"Mandalay!" Aizawa yelled, as he spotted the Pussycat, along with the rest of the students.
"Eraser, I take it you got the telepathic message." She asked, and Aizawa nodded.
She continued, "Midoriya just took out Muscular, he's injured, but he went into the forest, and Shinsou followed him. He won't listen to Tiger or I; I've been sending him telepathic messages to come back, but he's too stubborn. If you tell him to come back, maybe he'll listen."
Sosaki heard Aizawa mumbled, "Problem child." under his breath, before the Erasure hero looked at her, "Okay, what about 1-B?"
"Still in the forest, I think. Magne and some other guy called Spinner went into the forest, and Tiger went after them already."
"Got it." Aizawa nodded, "Tell the students to use their quirks; I'll take full responsibility!"
"Huh?" Sosaki was taken aback as Aizawa growled, "There's a villain with a fire quirk, and I'm sure he's the one setting the forest on fire, which means they also have another villain with a cloning quirk. They're targeting the students, Bakugou and Todoroki specifically. As of now, they need to survive, and to be able to match up against villains who are willing to kill and have much more experience, they need to use their quirks! Also, Midoriya may be a target as well. He's had previous interactions with the League, and I'm sure that Shigaraki holds some sort of grudge against him."
"Alright." Sosaki muttered, quickly sending out the message, "I'll bring the kittens back, you take care of the villains."
Sosaki turned to leave, before she paused, "Doesn't Shinsou have a mind control quirk? Can't he use that on Midoriya?"
"Tch." Aizawa sighed, "Midoriya won't speak if he has to, and if he's injured by Muscular, the damage can't be good. He's probably in so much pain that he'd snap out of Hitoshi's mind control immediately."
Sosaki blinked.
First name basis?
She waved the thought away. They had more important things to deal with. She would question the Erasure hero once all the students were safe.
"Get away from me! You'll die!" Tokoyami screamed, as Dark Shadow rampaged about.
Shoji ducked behind a tree, trying to hide from Dark Shadow, as he heard footsteps. He eyed the forest warily, before a bleeding Midoriya burst out of nowhere, with Shinsou close behind, hot on his heels.
"Midoriya, slow down - Shoji? Tokoyami? What's going on?"
Shoji quickled shushed them.
"We got the warning. A villain came out of nowhere, and we managed to get out at the cost of losing a bit of my arm. It's just a duplicate, so it will heal, but I don't think he took it well." Shoji showed them his limb, which was already starting to heal, "We heard Mandalay's messages, and you... Midoriya... I don't think you should be moving around like that."
Midoriya just shot Shoji a small glare, before turning to look at Dark Shadow.
"Righteous indignation and regret are strong emotions. Coupled with a sentient quirk…" Shinsou muttered.
"Yep." Shoji nodded, "It's attacking indiscriminately, reacting to any kind of sound. Getting fire, or finding Aizawa should help."
"Where's Bakugou and Todoroki? They went before you." Shinsou asked, but Shoji shrugged, "Don't know. We've been here on our own, before this guy in black and really long teeth-knives popped out of nowhere and - Midoriya, what are you doing?"
Midoriya had walked out from the trees, right into Dark Shadow's line of sight. Dark Shadow caught sight of him, and screeched, but Midoriya didn't even flinch.
"Midoriya! Get away!" Tokoyami yelled, tearing up, but Midoriya merely faced the quirk.
"Calm down."
Shoji blinked.
"He'll speak if he has to. There's no time to translate anything now... and I don't think he can sign anyways. And he's more comfortable around the quirk." Shinsou muttered, before Shoji could ask any questions, as Dark Shadow screamed, "Calm!? Calm!? You want me to calm down!? They hurt him! They hurt him, they hurt him, they hurt -"
The quirk dived down towards Midoriya, "How dare you! Who are you to even - Mi... doriya?"
Dark Shadow halted his movements, eyeing the injured green haired boy, who didn't even react.
Midoriya reached his hand out, placing it on Dark Shadow's beak, "You're angry."
"Of course I'm angry!" Dark Shadow spat, "Shoji's injured, and I can't find the damn bastard that DID THIS TO HIM! Who hurt you!? I'll tear them apart!"
