Chapter 66: We Meet Again
When Inko had dropped Eri off at the Bakugous—promising her that if she was good, then she would get to have apple pie for dessert tomorrow—Mitsuki had pulled her aside to get the down low about what the heck was going on. She didn't mind looking after the little squirt, but for Inko to say she was planning a night out, well, that had gotten her attention. What kind of night out was she going to have?
Inko pulled back her shawl to show off the dress, and Mitsuki openly gawked and pointed, instantly recognizing the dress as one she had given her friend so that she could be wearing something nice when she finally left Hisashi and wanted to have a night where she would be dragging someone to the nearest love hotel.
Bare-shouldered, with only a tiny spaghetti strap around her neck to keep the dark, almost black, green velvet cloth from letting her top be exposed. Though with the way the rest of the dress clung and accentuated her rounded curves, the only way the rest would come off, was if someone was on their knees pulling it down.
When Inko had said she might be a little late picking Eri up, Mitsuki made it clear. If she wasn't picking Eri up tomorrow morning, she would smack her.
Before she left, Mitsuki had one last question. Toshinori or Chitose?
Inko smiled softly, and said that she got the feeling a dress like this would give that poor man a heart attack, which got a faux scandalized gasp from Mitsuki.
"Inko, you sound like you're going out with bad intentions."
Nenshouki smiled back, a smolder in her eyes and a huskiness to her voice. "Tonight isn't about being good."
Inko was a little surprised, as she walked the streets of Hamamatsu towards the high rises of the restaurant district, that she hadn't chickened out. Not because she was potentially sticking her nose into a situation that might get her hurt. No, death didn't have the same terror it once had. Maybe coming so close to death fucked her up more than she knew.
Actually I know it did because I'm thinking like you again, Inko thought to herself while seeing Nenshouki smirking at her. Her dark reflection wasn't in her old army greens, but the old patchwork dress she used to wear for date nights, cut and sewed to make a certain pre-douche person feel a very certain kind of way.
Death wasn't what was going to send Inko back home. It was that her whole plan, if you could call it that, hinged on the fact that she had the sex appeal to go full Casanova and sweep Chitose off her feet.
Chitose had flirted with her a few days ago, and had seemed very excited at the prospect of them eating together. Inko eyed the building she was walking to, where a very, very fancy restaurant was located up in the penthouses. Yes, very excited.
But there was that, and then there was assuming that she— the round doughy woman that she was—had the charm, confidence and, to put it bluntly, the dominant sexual energy needed to get another grown woman on her knees. Even during her prime, this wasn't a fight she had much experience with. It wasn't like she flirted and sauntered her way into yakuza strongholds. She drove a truck through and came out blasting.
…
On her knees is just metaphorical.
Nenshouki rolled her eyes. Just like all the hedge trimming is a metaphor for—
…
"Oh my god, I'm not ready for this. I'm not James Bond. I can't just—"
"Oh my god, Inko?!"
Suddenly hearing her name stopped the mighty ex-eco-terrorist / yakuza slaughtering MILF from turning on her heel and labeling this whole 'plan' as FUBAR'd. Inko had reached the building, and Chitose was waiting for her.
And…
Oh. My. Gawd.
If the black sundress Inko had seen Chitose in before had been stunning on the blue woman's form—letting the world know she was fucking gorgeous and out of everyone's league—what she was wearing now screamed, no, broadcasted, a whole different and more intense message. She was a sexual goddess and she was going to have someone screaming in incoherent bliss by the end of the night.
I'm fucked.
Yeah, I think that's her plan.
Chitose strutted forward with a smile and sensual purpose. The cocktail dress was like a second skin, the black fabric clinging to her body. The top was a sash of cloth that went around her neck, crossed in a X across her collar and was pulled taught over her breasts, covering the top, but leaving her cleavage, underboob and most of her upper abdomen fully exposed, an open window of succulent blue skin. Just above her navel the dress circled around her, covering her up but hugging her hips tight. The dress ended just at mid thigh, leaving her luscious legs knee-weakening naked to the world. Her stilettos cocktail heels made sharp clicks with every step, the dagger heels pushing Chitose on her tiptoes, giving the woman another several inches of height.
Inko was way past the point of no return and it seemed like she was punching way above her weight class in the charm offensive game.
Look at it this way. You win and you get answers to your questions. And probably some really hot freaky sex.
… And if I lose?
You get to have some really hot freaky sex.
Inko took a moment to steady herself and got ready for the hardest fight in her life. Okay. Time to go full shaken, not stirred.
…
Neither Midoriya or Nenshouki was willing to take credit for that horrible line.
Himiko gave a startled yelp as something small and furry bolted out of the bushes and right over her foot.
"Damned squirrel," she muttered. She made it through all of 1-B's bull and it was a little critter that got her to react. "You don't tell anyone you saw that," she ordered back at Kouji, who was busy looking anywhere but at her.
Smart boy.
The bushes rustled and another critter bolted across the path. Then another. Soon squirrels, rabbits, and other furry animals were making mad dashes across their path like they were late for the ark.
Himiko gave a small chuckle. "Oh, I bet 1-B's scare tactics has got all the poor animals all wound up. That—" Himiko almost bit her tongue when several large black bears leapt by, a small sleuth in a full sprint, leaving both students to keep extremely still until the stampede was over. "Holy shit! Guess now we know what got the little things all in a hurry. A bunch of Winnie the Pooh's are hungry… Holy fuck, that was like ten fucking bears. Fuck me." Himiko had to take a moment. Doesn't matter how much of a badass you are, if bears suddenly run across your path, you're taking a moment. "You know, I've never seen a bear… Eh?"
Himiko felt Kouji grab her wrist, and plant his feet, keeping her from going on. She was a little startled at how insistent he was in making sure she didn't move.
Damn when he doesn't want to move he doesn't move. Easy to forget that despite his gentle demeanor, Kouji was a big boy.
"Okay you big scaredy-cat, let's keep it moving," she smiled. "Shouldn't you be the least scared of animals out of… anyone…here?" Himiko now had a look at Kouji. And he wasn't scared. People like to mix up the words, but what was spreading across Kouji's face was something more than 'scared.' It was fear. A deep unsettling growing fear. Which didn't fit the moment at all. "Hey, hey what…"
"The animals." Kouji's big eyes were scanning the woods. The way his head was tilted showed he was listening intently. His voice was quiet but strained, his fear pushing past his anxiety about talking to others.
"Eh? What about them? Just some bears hunting… right?"
Kouji shook his head. "That wasn't hunting. That was running. Fleeing. They were all running away. Even the bears and other predators. All the animals were running from…" Kouji stopped looking and listening as something hit him. "They're all gone."
Himiko glanced around. "Gone? Is that why it's… so quiet?"
It was quiet. Unnaturally quiet. The woods were too damned quiet and it was getting Himiko's instincts acting up. "What were the animals running from?"
"Death."
Anivoice let Kouji talk to animals. Command them. The animals couldn't talk back to him, but Kouji could understand each animal's body language. Knew what a bird's chirps, or a dog's barks all meant. Animals didn't have the same kind of understanding of the world people did, so they couldn't have conversations the same way people could. But there are things that are just universal. Death was something anyone or anything alive understood.
Himiko's hand moved up towards her waistband. "There's something in the woods that's got animals thinking they're going to die if they don't get the fuck out of here?"
Kouji nodded.
A flash of metal came as Himiko pulled a knife she kept hidden for emergencies from her waistband. Kouji flinched at the sight. His expression changed from shock to confusion when Himiko flipped the blade in her hand and held the hilt towards him. "Here."
Kouji's big eyes looked down at the knife, then back towards Himiko. He started shaking his head, but Himiko wasn't having it. "Listen to me. If all the animals are running, then you can't use your Quirk, can you? Not without screaming at them to get their attention."
Kouji frowned and nodded solemnly. With the animals already in a panic, it'd take a lot of effort to get them under control. He'd have to be loud, and he doubted Himiko wanted them drawing attention to themselves.
"Then you need to be able to defend yourself." She pushed the hilt closer to him. "So take the damned thing already." He shook his head and Himiko growled. "Damn it, I know you're scared but you can't be a coward right—"
"You need to be able to fight. You're better than me," Kouji countered, low but firmly. Standing up to scary people was hard for him, but he knew that the knife should be used by the person who could actually use it.
