Monama and Silk were blindfolded and then carried away, it felt like by someone who could fly.

When they were finally put down, it felt like they'd come pretty far.

The air was suddenly cool and damp...like the inside of a stone building.

All at once, the blindfolds were removed...

They were in a building all right...a stone courtroom, maybe? It looked like an old castle.

There was a table in there that looked more modern, and at it were sitting several Metas, some in long robes...

Silk hissed something-- Monama didn't know what. It was in Russian.

"Your excellency, High Father." The Metas who'd dragged them here bowed. "We brought you some hero spies we caught stowing away..."

The Higher Up Metas regarded them coldly.

Was this really happening? Monama felt dazed. This had happened so suddenly. It had changed a lot from what his original role in their plan was going to be...

He didn't care for how those older Metas were eyeing him too...like he might be a human sacrifice.

"That one looks kind of familiar," one spoke, in a grim voice, "Isn't he from a hero school."

"With that costume, he must be," another said a bit snidely.

But they didn't laugh.

Monama swallowed.

"Can't place the other one," the first spoke, "What is your name, woman?"

Silk answered in Russian, but not with her name.

"Does she not speak Japanese?" said the High Father.

"She...she did," the Fisher-hat protested, "She spoke it earlier. She's just faking."

Silk shook hear head. "Not good," she said in thickly accented Japanese...

Wow, she was playing it up. Monama was impressed she could even focus at such a time. Though what the point of playing like she couldn't understand them was...oh...

He really wished he could do a better English accent now. He could have faked not understanding either.

"But she spoke better!" The Fisher-hat was mad. "Don't you lie to us, girl!"

Silk gave him a very convincing blank look.

She was so slight and innocent looking for a villain, really, Monama half believed she didn't understand him.

Clearly the Higher Metas didn't doubt it.

"She's not useful then, but you, boy, what are you doing here? I suggest you answer honestly now, or we'll use force to make you tell us.aww .. Hmm, do we have any truth sensers on the island right now?"

"I'll check," one of the other robed ones answered.

They pulled out a phone...which looked really out of place in that setting.

It would have been funny...if it all wasn't so chilling.

Monama bit his lip.

"What, cat got your tongue?" the fisherman said to him, "You should answer respectfully to the Elders."

"Elders?" Monama finally heard himself say, "What is this, some kind of cult?"

"Cult?" The High Father sounded offended. "That is what they call us out there in that oppressive society, isn't it? But they're the cult, you foolish upstart. They are the ones who seek to bind us in their chains. We're the ones who have become free. Perhaps we may even free you, if you prove useful. What is your meta ability?"

"My what?" Monama said.

"I believe the ignorant plebeians call it a quirk," said one of the others, like he was not quite bright.

"Oh..." Monama thought he should probably lie..but nothing came to mind. "I...well, I can't really say."

"You'd do well to rethink that position," said the High Father coolly, "before we run out of patience...but I think a demonstration might be in order. I'm sure there're more spies than just the two of them, no doubt some followed them here. And while I don't like to do things myself anymore...I think we have no time to waste."

"It's been a long time since we've interrogated anyone personally," said one of the the other elders.

Monama didn't like the sound of that.

The High Father stood, and something like wires or poles extended out of his robe. 

"All right...I'll just give a little demonstration for now. Wouldn't want him to go into shock."

Monama realized a second too late what that probably meant.

The wires made contact--and easily the worse feeling he'd ever felt went over him. It was like nausea and shock all at once--also it really hurt.

It only lasted for about 2 seconds, but that was enough to make him go weak at the knees.

Silk gasped.

"That's just a small demonstration," the High Father said, "I admit, there is a certain satisfaction out of personally handling these matters... My Meta Ability, by the way, is called Stimulus. I can basically make you feel pain...really without inflicting any actual damages. It's ideal. Unless I overdo it."

"Yes, Your Excellency, remember when you put someone into shock, and they had a stroke?" said one elder helpfully.

"Yes, well, I know how to control it pretty well now." The High Father sounded not the least bit sorry about having done that. "So unless we get bored, I think I will hold off on that. But you understand now? It will be exceedingly painful if you persist in denying us. So you should start talking."

At moments like this, clarity is not often really a thing as much as movies like to say it is.

Monama didn't think very clearly whether it would be wise to give in or not. Or what the result of resisting might be. Or if they would torture Silk also.