Midoriya just looked up emotionlessly at Dark Shadow, "Dealt with. Calm down. Your letting your anger get the better of you and it's not helping anyone. You're scaring Shoji and hurting Tokoyami."
Dark Shadow froze, before he turned backwards, staring as Tokoyami panted and cried out in pain, before looking at Shoji and Shinsou, who were hiding behind a tree.
"You rampage in the dark because Tokoyami can't see his enemies, and you want to protect him." Midoriya moved closer to Dark Shadow, "You want to protect them. Don't let your anger blind you. Use the anger to motivate you, but don't let it control you."
Dark Shadow nodded, calming down slightly, letting Midoriya pass as he went to help Tokoyami up.
"I... I didn't know..." Tokoyami shook, taking Midoriya's hand, "I thought... he was rampaging for... no reason... and tried to control him... I'm so sorry..."
Midoriya turned to look at Shoji, and Shoji, somehow, got the message.
"The villain went that way." Shoji pointed into the forest, and Midoriya nodded, starting to move in that direction.
Tokoyami, Shoji, and Shinsou followed suit.
"Ohhhhh... tasty... so many targets..." Moonfish muttered, blocking with his teeth as Todoroki blasted him with ice, doing his best to protect an unconscious Tsuburaba. Monoma growled, blasting some fire at the villain with Todoroki's quirk. He had been with Tsuburaba, when Todoroki and Bakugou stumbled into their area, before this giant blade tooth monster started ripping the ground apart.
Tsuburaba had tried to protect himself with his quirk, but his Solid Air shield was easily torn to shreds by the villain, and he had been knocked out.
Bakugou blasted a blade away, screaming, "DIE, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"
"We're getting nowhere. You guys are the main targets! I'll hold this thing off." Monoma growled, "Bring Tsuburaba back to camp!"
He didn't have time to be hostile to 1-A at the moment. He'd just make up for it later, when they were safe.
"Are you underestimating me?! I dont need your fucking help, blondie!" Bakugou screamed, completely destroying another blade, as Monoma smiled to himself.
Yep, as easy to aggravate as usual, but the angrier he got, the more he attacked, so it all worked out well.
"Some people are coming." Todoroki said, looking behind him, the fire on his hand blazing to life in case he needed to attack. Midoriya, Shoji, Tokoyami and Shinsou emerged from the foliage, and Todoroki sighed in relief.
"You! You were the one who hurt him!" Dark Shadow screeched as he erupted out of nowhere, harshly grabbing Moonfish and snapping all of his blades off, "You'll pay for what you've done!"
Dark Shadow roared as he smashed Moonfish into the ground, over and over, before he finally sent Moonfish flying. The villain crashed into tree after tree, before he came to a rest, sprawled motionless on the ground.
"Take that, bastard! That's what you get for hurting my friends!" Dark Shadow snapped, before he shrunk down to the he normally was in the daylight.
"Thank you." Tokoyami gave a small smile, scratching the quirk's head affectionately.
Monoma rubbed his arms, "Alright, now that's done... Thanks, Tokoyami."
The blonde eyed the students that had just appeared, and his gaze stopped on Midoriya, "Jeez, are you okay?! What happened? Why aren't you helping him!?"
The green haired boy was supporting himself against a tree, panting, as blood dripped off his body.
"I tried. He won't let me touch him." Shoji retorted, before turning to Shinsou expectantly for an answer.
"He beat up Muscular. Got injured in the process. Badass as usual." Shinsou replied, and Todoroki's eyes widened.
Wasn't he that super powerful villain that smashed everything up? How the hell did Midoriya beat him?
"Anyways, we need to head back to camp. They're after both Bakugou and Todoroki, and we don't know how many other villains are out here." Monoma stated, and Shinsou and Todoroki both nodded.
Midoriya decided to keep quiet about the fact that he, too, was also a target. His life didn't matter; he'd gladly give his life up for the others if he had to, if he could even die in the first place.
