To actually say that Uraraka and Tsuyu were fighting against a knife wielding Villain wasn't exactly the most accurate assessment that Mina had ever made in her life. It was more a case of Uraraka had pinned her down on the ground in some sort of hand-lock. It wasn't so much a fight as it was the conclusion of a fight, which apparently the Zero Gravity Quirk user had somewhat dominated, bar a wound that was on her left bicep.
Tsuyu meanwhile, seemed to be pinned against a wall with some kind of device by her hair, which was attached to the devices around said Villain's neck and back. The Frog girl was attempting to get said device from her hair, but seemed to be struggling to remove it, due in no small part to her awkward positioning in relation to the device. The fight primarily seemed to have been won by Uraraka, though since Mina had only just arrived, she really had no idea what had just gone down.
She had made the choice to run like hell away from the majority of her classmates back at the lodge, sure, but that didn't mean that Mina had liked being on her own while the entire area was up in a constant fight for success. It was mildly terrifying to be on her own when an unknown number of Villains with students as their targets were attacking indiscriminately at anything that even vaguely resembled a Hero bound student. At any time, from anywhere, she could be attacked, by those fake Villain clones, by a new one entirely, or by someone who mistook her for a Villain herself. All of them were distinct possibilities, and just thinking about how they might happen sent a flurry of images through her mind that she'd rather not think about.
Actually finding that her friends were both right here, but also completely okay, was nothing short of a miracle, as far as she was concerned. She all but jumped out of the brambles and the bushes that she had been marching her way through, almost tripping up once she was on solid ground again. "Uraraka, Tsuyu!"
Perhaps it was because she was on guard, expecting more Villains to come out of the woodworks to try and rescue their comrade, that Uraraka shot her glare in the direction of Mina, giving her classmate a look like she was half prepared to slam her unconscious against a tree. When she realized whom it was, she allowed herself to relax her stiff frame, confusion quickly making its way onto her face instead. "Ashido? Where did you -" As her grip loosened absentmindedly while she addressed the newcomer, the Villain underneath Uraraka made some kind of effort to escape, wriggling in an attempt run for freedom, causing the brunette to reaffirm her grip, this time with a lot more force. "Ah! Tsuyu, grab her hands with your tongue so I can tie them up! Your wound isn't that bad, is it?!"
"I'm fine. Just give me a moment." The Frog Form Quirk use responded, reaching up to try and free her hair.
Quickly running up towards the pair of her friends, Mina found herself looking towards the Villain pinned below Uraraka's body weight, seeing a golden eye, just like her own irises, looking back up at her, and then switching between looking at Uraraka, and back to her. She couldn't be older than the students themselves. Probably younger, and just her eyes gave the acidic girl the shivers. The Villains were recruiting literal children into their ranks now?
If so, where the hell were they getting them from then? This one looked more terrifying than some of the guys back at the USJ!
"Heya, Mina! I'm Toga! You're another cute one! Is everyone in your class so sweet too?"
Mina gulped when the Villain addressed her by her first name. She didn't like it. "How the hell?..." It made her feel exposed, vulnerable, almost like she was completely naked. The only people that she ever wanted to call her by her first name were friends, family and Izuku. Having someone else that she'd never even met before using it felt completely bizarre.
"They must know our names from the Sports Festival. I think they know everyone's names." Tsuyu reported, trying to free herself from her predicament. "That means they also know our Quirks."
The pink skinned girl shook her head, trying to shake the very real crawling feeling underneath her oddly colored skin that this girl gave her, and looked towards the victorious brunette. It was impressive that she had managed to take down a Villain on her own like this. Credit had to go where credit was due in that regard, absolutely, but it wasn't the time to be dishing out compliments.
"Have either of you two seen Izuku?!"
"Deku?" This time Uraraka kept her glare straight on the Villain, apparently named Toga, not prepared to loosen her grip, or to make the same mistake two times in a row, before she gave her answer. "I haven't seen him since everything went crazy. That message Mandalay relayed was from him though, right? She said 'Kacchan', not Bakugou."
A simple nod was all the horned girl gave in response to that question. "He showed up at the lodge and ran off again! His arms were..." An actual shudder ran down Mina's spine when she thought back to how his arms were shattered, broken and bloody, like she had never seen before. She didn't even want to imagine what other madness he'd done to himself in the short time that they'd been separated, though she was almost certain that any of the explosions and blasts that she heard while running had something to do with him. "I-I've got to find him before he ends up killing himself!"
"If Mandalay is still where she was before everything went down, then he can't be far from here!"
"Ochako... You've the same scent as Mina there... And you've both got the same scent as me."
Toga, in spite of being pinned down, surrounded and outnumbered, had the slightest of blushes on her cheeks, and some sort of disturbing, small, but all the same, creepy smile. It was discomforting enough that she knew what Mina's name, but everything about this girl screamed that she was some kind of insane, unhinged, deranged psychopath.
Everything about her just freaked out Mina, and judging by the way that Uraraka had a pained expression that mirrored her own, she wasn't alone in her thinking.
What scent? What the hell was she talking about?
"Actually... Mina's scent is stronger... Both of you are in love with someone, aren't you?"
Both girls made an involuntary gasp, Mina gritting her teeth as she did so. How on earth –
"Did Mina get her man?"
"How the hell are you – "
"And both of you wanna be just like the people you like, don't you? It's okay, I can tell, from one maiden to another." Toga's grin just kept growing more and more, her eyes rolling further and further into the back of her head, apparently in some kind of ecstatic fantasy within her own brain. "Of course you do. That's natural for anyone to be like the person that they admire. There's no helping it... But eventually, it isn't enough, is it? You want to become them. It's inevitable."
"Y-You're full of crap!" Mina suddenly yelled, several beads of sweat running down from her forehead. Maybe because she was actually in a relationship, she knew what it was like to be in love. She could tell the difference between admiration and genuine feelings of infatuation. It wasn't anything like this maniac was describing. Maybe it was because she was comparing herself to them, which put her on edge. Maybe she'd gotten under her skin without her even noticing. "That's not even close to what love is you psycho! You don't even have the first clue of what you're talking about!"
"Izuku.... Izuku...." Toga repeated that word, over and over again, like she was trying to commit it to memory for future reference. "'Izuku's arms were'... Broken, hurt maybe? Sounds like my kinda guy..."
The Acid Quirk user felt her black eyes widening more and more. Was this girl some kind of Clairvoyant? Was this because of her Quirk? "That – That's – "
"You want to be just like him.... That's why your own hands are covered in scars. You want to be just as strong as him, don't you, and you're turning your own body to look just like him, aren't you?"
Once again, a shiver, far more violent and far more physically impactful, ran right up Mina's spine, making her arms and legs shake. Absently, without any input on her brain's part, her left hand came into view of her eyes, and she looked at all the scars over her pink palms and wrists. They were recent, and came from her own anger and frustration towards Bakugou, towards Izuku himself. They were just like Izuku's. Self-inflicted. A result of her Quirk.
Uncontrollable. Although the cases varied in what uncontrollable meant. In Izuku's case, it was unavoidable because of how his body just wasn't used to having a Quirk yet, never mind one that could level a building if he flicked his finger hard enough. Mina's had come instead, from an overuse, and constant attacks against rocks, venting frustration that had been building up inside her for months now...
And ever since, she had been pushing herself to the absolute limit ... Because she knew that it was something that Izuku would have done.
Her hand began to shake. As did the rest of her. Uraraka didn't seem to be doing any better, gritted teeth and wide eyes, just the same as Mina.
"Sooooo, what's everyone's tyyyyype?" Toga questioned, her grin now terrifyingly large. "I'll go first – Guys battered and drenched in blood. It makes carving people up so much fun!"
