The bar used to be a safe haven for those who were rejected by society; branded as 'villains'. It was where they could hide and be themselves without the public staring daggers into their backs, then blaming them for the daggers being there at all. It was the place they called – at least in some sense – home.
What they called home, now, was an old warehouse that no one in the city cared about.
The members of the League of Villains rested in defeat within the condemned building, sitting atop dusty boxes and old furniture found in the dump. It seemed like hours since anyone said anything. What was there to say? Their haven—their home—had been destroyed.
The heroes took everything from them, again. They barged in, threatened them, attacked them, robbed them of their sense of safety and did it all with a smile. Some of them were waiting to receive orders from All For One on what to do next, or for Tomura Shigaraki to stop pouting in the corner over his masters arrest. Both have yet to come.
Jin Bubaigawara, better known now as Twice, sat alone in his costume with his knees huddled close. He, like the others, came to that bar to escape rejection and find community. Arguments about their morality could be made for ages, but to him, that place was a home. He could go have a drink and talk about his illness without fear of judgement. It had been some time since he feared he was going to split; now, it's all he could think about.
"This is stupid!" shouted one villain, "We should be out there killin' All Might! You saw how weak he was!"
"Things are too tense, right now," Tomura argued, which was somewhat unlike him. He was always rash and forward with his plans, wanting immediate action. After the scuttle with All Might, however, something about him had changed in a way that everyone could see. Was it what All For One said to him before sending them all away?
The master of all villains told Tomura that he would be there for him, but to continue on without him, and keep trying no matter how many times it took. That kind of advice should be easy to digest, yet Tomura took it hard. The man-child had finally calmed down and taken a moment to think. To see him sitting there, deeply pondering their next move, it was almost chilling. Enough so that the subject of All Might was not brought up again.
"Peekaboo, doodloo's!" Shouted the energetic voice of Himiko Toga, "Look what I found!"
She came into the room and tossed the body of a near-naked man to the ground. It was a Japanese man, possibly in his late twenties, with deep black hair that had not been cut in some time, reaching down to his shoulders. His body was covered only with a blanket, which sparked with every subtle glow of his skin, pulsating against the concrete below.
"The hell is this?!" One villain exclaimed, "Did you bring a corpse here?! The hell, Toga?!"
"Awww come on! You should know me better than that!" She argued.
"I...I don't!"
"Welp, I'm stabbing you, next."
"What?!"
Himiko kicked the unconscious body for dramatic emphasis, "I found him wandering around the warehouse. He was glowing and the ground was rippling like water around him. He had bruises and cuts on his body that were just …" she sighed with ecstasy, "I couldn't NOT bring him home! He reminds me of my sweet Midoriya!"
Tomura should have been surprised, but this wasn't the first time she had done this. She had a strange fascination with cuts and injuries; blood, to be specific. She treated anyone she found like a doll to play with. To find a near naked man, battered and broken, wandering around their home; how could she not seize the opportunity to make him her new toy?
"Toga," Tomura scolded, "We aren't bringing in strays just for your entertainment. Get rid of him."
"Ugh! Fine!" she pouted, moving toward the body covered in cloth.
The man opened his eyes before she could reach him. They glowed a terrifying red as mist-like energy released from them. He curled up suddenly, holding his knees to his chest, as that energy spread from his eyes to the rest of his body.
Cracks formed around him, but not just in the ground. The separation of matter formed in the air as well, tearing through the very fabric of reality. Toga stumbled back and fell as she avoided the tears forming in the warehouse. The ground shook, making dust fall from the ceiling.
The man was having a panic attack, as if a knife was being held to his throat. The energy pulsed to the rhythm of his heart as the cracks grew in size and intensity. The other villains either stepped back or hid behind boxes, as if that would protect them.
One of the smaller villains pulled out a gun during the panic and tried firing it at the anomaly. When the bullet flew, everyone ducked down and waited for the body to drop.
