(Tw spoilers, violence, self-harm)
My dramatic self aligned my body with the wall and pulled my head back as my friend recounted all the dumb shit she'd seen people at her work trying to pull. At the same moment I was expecting my forehead to connect to my kitchen wall, I was met with an entirely different sensation. It was much softer than expected and felt uncomfortably like a chest.
I quickly backed up after letting out a small noise of surprise. My breath and any future noise caught in my throat though when I saw what I'd actually just bumped into.
The League of Villains? What in the fuck? Where am I? Did I hit my head too hard?
Most specifically, it appeared I'd run smack dab into Dabi. Or Touya Todoroki depending on who you ask. Some of the other members sat and stood within the small room that I recognized as the villain hideout from the anime. I'd never read the manga and only watched a few seasons of the anime, but I'd had enough spoilers from both the show and the books that I could recognize the place anywhere.
Kurogiri was currently standing behind the bar cleaning a glass, Tomura was sitting at the bar next to Toga, and Dabi was still merely a foot away from me and looking irked, to say the least.
"You. How did you get in here?"
Looking back over to Tomura with only my eyes, I failed to come up with an answer. Hell if I know!
Dabi tore me apart with his uncaring glare, Toga stared on in fascination, and I couldn't tell for the life of me what Kurogiri was thinking. Somehow I swallowed down a bit of the dry mouth I was developing and let loose a semblance of an answer.
"I-I have no clue, b-but I don't think I-I'm meant to be here."
Tomura glared down at me, judging me by the looks of it, and I hoped to high heaven this was just a concussion dream.
"Giran never said anything about a short, brown-haired girl. Just the blondie here. What's your name?"
Ooh! Maybe I can convince them I'm signing up for the League and sneak away to get hero help! "O-Oh, uhm… I- I'm Nick! Nick- uhm- " Shoot! What's a Japanese-sounding name? I probably already screwed it up by using my first real name but… "Nick Aika!"
I received some dubious looks from the group, but otherwise, the tense air remained.
"Alright, Aika, what's your quirk?"
Crap. Just before I could craft another lie, the hairs on my neck stood up and I jumped to the side, holding my arms to my chest. Not a second later I heard the sharp sound of metal clatter against the wall and looked just in time to see a knife drop to the floor.
I looked up shocked at the villains before me and saw Toga smiling with delight. She clapped her hands as her face grew flushed.
"Oh, wow! You dodge so fast! You're like me!"
I looked down at the knife, not daring to pick it up myself in the event that made me more likely to get staked with another, but I wasn't above voicing my concern for my well-being.
"What the hell was that?!"
A nearly disembodied voice answered calmly.
"A test. Due to us neither hearing about your appraisal by Mr. Giran, nor you seeming willing to give out your real name, I wanted to make sure you were here for the right reasons before we proceeded."
Well geez, at least it seems I have better senses here than back home. Speaking of speaking, I wonder if they are speaking English or if I'm speaking Japanese… "Fair enough, I guess…" Oh shit, that's right! I have to fudge having a quirk, fuck! "As for my quirk… I just used it to get here. Teleportation. I promise I didn't mean to teleport inside the hideout! It was an accident! That's what I meant earlier about not meaning to be here. I meant 'here' in the literal sense, not like 'here' as in the same group as you guys." Stop. Talking. Now.
"Ooooh! How far can you teleport?!"
Toga, ever the energetic vampire bean I knew her as, broke the awkward silence I'd created for myself. Falling into crafting the lie further, I feigned courage and turned to her with a polite smile.
"Well, it depends. I traveled quite a few mi-er-yards to get here, but I could probably go farther if I were a bit more rested!"
Bringing her hands to her cheeks she spun around on the bar stool squealing and giggling.
"That's so cool! Can we keep her? Pretty please?!"
Shiguraki scratched at his neck a bit, causing me to wince at how painful that looked, and I relaxed at the frustrated sigh he released.
"Fine. But I expect you to risk your life for our cause."
I chipperly replied while holding back my entire breakfast from nervously releasing.
"I have to pop outside real quick though, I forgot my bag at the bus stop!"