"You're insane..." Uraraka managed to choke out through her clenched jaw. "You're absolutely insane..."
"Aww, don't be like that, Ochako." The Villain whined, trying to sound innocent, though still with her deranged expression etched onto her lips.
And with a single twist of her wrist, she managed to pull some sort of device from up her wrist, and jab it right into the Zero Gravity Quirk user's thigh. There was a sickening sound as her skin was pierced, and dug into her flesh. Almost instantly, Uraraka could feel her body being drained of its red fluid, and see it travel towards the psychotic Villain's equipment through the transparent tubes connecting the extractor to the neck brace.
"Good romances are so much fun!"
"Ochako!" Both Mina and Tsuyu called out at the same time. The brown eyes girl herself just seemed to flinch in pain and surprise. One of her hands rocketed off of the Villain, moving towards removing the draining device from her leg. Mina lunged at the same time, with the exact same intention, along with a plan to dissolve that entire pile of junk with her Quirk.
"Uraraka?! Ashido?!"
In that very moment though, another voice came out from behind the shrubbery, one that the three girls all recognized. Despite their predicament, both girls, mostly out of reflex rather than conscious choice, looked behind them to see that it was, in fact, Shoji, their Dupli-Arms Quirk using classmate, emerging alongside Todoroki, whom was carrying an unconscious student from 1B, whomever he was.
It took a moment, but Mina noticed that Shoji was carrying someone as well, with four of his six arms acting as a combat blanket to protect the person on his back.
Closer inspection revealed it was Izuku.
At the same time that Mina was able to identify him, he was able to identify her, poking his head up above Shoji's shoulder more to get a better look at the situation. "Mina?! Uraraka, Tsuyu?!"
Less than a second passed, before, taking advantage of the brief moment of distraction, Toga slammed her elbow into Uraraka's chest, knocking her off of the blonde girl, whom then made a sharp dart for the cover of the leaves and trees nearby.
"Ow! Damn it!"
"There's too many of you now, and I don't feel like dying." The crazy young girl flatly said, looking over her shoulder at the group of now seven Hero students. Two or three of them was apparently a manageable number for her, but now that she was outnumbered six against one, it was too much for her? She seemed to linger her gaze over the newly arrived group, for just a few seconds longer. Mina could have sworn that her cheeks went red again, before she departed. "Bye-Bye." She ran off, vanishing within seconds.
Without a trace.
Uraraka and Tsuyu occupied themselves with a discussion of if they should go after the blood stealer, Tsuyu bringing up a point that they didn't know what her Quirk was. Even though it was a Hero's duty to chase after Villains, they had only been given permission to fight to protect themselves, not go after Villains. That being said, if they left the girl alone, she could easily come back to try and attack them again, or cause trouble for someone else. Both options were potentially dangerous, with negative repercussions aplenty.
Mina didn't bother to stick around to join in or give her opinion though. To be perfectly honest, she couldn't care less about the little psycho right now. Now that she'd seen Izuku, she made a beeline straight for him, breaking into a small jog. Since Shoji was carrying him, he moved towards her at the tall boys speed, and not his own.
The two of them locked eyes. And there weren't any words vocalized by either of them. There wasn't much that they could really say to one another like this, and in this situation.
"Who was that girl?"
"A Villain. She was absolutely crazy."
"You okay, Uraraka? You're injured."
"I'm fine, Todoroki. I can still walk. What about Deku?! Are you okay?! You look like you've been through hell!"
"He was like this when I found him."
Conversations just flew past the pair of them, barely even hearing the words that their classmates were saying. The danger, the current mission, and even the maniacal girl that had been present not even two minutes ago, none of them even registered to either of them. It was just white noise, static in the background.
It didn't matter. To the two of them, right now, it didn't matter.
"...Shoji, put me down." Izuku requested, poking his head over the Dupli-arms Quirk users shoulder, hoping that doing so would make his ragged voice a bit easier for his classmate to hear.
The youngest student in Class 1A looked over to the green haired boy, his eyes showing such a genuine concern that he didn't even need the rest of his facial features to demonstrate or convey it. "Midoriya, you're still injured. You shouldn't be moving around like that."
"I'll be okay." He assured his white haired companion, though his voice sounded wheezed and strained, whilst he made a few squirming movements to get out of his grasp. "I – Me and Mina need to just talk for a second. On an even level."
Although reluctant, Shoji seemed to relent to Izuku's requests, and lowered the One For All inheritor to the ground. He stumbled for a second, seeming to struggle at getting his footing and balance back now that he was back on his own two feet, but he quickly found his equilibrium again, and the turned towards Mina. Her hair was blocking her eyes, since she was now just looking at the floor, apparently unable to even look at his injuries, sickening at they were to her.
Clearly, she was hurt. It didn't take a genius or a boyfriend to notice that she was emotionally beaten down from recent events, and Izuku was the only one here who even has an understanding as to why she was like this right now. She didn't make any effort to hide it, and it would have been a pointless thing to try and keep a secret anyway.
In truth, he had expected her to react like this. It wasn't something that he was, in all honestly, overly surprised with. With how she had broken down and begged him not to go, how she had outright pleaded with him only, at most, twenty minutes ago, and how he'd just ignored them and run off... It wasn't like he couldn't get why she was so clearly upset.
Discussion continued around them as Izuku made his way towards her, and then stood just about half a meter away from her. "What're you doing out here?" He asked, his only properly functioning eye opening up a little in anxious curiosity. "I... I thought Aizawa-sensei was going to keep you back at the lodge."
Mina didn't say anything. She didn't even look up towards him.
Hindsight told him that perhaps revealing that he as hoping that their teacher was going to keep her pinned in place while he ran off to beak more of his bones was not the thing that she needed to hear right now. His lips froze for a moment, before they moved again.
"I-I know you're... Pretty upset with me." The battered boy stated, swallowing instinctively. "I-I know you wanted me to stay back at the lodge with you... But I needed to give Mandalay that mes – "
Izuku was cut off by Mina suddenly, and without holding a single thing back, smacking him with an open palm, straight across his right cheek, a clear crack snapping throughout the air as she did so.
It echoed, and cut off every other sound around.
All other noise around them completely ceased, everyone just staring at the two of them, in utter shock.
No one moved, and no one spoke. No one even dared to blink.
For all the violence that was going down, for the invasion of the Villains, and for the absolutely grounded into dust remains of his arms, that single strike had been what had caused Izuku the most shock, and the most pain. He staggered back, in complete disbelief for at least five seconds before he even moved his eyes to look at Mina's face again.
Now she was looking at him, with tears running down her eyes and cheeks with reckless abandon. She wasn't even trying to hold back them back anymore – She knew it was an impossible task. All her fear, all her anger, and all her anxiety and frustration, all dished out into one single strike. All the things she was using to hold back the tears, no gone. All that remained was to cry.
"M.... Mina! We -"
"Do you even give a shit about me, Izuku?!" She yelled, her voice croaking and straining as she cried, but still forcing herself to speak. "Do you actually give a damn about me?!"
Those around them stood there, stunned at what they were seeing. Were it possible to give them any sort of privacy, they would have done, but here, in this situation, they couldn't. It was impossible.
Danger could still be lurking... And now was the time that Mina had lost all sense of restraint?
It hadn't been Mina's plan.
She hadn't even considered this before. Had never even thought about hitting him like that. Never even dreamed about it, even in the most passing of moments. And even assuming that she did, with the danger and the threat of Villainy around them, it didn't seem like the time for it in the least...
