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Katsuki stepped down the ramp, exiting the small plane. The airport on this island was tiny, only one runway, and the trees around it blocked visibility for whatever might lie beyond.

"We're going to head for the cell tower and see if we can fix it," Burnin said, gesturing over her shoulder at the other heroes from Endeavor's agency. "You three scout out this area and make sure nothing jeopardizes our exit."

Katsuki's eyebrow twitched—that meant they'd miss all the action.

"Have you received any more information about what went wrong?" Deku asked.

"We'll update you if we do," Burnin said, which meant no. She tapped her ear, backing up toward the other heroes. "Keep your coms in. We should be back in a few hours."

Katsuki watched her leave with the others, trying not to feel bitter. He didn't particularly feel like wandering around with two hooligans, waiting for nothing to happen.

"If you whisper, Midoriya won't hear," Todoroki said. He had crept up behind Katsuki, close enough to be obnoxious, and spoken loud enough that Deku could definitely hear.

It was a moot point anyway. "For the last time," Katsuki bit out, "I'm not telling you my hero name."

Todoroki hummed, like he wasn't sure he agreed.

One for All roared to life, and Deku jumped on top of the plane.

Katsuki followed, blasting himself up. There was better visibility up here, at least, but there wasn't much to see. The single terminal building sat adjacent to the one runway, with a line of small planes parked beside it. Burnin and the other heroes were just reaching the edge of the parking lot—they moved into a copse of trees and out of sight. Far away, little rooftops peeked over each other, and the broken cell tower reached up into the sky.

A light wind picked up—it ran through the treetops, scattering a few old leaves across the pavement. There was no other movement, no other sound.

"Do you think this airport should be closed today?" Deku asked.

"No," Katsuki said, "People travel most on weekends."

"So where is everyone?" Todoroki asked.

Katsuki barely kept himself from startling. He hadn't noticed Todoroki leave the ground.

"Let's start with that building," Deku said, "Maybe we'll find someone who can explain."

The airport was way smaller than other ones Katsuki had been to, but the building was still big enough to be difficult to search. And they had to keep returning to the runway side to look out the windows and check on their plane, which slowed down the process.

Even so, it was obvious that the place was unnaturally empty.

"Do you think they evacuated?" Deku asked. The sound bounced off of the hard halls, louder than it should have been.

Katsuki shrugged. "Pretty efficient for no cell service."

"From what?" Todoroki said, which was the real question. If something bad hadn't already happened to everyone, then whatever they had fled from was hiding incredibly effectively.

Katsuki's com crackled.

"Fix the cell tower—" Burnin said, and then the cracking got louder.

"She's out of range," Todoroki said, which meant the cell tower wasn't boosting the signal yet.

"Did you find anyone?" Deku asked.

"Holding them off—a message—go quickly!" Burnin finished. Then the coms went quiet.

"Hey!" Katsuki yelled, willing the coms to connect again, "What was that? Who are you fighting?"

"Shhh!" Todoroki hissed, grabbing Katsuki by the shoulder.

At the same time, Deku activated his quirk and shot down the hall.

Katsuki shook Todoroki off and blasted after Deku. The movement cost a noise they couldn't afford, but he couldn't think of another way to catch up fast enough.

Deku stopped at a small cafe.

"What?" Katsuki demanded, landing next to him. In his peripheral, he could see Todoroki running after them.

"Listen," Deku said, quiet. Slowly, he stepped up to the shop counter and began to climb over.

Gritting his teeth, Katsuki listened. Todoroki's footsteps slowed as he approached and Deku's sneakers squeaked against the laminate. Then a third person gasped for air, just briefly, like they'd been sobbing.

Deku dropped down to a crouch on the other side of the counter. "Hey, it's alright," he said, "We're here to help."

Katsuki didn't quite dare to move. Coaxing out scared civilians wasn't exactly his forte, and he knew how vital any kind of information was to their mission right now. But he wanted to dart forward. From this angle, he couldn't see over the countertop.

Finally, Deku stood up again. His hand was outstreched, grasped in the civillian's, and he helped her to her feet. Katsuki got his first good look at her—she was wearing an apron, like she'd been working here this morning, and her eye makeup had run partway down her face.

"You're safe now, okay?" Deku said.

The civilian stared at him, mouth slightly agape. Then she lunged forward.

