Text"Katsuki Bakugou, Hero in Training – Why don't you join us?"
Those were the first words that had been spoken by Shigaraki when both Bakugou and Izuku were brought before him. The offer was immediately rejected by Bakugou, but Izuku noticed how his own name had been completely ignored. There was a reason for that. There wasn't any question. And he had a feeling that the answer wasn't going to be good for him.
News reports that criticized Heroes weren't exactly something that was uncommon. In a world that was filled to the brim with Quirks that varied from person to person, and the sheer number and popularity of Heroes that went hand in hand, the news talking about Heroism was pretty much a daily occurrence. The entire world listened when Heroes were the topic of discussion. They were almost universally admired by the masses, and any news on them was taken seriously. The same was true of the world's leading Hero school. Public interest in how Heroes were trained and taught was always something that people wanted to know more about.
Heroes were responsible for keeping the peace. They used their flashy Quirks and gained fame and popularity for the more things that they did. They were the only people who could freely use their Quirks and suffer no consequences for it. Many people owed their lives to the existence of Heroes, whom had saved them from certain doom, in many cases, time and time again. Many had been inspired by Heroes, and yearned to become one. Above all, most people trusted Heroes, willing to put their lives and safety in the hands of strangers they didn't know, because of the vows and dedications that these people behind the masks had. Heroes were at the forefront of society, in nearly all aspects, from advertising, to law and order.
So, when a place like Yuuei screwed up, the media were always the first people on it.
"This marks the fourth time this year that Yuuei students have been confronted by Villains. Some were even injured in this most recent event. What explanation have you given to the understandably concerned families of those in question? And additionally, please tell us in certain terms what measure's you've taken to prevent this sort of thing from happening again."
People wanted to know what had happened during the lodge invasion, and they wanted to know what was going on with Bakugou, whom had been reported to have been released, only to go missing yet again. People wanted to know what on earth was going on there. They wanted to know where Izuku Midoriya was, since he hadn't been seen since the invasion had ended. They wanted to know why Yuuei had suffered a string of screw ups over the past year. They wanted to know why the number one Hero school couldn't protect its own students. They wanted to know why the hell they should continue to put their faith in Heroes when they couldn't even look after their own, never mind those in the public.
They were legitimate concerns. There was no reason to assume that people who couldn't look after themselves could even begin to look after the countless thousands that inhabited any given city.
People tended to be fickle when it came to these kinds of things, though it was based in good reasoning. Nearly everyone in the world possessed a Quirk. That meant there was a near infinite number of ways that someone could snap, and user their powers to commit crime, or attack and harm, or even kill someone. Not all Quirks were capable of killing someone, no, but more than enough were for the public to be concerned about the ones who were supposed to protect them doing a good job.
Truth was, there wasn't really an answer as to why Yuuei had not been having the best year. The circumstances were simply beyond their control. For all the superpowers that their staff may possess, none of them had the ability to be in all places at once, to foresee every single eventuality, to prevent anything like this from happening. It was just the way that things were for those who wanted to be Heroes. They were still in training, sure, but being exposed to danger really was just going to be a part of that training process. Granted, the current year had been exposed to far more danger than what would be considered acceptable by Yuuei standards, but it wasn't like it was their fault.
Not to Izuku, anyway.
"This is all pretty strange, if you ask me… Why're they criticizing the Heroes, huh?!"
After being dragged out of their cold cell, both Izuku and Bakugou had been placed into sturdy chairs next to one another, about three feet separating the pair of them from one another. They had been brought into a much larger room, that looked like a repurposed bar. It was large enough to hold nearly every member of the League of Villains inside it. Toga was still noticeably absent. Since the report mentioned that 'Bakugou' had gone missing again, he could only assume that she was on her way back.
Regardless, the situation, no matter what silver linings Izuku looked desperately for, wasn't looking good for the two of them. They were outnumbered, and tied up.
Bakugou's hands were tied up, encased in a metal casing that kept both of his hands safely within the confines of impact dampeners. It rendered his Quirk totally useless, unable to attack any of the Villains in front of him. His legs were bound, as was his chest, rendering movement on his half completely impossible, and Izuku wasn't faring any better, though his arms had been left free. They posed no threat to anyone there. He couldn't even twitch a finger with them battered and broken like they were. Still, for safety, his chest was strapped against the back of the chair, so he couldn't build up any kind of momentum there. His feet were tied to the chair legs at the heel, so an attack with his feet was completely out of the question.