These were fears, and points, that she had been planning on bringing up once they got home, once the camp was over. She needed to ask these questions, primarily for her own sanity. These were things that she just needed to be relieved of, the ideas destroyed in her head, and told that she was just being paranoid. For the shortest of whiles, she thought that she had gotten over them...
But it had just happened. Everything that she felt towards him was put into that one, swift strike, before she could scream at herself to stop from doing such a horrible thing to the person she adored.
Yet it was that exact same adoration that had made her do it in the first place.
This wasn't the time. She knew that it wasn't the time, in her head and her heart... What she was doing, right now, was stupid, and she couldn't have been more painfully aware of it. But she couldn't take it anymore. She just couldn't. She wasn't strong enough.
She thought that she would be strong enough to wait until they got home. She thought that she was able to just keep her emotions in check. But she wasn't. She wasn't even close to being strong enough. Combined with all the violence, the fear of the attack, their uncertain fate and the risks of everything that surrounded them... When it came to Izuku....
She was weak. She was so, so painfully weak that it felt like it was digging through her heart whenever she thought about him being in danger like this, whenever she thought about him being in pain like this. She was weak... She was so weak from fear that he'd disappear from her...
She was terrified of that becoming a reality. That one day, he'd charge headfirst into something for some stupid reason and she'd never see him again. And no matter how many dangerous situations he found himself in, he kept doing it, over and over. At this rate... It was an inevitability. One day, he was going to leave her, because he didn't know when it was smarter to leave something as it was to go back to later.
All that she could think, even with fire all around the forest, with the Villains targeting the students, and who else knew what, was that she needed to shake him, make it clear that she was this terrified about losing him...
That was why she had slapped him.
And instantly regretted it. There was nothing more than she wanted, in the very second that she did it, than to burst into tears, say she was so sorry, and beg for his forgiveness. As she looked at him, glaring through a watery filter, she felt her knees become weak and her heart feel like it had just been smashed against a rock. She wanted to say that she was so sorry....
But... That wouldn't resolve anything. Izuku wasn't going to listen to people just telling him not to charge in like a maniac. He wasn't going to listen to people to tell him to stop hurting himself in order to do anything... he wouldn't do that until it was far, far too late.
What other way was there?...
"Do you... Do you even care about what doing this does to me?..." She asked, a lot quieter this time, though with just as much emotion to her voice. "Look at yourself.... Look at your arms for God's sake, Izuku – You're going to go past a point of no return soon! Do you even think about that? Do you even think about what it'd be like for me to have to watch you break yourself until they tell you that you can't be a Hero anymore, never mind what it'll be like for you?!"
"M-Mina, We – We can talk about this later –"
"It's always later, Izuku! There won't be a later if you keep going like – "
"No, Mina, seriously – Where the hell did Kacchan go?!"
"Are you seriously thinking about Bakugou right fucking – "
"He was just with us! Tokoyami too!"
When Mina had slapped Izuku, his entire head had been knocked to the side from the kinetic force entering his skull, knocking his face to the left. When he had been looking away due to being hit, he had seen behind him.
Where Bakugou and Tokoyami were supposed to be.
Those who had arrived with Izuku suddenly froze, and all looked behind them, to find that it was just as Izuku had reported. They were gone. Vanished, without a single trace.
Even Mina, driven by emotion as she was right now, paused.
"He was.... They weren't with you guys." Uraraka stated, looking towards Izuku and Todoroki, the two people she was closest to.
The bi-hair colored boy flinched at the statement, looking towards the Zero Gravity Quirk user with burrowed eyebrows. "No, they were!"
"Okay, then where the hell are they?!"
"Looking for these two?"
From above, the group suddenly found themselves faced with yet another Villain, stood atop a tree branch, looking down upon them from behind a mast, painted with a smiling grin upon the lower half. Within his hands seemed to be two marbles, which he had on display.
"While you were both putting on a fine performance, I, Mr. Compress, have taken them, with my magic." As he spoke, the Villain held up the tiny spheres between his index finger and his thumb, taunting them with his capture. "This boy isn't a resource that belongs on the side of Heroism, so we're going to place him atop a stage where he will shine the brightest he can."
"Give him back!" Izuku yelled immediately, loud and fierce, already flaring his Quirk up, despite being in total agony and having battered his bones into complete dust. Small sparks of static flew off of his crumpled, broken husk as the power of One For All surged through him.
Thinking quickly though, Mina threw herself in front of him, to prevent him from rushing off like she knew that he would if she didn't block his path. "Izuku, no way!" She wasn't even remotely surprised. His altruistic tendencies were now reaching a point of just being outright suicidal, and there was no way that she was just going to allow him to throw himself right back into the fray. Not after what she'd just screamed at him. "You'll freaking get yourself killed!"
"Mina, move!"
"You want me to 'Give him back'?" The Villain questioned, tilting his head to the side, like he was totally confused. "Such an oddly phrased request. This boy is a person, not an object. He belongs to no one but himself, you vain child!"
A switch inside Izuku seemed like it had flipped, resulting in nothing more than his being a growling, snarling creature, filled with unbridled rage and fury. Where it even came from, Mina, nor even himself, fully understood where it came from. The true Hero in him, perhaps furious at someone being taken against their will.
Perhaps it was that part of Izuku that still, in spite of everything, still, somehow, against all logic and reason, saw Bakugou as a friend, now held hostage by the will of Villains who thought they knew him better than anyone else.
Or maybe he was just delirious at this point. Either way, that unbridled fury was there, literally crackling off of his broken body, and filling him with power.
Power Mina was determined not to let him unleash, lest he injure himself any more than he already was.
Not, for all people on this planet, Bakugou.
"Going out of his way to aggravate us...! This guy's underestimating us something fierce!" Without need for further prompt, Todoroki yelled to his comrades, warning them to "Get out of the way!", as he activated the ice side of his Quick from his right foot, instantly generating an entire ice wall, with the encapsulated the entire tree that the Masked Villain was stood atop.
With a single leap though, Todoroki's attack was completely avoided by the Villain, leaping higher atop a higher point where the Half-Cold-Half-Hot Quirk user's ice abilities hadn't reached. Agility and speed, and movement almost like he could predict what the next attack was going to be aided him in his evasion. Once atop the tree, he balanced on his cane with a foot on that, and another on a branch below him, in a very show-off like fashion.
"All we're trying to do is make sure that you know that there aren't only single pathways for you to take in this world. Your values these days are set in stone in front of you, but there is more than that to this world." The Villain announced, like he was giving a performance to a crowd of people in front of him. "I must say though, I am proud of my own judgement. Given that young Tokoyami was able to defeat that death row inmate fellow Moonfish, he would almost certainly make a fine specimen. I thought that taking him would be a good idea, so I did just that."
Everything about that sentence made Izuku shudder. This guy had been trailing them since back when Tokoyami had been going on his rampage, and no one had even been able to notice him? How long had they been trailed by this guy?
That didn't matter now.
"You bastard..." Izuku growled quietly, his toes curling up, since his fingers could become a fist in this state. Every muscle that was still operating properly was stiffening, preparing for use.
He was now trembling out of nothing but fury and anger. Any other emotion, fear, anxiety, consideration – It was all dull, nullified by just how furious he was. Just anger or not, it existed, and as it did so, he unleashed more and more of his power throughout his body. Static electricity charges now rippled off of him more and more. To those who didn't know better, it could have easily to mistake his Quirk to be some kind of static discharge.
Green eyes now glowed a brighter green-cyan mixed color. While that was just part of his Quirk, no one had ever seen it this intense. He looked like he was ready to outright kill someone.
"Give.... Them..."
"Midoriya, calm do – !" Shoji tried to stop him.
"Izuku, wait - !" Mina tried to stop him.
