehow... miraculously expressive), she slung a lightning bolt at him with all the force of an incensed woman. Which, if you hadn't had the displeasure of being on the receiving end before, was quite a lot. Dabi slumped to the flour comically, periodically spasming and of course, making comments about how Gray had heavy tastes, the bastard.

She ignored him, of course.

{Well? What exactly do you need my help with?} The gold light of her serpentine eyes narrowed venomously. {If you took me along as some kind of joke, well... You should understand that my reaction won't be pretty, yes? Each and every moment that I'm away from him is another moment that he doesn't have a quirk. He's far from helpless, but I assume you understand why I'm worried. And how I won't tolerate anymore messing around. I'm going to have you guys me a straight answer. I've entertained you long enough. What, exactly, do you want me to do to help you accomplish my master's mission for you? You incompetents.}

She couldn't resist throwing in that last line, if simply out of pettiness, but it still got all of their attention.

Which, wasn't objectively of that much worth. Since they weren't scared in the slightest.

Toga ceased her aimless meandering around, Dabi looked up at Gray with that quiet look he had worn throughout his entire stay at the League of Villains, and Twice ceased his babbling arguments with himself.

She got the strange, misplaced feeling that it was an honor to see the sides of these individuals, but she shook it away a moment later, dismissing it as mere whim and ultimately unimportant. Moreso than anything else, the interests of her master could be jeopardized or helped depending on the answers of these idiots, and if it turned out that she had been wasting time - and guilt - where it wasn't necessary, she would electrocute them to death.

Her master didn't need incompetents, anyway; she would suffice if it was necessary.

"Why, you didn't notice a pattern in what we were doing, Gray-chan?"

{No. Without a vague semblance of your grand plan, it's impossible to come to a conclusion. Or rather, there are too many solutions. You could be trying to gain money, draw out the man on some sort of stupid assumption of his morality, etc. You guys are pretty stupid, so it's almost impossible to narrow it down.}

They blatantly ignored her, which might have been for the best.

She was taunting a group of wild, powerful beasts right to their faces, after all.

Dabi was silent for a moment, not in reproach, but pondering, when Toga jabbed him harmlessly in the side with a smile. It was a smile that many would mistake for childlike innocence, but the others had been around her for far too long; it was just pure bloodlust. She may be scatterbrained and have moments where she could stare at the wall for hours with a blank smile on her face, but those were all hours that were spent in bloodlust. Or at the very least, dreaming about it. She was like a shark; predatory and waiting for the slightest whiff of blood. And when she smelt it, well... The only way it could end was in more blood.

That was the type of person that she was.

And if she took the slightest interest in someone or something, well, it could only be because blood was at arm's length, just waiting for her to chomp into.

Suddenly, Dabi smirked and hesitated no longer.

"You may not like this, but it's already in motion, so there's no need to worry too much about it anymore. This Yuganda Itoku fellow, he's rather cautious," Dabi's smirk enlargened. "But not cautious enough. It took quite a lot of digging, but we found the little safehouse he keeps his family locked up in. And we've been... giving these guards the 'vacations' that they deserve. Today is D-Day; we charge in and make his family members hostage. We'll just have to wait for him to show up. Of course, it'd be easier with your help to break into it, but it doesn't make that much of a difference now."

He oozed charisma with each and every word.

"So, want do you say, Gray-chan? You seem pretty idealistic~"

It was almost like his words were magnetized, but Gray didn't need them to be.

{And where did you get that idea? Humans are hypocritical, ugly things— I feel no sympathy for them. The only one that I do like and tolerate is master. So, where is this safehouse?}

He smilied. It would be much easier with the lightning spirit tagging along.

"Thought you'd never ask."

---

"Toga, Twice, you two are up first as planned."

She nodded, the smile on her face leaving the innocent category entirely as she pulled out a vial of blood and downed it. Her transformation occurred in a matter of seconds, and no matter how many times she watched it, it had always been weird to Gray; there was just something about seeing an 'innocent' high school girl morph into a gruff middle-aged old man that was decidedly... disturbing to watch.

"Oi, that's too soon! Idiot!"

(For once, Twice was agreeing with himself.)

She pouted, before undoing the transformation.

In the background, Gray pondered as to exactly what was happening. She could understand the reasoning behind making Toga shapeshift into a guard for sabotage purposes, but why immediately undo it? She obviously was overenthusiastic, but it could, would work. She got her answer a second later. Twice created, in half a second, an army of him, which then made an army of Toga, each equipped with a bottle of blood for their own uses. Simultaneously, they all chugged the unique blood that they had on hand. Gray watched in amazement as all of the guards that she and the others had killed throughout it all return in a massive wave.

And in the next moment, a bright flare of pure blood heat exploded with wild abandon. Gray looked next to her with a start and realized that Dabi was no longer there.

The guards all reached into their pocket and pulled out a walkie-talkie and in a nigh simultaneous sound of wailing, they began to talk panicky into the machine.

"Boss, we were kidnapped, and we managed to escape, but they're on our trail! You gotta help us!"

"Boss, we're back-!"

"Boss-!"

The cacophony of yells almost didn't even need a walkie talkie to transmit, but just as the captain of the guards was taken aback by the sudden explosion (that didn't make a dent in the building because of insanely pricy quirk resistant materials), he heard the mass wailing of his 'men'. And then he felt the building shake once more. Silently, the slithery oil of doubt started to pool within his mind and corrupted his judgment. But it was understandable. After all, 'What if this stuff doesn't really work? What will happen to my men... What will happen to me?'. It's understandable, but it's also predictable.

And if your reaction is predictable, well...

Don't blame anyone if they manipulate you.

"You... You guys are safe, huh? That's... That's good! All of you, we're facing a threat right now! Go man your stations! Don't even think of getting your salaries otherwise~!"

The captain had gotten off his rocker most nicely for their purposes.

They were shuffled into the safehouse not a moment later, the captain none the wiser that he had just literally let the problem into the safehouse.

Gray, of course, simply manipulated the spectrum of light she emitted to blend into the background.

Soon enough, they entered an area where no guards were to be found - usually, there would be some, but the ones that were still actually themselves had all left their stations to combat the immediate threat outside, not because they were courageous, but because they didn't want to be cornered in the innermost sanctions of the house where they couldn't even run. - and Gray allowed herself to be seen once more, returning to her natural color of a gray that bordered on black (her natural coloring had gotten darker, recently; no one noticed because the changes were so minute and over the course of a long period of time.)

{I'm going to assume that this is the part where I come in, yes?}

Toga and Twice didn't even react to her sudden presence and just nodded.

Gray stared at the wide array of tech and the thick door that guarded it and sneered. Hot electricity bubbled excitedly at the tip of her tail, whipping out with wild abandon at the monitor, but ultimately cause no damage. But of course, that was what she wanted. She immersed herself in the sea of information and played gleefully in it, causing all power to go out. She destroyed the lock on the door with not but a glance and hovered into the room, Twice and Toga close behind.

She was greeted by the sight of scared and terrified civilians; a mother, a father, and a grandmother all bundled together.

Despite herself and despite the values of Deku...

She found herself smiling.

(Hadn't Itoku done the same to her beloved master? Targetting something that should never be targeted? It was only right that she returned the favor.)

AN: Here's the villain screentime I promised you!

This will carry on for a couple more chapters before we get back to Deku and some more wide-scale crazy!