"Okay. Dark Shadow can lead; he can cover more ground and tell us if we're going the right way." Todoroki stated, "Bakugou and Todoroki can still fight; you guys take the sides. Shoji, your hearing is the best out of all of us; you stay in the back so you can check if anyone's following us. Midoriya's injured, and Monoma... you don't look like you're holding up to well. Carry Tsuburaba and stay in the middle?"
Midoriya gave a small frown, and raised his hands to sign something when another telepathic message shot through their heads.
"Midoriya may also be a target, and he's pretty badly injured too. If you guys see him, try to get him back to camp as fast as possible."
"Yeah... makes sense, since he killed the League's pet bird thingy." Monoma muttered, "Come on, the more we loiter here, the higher the chance of use getting jumped."
A shriek tore through the air, and Todoroki turned in the direction of the yell.
"Uraraka?" He muttered, just as Midoriya growled and ran in that very direction, whipping another knife out of nowhere.
"Midoriya! Don't run off on your own!" Shinsou yelped, running after him, as Shoji, Monoma and Todoroki followed behind.
"How many of those things does he have?" Tokoyami asked, starting to chase after the group, and Bakugou snapped, "Who the fuck cares!?"
Uraraka shrieked as a needle was plunged into her leg, sucking out her blood. She had tried to pin Toga down, but the blonde villain was nowhere near defeated, and she had been distracted by trying to get Asui to restrain her. Asui was still pinned to a tree by her hair, her tongue bleeding from Toga's previous attack.
Toda quickly pushed the stunned Uraraka off her, before raising her knife.
Suddenly, a knife shot out of the forest, and Toga jumped away, barely managing to dodge the blade, as a green haired boy rushed out of the forest, lunging at Toga with another knife.
"Midoriya!" Asui yelled, dislodging the knife that pinned her to the tree. She quickly ran over to Uraraka, as Midoriya slashed his knife at Toga.
The blonde villain managed to parry it away, but Midoriya kept up the relentless attack, growling as he glared at the villain.
"So much blood..." Toga breathed, and she grinned like a maniac, "Midoriya... Izuku... Shigaraki speaks highly of you."
Midoriya blinked in confusion, and took a step back, putting himself between his classmates and the villain.
"Ne, I want to be friends! I call her Tsu!" Toga smiled, pointing at Asui, "You're so cute, Izu-kun! Can I call you that?"
"Midoriya!" Monoma yelled, and Asui turned to, seeing Tokoyami, Shinsou, Monoma, Bakugou, Shoji and Todoroki running up them.
"Aww... there's more people now, and I don't want to be killed..." Toga gave Midoriya one last smile, "So bye!"
"Who was that woman just now?" Todoroki asked, watching as Toga ran into the forest. Midoriya coughed, spitting out some more blood, before wiping his mouth with his hand.
"A villain... a crazy one... kero..." Asui replied, just as Uraraka surveyed Midoriya from head to toe, rubbing the slash on her arm.
"Midoriya?! What on earth happened to you?!" Uraraka yelled, and Midoriya turned to look at her blankly.
"Villain. This isn't the time to stand around and talk." Shoji cut in, "Let's go back to camp."
"Fuck you, don't order me around!" Bakugou screamed, but Monoma just snapped, "Shut up. Stop making so much noise. The villains will hear you!"
"Tch, as if that crazy psycho bitch won't tell them our position." Bakugou growled, and Shoji muttered, "That's exactly why we need to move."
"Mandalay said that you may also be a target, so we've got Bakugou, Todoroki, and Midoriya that the League are after." Asui spoke up, "We should stay together; we have strength in numbers and everyone here is strong. Err..."
Asui looked around, "Weren't Shinsou and Tokoyami here with you?"
Midoriya blinked, and straightened up, looking to where he swore Shinsou and Tokoyami were standing, right at the back of the group.
"Ah.. the boys you're looking for... I took them with my magic." A cloaked figure standing in a tree replied, holding up two marbles, "They're not on our hit list, but their talents don't belong to heroes. We'll take them to a stage where they can stand out more."
Midoriya growled.
Shit... I let my guard down for a second...
This is all my fault.
"Give them back!" Uraraka snapped, "Who are you?"
