27

Less than a second after Izuku tossed Kota out of the line of fire, Muscular was on him with a fist ready to take the teen's head off. An orange barrier flickered into existence between them at the last second, but Muscular punched right through it, and Izuku barely had enough time to flash out of there and create some distance. Muscular did not let up, but Izuku was more than prepared, yellow flames flickering into green to meet the muscly fist.

The shockwave that resulted when Muscular's fist collided with Izuku's shook Kota to his core, and he, against Izuku's direct orders, climbed up a rock formation to get a view of the battle. When he got there, he saw Izuku, burning a deep emerald with flecks of black interspersed across his body, meeting the villain strike for strike. It was almost mesmerizing for the boy; he had never seen such power on display, not even from Tiger, and that was the strongest guy he knew!

However, while it looked like an even matchup from Kota's inexperienced eye, it was far from even in actuality. Izuku was meeting Muscular's deadly flurry with a furious burst of his own, but he was pushing his green flames to their limit just to match the man's power, and each time he did, he felt the pain reverberate up his arms to a greater degree than the last. He wouldn't be able to keep it up forever, especially with the villain's seemingly insane durability if the way he would practically eat the punches Izuku landed was any indication. It was time to switch things up before he overexerted way too early into the fight.

Muscular must have caught onto Izuku's decision to pivot to something else, as his smile grew even more vicious, and he increased the intensity of his barrage. Izuku disengaged and flashed out of the way of a powerful punch that shattered the ground he was just standing on. Once he was far enough away, his quirk returned to its base form, and he blasted a strong wave of his vibrant fire at the villain. Muscular grinned and stood still, electing to take the flames head-on. That put Izuku on edge, and for good reason, as Muscular stepped out of the blaze with burns... that were vanishing? Upon close inspection, Izuku noticed that the muscle fibers that were burned were quickly being covered by more layers of muscle.

"You think I haven't been training in case I ever get to fight Endeavor, kid?" Muscular cackled before cracking his neck and launching at Izuku once again. "That shitty light show is way too weak to do anything to me!"

Backpedaling once again to avoid the newest charge, Izuku let violet fire engulf him before he sent a swarm of tendrils at Muscular with the goal of restraining him long enough to knock him out with the greenest right hook he would be able to muster. However, barely a moment after the vine-like flames ensnared him, Muscular snapped out of his bindings with his raw strength and sent a mocking smile to the teen.

"I hope that's not all you got, kid!" he challenged before dashing for him once again.

Izuku cursed and pooled green flames to his legs as an orange platform formed in front of him, and he used it as a springboard to launch himself into the air directly above Muscular as the villain smashed right through the horizontal platform. The momentary distraction was all he needed to rain down purple spikes at the villain, stabbing into the fibers of his muscles and even breaking through some sinew. Muscular snapped his head up to face Izuku with a wild, rabid grin while he was seemingly locked in place, and he spotted a final spike headed straight for his face.

Fortunately for Muscular (and unfortunately for Izuku), he ripped his right arm out of the spikes that were "trapping" him and grabbed the oncoming missile before it could hit its mark.

"Trying to take my good eye out?!" He commented with a hearty laugh as he yanked Izuku down to him with the spike. "You raggedy bitch!"

The "bitch" was punctuated with a bone-shattering punch to Izuku's face that sent him careening into the wall with a loud crash. Kota was now becoming worried for Izuku. Muscular had turned the tide of the fight and was now putting the teen in a bad situation. Before he could do something stupid like calling out to Izuku and revealing his position, though, the teen dragged himself out of the crater and sent the most defiant glare that Kota had ever seen to the bloodthirsty villain.

"You punch like a bitch," Izuku spat (along with some blood) in a manner that made Mirko's ears twitch in her living room.

"Hell yeah! I knew you'd be tough, but this is incredible!" Muscular practically cackled, and he threw himself back at Izuku once more.

Izuku, meanwhile, ignited a bright crimson when the fiend approached. It didn't slow the man's charge, but that was okay. If his base flames weren't enough, he'd just turn up the heat. The man would learn not to play with fire one way or another. Izuku narrowly dodged another devastating swing and responded by slamming his palm into the man's freakish chest while funneling as much of his red flames as he could into his palm, unleashing a hellish, red inferno onto the villain. He kept the red flames going to ensure he burned through the thick layers of muscle until there was nothing left to burn, but a thick, bloody arm snatched him by the skull and tossed him into the air to backhand him back into the wall.

Like a demon walking right out of the fires of Hell was a burned and bloody Muscular sporting the same unhinged grin. The sight was grotesque; blood poured down the man's burned and blackened muscle fibers, many of which were hanging off of him and swaying in the breeze. Even so, he was still standing and had more than enough muscle left on him to fight as viciously as he liked.

"So much blood… you really are something, kid! I have no idea what the boss wants with you, but we need to do this again if you're still alive afterward!"

More muscle fibers began to sprout to cover up the ones that were burned to a bloody mess or otherwise damaged, but the act was taxing and ultimately finite, and Muscular knew it. He stomped up to the battered teen that was trying to pry himself from the stone, and he yanked him out of the wall and dropped him to the ground like a discarded toy. "Alright, kid, it's been fun, but I've still got a job to do."

"Go fuck yourself," Izuku spat (alongside more blood) at the villain, and he was rewarded with the man grabbing him by the throat and holding him off of the ground in a chokehold to alleviate the boy of the shackles of consciousness.

"That's the spirit, defiant to the end," Muscular laughed. "I love it!"

His laughter was cut short when a jet of water slammed into the back of his head, and he turned an aggravated eye to who he knew the offender to be. Izuku, meanwhile, went completely pale.

"You must be really fucking eager to die, brat!"Muscular growled, but Kota stood his ground.

"Let him go!" Kota screamed through tears.

"WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!" Izuku strangled out as best as he could.

"I won't let MY hero die!" Kota nearly bawled.

"He won't, but you will, and he'll get to watch!" Muscular growled as he made to approach the boy with plans of beating him to death while forcing Izuku's eyes open to witness the entire thing.