But it just wasn't happening. It shouldn't have surprised her. When Izuku got something into his head, he tended to do it, no matter what anyone said. Especially when it came to someone else being in danger. He went beyond the realms of any sort of sense that applied to normal Human beings, and into the realms of a maniac, who just didn't possess the ability to think rationally. It wasn't the first time Mina questioned if he was just completely and utterly insane.
Though she feared it could end up being the last at this rate.
Utilizing the power he now had sent surging throughout himself, Izuku leaped backwards, showing off a speed and power that seemed double to what his normal five percent Full Cowl was supposedly capable of. Once back, and away from the risk of colliding with Mina when he leaped up, he charged, jumping up past the group of students, and making a beeline right for Mr. Compress at the absolute maximum speed he was capable of going without turning his legs into twisted, broken messes themselves.
Broken as he was, he wasn't even close to backing down.
"Give them baaaaaack!"
He was fast, faster than he'd ever been before when using Full Cowl. Fast like he was when he dashed off from the lodge. Almost twice as quick. How he was even moving at this speed without turning his legs into dust, he had no idea, and he wasn't going to focus on that either, not while Bakugou and Tokoyami were still endangered.
A Hero would not back down here! And he wasn't going to either! They needed his help, so he was going to crash, break and burn to save them!
Launching towards Mr. Compress at speed, Izuku pulled his right leg around, aiming a solid roadhouse kick straight for the masked Villain's neck, planning on knocking him unconscious with a single, powerful strike. At speeds like this, and with this amount of power in him, he could put a hole in a building if he wanted to. Rational thinking, like holding back to spare the Villain's life, wasn't even in his mind anymore.
"Sorry, kids," Compress cheerfully stated, waiting until Izuku was just within a certain distance of him, before leaping away once again, managing to narrowly avoid the attack from the green haired boy, to the surprise and confusion of all of those watching. Izuku continued to fly past, landing God knew where. "But running away and lying are the only two things I'm really any good at. I don't intend to stay to fight any aspiring Heroes!"
"Deku!"
"Damn it!"
"Todoroki, can't you launch an ice attack or something?"
"I don't know where Midoriya is – If I do, I could end up hitting him!"
"Izuku!"
"Vanguard Squad – Mission complete!" Four words that made everyone's stomachs churn emerged from the masked Villain, who sounded please with himself to absolutely no end whatsoever. "We've only been on the stage for a while, but we now must close the curtains – Head to the extraction point within the next five minutes, as agreed!"
Closing the curtains....
They had achieved their objective.... So now they were making a run for it?
"No way..." Mina dejectedly whispered.
A thousand thoughts ran through their mind, and primarily, they were worried of Izuku being okay. But there was more to her thinking than just him right now. If he was as resilient as she knew he was, then he wasn't going to have let a simple miss and crash landing keep him down. He was too stubborn to even consider giving up after something like that. Right now, she was forcing herself to think about more pressing matters.
Like Bakugou.
She hated Bakugou. There wasn't any even slight misconception there – She hated him with an absolute fury, and when she had said that she'd fight him the other day, she had meant it. She would have fought the crap out of him, and had been totally prepared to do so. Had she gotten her way, she would have crushed his face between two rocks and kicked him off a cliff. That was the absolute least that he deserved after all the shit that he'd pulled over the last semester, never mind taking into account what he'd done to Izuku for years.
But this?
Hate him as she might, he was still a classmate, some he had been taken against his own will. By Villains, dangerous Villains, who had specifically targeted him out, for whatever reason. He was the linchpin to stopping whatever plan the Villains had up their sleeves. And taking that aside... As a Hero in training, what she felt about him didn't matter in the least.
Saving him was her job, as well as just the right thing to do. And even removing that, Tokoyami had been taken as well, and while she barely knew the guy, she had nothing against him. He didn't deserve this in any way whatsoever.
"Rrrraaaaaaargh!"
Rocketing out from the treeline again, and returning with that same increased speed, Izuku charged up once again, this time, landing on top of the trees as he went. He remembered the training that he had done after returning from Gran Torino's internship, and what he'd learned from falling flat on his face – Watch where his feet were before he landed from treetop to treetop.
He wasn't done. Not even close.
Compress was fast, possibly utilizing some kind of equipment to aid him. It didn't make sense how he was as quick as he was, even if he was at the height of fitness for someone who was around his age. It wasn't because of his Quirk. That had something to do with his ability to kidnap people. At the end of the day, it didn't matter. The fact was, he was fast.
Izuku was further away, but he was slightly faster than the retreating Villain. Slightly. And thanks to that, he was gaining, at least for the moment. If he kept this speed up, he would at least be able to close the distance between himself and the Villain, if he had enough time.
Which he didn't.
It wasn't going to be fast enough to save Bakugou and Tokoyami before it was too late if he kept moving at that speed. And even if he caught up in time, what was he going to be able to do, with his arms broke, unable to move his fingers? He wouldn't be able to snatch the marbles that now contained Tokoyami and Bakugou. And even if he could, that was assuming he would be up against Compress, and just him alone. If he somehow, against all the odds of the universe, managed to catch up, he'd almost certainly then have to deal with a number of Villains, all on his own.
"After them!" Todoroki yelled, at the top of his lungs, though Mina was way ahead of them already, already sprinting down the road. "Do not let them get away!"
The path that compress was taking was within view of one of the main pathways, indicating that the Villains planned to extract within close proximity to the path of courage. It made sense, since they wanted to make a quick retreat away from the area once they had acquired their goals, and if they were all generally located within the same area, then if they moved, they would all be within reach. And he had said himself, over the communicator that every one of the Villains was supposed to meet up in five minutes, meaning he himself was within that distance. That meant that their rendezvous point had to be close. That made tracking him much easier.
Not that it made keeping up with him easier though. As was established, Compress was unusually fast, considering his Quirk couldn't be something like a Speed Enhancer – His power had somehow stored Bakugou and Fumikage within those marbles he had shown off, for whatever reason, so this was just from natural, physical or technological means.
Everyone tried to keep up by running at the absolute most that that could. With Uraraka using her Quirk to float the student from 1B to make him far easier to carry, and without Izuku to slow them down, they were moving at a fast pace, able to go at a full sprint without any restraints holding them back.
It just wasn't fast enough. Compress gained distance, and while Izuku was gaining on him, it wasn't going to be enough to reach in time.
"Damn it Izuku!..." Hissed the Acid Quirk user to herself. "If we end up surviving this, I'm gonna kill you myself!" How did he not understand the basic concept of just. Stopping. Before he broke himself beyond all repair? She was going to lecture him to utter oblivion before she was done with him.
Right now, they needed to think. What did they have to work with?
Mina's Acid Quirk. She could dissolve objects with an acidic substance, as corrosive and viscous as she wanted. She could even make weak enough that there were no acidic properties to it at all, making it a lubricant. They had Uraraka's Zero Gravity Quirk, making things unaffected by gravity when she touched them. Todoroki's Half-Cold-Half-Hot, letting him generate flames and ice from his left and right sides respectively. Tsuyu's Frog Form Quirk, giving her the many abilities of a frog, and Shoji's Dupli-Arms Quirk, which let him recreate body parts. Equipment wise, they had basically nothing, only their powers available to help them out here.
What did they have that they could use?
What could they do?
What would Izuku suggest they do in this situation?
Said reckless madman darted overhead of the group, rapidly jumping from tree to tree, trying to gain on Compress. He was moving faster than any of them on the ground, thanks to his Quirk, but he was still easily within sight.
What would he do in this situation, were he on the ground level?
What could he think up?
With what they had...
He would try and form some sort of improvised special move. Some combination of the most apparent powers that they had with them. Something that utilized everything that they had.