"My my, my name is Mr. Compress! And give them back? Shinsou and Tokoyami don't belong to anyone, you egoist. And yes, I do know all your names." Sako replied, fiddling with his marbles.
"Move!" Todoroki snapped, stepping forward, unleashing a torrent of ice that Sako easily dodged from his position in the tree.
"A brainwashing quirk, and a rampaging creature of darkness." Sako spoke up, "Moonfish is a cutthroat on death row with a dismissed appeal, and his quirk took him out one-sidedly. Don't think I didn't see the little bird's rampage."
"He got them without making any noise? And even Midoriya and Shoji didn't notice him?" Monoma growled, "He must be good."
He eyed Midoriya, as the boy panted, glaring at Sako. He didn't blame Midoriya, the guy shouldn't even be standing right now, let alone noticing villains that even Shoji, who had excellent hearing, couldn't detect.
"To go out of your way to talk to us... Don't underestimate us!" Todoroki growled.
"It's a bad habit." Sako admitted, "I was once an entertainer, and bad habit die hard."
Todoroki quickly stuck out his foot, about to create another glacier, when suddenly, Sako appeared behind him, hand on his shoulder.
"Bad move, Todoroki. You're leaving yourself open." Sako shook his head, activating his quirk and encapsulating Todoroki within another marble.
What kind of quirk is that?
He dodged as Midoriya threw another knife at him, stumbling slightly, before jumping up onto a tree, twiddling the three encapsulated students between his fingers.
"I'm not going to stay and fight heroes who are hero candidates." Sako said, turning around to run, dodging another knife that Midoriya had thrown.
Midoriya growled, running after Sako, slipping two knives out of his shoes and dumping them in his pocket. He usually had two knives in his hoodie, four in his pants pockets, and another two in his shoes, with three more in his bag. One knife was broken from his fight with Muscular, and another was buried in the villain's gut, but Midoriya had been stupid enough to not retrieve his two other knives that he had thrown from his fight with Muscular. Three of his knives where somewhere in the forest, after he attacked Toga and Sako, but he didn't have time to go look for them now. He'd just have to make do with the three remaining ones he had.
"Dammit! Leave Purple Fucker, Bird Brain and IcyHot alone, you fucking Mask Bastard! The only one that can kill them is me, got it!? I'll fucking kill you, bitch! Don't think you can get away from me!" Bakugou roared, chasing after Sako, Asui, Shoji, Monoma, and Asui hot on his heels. Uraraka had used her quirk on Tsuburaba, making him easier for Monoma to carry.
"If only Iida were here... he would be able to catch up in no time..." Uraraka panted,
Sako reaching up to tap his earpiece, "Vanguard Action Squad! Target Two and two more kids successfully collected, but I've got Target One and the other one close on my tail! I'm bringing them all in! The show will come to a close soon! Head to the retrieval point in the next five minutes!"
"Shit... they're expecting us to chase him!" Shoji snapped.
"What the fuck do you expect us to do, Arm Fuck!?" Bakugou growled, "Let this fucking Marble Asshole Bastard take them!? Hell no!"
"This... just confirms it..." Asui exclaimed as she hopped along, "Midoriya isn't a target, kero..."
Midoriya growled, his eyes practically glowing with rage, and he seethed, "Who cares about that!?"
"But we're not fast enough. At this rate, he's just getting away!" Shoji replied.
"Uraraka, make us float! Bakugou, Shoji, and I." Midoriya snapped, "Asui, throw us as far as you can with your tongue! Measure the distance with your eyes and drop us. Shoji, use your arms, and Bakugou, your explosions, to correct our trajectory! Then you three bring Tsuburaba back to camp!"
He didn't want to bring Bakugou and Shoji into this, but he wasn't dumb; in his current state, there was no way he could take on all the remaining villains who were at the so-called retrieval point, let alone single Sako out, wrestle his classmates away from him, and find some way to release his quirk.
"Whatever, just hurry the fuck up!" Bakugou screamed, as Asui wrapped her tongue around the three students. Uraraka quickly activated her quirk and tapped them, and Asui flung them in Sako's direction.