He knew they would not be patient...and with good reason. If he didn't tell them soon, they would lose any chance to preemptively stop an attack.

So they weren't kidding around...

But all that was just kind of a blur in his mind. He didn't have any clear plan...or ideas...or even courage, really.

He just figured he probably shouldn't say anything. That was about all he knew, and that was mostly because of training.

Since he didn't say anything, they took that as a refusal.

"Always so difficult... Heroes," the Elders said, annoyed.

[Words fail to describe how uncomfortable the prospect of what follows this makes me, so I really can't write it...]

* * *

"Dang it, we lost them," Wally said over the line.

The rest of the group hurried to catch up with them, having taken care of the Metas following them for the most part.

"They just vanished over the horizon," Shine said, "I guess they went towards the water again."

"I remember this," Shoto said, "There is a peninsula over there."

"Oh...really?" Wally said.

"This island just keeps getting better," Shine said.

Wally dashed after them again.

 "Una problema," he said, "There's a narrow, little pass over to that peninsula... I could just run over the water, but I think we might lose them in the trees, then. They're too fast."

"And they've already flown farther off," Shine said, sighing, "If we got too close they'd know we were there...and it's too exposed now. I'm afraid we'll have to follow more slowly now."

Finally the rest of the team saw them.

They were in a field of pink flowers.

"I remember this," Shigaraki said, "I killed Nine here...right over there, actually. Is it still marked?"

"Ugh," Hawks said, "You just killed him? Geez."

"You can't really pretend you're sorry about that," Spinner said, "He was a bad guy."

"Anyway, there can only be one king," Shigaraki said.

"Do you believe that s--- when you say it?" Mirko said, not impressed.

"You're perfectly right though," Shine said to Shigaraki, as she rejoined them, "and Jesus is the only king...though the king of this world is the Devil."

"What?" Camie and Momo said.

[Fun story: I once impressed a teacher I didn't even know by knowing the Bible says this, and I was with a lot of other Sunday school kids who thought it was Jesus and gave me a weird look when I said it. Not sure what to make of that, other than a lot of people don't really know what the Bible actually says.]

"We gave it to him," Shine said, "Long story...actually not long. We covered that in one day, I think... but hey, join us in fighting the devil, and we'll get it back one day." She winked at Shigaraki.

"Very funny." He didn't sound amused.

"Wasn't trying to be," Shine said, "but speaking of the devil...we need to find Monama and Silk again before those sons of serpents do something horrible to them."

"Sorry..." Wally panted, "I ran out of steam at the end. That's why we really lost them. Shine just didn't want to blame me." He rubbed his head. "Anyone have an energy bar?"

Momo handed him one.

"We went through ours," Shine sighed, "All that portaling and running before really tuckered him out."

"Tuckered?" Hawks said.

"It's up to you guys now. We're out of energy," Shine said, "What I do have left, I need to save for once we get over there. So I guess we fly or something..." She looked displeased about it.

"More Metas are gonna be on us any second," Bakugo said, "so let's get over there."

"Well, hang on," Hawks said, "They'd be stupid not to have a guard over the only land entrance to that Peninsula... We need more of a plan than that."

Suddenly the line crackled.

"Hello?" Compress' voice sounded ghostly. "Is anyone able to hear me?"

"Compress?" Shigaraki said, "Where have you been?!"

"I...don't really know... I woke up in the hall of some moldy, stone building. I can't gauge where I am."

"The castle!" Momo said suddenly, "There's a castle on the island... Here." She held out the binoculars. "Look."

They took turns looking.

"Oh, wow, cool," Wally said.

"More like a fortress, but still, awesome." Shine loved it. "Could also be a burial mound of some sort though, based on the lower set design... Then again, if it's on a hill, it's probably an outpost--"

"No one cares!" Spinner interrupted her.

"Whatever it is, I don't know where I am," Compress said.

"All right," Momo said, "listen closely, Mr. Compress. We didn't go inside too much there because we weren't sure it was stable. A lot of it was covered in rubble by Nine's storm...but if it's been renovated, as it looks like it has, then you're probably by an entrance. There can't be too many hallways in there.... If you work your way out, you'll see us probably across the channel...but maybe you should stay inside. They might see you...and Silk and Monama are in there."

"What?" Compress hissed, "Where?"

