—Four Hours Later 7:23pm—

Mr. Compress' P.O.V.

There was a loud crash and thud from up on the second floor. I could tell everyone else down on the first floor heard it too by the way we all looked up at the ceiling. That was Puppet, no doubt.

"She's awake." Toga said.

"Well what's wrong with her?" Twice asked.

I stood back up straight from leaning against the kitchen counter. "I'll go check."

——

I got up the stairs and walked down the hallway to the door of Puppet's room. I reached out, turning the handle and slowly opening the door.

The room was trashed, the bed thrown against the wall and the nightstand overturned. The shattered porcelain remains of a decorative vase were in the middle of the floor.

I compressed my cane and slipped the small marble into my pocket before opening the door all the way and stepping into the room.

Puppet was standing in the room, her back to me, her posture stiff and her shoulders tense. It was quite ominous. I noticed that resting on the overturned nightstand was her mask.

"Puppet?" I asked carefully. Her fuse was probably extremely short right now, anything could set her off.

"Hawks is gone." She said, her voice broken.

'Gone? What does she mean by gone?' I questioned, 'He left? No. He wouldn't be so foolish as to leave of his own accord.'

I walked over to her, the porcelain shards of the shattered vase crunching under my boots.

"He fought tooth and nail for me.." She muttered. "He fought fucking tooth and nail, Atsuhiro."

I didn't know how to respond. This was beyond my knowledge. "I.."

She turned and picked up her mask from the nightstand. She stared at it in her hands for a moment, then she faced the wall and started to wind her arm back into a throwing motion. I quickly grabbed her wrist, knowing she would regret it if the mask broke. I halted her action with my firm hold on her.

"Let go!" She snapped, trying to pull away.

I was taken aback by her rudeness. This wasn't the Puppet I knew. The Puppet I knew was calm and collected, and at times overly full of herself. She was never like this, never emotionally driven.

"No." I responded firmly. "I know you'll be distraught if that mask breaks, that's not just my imagination talking."

She fell silent.

I reached over and slowly took her mask from her hand. She allowed it, her grip slackening so that I could take it. I loosened my grip, but kept her wrist in my hand. Slowly, I bent down and placed her mask back on the toppled nightstand.

When I released her wrist from my grasp, Puppet fell back against the wall, using it for support. She slid her back down the wall until she was sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up near her chest. Her hands gripped into her hair and she strongly but shakily exhaled.

I went over and settled down on the floor next to her. She didn't even move, didn't even look up at me.

I reached over and gently took her arm, coaxing her closer to me. She allowed it, just letting me guide her into a hug. I wrapped my arms around her and she leaned onto me, resting her head on my shoulder. Whatever kind of mental breakdown she was having right now, I simply couldn't bring myself to leave her to fall apart all alone.

I rubbed her back in repeated circular motions, hoping it would do something along the lines of making her feel better. I knew it probably wouldn't, this was heartbreaking for her I'm sure. She felt vulnerable. When you're a villain you never want to get this way, it is just a weak point for others to attack, to get under your skin and tear you up from the inside out.

"For what it's worth from an old thief like myself, I'm sorry."

She wordlessly nodded, but didn't respond beyond that.

In the silence, I heard a single set of footsteps come up the stairs and down the hallway towards the room. The door was still open, and Puppets mask was still off.

I gently turned her head to the side, away from the opening of the door. "Incoming." I whispered to her.

The person stopped in the doorway. His slit-like yellow eyes fixed onto me and Puppet. He stood there, as if waiting for permission to talk or advance over to us.

"Hello, Kurogiri." I said, greeting him and subtly letting Puppet know who was here.

"Tomura Shigaraki told me to check up on you two, make sure everything was okay." He said.

I waited for a moment to give Puppet a chance to answer if she wanted to. She didn't, so I just took care of it. "We're okay, we just need some time."

Kurogiri nodded and left without another word. It was silent once again.

After a few more minutes, the silence was finally broken as Puppet spoke.

"How did you find me?" She asked, albeit quietly.

"I followed the helicopters, thought something might've been happening. One of the last things I expected was for you to be todays main act." I gave her my answer.

"I um... probably wouldn't have gotten out if it weren't for you." She said. "So thanks."

"Well, I wasn't about to let your curtain close so soon. But, who was it that you ran into?" I asked finally, I still didn't know.

"Endeavor."

"And he killed Hawks?"

"Burned his wings to ash and dropped him out of the sky." The growl in her voice was prominent. I noticed her hands clench into fists. "That flaming piece garbage and his sidekicks intercepted us on our way back here. They wouldn't let us escape, so we had no choice but to fight. Mirko was there too, and I took several hits from her. When Hawks was killed, I ended up battling Endeavor and one of his sidekicks alone. When I finally had a chance to escape, you were there."

So that's what happened. No wonder she was so battered, holding out against the number one and number four hero along with sidekicks clearly wasn't an easy task.

She sighed. "I'm so tired."

"Then rest, I'll tell others you need time." I said, then I looked to her overturned bed that was still leaning against the wall. "Would you like me to move the bed back?"

She shifted away and leaned back against the wall again. "No, I'll be fine here."

"Alright." I stood up and started walking to the door. "Let me know if you need anything."

I stepped out the door and prepared to close it behind me.

"Atsuhiro."

I looked back to Puppet, "Yes?"

"Thank you, really." She said. "I appreciate all you do for me."

I smiled gently behind my mask as I replied. "You're welcome. I don't think I'd be a good ally— let alone a good friend if I weren't willing to put myself at risk for you."

She smiled at me, granted it was a faint smile, but it was a smile. I was happy to see a little speck of joy in her after all she went through.

With that, I closed the door.

'Time to tell the others.'

——
A/N: Angst. Also, this is the book's official 100th chapter! Only took two years to get here, haha.