"Go get em!" Uraraka yelled, tapping her fingers together and releasing her quirk, causing Bakugou, Shoji, and Midoriya to crash into Sako like a human bullet. She turned around, and reactivated her quirk on Tsuburaba, "Let's go."
Monoma nodded, as they started making their way back to camp, before Monoma blinked.
"Wait, did Midoriya actually talk!?"
"Man... these gas masks Yaoyorozu made really helped." Tetsutetsu panted, collapsing to the ground as the gas slowly dissipated, "I hope they're doing okay, bringing the others back to camp."
Kendo flexed her fingers, watching as gas disappeared, "Come on. We need to go and help them. Awase, Jiro, and Yaoyorozu can't carry all of them. Can you move, Tetsutetsu?"
"Yeah... he got me in the arm, but my quirk blocked most of the damage. It's just bruised." Tetsutetsu panted, slowly pushing himself up onto his feet, "Let's go."
They ran back in the direction they came from, ducking behind some trees as a Nomu lumbered pass them. They continued on their way, coming across Jiro, who had Kodai, and Awase, who was picking Shiozaki up from the ground as Yaoyorozu carried Honenuki unsteadily, her forehead bleeding.
"We saw a Nomu... are you okay?" Kendo asked, before she glanced at Yaoyorozu, taking Honenuki from her, "What happened to you?!"
"There was a Nomu!" Awase growled, "Many arms, bashed Yaoyorozu into the ground and started chasing us with a fucking buzzsaw! Then it stopped for no reason and walked away! And then she made me stick something on it!"
"A tracker." Yaoyorozu mumbled, her eyes foggy with pain from the wound on her head, "Let's go back..."
"Yeah. There was some other lizard guy and woman but they just ignored us and left, saying that they didn't need us." Jiro muttered, "Did you guys hear Mandalay's message? About Bakugou, Todoroki, and Midoriya?"
"Yeah." Kendo nodded, "But we don't know where they are, so we can't help them. We should go back first, and get Yaoyorozu some help."
"No..." Yaoyorozu muttered, as Tetsutetsu supported her, "It's over... we can't help them..."
"What do you mean? We can't just give up like this!" Tetsutetsu retorted, but Yaoyorozu shook her head, "No... those things... only respond to orders... someone gave it an order to leave..."
"Oh..." Jiro gasped, "That means... they got what they came for. One of them... at the very least."
"Yeah... they're smart... ambushing us in a foreign environment. They can't handle all three of them at one go, that's for sure. But Midoriya's injured... and he went after Bakugo and Todoroki..." Yaoyorozu muttered, before she shook her head, "Midoriya may be quirkless... but he's strong."
"Whatever it is, let's get back to camp." Kendo clenched her fists, "The teachers and the Pussycats can do something about it, but they can't do anything while we're not all accounted for. We'll help them by lessening the burden on the teachers."
Kan quickly ushered Kodai, Jiro, Yaoyorozu, Shiozaki, Awase, Kendo, and Tetsutetsu into the building, ordering some of the other students to help them while getting Sosaki to send a message to Aizawa about their arrival. Some of the 1-B students were passed out due to the gas, but some, like Kamakiri and Kuroiro were starting to stir, while most of the members of 1-A were safe and unharmed.
Most of the students were in the building, save for Monoma, Bakugou, Todoroki, Tsuburaba, Shoji, Tokoyami, Midoriya, Shinsou, Asui, Uraraka, and some of the 1-B students that had stationed themselves deeper into the forest.
Kan continued to keep on the lookout for any students, as Chatora came and went, slowing bringing back the 1-B students. He wanted to go out and search for them, but he couldn't leave Sosaki to take care of everyone and to look out for villains at the same time. Reiko was taking watch with him, since she could detect anyone getting near the camp much better than he could. She had sniffed out one of the villain clones and Kan had smashed it to bits before it could do any damage.
Reiko turned her head towards the forest, as Monoma, Asui and Uraraka, carrying Tsuburaba, finally ambled into sight. Kan growled as they reported that some masked guy had captured Tokoyami, Shinsou and Todoroki, and the remaining students were going after them. He ordered Sosaki to relay the message to Aizawa, before clenching his fist tightly.