Clapping her hands against her cheeks, Mina rattled her brain back and forth. How could they combine this random assortment of Quirks and create anything useful? What did they have?!
Was there anything they could do?...
"...Ochako, Tsuyu, Shoji! I have an idea!"
Skidding to a halt, Mina turned on her heel and looked between the three people that she had called out. The truth was, she had no idea if this was going to work at all. This was a guess at best, and she had only a small amount of confidence in what she was thinking – But it seemed like an Izuku thing to try.
Those behind her stopped, and looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"Ochako, Zero G us!" Ordered the pink girl, pulling Todoroki and Shoji together, while she stood by them herself, before she turned towards the Frog Form girl. "Tsuyu, use your lounge and throw us at that masked bastard! Izuku said that you did that back at that USJ for him. If you do that, we should be able to build up enough speed since we'll be weightless! Shoji, you grab Izuku when we fly past him – He's gonna end up hitting us otherwise. Todoroki can use his fire to propel us back on course if we need to! When we look like we're about to hit the Villains, let us fall! We'll drop down and crush them!"
"Mina, are you sure? This – "
"This is the only chance we've got!" Through gritted teeth, Mina asserted her plan to those around her, even though she still wasn't entirely sure of it herself. She knew though, that if they wanted to even have a chance at saving Bakugou and Tokoyami from the Villains, and Izuku from himself, they needed to act fast, and just running towards the battlefield wasn't going to cut it. "It's this, or we might as well turn around right now!"
She was right. She knew she was right, and everyone else knew that she was right too – There wasn't any other option other than to try the sporadic and unexpected. Otherwise, they were one hundred percent going to lose the three of them. It was this, or it was nothing.
This is what Izuku would do. This was all that they could do, given their circumstances.
And in spite of any misgivings that the others had, they knew that she was right. They could try this and fail, or keep running and definitely fail. That was all that was before them, and none of them could think up a better plan. When the choice was between possible failure and certain failure...
Choice wasn't even a factor anymore.
Wrapping her tongue around the three of them, Tsuyu positioned herself for the optimal throw, while Uraraka quickly ran around in a small circle, tapping the three of them with her hands and activating her Quirk on them. Once all were done, they began to float upwards, since gravity no longer affected them.
Butterflies ran throughout Mina's stomach. Being weightless was an odd feeling, one she doubted that she'd get used to anytime soon. This wasn't anything compared to what she was about to feel, she already knew that for certain.
"All set! Tsuyu!"
"Good luck!"
Using her mutant tongue to throw them all like any other person would use their arm to pitch a baseball, the Frog girl, unhampered by the combined mass of the three, blasted all three of them towards the Villain with an incredible amount of power. Shoji was the Trojan horse and the linchpin in this scenario, due to his superior strength and height, holding tightly onto both Todoroki's and Mina's right wrists, with two of his left corresponding hands of his own while they skyrocketed towards Mr. Compress.
And towards Izuku.
He didn't seem at all aware of what the trio was doing, focusing more on zig-zagging progress towards the Villain more than anything else, ignorant to their plans. His focus was so singular that everything else around him might as well not have even existed. The only thing that reminded him of the rest of the world were his auditory senses.
Which luckily, came in use about three seconds later.
"Midoriyaaa!"
Turning his head around at the call of his name from the Dupli-Arms Quirk user, Izuku's eyes seemed to widen at the sight of the three of them charging towards him like they'd been fired straight out of a cannon , and rocketing towards him like a heat seeking missile. To put it frankly, he was stunned.
"What the – !" He let out a reflexive cry, before he was suddenly enwrapped around his waist by one of Shoji's right arms, dragging him from his leaping session, and back towards his group. "Ooof!"
"Sorry!" Apologized the six armed student. He hadn't wanted to cause Izuku any more injury, and had done his best to avoid such a scenario.
Just seeing him back close, Mina felt a huge amount of her stress relieve, even though it wasn't even close to over. Just having him back within arm's reach was comforting enough, that she could at least offer her backup without him running off on his own.
At the end of it all, a lot of her insecurity came down to that. Just being left alone.
Now they were faced with the task of reclaiming the Explosion Quirk user and the Dark Shadow Quirk user both, before the Villains made their extraction. From her place, she could see their target leaping from treetop to treetop again, though she did notice one thing.
They were lolling to the side.
"Todoroki! Course correction!" She ordered, looking towards him with a determined expression.
With a nod, Todoroki obeyed. Since they were far away from the gas clouds right now, and because if they didn't, they'd end up crashing into a tree somewhere, he was safe in doing so. From the heel of his foot, and totally destroying his converse trainer, he sent out a concentrated blast while aiming at a slight diagonal tilt, so he would center the group that was leaning towards the left, and to give them that extra boost in movement towards Mr. Compress, ever still running away.
Izuku took a second to regain his sense of reason, before he looked over towards his carrier, and yell, "What the hell is this?! You're like a flying tank!"
"This was Ashido's idea!" The white haired teenager replied, forming a mouth from the hand nearest to Izuku's ear, his primary vision squarely focused on Mr. Compress, and altering his limbs to make sure that they stayed as on target as possible. "She said it was this or nothing! Sounded like something you'd say!"
Looking towards his girlfriend on the opposing side to him, Izuku managed to give her a wide grin, not even remembering her slap from just a few minutes ago.
Right now, all he could think about was how awesome a plan this was.
"Nice one, Mina!"
Compliments from him at the current moment were both flattering and a gut wrenching punch to the stomach for the pink girl, though she knew the time for wallowing in regret could come one they were all out of this terrible situation. Without saying anything to him, she nodded at his compliment, before returning her focus to the task at hand.
Their speed was practically triple – Tsuyu's tongue, as it turned out, was ridiculously powerful, weird a sentence as it was to think. Everyone felt like they were falling, despite technically actually floating about ten meters above the ground. Right now, Izuku was the only one who actually weighed anything, and that technically was slowing them down just a bit, but they were so close and moving so fast that it basically didn't matter.
Mr. Compress was practically right in front of them by the time he himself turned around and saw them. A reflexive noise of confusion was all he managed.
Following her que to the letter, Uraraka saw that the four of them were now flying just slightly above the Villain, and doing as she had been instructed to do so, deactivated her Quirk, allowing gravity to hold dominion over them once again. As they began to fall, all of them began to cry out.
"Wooooooooooooooooooah!"
They collided with the Villain mid-air, slamming their feet into him as they all fell down towards the ground at rapid speed. For his part, Compress seemed to be totally thrown off by the sudden attack, and had made no attempts to defend himself whatsoever from the Hero cadets, either because he was so shocked he froze up, or because he hadn't had enough time to react.
Within a few seconds, they slammed straight into the ground, using the Villain as a cushion to their fall. Izuku was on top, digging both of his heels into his targets back, while Shoji and Todoroki handled the sides, Mina focused on pinning his legs down, m stamping down on his right leg with her entire body, and pinning his left to the ground with her hands.
All they needed to do was pat down this guy, grab Bakugou and Tokoyami, and run like holy hell.
"Yo, I totally know those kids! Who're they again?!"
"Twice, back up. Compress, get down."
A glance up and over the other three boys, and Mina saw the absolute last thing that she wanted to see right now.
Villains. Just their luck.
Three of them to be exact. One random guy in a jumpsuit who looked like a compete maniac who Mina hadn't ever seen before in her life, the psycho chick who had attacked Uraraka and Tsuyu not too long ago, and the worst one.
That Villain with the burn marks and the fire type Quirk. The one who kept sending out fake clones after fake clones. Easily the most dangerous right now. She could already see his outreached hand crackling and generating small flickers of fire, aimed right at the four of them, and even his own ally.