The bullet never hit the man, however. When he looked up at the projectile, his eyes flashed orange, an the bullet froze in mid air, still spinning. It took only one raise of his eyebrows to send the bullet back and knock the gun out of his hands.
Tomura watched him closely; What started as a nuisance suddenly became an interest.
As the unknown man managed to calm down, the tears began to repair themselves, though they still retained their presence despite the reduce in size. The other villains kept their distance, except for Tomura, who approached with caution.
"Interesting …" Tomura spoke aloud, "Who are you?"
The man said nothing, opting instead to climb to his knees in silence. He held his own body tightly, breathing quickly and sporadically. Toga readied herself with her knife, but Tomura gestured that she stand down.
It was strange, but there was a familiarity to the scene being performed. The way this man hid his body from the world as best he could. The battering and bruising of rejection; an obvious sign of being on the streets. The fear and sadness coming from his voice was quiet in volume but loud in meaning. The man bowed in fear as Tomura stood, the only one to offer a hand.
It was just like when he met All For One.
"Nobody would help you …would they?" Tomura quoted, with a sinister hint.
At the sound of his raspy voice, the man started to calm down; his eyes continued to water, but at a slower pace. It was like the sound had brought him back to reality, away from the void that tried pulling him back in.
"It hurt, didn't it?" Tomura continued, "all alone, with no one to save you, not even a Pro Hero."
"…Hero?" The man spoke with a weak voice.
"The ones who are supposed to stop people like us."
"Like …us?"
"Yes, that's right," Tomura knelt down, "How long were you on the streets like this?"
"…all night," he answered quietly, a hiccup in his voice.
"And no one came to help you. They thought, 'a hero will save them, sooner or later.' That's what they all thought as they pretended not to see you. Who the heck made it this kind of world, anyway?"
He recited the words spoken to him by his mentor, the same words that rescued him from his childhood, and put him on the path he now walked. This man was torn with grief and rage he couldn't understand, much as he was when he was young. The student, after so many years, finally became the master.
"Those heroes," Tomura said, "they say they protect people, but they always ignore us; the people society rejects for being different. Did anyone help you when you walked alone on those streets?"
"…no?" He questioned.
"Because they judged you, which we will never do."
"…we?"
The man looked around at the weirdly dressed people who eyed him from every corner of the room. He didn't understand what was happening, or quite what this man meant, but the words were comforting regardless.
Finally, the tears in reality retracted and vanished from the air.
"Can I stab him, now?" Toga asked genuinely.
…
They brought the man to an empty room within the warehouse; one of many that the villains could stay in, should they need to spend the night. Most of them were homeless, anyway, so many futons were spread across these rooms, with cheap blankets and pillows in need of stuffing.
They thought the man would rest peacefully on the futon, but he actively avoided it. Instead, he wandered around the room, staring at the walls as if he saw something they couldn't. They didn't know what he was seeing, which made them believe he might have been a little crazy. Then again, if that was the case, he would fit right in.
He put on the raggedy clothes they had provided for him and zoned out in the vacant room, running his hand across the walls and watching the details closely. Colors brushed off his fingers with every stroke. Tiny dots filled the air, changing in size rapidly. There were shapes and colors all around him that only he could see.
They were beautiful.
The villains watched him from outside the door, crowding around each other to see what he was doing.
"Why don't we just get rid of him?" Asked one villain with spiked up black hair, and stitches across his face, with the bottom half of his skin looking to have been burnt or even ripped off, "He looks like just another nut."
"Aren't we all?" Twice asked, twitching, "You're the real nut, scumbag!"
"I'm just saying," He brushed off, "Seems a little weird we just dressed him up like this. What's the deal, Tomura?"
Everyone had been looking to Tomura since All For Ones arrest. The only trouble was that he never seemed to look back at them; his mind was just too crowded with the poison of thought. Every time he looked at this man, he saw himself when he was a child. True, this was a grown man, and not a toddler, but there was a genuine, untouched innocence about the way he carried himself.
