Rejected Stones

The Most Important

Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida

55. The Most Important

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,

He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.

But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.

For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

-The Female of the Species, Rudyard Kipling

Mei ran through the streets, clutching her baby to her chest, blindly following the map in her mind. The bad guys had Izuku. They had not had any cute babies, they had lied. They were scary bad men, just like the MLA, just like the Hand Man, just like the Mask. And now they had Izuku, and their baby was broken by the bad men and Mei did not know what to do.

In the background, Mei heard screams and cries of panic. People reacted that way to her babies sometimes, but Mei did not put her baby away. There could be more bad men, and the flamethrower was very practical for stopping them. But it hadn't saved Izuku. Not even the cute baby she had made just for him, the one that reminded her how much he loved her, had saved him. Mei's babies were useless if they could not save Izuku. That left only one thing: her friends.

The people around Mei continued to make noise and scream, but they got out of the way when she pointed the flamethrower at them so that was alright. Could she go to the police? No, they were bad men too, they had taken away Fire Beard Endeavor who was Fire and Ice Shoto's dad and been mean to Joke Man Togata and made Sister Hari cry. But she had to save Izuku.

She could not save Izuku. Her babies had not worked. She needed her friends.

A person did not move out of Mei's way, instead running towards her. This person looked funny, like a cow. Mei had seen Cow Lady before, but she had been bigger then and now she was small.

"Hey you! Stop right there, or-oh my God, Mei Hatsume?! Sweetie, put the gun down, what's going on?"

"Go away!" Mei shouted, planting her feet and trying to point her baby at Cow Lady. Mei had remembered now, she was a Hero. Heroes had been there to hurt Fire Beard and Joke Boy and make Hari cry and that made them bad people too. "I need to get my friends!"

"Sweetie, you're scaring everyone," Cow Lady said, putting her hands up and moving forward. She was still small, but Mei was ready if she got bigger. She could run away while Cow Lady got big and find her friends. "Remember me? I'm Mount Lady. I was there, at Kamino. You kids saved my life. Please, put the gun down, let's talk."

"No talking!" Mei cried, her arms shaking. That was right, Cow Lady had been there and fought the Mask and Hand Man. She had tried to help Mei. Was she a good hero like Lie Teacher Aizawa and Fire Hair Burnin? "Are you a good hero? Or are you one of the bad ones that likes the MLA and hates Endeavor and my friends?!"

Cow Lady paused, grimacing. She looked around, but the street was now empty and that seemed to make her happy. "Look, I'm on you kids' side. What happened to Endeavor was wrong. Being in the MLA should be a crime, and he was just doing his job. Yeah, Feel Good was rough, but I've been in bad spots too. Sometimes there is no good answer. So yeah, I'm one of the good heroes."

"I need help," Mei whispered. "Izuku is in trouble. The bad men have him, the yakuza. He told me I had to save him."

"Son of a- OK, we'll need to call the police straight away, this is-"

"NO!" Mei cried, waving her flamethrower frantically. "Not the police! One of them is with the yakuza! He helped them before, just like the police helped the MLA!"