A hand wave after and I turned around, grasped the grimy door handle with my sweaty hand, and forced myself to leave slowly enough that I wouldn't raise suspicion. As soon as I was out I released the breath I'd been holding and jogged away lightly in the event I was being watched somehow by one of them. Paranoia seeped within every fiber of my being and all I could think about was getting to a police station of some kind to stop the actions of the villains and hopefully save my own life in the process. Getting home, everything attached, was my new goal. Unfortunately, my spidey senses were tingling and I could tell I was being watched by someone. If I went to the police now, I and anyone else unlucky enough to talk to or be around me would most likely be killed.
What should I do?
I sighed heavily as I stood at the nearest bus station I could find. To those tailing me, probably Toga, I most likely looked like I was disappointed about my bag going missing. In reality, I was upset that all of my short-pockets were empty, meaning my phone was still sitting on the counter next to my friend's. If they were still there anyways. I'd initially felt that maybe this was a concussion hallucination or coma-induced sleep, but it all felt too real to be anything but an undesired transplant from one world to another.
Granted, I guess I should be thankful it was centered around something I knew at least a bit about, but that wouldn't be much help to me if I couldn't use that knowledge to even save myself. And why did I have to be dropped off at the doorstep to the League of Villains of all places? I get the school would have been just as weird, what with me being twenty-two, but c'mon! Don't just drop a person wherever you like! Wait- who am I yelling at? Focus!
I spotted a security station nearby and debated walking in under the guise of checking a lost-and-found. That idea was halted though when a tiny needle came to a rolling stop just in front of me. So it was Toga. I shivered as I knew that meant she'd found me out in one way or another, or that she was simply warning me to keep contact with authorities as minimal as possible. Either way it meant I was screwed.
Just then I also had the misfortune of seeing a Pro Hero walking towards the station from the opposite direction. This sucked since I could probably run up to them to ask for help, but Toga was absolutely adept enough to kill them without anyone figuring out what happened. I couldn't do that to them, especially since I recognized them as Backdraft! They were a vital help to the citizens of the area, to be the direct reason for their elimination would… well it would tear me apart!
So instead… I did the only thing I could think to do. I walked away. Was it the right thing to do? Maybe not, but I wasn't about to kill off someone from the main story. I wasn't here to change things, I was here to get back home.
"So. You wanna tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now? Toga reported to us that you seemed to be getting cold feet."
That scratching noise was two parts gross and terrifying. His voice wasn't much better.
"My bag, it got-"
"Oh spare us the lies you phony! I thought we would make great friends, but I saw the way you looked at those cops. You were going to blab, weren't you?"
Serious Toga made my blood freeze. The cheerfulness was completely gone. All that remained was cynical teasing.
"I say you let me deep-fry her here and now. Be done with it."
Y'know, I kind of felt bad for Dabi before, and to a point I still do, but damn that was rude. I didn't want any of this! Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve to be dumped here to be taunted and killed for sport by these fictional characters?
"I… Bait?" You idiot! What do you think you're doing?!
"Go on."
Tomura continued scratching, but now his chapped lips cracked into a small, sadistically delighted grin.
"Your next mission. Y-You could use me as bait, a captured citizen to use as leverage." Fuck. I've completely lost my morals to self-preservation. Way to go, Nick! Is putting other's lives in danger here all you're really good for?
Tomura stopped scratching a bit as he smiled and appeared to quietly ponder the offer. He lifted his head and looked angry though, just as quickly losing the smile.
"Let me ask again. How did you get in here? How did you find out about us?"
Oop, 'bout to look real sus here. Great, I'm so scared I'm thinking in memes now. "I can promise you I don't know. Ask Toga, she's an expert at telling if people are lying, right?" Yes, please, give them all the pointers that you know far too much for someone that just happened to stumble in.
"Hey! How'd ya know about that? She is telling the truth though. She doesn't know about how she found us or got here~!"
I couldn't help but smile slightly at the young girl. She really wasn't evil, just mistreated as a child because of her quirk. Same really with all three here. I don't really remember Kurogiri's story though.
"Alright, fine. I'll believe that she doesn't know how she got here. Kurogiri, what do you think?"
A pause, and a feeling of being examined from head to toe later.
"I think she can be a useful asset. We can still make use of her quirk, and I believe that she has a good enough head on her shoulders to not go to the authorities. I believe she knows what would happen were she to be seen talking to anyone other than us or those we allow her to talk to, yes?"