Time just about slowed down for Izuku as the weight of the situation set in. He was in no position to fight off Muscular and keep Kota alive at the same time, at least not as he was right now. Fortunately, he wasn't yet out of options; he had more left in the tank, but it would require him to funnel 100% of his quirk's power, and that would certainly break him in his weakened state not dissimilar to the way it did at the sports festival.

Still, there was no way in hell that he'd let this monster touch Kota. If he had to break his body into millions of pieces to take him down, that's exactly what he'd do. With that decided, he reached into his quirk and fished for every single color he could grab, including the blue and black flames for good measure. Melding them together the same way he did in his battle with Shoto, he attempted to combine the powers of his flames into one unified burst of strength.

Then, it all snapped into place, and Izuku felt both the heat and the power rushing through his veins. His Kaleidoscopic Fire ignited around him in Muscular's grasp, but the flames were substantially more intense than normal. Muscular was taken by surprise by the sudden heat, but the fist that slammed into his face and launched him away was an even greater surprise. The punch was so hard, in fact, that it broke his nose, knocked a few teeth loose, and sent him sailing over a bewildered Kota and smashing into the wall.

This was it. 2nd Gear was in his grasp once again, and the power felt absolutely incredible. Faster than lightning, a purple tendril snapped out and yanked Kota away from the battlefield and far behind him before the boy even knew what was happening. Muscular pulled himself out of the wall and stared at Izuku in shock, and that shock soon turned to excitement.

"You're just full of surprises, huh?! I gotta thank you, kid; this is the most fun fight I've ever had!" Muscular exclaimed with glee.

Izuku's only response was to flare his flames and unleash the full breadth of his power, igniting a massive pillar of mosaic inferno for the entire forest to see. The slits in his forearms that he had noticed the day prior were open and venting both smoke and even more fire. The threatening, green glow of his eyes was like a challenge to the villain, and he met it head-on with as much force as he could while Izuku did the same.

The two met once more, flurries of fists duking it out once again like they had earlier, but the story was very different this time around; Muscular was having quite a bit of trouble keeping up. Not only was Izuku much faster than he was previously, but he was hitting even harder, and once Muscular felt his own fist being smacked away, the fight was no longer within his grasp. Izuku pounded into the villain's body with shot after unforgiving shot. Body blows transitioned into stiff hooks to the side of the head. Wild swings from Muscular were deftly dodged and met with crushing kicks to his still recuperating muscle fibers. The man was at the teen's mercy as if he were slowing down time and predicting the man's attacks, then returning them with exponentially more crushing force.

Muscular wasn't exactly off the mark with that assessment, as Izuku was maliciously abusing the fusion of white and yellow flames within 2nd Gear to read the man like a children's book. A dodged overhead punch resulted in an elbow to the man's good eye and a stomp to his knee, and, try as he might, there was nothing the man could do to stop it. He certainly did keep trying, though, as he threw a desperation punch that Izuku practically vanished out of the way off, reappearing in the air beside his head and twisting into a hard kick to the noggin that sent him back into the wall.

Meanwhile, Kota couldn't be any more beside himself. He had just been tearfully watching Izuku do nothing but survive against Muscular, and now he was tearfully watching the teen open up the freshest can of whoop-ass he had ever witnessed in his 5 years of existence. He didn't know what to do besides excitedly root the boy on to take down the monster that had slain his parents.

Muscular, on the other hand, was not feeling nearly as excited. The fight had started out fun, but now that he was losing, it wasn't fun anymore. He reached for his pocket to grab the trigger that Shigaraki handed to them all in case they needed help taking down this damn teenager in particular (and now, Muscular knew exactly why), but he couldn't get a hold of anything before he was ensnared by purple tendrils. He tried to snap out of them like the last ones, but these wouldn't budge. Before he could move another muscle, he was yanked out of the crater and lifted into the air before being slammed face-first into the ground.

That action was repeated 3 more times, each slam being stronger than the last, before he was flung off of the edge of the cliff entirely. He was still bound, though, so he didn't fall to his death at the forest floor, but he wished he had when Izuku used the centripetal force to slam the man back into the wall on the other side of the clifftop. The tendrils finally unbound, but Muscular was afforded no time to shake the stars out of his vision as the tendrils became elastic with spiked tips that anchored into the ground and wall on either side of him, and Izuku bungeed himself right to the man with a monstrous dropkick to his face.

Muscular, barely hanging onto consciousness, grabbed ahold of a handful of trigger vials and stabbed them into his thigh outside of Izuku's notice. Izuku, meanwhile, sought to finish the villain off and leveled a hard punch to his face that, boosted by a burst of fire from the vent in his arm, drove the man deeper into the wall. Another boosted punch followed, and then another came after that. Finally, Izuku poured his energy into one final strike that would put the villain down for the count, slamming his fist into Muscular's chest and unleashing an explosion of heat and vibrant color that bathed the teen in a victorious mosaic with an even more victorious war cry.

The villain laid motionless in the wall with a vacant expression, and Izuku stumbled away from him as his flames finally dispersed. He fell to the ground in an exhausted heap, and Kota picked his jaw up from the ground to rush over to his side. The exhausted yet victorious grin the teen sported through closed eyes brought even more tears to his own.

"You did it…" Kota choked out. "You actually won!"

"I told you…" Izuku breathed out with one eye open to gaze at Kota. "It was never a matter of whether or not I could. I was going to protect you, because that's what heroes do."

And the dam broke. Kota was actively bawling at Izuku's side while the teen was giving his best attempt at comforting shoulder pats with the little energy he still had. It didn't help that everything in his body was sorer than he had ever felt, but it wasn't so bad that he couldn't sluggishly move around if necessary. What really surprised him, though, was that he didn't feel anything to be broken, and his heart wasn't giving him fits. Pushing his quirk past its limits under normal circumstances was dangerous because of the damage he'd do to his body, so he expected 2nd Gear to compound that exponentially, but that wasn't the case for whatever reason. He'd really have to investigate-

A groan from the crater that Muscular was implanted in snapped both of their attention to the now twitching villain. Izuku immediately sat up, despite his body's protests, and put himself between Kota and the violently convulsing villain. Izuku went alight again when the man pulled himself out of the crater, but his flames were nowhere near 2nd Gear, and that showed when the villain ruthlessly punched him across the clifftop, sending the teen bouncing along like a skipped rock.