Himiko's face softened as it clicked what Kouji was doing. "You're a good egg Kouji. I'll be fine. I'll be able to work a lot better knowing you'll be able to defend yourself with this. Okay?" In other words, if he didn't take it, Himiko wouldn't be able to do her thing because she would also feel worried about his safety. "So take the knife and let's decide which way we're going."
Down the path or turning around.
With a timid but determined nod, Kouji reached to take the knife. But as his hand wrapped around the black faux leather, he saw the steel glinting in the dark. There shouldn't have been enough light for that.
Himiko looked at the knife, and the strange blue light reflecting off of it. She turned, and watched as the horizon began to glow a bright, hellish blue. And rising above the glow, were thick black smoke. All of it coming from the direction further down the path.
Himiko sucked in a breath. "They're burning the damned woods. Shit!"
Neither said it, but they knew what this meant.
Villains.
"Yaoyorozu, Jirou… Bakugou and Uraraka were ahead of us," Kouji whispered, his breaths starting to come in quick and shallow as he clutched the knife close. "And the rest of 1-B."
A heartbeat later, and Himiko took off, straight down the trail and into darkness. Kouji huffed and puffed as he hurried to keep up.
The only warning the Wild Wild Pussycats and the remaining pairs of 1-A students had before their night of fun turned into a nightmare, was when Pixie-Bob noticed that there was a scent of smoke in the air.
Mandalay was looking up towards the mountains, startled to see black smoke rising over the trees. Tiger, who had been encouraging the remaining students to prepare themselves for the test of courage, turned around. His eyes drifted up, thinking he was going to see what his teammates were looking at. But as he did, he saw above the treeline, hidden by the night sky but standing in contrast to the pitch black smoke, a flutter of green. Then, twin streaks of bright green that shot across the air like a bolt of lightning. Right towards—
"PIXIE-BOB!"
Tiger dove at Pixie-Bob, who didn't even have a chance to register anything before Tiger was right at her, just as the two bolts of green struck with sickening thunks.
In that instant, everyone froze from shock as they all looked at the two heroes laying on the ground.
"Wha—What's going on?!" Minoru yelled in shock while Tenya and Shouto took several hurried steps towards the downed heroes.
Mandalay quickly swung out a hand towards the group. "Don't move!"
Mandalay needed the kids to stay put. Suddenly, she was being forced to split her attention in multiple directions. Her friends and teammates were down. She had the kids she needed to worry about. There was the assailant themselves. Plus the unknown factor of everything else that was going on. At the very least, she needed to know where the kids were, in case she was forced to put herself between them and this attacker.
Mandalay reached out with her Telepathy, calling out to the pair, holding her breath to see if she'd get a response.
Mezou's arms spread out, eyes and ears looking in all directions. "Twenty meters up and fifty out, there's a single person in the air." The eyes narrowed. "Green cloak and… a bow?"
Tsuyu sucked in a breath. "Didn't the reports on the news say… that Shigaraki was assisted in his escape from a villain using a bow and arrow?"
"I think I'm hearing more people in the smoke's direct—" There was a twitch in Mezou's ears, as they all suddenly focused on a spot in the woods' shadows. "Two more right in front of us!"
"Awwww, and there goes the entrance you wanted to make. Oh well." The voice spoke with a feminine edge, but there was a gruff callousness to it.
"Damn. But hell, she got two in one strike. She might be a camper, but can't argue with the results," came a second voice, this one sounding lowered, like he was trying to make his voice more villainous. The second person, a lizard man, emerged from the shadows first, arms stretched out dramatically. "Pleased to meet you, U.A. students! Allow me to introduce ourselves. My name is Spinner. This," Spinner motioned back towards the woods, "is big sis Mag. You can call her Magne."
The woman that came out, was carrying a large beam over her shoulder, wrapped in a pale gray cloth, the length and size making it seem like she was hauling around a construction site I-beam. She was wide and muscular with a square jaw thinly covered in facial hair. "Hello dears."
Spinner then swung a hand up, pointing towards the dark sky. "And you've already met our very own Robin Hood, Beros."
The green cloaked archer made an annoyed tsk behind her mask, grumbling that her position was being given away by her own teammates.
"We're the League of Villains Vanguard Action Squad. And in following the tenets of Stain, tonight, we now hold everything. Because your lives are ours to spare and spend as we see fit."
Tenya flinched hard hearing that. "Stain?" A dark ghost of a feeling swirled in his gut. More shame at his previous actions. The memory of the hate he once bore against the one that had hurt his brother. "So you're followers of him?"
Behind him, Fumikage had a hand gripping Dark Shadow tightly. The shadow hissed, its body coiled up like an angry cat. "We, the school, took precautions. How did they find us?"
Spinner ignored the question, and instead focused on Tenya. "We joined the League, following in Stain's footprints. Through the League, I will carry on Stain's will, even after his unjust incarceration."
Reaching backwards, Spinner removed from his back, the giant sword he had fashioned together from knives and other smaller blades. Chained or strapped into shape with belts, the massive weapon was an unhinged tool of bloodletting. "And as one of the many that shoulders Stain's legacy, we know who is to blame for his fall."
Spinner hefted the weapon up, so it was pointing at the class. "You Four-Eyes. And you too, son of Japan's false idol." Shouto frowned. "We know about that nutcase from the sports festival and Midoriya. We know all of you, and that false disciple, were instrumental in what happened to Stain."
Mange smirked, leaning on her weapon. "Look at you, you're enjoying this, hmm? Always nice to finally get to be heard."
Spinner tried not to flinch when above them, Beros floated so everyone could now see her. "You want to make a statement? Stop standing around boasting like a forum poster and do something!" Reaching back, she pulled out more arrows, and the kids all were very aware she was taking aim at them.
"Take out the last adult and these kids will scatter. She's in so much shock she hasn't moved a bit." Spinner turned his weapon towards Mandalay.
Mange seemed fine with that. "Well then, kitty cat, time die like the rest of your little tea—"
Beros glanced down, and saw that the hero wasn't wearing a stunned expression, but one of concentration. And at no point, she realized while cursing that she'd been forced to babysit a bunch of rookies, had either of the two below her checked on the bodies of the heroes she had shot. She whirled around so that she was aiming at the hero now. "She's not in shock, you idiots!"
"Now!"
Mandalay screamed out, signaling the counter-attack. After the initial attack, Mandalay had asked the pair to give her a sign they were okay. Small taps on the ground by each had been the only signal they could give. Tiger rolled off the ground, and rushed towards the two villains on the ground, ripping the arrow out of his shoulder. At the same time, Pixie-Bob, clutching at an arrow in her abdomen with one hand, slammed her other hand onto the ground, sending giant spikes right for Beros, who had to push herself hard to float out of range, firing several arrows to destroy a few spikes that got too close.
Mange got her weapon up to block Tiger's assault while Spinner backpedaled as Mandalay soon joined the assault. At the same time, she screamed out to everyone at camp. "Everyone! We're being attacked by three villains! With more deeper into the woods! Everyone who can move, get back to camp immediately! Even if you come across the enemy, retreat and do not engage! You hear me Kouta?! Get back to camp! I'm sorry I don't know…where you're always running off to… I'm sorry Kouta I can't come for you, so you have to get back to camp! …Please, if someone knows where he is, if you see him, please get him back!"
She swiped at Spinner before she yelled at the kids. "That includes all of you! Retreat back to the camp site now!" Her tone left no room to argue.
Tsuyu, Shouto, Fumikage, Minoru, Mezou, Tooru, Mashirao, Hitoshi and even Mei all clearly disliked the idea of running. But Tenya begrudgingly soon got all of them moving. Pixie-Bob, still on the ground, threw up a wall to cover them as they retreated into the darkness.
"Everyone! We're being attacked by three villains! With more deeper into the woods! Everyone who can move, get back to camp immediately! Even if you come across the enemy, retreat and do not engage!"