How the hell did they find them here?
It was supposed to be safe, unknown to anyone except for the teachers involved, as well as Nezu. They couldn't even call the other teachers in case the villains intercepted the calls and found their location.
Nezu had purposely placed Midoriya in the camp so that he would be safe, away from danger.
So how the hell had it turned out like this!?
Aizawa headed straight for the heart of the fire; the gas was already gone, but he needed to stop the fire so that he could find Tokoyami, Shoji, Midoriya, Shinsou, Bakugou, and Todoroki.
And if what Sosaki said was accurate... they already had Tokoyami, Shinsou and Todoroki.
He made his way into a clearing, watching as a black haired scarred man talked to another guy in a bodysuit and another blonde girl. He was about to take them down when he heard screaming, and the Erasure hero looked up into the air.
"Ohh! This is so much fun!"
"Shut up, Toga. Dabi, that's Compress!"
"I know, Twice."
Aizawa quickly identified the villains, as Sako crashed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Dabi stepped back as three cyan marbles rolled to his feet. Dabi blinked, trying to comprehend what had happened, before a green blur shot out of the dust, snatching them up. Bakugou blasted Sako in the face with an explosion, "Let them go, bastard!"
Sako shot out his hand, and Shoji pushed Bakugou out of the way, resulting in the multi-limbed boy being encapsulated as well.
"Fuck!" Bakugou cursed, as Dabi raised his hand, "Get out of the way."
"Got it." Sako nodded, compressing himself with his quirk as Dabi's flames washed over him, forcing Bakugou to retreat. Sako unencapsulated himself, and moved towards the villains, Dabi lighting his arm on fire once again as Bubaigawara took out his tape measure, moving in to protect Sako.
"Izu-kun! Remember me?" Toga asked, waving her arms about.
Dabi's eyes trailed to the green haired boy, his entire body shaking as he clutched the three encapsulated students. Shigaraki had said that Midoriya was Void, but Dabi didn't quite believe him at first. But he recognised those emerald green orbs; that very boy had saved his life before.
He didn't want Shigaraki to get his hands on him.
Aizawa growled, "Midoriya, let go!"
He turned to face Sako, activating his quirk, and Midoriya threw the three capsules behind him just in time as Shoji, Todoroki, Shinsou and Todoroki were released from their prisons. Sako had been holding the capsule containing Shoji, and the multi-limbed boy blinked in confusion, before promptly smashing all six of his fists into Sako, leaving the villain dazed and confused.
"Eraser... I did ask if your students were important... but I'm impressed that you re-aquired one of our targets." Dabi grinned, turning slightly to face Shoji. He reached out with a blazing arm, and Shoji jumped backwards to dodge the attack.
"Get behind me, all of you." Aizawa ordered, "Especially you, Midoriya. You're in no state to fight right now."
Midoriya glared at Aizawa, as Bubaigawara lashed out with his measuring tape, forcing Midoriya to dodge. Midoriya stumbled slightly, but quickly regained his balance, bringing out another knife as he tried to slash Bubaigawara.
Shinsou growled, as Toga bounded up to them, grinning as she raised her knife, "Aww, you're pretty cute too!"
"You think so?" Shinsou raised his eyebrows.
"Mhm! I think -" Toga stopped her assault, her eyes glazed over, and Shinsou heaved a sigh of relief as he activated his quirk.
"Toga, you idiot." Dabi sighed, "We did warn you about him. Twice, deal with it."
"Alright! Why the fuck can't you do it?!" Bubaigawara snapped, disengaging from his fight with Midoriya to slam his measuring tape at Shinsou's feet, forcing the purple haired boy to dodge. The villain smacked Toga on the back, snapping her out of her brainwashed state.
Iguchi and Hikiishi ran out of the forest, "Sorry, we got lost."
"Well, fuck." Shinsou hissed.
"Ah... sorry..." Sako apologised, finally regaining his bearings and pushing himself to his feet, "I lost them."