Deku jumped back over the counter so fast that Katsuki didn't see him move, just the faint light of his quirk that he left in his wake. Without Deku there to land against, the woman fell back down on the floor. Katsuki could still hear her, sobbing quietly.

"Something's wrong with her," Deku said, "I think she's under a quirk effect."

"Really?" Todoroki said. It was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"We should head out," Katsuki said, "If she can't tell us anything about—"

"We can't just leave her!" Deku insisted. There were scratches on his cheek, shallow, but just starting to bleed. The civilian must have got him with her nails.

"Midoriya," Todoroki said, "We can't help her. We need to get a message to the mainland."

Deku bit his lip, but he seemed to be thinking about it at least.

"She won't get help if the villains catch us all here," Katsuki said, because he was starting to understand what made Deku tick. "If we can fix that cell tower, then someone will definitely come for her."

"But will they come fast enough?" Deku said.

Something thumped, and Katsuki turned to see the woman's hands on the countertop. She was slowly pulling herself to her feet.

"Deku," Katsuki said.

Deku looked back. The civilian met his gaze, but her eyes were blank.

"You've been safe here," Deku said, like the words hurt him, "We're going to get help, and then we'll come back. I'll come back for you."

They came out through the trees around the airport and onto a road. The cell tower was the tallest thing around, and Katsuki had grabbed a map of the island from the airport building, so it was pretty easy to orient themselves.

They stuck to the roads—Katsuki knew enough about hiking to realize that trying to shortcut through random swaths of land would probably end with them getting lost and taking even longer. And they didn't fly, because Deku couldn't, and Katsuki couldn't without making a ton of noise.

Eventually, they made it up the forested hill where the tower stood.

"Deku, you go up," Katsuki said. With blackwhip, Deku could climb without extra light or noise.

Deku nodded, then shot up the tower. He clung for a little while near the top, shifting around to either side. Then he dropped back down again.

"Um," Deku said, scratching the back of his neck, "Do you guys know anything about how cell towers work?"

"Oh," Todoroki said, "I assumed you two knew."

"It can't be that hard!" Katsuki said, a little louder than was probably wise, "Just look around and see what's broken!"

Deku swung his arms out, palms up. "It all looks fine, it's just not working!"

"Fine," Katsuki said, stomping forward, "I'll go check."

Then the trees to his left erupted in flames.

Katsuki blasted himself up into the sky. The flames were in the way, but he thought he could see movement in the forest around them.

"It's Burnin!" Deku said, and then he jumped back up the tower to avoid another dart of flame.

Todoroki created a wall of ice along the edge of the trees. Katsuki couldn't quite figure out why—it wasn't quite placed correctly to stop the fire from spreading.

"Let's go!" Katsuki said, and started flying away. Todoroki used his fire side to follow.

Deku stayed on the tower.

Cursing, Katsuki pivoted and headed back the way he'd come.

The fire in the forest was spreading, shooting up in little bursts, but if Burnin's contingent of the agency had really turned on them, they weren't doing a particularly effective job of it.

He passed Todoroki and landed back on the tower, next to Deku.

"Is the ground that impassible?" Katsuki shouted.

"They aren't avoiding the fire!" Deku shouted back, pointing down at the forest, "We have to put it out!"

Katsuki looked. It was even harder now to make anything out through the smoke—but he believed Deku. Deku knew what ignoring your own safety looked like. Still, that didn't change the situation.

"We can't put that out," Katsuki said. Neither of their quirks were suited for it.

"I can," Todoroki said, hovering beside them, "But I'll catch everyone in the ice—you'll have to draw them away."

"Got it," Deku said, and then he was already gone, running back down the hill.

Katsuki shot after him, then landed when he realized he'd overshot. Deku was jogging toward him now, barely using his quirk.

"This is your top speed?" Katsuki demanded.

Deku shook his head. "If I just go all out I'll loose them!"

Now that he was farther from the fire, Katsuki could see into the forest. There were figures there, more than he'd expected, mostly people he didn't recognize. They were moving toward the two of them, only a little slower than Deku, faces blank.

"Don't mess this up," Katsuki said, starting to run too.

At the bottom of the hill, Katsuki and Deku jumped onto the roof of the nearest building and stood waiting for their pursuers to approach. It didn't happen. The crowd stopped at the edge of the trees, ambling and watching them back.

In the distance, ice grew over the forest fire.

"Cowards," Katsuki said.

"I don't think this is a quirk," Deku said.