Izuku had frozen in place when he saw the smoke and fire. He knew none of 1-B could have or would have gone so far as to set whole swaths of the forest on fire for this test of courage game. It could have been another test—he wouldn't put it past U.A. to suddenly drop a surprise catastrophe on the classes and make them work to deal with a sudden forest fire—but, Aizawa had pulled students out for extra lessons. If this was a U.A. thing, he wouldn't have done that.
That just left the impossible, and Izuku was trying very hard not to think about that. A villain attack was impossible. U.A. had taken steps to make sure they wouldn't be a target. Even going so far as to keep All Might away.
So whatever this was, had to be something else. Is what Izuku had been thinking right up until Mandalay's telepathic warning shattered that desperate hope.
Her words were still sounding the alarm in his head as Izuku's feet started pounding the ground, propelling him forward. The fire was deep in the woods, where 1-B and the first few groups of 1-A were. Mandalay's warning to the students to retreat and not engage wasn't even registering. Kouji, Katsuki, Kyouka, Momo, Himiko and Ochako were in the middle of this attack. And he would be damned if he turned tail and ran.
"You hear me Kouta?! Get back to camp! I'm sorry I don't know…where you're always running off to… I'm sorry Kouta I can't come for you, so you have to get back to camp! …Please, if someone knows where he is, if you see him, please get him back!"
Izuku came to a screeching halt, sucking in a deep breath through his nose. Eyes wide, Izuku turned, looking up towards the direction where he could just see a small rocky hill peeking up above the treeline.
No one knows about Kouta's hiding spot?
Izuku's mind raced as he started playing things out. He had no idea how many villains there were. What their Quirks could be, aside from potentially one that was fire based. He didn't know where anyone from 1-B was, as he wasn't deep enough into the woods to have run into anyone. He knew who was in the forest right now from his class, but not where they were. Assuming they were still even on the path. He knew where Kouta was, having seen the boy sneak off earlier. He knew that even if they were being told to run, if push came to shove, some of 1-A's most dangerous fighters were more than capable of fighting back if they had to.
But Kouta can't…
It hurt Izuku to make the choice. But it also was incredibly easy, too. He knew any villain stupid enough or unlucky enough to run into Himiko or Ochako was going to get absolutely destroyed. That's what he knew and believed. So really, there wasn't much of a choice for Izuku to make. His friends could defend themselves but Kouta couldn't.
Well?! Get going! He could hear Ochako yelling.
So Izuku turned and bolted off the path and into the woods, towards Kouta's hiding place. Trusting that Ochako would be able to take care of herself.
"So," Tomura spread out his hands, acting calm and non confrontational, "I suppose you're a little surprised to see—"
"FUCKING BLAST THIS FUCKER!" Ochako screamed in rage, while at the same time Katsuki was already throwing his hands up, explosions popping and crackling along the way, creating an arc of orange light.
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"
The blast was a cone of orange fire and ear splitting noise as it tore through the air and ground, straight for the flat-footed villain. His careless attitude, though, wasn't from naive thoughtlessness but because he knew he wasn't going to get hit.
Out from the trees, something blacker than the night shot out, slithering at high speed over the ground and covering the distance between the treeline and Tomura. Coiling up, Katsuki's explosions slammed into the black mass, fire and smoke rolling off its body while behind it, Tomura was not affected at all.
Katsuki clicked his tongue in annoyance and slowly lowered his hands, but kept his palms facing the smoking area. Ochako sneered, but bit her tongue, fighting her instincts to scream at Katsuki to keep going.
"Not going to say anything?" Katsuki could see the stress etched on Ochako's face.
"I'm fucking pissed. Not stupid." Ochako hated this. She wanted to see Tomura's body shredded, his corpse tumbling across the ground in mutilated pieces. But she was trained by All Might, Gunhead and Miruko. Each one of them had instilled a very particular lesson: Keep your eyes open and see. So she and Katsuki had taken immediate notice that his explosion hadn't done anywhere near the amount of damage it should have.
Even with whatever had moved to block Katsuki's attack in the way preventing the heat and fire from getting past, there was no reason that Tomura should have been able to just stand where he was and not get sent tumbling backwards just from the concussive force of the explosion.
And yet he stood, still as a statue. Completely unharmed.
Then there was the explosion itself. Katsuki had ripped off one of his strongest blasts, fully intending to fuck up the creepy bastard. Flashes of Inko's lifeless body had driven him to use way more power than he normally would, but in that instant, he wasn't interested in anything other than making Tomura a charred paste on the ground. The impact of Katsuki's attack should have cratered the ground and sent up a cloud of fire and smoke into the air. And while there was definitely an explosion when the blast hit, it wasn't anywhere near what it should have been. Somehow, when it hit the black thing, it had been weakened by a huge factor.
"Fucking… shit." Katsuki hated that the effect reminded him of something he'd seen.
Ochako was on the same page. "Shock Absorption?"
They'd both seen the Nomu at the USJ walk through Katsuki's explosions. And this seemed oddly similar.
"Maybe." Katsuki narrowed his eyes as the black thing began to uncoil. "That black bastard tanked 'em. But it didn't do that."
Ochako nodded. Casually, it seemed the same, but there was a difference. The USJ Nomu hadn't affected the explosions itself. It just wasn't affected by them. Slowly, the black thing began to uncoil, giving Ochako and Katsuki a good look at what now stood between them and tearing Tomura limb from limb.
Its black skin gave away its monstrous origins as a Nomu, but unlike the one they saw at the USJ and the ones in Hosu City, this one was far less humanoid in shape. Its upper body, chest, torso and arms, were the only part that still had a human-like appearance, though stretched. More so with its arms, which were easily twice as long as they should be, black skin pulled tight over tightly coiled muscles, fingers long and gangly.
The rest of it was more animalistic. The Nomu's neck was long and serpentine. Black skin hung down around its neck and folded in, giving the Nomu a loose hood that hid its face from the world, save for a pair of glowing yellow eyes that pierced the darkness. Along the Nomu's back, jutting out from the vertebra, were malformed black bone nubs that either had skin stretched over them, or had fully pierced through, giving the spine horrid looking, knuckle-sized, dorsal plates.
While the top, even with the elongated parts, still resembled something human, its lower body did not. Its torso ended into the top of a body resembling a horrific cross between a lizard or snake, and a centaur. Its front 'legs' were another set of arms, far larger than the ones at the top, engorged with muscle, looking as if they had been pulled off the USJ Nomu and then Frankensteined into this new monster. Its fingers ended in flesh-rending claws.
And where the Nomu's navel should be, Ochako and Katsuki were shocked to see twin rows of long, fanged teeth. Its mouth was right at its stomach. From the enlarged front legs, the rest of the body was long and slender, with two hind legs near its rear. These were actually legs, and much smaller than the other limbs, with talon-tipped toes. Long past its legs, its body continued on into a long prehensile tail that was almost as long as its whole body itself. At its end, a cluster of spikes, some as long as a forearm and as thick as fingers, ready to impale unfortunate victims.
All in all, while not a muscle-bound hulk, this Nomu was no less a monster. Its glowing yellow eyes narrowed as a hissing growl escaped its long throat.
"Easy now," Tomura warned. "You stay right there."
The hooded Nomu twisted its serpent neck around to glare at Tomura, but did as instructed.
"To chickenshit to face us yourself, huh," Katsuki seethed. Ochako wasn't sure if he was trying to draw Tomura out from behind the Nomu, or if he was just being his normal self.
"You're assuming I came here to fight," Tomura said with a sigh. "If I was here to fight, do you think I would have just strolled out to meet you?"
Ochako narrowed her eyes. "Right. You're just here to ta—" Ochako's biting comment was cut off as suddenly, a voice screamed into her head. At the exact same time, Katsuki also flinched.
"Everyone! We're being attacked by three villains! With more deeper into the woods! Everyone who can move, get back to camp immediately! Even if you come across the enemy, retreat and do not engage! You hear me Kouta?! Get back to camp! I'm sorry I don't know…where you're always running off to… I'm sorry Kouta I can't come for you, so you have to get back to camp! …Please, if someone knows where he is, if you see him, please get him back!"
When the message cut off, Ochako whirled around, eyes scanning the horizon, and gasped "Oh god."