"I'm testing a theory, Dabi" Tomura answered, "You saw what he did back there; the way he tore holes in the very air! That kind of power should not be ignored. If we kill him, or send him away, we'd be wasting an opportunity."
"So, we're taking advantage of him?" Twice asked, leaning more toward Jin than his other self, "Look at him; he's an outcast just like the rest of us. He deserves a home, somewhere he can be himself."
"I'm not entirely sure he knows who that even is," Dabi said, "Or even where he is."
As the other villains continued to argue, Tomura entered the room and closed the door behind him, locking it, much to the villains' disapproval.
The unknown man looked to Tomura with interest. There was an aura around him that only the man could see. It was silver with a hint of red. He wasn't sure what the colors were supposed to mean, but he could not bring himself to look away.
"What are you looking at?" Tomura asked.
"…Colors," He answered softly.
"You're not good at talking, are you, stranger?"
The man didn't answer and instead continued to look around, "There are …many …colors. I like …to look at them."
"Not much to see in this little room."
"There is …if you look …in-between."
"In-between what?"
"…Atoms," He found the words, "Yes …in-between …the atoms."
"And …you can see this?"
The man nodded.
"Fascinating …you are very powerful."
"Am I?" He looked to Tomura, "Can you …not see?"
"No, not like you can. You, my friend, are special. Your quirk is unlike anything I've ever seen."
"…Quirk."
Tomura looked at the man and saw opportunity. That display of power showed he may be exactly what they needed to get back on top. The issue was that the man was fragile, and needed to be treated with the right words and actions, much like himself when he was younger.
"You are safe, here," Tomura told him, "We will take care of you—protect you."
"Protect …from what?"
"From the world."
To find reference, the man looked out the window at the waking city. He watched the cars drive the streets as colorful trails of aura followed them. Why would he need to be protected from the world? It was beautiful and full of colors he had never seen. Though, that wasn't saying much, considering his last habitat was an endless void.
"What makes the world so dangerous?" The man asked.
"That depends who you ask," Tomura commented, "Personally, I don't trust any of those bright colors."
"I like the colors, though. They're vibrant and warm."
"Not all of them."
"But they-"
"Don't be an idiot!" Tomura shouted, "The world will only leave you to rot! You can never trust it to be beautiful!"
The man did not flinch or react to Tomura's anger. While the others knew that this was how he acted when he didn't get his way, even they would occasionally flinch. Despite not knowing this, the man showed no sign of worry; no sign of fear.
"Fine," Tomura grumbled, "You want to see the pretty colors of the world? You can, but only if you give your aid to us. I want to see just what you are capable of. Do that, and you can see as much of the world as you want."
It was a classic manipulative technique. The man had the mentality of a child in his current state. Simple promises of something shiny will make a child do anything.
The man pondered this promise, wondering what all of it meant. What was the value of a promise? How can it be upheld? Did he really want to see the world? He could see more than he ever dreamed just from this little room. Did he need this strange, pale man to show him the skies and the grass when he could just step outside and do it?
Still, Tomura was right about one thing; no one else helped him. He wandered alone on the streets all night and passed plenty of people, but none of them offered their hand. They all avoided him and continued with their night. Was it out of fear? Hatred? Did he do something to earn those emotions? Was it their way of venting their prejudice toward a stranger?
No one else was offering to teach him about the world, except the pale man draped in darkness.
"What do you need from me?" He asked.
…
The rest of the villains waited in the main room of the warehouse. Some of them were trying to clean it up, add decorations, and do whatever they could to make it feel more like home. They missed the seats of the bar and the constant access to alcohol, which they used to numb away their problems. They barely made it out of the invasion with a handful of useful supplies.
Tomura eventually returned to them with the stranger in trail. "Go mingle," the villains leader ordered, and the man obeyed without question as he approached the group.
There was only silence as the man sat down on a dusty box near the others. He didn't know what he was supposed to say to them, so he waited for them to speak first.