Kota had legitimately pissed himself; Muscular was back on his feet and his muscle fibers were squirming and undulating in a sickening manner. Meanwhile, the man's eyes were wide and unfocused, and he was drooling, indicating that the man was as far from conscious as a villain hopped up on way too much trigger could be while still functional. He was acting on pure instinct, and that spelled doom for the frozen child.

Izuku wasn't fast enough to do anything; he could barely move in any meaningful way as it was. He was left helpless as Muscular snatched Kota within his grasp and snapped the boy's neck without any fanfare, subsequently tossing the boy's body at Izuku with no concern to speak of. Izuku fell back to the ground with Kota's limp body in his arms. His eyes were wide and locked on the lifeless form of the boy he promised to protect.

He couldn't protect him.

He failed him.

Kota was dead, and Muscular killed him.

Muscular killed Kota's parents, and then he killed Kota.

Izuku was supposed to protect him, and he failed. Izuku failed. Izuku failed and Muscular killed him. Izuku failed and Muscular killed him. Izuku killed him. Izukü kįłłęd hįm.

H̸̨̧̥̳̪͇͎̺̬͙̄̆̆̅̉ē̴̱̞̟̝̭̲̇̽͆̋́̉͝ ̷̛̟̰͋̈́͑́͋̂̕͝k̷̡̜͚̻̥̗̫̯̎̓̕ỉ̴͎͕͖̳͉̒̀͜͠ļ̴̧̦̗̯̺̉͂͗̉̍̑l̸̢̻̥̼̩̗̘̖͊͌̌͊͑̈́́̚͘͠ͅe̵͚̥̱̰̒́ͅd̷̢̰͔̠̪̏̿̎̀͂̾͝ ̴̧̹̙͍̹̬̭̮̪̙̓̋͛h̷̼̥̬̖̙̝̱͚̪̟̔͆̐͒̈́̀̋̐̌͠ì̷̧͍̮̳͈̳̬̙͑̅̈́̇ͅḿ̶̲͈̬̂̂̽̓̃̐̎̄͑ ̸̖͔̃̎͋́̀̂́̏̽͋h̸͚̦͉̗͖̉̓͆͆̓́̈͒̀ê̵̩̑̌̓̍̂͘ ̴̱͖̜̠̩̱͎̌͜͜k̶̼͇̥̙͈̬̰̞̩̭̈́̚̕i̶̤̺̦̱̪͗l̴̠̅̈́̇͌̃l̸͙̠̜̫̞̳̐̒̑͑̎̈́̑̕e̶͍̘̓d̸͉̝̤̬̩̤͂͑ ̸̨̨̨͖̗̗̈̃̀̀͜ḫ̶̢͖̖̠̂̃̇͘į̴̧̧̦͍̙̼̦̩̗̾̅̿͠m̴̥͚̞̰͕̙̫̍̆̑͒̓ ̵̞̱͔͉̗͎̒̒h̵̼͚͙̫͇̰̿̾̔̊͜͜͝e̶̩͖͚͖̩̘̻̅̀̀̿ ̸̖̪͇̣͍̻͕̇̐̄͒̂͒̆͋ḱ̵̢͈̞̱̒̂̀̉͊͘͠͝i̶̢̢̥̭͉̣̤͚͕̥̅̀l̸̨̹̹̬̙͕͈͖̝̀ͅl̷̨̹̪̮̬͓̲̑͌͗̓̏̕e̷̮͇̹̞̕d̴̛̪̰̹̪͕͔̙̖͚͛̐͆́̇ͅ ̸̳͕͂̀͒̎h̸̬͈̏̐i̸̧̛̛̽̂͂̒͘̚͠m̸̧̨̥͈͈͔̝̃͐̆̓̀̉̓̄͜ ̸͙̲͙̓͊̊h̵̳̻̦̗̰̳̮̜̓̈͜e̴̘̜̭͈̲̲͋͆̀̈͊̈́̋̾̋ͅ ̴̡̛̺͈̗͈̦̦͑̎̈́͋̌͝k̶̤̦̖̪̳̔͘͠͝i̴̬̤͍͇͓͎͍̤̋̐͗̊̚l̶̘͇̻̳͔͙̱̅̓͒͘͘͘͝l̵̻̙̬̱͒̓͘e̶̯̮̻̥͈̣͙̾̂͗́̒̕͝͝ḓ̷̨̏͌̾͒̏͊̔ ̶̢̛̫̰̝̰̦̬̖͆́̽̃̽͘̚h̷͕̼̭͕̰̗̘̜̲͔̋̍͆̇̀̕ḭ̷̛̋̐̆̍̌̂̓m̶̰̦̥͈̯͚̩̲̝͉̓̎

Ḿ̶̧̡̡̛̱̱̱͇̗̝̹̏̆͘U̷͔͒̃̽̆͗̋͘Ş̴̢̘̫̬͖̼̟̩̼̊͋́̓̾͐͒͗̿̅̄͆͜C̸̢̙͓̦̰͙̺̀Ụ̶̳̜̗͈̪̊̉̾͒͒̒̅͊̀̑͝L̵̨̪̗̟̹̭͎̟̘͍͙̖̻̾̇Ą̴̛̣͎͎͉͠͠R̴̢͉̪͇̣̉̀͒͊͛͋̋ ̸̧̢̗̭̤̝́͋̉̂Ẅ̴̡̰̺̬͖̯̖́́̔̇̇͑́́̈́͂̄̕͠Ḯ̴̯̓̿̎͐̊̾L̸̹͓̻̬͉̤̓̿̂̊͐̓̆̍͆̈́̓͘̕͝L̶̺̟̙̬̻͍̞̩̰̀͑͋̑̾̐̒̔̐̌̆̌̍͜͠ͅ ̶̛̹̄͗̈́̾̓̎̄̍̽̃͝D̷͖͍̗̫͈̙͍̺̦̫̻̝͑͋̌͐͛Ĭ̸̘͖̳̀̊̑́̈́̚ͅE̸̹̼̫͍̭̓̆͒͋̔̊ͅ

An explosion of black fire engulfed the green head, quickly knocking Kota's body aside and out of the line of fire as he stood. Izuku was bathed in black flames that burned hotter than Hell itself, not that the villain running on pure adrenaline and quirk-boosters could actually notice. However, his eyes burned with a quantity of pure hatred that pinned even the absentminded Muscular in place for a moment. The moment passed, though, and the man began his slow stumble towards the imminent danger before him. That stumble became a steady trek, and that trek soon became a gallop with intent to kill. Izuku held his bleeding arms up and pointed his palms at the approaching monster.