"You motherfucker!" Katsuki growled, taking a step forward. The hooded Nomu's neck twisted back around and hissed out a warning. Katsuki wasn't impressed, raising a hand palm up and letting small explosions pop and fizzle as a warning. "Hiss all you want, you hood bastard. I got more where that first one came from."
The Nomu's large arms lifted its body up, while its claws dug into the dirt. At full height it towered over the angry teen, while its long neck let its head slither down to eye level, weaving around like it was ready to strike.
"Oi!" Tomura rapped his knuckles on its side. "I said, you stay where you are. I got business to take care of."
"Business?!" Ochako pointed out towards the blue glowing horizon. "You're attacking us, you fuck!"
"Ah, I guess that one hero with the telepathy Quirk got a warning off, huh. That's annoying. But when you're dealing with pros… oh well." Tomura waved Ochako off. "The League of Villain's Vanguard Action Squad is attacking you. I'm here to talk." He paused for dramatic effect, before pointing at Katsuki, "To you." Katsuki looked enraged that Tomura apparently wanted to talk to him, while Ochako felt her stomach twist. "So unless you want to waste more time…?"
Tomura watched the pair and smirked when he saw they both looked like restrained predators. "Oh. I bet that hero said something like 'don't fight the villains.' Didn't she?" He laughed at the angry faces the pair made. "Ha ha ha! Oh, that's rich. And here you two are, now trying to be good little students and follow the rules? It's a sick joke." He then turned to address Katsuki. "But hey, that just gives me more to talk with you about."
"And what the fuck do you have to say?" Katsuki growled out.
Ochako's eyes went wide as she whipped her head around to look at Katsuki. "You're actually talking with him?!"
"Pink Cheeks, we're under attack. The pros might actually want to hear what this bastard came to say," Katsuki seethed back.
Ochako looked disgusted, and she took a noticeable step away from him. Suddenly, her hostility wasn't just directed at Tomura at this moment. Some were starting to get pointed at Katsuki.
"Bakugou!" Ochako called after him. Her eyes narrowed into slits, with death reflecting in them. "If you ever do anything to betray the trust Deku's given you, I will kill you."
That confrontation in the hallway after term finals, that pointed warning was bubbling up in both of the teens' minds.
Katsuki frowned. "Fuck you."
Ochako didn't back down, and she wasn't even bothering to hide her open contempt. "You want to talk, after what he did to Deku's mom?!"
"In my defense, I feel kinda bad about that whole thing." Tomura added, with a raspy chuckle, "Really."
Ochako ground her teeth while Katsuki looked ready to spit blood. "What? Do? You? Want?"
Tomura held out a hand, like he was expecting Katsuki to take it. "To offer you a chance to join the League of Villains."
"…The fuck?" Katsuki didn't know whether to be grossed out, enraged or just plain confused.
"You know, I've seen you in action twice now. At the USJ when you were having a blast destroying all those worthless shits I brought, and when you took a swing at me back at the mall." Tomura smirked. "You're a person that loves to destroy stuff, aren't you? You were relishing the chance to cut loose and use your Quirk."
Tomura motioned at Katsuki. "Look at you. You're chafing under the heroes' rules. They're holding you back. But if you joined the League of Villains, well…" Tomura swung his arms out. "You'd be able to destroy and cause as much chaos as you could ever want. No more holding back. No more letting yourself be collared and controlled."
Katsuki glared while Ochako was just about ready to grind her own teeth flat with how tense she was.
"If you think about it. Because the way the world works, you'll always be a prisoner. The heroes don't like people like you and me. Or anyone in my League. We question their authority and demand the right to be ourselves. But because we're different, because we see the world for what it is, a fake held up by a single pillar, we're hunted and persecuted."
He held his hand back out to Katsuki. "But if we destroy it all, we can be free. You can be free. Isn't that what you want?"
Ochako realized she was holding her breath as she waited to see what happened next, her eyes darting between Tomura and Katsuki. Different scenarios were playing in her head. Almost all of them started the same way, and left Ochako wondering if she could cover the distance between herself and Katsuki before he got his hands pointed at her.
And snapping his neck.
Katsuki's hands twitched.
Ochako's legs tensed as she started to launch herself forward.
Only to get a step when Katsuki swung one hand up, the other gripping his wrist for extra support, and bracing with the palm facing Tomura and the Nomu. Katsuki's Quirk made several pops and crackles before he unleashed an explosion that was bigger than anything Ochako had seen him throw before. The force knocked her off her feet and sent her tumbling backwards. Even Katsuki was thrown back by the force of his own attack. Landing on his side, he rolled until he and Ochako were more or less tangled together on the ground.
"The fuck was that?!" Ochako screamed while she rubbed her ears.
"My fucking answer!" Katsuki seethed as he worked to untangle himself. "Motherfucker thinks we're the same?! He can go take his offer and shove it up his pasty, chapstick needing, ass! I want to win, you dipshit! And I've seen the look All Might has when he beats you sorry ass villains!" Getting a hand free, he pointed at Ochako. "As for you and your paranoid bull…" He trailed off when he saw that Ochako wasn't looking at him, but at what should have been a crater. When he turned, he ground his teeth. "The fuck?"
The smoke was already clearing, something that shouldn't have been possible from an explosion as big as Katsuki had fired off, and the Nomu was once again perfectly lined up to be between it and Tomura. Once again, it had lessened the power of Katsuki's attack when it made contact. Tomura, unharmed, was dusting off his clothes from the dirt he got sprayed with.
"Fucking, cheapass Shock Absorption bullshit," Katsuki seethed as he got to his feet.
Ochako was back on her feet, though she was staying crouched. "We need to get that Nomu out of the way if we're going to get to Shigaraki." The Nomu's head twitched.
Katsuki glanced down at her and tsk'd. "You got the same look that damned nerd has." Ochako looked up. "It's the look he gets when he's about to do something braindead dumb."
"…I'm going to charge the Nomu."
"Fucking hell," Katsuki swore out, but he wasn't exactly jumping at the chance to tell her to stop telling him her plan.
"Look around it. It's absorbing the impact of your attacks, but not all of it." She indicated towards the torn up ground. "So there's still some force making it through. I bet whatever its Quirk is, it's a weaker version of what the other Nomu had that attacked us at the USJ. That one was tanking All Might's punches."
"And?"
"So, if you can lay down some covering fire, I can charge in and touch it. Since it doesn't look like it can absorb all the impact from your blasts, once it doesn't have gravity, you should be able to launch it into the air." Ochako gave Katsuki a look. "Assuming you can be accurate with your Quirk and not hit me in the process."
Katsuki got his hands up. "Because blasting your ass into space would be the worst thing I could do tonight… Fucking fine. We'll try it your way." His eyes then moved past the Nomu and landed on Tomura. "But after the hooded freak is out of the way, I'm ripping this shit-stain apart."
Ochako growled, "If you think I'm letting you beat me to ripping that bastard apart myself, you're deranged. He's going to pay for what he did."
Ochako got ready to charge. Mandalay's order to run away being summarily ignored.
Katsuki's hands were already starting to sizzle and crackle.
Then—
"The round whore will shut her mouth. Or this time, no fire will stop me from snapping your neck." Twisted and inhuman, a new voice echoed in the dark woods, hissing and tinged with unhinged malice and reverberating with an unnatural echo inside itself. "Don't compare me to that trash."
You could hear a pin drop in the next few seconds as Ochako and Katsuki had to work out that the one talking was the hooded Nomu. The fanged mouth in its abdomend growled and hissed as its long head turned to look back at Tomura. "Boring talking is done. I want what was promised." The hooded Nomu's long neck twisted back, its head moving like a hunting snake. "Give me Bakugou."
"Aw man! We wanted our courage tested," Mina complained as she laid her head down on the desk.
Eijirou was leaning back in his chair. "Feels like the finish line just got moved back."
"Wait, isn't that supposed to be the goal line?"
"Same thing."
Neito pointed at them. "Even though your class is hyped up so much, look at how many of you have to be here. It's hilarious!"
The members of 1-A all gave him dry looks. Yuuga retorted with some classic french wit, "Trou du cul."
"Easy," Midnight warned with a low energy hand wave. "I happen to know some french."
"And Momona, you should take this time to worry about yourself, and not 1-A," Vlad King added.