I merely nodded my head silently, silently signing my fate with this group of devils.
"A-about my quirk though… I don't really know if I even have one." Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me.
Shigaraki began tearing at his neck erratically and frantically, uttering a simple 'what' in response.
At the once more intrigued and curious smile of Toga and the glares of everyone else, I explained myself. Telling the truth now is probably the only thing that will keep me alive at this point. At least part of it. No way am I giving up U.A. secrets. Especially if they can help me out of this mess.
"I just used teleportation as my quirk since it was the best explanation to how I got here as I did. I don't have any memory of what happened to get me here though, nor of what my purpose was." There, that should work well enough for Toga's lie radar.
Toga made a small 'O' with her hands and made a small 'ding' sound with her mouth.
"No lie here! But now I'm even more interested in this girl!"
She got incredibly close to my face and grinned at me with that fanged grin and I laughed lightly while leaning back in discomfort. Dabi sighed and leaned back against the bar, turning my attention towards him.
"So you don't know how you got here or even why, and you don't even know if you have a quirk or not...Let me just turn her to a crisp. It would be less of a headache."
Shigaraki maintained his frown and itchiness but moved his attention from Dabi back to me. I stared back before looking to the ground, feeling meek under the intense stare with those red eyes attached to a person that could kill in the most grotesque way.
"No. Kurogiri said she might be useful. For now, it looks like she'll just have to be our pet until we find out what makes her so 'special'. Whoever sent her here is incredibly foolish, but she might just have a hidden gem of a quirk. If it turns out she's quirkless we can kill her."
I internally cried out to whatever divine or hellish being that sent me here. Please, please, please let me have at least something! I know I'm basically working for the villains now, but I don't want to die like this!
For the seemingly hundredth time that night, I cried out in pain as Dabi landed another kick to my side. I almost thought I heard something crunch, but it might have just been my teeth clacking against themselves as I gritted my teeth through the pain.
"No dice. She isn't making any sort of barrier or giving anything else up."
"Not for lack of trying!"
A small kick was all I received for my defense.
"Fine. Use your quirk. Just don't kill her."
I dropped my cheek to the cool concrete foundation beneath me. I was already beaten in more ways than I thought I could be, I doubt burning me would bring forth anything that the brunt-force didn't. It wasn't like I had any physical strength to fight back against them though. Currently, Toga was bouncing around and practicing being me thanks to the blood she'd gathered from slicing me with a knife.
Let me tell you, that stings like a bitch.
"For the love of God, please don't use your quirk! There isn't a part of me that doesn't already hurt like hell, just stop!"
Dabi's leather shoes tapped towards me, and his voice was devoid of emotion as he lit his hand.
"No can do, the boss already gave the order."
Tears had long left the ability to leave my eyes, but somehow one was able to sneak through as the bright blue flames, that I once thought beautiful, closed in towards my already abused skin. The burn was unlike anything I'd experienced before and I finally lost consciousness as the merciful heathens that brought me here sent me into dreamless darkness.
"Maybe her quirk is just being able to dodge well? Nothing else seems to be working. Do you think she really is quirkless?"
I stared blankly at the wall across me as I listened only partially to the conversation between Toga and Spinner.
"Don't know, but I hope for her sake she is. We're all getting pretty impatient to honor Stain's wishes."
Well, me, it looks like we're toast. Burnt toast. Let us use our final brain cell to sing away our last moments. It hadn't taken much of the torture to break my mind like this. Back home I was known for being the friend with a large heart but zero spine. With only myself to trust, I'd done the only thing I could to keep myself even slightly sane. Talked to myself and referenced memes.
"You're no good, you're no good. You could kill me and you should. I'm an idiot for thinking this was anything but blood."
A few of the villains turned to where I sat in the corner, but I paid them all zero mind. I no longer had any fucks to give.
"On the wall. On the couch. On the corner of my mouth. You must like being the victim, you've done nothing to get out."
Wow, all true things. Was I signing to myself? Yes. Were there questions in everyone's eyes? Also yes.
"Of this pattern of pain. Washed away by the rain. You forgive me if I promise, and you're nothing but the same."
"Wow, she's great at singing! This is hilarious! This sucks! Make her stop!"