"Burn."

With one simple word uttered, Izuku unleashed a wave of pitch black fire at Muscular and engulfed the man in the blaze. He tried to fight through it, but that battle only lasted seconds before he fell to the ground in a defeated heap, the ungodly heat of the flames quickly burning through his muscle fibers and eating away at the man's actual body with extreme prejudice. Izuku watched the life leave the mostly vacant gaze of the villain as he was overtaken by the black fire.

A few long seconds passed as Muscular's body was reduced to nothingness, and the black flames that had long since destroyed Izuku's shirt and were eating away at Izuku's skin finally died out. He stared down at the pile of quickly evaporating blood, sinew, muscle fibers, and mostly ash that was once a human, a storm of competing emotions raging within himself all the while.

He turned his gaze back to the body of Kota, and he put all of those thoughts aside before slowly approaching where the boy lay. He knelt and gazed down at him with a morose combination of shame and regret. He reached out to touch him, but the bloody state of his hands and arms gave him pause. Soft, pink fire bloomed on his burns, doing what they could to keep them from bleeding over the boy for what he had to do. He reached for the boy's neck, and he shared the pink flames with the body to reset the damage Muscular did.

When Kota's spinal cord was realigned, Izuku felt the exhaustion begin to overtake him. The corners of his vision were darkening, but he fought through it. The job wasn't finished, and he wouldn't allow himself to die until it was.

With a heavy sigh, Izuku's hands became engulfed in the sapphire flames of the Shinigami, and he held them over Kota's body. Immediately, he felt the cold, overbearing presence of death hanging over him, but he ignored it and soldiered on. The job wasn't finished.

He placed his hands onto Kota's body and spread the blue fire across the 5-year-old, hoping to accelerate the process. He had never done this before and hoped to never have to in the first place, and he'd hopefully never have to do it again; whether that be because he wouldn't need to or because he was dead, it didn't really matter to him.

He ignored the invasive chill that overcame his body as he worked. He ignored the almost human-sounding whispers in his ears that were so frighteningly deep within the uncanny valley. He pointedly ignored the specter that he could just feel watching over his shoulder with its horrifying grin. After 10 seconds of maintaining the sapphire flames amidst the coldest sweat he had ever experienced and his vision nearly leaving him entirely, he felt it.

It was faint, but he felt the boy's heartbeat. He killed the flames and lifted his hands off of him, and as if on cue, Kota sat up with a deep gasp and frantically looked around. When his gaze settled on the awful-looking form of Izuku, his breath hitched. Izuku sent him a soft smile that he hoped looked less frightening than he imagined a smile from a horribly burned man would.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Kota," was all he could manage before darkness took him.

Mineta was afraid. Actually, "afraid" didn't even begin to cover the extent of the pure terror he felt deep in his bones. He and Ojiro were partnered up for the test of courage and going through the forest when the League of Villains struck. They were far enough away from the plume of knockout gas to not be affected, but that didn't mean they were safe. They could see the pink miasma in the distance as well as hear a ferocious roar reverberate through the trees from the opposite direction. The announcement from Mandalay only confirmed the short boy's fears that the super secret location of their training camp had been compromised.

Mineta and Ojiro were prepared to follow instructions and make a beeline back to camp, but before the two could make it very far, Ojiro grabbed Mineta by the arm and yanked him out of the way of a chain that pierced the ground the boy was just occupying.

"Good instincts, Tail," came the aloof, somewhat mocking praise of a man stepping into view. Mineta was nearly shaking in fear when the tall, lanky form of a redhead wearing a red leather jacket presented itself to them.

"Either of you happen to know where Midoriya is?" the man asked rather dully with an equally bored gaze to match.

As if Mineta couldn't feel any more petrified. Not only had villains attacked their camp, but they were hunting down his friend; his newly confirmed friend that inspired him to start being a better man. This was bad.

"I take it your silence means that you don't know," the man drawled just as unenthusiastically.

"We're not selling him out," Ojiro growled from beside him and entered a fighting stance, his tail ready to strike and defend against any attack the man would levy at them.

Kusari sighed. "It'd be a lot cooler if you did."

Ojiro remained resolute, but Mineta was having a crisis. His fear was warring with the newfound drive to improve that Midoriya helped him discover. He didn't want to engage with the villain at all, especially against direct orders from Mandalay to fall back, but he also knew that the villain wouldn't just let them go if they went to the trouble of attacking their isolated training camp, and he for damn sure wouldn't sell Midoriya out to them.

Mineta took a shaky breath, and a look of determination set in on his face as he reached for the balls on his head. Kusari only shook his head in a show of disappointment, though he was secretly amused at the display from the two students.

"Ah, well, I suppose we can do this the hard way," Kusari shrugged just before Ojiro went on the offensive, but the teen had to change course on a dime to evade the lightning fast chains that shot out of the man's body.

Mineta used that moment to throw a barrage of his sticky balls at him, but each one was stabbed out of the air by the redhead's chains with little to no fuss. Mineta wouldn't be deterred, though, and he kept at it to hopefully overwhelm the man and eventually catch him slipping. Meanwhile, the tailed blonde attempted another rush attack from Kusari's blindspot, but he quickly realized that the man had no such thing when he was caught by a chain that struck at him faster than he could react. The chain wrapped around his tail and slammed him to the ground with a sickening thud, all the while another bevy of chains struck at the frantically dodging Mineta who was bouncing between the discarded balls to evade the pointed chains.