In short, neither of them were in any position to make an escape attempt. They couldn't utilize their Quirks, or even move any of their limbs. The worst they could do was try to glare their enemies to death – Something that the Explosion Quirk user seemed to be trying to do his best at already.
Both had been made to watch the Yuuei formal apology that had aired that day, regarding the situation. Even to Izuku, he had to confess, the entire event was lackluster and, in a word, pathetically defended by their school. He couldn't disagree more with the reporters all there acting like they were the bad guys for things that were outside of their control, but the arguments that the teachers and staff used simply were some of the weakest ones he'd ever heard in, well, any kind of debate. It honestly made the school look pathetic. There weren't any kinder ways of putting it, and he didn't like thinking like that, but it was the truth. It was lackluster. Weak.
Bizarrely so.
It would only damage the reputation Yuuei had, which had steadily been dropping lower and lower since the year began. Faith in their Hero society would no doubt be shaken by this sort of interview. It made him shudder to think about.
"The only crime any of the Heroes committed was them doing too little, too late!" Shigaraki turned to face the pair of captives with his arms wide open, as if he were laying out cold, hard facts about the state of society in front of the pair of them. "It's a Heroes job to protect people, but everyone can screw up now and then, right?! People can't expect them to be perfect all the time, can they?!" It was almost like he was preaching towards the pair of them. It made Izuku shiver.
He had no clue what Shigaraki was trying to get out of this. What he was trying to say.
"The minute that protecting people came with cash at the end of the day is the moment Heroes stopped being Heroes." Spinner spoke with a cold edge to his voice, bitter about this financial fact of Heroism.
That argument had never been one that Izuku had been able to understand, growing up. He'd seen it a lot in discussion on the internet, and on the news, suggesting that Heroes shouldn't be paid to protect people, since it could easily lead to corruption, and there were several instances of said corruption coming to light. He did agree, it wasn't a perfect system…
"… But then what are Heroes supposed to do to feed themselves?" He openly questioned, capturing the attention of the lizard-like man, whom turned his head to glare towards the young captive. "If Heroes aren't paid for what they do, then they'd starve, and then there'd be no Heroes at all."
Spinner, idealistic to Stain's every word, seemed to force himself to take a sharp inhale before he answered. Izuku knew full well that the only reason that this this guy wasn't chewing at the bit to kill him was because Stain had rescued him from that Nomu back in Hosu. Why exactly Stain had saved him, he didn't know, but Spinner held the actions and words of the Hero Killer above all else, so he had refrained from killing him. For now. "No Hero should have money in their heads when it comes to saving people. That isn't the mark of a true Hero at all. This is what Stain has taught us!"
"If you save someone, you get money. You get fame. Sounds weird to me." Shigaraki stated, drumming his fingers – But not his thumb, which hovered in the air, so as not to destroy his clothing – Against his knee as he spoke. The hand the covered his face hid all his facial details, eyes, mouth, and entire face. There was no way to tell what his expression was underneath that disembodied hand. "In a society where everyone puts the rules above everything… People don't cheer for the losers, and tell them to keep fighting. They blame them for things that aren't even their fault."
Society wasn't perfect. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Izuku didn't even want to deny this. There was a lot wrong with the world. Only an idiot would say that everything in their superpowered society was perfect.
But that wasn't the fault of the Heroes. What these Villains were saying… It went against every single belief that the One for All Inheritor held dear. Even if it was dangerous, Izuku couldn't keep his mouth shut. "Of course, someone would get famous for rescuing people! That doesn't have anything to do with being a Hero."
"Shut it, you." Debi glared at Izuku, generating flames within his palm, as a threat to show what would happen to the green haired teenager if he kept running his mouth like he was. The burns all over Dabi's mutilated body seemed to speak for themselves on top of that. They sent shivers down Izuku's spine…
Not that it kept him quiet.