"It's not okay, bastard! People make mistakes all the time, don't worry!" Bubaigawara replied, as Hikiishi activated her quirk on Toga, pulling her out of the way as Todoroki blasted ice at her. She then activated her quirk on Midoriya, and the functionally quirkless boy couldn't do anything as he was violently tugged towards Hikiishi's magnet.
He smashed into the magnet, and Hikiishi plunged her weapon into the ground, crushing Midoriya underneath.
"Hey!" Iguchi protested, "He's injured enough already! Leave him alone!"
"After what he did back there!? I'm not taking any chances!" Hikiishi retorted, lifting her magnet and smashing Midoriya into the ground again.
"You're going to kill him!" Iguchi protested.
"It doesn't matter." Sako mumbled, "He's the one Shigaraki really wants, dead or alive. But preferably alive. The others are merely bonuses."
"Midoriya! Dark Shadow, go!" Tokoyami yelled, watching as the green haired boy desperately tried to push himself up from under Hikiishi's magnet, and Dark Shadow emerged, enlarging his claws and smacking Hikiishi away. He grabbed the magnet and crushed it to bits in one claw, using his other claw to carefully pick up the injured boy.
"Dabi, fire. Light weakens it." Sako yelled, and as much as Dabi didn't want to do it, the villain lifted his arm and shot his cyan flames towards Dark Shadow, careful not to hit Midoriya. Dark Shadow screeched as he was enveloped in flames, and dropped Midoriya as he weakened, shrinking under the light from Dabi's fire.
Midoriya pushed himself to his knees, yanking a knife out of his thigh; Hikiishi's attack had dislodged one of his knives and Dark Shadow dropping him had accidentally forced it into his leg.
He was on his last legs, and he was drained, quite literally.
He was too far away from his classmates and teacher to be able to get out of this. Midoriya reached up to his neck, and shakily peeled off his collar.
He had no intention of dying, not yet, not when he was their real target.
Not like he could anyways.
Out of the corner of his eye, Iguchi saw Midoriya moving, but made no comment about it. He liked Midoriya, and he did not approve of Shigaraki trying to capture him; the kid was going to be a hero no matter what anyone said.
Midoriya forced himself to his feet, ignoring what felt like liquid fire coursing through his veins, and hissed.
He was fucked up in the head ever since his parents died, he knew that at the very least. There was no way he could ever live a normal life like the others; it was just wishful thinking.
He was the only one that deserved this fate. The others deserved a chance to live without him dragging them down.
He had his own demons, his own personal monsters to deal with.
Midoriya threw his collar at Shinsou, before he twirled his knife between his fingers.
And the monsters are my only friends.
He knew Shinsou the longest; he had saved the boy from his previously abusive household, and the boy was aware of his boundaries and did his best to prevent himself and his other classmates from crossing them, and was just sweet in general as he translated everything he signed to his other peers.
If there was anyone he trusted the most within the group of students, it was him.
His eyes glinted in the darkness, and he growled, before lunging.
Shinsou felt something flying at him, as he tried to kick Iguchi away, and he instinctively reached out to catch it. He unclenched his hand, and blinked as he looked at the collar, trying to process what had just happened, before ducking down as Iguchi tried to hit him with a knife.
"I told you not to take any chances -"
Shinsou looked up, watching as Midoriya swung his knife with deadly accuracy, parrying Toga away as he kicked Hikiishi in the back of her neck, knocking her out. Aizawa was busy fighting Dabi to prevent him from setting them on fire, and Tokoyami, Todoroki and Bakugou were trying to keep Sako away from everyone with their long ranged attacks; they were very, very, wary of his quirk, but Sako was just throwing encapsulated objects at them, and they were forced to dodge.
Shoji was currently grappling with two Iguchi clones, while Shinsou himself was dealing with the real Iguchi with a knife that the villain had given him for a "fair fight".
Bubaigawara had gone off to drag Hikiishi clear of the fight, before going to help Toga deal with Midoriya. Midoriya whipped out another knife, blocking Bubaigawara's attack. Midoriya could feel his arm giving way as Bubaigawara pressed on with his attack, and jumped out of the way, rolling backwards, before getting up again and charging.