Unfortunately, he couldn't evade them forever. He was inevitably nicked in the side by a chain, and the chains themselves appeared to momentarily pause and then become even more voracious when the boy's blood was drawn. Evasion was impossible from that point on, and Mineta quickly found himself ensnared and slammed into a tree.

"I really only need one of you alive to get the information I need," Kusari said in a tone so devoid of concern that it sent chills down Mineta's spine.

The man's bored, violet gaze flickered to Ojiro as he was struggling to get back to his feet after having the wind knocked out of him, and a chain shot out of his back and wrapped around the boy's neck. Mineta tried to get up to intervene, but another chain shot out of the man and stabbed into Mineta's leg.

"You stay right there," Kusari ordered against the pained screams of the boy, and his eyes returned to the blonde that he was currently strangling with his quirk. "A little more of this should make you more suggestible to tell me what I want to know."

Kusari was expecting the boy to do one of two things: remain defiant and succumb to asphyxiation, or give in to his desire to live and reveal the whereabouts of his classmate. Either option was fine by him, as he'd just move on to the shorter boy if this one died. What he wasn't expecting was for the blonde to release his grip from the chain around his neck to plant the tip of his thumb onto his forehead and stick his index finger in the air. Kusari's eyes went wide at the very familiar gesture, and he immediately dispersed the chain and dropped the boy to the ground.

Ojiro hacked up a storm as the oxygen was finally returning to him. He gazed up at the man who was holding the same gesture to his own forehead, and the blond nodded in confirmation. "You're MLA, too?"

Kusari nodded before narrowing his eyes. "I didn't think there were any spies within UA."

"I'm not official, but my parents are loyal to the cause," Ojiro hastily clarified upon the man's narrowed gaze before he returned to massaging his throat. "I was desperate, so I took a shot in the dark to see if you might've been a comrade."

Kusari coldly stared at him while he internally assessed if he should just kill the boy there and then. If he was telling the truth, there wouldn't be any need, and the MLA could worm itself into the premier hero school in the nation. If he was lying to save his life, then he chose a very strange and specific lie to use, and there wouldn't be any way that he'd know their salute.

"You took a rather lucky shot," Kusari finally spoke, and Ojiro lost much of the tension in his body when he saw the man somewhat relax.

"Please, don't blow my cover," Ojiro requested while continuing to massage his throat.

"A little late for that," Kusari chuckled darkly while motioning to the wide-eyed Mineta.

The boy was utterly gobsmacked from his spot against the tree. Ojiro was a spy? He was working with villains? Was he the reason the villains found their camp?! So many questions were running through his mind at the insane development.

"I'll take care of him," Kusari said when Ojiro gasped at the possibility of his cover being blown. "Him knowing about me is more dangerous than him knowing about you."

Mineta didn't have any more time to think before a chain fired out of the man's stomach and stabbed him in the chest. Kusari made sure to hit him just far enough on the left side of his chest to ensure he impaled the boy's heart and minimized his chances of survival. The look of shock and horror on the boy's face coupled with the blood dribbling down his chin almost drew a smile to the redhead's face, and he lifted the boy into the air with the chain and launched him deeper into the forest.

"Even if that wound doesn't kill him immediately, he won't live for very long after that landing," Kusari noted before turning to Ojiro. "His death might complicate things at UA, but it won't be enough to compromise you."

Ojiro shakily nodded, rather blindsided at having witnessed the man kill his classmate right in front of him. Kusari continued staring at him, though, and his blank, violet gaze was even more unnerving to him. Before he could say a word, a chain shot out of the man and wrapped around his neck once again, lifting him off the ground as he squeezed.

"For the sake of appearances, it's probably better if you were roughed up and unconscious," Kusari observed in an equally blank, pragmatic tone. Ojiro struggled against the chain around his neck, but more chains sprouted and wrapped around his arms, legs, and tail to completely restrain him. "Don't make this any harder, recruit."

As he said that, chains crept out of his upper arms and wrapped around his forearms and fists. "Let's hope you…"

He slammed a chain-covered fist into Ojiro's kidney.

"…don't become…"

He slammed his other fist into Ojiro's other kidney.

"…a liability."

He punctuated the last words with a hard punch to the boy's ribs, and the teen was barely hanging onto consciousness by a thread.

"Because we'll see each other again if you do," he finished before performing the salute with a smirk. "Welcome to the fold, Tail."

When the boy had finally lost consciousness, he dropped him to the ground like a sack of potatoes. As he turned to leave, a vibrant pillar of colorful fire ignited on a clifftop in the distance, capturing Kusari's attention.

"Huh, that's a call to action if I've ever seen one," the man commented. "Guess we know where the target is."

He placed a finger on the radio in his ear to call out to the rest of the Vanguard Action Squad and alert them of the development. "Our target's spotted on the nearest peak. I don't know who's up there with him, but he's definitely fighting. Who's closest to that location?"

"I'll be on stage momentarily," was the flamboyant response he received from who he knew had to be Mr. Compress.

"…Right, sure."

Mineta crashed into the cold, unforgiving forest floor, and he immediately heard and felt a snap upon landing. A silent scream ripped from his throat as he rolled onto his back. He bit back the pain as much as he could in order to drag himself to the base of a tree and prop his back against it. Sitting against the tree, he struggled to gather his thoughts so that he could assess his situation.

His left arm was broken, and there was a hole in his chest. That wasn't great. Luckily, the villain stabbed him where he assumed his heart would be, and he had no way of knowing about Mineta's dextrocardia. He had a punctured lung for his troubles, but the boy would live… for now. There was something much more important than his health to worry about, anyway.

Midoriya was the villains' target. He needed to tell someone. He needed to find help and stop their plans or rescue him if need be. He needed to move.

With a wet cough, he struggled to his feet and stumbled away from the direction of the gas and towards where he heard the roar coming from. Noise meant activity, and activity meant his classmates or even 1-B were present. He would help his friend if it was the last thing he did.

His stumbles soon picked up the pace and became a jog, and that jog soon broke into a run. Mineta pointedly ignored the excruciating pain in both his arm and his chest as he pressed on. However, a massive, shadowy claw swiped down at him, but he was pulled to safety at the very last moment by a bleeding Shoji. He was about to speak, but Shoji shushed him, and they hid in a bush while the raging beast moved on elsewhere.