"…What about All Might?" He dared to question, feeling hit teeth grit together as he saw Dabi's flames grow larger and larger. He knew Shigaraki had absolutely no love for the number one Hero, but the majority of the League's newer members were here solely because of the Hero Killer. One part of him hoped that he could use Stain's admiration of All Might to his advantage. The other part was solely based on his own respect for his tutor. "He… He's one of the most famous and richest Heroes out there – And he was the only one that Stain approved of! Doesn't that put a massive hole in your entire philosophy?!"
"And even he had his dirty secrets, didn't he, Midoriya?" Shigaraki's red eyes peered between the finger gaps of the hand on his face, his glare almost feeling paralytic. "The world's greatest Hero, who can't even bring himself to be honest with the people who you brag adore him. Heroes who can get away with lying to the people they're supposed to protect." The Decay Quirk user stood up on his two feet, and pointed, with a long, thin, bony finger, directly towards the One for All inheritor. "What about that is noble to you?"
Shigaraki almost seemed to be jabbing the air whilst he pointed towards Izuku, and Izuku could swear that he felt the prod from five meters away. "He… He wanted to make sure people like you never found out about One for All…"
"To preserve his own legacy as the symbol of peace!" What hurt about that statement was Izuku knew it was correct. At least in part. All Might had explained to him that he wanted his legacy to inspire others, for them to believe that Heroes were naturally born with their great powers, that there was no great secret to being a Hero. Lies to protect this – As well as himself, and his protégé, had been necessary. And it wasn't something Izuku had argued with All Might against. "You've been lying to the people closest to you ever since All Might decided to give you his power. You're in no position to criticize anyone on the merits of Heroism. Not unless you've seen the reality of the situation."
The irony of this coming from a literal Villain wasn't lost on Izuku, but he held his tongue. Antagonizing the Villains further wasn't going to help matters at this point. They weren't going to screw up because of anger anymore.
"Every person here has suffered at the hands of people. Because of Rules. Because of Heroes. Heroes can't be perfect, but even the slightest screw up, and they're dragged through the dirt. That doesn't seem right." The blue haired Villain took a step forward, and slightly tilted his head at an angle. "Does it Bakugou?"
Izuku felt his left eye twitch slightly at his classmate's name being brought up, and turned to look towards him. He'd been unusually quiet, even well behaved, the entire time that Shigaraki had been talking, which made Izuku uncomfortable. No remarks, no yelling, nothing. He'd been glaring, yes, but it was sometimes hard to tell the difference between Bakugou glaring, and him looking at something with passive indifference.
"Our war is based on a few questions. What is a Hero? What is justice? Once people start thinking about these things, then we've won... And we all know that you love to win, Bakugou. So, tell me something..."
The Villain walked over towards the Explosion Quirk user slowly, and stood, looking at the blond in the eye for just a few seconds, like he was trying to hypnotize Bakugou before speaking again, before he turned towards Izuku.
And pointed at him again.
"Do Midoriya's actions and lies define what a Hero is to you?"
This time, Izuku gulped.
Was this turning into what he thought it was? From the moment that Shigaraki had begun to speak, they both knew that he was trying to recruit Bakugou into the league…
The reason Izuku was even still alive… The reason that One for All had left what to do to him up to Shigaraki… Why he'd revealed All Might's Quirk… Why he was here right now…
This wasn't all part of Bakugou's scouting process, was it?!
"Dabi." The hand-themed Villain turned his head towards the flame-using Villain, and made a vague gesture with his shoulders. "Untie him."
"Huh? He'll run rampant, for sure."
"We're scouting him, It's fine." The Decay Quirk user shrugged off the concern, before looking towards his target. "We've gotta treat him as an equal. Besides, even if he wanted to start a fight, he should be smart enough to know he's got no prayer of winning against all of us."
Bakugou made no verbal response. Instead, he just seemed to scowl at the idea that there was a fight here he couldn't win.
"Either way… He's going to need his hands for what we have planned."
Izuku gulped. No way…
"Twice." Dabi deactivated his flame powers, and shook off the more persistent residual flames from his hand. He then pointed towards the Explosion Quirk user. "You do it."
With a thumbs-up and a weirdly enthusiastic voice, Twice responded loudly and quickly. "No way!"
He then proceeded to untie Bakugou anyway. Izuku wasn't sure what freaked him out more when it came to Twice. His schizophrenic tendencies, or the enthusiastic way he carried out his orders while at the same time denying them.
