Hey all
I probably should have mentioned last chapter that this is set after the Gentle Arc in the manga. If you haven't reached that point, then expect minor spoilers, but I will do my best to not reference too many specific events unless they are necessary.
Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed. Feedback is always appreciated, and I enjoy seeing your speculations.
I hope you all continue to enjoy the story.
10:00 PM - Monday
"Give you...One for All?"
Izuku could barely manage to raise his voice above a whisper, not daring to believe the words the intruder had spoken. Was it a coincidence? A turn of a phrase? Or did this person know about his secret? Whatever the answer, the voice did not give it.
"Oi!" Bakugo shouted into the silence. "Don't tell me you're out of breath already!"
They waited, forming up in a tight circle facing outward. A few moments passed in silence. Then Kirishima spoke what was already on all of their minds.
"What the heck was the that?"
"I don't know," Todoroki answered, right hand still resting on the front door.
"It sounded like he was in here with us," Izuku pointed out. "But if he could just come in whenever he wanted, why did he bother attacking the door?"
"You think it was a distraction?" Uraraka asked.
"'Course not," Bakugo hissed. "He was just sizing us up."
Izuku nodded. "It's possible he has an illusion type quirk that lets him make his voice appear in other places."
"Then how did he manage to take out Aizawa-sensei?" Kirishima pointed out.
"We don't know that he did," Todoroki countered. "It could be that he used his quirk to lead Aizawa-sensei away while he circled back around to us."
"Like that would work," Bakugo shot back.
Izuku couldn't argue against him. Against a pro of Aizawa's level, simple tricks wouldn't be effective for any significant amount of time. There had to be more to it than that. If he were to take the entity's words at face value, however, the situation became even more dangerous. If this person knew about the existence of One for All and was not only willing to kill them for it, but confident that he could, then the situation could be at least as dangerous as their first trip to USJ.
A faint chuckling from the common room snapped him out of his thoughts. They met each others' eyes and left the foyer. Returning to the common room, they were met by Somnus' dark gaze. Her eyes were wide, and a derisive smile stretched her face.
"Something funny?" Bakugo spat.
"Are the widdle kiddies scared without their babysitter?" she mocked.
"What was that?"
Kirishima hooked one arm around Bakugo's, restraining the explosive student from lunging at the villain. She just continued chuckling.
"You heard him, didn't you?" she prodded. "We kill one, or he kills us all. So what will you do, 'heroes'?"
"What are you trying to accomplish?" Todoroki asked, keeping his voice level.
Somnus turned her dark gaze to him, seemingly disappointed at his forthrightness.
"If Eraserhead was taken out by this guy, you'll need help," she answered, nodding at her two compatriots.
"No," Izuku spoke up.
"No?" she demanded. "So what are you going to do? Lie down and die?"
He couldn't help but flinch at that, the voice's demands running back through his head. "Give me One for All." He couldn't do that though. Besides, he had no reason to trust the owner of the voice to keep his word. Still, the situation was beginning to fog his mind.
"No one's dying tonight," Uraraka spoke up, saving him from answering. Her brow was set and her gaze steady as she glared back at Somnus. "We're all getting out of here, and we're turning you over to the police." She gestured to the others to follow her back to the foyer then turned to Izuku. "What's the plan?"
He met her gaze. It was confident. She was confident that he had already worked out a strategy to get them out of this. He noticed Todoroki and Kirishima watching him expectantly as well, and the fog began to clear from his mind. They trusted him. He refused to let them down. He placed a hand on his chin and faced the floor as a plan began to take shape.
"We don't know enough about this person's quirk to form a battle plan," he began, "so we should try to avoid combat unless we have no other choice, fortifying the building should be our top priority. We also need to find Aizawa-sensei. He won't last long in that weather. Todoroki, Kacchan," he addressed, turning his gaze up to meet theirs in turn. "Your quirks are best suited for searching in this environment. You should coordinate a sweep of the area for Aizawa-sensei, but try to avoid battle if you can. Uraraka and I will sweep the lodge to fortify any other entrances while Kirishima guards the villains."