"Everyone, sides!" She yelled as loud as she could. No one else knew about this particular Villain or what kind of a Quirk that he had. No one else aside from Mina could warn the rest about this guy. They didn't know what he was capable of. "That Villain - !"
Before she could give any more of a warning though, the Fire using Villain shot off a blast of flames towards the group of Hero students, engulfing the area with a dark tinted flame. Underneath all of them, they all felt Mr. Compress suddenly disappear – Into one of the marbles that he himself had used to abduct Bakugou and Tokoyami! He could use his Quirk on himself, along with a chunk of the landscape that was underneath him, which was why the fire wielding person didn't need to worry about friendly fire! For the attacking Villain, it was now just a grouped up bunch of four kids, all in place for one single, effective, all-encompassing strike.
On a purely reflexive basis, Todoroki managed to evade the blast, moving so that his left side would be engulfed should the flames hit him, relying on his own immunity to fire to protect him from the enemy attack. Mina managed because she knew what she was doing, and what to expect from this particular person, jumping to the side and burying her face in the dirt to avoid getting singed and burned to a crisp.
Both Shoji and Izuku had been too slow, or just hadn't noticed, and were caught within the powerful blast of flame before they could make an escape.
Neither of them were totally encased, though they did both suffer from similar injury to their limbs. All of Shoji's left hands were caught in the flames, as was Izuku's right arm. Flame meeting the outer layer of skin like it did for Shoji was painful enough, as the pain receptors were overwhelmed and burned. But for Izuku when his skin had already been stripped and torn away, and the flames were now engulfing his exposed flesh?
"Gyaaaaaa!" The pair of them both let out cries of pain, Izuku's far louder than the six armed teenager.
"Izuku!" Scrambling onto her feet as quickly as she could to help him, Mina darted over with as much speed that her athletic body was going to permit. To the side, Todoroki was now engaged with one of the Villains, managing to fend him off with a wall of spiked ice. He was too far away for her to help him even if she wasn't more focused on protecting her boyfriend.
Besides, Todoroki was capable enough of looking after himself. Shoji's injuries weren't that bad in comparison – Izuku was the one who needed help.
Especially now that, when she looked back, there was that psycho girl, Toga, again, this time worryingly armed with a sharp, switchblade knife, and had knocked Izuku to the ground, whilst clambering atop him.
Knife aimed straight down.
"I've been thinking!" Squealed the young girl, with a huge grin on her face once again, thoroughly psychotic to match her mental state. "You look so much better when you're all covered in blood, Izuku!"
"Huh?!" The green haired boy seemed to react more out of instinct to that statement more than anything else. He had seen the knife, now ready to plummet into through his torso, and he was struggling, making some effort to escape. Any attempts he made were limited due to the fact that the girl attacking him had him pinned to the ground, sat on his stomach and aiming for his chest.
Acid pooled in hand, Mina charged straight for the Toga, with every intention to strike this girl straight through the neck if that was what it was going to take to get her to back off. The girl terrified Mina.
But losing Izuku terrified her far, far more than any maniac with a knife and an unstable mind-set ever could. "Get the hell away from Izuku!"
She lunged.
And was met with a knife, quickly twisted up and turned onto her instead. As her hand came closer towards the female Villain, she pointed her sharpened weapon towards Mina's incoming right hand.
Which was then thrust straight through the pink girl's palm.
"Aaaargh!" A small scream came from the Acidic girl's mouth, writhing in the pain of having a metallic object rammed right through her hand. Nothing in her life had even come close to something like this. The best way that she could even begin to describe it was like her palm had been punched, only it was sharp. The insides of her hand throbbed, and the rest of her body instantly broke out in a cold sweat.
It didn't matter that her Quirk had been active – Such speed and force had been behind that psychopaths strike that it had ended up bursting out of the back of her targets hand, right between her two middle ligaments, and narrowly missing a majorly visible vein.
Retracting her own hand rapidly, she then left the blade within Mina's palm, reaching around her waist to pull out a bigger, sharper blade that looked like it belonged in the arsenal of a butcher rather than any citizen. The blondes eyes seemed far smaller and focused than before though, killer intent honed and focused straight on the Acid Quirk User.
"Die!" Like a switch had been flipped inside Toga, she screamed at her target with such fury that it would terrify even a Pro Hero with experience in these situations. Another lunge, this time towards Mina's neck –
Was rebounded away, and the girl herself completely pushed aside by Shoji, pushing through his injuries, tossing the Villainous girl aside as far as he could. With his Quirk and physical strength, it was enough to get her away from the three of them for just enough time yell to everyone.
"Run!"
In one of his many hands, he made them clear as day.
Shoji had managed to steal the marbles from Mr. Compress, during the short time that they had him pinned to the ground. How he had done it, no one had any real idea – But he'd done it!
He'd gotten back Bakugou and Tokoyami!
"And in such a short amount of time!" Mr. Compress, despite his loss, honestly seemed to still be cheerful, like he was happy that they'd pulled one over on him. It gave him the impression of being a person who didn't work with the Villains for any sort of genuine ideology that he may have, but primarily because he actually wanted to be outdone, outclassed, and faced with odds that were stacked so heavily against him. It made it difficult for anyone there to honestly tell if they needed to be afraid of him or not. He even clapped a couple of times as he jovially congratulated the Dupli-Arm Quirk user on his theft. "It would figure that a man with six arms would be a master of patting down his targets!"
"Shoji!" Now back on his feet, Izuku looked so overjoyed at the news of their successful recovery that he could cry. A huge smile, with tears swelling in his swollen eye quickly threatening to spill out.
While the throbbing pain in her right palm was what had the majority of her focus right now, Mina couldn't stop herself from letting out a, lopsided small grin herself. A victory, an actually successful rescue of their classmates! "Way to freakin' go!"
"It's done then! Retreat!"
As cover, Todoroki unleashed another chunk of ice between himself and the one that had previously been identified as Twice, and even generating a small amount to give him a small push-away from the contradictory Villain, and then sprinting towards the rest of the group.
Everyone followed the simple command, turning heel and making a mad sprint for it, back down the way they had came. They would meet up with Tsuyu and Uraraka, cover their tracks with more and more ice pillars, and run like hell back to the lodge, where they would outnumber the Villains by a massive number. They had done it!
They were so close to total victory now!
"Thank you, Shoji!" Izuku practically said while he was practically in tears, unable to make clear his gratitude any other way in the current moment. It wasn't the time, but Izuku couldn't help himself. "Thank you!"
"Save it for later!" Mina yelled, clutching onto the wrist that was connected to the hand which still had a knife in it with her uninjured hand. "We gotta get back to safety first!"
"You idiot..."
From behind them, the Villains could be heard arguing, Compress and the black haired fire Quirk user in particular, the latter of which vocally making clear his anger at his comrade's failure to keep hold of the targets. Fire prepared itself within his right hand, while he got ready to launch another blast at the Hero students.
"Wait!" Compress suddenly commanded, blocking off his ally's way past him by holding his arm out like a barrier.
For just a second, Mina and Izuku had the same thought. And that thought was why? Why was Compress trying to prevent them from getting away?
Exactly one second later, they found out.
From the bushes surrounding them, one of the most horrifying things that either of them had ever seen, something that they had hoped never to have to lay eyes on again. A Nomu.
Izuku's eyes widened at the sight. He'd seen enough of them to know what they were capable of. Widespread destruction with the multiple Quirks that they somehow were able to hold within their bodies. Devastation, and easily they could kill people if Heroes weren't around.
Had that thing been running around the forest thing entire time?!