It didn't take long for Bakugou to be freed from his chair. Once his metallic casing was taken from his hands, and the straps around his wrists and arms had been unfastened, he did a couple of hand exercises, opening and closing his palms, and moving his hands around in a spiral on the spot, trying to get some feeling back into them. As an added measure, he generated a couple of sparks with his Quirk, to try to get the blood flowing back to them. It did the trick.
Standing up, he didn't attack. Instead, he just made eye contact with the pale Villain. Like he was awaiting instruction on what was supposed to come next.
Underneath the hand that hid his face, Shigaraki's teeth began to show as he grinned. "I had a feeling that we hit the mark on you. Tell me something, Bakugou, what is it you believe a Hero is?"
"Heroes win." was the simple answer that he gave. Izuku could hard even believe what he was watching happen. Bakugou was a harsh and rough individual…. But he wasn't seriously considering the Villains side, was he? "They don't give up. And they win. That's… That's what Heroes do."
"Do you find any Heroic reason for lies and deceit that All Might and Midoriya have been enacting towards you this entire time?""
Bakugou didn't verbally answer. His fists however, did start to shake, and in the corner of his eye, he glared towards the holder of One for All, a scowl rapidly growing all over his face. His red eyes glared right into Izuku's green ones.
All Izuku could see in them was contempt.
"How long do you think they've been laughing at you while you haven't been watching? How long do you think that the Heroes have been judging you, and lying to you?"
It was part of his initiation…
This was what was happening!?
"That – That's – We never did that! One for All had nothing to do with Kacchan!" There was no way that Bakugou was actually falling for something so obvious, was there? There was no way that he was actually serious about going along with this, surely not!
His old friend was many things. Violent, arrogant, bloodthirsty. He had differing ideas about what made a true Hero than what Izuku did, and they clashed frequently. Bakugou had his many problems with Izuku, and while Izuku did respect him, he wasn't just full of kind words towards his tormentor. In fact, he could probably fill up a book of mostly swearing when it came to the many things he could say about Bakugou…
But at no point had it ever even occurred to him that Bakugou could become a Villain. The idea had simply never crossed his mind at all.
Yet he was…
There was no way, right?
"As I told you, we are interested in getting you to join us… And we were lucky enough that one of your old classmates – The one who has been lying and mocking the rest of your class behind your back – Came along with you." Shigaraki's purpose in goading Bakugou was so painfully clear, so singular in nature, that there was no doubt that even Bakugou knew exactly what the Villain was getting at.
He wasn't here to try and be recruited.
They didn't want information from him.
They didn't even plan on using him as a Human shield, or as a bargaining tool against the Heroes.
His was here for a far more sinister reason.
He was here to help Shigaraki initiate Bakugou – By being the target of his former friend's fury. He was here to push Bakugou down that path of Villainy, to the point of no return. He was here because Shigaraki utterly despised him and wanted him dead. There was no question in Izuku's mind that Shigaraki would happily take the opportunity to kill him himself… but the opportunity to present Bakugou with someone he despised, to play against his ego and give him the chance to take revenge…
He was here to Shigaraki could make Bakugou kill him. To push him down the path so he couldn't go back.
All Izuku could feel himself do was grit his teeth so hard it felt like they were going to snap against one another.
Bakugou wasn't a Villain. For everything that he was…
He refused to even accept the possibility that his old friend was a Villain. That he would ever be a Villain. He was many things, but an actual Villain, Izuku couldn't believe. He'd known him simply far too long to think that. Mina was right about Bakugou in many ways – But not when it came to him being more like a Villain than a Hero.
Izuku watched as Bakugou walked towards him, followed by Shigaraki, whom seemed to be smirking intently at what was playing out before him. Bakugou's eyes didn't leave the green-eyed boy's for even a second, following him as he took the few steps needed to be standing right next to him, looking down on him like. Like he had been doing for the last twelve years. Like he thought Izuku had been doing all this time, sneering down on an unsuspecting idiot.
He didn't say a single word though. He just glared at Izuku, completely silently. His hands seemed to twitch while he looked at the shorter boy, if they were intentional or not, it was impossible to tell either way. The scowl that was never removed from his face was more prominent, clearer, and vicious that Izuku remembered it being in a while. Malicious intent was written all over the blond's face.