"I'm not interested in hiding," Bakugo spat, though Izuku noticed there was less venom in his words than he had probably intended.
"I am inclined to think the same," Todoroki nodded. "But Midoriya has a point. Our lack of intel puts us at a disadvantage."
"And how exactly are we supposed to fix that if we just hide and wait for him to come to us!?"
"Aizawa-sensei," Kirishima interjected. "If he's made contact with this guy, then he'll have intel we can use to fight back."
Izuku nodded in agreement. "Once we know more, we can decide if this is someone we can fight. For now, our priority is making sure everyone makes it out alive."
Bakugo scoffed, but didn't argue further. Taking that as an agreement, Todoroki moved toward the door, thawing it out with his left hand.
"You'll need to seal this behind us," he said. "I won't be around to fix the ice if it's broken or melted."
"Got it," Uraraka nodded in response, moving back to the common room.
"Hang on, I'll help!" Kirishima called out, following her.
"I don't like this," Bakugo spoke, keeping his voice low so that only Izuku could hear him. "We'll go with your plan for now, Deku. But if that guy meant what I think he did, it's safer outside."
He moved away without waiting for a response. None was needed. They both understood the risk well enough. Bakugo took up a position behind Todoroki as the latter finished thawing out the door.
"We'll make this quick," he said, pulling the door open and racing through. Bakugo was only a step behind. They descended the steps and split off, one going left, the other going right. Izuku quickly shut the door behind them as Kirishima returned from the common area, dragging now floating tables behind him. They arranged the tables to form a line, bracing the door by connecting it to the opposite wall.
"I'll take care of the upstairs," Izuku said, looking to Uraraka. "You finish fortifying down here."
She nodded her understanding, and he summoned up his power. The green lightning surrounded his body as he turned to the stairs, cleared them in a single leap, and began moving from room to room, working to make sure their place of shelter was secured.
10:08 PM - Monday
Uraraka worked quickly, taking advantage of her quirk to rearrange the furniture and appliances to block off the windows and doors to the common area and kitchen. She estimated the fridge, being a steel, industrial model, weighed a few hundred pounds. Combined with a table from the common room, it made an excellent barricade for the back door out of the kitchen. She checked the door before blocking it. The thick layer of dust around it showed that it hadn't been used recently.
Satisfied with her work, she returned to the common room. She heard the creaking of the boards above her head, an indication that Izuku was still working. She took a seat near the fire, giving a wide berth to the villains at the center of the room. They hadn't attempted to speak to any of them since the confrontation earlier, but she noticed that they would occasionally whisper to each other. They had brought along restraints for their mouths, but she would rather not use them if they weren't necessary.
As another creak sounded from above, her thoughts drifted toward its source. She hadn't missed the look on his face when the voice had spoken. It was surprise. She had expected that. She had also been surprised to hear the demand, but the anxiety that accompanied it was unexpected. She had seen him face villains without hesitation, and even when scared he would wear a shaky smile. He hadn't been smiling though. His wide eyes had been frantic, like a cornered animal. She didn't like that look.
Knowing him, there was a reason for it. Either he had noticed something they hadn't, or he knew something they didn't. She didn't like the idea of it, but she also knew that if it was something they needed to know, he would tell them. She would trust him.
"You okay?" Kirishima asked, approaching from the foyer.
"Yeah, just thinking," she answered with a sheepish grin. She hoped it didn't look too forced.
"Don't blame you," Kirishima replied. "This isn't exactly how I saw the day going."
"No kidding. One minute we're studying like our lives depend on it, the next we're stranded in a storm with some madman on the loose."
Kirishima nodded, frowning slightly. "Yeah, I hope those two manage to find sensei."
"They will. Those two don't know how to accept defeat."
Kirishima grinned back at her, "Ya got that right!"
They turned back to the foyer as the sound of footsteps reached their ears. Izuku walked through the doorway, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow.
"The upstairs is secure," he said. "There's a pretty big hole in the ceiling of the back room though. I had to seal the whole thing off."
