This Thing A Quiet Madness Made

Chapter 4

"Wait, what's happening?" Midoriya asked in confusion, glancing back and forth between him and the people below.

Aizawa grit his teeth. "Villains..." he spat. "Thirteen, protect the children."

He stepped forwards and leapt down towards the mass of intruders, the abrupt, shrewd sound of weaponry filling the air.

"Hey! I can't get a signal! I think something's wrong!"

"It must be jammed: the alarms aren't going off either..."

"Everyone, take shelter! Leave this to the teachers!"

Taking Iida's lead, the class turned on their heels and dashed back towards the entrance.

"Quickly! This way!" he waved urgently.

They didn't get far before the same purple portal appeared in front of them, cutting off their path and stopping them in their tracks. The portal warped and stretched into a towering, writhing black mass, then two glowing eyes appeared.

"It's nice to meet you," it spoke as the students took a cautious step back, "We are the League of Villains. We've invited ourselves into UA, the breeding ground of heroes, to defeat the Symbol of Peace: All Might! Now, where is he? Has there been some kind of change?"

Midoriya frowned at the mention of the name, hands balling into fists.

"Well, it doesn't matter, really" the creature continued, his form growing threateningly, "I'll play my part..."

"Get back!" Thirteen yelled from behind them. She quickly lifted a hand, finger unlatched and prepared to attack, but before she could, Bakugo and Kirishima suddenly leapt forward, blasting the figure hard enough to kick up a thick cloud of dust.

"Like we're just going to let you do that!" Kirishima shouted, grinning proudly as he landed a shuddering blow.

Their attacks seemed to work.

For a moment.

"Oh my, that's dangerous," the figure spoke mockingly as it reformed itself, a strange metal object now suspended in its mass, "I suppose even if you are students, you're still quite the impressive golden eggs. My job is to scatter you and torture you to death." A flurry of startled gasps escaped the class. "But first..." It flicked its glowing eyes to Naoko, a swirl of purple gas suddenly surrounding her.

The students next to her shank away in alarm.

"W-what-?" her eyes widened as she instinctively stepped back, hands automatically swatting at the thickening mist.

"Hey! What-?!" Bakugo faltered in confusion for a split second before the terrible implications hit him, and before he knew it, he was dashing towards her.

Just as the swirling gas grew larger, stretching higher and thicker and fully enveloping her, they locked eyes. Then, in an instant, it all disappeared, taking Naoko with it.

"Fuck!" He stumbled into the space where she just stood, missing her by just an inch. His blazing glare snapped back to the creature, and in a second, he pivoted, charging at it with sparks alight in both hands. "Hey! What's your fucking deal?!"

"The rest of you..." it raised its hands as more gas appeared around the remaining students, "scatter!"

The dark mist grew quickly into a dome and enveloped them all.

Bakugo cursed as he suddenly felt himself fall through the ground, landing hard on his back. He recovered quickly, shooting up to his feet, head swiveling to see he was now inside what appeared to be an abandoned building.