He wasn't serious, was he?
"We all know you love to win." Shigaraki stated again, slowly, and with that creepy, nasally grate in his voice, that made him sound all the more sinister. "So, consider this as a gift from us to you. Something to welcome you with."
Bakugou stood opposite Izuku, his palm held at chest height, and setting off a series of smaller detonations within his palm, a side-effect he had when he was charging up for a much larger, more powerful explosion.
"We'll give you your victory."
The Explosion Quirk users scowl evolved, spreading over his lips into his trademarked bloodthirsty smirk. His chin tucked into his chest and his sharp eyes gleamed.
While Izuku's eyes only widened. Was this…
Was this actually going to be how it all ended?
"Time for you to eat shit, Deku!" Bakugou flung his hand behind his torso, winding his arm up for his traditional right hook strike, crackling still with sparks as he powered up his attack.
He took one step forward, and lunged.
And flung his right arm back, unleashing an enormous explosion behind him, directly against Shigaraki.
"DIE!"
The impact was large, loud, and near deafening to anyone who had been close to it. All that Bakugou had was charged into that one well-timed, well aimed explosion. If it had been more contained and focus, he might well have killed the Decay Quirk user.
"Shigaraki…!"
"What the – "
With the amount of force Bakugou had out into his explosion, the hand-themed Villain was blasted away from both him and Izuku by a few feet. In no small part to how much he'd charged up his one large blast, smoke and smolder set up a smokescreen with the debris of the attack, which blocked any of the Villains from being able to see either of the Yuuei students through the murk. Izuku could hear the sounds of confusion from the criminals, though he couldn't see any of their responses visually. That was the downside of a smokescreen. It blinded him and Bakugou just as much as it blinded their opponents.
It wouldn't last for long though. Maybe a few seconds at the absolute most. So, they didn't have any time to waste.
Without warning, Bakugou flung his left hand lower, towards the chair legs that Izuku had his feet tied against. Without a second's hesitation, he unleashed an explosion against each one individually, blasting them straight off the rest of the chair. Control, however, wasn't the strongest point of Explosion, at least when it came to where the exact direction of the blasts. He couldn't manipulate their direction one they had set off.
This lack of control meant that, even though it was genuinely unintentional, Izuku's lower legs had been caught in the explosions.
Pain rapidly followed. "Aaaargh!"
"You can still stand, shut the fuck up!" Bakugou yelled, tearing off the other straps that kept Izuku pinned to the chair. He ripped the one that had been around Izuku's chest off with force, snapping the buckle as he went, and threw it behind him. "On your feet, Deku!"
Standing now wasn't the easiest task in the world for Izuku – Now that he wasn't numb to the bone, he could feel throbs and twinges of pain all over his arms, and with his shins injured by Bakugou's explosions, he wouldn't be able to walk in a straight line perfectly. Just standing up now hurt, and he wasn't sure how much longer he was going to be able to stay conscious with these injuries multiplied with two to how many knew days lack of sleep. Still, Izuku virtually leaped onto his feet without a second's hesitation, his shattered arms flailing at his sides as he did so. Within the same second, Full Cowl was spiraling throughout his body, preparing himself to fight if that was what it was going to come to.
Which it almost certainly was.
Only about seven seconds had passed once the smokescreen from Bakugou's explosion cleared up, and all they were left with was a group of five Villains staring at them, and one who seemed stood in a daze. The hand Shigaraki had always kept on his face had been blasted clean off, and he seemed completely unable to move from the sheer shock of what had just happened, like the hand was what contained his brain and motor functions.
Heavy breathing followed Izuku as he stood up, it taking all the effort in the world to even be on his feet for any period of time whatsoever. He glanced towards Bakugou, who still wore his wide, tooth-baring grin, even in the face of pure, uncontrollable evil. "F… For a moment there, I honestly thought you were gonna go with them…"
"They can stuff their offer and go straight to fucking hell!" Bakugou yelled, loud enough to make sure that every single Villain in the room heard him yelling. While he probably had just as much fear in him as Izuku did, he wasn't even slightly about to let it stop him. He didn't back down even the smallest bit. "I couldn't fucking stand that a second longer! I thought they were gonna talk us to the fucking grave. Yak, yak, yak, and not getting to the fucking point! 'We're trying to cause shit! Come join us! Blow this twerp's fucking brains in and help us harass Heroes!'"