"We shouldn't need to go in there anyway," Uraraka commented. "By the way, did it look like anyone had been in there?"
Izuku shook his head. "A lot of snow had piled up from outside. Even if someone had passed through, their tracks would probably be covered by now."
She nodded, accepting his answer. He moved to join them by the fire, tossing another scrap of wood onto the coals. With only a little prodding the fire grew and they all let the heat wash out some of the tension from their shoulders.
The lodge groaned above them, defying the brief lull in the wind and bringing their attention to the ceiling. The sound stopped after a moment, but the tension had returned. They found themselves eyeing every shadow, ears straining for the telltale sound of knocking or the voice. They heard nothing but the wind outside, beginning to pick back up, and the crackling of the fire.
A beat passed. Then another. The tension began to leave their shoulders.
Knock!
The sound penetrated the stillness, spurring them to readiness in an instant. Izuku called upon One for All, wreathing himself in its power as emerald arcs of electricity raced from his body. He turned toward the foyer, where the sound had come from. He felt a pressure at his back and looked to see that Uraraka had placed her back to his, facing the kitchen, hands raised in a ready stance unique to Gunhead's particular form of martial arts. Kirishima took up a position to their side, facing the room. His skin was jagged, showing that his quirk had activated.
They waited a moment for any indication as to the source of the knock. Somnus chuckled from her position, eyes already alight with derisive glee. She went silent a moment later.
Knock! Knock!
This time along the far wall Kirishima was facing. The glee in Somnus' eyes faded as she craned her neck to see over Goliath who was currently positioned between her and the wall. The students didn't move. They held their position, not willing to let anything slip past their gaze.
They might have stood there for only a few minutes, but it felt to them like hours as they waited in the near silence. The knock did not return. Izuku couldn't help but wonder if the stranger was simply taunting them or if he was trying to find a way in. It seemed silly for him to alert his targets to his position.
A soft creak sounded from the foyer, low and long. The sound of a door opening. This time, they all turned their eyes toward the sound. Izuku held his hand up, indicating that the others should remain where they were. He tread softly toward the foyer, his eyes wide and darting, searching for any source of movement, and his ears straining for the slightest sound accompanying it.
As he stood in the doorway connecting the common room to the foyer, he saw the front door, still held fast by their makeshift barricade. The door next to the stairs, however, arrested his attention. He was certain it had been locked, but now it was standing open. The faint light from the common room showed a slight downward slant into deeper darkness beyond. A quick survey, showed the foyer was still unoccupied.
His eyes turned back to the open door. It could be that someone had come up from the basement and moved up the stairs, but he couldn't be sure. His gaze focused beyond the open door, attempting to pierce the darkness there. As if in defiance, the darkness seemed to deepen and grow. The firelight seemed to diminish. He faintly heard Uraraka and Kirishima calling his name as his vision went black.
It was cold. When they got back to the bottom of the mountain, Bakugo was going to make sure to have his costume modified for use in cold weather. Thankfully, the stress was allowing him to sweat anyway.
He passed through a stand of trees, a welcome shelter from the wind. His sight was obscured by the snow, and his hearing was impaired by the wind. How he was expected to find their teacher in these conditions, he wasn't sure, but he'd be dead before he came back empty handed.
Trudging on, the wind seemed to only strengthen, forming a wall of frigid air about him. The trees were bowing beneath the strain and off to his right, a branch cracked. He could vaguely see its shape as it fell. He froze there, every warning bell in his head was ringing. He saw a glint of red in the darkness by the tree, hovering at least two meters off the ground.. The red moved and another branch snapped.
In the darkness, he couldn't make out any shape, but for now, it didn't appear to be moving toward him. He held his breath, trying to decide on his course of action. He was out here to save his teacher. Until he knew his location, he couldn't risk firing off any large explosions. On the other hand, if there was someone out here with a strength type quirk, it would explain why their teacher had run into trouble. For now, the choice was to either fight or hide.
The choice was taken from him a moment later when the red glare turned, showing him two points of luminescence. The two points, he understood immediately, were eyes. Eyes that were looking right at him. A terrible roar broke through the howling wind and whatever it was moved toward him.
