"Damn it!"
Katsuki Bakugo flings himself toward his target with jet-like speed, his explosions propelling him and splitting the air in half. The abandoned warehouse is lit with orange and crimson embers, the manic laughter of a child nearly wilting them down. A fierce battle in the dark.
The target moves with cat-like reflexes, pouncing around the storage boxes, sending them toppling over and crashing into the floor below. Katsuki immediately sends a blast in the direction it scurried. Without a second to waste, he charges into the darkness—
!
A sharp pain travels up his spine the moment he locks eyes with the kid. A wild grin on his face, the kid stares deep into Katsuki's eyes. Semblance to Himiko Toga arises in the pit of Katsuki's stomach — he has seen this face up close before, in Kamino, when she would beg to cut and stab into his flesh.
The eyes, look away from the eyes, do not face the eyes—
"There's a new villain on the rise."
Katsuki can feel his eyes burn and body lock in place — oh, shit!
"It's kind of a serious case. The police are trying to sugarcoat it, but I'll be frank with you, since you're heroes."
The warnings he received from Hawks. Maybe he should have thought more carefully about them.
"We don't know his name, but he goes prowling around at night stealing people's eyes."
"What?" asks Izuku Midoriya, incredulous.
Hawks sighs, yet smirks, like he expected this reaction out of the nerd. "You heard me. He hunts people at night and plucks their eyes out for himself."
The freak smiles even wider, the distortion of excitement in his multicolored eyes burning into Katsuki's brain. He stalks closer with a creepy giggle.
Bastard, I'll kill you! is what Katsuki tries to say, but nothing comes of it. Only a pathetic whine escapes his lips. Confusion riddles his brain, eyes darting wildly at his own inability to move or speak.
That bastard grin on his face, the freak inhales through his teeth, ecstasy spreading like a disease on his features. "Aah, scared… you're scared, I can tell… don't be. You won't feel a thing, okay?"
The picture of the villain on Hawks's desk appears to be someone just above their age. Eighteen or nineteen, maybe younger, but a notable grin is stretched across his face. It looms beneath the dark locks and wild eyes. One of which is a different color from the other.
"Be wary of his Quirk. If we're going to catch him, you can't look at his eyes. Ever."
"What happens if you look him in the eyes?"
A toolbox is set next to Katsuki. The freak went and manhandled him to the floor, face up, straddling his chest so that Katsuki's face is held tight between his knees.
In the darkness it would have been impossible to fathom what was going on. He opens the toolbox, metallic rasps clamoring in Katsuki's ears. His heart beats louder than anything he has ever heard before. Even his explosions could not compare to this.
Is this really happening? Things like this never happen to him. Maybe this is just a dream, and he will wake up any moment now.
The pain of paralysis says otherwise.
Messy black hair and psychotic, snake-like eyes pierce his own crimson orbs.
A rabbit trapped in a snare.
"You'll be paralyzed for no longer than twelve minutes."
From the toolbox he retrieves what looks like a miniature soup ladle. In his other hand, he wields an eye speculum.
The sight of the two instruments and a jar of translucent liquid sends a spike of panic surging through Katsuki. His effort to move is fruitless — all he can do is twitch and groan helplessly while this bastard almost drools on his face.
Suddenly the kid's back arches as his hand grips the blonde's jaw, holding his head steady. He leans down close, so close their eyes could touch if he went any closer. It is almost like he is reading Katsuki's mind just by looking at him.
"God…" he coos, licking his lips. "Make that face more… scared and cornered… you're always so full of confidence and pride. I've idolized you, Katsuki-chan… ever since I saw you on TV, during the Sports Festival, I've dreamed of this day…!"
Hawks takes a glance at the three, Shoto staring blankly at the image of the villain. "We found patterns of his actions, judging by his victims. People with brightly colored eyes are more likely to be targeted."
Katsuki can hear Izuku gulp, "What does he… do with the eyes?"
"The way they spark fire with just a glance! Such power! Such capacity! I fell in love with your eyes the moment I saw what they can do! I've been searching for someone like you, Katsuki-chan, I've been searching for years! Finally, god, finally! I have you!"
The speculum is excitedly lowered to his face — no, no, no, god no, stop — and with the acceleration of his heart, Katsuki tries to kick, shout, flail, shut his eyes, turn away from this freak, to no avail.
"Your heart is beating so fast, Katsuki-chan…! There's nothing to be afraid of!" his manic grin and twitchy fingers send the blonde spiraling down into a hell of panic. Activating his quirk is practically useless, his fingers merely twitching while all he can do is lie there and wait for this inevitable disaster to be over.
Someone will come, right? He no longer cares who — send Deku of all people, just get him out of this pathetic position…!
"That? We're not sure, but,"
The speculum loops into Katsuki's right eye, a breathy gust escaping his lips as his eyelids are pulled open wide.
"we believe he wears them. A specific piece of information we have is, every time he is spotted, his left eye often seems to change color."
Cold air assaults his eyeball. Katsuki's breathing is the only sign of growing fear, going in sharp and coming out labored, the fear of being unable to defend himself. He wants out, now, kick this freak in the gut, wind him, break his ribs, blast him in the face for even laying a finger on him.
"You have such gorgeous eyes, Katsuki-chan!"