The aggressive blond threw his arms open, like he was tossing aside every single word the league had said to him.
"What a fucking joke! You think that – " He jabbed towards Izuku's chair with disgust – "Would count as any sort of fucking win?! You dumb fucks are more stupid than you look! Now listen the fuck up –" He jabbed his own chest with his thumb - "I've always looked up to the way All Might looks when he wins! And not one of you fucked up fucks is gonna change a damn thing about that! You got me?!"
"K-Kacchan!..." Frankly, Izuku had never seen that sheer level of defiance, that amount of dedication, or that amount of sheer respect from Bakugou about practically anything whatsoever. For all the issues that existed between him and the Explosion Quirk user, the sudden display of sheer defiance was something he couldn't help but admire.
It made him feel kind of bad for even doubting him for even the slightest second. Once Bakugou set his mind to something, he wouldn't be deterred. And that was that.
Feeling bad would come later though. Right now, the only focus was on escape.
"We aren't approaching this situation passively." The noise from came from the television screen, still blasting out the same news report over aloud. The voice belonged to Nedzu, responding to whatever questions the journalists were asking the Yuuei board. "We're currently working alongside the police, and working with them in their investigation. We will retrieve our lost students, make absolutely no mistake."
"Hah!" Bakugou let out a single loud, almost gloating laugh. Izuku had no idea if he'd actually been listening to the report as everything else had been going on. For all the noise and yelling that had been going on over the last few seconds, Izuku hadn't heard a word of it, but his classmates grin only seemed bigger and wider now. "Good ol' Yuuei…! You better be ready for a fight here, Deku!"
Izuku managed to nod, though his voice was wobbling all over the place. "I'm not going to get much readier than I already am…"
That seemed to be good enough for Bakugou. "Just so you fuckheads know, my permission to battle hasn't been revoked!" The implication there was that this applied to both him and to Izuku, and he wasn't technically wrong either. In their current situation, they would probably be allowed to just use their Quirks anyway, and suffer very little in the way of punishment from the law.
Bakugou was their main target. He wasn't going to be targeted with the serious intent to kill. The entire attack had been there to capture him. Izuku was only here due to his own impulsiveness, so that didn't necessarily apply to him. He was still going to be an open target.
"If this is your attitude, why not just pretend that we'd won you over?" Compress seemed utterly confused by Bakugou's actions. "You hadn't needed to kill your friend if you hadn't wanted to, but could have still acted like we'd convinced you. No one was forcing you to execute him."
"Oh, you can fuck right off, Magic McFuckhead!" Roared the explosive teenager at the Compression Quirk user. "It already pisses me off that I had to play along that long to save this worthless pile of crap! I don't do what I don't want to do, and that includes lying, or spending the foreseeable future with a bunch of dipshit pricks like all of you!"
Still, the fact Bakugou was on his side meant that the Villain couldn't just use their Quirks freely to blast him apart, or they'd risk hitting him. He couldn't tell what was going through the Explosion Quirk users head, but he himself knew that if they wanted to maintain Bakugou as a hostage, they were the ones who had the advantage.
"This kid…"
The Warp Gate Quirk user was the main issue. Izuku still hadn't found a way to counter him. He remembered that Bakugou theorized that he had a physical body inside that metal casing, so maybe a few strikes to that could knock him unconscious?
"Tomura Shigaraki, calm yourself!"
And if that didn't work, with One for All, he could just kick a hole in the wall, and they could run like hell, maybe? The Warping would be a massive issue with that plan, but it wasn't like they had many alternatives at that point. All they would need to do was get into the streets, where people could see them. Then the police and Heroes would be able to find them.
If they could just –
"Everyone, just stay back… This kid…" It wasn't until Shigaraki actually spoke up that Izuku realized that he'd hardly been paying much attention to their immediate threat. He'd been relying on Bakugou more on that front while he tried to think up an escape plan. Shigaraki's sinister, morbid way of speaking was what caught his attention again, stopping his brain in its tracks before he could carry on. He watched as the Decay Quirk user slowly bend down, looking at the hand blasted off of his face, and reapplying it in front of his face, before opening his mouth again."…Is an important pawn."