"They must be by you. You were in her pocket," Momo said, "and right now you're the only one close enough to find them...if you would be willing to look. Are you able to fight?"

"Oh, sure," Compress said, "I'm not tired. I've hardly done anything today at all--not one word, Spinner."

"Did I say anything?" Spinner muttered.

"If you find them and they're in trouble, I can get us out," Shine said, "but if not, it's best if we sneak in there and save energy."

"Or I could could warp us," Shigaraki said.

"You can't do that to me," Shine said, "but if you care to warp anyone else, it's up to you. I still don't like using those things."

"Well, we are out of options, Likstar, and they could be killing Silk right now," Shigaraki said unhelpfully, "or Medea."

"Medea too?" Compress said.

"She's MIA, so maybe," Shine said.

"Oh, dear..." Compress sighed, "I don't like this plot twist."

"Was he always this gimmicky?" Dabi wondered.

"I'll look," Compress said, "Not to worry, I can sneak around when I need to."

"Just don't start monologuing," Spinner said.

"Shut it, Spinner."

"Guess we'll have to get through any opposition." Bakugo cracked his knuckles.

"Mr. Bakugo!" a young girl's voice called suddenly.

Bakugo froze. "Oh, frick no..."

Everyone looked and saw two blonde kids in normal clothes coming down the side of the island, waving.

"Why do they never have their fricking parents!" Bakugo swore.

"Who is that?" Wally asked.

"That's the kid Nine tried to take the quirk of," Momo said, "and the other is his sister."

"Mr. Bakugo!" the girl panted, almost tripping, "You came back!"

Camie shot Bakugo a look.

"I forgot she was a fan," Shoto said, "Probably his only fan in the world."

"Shut up!" Bakugo snapped at him.

"I'm his fan," Shine said.

"It's different with you," Shoto said, "You don't go by general standards."

"Where's Mr. Deku?" the boy said.

"He's not here," Bakugo said, "Why are you two brats here anyway?"

They looked unbothered by his way of speaking.

"We saw you run through the city, and we wanted to say hi," said the girl, "You remember us, right?" With a worried look.

"Uh...yeah..." Bakugo was uncomfortable.

"I'm Mahoro Shimano, and this is Katsuma," the girl introduced herself politely to the others. She eyed the LOV members uneasily. Then, "Hey, aren't you Hawks?"

Hawk smiled weakly. "Yeah..."

"And the Bunny hero!" Katsuma said excitedly.

Mirko tried to let that one slide off. "Hey..." she said flatly.

"They can't stay around here," Shine hissed, "but if the Metas are chasing us, we shouldn't just send them back either."

"These kids are as good at getting into trouble as stupid Deku," Bakugo declared, "so we should freaking get them out of here."

"Sounds like a them problem," Shigaraki said.

"Do you really mean that?" Shine said, eyeing him critically.

He huffed.

"Yo," Camie looked back, "uh, I think the company has arrived."

Several Metas had finally spotted them.

"I've got this," Wally said. He scooped up the kids. "Hello, kiddos. Hey, I can run really fast. I'mma just take you back to your parents, okay? It'll be fun."

"But I want to stay with Bakugo," Mohoro said.

"Get lost, you little brat!" Bakugo said.

She frowned. "You're being mean. That's not very heroic."

Camie snorted. "Roasted by a 10 year old, bro. Why does this keep happening?"

"Oh, shut it, Camie," Bakugo said.

"Villains are coming," Wally said, "Let's go." He took the kids and began to run.

One of the Metas suddenly injected something into their arm.

"Uh oh, was that a drug?" Spinner said.

The air became charged with some kind of faint light.

Almost instantaneously, everyone felt like something reached out through the ground and yanked them down, though it wasn't a visible thing.

"Ah!!! What just happened?" Camie gasped.

"I feel like my bones are being crushed..." Momo said.

"Oh, s---!" Hawks was trying to fly, to no avail. "It feels like...that person just increased the gravity..."

"Like the opposite of Round Face..." Bakugo growled.

"Oh no, on no, oh no..." Shine moaned, "That's one of Wally's weaknesses... Gravity...greater mass, he can't compensate for it..."

"And you think they just figured that out?" Mirko struggled. She somehow managed to push herself with sheer leg power. It was incredible that she could do it at all.

"It can't be increased by that much," Momo said, "We'd be dead... I'm not sure how much we can withstand, though."