"What's going on?" Mineta whispered.

"We were ambushed by villains, and Dark Shadow went wild in the darkness, despite how hard Tokoyami was trying to suppress them," Shoji whispered back, and then he took note of the shorter boy's injuries with alarm. "What happened to you?"

"Ojiro's a spy," Mineta coughed. "The villains are after Midoriya. We need to find him!"

"Wait, what?!" Shoji whisper-shouted. "What do you mean Ojiro's a spy?! And Midoriya?!"

"No time to explain! We have to find help and get to Midoriya before the villains do!" Mineta urged a little too loudly, bringing Dark Shadow's attention to their spot. Shoji dodged in the nick of time to avoid being smashed by the rampaging sentient quirk, and he hid behind a new tree while Tokoyami pleaded with them to leave him behind and save their own lives.

"We'll need to get past Dark Shadow before we can do anything," Shoji whispered. "They have a weakness to light, so if we can get them back to camp or to a fire, we could contain them. You're not in any condition to find Midoriya on your own, but I can't just leave a suffering friend behind. I'm willing to distract Dark Shadow for you to run-"

"I'm not leaving you behind," Mineta declared. "We can do both."

Shoji looked back at Mineta for a moment, and then he nodded. "Alright. Got a plan?"

Mineta furiously brainstormed anything they could do to deal with Dark Shadow. It ultimately just amounted to thinking about what Midoriya would do in this situation. Honestly, he'd probably just punch Dark Shadow really hard and then flare his quirk to subdue him, neither of which were applicable to their current situation. However, that didn't mean they couldn't also use their quirks to their advantage...

"Can you use your Dupli-Arms to spawn an eye to look over the trees without being noticed?" Mineta asked.

"I can try. What am I looking for?"

"Any signs of activity or battle. We could use Dark Shadow to take down villains while adding to our group, and maybe one of them could shine some light on Dark Shadow and Tokoyami."

"That's a bit of a leap of faith, but it's the best we've got."

Shoji grew an eye socket from one of his arms and slowly snaked it up the tree trunk outside of Dark Shadow's notice until it was sufficiently high enough to see above the trees. He looked around and quickly spotted the activity they were looking for.

"Do you see anything?" Mineta asked.

"Yeah, a ton of ice…" Shoji answered, "…and is that teeth?"

"Ice? That means Todoroki's over there! He has fire!" Mineta spoke but slammed his hand over his mouth when Dark Shadow swiped at them again. Fortunately, Shoji was faster.

"Alright, we know where to go, so how do we get past Dark Shadow? Shoji questioned.

Mineta looked him right in the eyes with the utmost seriousness as he spoke. "How far can you punt me?"

"What?"

"I need you to punt me as hard as you can!"

"Why the hell do you want me to punt you?!"

"Because you're super strong, and I can use the momentum from the kick to bounce on my sticky balls and stay ahead of him much easier than you could by running. Now, we can keep whisper-shouting about this, or we can save Tokoyami and Midoriya!"

There was a brief yet very tense silence, and Shoji eventually spoke up. "I'm not at all comfortable with this, but you have to promise me that you'll survive-"

"I will bite your webbing until you punt me, Shoji!" Mineta shouted, and Dark Shadow attacked once again. Shoji dodged by a hair, and his hand was now forced. He dropped the smaller teen and kicked him into the air as hard as he could before jumping out of the way to narrowly dodge Dark Shadow once again.

"Over here, Birdbrain!" Mineta shouted to get the quirk's attention, and the bestial roar told him that he succeeded. With little time, he used his one good arm to start pelting the ground with his sticky balls and bounced along the path with a rampaging monster trailing behind him and a frantic Shoji sprinting behind them. The chaotic chase was on, and the diminutive boy bobbed and weaved through trees and bushes with the grace of a squirrel on cocaine while the monster in pursuit of him smashed through anything and everything in their path. Mineta continued to ignore the pain that was shooting through the entire left side of his body at this point. His pain was irrelevant. People needed saving.

The trio eventually plowed through the forest far enough to reach the battle, and Mineta bounced right off the path and out of the way of an errant tooth blade that would've skewered him. Dark Shadow, meanwhile, locked onto a new target and just about annihilated the straightjacket-clad villain posthaste.

"TODOROKI! FIRE!" Mineta screamed.

Once the pieces came together and he realized that Dark Shadow was out of control, Todoroki sprung into action with his left side ablaze. Bakugo, who had been paired with him for the test of courage and would not be outdone, jumped in alongside him, and the two fired their quirks on either side of the sentient quirk to create a flash of light bright enough to end their rampage.

Once Dark Shadow was subdued and back inside Tokoyami, the boy fell to his knees in tearful regret about losing control and nearly killing his friends. Mineta, on the other hand, fell to the ground in a heap, as the adrenaline was finally wearing off. Shoji hurried to pick him up and return him to his place on the taller boy's back.

"The hell happened to him?" Bakugo questioned, pointing to the pale and bleeding Mineta.

Shoji was about to answer, but Mineta spoke first. "Doesn't matter… Midoriya's their target…. gotta save him."

This information surprised the three other boys, and while the group began to speculate what exactly the villains wanted with him, something in Bakugo began to stir.

"The nerd can take care of himself," he muttered, drawing the attention of the others that became incredulity when his words sank in.

"Are you saying we should just leave him?" Todoroki asked in an icy tone.

"That's not what I mean," Bakugo growled before his gaze fell to the ground. "Out of everyone in the class, he's the strongest; the most capable. If anyone could take on a squad of villains by themselves, it's him."

The group was silent at the uncommon moment of candor from the generally cantankerous blonde.

"The problem is that he knows it, too," Bakugo continued. "He'll take on insurmountable odds just for the possibility that he'd be helping someone. He was always like that." The group could vaguely hear him mutter, "even before he left," before he continued much more loudly. "So, that's why we go and make sure that dumbass nerd doesn't get in over his head!"

Upon the blonde's declaration, the assembled boys' resolve solidified. They would hunt down their class rep and kick any and all villain ass that stood in their way, and absolutely nothing would stop them.