But it didn't click. Not just yet. To be honest, when Izuku looked towards it for the first time, he didn't fully realize what it was, needing just a few seconds for his brain to fully comprehend what it was that he was seeing, and to put together what it was linked to, before he made the realization.
The link that finally made him realize, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the link that put all the pieces together in his mind, came an instant later. A black mist, appearing out of absolutely nowhere at all, began to engulf the entire Nomu creature, whisking it away into nothingness, before it grew even larger and larger, towering over the four young Hero students, reaching at least twelve feet tall. Just a few microseconds passed.
Small streaks of golden appeared towards the top though. Izuku instantly noticed, and recognized them. He suddenly recognized the owner of this warp... Just from that small addition, he knew. "That, that warp..."
He knew who these people were, suddenly. He knew only one single person who had a Quirk like this, even close to something like this, in the entire world. And that belonged to the one who had been identified as Kurogiri, back during the USJ invasion.
The League Of Villains?! They were involved in this attack?!
Blackness suddenly cut off the route of escape for the four of them, pinning them between being teleported away to who knew where, and the fire using Villain and Mr. Compress. Given the nature of this persons Quirk, it wouldn't matter either way which way they ran, around, above, or wherever – More portals would show up to whisk them to who even knew where.
As suddenly as the giant gate before them had appeared, and just as magically appearing as the original, a number of far smaller portals began to appear next to individuals belonging to the Villains side, customized for their various sizes.
"Dabi." With that, the black haired, burnt Villain seemed to react to the commanding voices that echoed throughout the portals. "It's been five minutes since you sent your signal out. It is time for retreat."
"Grrr...." From one of the sides, Toga seemed to glare towards Mina, holding up a knife and pointing it towards her, killer intent clear in her eyes. "Don't worry, Izuku – I'll come back and stab that bitch someday soon!" She then vanished into the darkness of the portal, returning to wherever the hell it was that these people came from.
The newly dubbed Dabi seemed to glance towards one of the Portals with a mixture of annoyance, remorse, determination and confusion. "Hold on, the target's still – "
"They were so happy about saving their friends, they were going to leg it back to their friends." Compress stated mockingly, removing his facial mask and his top hat. His tone had changed slightly, towards a more sinister tone. "They can keep them if they like. As a parting gift."
Compress's words made Izuku and Mina both turn their heads back around towards him. What was he talking about? What was he saying? Why was he so pleased with himself? What was he...
"Admittedly, it's a very bad habit of mine, but you see, it's one of the first, and most obvious rules of magic and performance. "
It dawned on the pair of them suddenly. The words that he was using, the tone that he had, and the fact he was even removing the things that were protecting his identity in the first place.
No....
"If you're flaunting something..."
He then stuck his tongue out, revealing two marbles.
Which contained Tokoyami and Bakugou.
"...Then you've got something to hide."
As soon as he had finished his sentence, Compress undid his Quirk on the marbles that Shoji had within his hands – from them, nothing but branches and leaves. In other words, decoys.
Both of Awkward Energy's team members eyes widened even larger than before. "No freakin' way..." Mina quietly said, exasperated and feeling the empty crushingness in her heart. A Quirk that let him compress things into small orbs?!
"Shit!" His body moved before he could even begin to think again, Izuku was already charging straight for the Compression Quirk user, like his own life depended on it. Restriction wasn't an option anymore.
They barley even had a few seconds before Bakugou and Tokoyami were ripped away from them! They had to move right now! Everyone turned, and charged right for the portal, putting every single last shred of energy into dashing towards the Villains and saving their classmates.
Pain surged through Mina's hand as she tried to run though, the blade feeling like it was somehow slicing deeper into her flesh. She pushed on, the best she could, though she quickly fell behind the three boys, all of them in better physical condition, or, in Izuku's case, just downright crazy.
"And with that, I'm called backstage." Compress said, leaping back into the portal, taking a bow as he did so, like this were all an act to him. "You've all been so very kind, thank you, thank – "
With a lucky hit, from out of the bushes nearby, a laser suddenly blasted Mr. Compress's mask, blasting it into smithereens, and skimming against his own head, knocking him backwards ever so slightly, and tearing off parts of the balaclava he wore under the mask. The strike came literally from nowhere, brightly illuminating the field that had previously been encased in darkness.
Only later would anyone learn that it was from Aoyama's Quirk, or what it was that he was even doing there, or why he had waited until now to actually help them out.
In doing so though, he had created an opening – Reacting to the sudden strike and pain from the blast, Mr. Compress was unable to keep his jaw closed tightly enough to prevent the marbles from flying out of his mouth, and away from his reach.
A single chance to get them back presented itself to the rescue squad. A final hope that maybe, just maybe, they could still recover from this. That they could still save their classmates! Even if it was just less than a single percentage of a chance – It was still a chance!
Todoroki, Shoji, and Izuku pushed themselves beyond their physical limits, like a bull in the middle of a fight, towards their new targets. Like it had his girlfriend, sharp, immense pain suddenly shot through Izuku's body – The painkilling effect released from his brain finally starting to wear off. Pure instinct and reaction to the sudden pain caused him to slow down, just a bit, recoiling from the sudden sensation within himself.
As this happened, both the other young boys made a swipe at the two marbles, now falling back to the earth.
Shoji managed to grab one of them.
But Todoroki didn't – The one that he had been trying to grab was snatched away by the Villain Dabi returning from the portal, and stealing back one of their classmates, mere inches away from the Half-Cold-Half-Hot student's hands.
"Such a shame." Smirked the burnt Villain, looking down on the dual hair colored boy with a smug, self-satisfied grin all over his face. "Shoto Todoroki." A small chuckle to himself, combined with small turn of his head, away from his subject of mockery, took him to the Compression Quirk user. "Target acquired. Let 'em go."
The overdramatic and mocking performer of a Villain muttered something in detest of the laser that had just slammed into the side of his face, before he snapped his fingers between his middle finger and thumb. In doing so, the compression orbs that he had created were undone, releasing those who were caught within them to be released immediately with an accompanying sound. Tokoyami, whom had been caught and was within the hand of Shoji, was released, causing the boy with size arms to release him immediately, and to fall over due to the surprise and added weight to his person.
Bakugou, however, had the back of his neck covered by Dabi's hand, gripping around towards the front of his throat, leaving him defenseless. One wrong move that the Villain didn't like, and he could burn the Explosion Quirk user into nothing by dust, starting with the throat. If he wanted to get out of the horrible mess he as in alive...
Compliance right now was his only choice. That was the only explanation Izuku could even begin to think of when he saw the blond haired boy he'd known for his entire life to not even put up a single shred of resistance. He was at their mercy.
And he looked like he needed to be saved.
"All clear."
No....
No way...
No...
No...
No...
No!
Static began to fly as Izuku put everything into on final attempt to reach the red eyed hostage. Nothing else mattered anymore. What Kacchan said, what those around him said, the consequences to him, or to his body. It all didn't matter anymore. He had a single goal and he needed to accomplish it no matter what, and for the first time in his life, being a Hero had nothing to do with this act of altruism. Being a Hero wasn't even remotely in his head right now. Heroes had nothing to do with this.
This was all because he was desperate to save his childhood friend, whether he wanted to be saved or not.
One For All's power began to surge throughout the green haired boy's body, filling him with raw power that he now could barely even control, pushing him, even in spite of the horrendous pain that he was being subjected to because of his overuse of the Quirk. Faster, faster than he had been capable of going before. It was all he could do. He lunged, charged, and did everything that he could.
Because he wasn't going to get another chance!
His body could rip itself to shreds! His arms and legs could rip out of their sockets! It didn't matter!
"Kacchan!"
