After sometime the door to the room crashes open. I wake up at a start. Bakugo's restraints jangle. I sit up straight, shifting myself off where I was resting against him. Various members of the league enter, including Shigaraki. My pulse quickens.
He sits at a bar stool near by, switching on a television located at the end of the bar bench. My eyes widen. It's Aizawa and Nezu addressing the press on our kidnapping. The press are asking them to justify how they have let villains infiltrate school activities several times this year. They even ask of the possibility that Bakugo and I would turn to villainy ourselves.
Dabi stands near us, keeping a close eye on Bakugo in particular.
"They're being incredibly harsh don't you think? Just because they made a small mistake! Hero's are under some pretty strict standards!" Shigaraki exclaims.
"As soon as we started compensating heroes for saving lives, heroes were no longer righteous," the lizard man stated. Shigaraki fed off this line.
"The oddity of converting human life to money has really tainted the justice of hero work. Now instead of cheering on the losers who are working to protect citizens lives, they're criticised." Shigaraki preached. He turns to look at me.
"Since Dabi was quite taken by you Nakashima-chan, we looked into you. You've got quite the checkered past yourself! What kind of society do we live in that allows little girls to be left behind? Just because your life isn't at risk does that mean you're undeserving of help, right? Society thinks you shouldn't get it if there's no money in it. Don't you want to change that thinking?" He suggests. I feel my heart ache.
"l-I don't think this is the way to do that," I stutter. Bakugo shifts, his restraints jangling again.
"What other way is there? Nakashima-chan, Bakugo-kun, we want to make society think about it's heroes. And we intend to win," he says. He seems excited about the offer he's giving us.
"Dabi, let Bakugo-kun out of those restraints. And Nakashima-chan too," Shigariki instructs.
"You realise he's just going to go ballistic right?" Dabi says flatly, gesturing to Bakugo.
"We're trying recruit them aren't we? The least we can do is treat them like equals," Shigaraki explains. He stands up from the stool. Dabi turns to Twice.
"You take the restraints off him. I'll untie Nakashima-chan," he instructs. Twice hesitantly complies. Dabi crouches down behind me, undoing the straps at my wrist. I felt a sudden sense of relief when he was done. I bought my hands back to my front, rubbing my wrists. They were red and bruised. He let me undo the knot around my legs myself.
As Twice removes Bakugo's restraints the magician villain starts talking.
"I do want to apologise for taking such a forceful approach with bringing you here. Please understand we're not just a group of hoodlums. Everyone here is shackled by societies rules and heroes," he explains.
With his hands now free, Bakugo rubs his wrists as well. He stretches out his arms. In the meantime I stand up to move my legs. I stumble slightly at first. After having been sitting down in that position for so long I was experiencing pins and needles in my calf muscles. I braced myself against the wall.
"You understand what being shackled is like don't you, Bakugo-kun?" Shigaraki says, pacing over to Bakugo. My heart raced.
Bakugo abruptly leaps forward, setting off an explosion against Shigaraki's torso. I gasp. He wastes no time.
"Idiots like you just ramble on don't they," Bakugo shouts. He steps back, positioning himself between me and the villains.
"You say 'We want to make the world hate us, please join us.' It's pointless. I've already been won over by the way All Might looks when he wins," he shouts. I'm speechless. While I'm here trembling in fear I watch Bakugo's eyes dart around the room. He's taking in our surroundings, trying to make a plan.
None of the villains want to get close to him. They don't look scared as such. Are they being cautious because Bakugo is valuable to them? Dabi makes a move towards me. Bakugo side steps back towards me, stopping him from getting close.
"Oh so you do get it don't you Bakugo-kun? You're valuable to us but she isn't. She's an extra we picked up along the way," Shigiraki says. Bakugo continues looking around for a gap... an escape plan. The air feels thick and heavy in my lungs.
There's a knock at the door, cutting the tense atmosphere. The villains look at the door confused. I step forward, reaching out for Bakugo's shoulder. Suddenly, the wall opposite crashes down. Bukogo turns and pulls us down to a crouched position, shielding me from the debris as the wall crumbles to pieces.
"Bakugo-kun..." I whimper. He holds me close with one hand, the other one stretched out getting ready to attack. I look over his shoulder. Located at the hole in the wall is All Might. From next to him branches shoot out, restraining the villains... is that the hero Kamui Woods? I watch Dabi get kicked in the face by another short, elderly looking hero.
"We are here!" All Mights voice booms. Bakugo and I stand up. In through the door enters Edgeshot at several armed police. If it wasn't for the situation I might have been excited to see him. I stare speechless at the scene that has unfolded.
Edgeshot did something to the warp villain, knocking him out. All the others including Shigaraki were restrained. All Might walks over to us, placing a hand on each of our shoulders. He smiles at us.
"It must have been scary. You did well to endure," he says, looking at us both. I feel myself trembling still. Bakugo seems to be going through a rollercoaster of emotions. He lands on angry.
"I wasn't scared, I was fucking calm. I had it handled even if you didn't show up," he shouted. I let out a weak chuckle. He looks at me furiously.
"Are you kidding Bakugo-kun? That was fucking terrifying. I'm glad to see your still yourself though," I say, smiling. But I had spoken too soon.
"Don't think this is over, All Might," Shigaraki murmurs. Suddenly several puddles of black liquid spawn in out of nowhere. Where had they come from!?