Katsuki stared at him. "You think it's more likely somebody made a real zombie virus on this nothing island? It's a quirk manifestation."

"Quirks aren't this powerful without training," Deku said, "And the effect is too specific—too ill-intended. Quirks aren't like that. No quirk is just evil."

Katsuki crossed his arms. It was difficult with the gauntlets, but he was nothing if not skilled.

Deku would say something like that.

"So I think it's multiple quirks," Deku continued, "Some villains must have come up with a combo move to—um, hang on."

"What?" Katsuki demanded.

Deku didn't respond—instead he bent over and threw up black bile onto the shingles.

"You're kidding," Katsuki said, stepping closer. The last thing they needed was to all catch a stomach bug.

Deku lunged at him, teeth bared.

Katsuki blasted him back. There was no contact—Deku fell, tumbled, and barely caught himself at the end of the roof, elbow in the gutter. Katsuki towered over him, hands smoking, mind still catching up to what had happened.

For a moment it was Deku's old face again—looking up from the floor, scared out of his mind. Then his expression hardened, the way it had grown at Yuuei, and he pushed himself off the edge of the roof.

Katsuki sprung forward, knowing he was already too late, that it wasn't wise to get close—and then he saw the ice ramp below, Deku still tumbling down it, Todoroki standing at the end.

"Get back!" Katsuki shouted, jumping down, catching himself with his quirk, "Shouto, get back!"

Todoroki looked frantically between the two of them. Deku got up, unsteady, drooling black—and Todoroki encased his legs in ice.

Katsuki landed and ran over. "Don't get close!"

"What happened?" Todoroki asked, "Did you see how it happened?"

Before Katsuki could answer, Deku activated full cowling and shattered the ice at his feet.

Katsuki tensed, every nerve alight.

Then Deku took two steps forward and collapsed, like a puppet with the strings cut.

It was encouraging, in a sick sort of way. The other zombies hadn't been using their quirks intelligently, and a fight with an out of control One for All wouldn't have ended well for either side.

"It's catching, isn't it?" Todoroki said. His voice was steady, but there was something about his eyes—held a little wider than normal. He was scared.

"Yeah," Katsuki said. He stepped forward, toward Deku.

Todoroki grabbed his arm and yanked him back. "It isn't airborn," he said, "We're safe because we didn't touch that woman."

"I'm wearing gloves," Katsuki said, and he shoved Todoroki off.

Deku's eyes had rolled back, and he wasn't moving. It was an improvement. Katsuki grabbed the hood of his costume and started dragging him down the street.

"Should we get him out of the sunlight?" Todoroki asked, "The others won't leave the forest."

Katsuki pulled Deku up to a street light, grabbed the cuffs from his belt, and fastened Deku's wrists behind him, around the pole. Then he stepped back, setting off contained explosions in his hands to kill whatever infection might linger.

"Bakugou," Todoroki repeated, "That won't hold him for long."

It was true. The logical thing would be to bash Deku's brains in now, while he wasn't fighting back. But Katsuki knew he couldn't do it. He still hadn't apologized.

The sky was nearly cloudless, just tinted with dusk. In the distance, Katsuki could see the little stream of exhaust left by a plane.

"It's a villain's quirk," Katsuki said, "They took out the cell signal somehow, and they're avoiding being seen from overhead—none of that has anything to do with zombies. There's someone out there controlling this."

And if that was the case, then maybe that person could also put a stop to it. Maybe this was reversible.

"Zombies?" Todoroki said, tilting his head a little.

Katsuki stared at him. "Tell me you know what a zombie is."

"I don't know what a zombie is," Todoroki said, completely serious, "Is it something from an All Might movie?"

"No," Katsuki bit out. Then he thought for a second. "Actually yes, there's some in the sequel to All Might's American Adventure. But it wasn't good."

Todoroki nodded. "Midoriya was right—you do know a lot about All Might movies."

Katsuki ran a hand over his face. He was having trouble thinking of a way that this day could get worse.

"Bakugou, we need to go," Todoroki said, "We don't want to be near that forest when the sun sets."

"Yeah," Katsuki said. He headed forward, down the street, the same way they had come to get here. "Come on—there's something we gotta do."

"But if they're dead already, then how do zombies walk around?" Todoroki asked.

It was dark now, but Katsuki had a good head for directions. He was having no trouble leading the way back to the airport—at least, he wouldn't be having trouble if fixing Todoroki's dearth of pop culture knowledge hadn't suddenly become a matter of life and death.