"So, new kid," Dabi spoke, "What's your story?"
"My …story?" He asked blankly.
"Why were you just out on the streets, naked? You don't just waltz into that kind of scenario."
The man shrugged, "I don't know …before, I was …" he paused.
"Was what?"
One of the other villains, Mr. Compress, spoke up "Give it a rest, Dabi. I don't think he's much of a talker."
"It's okay," The man said, "I'm just …struggling …to find the …words," The man took a moment to concentrate, summoning the will to speak from the void he escaped, "Before …I was …in nothing. Just an …empty nothingness. Pitch black …for eternity. I could hear …and see …the colors and …shapes. I wanted …to see them. So …I broke …free."
"Free?" Twice asked, "Like a cage?" He gasped, "Were you a zoo animal?! What kind?! Were you a lion?!"
Again, the man had no facial reaction; just a blank stare, like he was still looking into the void.
Toga hopped up and sat next to him, "Hey, can I cut you?" She asked bluntly, "People are so much cuter when they have cuts! The blood is like natures makeup!"
The man shrugged.
Toga gasped, "Really?! No one ever gives me a yes!"
"A shrug is not a yes," Twice argued, "No cutting the newbie."
"Pleeeaaaaase!"
"No."
"Boo!"
This man clearly couldn't speak for himself, being almost empty of emotion. It was like he exhausted all the feelings he had when he first arrived and put on a light show, and now, he was just a husk of his former self. Until the man could speak his own case, someone else had to do it, and most of the others here were children; Toga, especially.
Kurogiri, the second in command who's body was made of black mist, approached Tomura and stood at his side, "Why him?"
"Excuse me?" Asked Tomura.
"Why this man? What makes him so special?"
"You saw that display of power; we could use something like that right now."
"I want to be sure you are not putting all your chips in one place out of desperation. All For Ones arrest is still a fresh wound for us all."
"I am fine."
"I am not so sure."
"I said I'm fine!" He shouted, "All that matters now is killing All Might, and we can't do that if we don't have the man power!"
"…Very well. My only concern is this; how do we know he has what it takes when we still don't know what he is capable of?"
"…Then we find out," Tomura stepped forward and approached the group, "Before we can take on Pro Heroes again, we need to find new supplies. Nearly everything was trashed by the heroes when they broke in!"
"So, what? We hit a convenience store?" Asked Dabi.
"No, I'm thinking bigger," he corrected, "The heroes stole from us, so we should steal from them. If we can find out the locations of their safe houses, we can take their weapons and supplies directly from them."
"We would need to access their servers to find them," Said Kurogiri.
"And how the hell do we do that?" argued Dabi, "I don't think we have any hackers, and we can't just waltz through the front door."
"That's exactly what we'll do," Tomura looked to Toga, "Do you still have that vile of Spider-Mans blood?"
Toga hopped up in excitement, "Say no more, hands-y!"
"Then we move out. Let this be the new guy's opportunity to prove himself," the villains leader approached the stranger, "If anyone catches wind—if any police show up—it's your responsibility to take care of them. Make those tears, freeze them like the bullet. If you can't, then we'll leave you behind. I can't tolerate weakness, here."
The man nodded, still not fully understanding the gravity of his situation.
"Then let's go get some payback!"
…
After leaving the hospital, the rabbit hero Mirko returned to the hero agency she owned. While she wasn't much for sidekicks and interns, the committee recommended she acquire an agency of her own. She wasn't often there, only showing up to do the necessary paperwork and sort the payment for her employees.
The hero stormed the front door as she always did, heading straight for her office and almost ignoring anyone who greeted her along the way. There was a lot to get in order for that night; her only sidekick was finally getting knighted.
As she turned the corner of the hall, she bumped into another body and almost cussed them out, "Hey! Watch your-!" she stopped when she realized who it was.