Aizawa came walking in. "As for the rest of you. You wouldn't be complaining if you truly understood the real problem you all are facing." He eyed his students. "None of you seem to be aware that you're falling behind the others in your class. And that if you don't fix your behavior soon, that difference between you will only grow larger."
Midnight could tell that the kids from 1-A had some very strong opinions on that. A couple she was sure were going to voice some complaints. To feel like you're working hard and then get told you're not working hard enough could really sting the ego. That was probably why, while the morning's extra lessons were accepted with 'good grace,' these ones were being met with a lot more complaining.
But at the very least, the kids were accepting the situation. Begrudgingly, but accepting it nonetheless.
"Everyone!"
The sudden voice in the group's heads brought the room to a stop. Aizawa froze as he wrote on the rolled-in blackboard, and all the kids stopped slouching around.
"Oh, it's Mandalay's Telepath," Denki said as he glanced around.
"It still makes me jump. Having a voice in your head is weird," Mina chuckled.
Hanta rubbed his ears. "Would be nice if it was two-way, so I could ask her not to be so loud. Why is she screaming, anyway?"
"Quiet," Aizawa grumbled, his attention focusing on the voice.
"We're being attacked by three villains! With more deeper into the woods! Everyone who can move, get back to camp immediately! Even if you come across the enemy, retreat and do not engage! You hear me Kouta?! Get back to camp! I'm sorry I don't know…where you're always running off to… I'm sorry Kouta I can't come for you, so you have to get back to camp! …Please, if someone knows where he is, if you see him, please get him back!"
It was a testament to their pro hero training that Aizawa, Midnight and Vlad King didn't hesitate to act. Even as the kids started to let out gasps of surprise and their panic began to rise, Aizawa was moving. "Vlad, I'm leaving this place to you! Keep them safe while I go protect the other students!"
Vlad was giving orders to the kids, getting them to move desks and chairs to the windows, boarding things up to help make sure the room could be secured. It might not do much against an attack, but it kept the kids' minds on doing something, preventing full-on panic.
Aizawa was out in the hall, turning to close the door behind him, but Midnight was already on that. Both were soon sprinting down the hall for the exit.
"This place was supposed to be a secret!" Midnight hissed, her mind racing to figure out what the hell was going on. "How the hell did the villains know where we are?"
"We can worry about the how's and why's later," Aizawa grunted. Not liking the line of thoughts he was already considering. When they both rushed outside the building, Aizawa took a second to scan their surroundings, and he could tell that this was the USJ all over again, possibly even worse. Out here, where their isolation was supposed to help preserve their safety, their greatest defense was now the noose that was going to hang them. They were alone, with no one to come help them. If they couldn't repel this attack… "…This is bad."
BOOM!
A sudden explosion echoed over the tree tops and Aizawa's frown deepened. He knew where Mandalay was supposed to be, and that hadn't come near her. Which meant—
"Eraser! Down!" Midnight dove and tackled Aizawa to the ground, just before a large tree trunk was hurled over their heads and crashed into the building behind them, ripping off a long chunk of wall and the door, before the nearly full tree was left embedded in the building.
Both heroes quickly checked to make sure they were alright as they scrambled to their feet. Midnight whipped her head towards the building where the students were, and let out a breath as she saw that the huge thrown object hadn't gone deep into the building, most of the damage just being kept to the exterior thanks to the angle the projectile had arrived with.
"Midnight. Eyes front," Aizawa grunted. Pulling down his goggles, he had a hand on his capture cloth. "This one may be trouble."
Midnight turned back around, and hissed. Coming out of the trees into the clearing, was a villain that had an air of experience about him. If he had been the one to throw the tree, he was strong. But she knew Aizawa already had his eyes on him, so strength should be off the table. Though looking at the man's insane mutations—a wolf's head, claws and a reptilian tail—there could easily be other factors at play with him. The fact that he was casually strolling up to them, cigar clamped between his teeth, gave off an alarming confidence.
Chimera sucked in a lungful of cigar smoke, and expelled it as he pulled the thick roll of tobacco from his snout and held it between two fingers, which he pointed at the pair. "You two. Probably two of the biggest potential pains in the ass for this whole operation. You don't know the headache I had to endure to talk that mall-ninja prick into staying in the woods and let me deal with the two of you." He glanced over towards the building. "Vlad King is in there too, right? Looking after the kids?"
He stuck the cigar back between his teeth and took another deep pull. "Erasure, Somnambulist and Blood Control if the third hero decides to leave those students of yours. Yeah, that crispy turd wouldn't have lasted long here at all." The last of the cigar fell away and Chimera flicked the small remains into the grass. "The name's Chimera. Welcome to the night your world ends."
Inko had never considered herself a woman who could be swayed by the sins of the flesh. She was not so shallow and crass to let physical pleasure whisk her away and make her abandon herself. Even in her younger years, she was in control. But god save her, if what was being done to her right now wasn't about to make her moan in a way that would probably get her thrown in jail and live the rest of her life on a government watchlist.
But what was being done to her tongue should be criminal.
Chitose smiled as she leaned back from over the table, her eyes dancing with mirth and knowing. She knew what she had just done to Inko and wasn't bothering to hide it. "See." Inko didn't trust herself to say anything right then. "Isn't that the most tender and juicy little cut of steak you've ever had?" she asked as she put her fork down.
The slice of meat, cooked just past rare and cut into strips the size of matchsticks, almost felt like it melted as it danced on Inko's tongue.
From the moment the two had been seated, it was obvious that Inko had entered Chitose's arena. In this place, she was known. In this place she had power. With just a look or a small twitch of her fingers, she had multiple waiters rushing—or whatever the fancy version of rushing was—to bring anything and everything to their table.
To Inko.
Fresh bread that was still hot from its baking oven and herb butters that were probably made from France's own Brittany. Her wine glass—which was so heavy and thick meaning it was probably made out of solid clear crystal. and the gold adorning it was completely real—was never allowed to get close to empty. There was always someone ready to pour from a bottle Inko was sure was not only from the pre-Quirk era, but from a year that had a one in front of it. Trolleys with plates filled with appetizers that Inko was sure a single order of just one, would have been what she'd spend on groceries over at least two months.
The appetizers was also the first, and definitely not last, time Chitose had taken the chance to feed Inko. Always leaning over the table. Always making sure Inko saw exactly what she wanted her to see.
"You're literally eating out of the palm of her hand," Nenshouki warned the third time Chitose had done it. Though her younger self had said this while pouring herself another glass of wine.
"One day," Inko finally spoke when she was sure she could make sounds that wouldn't make a rich person's monocle pop out, "you are going to tell me why it feels like you own this restaurant."
Chitose smirked from behind her glass while she sipped at her wine. "Oh? Curious are we?"
"Stockholder?"
Chitose put her glass down and examined the different plates of entrees they had. Again, like the appetizers, she was taking wining and dining to an extreme, debaucherous, level. A single main plate didn't have much food, and Chitose was making sure they both could have their fill so the night went as long as needed. "Oh, I'm sure I have some. But I'd hardly call myself a majority shareholder."
Inko picked up her spoon, and lazily swirled it in a red leek soup. "Hmm, then maybe it's simpler. You have something on the executive chef." Chitose let out a dramatic scandalous gasp. "You did say you were a journalist before."
Chitose put a hand over her heart. "You would accuse me of doing something so horrible?"
The acting on display would make most Spanish soap stars say she should reel it in. Inko gave her a look. "You're a journalist that somehow worked her way up to executive director. Don't you sit there and say you don't know how to blackmail people." Inko ended with a very approving smirk. A very smoldering look. Showing she didn't just approve, but enjoyed the very idea.
Chitose smirked, and without a hint of shame bragged, "Okay. So maybe I would… and have done. But not in this case." She leaned in, chin resting in her hands. "But if I had, you wouldn't have a problem with it? Such a striking thing to say. To think the beautiful woman in front of me holds such a dark side."
Inko smiled, and taking a page out of Chitose's playbook, leaned over the table, holding up her spoon for Chitose to try some of the red leek soup. "Oh, you have no idea." Chitose didn't lean in right away, and Inko tried not to lose her nerve when it was obvious Chitose was openly admiring the way her breasts hung in the dress while she was leaning over the table.