"Listen," Katsuki said, "It's a fictional trope. It's not supposed to make sense."

"It's happening to us right now, which makes it not fictional," Todoroki insisted.

Katsuki grit his teeth. "The quirk is based on the fictional—"

"Did you hear that?" Todoroki said.

Katsuki stopped in tracks. He had heard it—there was a rustling in the distance, not loud enough to be a whole hord, but distinct enough to be a moving creature. Maybe it was a squirrel. But they probably weren't that lucky.

Slowly, the two of them started forward again, silently agreeing not to resume their conversation.

Back at the airport, Katsuki got to work. He found a clear area of the runway, planned out in his mind how the characters would span, and started using his quirk to systematically char the concrete. In the end he had the word he wanted, visible from the air: zombies.

It was no message back to the mainland, but it would at least warn whatever heroes inevitably got sent to look for them. If they landed in the daylight, that is.

"Are you done?" Todoroki asked. He was sitting crosslegged at the corner of the word, looking vaguely bored.

Katsuki nodded, still surveying his work. Tomorrow they'd have to head for the coasts and do the same thing on some outward facing buildings. It was too dangerous to travel now, when the zombies wouldn't need to avoid being seen.

"Good," Todoroki said, getting to his feet, "Midoriya went into the terminal building a little while ago."

"And you didn't think this was worth mentioning?" Katsuki demanded.

Todoroki shrugged, a barely perceptible motion. "You yelled at me when I tried to help. I didn't think you wanted to be interrupted."

They found Deku standing in front of an airport vending machine, broken glass and open food packages scattered at his feet. He was easy to spot—the only lighting came from the moon outside and from Deku's full cowling, flickering around him.

Katsuki and Todoroki crouched behind the row of seats at a gate, watching as Deku reached in and grabbed a pack of pretzels.

It was probably unwise to be here. He and Todoroki hadn't even discussed it. Whatever Aizawa Sensei might have taught them about rationality, Katsuki couldn't believe that Deku was fully gone. He'd spent his whole life trying to get rid of the guy. It just wasn't that easy to do.

Deku yanked his hands apart, and the bag broke into two pieces. Pretzels scattered on the floor. He groaned, a garbled noise.

Then Katsuki's stomach rumbled. He hadn't eaten since this morning.

Deku's head snapped toward them.

Katsuki held his breath and focused on holding himself still. Deku didn't seem fully in his right mind—maybe he'd get distracted and forget he heard anything.

Todoroki sneezed.

Immediately, Katsuki rolled to the side, keeping himself under the cover of the seats. But Deku's air force attack never came. Cautiously, Katsuki peaked up over the line of chairs again.

Deku was still looking toward them, but he was also reaching back into the vending machine, this time for a pack of chips. Half of the broken cuffs was still on his wrist, dangling like a bracelet.

"Need help with that?" Todoroki said, standing up.

Deku's head tilted, his mouth dropped open. Slowly, he started stumbling forward.

"Let me do it," Katsuki demanded. He had gloves, and he'd already gotten close. Also, Todoroki was better at first aid. It was smarter not to jeopardize him.

Todoroki nodded, but he also didn't move out of the way. So Katsuki rushed forward to get to Deku before he got any closer.

There was something black on Deku's face, coating his mouth, dripping down from his eyes.

"You're disgusting," Katsuki said. Then he grabbed the chip package from Deku's hands, ripped the top open, and handed it back.

Deku took the bag, looked down at it, then back up at Katsuki. He seemed almost puzzled. "Aaaaaaaaahhh," he moaned. Then he stepped forward.

Katsuki jumped back, still on edge. But Deku limped past him, past Todoroki, and stumbled down into the dark hall.

"What, not even gonna eat it?" Katsuki yelled.

Todoroki walked to the nearest wall and flipped the light switch. Nothing happened.

Katsuki stared at him, torn between annoyance at the fact that he'd almost broadcasted their position and annoyance at the other fact they'd just discovered.

"Is there power anywhere else on this island?" Todoroki asked, "Did we check?"

Rather than answer, Katsuki ran down the hall, following after Deku's flickering light. They could discuss the situation later. Right now, they were going to loose Deku in the dark.

"Maybe the cell tower isn't what's broken," Todoroki said, rushing after him. "If we could find and fix the power source—"

"Shut up," Katsuki snapped. He was trying to listen for footsteps—for Deku's, and for anything else that might be prowling around in here.