"Stay away Deku"
"Uraaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgh, Kachaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"
Just as quickly as they had opened, the final portal closed. And then silence fell upon everything. No noise. No silence, just the whir of the Warp Gate Quirk disappearing along with its user back to who knew where with who knew what. Every portal around them had disappeared with a whirring sound, becoming quieter and quieter, until they blipped out of existence altogether.
Nothingness. It was over.
They had failed.
All of the Villains had won.
Seconds passed. Just a few, but they were in total, defeating, screaming silence, while everyone just needed to comprehend what their brains were telling them just happened. The only sounds were those of the wind, and Mina's winches in pain from the blade, still located in her hand, due to her reluctance, and her knowledge, telling her not to yank it out.
No noise. No breath. No motion. Just nothingness, a simple few seconds of nothingness that felt like it lasted all eternity.
"God... Damn..." Todoroki was the first one who said anything, his eyes wide open, teeth gritted. Out of frustration, rage and fury, his left hand swung around, his flames activated around his fist as he punched the empty nothingness around him. It was the first time anyone had really, well and truly seen him lose his cool beyond all measure. He shouted and he screamed, not even trying to temper his emotions anymore. "Damn it! No! No! Fuck!"
"What just..." Tokoyami was the next one to speak, still checking over his body with his hands, to make sure that nothing had actually happened, or that Dark Shadow was about to go crazy again. As he did so though, his eyes were firmly fixated on the location that the portals had been in just seconds ago. His beak was apart, showing off his human teeth, jaw unhinged and just staring without any kind of understanding or ability to comprehend what had just happened in front of his very eyes. "No...!"
Did he regret not being able to help? Did he blame himself for what had happened, and being nothing but a burden to the group? His fists shivered, and his teeth suddenly gritted.
Shoji didn't have anything to say. His eyes were just open wide, all his limbs limp. He knelt up, from where he had fallen, and staggered onto his feet, before he lowered his head, and palmed it with one of his right hands, unable to even look at the battle site anymore. Out of shame, out of regret, and out of self-loathing.
They had lost...
Bakugou was gone.
Abducted.
Taken away by the Villains.
Every effort, every sweat, every tear, every drop of blood and shattered bone... And it had all been for nothing.
Mina felt... She couldn't really describe what it was that she felt. She thought that Bakugou was the biggest piece of shit that she'd ever met. He made some of the average Villains that could be found on the street look positively sane and Heroic by the things he did and the ways he acted. After everything that had happened, that she knew about him...
Still, she hadn't wanted... This. She hadn't wanted Bakugou to be taken like this by Villains. She hadn't wanted this to be how he got his comeuppance. This wasn't... This....
This wasn't what she had wanted.
Not this.
This wasn't what anyone had wanted.
Unfamiliar senses made their way into her body. There was some kind of empty crushingness in her heart and stomach. That was the only way she could really describe it. Like an invisible brick had just been fused with her very being. She didn't know how else to say it. How else to put it. There just wasn't another way.
Heavy emptiness. Heavy nothingness. Heavy.... Just heavy.
No one here was really friends with the guy. In fact, she could say with conviction that she thought that most people here did actually hate the scumbag. All he did was act like an entitled parasite, and yeah, his Quirk was strong, but that was all he had. He was strong by physique, and strong by Quirk. His intelligence wasn't even worth considering, since Izuku also was smart, as were Iida and Yaoyorozu, and they managed not to be complete dickheads. He was violent, anti-social and rude, making enemies wherever he went, and acting like his Quirk was what made him entitled to act this way.
Filled with a room of people who knew better, who thought better – Who were better than him, he found himself to be isolated, and with good cause, as far as Mina herself was concerned. If that was how he wanted to act, then that was fine. He deserved no more than that.
But that didn't mean they wanted... This to happen to him. No matter her hang-ups, no matter how much it frustrated her to no end that Izuku had chosen him over her tonight... No matter how much it made her angry that he was still walking around Yuuei, training to be a Hero, when he was the absolute furthest thing from a Hero, who, as far as she was concerned, should be thrown out and sent back to whatever trash of a household he came from...
She didn't want him to be taken like this. And Izuku hadn't wanted him to be taken like this either...
"Izuku..." She said, quietly, making her way over towards the scene of the battle. What more could she offer him other than sympathetic words, reassurance, and a shoulder to cry on? What more could she offer him? What more was there that any of them could even do, other than tell him that he had done the absolute best that he could, and try to get him back to the lodge so that his wounds could be treated?
There wasn't anything else to do.
"Izuku... Come on... Let's get you back to the lodge..."
Both the other teenagers looked towards her, with expressions that she couldn't read. That she didn't understand. That she didn't know why they were making. It didn't make any sense... Why were they...
Pain in Mina's hand disappeared. Blood still dripped, but she felt nothing. Her eyes widened as far as they could possibly ever go. As wide as they were ever going to go. The knife in her right hand wasn't there, as far as she was concerned. It was a non-entity. It didn't exist. It wasn't there.
It wasn't...
For his part, Todoroki looked like he himself was about to cry. He could barely even look at Mina in the face. It was the first time she'd seen some serious emotion from him since the Sports Festival. Both of his heterochromic eyes were filled with tears that he was barely even managing to keep from falling. "I'm sorry..."
"I.... Zu..."
She looked towards Shoji.
"...Ku?..."
He looked away.
"I don't.... What..."
Blood dripped from her hand.
And then a tear fell from her eye.
"Where.... Where's Izu... Ku?..."
No one knew if it was intentional or not, or if he had had some kind of plan when he had decided that this would be a good course of action. No one had known where he'd found the strength, or speed, in his condition, to do it. No one had wanted to watch it to happen. No one.... No one had expected it.
But he'd done it. Just like he always did. He always went far and beyond...
Not that it was always a good thing.
Izuku was gone. Not a trace of him left. His final leap had taken him right into the portal, along with Bakugou, and was now warped to who even knew where, for who knew what reason, in who knew what condition. He wasn't here. He wasn't a causality of this fight.
He was one of the ones taken.
"Where.... Hah..... Hah...." Mina's breath began to increase, become quicker and quicker and quicker. Her heart began to break, shattered against the curb.
He was gone.
"Izuku..."
He wasn't here...
"I....Zuku?..."
For some reason, Mina's mind flashed back to not too long ago, when she had met Izuku again. When she had slapped him like she had. She regretted it. She wanted to say sorry for it. To beg his forgiveness for it.
"Hah.... Hah...."
Was that it? He had been taken by the League...
"Hah... Hah... Hah... Hah... Hah, hah....Urr.... "
And that was how they were separated?
With her slapping him across the face? With him thinking that she hated him now? With her thinking that.... That...
"Urrrrr....."
With him thinking that she didn't know he cared?
"Ahh....."
Tears began to stream down her face as she fell onto her knees.
"Izu... ku.... Ah.... Ahh...."
"I'm sorry, Ashido." Was all Shoji could say, walking over towards her and offering her a hug, careful to avoid the knife that was still lodged inside her flesh. Only his right arms were able to be used, since the others were burned and in pain. He made up for it in how tightly he held the bewildered and shocked girl. "I'm so sorry..."
Izuku... Was gone?...
"Ahhh.... Ur... Uwa..." The worst fear she had finally had come true.
She was left on her own.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
You guys wanted me to deviate from the canon – So here you go. This took a REAL long time, but I'm very happy with it. I don't really have a lot of things to say in notes other than, yeah, this is happening.
Thanks to TheKingOfWinter for encouraging me to go further from the canon – and also being a MASSIVE help when it comes to planning out the piece of shit Hideout Raid arc for Awkward Energy. It's actually become something I'm looking forward to writing now.
But yeah guys. I don't have anything other to say outside of, yeah.
Prepare yourselves.