Ah Twice, how you will be missed. You were always my favorite.
"This is life until death. Could be my last dying breath. But this is love, love, shut up, this is love."
Unexpectedly, bright red, translucent hearts started appearing in the air around everyone. Some of them seemed to be dripping whatever they were made of onto the floor. I thought that I was probably hallucinating by this point, and had enough brain damage from all of the head punts, but the others seemed able to see them too.
"Ahaha! Her quirk is to make these things? I wanna pop one!"
I reached out to touch one myself, but it began to fade too quickly as I was about to touch one. Even the residue faded away from the floor.
"Interesting. Do you think she has an illusion-type quirk?"
"Nah, those looked real enough to me. I wasn't about to chance a finger or a knife to them though."
"Hey, Nicky, do it again, kay~!"
"Not in here, space-buns! What if those things explode if they pop?!"
Kurogiri approached me and, uncharacteristically, gave me a pat on the shoulder.
"Congratulations on finding out you actually have a quirk. It would have been a bit better were it to have been found out sooner, but no matter. Shigaraki, I'm taking her to the training grounds."
A hop down from the stool and a few choruses of wanting to join later, and we were all standing before an open desert thanks to Kurogiri's Warp Gate. Everyone took a place a good twenty-five yards from me and watched as I was instructed to sing again in an attempt to replicate what I'd done.
I figured if I were going to sing, why not pick something I felt accurate to my situation.
"Murder lives forever, and so does war. It's survival of the fittest, rich against the poor. At the end of the day, it's a human trait. Hidden deep down inside of our DNA."
Nothing seemed to be happening yet, so I continued. It was a pretty song too, and I wasn't that bad of a singer if I did say so myself, but with everyone watching me like this, and being shaken from that dark state of mind, I felt myself get a bit nervous.
"One man can build a bomb, another run a race, to save somebody's life and have it blow up in his face."
A large 'boom' sound was heard as an explosion went off smack in the middle point of where I stood and the other villains immediately drew their weapons. A large whoop from Twice was heard from the other side of the settling dust, and I grew nervous, wondering what I could be used for with this kind of quirk.
It seemed that whatever I sang about could manifest in different ways. An odd power to have for sure, but also a versatile one. Oh, gosh. I'm a weapon of mass destruction in the hands of these guys! I quickly began to sing another song in hopes I could prevent whatever horrible atrocities they would have me commit.
Even better if I'm going out with a meme.
"Cut my life into pieces. This is my last resort. Suffocation, no breathing, don't give a fuck if I cut my arm bleeding!"
I hear that the more emotion you put into your quirk, specifically with emitter types, the more powerful they become. So I wonder what happens when half of you wants to stay alive and fight, and the other half knows that if you live you will be a detriment to society and be killed anyway if you don't comply?
Well, let's find out.
The first thing I noticed was definitely that I couldn't breathe. My body went straight into freakout mode in an attempt to keep itself alive. No matter how hard I tried to calm myself, my body wanted nothing to do with dying.
Then, I felt the underside of my arms slice open, warm red pouring from them nearly immediately. If the suffocation didn't kill me first, the blood loss would definitely get me.
Funny a sight as it was, a bunch of worried faces peered over my writhing body as I collapsed to the ground in asphyxiation. Having been sliced and beaten relentlessly all the past few weeks, it was easy to say I'd grown a bit of pain tolerance that I hadn't had before. So I guess it was thanks to Dabi and the rest that participated in beating me that I had to thank for the quirk-inflicted cuts not hurting as bad as they could have.
"Oh, god! Why would she do that?! I thought she would do anything to live?!"
Toga's hurt look was probably the one that got to me the most. She honestly didn't deserve to be so young and so tortured already. I hope that maybe my death will get her to switch sides. Long shot, but a dying person can dream, right?
I watched Dabi lift my arm more than I felt it, but then I really felt it when he ran a flaming finger down the slice. I would have screamed if it weren't already for my lungs screaming for air they weren't receiving. He did the same to my other arm and the only word I could think to say if I could, was 'fucker'.
I thought he wanted me to die! Does he just want to see me suffer longer? Or is it just that he doesn't want their tool to go to waste? Either way, hopefully, I lost enough blood to die. Would be a shame if I went through all of this for-
And like that, it was dark.