Todoroki shut up, and they followed Deku down the hall. It still wasn't smart, but Katsuki comforted himself with the thought that even if he could somehow convince himself to leave Deku behind again, he probably wouldn't be able to convince Todoroki. And it wouldn't be wise to split up.

Suddenly, Todoroki stopped in his tracks. "I know where he's going."

Just then, Deku turned to the side, heading into one of the airport shops.

Katsuki sidled outward, trying to see without getting closer. Deku was back in the cafe, trying to find a way around the counter. He was still moaning quietly, like his normal muttering but with all the consonants taken out.

Remembering the woman who had been here this morning, Katsuki stepped a little farther back. He had a feeling the gunk on her face hadn't actually been makeup.

"You said zombies were mindless," Todoroki whispered.

"Supposed to be," Katsuki said.

Todoroki hummed. "Maybe it's because of his quirk."

A chill went down Katsuki's spine. He didn't remember any of the fight on Nabu, but he also wasn't a fool. He knew what his injuries had to have come from. And sometimes, he woke in the night with his heart racing, the memory of his dream already slipping away.

He knew Deku talked to them in his sleep. Sometimes he wondered if his memory loss hadn't come from a concussion, if the dead users of One for All had taken it when they left, jealous of Deku's gift in a way he couldn't be for himself.

"He broke out of mind control at the sports festival," Todoroki continued, "And he's keeping his quirk active now."

"Yeah," Katsuki said. He knew too much to add anything else.

They made camp for the night on top of the plane, using Todoroki's ice to even out the surface. At least the civilian zombies would have trouble climbing up to get at them.

"If they can even find us," Todoroki said, "If it is mind control, then only one person might be controling them all. One person is easier to hide from then hundreds."

"Trying to fill in for Deku, huh?" Katsuki scoffed, "News flash Mr. Go board face, I don't need the basics spelled out for me."

Todoroki smiled. "I'm glad you're feeling better. I was worried about Midoriya too."

Katsuki didn't feel like dignifying that with a response. He scooted around to face the other way, out over the empty runway, and something bright caught his eye.

Deku was outside again, walking toward the plane.

"You can't come up here!" Katsuki shouted. Immediately, he was hit with a wave of nostalgia. Hadn't this happened before? They used to never let Deku up in the top of the playground, where the slide started.

Deku stopped several meters away. It was hard to see how his face was turned from a distance, with the dark.

"Midoriya?" Todoroki called. He walked closer to the edge. "You might infect us—and we don't have your quirk to protect us."

"Yeah, go back and eat that vending machine food!" Katsuki said, "I bet you got zombie goop all over it!"

"Ohhhhhhh," Deku moaned. He didn't turn back. If anything, he might have been coming slightly closer.

"Or you could keep watch for us from below," Todoroki offered.

Katsuki glared at him. "We're setting our own watch."

"Sure," Todoroki said, "But this gives him something to do."

Deku started toddling forward. There was something of a bounce to his movements, like a weight had been lifted off him. He was still moving about ten times slower than normal.

Belatedly, Katsuki realized that Todoroki was probably right. The best thing to do for Deku was to let him help.

"Bakugou, you watch first," Todoroki said, sitting down in the center of the roof, "You look too stressed to sleep."

The stars were way brighter here than back home—probably because the power was out on this island. Katsuki sat and watched them trace across the sky. He didn't recognize any of them.

A while ago, Deku had laid down on the ground near the plane. He was probably sleeping, if sleep was a thing that zombies could do. His quirk still sparked around him.

"You're protecting him," Katsuki said. He could say it. Todoroki had been asleep for a while now.

Deku's quirk didn't respond at all. Katsuki wasn't quite sure what he'd been expecting.

"Don't quit," Katsuki finished, a little lamely.

Katsuki woke up in the morning with a muscle in his neck pulled the wrong way. He didn't think that was supposed to happen until you got old.

"You wanted to head to the coast and mark buildings?" Todoroki asked.

"Yeah," Katsuki said, pulling his gauntlets back on, "And maybe we can find a boat."

"We can't leave," Todoroki insisted, "If it is contagious like you said, then we absolutely can't take it back to the mainland. We're guessing that we haven't caught it, but we don't know."

Katsuki nodded. He didn't feel like leaving Deku either.