Standing there, just as dazed and surprised, was an unmasked Spider-Man. He looked at her with such disquiet, as if she was going to strike him out of the blue. The look on his face only made her concerned.
"Parker!" She said in surprise, "I thought you were heading home."
"I was," He said, "But I wanted to see you first."
"You just saw me at the hospital."
"I know," he sighed, "It's weird. I'm weird. I just …I hope you know you're a good friend, Mirko. I wanted to really, properly thank you for helping me out with everything."
She flustered, "Aw, kid. I'm real glad we're working together, too. Can't believe I used to try and smash your face in."
"Right?" He laughed, "Are you busy, right now?"
"A little, I'm getting things ready for the announcement ceremony tonight, which you promised not to be late for."
"And I won't."
"Good," She ruffled his head, "So, stop being sentimental and go get ready, sidekick."
"Yes, ma'am!" he spoke attentively.
As they began to go in opposite directions, something struck Mirko the wrong way. It wasn't how cheerful Parker was, nor how sentimental; that was normal for him. She was just surprised that he didn't make a joke or argue when she called him her sidekick. They both knew neither of them liked the idea; that's what made it so fun to joke about.
When she looked back to see where he was, though, he was already gone.
Peter fled the hall as quickly as he could and found the filing office where they kept most of their paperwork. Shutting the door quickly behind him and locking it, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number which answered almost immediately.
"I'm in," he said, his tone changing rather drastically, "Had a run-in with a Pro Hero, but I played it off."
"Find the locations of the safe houses," Said the voice of Tomura, "If you get caught, we won't be coming in to save you, Toga."
'Toga' began to search through the various catalogues, focusing on specific letters like L for location, S for safe house or secrets, and whatever else she thought would work. She didn't know specifically what she was looking for, but she was confident regardless.
She could feel her transformation gently dwindling. Her quirk was simple; drink enough of someone's blood, and she could transform into them for a short time. Her appearance would be based off of when the blood was taken, so she only had the version of Spider-Man unmasked, back when they captured him.
The form slowly started to melt away, dripping onto the files. To fix this, she took out the vile of blood hidden away and took another small sip. Her illusion quickly found stability again as she continued to search.
Toga gasped and wiped her head.
"Everything alright?" Asked Tomura over the phone.
"All good," she spoke in Peter's voice, "Just hot in here, and I had to take another sip. My disguise is failing faster than usual."
Twice barged into the call, "Say, where were you hiding that vile, anyway?!"
Toga giggled, "Wouldn't you like to know."
Finally, she pulled out the grand prize; a file labeled 'safe houses'; A list of locations and supplies expected to be delivered there on specific dates and times. The folder was bent slightly, showing it was used rather often. Rather than take the folder, she took a picture of each page and texted it to Tomura.
"That work for ya, hands-y?" She asked, retaining her demeanor despite the voice change.
"Perfect," said Tomura, "Make your way out of there, Toga."
"Copy, copy, hands hands."
"Don't ever call me that."
"Ima only call you that."
She closed the cabinet and made her way to the door. As she grabbed the handle, she felt herself lose steam for a moment and take an extra breath. It was like she had just left the gym.
"Toga?" He asked again, "I said get out of there."
"Yeah, yeah," she shook it off, "I'm going."
As she left the room and darted down the hall, Mirko had been watching from a distance, hidden where she couldn't be seen. It wasn't unlike Parker to keep secrets, even from her, but he would never steal anything from them. Even when he was on the run, he never stole from the police or the heroes. He fought them when approached, sure, but he was no thief.
Mirko pulled out her phone and dialed, "Hey, Detective Tsukauchi," she spoke quietly, "No, don't question how I got your number, just listen. Think you can do me a favor?"
…
A white van drove carefully down the streets of the city. With each bump, the cargo in the back would bounce, wishing they had seatbelts. The villains of the league hid behind the steel walls of the vehicle while they drove, keeping an eye up front for any interference. Those who chose to come along were Dabi, Twice, Toga, Compress, and the new guy, while Tomura and Kurogiri stayed behind.