"Steady." Nenshouki tried to reassure her. "You want her looking. That's the whole point of this hairbrained scheme of yours. She's just looking…. And licking her lips."
Mercifully, Chitose finally took the offered spoon between her lips. Though even that small movement was done with such sensuality that Inko was worried her nose was about to start bleeding. Those luscious lavender painted lips sliding over the spoon. The way she let her tongue just slip out to lick it clean as she pulled back. Each and every movement was there to drive Inko's imagination wild.
"Welp, she just won tha—"
Before Chitose pulled all the way back, the hand Inko had kept cupped under the spoon so it didn't drip reached up, and she ran her fingers up Chitose's neck. Letting them briefly hold her chin when she finished. "But maybe tonight you'll find out how wicked I can be. Power tends to bring out the worst in me."
This time, it was Chitose's turn to blush purple while Inko slid back into her chair. Outwardly looking completely calm.
Inwardly?
"The fuck did that come from?"
I don't know!
"Bullshit! Where did you get the idea to try that!"
… So you've met Toga.
"Oh fuck."
I panicked! We… I needed to score some points otherwise we aren't going to accomplish anything!
"You do realize you just let this fucking blueberry succubus know that touching is now allowed right?"
Inko gulped.
"And that thing you're feeling right now. That's her fucking foot sliding up your calf. Congrats, you get to play footsies now."
Chitose smiled wickedly as her foot, hidden by the table cloth, slowly traced up Inko's leg, lifting the bottom hem of Inko's dress so she could gently rub and tease the soft skin around the side and back of her knee. "Lucky for me, I'm a very powerful woman."
Chitose let her fingers linger on Inko's neck, gently tickling the sensitive skin as she feigned moving a few strands of Inko's hair back behind her ear, paying close attention the way Inko's eyes fluttered and her breath hitched.
Oh you poor woman. How long have you been without? It was obvious to her now, that she had hit the nail on the head with her earlier observation about Inko. This woman was desperately touch-starved.
Throughout the rest of dinner and as they waited for their desserts, Chitose found any and all reasons she could to make sure she was in contact with Inko. Playfully reaching for things on the table so her hand would come to rest on Inko's. Taking more opportunities to have Inko try bites of food, but now she would cup the other woman's chin. And of course her little game, seeing how high she could move her foot up Inko's leg before she looked like she would combust, had been as entertaining as it had been wickedly fun.
She had made it up Inko's thigh several inches. Maybe she could have gone further, if she hadn't overplayed and tickled the soft skin with her toes, making Inko shimmy, and move her legs closer together.
Not that this deterred Chitose. She just went back to climbing up Inko's leg like how she had started. Slowly but surely working her way back up to that spot.
Hmm, in one meal I've made more progress with this woman than that suck-up was going to make the rest of the year. Chitose winked at Inko, and giggled when she blushed. A near death experience and she comes to me. Oh Inko, you made the right choice. You've let yourself become dragged down by this world. You must have realized I could be the one to free you from it.
Chitose was confident she would have Inko back by the end of the night. Though, as her eyes lingered over Inko, she figured that it wouldn't hurt to wait to call in and report her success until the morning—Inko shuddered at another touch—until the afternoon afterward.
Of course, Chitose would need to figure out the next steps. Getting into contact with Izuku, and making sure that contact was constant. But that was for later. Tonight, she was going to enjoy herself. And enjoy Inko too.
On the other side of the table, Inko knew she was all but done. Dessert was served, and if Chitose happened to take some of the chocolate icing from one of the little cakes, smear it on her lips and kiss her, she was pretty sure she'd not only let her, but she was going to be reciprocating. Because, holy shit, had tonight drove home that she missed physical contact. Every nerve felt like it was on fire where Chitose had touched her, and she'd be damned if it wasn't an incredible feeling. This woman, Inko now knew, knew how to touch someone.
The problem was, Inko was all but certain she'd blown her chance to get answers to any of her questions, because unlike the plan she had to get Chitose to heel, she was the one panting and hot.
All her attempts failed to move past the small talk phases, since before she could dive into how Hisashi might be connected to her, look for any clues as to how Izuku could be connected, or anything about all those people from the dinner, she'd get too flustered after Chitose did something to drive home that apparently, this wasn't the meal she was looking forward to tonight.
Tonight had been a complete bust. And given how her other self had teased about what failure would entail, she expected some jokes. Or snide remark. Anything.
But at some point as the empty plates for dinner were taken away and the new dessert plates brought in, Nenshouki had started pacing around, head on a swivel and eyes scanning the room. Inko knew that look. During her whole campaign against the yakuza, she had that look almost every time she looked in the mirror. Paranoid and twitchy. Ready for something, anything to go wrong. That was the look Inko had when she was ready for the yakuza to figure out who had been killing them and come after her.
Nenshouki was looking for the enemy.
When Inko's thoughts focused, Nenshouki spoke up, "Something's not right."
Nenshouki's paranoia, Inko's paranoia, all stemmed from one simple fact. Chitose hadn't answered why it felt like she was running the restaurant. That strange little thing, stuck in the back of Inko's head, a little chip of ice keeping enough of her cooled off to not lose herself completely.
A glance here.
A twitch of the eyes there.
Inko might envision Nenshouki walking around and observing the room, but it was Inko herself carrying out the act. The more she looked, the more 'Nenshouki' became guarded. Then twitchy. Now, she looked ready to drop all pretenses and kill someone.
"Doesn't matter how over a barrel she has the cooks, the staff or the fucking owner of this place. The fact is, this woman has all but stripper-crawled over my table. That should have turned some heads."
Inko's eyes twitch, But it hasn't. People are just eating.
Chitose looked down as she spooned herself some cinnamon custard. Inko took a second to glance around as subtly and quickly as she could, confirming that who she could see were just eating their meals. Like nothing out of the ordinary was going on.
Rich people do tend to be weird. Maybe when you're at the point you can order the food here, you tend to just mind your own business. Logical, but dismissive. And Inko hadn't survived Bespin by being dismissive. Bodyguards? I'd bet she must have some that follow her around. Maybe to avoid drawing attention she has some acting as diners. If they're hers then maybe that's why they aren't reacting?
Nenshouki was getting twitchy inside Inko's head. She could feel her pacing. Hear the mutterings of trap and stupid.
Inko pretended to savor a bite of cake, closing her eyes and doing what helped her kill so many yakuza when she had been outmanned and outgunned.
Fact, Chitose brought me to a multi-Michelin Star restaurant on extremely short notice. The moment we got here, it has felt like she's been calling the shots, with staff, managers and definitely the chefs. During our whole evening, she… Well, both of us have been so overt with flirting that people should be gawking, or awkwardly trying not to look our way. But people aren't… at least the ones I can see. So those are probably bodyguards. Which makes sense I guess… but she didn't have any at the mall, right? Or maybe they were hiding then too?
Inko tried recalling everything she had been noticing. How many people hadn't been paying attention. How many looked like they were looking away. How many that seemed to not care.
There's the other thing too, Inko thought with some sudden growing paranoia. Nenshouki's twitchiness was now working its way through her. Chitose didn't just get us a table. If I'm right, she would have had to get tables for everyone. Which seems crazy. But then… Back in the day, for such a short amount of time. Inko once could do that. Back when she was leading her MLA and was in control of Bespin, she could have easily gotten herself, friends and some others too, seats anywhere. Granted, there weren't many places to go, but if she wanted something, she got it.
This isn't just someone with money pulling some strings. Or power to blackmail. Chitose has authority. Inko recalled what she had thought the other day. How now, it didn't make sense for Hisashi to find people from the island to remake the MLA. He should find people of money, and influence. At least that's how she would do it now.
"She's MLA?"
Coin flip. There's no chance she's following Hisashi.
"No kidding."
So…
"So?"
I don't know. I need to figure out what's going on right now. When Inko finished her bite of cake, her old self was the one that put her silverware down. This whole scheme was so counter to how she did things, and it had blown up in her face. But she was going to wrench control back. And the first step to that, was figuring out exactly where she stood in the restaurant. It seemed like everyone she saw was expecting the flirting, so they were actively not reacting. So, the old Inko decided, let's do something that'll get a reaction.