They headed south from the airport, using the map again to chart their way. It was a chilly morning, but clear, and the exercise warmed them up.

Deku followed them at a distance. It was hard to tell if he was trying to keep from infecting them, or if he was just too slow to keep up properly.

"If we run into a bunch of zombies, we'll use Deku as a sacrifice to distract them," Katsuki said. It was a funny mental image.

Todoroki hummed. It was hard to tell if he disliked the idea, or just knew Katsuki wasn't being serious.

"Aaaaaaaahhh!" Deku called from behind.

"Are we going too fast?" Todoroki asked, stopping to look back.

Deku was standing in the middle of the road, a little ways back. "Ooooooohh!" he said. Then, slowly, he turned at a right angle and wandered off toward some trees.

"Hah?" Katsuki yelled, "Get back here!"

Deku kept going, completely ignoring him.

Katsuki started running, off the road at an angle to catch up to him. Todoroki did the same. Soon they'd reversed their positions—Deku leading the way through the woods, Katsuki and Todoroki following in his wake.

"If we get ambushed I'll kill you," Katsuki said, because somebody had to agknowledge that this was a colossally bad decision. Going where they couldn't be seen from above made them less costly to attack.

Up ahead was a small clearing with a plain building sitting in the middle. The driveway came at it from a different direction—they were coming toward it from the side. As they got closer, rounding the corner, the front yard came into view. A cluster of zombies was standing there.

Immediately, Katsuki crouched. In his peripheral, he could see Todoroki do the same. Midoriya kept moving forward. He was either purposefully ignoring them, or purposefully not drawing attention.

"There you are!" an unknown voice said. It came from around the building, too close to the front wall to be seen.

Katsuki motioned for Todoroki to stay put. Then he backtracked a bit and moved to the right, behind the building. It was impossible to move silently—too many leaves littered the ground—but all the zombies milling about masked his footfalls.

"I can sense you," the voice continued, "You're the one who's been ignoring me! Come out, come out!"

Katsuki moved around the other side of the building, careful to stay in its shadow as he peeked past the corner. There was someone standing by the front door, hunched over with his arms spread out. Very fine threads strung out from holes in his large overcoat, just catching the light as they wound outward to some unknown destination.

The only other person not shuffling around was Deku—he stood stock still in the middle of the hoard.

"What is wrong with you?" the man by the door continued, reaching out his hand.

From the other side of the yard, Todoroki met his eyes and nodded. They had this guy flanked.

Deku stuck out a foot like he was going to step forward, then rocked back on his heel. Then Todoroki sent ice out over the ground, freezing every other zombie in place. Katsuki jumped around the corner and hit the villain with an AP shot, knocking him over.

All at once, every zombie started shouting.

"That's him!" Deku yelled, and he grabbed the villain with blackwhip. "I got him—check inside!"

Todoroki was already moving. Katsuki had to force himself to step forward—it was like a wave had come up and slapped him in the face. Deku was just acting normal again, like nothing had happened at all.

They burst into the building. It seemed like a city owned place, built to control some kind of utility, but there was stuff all over the floor, like somebody had been camping out here for a while. A stranger jumped up out of the sleeping bag they'd been napping in, startled by their entrance, but was too disoriented to do anything else.

"Who are you?" Katsuki demanded.

Todoroki walked past him, grabbed some kind of lever on the wall, and pulled it up over his head. All the lights came on inside.

Katsuki blinked. There'd been sunlight coming in from the window before, but now he could see so many details he'd been missing—pieces of trash on the ground, the woman standing there in front of him, hair disheveled, mouth dropped open in shock, tongue black.

His com crackled.

"Burnin!" Katsuki yelled, grabbing at his ear, "Burnin, call the mainland!"

“What red ice cream flavors do you like?” Todoroki asked.

Katsuki ignored him. He’d been doing a lot of that lately.

After the villains were captured, their job had become a rescue operation. Most of the zombies weren't really injured, but basically all of them were hungry and dehydrated. And Katsuki was stuck on this island until the quarantine period was over—everyone knew it had been a quirk effect, but nobody was arrogant enough about it to risk accidentally starting the zombie apocalypse. So he'd handed out a lot of supplies and yelled at a lot of strangers over the past day or so.

“Bakugou,” Todoroki repeated, “I asked you what—

“I heard,” Katsuki said.

"He likes strawberry," Deku said.

"No, I don't!"