"They can't keep that up for long," Shine muttered, "but it would only need to be a few minutes... Err." she was trying to raise her arms. Her sword appeared in her hands. "If I could just cut through this somehow..."

"Ow..." Momo mumbled, as the pressure was really getting unbearable.

Mirko was the only one who could see what was happening.

"They've got West," she said.

So they did. Wally had tripped and fallen down once the gravity increased...but it didn't affect him quite like everyone else. While it was his weakness, it would take several times earth's gravity to really pin him down, but it would make him burn calories much faster to run in this. He knew he had to think quickly.

The kids began crying because the pressure was scaring them.

Wally struggled to get back up, moving at half his usual pace, even for casual movement--faster than anyone one else could have.

"Keep it up, Jupiter," one meta said to the woman who was causing this, "He's gonna burn out, I can tell."

"Wow, you guys know my weakness, huh?" Wally said, to distract them.

"We did an analysis," the man huffed, "Figured it could only be one of few things. Luckily Jupiter was on the island. But she can aim her quirk too, so if you don't want you friends all crushed to death, I suggest not trying anything."

"It's not good," a different meta with Bull horns said to him, "She'll max out soon, and they'll move. Better to just take him out."

Wally knew that if they could kill all of them, they would have. Jupiter clearly couldn't manage that much gravity over such a big space. She looked ready to pass out any second, sweating bullets.

But then the gravity snapped into a much smaller circle around him and felt like a building dropped on him.

He went back down.

"Wally!" Shine screamed in a voice that hardly sounded like her own.

Mirko jumped as soon as she could and smacked into the Jupiter woman, who didn't have time to dodge. The Metas didn't expect the Pro to attack that fast and weren't ready either.

Jupiter went down. Wally was released...but he already felt crushed.

Shine raced up to him, almost tripping because she was still recovering too. "Babe? Babe, are you okay? Talk to me?" She was frantic.

"I've...been better...." Wally wheezed. It was like an elephant had stepped on his chest.

"I'm amazed that didn't kill him..." Hawks flew over, spreading out his feathers more protectively.

"Hawks," the first Meta said, "Strange...I heard you were bumped off already."

"Eh, you know rumors," Hawk shrugged nonchalantly.

"Let's make it a trumor then," the meta said. He morphed into...a dinosaur?

This was just getting weird now.

Spikes flew out of his tale.

"So...now there's a Stegosaurus..." Camie said blankly, "and I still feel like my lungs got crushed... What's going on?"

"Die!" Bakugo charged the Dino-Meta.

"Maybe we should run," Spinner said, "This looks like the A-team here. The big guns."

Shigaraki got up. "No, they've pissed me off now. We just almost got crushed!"

"We can't fight that woman," Shoto said, "I hope Mirko took care of her."

Mirko had kicked her pretty hard, but Jupiter had made a gravity circle around her feet and pinned her down.

"I always wanted to kill a top Pro," she said, wiping blood off her face. [That makes two Jupiters in my stories that are total jerks. Though the other one wasn't my original character, to be fair.]

"Hey, leave her alone!" Katsuma yelled at Jupiter, throwing a rock at her.

Jupiter turned, angry now.

A huge, centipede-like monster reared out of the ground and snapped at her.

She yelped and jumped back, aiming her Gravity Circle at it... The creature didn't seem to budge.

Bakugo, blowing up the Dino, not very successfully, grinned. "That brat..."

Camie noticed the Centipede thing wasn't casting a shadow.

"Holy crap," she hissed at Momo and Shoto, "It's an illusion... One of the kids must be casting it."

"Yeah, the girl can," Momo recalled now.

"Whoa, my soul sister!" Camie was thrilled.

"We should be helping," Shoto said, "while she's distracted." He shot ice towards her.

Jupiter turned and gave him a murderous look, but she hadn't yet figured out the bug monster was a trick, so she was still focused on getting away from it.

Momo saw Mahoro and Katsuma had hidden behind a rock in the flower patch and were watching.

Mirko struggled and finally got herself out of the dirt she'd been rammed into by the gravity.

"One brave kid," she muttered.

The illusion (or hologram, really) vanished then... Mahoro probably couldn't keep it up all that long, especially while scared.

"Huh?" Jupiter looked around, then she said, "Hey, Jurassic, it was a trick. Forget it. Just kill them."

The dinosaur meta roared.