"So it's not just some fetish," Katsuki remarks. "The bastard's insane. Let's kick his ass!"
"So pretty, so bright, red, and threatening... I've stared at them all day, once, Katsuki-chan. Did you know that? I love your eyes… I've... wanted them for so long! Thank you, god!"
The small ladle is brought down to his face around the speculum. Fingers pry the eyelids open further, crimson irises staring blankly as Katsuki braces himself. He cannot stop this from happening, not anymore. He decided to be an idiot and go after the freak even after hearing Hawks's warnings. He did this to himself.
Does he deserve it?
The first touch of his eye makes him want to hurl. The urge to blink and get the muck that is intruding his face out is multiplied tenfold. Multicolored eyes stare down at him with lust as the hands work above him, one holding the side of his face still, the other working with the ladle. Suddenly he reaches back into the toolbox after fixing the speculum, taking out a metal spoon.
Gaining some sort of miracle energy, Katsuki groans, hoarse from fear.
"Shh, it's okay…"
Nothing is okay.
He returns to his task. He grips the spoon tightly as he leans forward, face almost parallel to Katsuki's as he works. The speculum has his eye pulled taut. Katsuki's good eye watches as a nightmare unfolds right in front of him, the spoon digging into his socket, a disgusting squelch following. It digs into his skull, sloshing around, attempting to loosen something within.
He can see — see as his vision becomes distorted in one direction, groaning throughout the process. Tears form as the freak giggles on top of him, squirming around with delusional excitement and joy.
It is like his brain is being scooped out. Black dots begin to crowd his vision. His eyeball attempts to escape the spoon, rolling back and revealing bloodshot veins underneath, the spoon digging, twisting below them.
"Don't move your eye," says his assaulter, "you'll make it worse. I want this in prime condition..."
The paralysis wanes with each passing second, and with each second he begins to feel, and it hurts. His face hurts like it never had before.
He pretends he is not crying.
"Aw, don't cry… this'll only be a second… I just need to…"
The freak trails off his sentence, grabbing and groping around his toolbox until finally pulling out what looks to be a tiny pair of scissors. He pulls back, yanking back, and something rips. The ladle is grabbed and something is dropped into it. After a childish giggle, he pulls the ladle back — oh, shit, oh god, that's his eyeball sitting in there. A white orb with blood trickling around it and down his face — and cuts something off the ball.
That said, he sits back, marveling at it with a wide smile. He cradles it like a child, poking at it, watching it squish beneath his fingertips.
"Amazing…!"
"I'm not letting you guys go after him alone," Hawks retorts. "Most of his victims are high school students like yourselves. Stay alert at night, alright? Us Pro Heroes will take care of the planning."
The pain comes in slow, gradually becoming more and more unbearable as time moves on. Kastuki cannot breathe correctly anymore.
"I've always wanted red eyes, Katsuki-chan. Thank you…!"
The world feels as if it is crumbling down around him.
The freak ogles at the eye for another good minute or two, too distracted by it to notice Katsuki's arms beginning to tremble. He tilts back, facing the ceiling, tongue out, holding the ladle above his head before he plops the eyeball into his mouth.
Katsuki cringes and wants to vomit — he can't — instead forced to listen to the sounds of the freak gagging on his eyeball in satisfaction. Groaning, sighing, he genuinely appears to be enjoying this, that same smile Himiko Toga would possess whenever she considered the thought of blood.
"Do not, under any circumstance, face him alone. Understand?"
"Yes, sir," Shoto says.
He plucks the crimson eye out from his mouth, watching as a string of saliva connects to the coated orb, pink and bloody from irritation.
"This is a dream come true... your eyes taste incredible, Katsuki-chan...! I'm going to borrow this, okay?"
"We believe he wears them."
His fingers pry open his own left socket, digging into it with a grunt. A jade eyeball is removed.
"Um!" Izuku intervenes. "Does this villain have a name? Something we could call him by?"
"A name? Hmmm…"
Katsuki watches, mortified, as his eye is shoved into the face of the freak. He pushes it in, squashing it until it goes in with a squish. It lolls aimlessly around in his head, blood looking like crimson tears oozing from his eyelids. The smile remains.
"Yours really beat the others," he tells him, plopping the jade eye into the jar of liquid. "I feel like I can do anything!"
Shut up. Let this end already…
The freak gazes at the blonde's other working eye for a moment, long enough to send shivers down Katsuki's spine. "Ehh… might as well play it safe…"
What?
The toolbox is packed away, "I really am glad I got to meet you in person, Katsuki-chan. You're my hero. I'll come back another day for the other one, so be patient. See you then!"
Come back? He's coming back? No, no, wait, what? He hopes he trips and dies!
With a final chuckle, the freak flashes his new cosmetic, briskly retreating into the dark warehouse, leaving Katsuki on the ground, sullied and tense, gradually recovering from paralysis.
Has it really been only twelve minutes?...
…
If someone were to find him… how would they react? To see him, prone, with a whole fucking eye missing?
God…
It hurts to blink. He groggily prods at his empty socket, his finger shaking with a mixture of rage and fear. He feels empty.
He has never felt this... worthless before…
He really just wants to take a nap...
...
"Let's call him 'Blindeye' for the time being."