"Couldn't we just teleport there with Kurogiri's help?" Twice asked, "Seems like a real ASS move to make us go ourselves!"
"Because, dumbass," Dabi insulted, "It's best he keep his distance if we need a quick escape. The heroes nearly caught him back at the bar. We lose him, we lose a serious asset."
"It's more fun this way!" Toga said excitedly, before suddenly coughing.
"Are you okay?" Twice asked in concern, "Do you need medicine, you baby?!"
"I'm fine," she waved off, "I think Parker's blood is just disagreeing with my stomach."
The stranger held no reaction to anything that was happening. Tomura was putting a lot of pressure on him to succeed if anything went wrong, yet, he didn't seem remotely afraid. He was like a puppet without strings, immobile and unfazed. In all honestly, most of the other villains found it creepy.
Twice smacked the mans shoulder, "Liven up new guy! This is your first big mission!" he smacked him again, more aggressively this time, "Don't go screwing it up, weirdo!"
Again, he did not react, looking only into the nothingness below him.
Eventually, Mr. Compress spoke up. He was a well dressed man with a white mask on his face and a top hat to complete the look. Out of everyone, he was considered the most collected. "What do you keep looking at?" he asked, "My shoes that interesting to you?"
"The atoms."
"Atoms? Like, building blocks of matter— atoms?"
The man nodded.
"Holy crap, you can see those?!" He asked, now interested, "What do they look like?!"
The van suddenly came to a stop, with the driver informing them that they had arrived. Mr. Compress argued that things were just getting interesting, but he was shrugged off quickly by the others. The stranger stepped out of the van before he could ask his question again.
Finally, they arrived at one of the safe houses. They picked the one with the largest window of opportunity; no one should be coming around to check on it for a while. It would be smart of them to put up guards at places like this, but the heroes genuinely don't think villains are smart enough to take from them. Besides, the less people come around here, the less likely anyone realizes how important it is to them.
It's stupid in a smart way, or perhaps smart in a dumb way; it was all a matter of perspective.
"Grab as much as you can," said Dabi, "You know, I still volunteer to burn the place down when we're done."
"That'll just alert the heroes faster," Argued Mr. Compress, "Maybe next time."
One by one, boxes of gear and supplies were loaded into the white van. Some were heavier than others, but the person struggling the most was Himiko Toga. She was the smallest of them, so naturally, she would be able to lift the least. Still, even with the smaller boxes, she was visibly sweating and struggling. She tried to tough it out and keep going—managing to get at least a few boxes all on her own—but that stubbornness eventually ran out.
As she walked out of the safe house with another box, she suddenly dropped it and collapsed, spilling the contents inside.
"Toga!" Twice ran to her with concern, his Jin side coming through much stronger, "The hell happened?! Why are you sweating so much?!"
Toga breathed heavily, "Something …something's wrong ..." she coughed blood, "The …the blood …"
As the stranger passed them with a box in hand, he suddenly stopped at Toga's cries of pain. The sounds of her agony and fear climbed into his ear and tickled at his brain. For the first time since his arrival, his face started showing real emotion. What was this feeling, he thought? His heart was racing and his muscles were twitching like he needed to start running.
This was fear.
Gently he put the box down and approached the fallen Toga, kneeling down to examine her. Normally her aura was a hot pink with a bit of yellow, but now there was a hint of green, growing stronger with every second.
"Your …colors are off," He spoke with a hint of concern shining through, "What's wrong?"
Toga could no longer respond, putting all her focus into breathing.
"…Toga?" he asked, getting no response from her. Emotion suddenly overran his body as he grabbed her shoulders, trying to pull her back into focus, "Hey! Himiko! Keep your eyes open! Can somebody get a cloth?!"
"We don't have anything here!" Answered Mr. Compress, confused by the mans sudden burst of personality.
"Find something! Use your tie! We need to clean the blood!"