"Bad idea," Bakugo hissed out, raising his hands. Light sprang from his palms, temporarily blinding them both as it reflected off the snow and drove away the night about them. Bakugo took the opportunity to roll to his left. Just in time it seemed, a blast of air buffeted him as the light died down. He rolled again and felt the tremor of an impact where he had been a moment before.
"Stun grenade," he growled, raising his hands again as a blast of light and sound echoed across the clearing, driving back the shadows. He winced slightly, but this time held his eyes open as they adjusted. He saw now that he was surrounded by broken trees. The windblown snow was blasted back by the force of the explosion. He saw a small crater in the snowy forest floor where the last attack had landed.
That was all he saw, however. His assailant remained invisible to him. He waited, watching for any sign of movement, listening for any sound. Nothing stirred but the wind. He waited, but whatever had attacked him refused to show itself.
"Scared of the light?" he wondered aloud. "That makes it easy then."
He decreased his output to a maintainable level, holding a small stream of explosions in his hand like a torch. He turned in the direction the thing had come from, deciding to follow its path of destruction. With any luck, he'd find his teacher at the end of it.
Todoroki's search had been largely uneventful. The swift falling snow had quickly erased any signs of passage that he might have used to find their missing teacher. Instead, he had been forced to make use of his left side, letting the flames burn low to light the area about him. Even with the benefit of light, he had been unable to find anything.
He wasn't sure if he should be grateful or concerned when he heard the explosion. If Bakugo had managed to find Aizawa, that was surely how he would signal to him. The second explosion cemented his concern, however. One would be enough to call him back. Two could only mean he had run into trouble.
He turned back the way he came, darting between the trees. The thick pines cast long shadows that tempted his eyes to follow their movement as he passed. A deep sense of unease began to take root in his heart. Thinking logically, if this villain was out here with them, then why had he not made a move against him? He had certainly made himself visible enough already, so why go after Bakugo?
The sounds of explosions had ceased, so maybe he had overreacted, but he couldn't be sure until he found his classmate. Without further sounds to guide him, he continued to run in the direction he had heard the sounds to begin with. After a few minutes, he came upon a small clearing. The trees all had branches snapped clean. Some were scarred with burn marks, while others had their bark stripped away.
He paused here, searching. There was no sign of anyone else in the clearing with him. He turned his eyes downward, scanning the ground for signs of passage. The snow had begun to fill in the area, but it was still recently disturbed. It took only a minute for him to locate a set of prints leading away from the clearing. Whether they belonged to Bakugo or not was irrelevant. If it was Bakugo that had walked away, he was following a lead to Aizawa. If it was the villain, then he had likely taken Bakuo with him.
He set out quickly, letting the wind drown out the sound of his footsteps as he ran. More than once a passing shadow appeared in his peripheral vision, causing him to tense in anticipation of an attack that never came. He had been running for about five minutes when something caught his eye, a glint of green metal. He pulled up, taking in the sight before him.
Bakugo stood at the base of a tree, looking up into the branches. There, some five meters off the ground, suspended by his own capture tools, was their teacher. There was a nasty bruise across the right side of his face. He looked down at them with half lidded eyes.
"Oi, 'bout time you got here, Half-n-Half," Bakugo greeted, turning to his classmate.
"Sorry, took some time to find you," he replied.
"Whatever, just get him down. I gotta make sure that thing doesn't sneak up on us."
"Thing?" Todoroki asked, raising his right hand an summoning a platform of ice to carry him up to his teacher.
"Like I know," Bakugo spat. He explained briefly his encounter with the thing in the dark, including its hasty retreat when faced with a source of light. As he spoke, Todoroki worked at untangling his teacher's limbs from the restraints. It was slow going with no tools to cut through the tough material. The man's injuries weren't as severe as he had feared, but they weren't going to go away overnight. Up close, he could see that his right eye was nearly swollen shut. His jaw was similarly swollen. He resorted to supporting Aizawa's weight with ice while he broke the branches the cords were wrapped around. After a few minutes of work, he was on his way back down, supporting Aizawa's weight with one shoulder.