Nomus... creatures similar to the ones at USJ began groping their way through the puddles. Are they wraps? I look to warp villain. He's still unconscious. This is someone else's quirk. I hear shouting from outside. All Might keeps a firm hand on our shoulders. He orders Kamui not to release the villains. Suddenly I feel a drip down my arm. I turn and see a black puddle forming against my skin. I gasp. I look to Bakugo who is experiencing a similar situation.
"What the fuck is this?" Bakugo yells. All Might stares at us alarmed. I try to brush the black liquid off but doesn't stop. It starts to envelop my body. I watch Bakugo, scared as I struggle against it. He gives me an angry and panicked look in return. Around us I notice the other villains in the room are being consumed by the same black liquid. The liquid gets denser. It makes me feel like I'm melting.
"Nakashima!" Bakugo shouts, reaching out. I try to take his hand but it's gone before I make contact. I watch as his whole body dissolves. I hear All Might and the other heroes shouting. Soon my vision is gone. I can't breath. I can't feel anything.
Suddenly my body comes back to it's senses. A rush of cold air hits me. I stumble forward. I open my eyes as Bakugo grabs my wrist, once again pulling me behind him. I look around. We're in some sort of demolished building site. Before us is a villain I haven't seen before. He's tall with some sort of metal pipe apparatus around his neck. His presence is insane. Was he the one who bought us here?
"This black stuff smells like shit," Bakugo says. Behind us the other villains, including Shigaraki appear from puddles of the black liquid.
"Sorry Bakugo-kun, Nakashima-chan," the pipe necked villain said. I look around us for an escape, as does Bakugo. The villain turns to Shigaraki.
"So you've failed again, Tomura. It's fine. Try as many times as you need. I even bought along your comrades and these children who you've decided are a critical component. Just keep trying," he says gently to Shigaraki. I don't really understand what's happening but we don't have time to think. I hear a whooshing sound distantly approaching.
Before I have a chance to process what's occurring All Might comes crashing into the scene, straight at the pipe necked villain. The air pressure from the attack is incredible. Bakugo and I are both thrown back. We hit a partially collapsed wall behind us. I sit up. As the dust settles we can see the new villain is unharmed.
"Did he just successfully defend against All Mights attack?" I say to Bakugo. His expression shows he's as surprised as I am.
"Yeah, he must be the real leader," he says. We stand up.
"I'm taking the children from you," All Might declares, rushing towards us. The villain raises his arm. He lets out an explosion more powerful than anything I've ever seen. It catches All Might and he's sent flying far out of sight.
"All Might!" Bakugo and I both shout. What power. The villain instructs Shigaraki to escape with us captive. The villains group turn to us. They look desperate. Bakugo keeps me close behind him. I look around. All Might is still out of the area.
"You assholes," Baku growls moving into a defensive position. I reach out, gripping his arm. "If you think I'm letting you get close to me or Nakashima-chan you're dead wrong."
"I'll use my quirk Bakugo-kun," I whisper to him. He says nothing. I activate it, inducing total fear. The villains nearby choke, they stand still unable to move. Bakugo grabs my hand and starts to pull me away. So long as we're touching he won't feel my quirks effect. I look to the pipe necked villain who's watching us calmly. He seems completely unaffected. Does he not know fear?
"I don't think you'll be able to keep that up for long, Nakashima-chan. After all, you wouldn't want All Might to be impacted by it would you?" The pipe necked villain says. On queue All Might comes crashing back into the scene. I deactivated my quirk immediately.
"Fuck!" I cry out. With my quirk deactivated the other villains start to regain their composure.
The Magician Villain starts to rush at us. Bakugo drags me with him, setting off an explosion at him. It's six villains against the two of us. I pull my hand away from him. He glares at me.
"I'm dead weight to you," I say. The lizard villain lunges at us. Bakugo grabs at me again, pulling me back to evade him.
"I'm not leaving you behind," he shouts. I grit my teeth. He's really not gonna leave me. I resign myself to this.
"I'm not strong enough to fight them but I can evade their attacks. Don't think about me. Focus on fighting," I instruct. Bakugo opens his mouth to argue but gets cut off by a direct attack from Toga. I reduce my presence. Without having to focus on protecting me Bakugo is able to focus on directing his explosions at the league of villains.
I can't manage to get any attacks in but I am able weave in and out of theirs. They can't focus on me easily because of my quirk. The trouble with this though is that neither can Bakugo. I gasp as I have a close call with one of Bakugo's explosions.
"I can't keep track of you, Nakashima-chan." Bakugo shouts.
"Don't worry about it. I'll keep track of you so just keep fighting," I yell back. I spin past the lizard villain.
"Damn it, you're a slippery bitch," the lizard villain grunts.
I manage to get glances of All Might who is being dominated by the pipe necked villain. He can't go all out with Bakugo and I here. We must escape.
Suddenly there's a crash through the wall behind us. I see a huge glacier form. Wait... Is that Todoroki's quirk? Off the top of the glacier I see a group of bodies fly, soaring above us.
"No way..." I mutter. I see a hand reach out. It's Kirishima, Iida and Midoriya.
"Come!" Kirishima shouts. Time felt like it was moving in slow motion.
"Nakashima!" Bakugo growls. I rush towards him, throwing my arms around his neck. He holds me close with one arm around my waist. With the other he sets off a huge explosion, propelling us into the air.
He removes the hand from my waist momentarily, leaving me to hang onto him myself. He grasps Kirishima's our stretched hand. I look at Bakugo's face. He's grinning. I smile as well as the relief of being saved washes over me.
He'd kept his promise. He wasn't leaving me behind. We were escaping together.