Making sure her plate was moved, Inko started to lean in over the table, like Chitose had done so many times already. Then, there was the briefest flicker of red around Inko's arm, before she threw out a Fa Jin powered jab that made the air crack.
Tomura clicked his tongue against his teeth, making an annoyed tsk sound. "I liked it better when you couldn't speak."
The Nomu hissed, "Don't care. I want what's mine."
Tomura waved him off. "He's too arrogant right now. Maybe getting his ass kicked will get him to see reason. If he's too dumb after that," Tomura shrugged. "Well, it's not like the world isn't full of other people that want to see everything burn."
"He he he he, I get to play!"
There was something deeply unsettling hearing that twisted laugh, but not hearing it come from the Nomu's head, but down below towards its abdomen. The disconnect was unnatural.
While the Nomu and Tomura went back and forth, Ochako and Katsuki were only just coming to terms that whatever this thing was, it might be even more dangerous than the Nomus they'd run into before. Hulking, unfeeling bio-weapons were scary. But suddenly having one talk, and apparently feel insulted and giddy, was a pants-changing kind of fear.
Ochako's plan of rushing the Nomu suddenly felt like one of the worst ideas she'd ever had, and Katsuki wasn't about to give her shit when she shifted her weight into a much more defensive position, no longer looking like she was about to run at the thing.
"Oi, Round Face." Katsuki wasn't going to admit it was a little hard to talk after hearing that thing speak. "What the hell did you do to piss that thing off? When'd one of these things almost snap your neck?"
Ochako raised her hand and touched her throat. "There was one in Hosu City, but… It wasn't this Nomu. It was yellow and had wings." She didn't elaborate, since she wasn't sure how much she could elaborate on. How this thing was connected to the one she had fought to save Izuku she had no idea. "What about you? It knows your name. How?" Unlike previous curt back and forths, this question lacked the bite of an accusation. It was more suppressed panic and fear making her ask.
Katsuki didn't know, and he hated that he didn't know. In fact, he hated that he didn't know more than he was freaked the fuck out by the talking Nomu. "HEY! YOU HOODED FREAK! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?! AND HOW THE FLYING FUCK DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?!"
Ochako openly gaped, "Really?!"
The Nomu's head twisted to the side, looking at Katsuki with its head sideways. "He he he. Always with the nicknames. Always cleverer than smart." The Nomu's head shook as it laughed. "Am I Hood now? He he he, Hood Hood Hood." Its neck twisted more, so that it was looking at Katsuki upside down. "I. Am. Hood. My name now."
"Oh look, you made a friend," Ochako deadpanned despite feeling more and more unnerved by everything she was hearing.
"Fucking thing acting like it knows me, the fuck is going on." Katsuki was on edge, twitching and clammy. He didn't start looking any better when the newly named Hood began to advance slowly towards them.
"Oh, I know you. Or…" The fanged mouth widened into a grin. "I knew who you were before you became so weak." He slithered forward. Even as his legs pulled him on, his upper body stayed close to the ground, a terrible serpent advancing towards his prey. "Before you let that worthless Deku beat you."
Ochako's head snapped up while Katsuki scowled. "You don't know shit about me. So fuck off with your bullshit mind games."
How does this thing know about Bakugou and Deku? Ochako was trying to put pieces together, while being extremely aware that Katsuki was starting to look more and more unhinged. Whatever this thing was, it was getting to him. Using Izuku to get under his skin. This thing wasn't just talking, it was using strategy. Which was terrifying.
"I. know. You." Hood almost sounded giddy. "The three of us used to show that pathetic little worm he belonged in the dirt. We always had so much fun beating him up." Katsuki knuckles popped as he clenched his fists. "You were so strong then. But now, so weak. Weaker than Deku. Weaker than me. I wonder, is Center Part stronger than you now?"
"Center Part?" Ochako blinked. That wasn't a name she had heard since middle school. Yubi used to be one of the boys that was always tagging along with Katsuki. He was able to stretch out his fingers. There was absolutely no reason why this Nomu should know who that was. In fact, it shouldn't know anything like this. The Nomu were effectively brand new weapons that had only popped up a few months ago. But this thing was talking like it had been around before then. "Bakugou, how does he know about Yubi?"
Katsuki did not look good. He was breathing shallowly, and he looked ready to pop off. He didn't look like he was in control, which was a state Ochako had never seen him in. Even at his most unhinged and violent, he was always in control of himself. Now though…
"You don't know shit," Katsuki screamed back. He lifted a fist and pointed his thumb at himself. "You think I'm going to be freaked out because you looked me up? Of course shits like you would do that. Weak fucks like you need every advantage you can get to try and beat me. You think just because you found out me and Deku have history, it's going to get under my skin? It's not! You think just because you know some names it's going to freak me out?! Anyone can look up Center Part, Deku or—"
Hood suddenly reared up, arms spread out so it was now towering over the pair. From its back, two black draconic wings grew out from its skin, spreading out to cast them in its shadow. Another pair, larger than the first, grew out from behind its massive forelimbs and then a third pair, smaller than the others, from behind its hindlegs. The skin around its neck unfurled, flattening out like a cobra's hood and leaving its face exposed. Its head was wedged and narrow. Along the side of its head, was the exposed brain that all the Nomu's had, with two narrow yellow eyes sunken into the gray matter. Where you would expect to see a mouth, there was a metal gas mask, looking like it was fused to the monster's black skin.
Its giddy laugh turned into a deranged cackle. "We used to have so much fun together. I wanna have fun again! Don't you remember!"
Ochako recognized the Nomu's face immediately. She had gotten an up close look at it once already, back in Hosu City. It wasn't exactly the same, but that mask was telling. Add the wings, even if it had more now, and what it had said earlier about snapping her neck and suddenly Ochako knew. "It's the Nomu from Hosu City!" There was no doubt in Ochako's mind that the Nomu from back then and this Hood were the same.
But what the fuck happened to it?! The last time I saw it… "Deku burned you to a crisp," Ochako hissed out, suddenly feeling her neck get sore as she recalled the way it had throttled her.
Tomura huffed. "Brat messed him up good. Getting all your skin cooked off would have killed most people, but I guess the Doc made this one out of sterner stuff. It just wouldn't die. So he fixed him up good as new. Well, better than new, I suppose. Depending on if you like your weapons quiet or not."
The implications there were disturbing. The Nomu were already terrifying. That they could be improved was not something she wanted to think about. Right now, fight or flight were playing havoc with her decision making. Part of her really really wanted to get her hands on Tomura. But the other, her survival instincts, were screaming at her that whatever Hood was, it was out of her weight class.
She hated that the best conclusion she could come to right now, was to run for help. But they needed numbers. The classes and teachers were spread out. She and Katsuki needed to regroup.
"Tsubasa?"
It took Ochako a few seconds to register that the person that had spoken up was Katsuki. The voice was too quiet, too filled with shock and horror to be his. But when she turned to look at him, and saw the state he was in, Ochako felt her stomach drop. "Bakugou?"
"Those wings… I know those wings." Katsuki swallowed the lump in his throat. "Those are Tsubasa's wings, but… but he died." Ochako's eyes went wide as she looked from Katsuki to Hood. "We… I was at his funeral. It was a car crash… They went off the road. His parents were… His grandfather was the only one left… Tsubasa was… Why do you have his wings!"
Katsuki was running out of air. He was wheezing out the words, choking on them as his world was flipped on its head. Ochako grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Hey! Hey, I need you here!" When that didn't get the immediate effect she wanted, she slapped him across the face. "Bakugou!"
She needed Katsuki's head on straight or they were going to die. Because as much as she hated him, she couldn't just run off and leave him. "Listen. Listen to me. We can worry about how they got your friend's Quirk later. Right now we—"
Hood broke out into a howling belly laugh, and even Tomura was chuckling. "The heroes probably have it figured out, but they didn't tell you kids, huh. What Nomu really are." It really was funny seeing no recognition in either Ochako or Katsuki's eyes. "The Doc's a mad genius, but even he can't just create life from nothing. He's like Frankenstein, he needs parts to build his monsters. Give the Doc a good canvas and he can put together some really nasty pieces of work." Tomura jerked his thumbs towards Hood. "Hospitals and morgues are just thrift store bargain bins." Tomura pulled his hand back and shrugged. "Thank god we live in a country that prefers cremation. No one really bothers to check who or what kind of ash is put in those urns."