It was the just how calm Shigaraki was that unnerved Izuku. He knew this Villain as someone who was utterly insane, and every time he'd met the guy, he'd grown more and more unstable, acted more and more like the raving lunatic that he really was.
"I wish… That you'd listened, Bakugou… I was hoping that we'd be able to understand one another…"
"Not a fucking chance!"
What could only be described as a kind of low pitched groan left the villains mouth as his arms and shoulders slumped to his sides. "A shame… We just heard about the Heroes investigation… So, I can't waste more time trying to convince you..."
He turned slightly, looking towards the monitor as it began to change channel, to a static blur.
"Master… Lend me your power."
The master… All for One again. Izuku and Bakugou both felt shivers hit them at the mere idea of having to deal with the same intimidating presence again. Some scrambled muttering could be heard from the monitor that neither of them could hear clearly. They needed an escape plan. If they didn't, who even knew what the situation was going to devolve into.
Neither of them could really take All for One in a straight fight, and they knew it perfectly well. They would sure as hell try if that was what it came to, but neither of them were under any delusions that if they had to go toe to toe with him, they would lose, without question.
So, their escape needed to be right now.
Compress sighed behind his leader, readying himself for action. "I have to say, to be honest, I'm actually impressed at how defiant these two are."
"Kurogiri. Compress. Put him back to sleep again." Shigaraki ordered. "Leave All Might's precious protégé awake though…"
His blood red eye, small and focused on the green haired boy, glared through the usual gaps and right at Izuku, shaking as he stared at his target.
"I'm going to kill that one myself."
Izuku could already feel his mind whirring at top speed, trying to think up some way that they could both get out of this situation. There was no way the Warp Quirk user wasn't going to be an issue, no matter how they did this. He could use Bakugou for protection, since the Villains were hell bent on keeping him with them, and that could serve as a buffer until they dealt with Kurogiri, but not only was that not at all Heroic in the slightest, it put Bakugou directly in harm's way, and he didn't want to risk his old friend getting injured like this. They were both in the same boat here.
He just needed to think. To stall. To buy a few seconds so he could -
"Hello? Kamino pizza delivery."
"You're sure that you're alright, Mina?"
This marked the third time that Tsuyu had asked her that question. Ever since her breakdown in front of Yaoyorozu and Uraraka, Mina had been subjected to this same consistent questioning if she was holding up well. It wasn't like she didn't appreciate the concern from her friends. She really did. She just didn't want to talk about it. If she spoke about it, she was gonna end up having another breakdown, and that wasn't going to be of help to anyone.
And she didn't want to have another breakdown. She was sick of crying as it was. Sick of feeling so pathetic. Of being pathetic.
"I'm fine, Tsuyu, seriously." She sighed, looking towards her shorter friend. "I promise. I'm okay."
The Frog girl let out a croak from the back of her throat. It was the kind of person that she was. She cared for her friends, and it was sweet of her to be concerned about her right now. The fact that she was even here, when this entire mission went against her own core values so drastically, spoke volumes about how much value she placed on her friends. It couldn't be overstated how much Mina appreciated her being here, even if it was to keep them all in check.
But she just wanted to focus on the task that was at hand.
"Tsuyu." Uraraka called out, quickly walking up behind the two girls, and to the side of her green haired friend. "It might be best to leave Ashido to it. I think she got the worst of it off her chest back by the lockers." The brown-haired girl leaned over slightly to get a better look at Mina's face, not wanting to make any statements that weren't true. "That right?"
Mina just nodded. She didn't feel the need to say anything.
"Just… I think she needs some time to herself." The Zero Gravity Quirk user stated gently to the other girl, tugging on her shoulder lightly. She could clearly see the pink girls tension and her concern, and could tell it was taking all her willpower to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
That seemed to be enough to make Tsuyu relent, though she did so reluctantly, her gaze lingering on Mina as she took a few steps away. Mentally, Mina thanked Uraraka for her step in, though it did make her feel like she had been needlessly rude to Tsuyu. "If I need to talk to someone, I'll let you know, promise, Tsuyu."