Well, there was one thing, actually.

"Where do we even begin to look?" Tokoyami asked.

"Maybe he went back to camp to hold down the fort while our teachers and the Pussycats fought the villains," Shoji supplied.

"Nah, he wouldn't stick around in one place while anyone else was out there with villains around," Bakugo responded. "He's somewhere in these woods-"

An eruption of pure blackness caught their attention, and they looked towards a clifftop in the distance to see a massive, unsettlingly black flame burning a void into the night sky.

"…There's no revelry in that darkness," Tokoyami muttered.

"Is that…" Todoroki began, just as unsettled as the others.

"Yeah, that's him," Bakugo confirmed with a cold sweat, recognizing that blackness and the overwhelming feeling of danger that came with it from when it was directed at him as merely a spark in Izuku's eye. "He is pissed. We need to get there, NOW!"

Without another word, the group shot off in the direction of the black flames just as they appeared to die down, but that wouldn't stop their charge. They would get to Izuku before anyone else did.

Ochako was not having a good time. She and Tsu were together in the forest for the test of courage that had gone horribly wrong when the League of Villains showed up. Then, a crazy blonde with messy buns and a freaky respirator popped up from the ether and started lobbing knives around at them, and she wouldn't stop talking about blood and wanting to be friends with them, as if friendship involved cutting and drinking the blood of each other. To make matters even worse, they were explicitly told by Mandalay not to fight at any point, so they were stuck attempting to retreat while the crazy girl ravenously hunted them down and cut them off at every opportunity, both figuratively and literally.

In other words, if they were really not going to fight, then they were miles up shit creek without a paddle. By the 6th time the girl miraculously appeared in front of them with absurd speed and slashed at Tsu's tongue with a knife, it became very clear that they didn't really have a choice in the matter. They'd have to fight.

"This is such a fun game of tag, but I'm really running out of time," Toga lamented with a pout, and she grabbed one of the suction ends attached to her tank. "I'll get my fill and move on, but we'll have to play again another time so I can get you cuties all bloody!"

"You are depraved," Ochako spat as they narrowly dodged another charge and swipe from Toga. Ochako tried to get her hands on her to slam and pin her to the ground, but the girl seemingly had some level of precognition and sidestepped every attempt she made. One such instance resulted in Ochako overcommitting and losing balance when her attempt failed again, and Toga capitalized by lunging at her, ready to draw her blood. Fortunately, Ochako was yanked out of danger by Tsu's tongue at the last possible moment, and the frog girl deposited her friend a safe distance away from their attacker.

"You're a lifesaver, Tsu!" Ochako called out and received a relieved croak in return.

"Tsu? That's so cute! I think I'll call you that, too!" Toga declared as she lunged for the girl in question.

"Don't you fucking dare!" Tsu hotly rebuked the use of her nickname by the villain, leaping backward to evade the attack but still ending up pinned to a tree by her long hair with a knife.

Toga crept up to the pinned girl and practically salivated over the blood on her from the various cuts she had given her. Ochako was having absolutely none of it, however, and she rushed to defend her friend from the literally bloodthirsty villain. Toga struck a knife out to stab Ochako as she approached, but the brunette pivoted out of her line of sight and snatched ahold of her arm before breaking it at the elbow and sweeping the girl's legs out from under her in one swift motion, being sure to bring the girls head down to the ground with a thud to ensure she was incapacitated.

It was a brutal move that she picked up in her training with Inko for the sports festival, one that she was told was a tried and true method of disabling a particularly spirited criminal with a weapon that couldn't be taken with Attraction of Small Objects. It was a move that she promised not to use on any fellow students, but enthusiastic villains with weapons were fair game.

"That was amazing, Ochako!" Tsu complimented from her position on the tree.

On the ground, Toga had her bell rung from the impact, barely even registering the fact that her arm was broken. She was still conscious, but her mind was incredibly foggy… and so clear at the same time.

She could see, truly see for once. For however brief of a moment it would be, she could see beyond the haze of blood and finally touch reality once more. She could breathe in and feel this dreadful existence for what it truly was instead of the twisted fantasy her carnal urges sought to create. She could stop this once and for all before her bloodlust took over and warped her mind beyond repair once again.

With Ochako still sitting over her and pressing her to the ground, Toga reached for the knife strapped to her thigh with her good arm and made to stab herself in the neck to put an end to her rampage and her suffering, but her wrist was caught and pinned to the ground by Ochako.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she incredulously shouted at the girl under her.

"NO! Please, just let me die while I can still help it!" Toga pleaded, tears pooling in her eyes as she struggled against Ochako's grasp to no avail. She could feel her lucidity slipping away again. She didn't want to be locked back in the void of her mind. She didn't want to be a prisoner in her own body anymore. She didn't want any longer to suffer from the horrible results of pretending her way into a cell of her own creation.

She needed help.

Ochako was severely taken aback by the utter anguish in her tone, and she watched the thoughts running through her mind be written clearly across her face. The panic, fear, disgust, and undeniable pain were plain to see, and she didn't like a single second of it.

The girl was crying out for help, and Ochako heard it loud and clear.

Before the brunette could think any further, she was wrapped up in Tsu's tongue and yanked away from Toga just in time for two chains to pierce the ground on either side of the blonde.

"Toga, Compress has collected Midoriya," Kusari informed as he stepped into view, alarming Ochako and Tsu. "Time to rendezvous with the others."

"P-please, just leave me," the girl sniffled as Kusari wrapped her up in his chains.

"No can do, can't leave a comrade behind," Kusari denied, but his thoughts were far less compassionate. 'Your story would make you an excellent martyr for the cause once Curious gets her hands on you. It would be a waste to lose you now.'

"What have you all done with Izuku?!" Ochako demanded. Kusari barely spared the two girls a glance before the group of boys searching for Izuku entered the clearing as well.

"No time for this," Kusari grunted, and he thrusted his palm out for a chain to shoot out of it and wrap around a tree branch, pulling himself off the ground and flinging himself into the trees to escape.

Before the confused group of boys could say anything, Ochako bounded in his direction after him with Tsu not far behind her.