Todoroki hummed, and Katsuki got the distinct impression that he was on the wrong side of an ambush. Deku better not be planning on asserting random information about Katsuki's preferences until he wasn't met with a denial.

Right now they were on Deku babysitting duty. Deku was supposed to be resting, but he’d only gotten antsier and antsier being left on standby. So the three of them were walking around the island with him, pretending that they were on patrol together. They’d be able to stop him if he tried to actually do anything. Probably.

“The ocean looks really nice today,” Deku said. It was there on the left, stretched out, catching the light unevenly. “This would be a great place to take a vacation.”

Katsuki looked over at the tourist shops lining the other side of the street. “Wow Deku,” he said, “What an original idea.”

"You like black cherry?" Todoroki said.

Katsuki grit his teeth. "No."

“Do you think Dictator recruited the other villain?” Deku asked, “She had no crimes on her record, and her contagion quirk worked perfectly to expand the effect of his, especially with the trigger she was taking. But if she was a random civilian, then how did he find out about her quirk in the first place?"

Katsuki swallowed his retort. Deku had been going on and on about the villains' quirk combo, and it was obnoxious. Still, a little while ago, Katsuki hadn't been sure he would ever hear Deku rambling again.

He had a chance again now, to listen and to speak.

"Red velvet?" Todoroki asked.

"Shut up," Katsuki said. He could say it to Todoroki, at least.

"Hmm," Todoroki said, "That's all the red flavors I know. I'm going to go see what the store has." Then, inexplicably, he walked off.

"Oh—okay?" Deku said.

Katsuki watched, slightly baffled, as Todoroki went back down the street and entered an ice cream shop they'd passed a bit ago.

"Huh," Deku said, scratching his head, "I guess he's really set on this."

A weird sort of lull came after that. Katsuki knew he should be shouting, setting off his quirk in little flashes, but there was something in the way. He needed to get the weight of it off his chest.

"You know," Katsuki blurted, "I always looked down on—"

"That's him!" someone shouted, "Hey, green hero!"

Just ahead, running up to them, was the zombie lady from the airport, looking significantly more put together than yesterday.

Deku's eyes went wide. "Oh—I know you!"

The young woman stopped when she reached them, a little out of breath. Then she bowed. "Thank you for coming back for me," she said.

"It's no trouble," Deku said, tearing up a little, "I'm really glad you're okay! Were you—were the chips alright?"

The woman straightened, then shrugged. "I don't know if I ate them—the last couple of days are hard to remember."

Deku nodded. "Yeah—under the quirk effects, well, it almost felt like I was dreaming. I remember pieces."

"I was so scared," the woman said. She looked like she might cry too. "And I was so glad that—if there was anything I could do to repay—"

"You don't have to do that," Deku said, waving his hands.

"But you could buy us ice cream," Todoroki said.

Katsuki resolutely did not startle. He would have noticed Todoroki coming back if he hadn't been so focused on not yelling at two crying people.

"Todoroki!" Deku blurted, "You can't just—"

"She was asking," Todoroki said, "And anyway, you brought her food. This way you'd be even."

The woman covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. "What kind do you want?"

Todoroki smiled. "Three cones—one lemon, one blueberry, and one strawberry." Then he turned to Katsuki. "Sorry—that was the only red flavor."

"I'll be right back," the woman said, and she headed off toward the ice cream shop.

Deku's jaw had dropped open.

"If it bothers you, I can pay her back," Todoroki said, a little sheeish. "I just thought—sometimes people feel better when they can help."

"No—it's," Deku stuttered, "That's fine, but—were you picking All Might colors on purpose?"

"I'm a big fan," Todoroki said.

"I don't want strawberry," Katsuki insisted.

"Kacchan, it's All Might colors," Deku said, "You can't mess it up!"

Katsuki bit his lip, not sure how to proceed. On one hand, no way was he going to agree with Deku in public. But on the other hand, Deku did kind of have a point.

"I'll trade with you," Todoroki said, "You can have one of the other flavors."

"Hah?" Katsuki yelled, "Why didn't you start with that?"

"Your costume has red in it," Todoroki said, which was actually wrong. Katsuki's costume had orange.

Deku laughed—a clear sound. "I'm glad I interned with you guys."

"Me too," Todoroki said, "That's why I invited you both."

Katsuki didn't say anything—the lack of a denial was enough for now. And maybe it just meant he was a coward, but the rest would have to wait for a better time.