"I'm not wasting my tie!"
"She's dying!"
"I'll try calling Kurogiri!"
Something in the air shifted; something only the stranger could feel. His skin became cold with fear and his fingers twitched in concern. It was like someone or something was peering over his shoulder. No one else reacted to this feeling as he tried to understand it. It felt like he was being chased up a steep hill.
"Something is coming," the stranger said as he turned around.
To answer his warning, a set of sirens began blaring through the air. Three police vans drove up and skid to a stop, letting out a team of S.W.A.T members. The villains didn't move as they were quickly surrounded in a circle, with laser-sights pointed at every one of them.
"Freeze!" Shouted the lead officer, "You're all under arrest! Get down on the ground, now!"
While Twice and Compress kept relatively still, waiting for an opportunity to strike, Dabi quickly engulfed his hands in blue flames, "You sure you wanna do that, officer?"
Twice could easily use his agility to avoid the gunfire and hide behind their van, but he wasn't sure about the others, especially Toga. If a firefight broke out, she could end up getting caught in the middle. There was no moving her hastily in her current state.
"Down on the ground!" The officer reiterated, "You have to the count of three!"
"Dabi!" Compress argued, "Don't get hostile! I'd rather not die!"
"This is nothing we can't handle. So what if we take a few shots?"
"But what about Toga?!"
Each S.W.A.T member was readying to fire. It was one thing to threaten smaller criminals this way, but these were villains, each with their own unique quirk. Beyond that, they were from the League; If the officers didn't act, the villains would do more damage. The Pro heroes had already been called in, but none had arrived, yet. If they didn't get there in time, the officers would have to put the villains down.
The stranger looked into the laser-sights like a familiar enemy. Their shining light over his eye brought back the memory of when he first experienced color, deep within the void he was trapped in. While those colors were beautiful, this one brought fear to his chest. They were going to pull the trigger; he could feel it. He could feel their intent, and they didn't care what happened to them because they were different. They were villains.
As Dabi readied himself to fight, the officers opened fire.
"No!" The stranger shouted as he jumped into the center of the circle.
He reached out with his hands as his eyes flashed orange, again. Every bullet stopped in the air a few feet from their guns, like hitting a wall and getting stuck there. An orange field of energy surrounded the villains and protected them. When the officers finally stopped firing, there was a wall of floating bullets before them. Then, they all dropped to the ground with a thousand tings.
The strangers' hands shook. His body almost seemed to glitch, like a faulty computer program in a 3D simulator. Just like before, he could no longer control his emotions; his power.
From his finger tips released a terrifying red energy, summoned by a powerful battle-cry. The energy looped around and traveled to each officer, knocking them down and tossing them like rag dolls. There was nothing they could do to avoid it as they were struck with the force of a high-speed vehicle. Bones broke upon contact, with horrifying screams of pain.
None of them stood a chance.
When the energy hit the police vans, they exploded on impact and were tossed into the air, almost crushing some of the officers. By this point, the stranger could not stop what was happening, nor did it seem he wanted to. All they could do in retaliation was run and pray they'd live to see their loved ones again.
"Into the truck!" Compress shouted. Both he and Twice managed to pick up Himiko Toga and slide her into the back.
The stranger finally stopped his onslaught and held his sides in pain. He started glitching again, worse than before. He couldn't walk back to the van on his own. Instead, Twice took it upon himself to go back for him.
"I've got you," He said, twitching, "Move your own damn legs, why don'tcha?!"
He dragged him into the van before Compress slammed the doors shut. They drove away as the few officers who remained tried firing at their wheels.
…
Tomura and Kurogiri waited within the walls of the warehouse. It was Kurogiris suggestion that the two of them stay behind. Out of everyone in the League, they were the most wanted; Kurogiri for being their easiest form of transportation, and Tomura for being their leader. They were at a higher risk of being caught if they went outside for anything beyond necessity.
Regardless, Tomura just didn't like it.