The remaining Metas, who were just watching this, seemed to take that as a sign to jump in and do something.

They had less impressive powers though, and Shoto had no trouble fending them off.

Momo and Camie and the LOV rushed for cover. Shinso wanted to get close enough to use his quirk, but it was so loud, he wasn't sure anyone would answer him.

Shine was trying to get Wally up. He was having a hard time getting his limbs to work after that.

"Babe, maybe you'd better just run," he said.

"No," Shine said, "I'm not losing you on top of everything else, Wally."

Jurassic knocked Bakugo into a tree suddenly and turned to her with a roar.

"Get out of my way, weakling." His voice had gone very bestial in this form, more like a lizard's.

Shine stood up, sword out, wiping away a tear or two. Her eyes were blazing.

"If you want to get to him, you go through me," she said, with a voice of fury.

Jurassic hesitated. Even he didn't like how sharp her sword looked...but as she didn't look like a hero at all, not in costume or even very toned looking, he thought she was probably not very highly trained.

"Suit yourself." He swung his tail and shot spikes at her.

Shine deflected all of them with a deadly ease that bespoke either a lot of focus or an adrenaline high.

Bakugo peeled himself off the tree, trying to get his bearings back.

The one with bull horns was pawing the ground, and suddenly it locked on the two kids. "Children shouldn't be at a battlefield." He charged at them.

Jupiter, meanwhile, was pressing Todoroki back, literally, and fending Mirko off.

Shigaraki still was refusing to run, though. He was still mad. He waited till Jupiter had moved farther from the other heroes, and then he hit the ground with his quirk.

The ground cracked up under her feet.

She looked down. "What the--?" She lost her footing and fell over.

Shoto collapsed then from the effort of trying to bear up under her attacks.

"Shoto..." Momo had been trying to make a cannon.

"Girl," Camie said, "focus, before Bakugo gets bull-horned, and gravity girl there gets up again. Also Dino Dan over there isn't sleeping on trying to kill our senseis..."

"Shigaraki?" Jupiter sat up. "I heard you were here, but I really didn't believe it... Wow, so you finally crawled out from underneath the rock you've been hiding under? And you're helping heroes? What a new low for the proud LOV."

"Shut up," Shigaraki said.

"That's a retort," Jupiter snorted. She held out her hand. "If you were sore about me almost crushing you before, you really should have run for it."

Shoto tried to sit up but fell back over.

"Uh oh." Hawks looked over. "Hey, someone want to help him? Dabi? Where is Dabi?"

Dabi was nowhere in sight.

"Did he ditch us?" Hawks wondered, "I mean, it's characteristic, but still... Ah!" One of the other metas was throwing stuff at him. He shot feathers to pin them down.

He had tried to stop Jupiter, but her gravity seemed to pull the feathers down...or...repel them? The air around her was kind of glitchy.

Mirko had had a hard time hitting her because of that. She didn't seem to have the same amount of impact as usual.

She pulled herself up from where Jupiter had sent her flying again.

"You want to play that game?" She spat dirt out and grinned. "Fine. Let's play."

She took off towards Jupiter again. She wasn't looking.

"I really would love to hear the story behind why you thought this was a good idea." She was taunting Shigaraki and Spinner, who'd made the mistake of trying to help and gotten pinned down also.

"But I have a feeling it's not really that worthwhile..." She tossed her flaming red hair. "Ah, well, le sigh..."

Then Mirko slammed into her from above with her signature spin kick.

Even with Jupiter's anti-gravity protection, the impact to that was too much for her to deflect. She face planted into the dirt, causing a chain reaction of gravity. It turned into a crater.

Mirko tossed hair out of her face. "There... Who says you can't defy gravity...?" She fell over.

"Wow..." Spinner said, "that was impressive..."

Shigaraki rubbed dirt off himself. "D---, that planet girl was a pest."

"You don't seem as affected..." Spinner panted, "Those enhancements give you resilience or something?"

"Maybe. Shut up," Shigaraki said, "We should get out of here."

He put out one hand and decayed the ground, and it went towards the bull Meta---who suddenly fell over, partially decayed. Not dead though.

Bakugo was blasting it to get out of the way, and now he shot them a confused look.

Camie and Momo were helping Shoto get up.

Hawks shot feathers at the remaining Metas attacking him.

They looked at Shine.

She was parrying the attacks of Jurassic still, and then she brought her sword down on his head.