Midoriya was never a power fighter, the only thing he had going for him was his speed, but with his injured, beaten up body, his mind foggy with pain, even that wasn't going well for Midoriya. He barely spun out of the way as Bubaigawara slashed at him, knocking his knife out of his hands, only for Toga to sink a knife into his back.
"Ne... Izu-kun... you're really cool and pretty with all that blood on you..." Toga cooed, as Shoji destroyed the two Iguchi clones and tried to make his way over to Midoriya. Bubaigawara merely made two more and sent them after Shoji.
"Get back here, Midoriya!" Aizawa growled, erasing Dabi's quirk again and flinging him into a tree a fair distance away.
Midoriya disengaged, and turned, trying to take another step towards the group, when he felt pain shooting through his entire body. His knees buckled, and he crashed into the ground harshly, as Toga and Bubaigawara pounced on him.
"We got him! Yay! We can go now!" Toga stood up and waved at Dabi, as Bubaigawara sat on Midoriya, preventing him from getting up.
Midoriya tried to reach for his fallen knife, but Bubaigawara smacked it out of the way. He desperately tried to push the villain off him, but his body finally failed him and he just couldn't move.
Dabi pushed himself up and sighed, as Sako reached up for his earpiece, "We got the highest priority target. We're good to go."
Aizawa felt a shiver run down his spine, as Iguchi pushed Shinsou to the ground and helped Hikiishi up.
They had been fooled.
They had never been after Bakugou or Todoroki this entire time. Their main target had been Midoriya all along, using his classmates to lure Midoriya into a situation where he couldn't win.
A portal appeared out of nowhere, and Iguchi made a dash for the portal, as Toga helped him with Hikiishi. Sako hastily broke free from his fight with Tokoyami, Todoroki and Bakugou, dropping an encapsulated boulder on top of Shoji, before grabbing Dabi and rushing to the portal. Bubaigawara picked up the limp but still conscious Midoriya up, before running for the portal.
The green haired boy tried to bite Bubaigawara in desperation, Bubaigawara merely ignored him; the boy was too weak at this point to do any kind of damage at all.
"Midoriya!" Shinsou yelled, lunging at the portal, as Aizawa, grabbed his capture weapon and threw it at Bubaigawara. The portal closed just as Aizawa's capture weapon reached it, and Shinsou tumbled to the ground, collar tight in his grasp.
"FUCK!" Bakugou angrily blasted the bolder off of Shoji, as Todoroki and Tokoyami stood there, stunned.
"Dammit!" Shinsou growled, slamming his fist into the ground, as he looked up at the forest that was set alight with cyan blue flames.
The air at camp was gloomy.
Chatora had found the rest of the 1-B students that had fallen prey to the gas, and now, all they were missing were Aizawa, Shiretoko, Tokoyami, Todoroki, Bakugou, Shoji, Shinsou, and Midoriya.
"Fuck off, shithead!"
"Hey, it's Bakugou!" Ashido grinned, making her way to the door, watching as Aizawa emerged from the forest, along with Tokoyami, Todoroki, Bakugou, Shoji and Shinsou, all of them covered in cuts and bruises.
They currently were missing six students, and Kan did a mental count in his head.
One, two three, four, five -
Kan frowned, and counted again.
One, two three, four, five.
"Shinsou! Where's Midoriya!" Uraraka and Iida yelled in sync, running out towards them, as Reiko desperately pawed at Shinsou's leg, meowing, but Shinsou just had his eyes glued to the ground, refusing to look at his friends, "They took him."
"But... weren't Bakugou and Todoroki the targets?" Kan asked, as he ushered the tired students into the building, as Bakugou snapped, "Does that even fucking matter!? They fucking took him!"
"They tricked us. Midoriya was their highest priority target all along." Aizawa mumbled, "They pretended to be after Bakugou and Todoroki to lure Midoriya away from us, so they could take him down once his body gave out. They knew that Midoriya would fight even after sustaining all those injuries."
Reiko froze, taking a few steps back. She ran towards the forest, watching as the smoke rose into the air, before letting out the most sad, pitiful wail that anyone had ever heard.