For a while, they all walked in silence, following Yaoyorozu as she led them down various pathways, leaving the mainstream district, and into the back alleyways. Less busy, and usually filled with shoppers heading home, or total drunkards, several of which the group had already encountered. It made sense for villains to be in a less crowded, less heavily trafficked area. Less people around meant less eyes watching the place at all times. And it was within walking distance of the busier districts, so they had the best of both worlds.
According to Yaoyorozu, the Villains hideout was a run down, gloomy grey building, whose only distinctive feature was a slight overpass, which only hung out about four feet. Surrounding it was a concrete wall, and a gate which made entry into the compound impossible, without breaking or entering the place. While Mina was easily capable of burning through these with her Quirk, the group decided against it without the need for a veto from the three supervising students. They would only end up attracting attention to themselves if somebody saw them, and there was simply no telling where the Villains were. Yaoyorozu explained that the tracking device was on a Nomu, so that didn't tell them where the rest of the actually intelligent Villains were. That made storming the compound a stupid risk not worth taking.
Coupled with the fact this was supposed to be a rescue mission, not a combat mission.
Several minutes of scouting out the building later revealed that there weren't any lights on, and the place felt like it was abandoned, which was obviously the cover for the place. Nothing else really of interest seemed to stand out about the place, and they couldn't enter. The surrounding area was just too crowded, the women of the group getting harassed by drunk men who were too inebriated to think about what they were doing, several times.
The only solution that the group could come up with was to try sneaking around the back, through the alleyways. It was the only way any of them could think to observe the place without being spotted by the general public. And if this ended up failing… They'd just have to come up with something else.
All seven of them shuffled down the alleyway, trying to check around for any signs that the place was safe, or so any kind of opening that would let them know what was going on inside the place.
It ended up being the latter that was true.
"Up there!" Kirishima pointed up, towards a small window that was just above them. It was just that. A small window, but it was far more than they had before the Hardening Quirk user had pointed it out. "We should be able to see through there, right?"
"Yes!" Mina couldn't help but make a small noise of victory. It was a small thing, but it was a good sign of things to come at least. Things were at least going their way.
"Won't seeing inside be a problem?" Uraraka questioned, looking at the rest of her friends. "There are no lights on, and no streetlights are gonna reach this place." Without light, they wouldn't be able to see inside, simple as. And since they didn't have Jirou with them, who would be better for this sort of situation thanks to her ability to eavesdrop with her Earphone Jack Quirk, little could be done if they didn't have the ability to see.
"I could make some night-vision equipment…" Suggested Yaoyorozu, looking to already be backing up to make some space for her Quirk to utilize itself.
"No need." Kirishima quickly protested, reaching into his jacket. He rummaged around for about a second, before he pulled out a large, black hunk of metal and plastic. "I actually got something right here."
A Night-Vision camera, and one of the more expensive models at that. To Mina, it looked like something that she saw Special Forces wearing in old movies while on patrol, or stuff that was used in video games. "What the – How much did that cost?!"
"Doesn't matter." Was the only answer Kirishima gave. "Got it before that Villain posed as Bakugou showed up. Was thinking about how I could help, and I could only get one, but I thought this might come in handy."
Kirishima and Mina were quickly hoisted onto the shoulders of Iida and Todoroki, Mina quietly glad that she'd opted not to go for anything involving a skirt with her disguise at this point. Since she was the one with the most personal stake in the current situation, it just seemed right to the rest of the group that she went up with Kirishima, so she could do a double take and see what was inside herself.
By the time that she got up though, the Hardening Quirk user was already scouring the place out, looking around, trying to see anything inside the place. All Mina could do was hang onto the wall, try to balance herself on Todoroki's shoulders, and not fall down and break her neck.
"What do you see, Kirishima?!" Iida was the first one to ask the question that no doubt was burning in everyone's head.
For a couple of seconds, Kirishima didn't say anything, his eyes adjusting to the camera, and getting focused on what he was seeing inside the window. He seemed to do a quick scan of the room, looking for anything major to point out, but coming up empty. "Uh…. It's pretty dirty in there. There's a huge mess, but nothing else that really…"
A second passed.
"Nothing... " His eyes shot wide open. "Woah!