He seemed to be stunned.

He fell over...and morphed back into human form.

Shine kicked a rock at him, as if to add insult to injury.

"Anybody else?" She dared the Metas, who had gathered since but were watching.

"Why aren't they all fighting?" Camie wondered.

"I think they want to see if we can be taken care of by the others first," Momo said, "Maybe they want to save their resources. It's a small island..."

The Metas were eyeing Shine, since she's just leveled a dinosaur with one strike.

"Come on." She narrowed her eyes at them.

"Well, they're scared out of their s---." Shigaraki was enjoying watching this...as much as he ever enjoyed anything. "Spinner, get the hero. Now's our chance."

"Boss?" Spinner said, "What about Dabi?"

"Dabi's gone... He must have had an idea," Shigaraki said.

"Right..." Spinner ran over to Mirko, who was trying to get up and not getting her muscles to cooperate.

"We gotta run, No. 5." He yanked her up.

"Owww!" she hissed, then swore, "I feel like I got turned into ramen."

Spinner scooped her up rescue style. "At least you're short."

"If I could move I'd punch you for that..."

"Sure." Spinner scrambled away, much like a lizard. "Boss, are you sure Dabi is okay?"

Shigaraki was just walking away. "Positive. He'd never run off without a plan. Mark my words, any second he's going to pull something. We should get out of the way."

"Your faith is Dabi is weird," Mirko muttered, "Where's that moron Hawks?"

"He's... I think he's...circling?" Spinner glanced back. "The hero brats are sure slow."

Momo and Camie were still dragging Shoto.

Bakugo had the two kids now and also hightailed it the other way.

Shinso came up and grabbed Katsuma.

"I couldn't get an opening," he said. "Didn't think a scarf would stop them... I feel a little under-powered against these guys. They seem like the elite squad."

"There're bound to be even tougher guys at the fortress," Bakugo said.

"Oh, thanks," Shinso said.

"So you hide behind a corner and catch 'em off guard," Bakugo went on.

Shinso smirked. "Right..."

"I'm scared..." Katsuma said.

"Yeah, ya dumb kids should've stayed at home," Bakugo said, "I don't like running." This to Shinso.

Shinso looked back. "I guess they are afraid of her... I wonder why. She's not that strong."

"Shine just has that effect on idiots," Bakugo said.

* * *

Shine saw them all running. Good.

Wally tried to sit up.

Shine faced down the remaining Metas.

Hawks was watching them too.

Then the smell of burning flowers hit all of them.

The Metas turned and saw a good sized fire coming towards them from the edge of the field...

"What he--! That maniac! Trying to set the whole island on fire?!" they cried.

Dabi appeared out of the smoke. "Hey." He shot a stream of blue flames out, creating a  wall between the Metas and Shine.

She pulled Wally... She couldn't lift him though. Dragging him was the most she could do.

Dabi ran up and grabbed his other arm and helped. "This feels like deja vu, Likstar."

"Oh, Touya..." Shine said, "You just showed them your quirk..."

Dabi shook his head. "It was too late to be cautious... Maybe they'll all die, and we won't have to deal with it."

"Touya!"

"I mean, I'm not gonna kill 'em..." Dabi said, "Just saying. Look, I've only come so far. I'm not like you-- sorry for the people trying to murder me."

"I'm not that sorry for them, but I wouldn't go that far," Shine said, "Death is horrible...but forget it. We have to get away..." She coughed on smoke.

"Oh, right..." Dabi remember not everyone had his resistance... Even he didn't have too much.

Hawks swooped down and picked them up and flew for it.

"Sorry I'm late," he said.

"I hate you," Dabi said.

"Ah, don't be like that," Hawks said, "Your sister asked me to make sure nothing bad happened to  you."

"What?!" Dabi almost squeaked in rage.

"I was right about her not being able to keep a secret," Shine muttered.

The fire got pretty bad, and the Metas had to scramble to put it out before it hit the city or them.

By the time they did, they'd lost the team.

But the team hadn't gone that far. They'd made it to the shore and gotten farther away from the flower field, under some rocks, but they were still too exposed for comfort.

"Hey, Compress..." Shine wearily got on line again, "we're gonna be delayed... If you find them, just do your best, okay? I'm sorry... There's  a lot of Metas here."

Compress made no answer. Perhaps he was not somewhere he could risk talking.