This Thing A Quiet Madness Made

Chapter 15

The police arrived at the remote forested cabin as quickly as they could, arresting a number of the villains who had failed to escape. The pro-heroes were responsible for rounding up the scattered students, and that was when reality began to set in.

Uraraka, Tsuyu, and Ojiro urgently told Tiger, who had been the first to find them scurrying around the wooded path, that Naoko had gone missing and they didn't know where she was. He panicked with them for a brief moment before hurriedly bringing them to Aizawa.

"What is it?" he asked with a frown, having already received the distressing news of Bakugo's capture.

"We were with Naoko when these three villains surrounded us and we were trying to fight them off but when we looked back Naoko was gone!" Uraraka exclaimed, on the verge of tears.

"Did you see where she went? Was she taken by the villains?"

"I don't know! I didn't see, b-but I think she was!"

"We've been looking for her for a while now- we tried searching the forest, but..." Ojiro looked down, eyes clouded with guilt, "...we couldn't find her."

"I understand. You three go with the Pussycats; we'll take care of this," he reassured, sending them off with Tiger to join the rest of their classmates.

Aizawa had already learned of Naoko's capture from Todoroki. However, Midoriya and Shoji, who were also present during the villains' escape, could not confirm his statement. They hadn't seen her there, they said. Whether it was a case of tunnel vision or a simple oversight, he had no doubt the attackers had taken her as well; they couldn't find her even after combing the entire mountain twice, as was the case with Bakugo.

He was sure the League intended to recruit the boy, given his very public temper and rather aggressive behavior, they likely thought he was susceptible to their tangles of corruption. He knew they wouldn't succeed, but they didn't.

As for why they wanted Naoko... well, he had an idea about that too.

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Naoko stumbled as she landed in a dim room on the other side of the dark portal.

"Shouldn't we tie that one up too?" Spinner questioned, peering up at her suspiciously.

"No," a new voice spoke, echoing faintly off the solid brick walls.

They turned to see a thin, blue-haired man slouching on a barstool behind them. Dabi shoved Naoko over to the other side of the room and pushed her into a chair, moving to stand behind her as he looked over to Shigaraki.

"What are you planning to do with this one?" he asked, though his tone made his disinterest abundantly clear.

"Just keep her there for now." Shigaraki glanced back at her, a wry smile peeking through the hand obscuring his face. "Hi again. I hope you've been doing well."

"What the hell?!"

Naoko's breath hitched. She quickly turned to see Bakugo had woken up, alarmed red eyes staring directly at her as a furious sneer twisted his features.

Shigaraki turned to face him. "Oh, y-"

"Get your shitty hands of her, you bastard!" he shouted, writhing against the metal chains holding him in place. The chains clamored and grinded unpleasantly against each other as he struggled to free himself.

"Calm down, we're here to-"

"I said fuck off! You hear me, damn zombie-lookin' scum?!"