"They have Izuku! We need to catch him!" she shouted behind her, and the group immediately followed suit behind them.

Kusari was bounding from tree to tree with pinpoint accuracy, his chains working in overdrive to keep launching him forward with the despondent Toga in his grasp. His trek back to the group was proceeding smoothly at first, but that didn't last. His attention was grasped by the sounds of small explosions behind him, and he glanced back to see a furious blonde propelling himself after him.

"WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, YOU BASTARD?!" Bakugo shouted as he pushed to catch up with the fleeing redhead.

Kusari cursed and tried to move even faster, but the blonde was persistent, maneuvering around the trees like it was child's play. Kusari spawned a few chains from his hip to wrap around his leg, and he briefly turned around to meet the angry blonde with a hard kick to the face that sent him rocketing back to the ground. He vaguely noted a long tongue catching the boy before he saw the massive glacier plowing directly through his path, and he just barely sprouted a bevy of chains from his back to evade the attack.

He was about to pivot and return to his mad dash, but a sentient, birdlike shadow tried to swipe at him. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, he wrapped his hands in chains and struck them against each other as hard and as fast as he could to create a small spark. It was successful, as Dark Shadow wavered in surprise for a moment, and that was all the time he needed to pierce the quirk with several more chains and send them retreating back to Tokoyami.

"These kids are really annoying," Kusari growled before he resumed his trek at twice the speed, and the pursuing students redoubled their efforts to catch him.

"Shoji," a weak, gravelly voice called from the tall boy's back. He turned around to see the even paler Mineta looking at him through half-lidded eyes.

"Mineta, save your strength-" Shoji began, but he was interrupted by the short boy.

"Throw me," he requested.

"What?!"

"Just do it," he urged. "Hard as you can. Trust me."

Shoji was once again hesitant to comply, especially in Mineta's condition, but they were quickly running out of options and could use a Hail Mary. He swallowed his reservations and trusted the boy's plan once again, taking him into his grasp and launching him at the retreating redhead with as much strength as his six arms could muster.

Dabi and Twice approached the rendezvous point after the fire user recalled the Nomu they had brought along with them. There was a brief moment where he was certain he saw someone hiding in a bush, but he dismissed it and carried on with Twice. That was exceptionally fortunate for the student in said bush, Aoyama, who had been a complete emotional wreck since the attack began. The attack was his fault in the first place, after all.

When Dabi and Twice arrived at the rendezvous point, they were joined by a hobbling, clearly distressed Mr. Compress.

"The hell happened to you?" Dabi asked the hobbling man.

"A child punched me in the dick!" Mr. Compress shouted.

Twice winced. "Oof, that's gotta smart. You probably deserved it!"

"Midoriya?" Dabi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, a younger sprout!" he answered before retrieving a marble and tossing it to the ground. When it shattered, it revealed a terrified Kota scooting backward away from the villains.

"…Whatever," Dabi shook his head. "You have our target, so let's get out of here already. Kurogiri, it's time to give us a lift!"

Within moments, the misty man in question appeared and opened a portal for the three to leave through. "Spinner and Magne have already been retrieved."

Just as he said that, Kusari landed in the clearing and tossed Toga into Twice's arms before turning back to face the direction he came. Within moments, a purple missile shot from the trees and slammed into Kusari's chest, barreling the two into Mr. Compress and knocking the orb containing Izuku out of his coat. The orb shattered, revealing a prone, badly burned Izuku.

In that moment, the group of pursuers blasted into the clearing just as the Nomu returned on the other end, and all hell broke loose. Kusari tossed Mineta away and leaped for Izuku's prone form, but he was shoulder tackled by Shoji and sent careening into the portal. However, before Shoji could grab Izuku, the Nomu slammed into him and tried to hack him with a chainsaw that it spawned from its arm, but a massive explosion courtesy of Bakugo sent it away and through another open portal.

"I got 'em!" Bakugo shouted to the others as he hefted Izuku's badly burned form onto his shoulders, and only then did he notice how awful the boy's injuries were. It shocked and infuriated him more than he could fathom.

"I don't think so," Dabi interrupted with a blast of his own blue flames, not particularly caring if their target was hurt even more than he already was. He turned to see the youngest Todoroki child trying his damndest to capture Twice and Compress with the help of the bird and frog kids, and he smirked. It would be so easy to kill him right then, but it wouldn't mean as much if Endeavor wasn't there to witness it and die alongside him.

Bakugo, meanwhile, was dusting himself off from the attack and frantically looking for Izuku, and he caught the sight of Dabi hoisting the teen on his shoulder and strolling towards the portal. He would not have that for a second, and neither would Ochako who charged at the man at the same time, both teens dead-set on rescuing Izuku from their clutches. Unfortunately, Kusari chose that moment to poke back through the portal and shoot chains in their directions to hinder their advance, successfully cutting into the two in places and slowing them down just enough for Dabi to make it through the portal with Izuku in his grasp.

Bakugo and Ochako frantically continued their relentless pursuit, fully intent on entering the portal themselves and stepping right into the lion's den if need be, and a last second explosion to propel Bakugo forward (snatching Ochako with him along the way) accomplished just that. The two flew right through the portal just as it vanished, smashing into the counter on the other side and effectively reducing Dabi and Kusari to bowling pins. Tomura looked up from his handheld console and turned a bemused gaze to the scene from his seat at the bar, and it was only quick thinking from Kurogiri by opening a portal underneath them that saved their base from being compromised. Ochako caught a glimpse of a wall stocked with bottles of alcohol and the still unresponsive form of Izuku beside her before the darkness of the warp gate engulfed her, and the two pursuing teens were unceremoniously deposited back in the clearing with their classmates.

When the two regained their bearings, the magnitude of what had just happened crashed onto them like a meteorite. The clearing was dead silent. Everyone was speechless. Even Bakugo was at a loss for words. They had him. He was right there. He was within their grasp, and all they had to do was take him and run.

But they failed.

The silence was ended when a guttural cry of anguish ripped itself from Ochako's throat and filled the clearing with her wails of despair. Moments later, an emotional, profanity-laden rant from Bakugo joined the noise.

Izuku was gone.