Mystery from Another World

Part 71: Suspension

[OP: "Nothing Left to Lose"-- Matt Kearney.]

They went behind one of the staff building, where it was pretty much deserted.

"Why did you bail?" Mirko lost no time demanding. "I know it was on purpose."

"Midnight really can't keep her mouth shut," Shine muttered. Then aloud. "I don't really want to talk to you at UA. I thought better of them seeing me get questioned by a Top Pro. I get enough trouble from them as it is. Honestly, being on the good side of a Top Pro is the only leverage I and Wally have right now.'

"Which Top Pro?" Mirko demeaned.

"Endeavor, if you must know, also All Might a little, but he only half counts."

"You know a lot of people," Mirko frowned. "And you know the LOV... so spill. What was that false alarm? Are you just jerking me around. I know you sympathize with them, so what the h--- are you doing getting me involved? Wasting my freaking time?"

"Why would I answer that when you're acting like this?" Shine glared at her. "And stop using such language around a theme park. There are kids here."

"No one is close enough to hear me anyway, and stop dodging the question."

"I don't trust you enough to answer it," Shine folded her arms.

She was a lot taller than Mirko, though the other woman was much buffer, but that made her looking down at her seem a little funny, and a little imperious.

Mirko didn't like it.

"You're sure stuck up for someone who's not even a Pro," she declared. "I'm not playing your dumb games. I should report you anyway. I don't think you have anything that will help us stop the villains."

"I have an in," Shine lowered her voice.

Mirko paused. "You...do?"

"And I have a target," Shine went on, still quietly. "But I'm still working on it. If I pull it off, we'll be able to drastically lessen the impact of the coming war. Maybe even stop it completely, but that's a long shot. Still... we wouldn't need to worry about nomu anymore."

Mirko put her ears back. "You think you can't find the rest of those monsters?"

"Maybe. So far all we've done is establish respect with the LOV. They know now not to mess with us or our friends. From there if we can earn their trust, maybe we can find where they're hiding those creatures..but that is no easy feat. And if they think we're going to sic heroes on them you following me around like this won't make it easier."

"You don't have the authority to stage an operation like this," Mirko recalled. "So how are you doing it? How did you find them?"

"Trade secret, Mirko."

"That's bulls--t, you can't expect me to just believe you can find them, get on their good side, and bust open their most secret operations?"

"That's usually how infiltration works, actually."

"But we haven't been able to do that in months."

"Yeah... what do the kids say now? Skill issue?" Shine was smug since she still thought Hawks was a terrible double agent. "The villains expect you guys to be double crossed. Any certified hero who approaches them is under immediate suspicion... people who aren't heroes and work at UA are imminently more useful. Also, who don't like UA. We can convincingly be already spying on it, and therefore, looking for someone to give that info to."

"Sneaky," Mirko didn't as bothered by how illegal that was as Aizawa had been. She tugged a strand of her hair out. "And they bought it?"

"They are buying it more than they did, but we need to keep working on it. It's not a thing you can rush. And no, the top heroes agents haven't approved of us doing hits, but it's our very anonymity that will work in our favor... so if you want to turn us in, you can, but there goes that chance then."