It really shouldn't have been a shock to either teen. But the real horror at realizing exactly what Nomu were at that moment was a special kind of cruelty. Because now Katsuki had to deal with two terrible truths. Either his old friend was stolen away from a morgue and his body used as parts for this monster, or he had been kidnapped out from a hospital, and been alive this whole time, having horrors done to him until all that was left was Hood.
Tomura had used Frankenstein as an example of the man responsible for creating the Nomu. Katsuki had seen those old American horror movies. Knew how the madman had cut up and attached different body parts together. And now all he could see was his old friend, still the young fat kid he was when they used to play, on an operating table, body cut up, limbs removed, and his face—eyes wide and his mouth with its jaw cut off—open in a silent terrified scream as that mask was fused in its place.
And Katsuki's face reflected the terror his own imagination inflicted on him. And that's when Hood struck, diving at Katsuki with a gleeful, bloodcurdling, scream. Which Katsuki answered in kind. Screaming without warning or plan, Katsuki began firing off explosion after explosion, sending Ochako spiraling across the ground and making Tomura take a few steps back. Hood intercepted the blasts, but only so he could rip through them and less to protect the League of Villains' leader. The explosions that had thrown Ochako off her feet and out of the way, Hood effortlessly closed the distance through them to get to Katsuki.
Hood laughed as he pushed forward, his tail arching over his body, the spiked end striking out with cracks and crashes. The spiked end tore up the ground and trees, leaving deep gashes with each pass, the prehensile appendage snapping like a steel whip, cracking with each strike as Hood struck at Katsuki from multiple angles and keeping the panicked boy backpedaling even as he struggled to attack.
"HA HA HA! I'M STRONGER! ME ME ME!"
With a flap of his wings, Hood propelled himself. Closing the distance, or jerking to the side. Inching closer towards Katsuki, who was at this point doing more damage to the surrounding forest than to his enemy. His explosions weren't just attacks, but desperate efforts to counter the unexpected speed Hood's wings gave him, launching himself backwards so that he could keep some distance between them.
As Ochako scrambled to pick herself up, she didn't have time to tell off Katsuki for the sudden attack. She only just got her head up, before she was diving back to the ground as a fireball rushed right past where she had been standing, splintering a tree into smoke and sawdust. Hissing as she swatted at the debris on her face, she realized that at least now, with Katsuki dealing with Hood, she could focus on Tomura.
But she couldn't bring herself to face him. Because in the few seconds she watched the fight between Hood and Katsuki, she knew the constant pain-in-her-ass was in trouble. He wasn't fighting. He was flailing around in a panic, exploding everything as he backtracked in a straight line. Ochako knew that his Explosion gave him some incredible mobility along with its destructive power, but Katsuki wasn't using it. He was just making things explode. He wasn't fighting smart, and he always fought smart.
It really drove home just how fucked things were. And despite how much she wanted to rip Tomura apart, Ochako knew that if she turned her back on Katsuki here, he was going to die.
FUCKING! GOD! DAMN IT!
Ochako rushed after the pair, scooping up the closest, heaviest, things she could. "Hey! You're fighting me too!" Ochako chucked the remains of one of the exploded tree trunks towards Hood and hissed as he swiped it away with his tail, shattering the wood into splinters.
Right now, his attention was still focused solely on Katsuki, and she was going to fix that. "You're talking a lot of shit for the guy that Deku left a charred corpse last time! Bakugou at least was able to walk away from his fights with Deku! Can you say the same?!"
Hood stopped his unrelenting advance towards Katsuki. His body tensed before his head whipped around like a cracked whip, tail slapping against the ground. Foam and spittle dripped from between his teeth as he angrily growled out, "That. Didn't count. I wasn't—"
"Your creator is supposed to be a mad genius right? So then why'd he go and make a bitch Nomu like you?!" Ochako could see that Hood was shaking, but more importantly, it looked like Katsuki had regained his balance. Though with the way he was huffing and puffing, he wasn't good to go yet. Better keep his attention then.
"Yeah, the Nomu All Might fought at the USJ was way scarier than your sorry ass!"
"You whore!"
Oh, Hood was getting pissed off.
Good.
Ochako motioned to Hood, then at Katsuki. "Look at you. You still haven't don't shit to him yet, even with that lizard body and that dumb fuck scorpion tail."
Spittle flew from Hood's mouth, smoking as it hit the ground. "Draconic Form and Manticore Tail, not lizard and scorpion!"
Katsuki still looked off to Ochako, so she kept going, pressing any and all the buttons she hoped this fucker had. "You had to get more Quirks duct-taped onto your sorry ass to even be worth a damn. Draconic Form, Manticore Tail. Whatever is letting you not get blasted by Bakugou's Explosion. And I bet you got that pussy-ass Super Regeneration Quirk too! Me, I only need the one Quirk to kick your ass!" She motioned him to step up. "Care to see, fucker?"
Ochako's brilliant plan of holding Hood's attention was golden, up until Hood, seething with hate, began to swell. Huge tumors began to swell under his black skin in his chest, arms and back, tumors that grew until they were larger than beach balls. Ochako and Katsuki, who took the moment to get his head slightly screwed on right, also immediately noticed that the spots where Hood's body was swelling up were facing them.
"Oh—"
"—Fuck!"
Both dove for cover just as the tumors ruptured and large chunks of Hood's body were expelled out at high speed, flesh and bone shooting through the air as shrapnel, tearing through the trees and clearing out the area around him. Hood's mangled body was already putting itself back together as both teens scrambled to their feet. And Ochako realized, as she watched muscle and tendon regrow over brand new bone, that on top of some body exploding Quirk, Hood indeed had Super Regeneration.
"BAKUGOU!" Ochako screamed, "HIT HIM NOW DAMN IT!" She wasn't sure if it would work. But Hood's body was literally ripped apart from its own attack. If there was ever a time to try and get past that defensive Quirk it had, it was now.
Katsuki was breathing rapidly still, his eyes wide. He didn't snap at Ochako for telling him what to do, which was fucking alarming. But at the very least, he had enough wits left to press the sudden opening. Rocketing to close the distance, Katsuki pressed his palms right against Hood's exposed and ruptured outward chest cavity.
But he didn't attack at once. And for one horrifying moment, Ochako had to wonder if he even could.
"Damn it!" Katsuki bit back all the fucked up feelings tearing at him. "DAMN IT TSUBASA!" Point blank, Katsuki fired off a blast without caring about the blowback. The force threw him backwards towards Ochako, who hurried to throw herself to catch him before he ended up colliding with a tree. The pair tumbled across the ground, scuffed up and dirty. But alive.
…Oh my god. It took Ochako a few seconds to figure out what she was feeling. Because her brain couldn't make sense of it. Despite the whole fucked up situation she was in, it was the fact she was feeling Katsuki shivering that was throwing her for a loop. He's fucking shaking. And now that she was close enough and had a chance to get a good look at him, she could see just how messed up he was. His face had no color in it and his eyes were darting around, looking at everything and nothing. If there was ever something to really drive home how messed up things were, this was it.
"Haaa-urk… Haaaa-ggrrgl… Haaa-guk…" Wet, choking, laughs echoed from the billowing smoke where Hood had been. As it cleared, Ochako and Katsuki watched as the remains of Hood's chest began putting itself back together. Katsuki's attack had punched a hole right through his body. Both of them were able to see Tomura walking up towards them through the gaping hole. So the attack had done something, but Hood was healing. Soon, his body was back to normal, along with the rest of him.
"Shit," Ochako swore. "Okay… Okay…" She was trying to find a way to find the bright side. "Okay, his Shock Absorption isn't as strong as the one the other Nomu had… All Might had to punch that one like a million times before it hit its limit. So now… we can…" Ochako trailed off, her own attempts tasting sour in her own mouth.
There was also something else that felt off. Katsuki's explosion had finally damaged him, but the damage wasn't right. She had picked up a thing or two from Izuku, like his eye for detail, and something about what she had seen wasn't right. He was ripped apart but… he didn't look… burned.