"Where are the others?" Aizawa asked as they reached the ground. His voice was ragged and slightly slurred.
"Back at the lodge," Todoroki answered as Bakugo took point, leading them back in that direction.
"We need to hurry," Aizawa spoke, forcing more strength into his legs. Todoroki let him stand on his own but stayed close enough to help if needed.
"What were you able to learn?" he asked.
"Not much," the pro admitted. "I was jumped almost as soon as I got out here. Whoever this is was waiting for me. Which means he wanted me away from the lodge."
Todoroki nodded, "That would match what happened to us."
Aizawa gave him a questioning look, and Todoroki explained the sudden arrival of the voice and its demands. Aizawa let him speak, interrupting twice for clarification. As he spoke, the teacher increased their pace, drawing on some unseen reserve of strength. Nothing accosted them, and after a few minutes of travel the lodge was in sight.
Todoroki approached the door, knocking three times, then twice, then four times. Aizawa had taught them the pattern before the mission as a simple way to identify themselves without speaking. They waited for a few moments. No one answered. He knocked again, calling out for his friends on the inside to open the door, to no avail.
"Move," Bakugo growled, shoving past him. He placed his hands against the door, attempting to force it open. It gave an inch, then stopped. No light came from the interior. Todoroki summoned the flames from his left, and Aizawa took up a ready stance. Bakugo let loose a powerful blast from both hands, blasting the door from its hinges and destroying whatever had wedged it shut.
They poured into the foyer, quickly taking stock of the situation inside. In the dim firelight they could see broken and splintered furniture scattered about the entryway. Moving to the common room, they found it empty and dark. Dim coals still glowed faintly in the fireplace. Bakugo moved back to the foyer, making his way toward the stairs to check the upper level. As he passed, he noticed the side door. It was shattered, broken inward as if struck by a sledgehammer.
"Sensei," he heard Todoroki speak up from the common room. He returned, curious as to what he had found. In the middle of the room, sitting open were three sets of handcuffs.
"The villains are loose," Aizawa growled. "And the others are missing."
"Actually," Bakugo interjected. "I think I know where they are."
Ten minutes earlier
Uraraka wasn't sure what she had seen. One second, Izuku was standing in the doorway, the next, the foyer had gone dark and he was gone. She called after him, racing to the foyer, but he wasn't there. Instead, she saw the door to the basement hanging open as if to taunt her.
Kirishima was only a couple of steps behind her, eyes wide in shock. "What just happened?"
"Round two," a voice answered. It was soft-spoken, but deep in tone. It was the same as before. The two semi-pros turned quickly, searching in vain for its source. "The game is too stale right now," it continued. "Let's liven things up, shall we?"
They heard a series of soft clicks behind them. Turning, they saw the villains, wide eyed in surprise, moving their now unbound limbs. They turned toward the students, grins beginning to spread over the faces of Somnus and Goliath.
"Now, the game is fair," the voice spoke again. All eyes lit with understanding. Whatever "game" this villain wanted to play now had at least two teams.
"Kirishima!" Uraraka shouted as she vaulted the barricade of tables between them and the basement.
"Got it!" he called out, following after her. As he cleared the tables, he turned, taking advantage of their now weightless state to toss them back toward the common room.
"Release!" shouted Uraraka, bringing her hands together. The tables held their trajectory as gravity reasserted its control and slammed into the doorway connecting the foyer and the common room. The makeshift barricade wouldn't hold long, but they only needed a moment.
Uraraka raced to the basement door, stopping on the first step as Kirishima followed after her.
"You sure about this?" he asked as she shut the door behind them, sliding a deadbolt into place.
"It'll buy us some time at least," she answered, pulling a small flashlight from her belt. "Besides, you saw what happened. Deku is probably down here too."
"We can hope, at least," came the response as she descended the stairs, a faint light diving into a sea of darkness as the dull sound of blows striking wood echoed dully above them.
Next time: Shining a Light