"We should be out there, too!" Tomura argued.
"We can't," Kurogiri said, "It's safer if we stay here."
"I don't want to sit around and wait for everything to fall apart again!"
Outbursts like this could normally be chalked up to his man-child personality, but there was some real pain behind his words this time, "What happened was not your fault, Shigaraki."
"…he saved me, again," Tomura said, "All For One saved me, again, just like before. I was helpless to do anything. I was pathetic …that can never happen again. I will never be pathetic, again. That's why we need this new guy; if his power can put us back on top, I'll have made All For One proud."
The garage door opened just in time to let the white van barrel through and almost fall over as it stopped. Bullet holes decorated the exterior like an abstract painting as everyone rushed out. Tomura expected to see them with supplies, but instead, they carried out a wounded Himiko Toga.
"What happened?!" Tomura asked angrily, "Where are the supplies?!"
"In the truck," Compress answered, "The mission was successful, but something happened to Toga."
The stranger hopped out of the truck and rushed to Toga's side. Tomura was surprised to see how emotive he suddenly was, looking over the young girl with great care as he wiped the sweat from her head. He begged for a first aid kit, which Compress started to search for in their new batch of supplies.
"Why is she like this?" Tomura asked.
"She collapsed!" the stranger answered, "She's barely breathing! We have to do something!"
"I doubt there is much we can do."
"Come on! This is your teammate, right?!"
"If you care so much, you do something."
Most people would take offence to such a statement, but not the stranger. He took his words at face value, looking back at the girl and her shifting aura.
When he tried touching the aura, the colors moved and traveled along his hand. He reeled it back in examination. The colors followed him, and in that same moment, Toga was able to take a single deep breath again.
He could do it; He could save her.
Without thinking about how, he hovered his hands over her body and tried to pull at the green aura entrapping her. The deadly energy magnetized to his hands, collecting into a ball of green, erratic light that everyone could finally see. It tried to hold onto Toga like an abandoned child, but the man continued to pull it away. Twice even wrapped his hands around the mans arms to assist him. "Pull!" Twice commanded as they performed one strong tug.
The energy snapped off her body and collected into a single ball, struggling to escape the mans grip. Mr. Compress acted on instinct and touched the energy. It compressed into a small marble upon contact and trapped the energy inside with a jade glow. He caught the marble before it hit the ground and held it like it would break. For all he knew, it might; he'd never needed to compress energy before.
Toga finally breathed easy and opened her eyes, wiping the last of the sweat from her forehead as she sat up, "Uh …so I didn't die, then?"
"How do you feel?" asked the man.
"Like I'm never drinking Parker's blood again. Bleh!"
Twice hugged her tightly in an overreaction, just happy that she survived at all. She almost reached for her knife but was still too weak for it. Besides, Twice was one of the few members she genuinely liked.
"You see?" Tomura pointed to the man, "I told you that you were special."
"You should have seen it!" Compress commended, "He took out an entire squad of officers and stopped a parade of bullets! He's really something!"
The man wasn't paying attention to their compliments, focusing only on the safety of Himiko Toga. It was like his personality had suddenly returned to him on this mission. The puppet had finally been given some strings to play with and could act like a real boy.
"You've earned your badge, stranger" Tomura said, "I suppose we can't keep calling you that, can we?"
The man finally turned to speak to him, "I don't …really have a name."
"Our true names mean nothing here. I'd prefer you take a name of your own choosing."
Twice jumped up, "I got an idea! Whenever he uses his quirk, he always looks like he's glitching out or something. So, why don't we just call him that? Glitch!"
The man pondered this idea for only a second, "I mean, if I need a name, then …"
"Then it's settled," Tomura congratulated, "Welcome to the League of Villains, Glitch."
Both Twice and Toga hugged Glitch from both sides, nearly bringing him down as they celebrated their new friend. He couldn't help but laugh a little at their excitement as he took a moment to associate himself with his new identity. Looking around at the others in the room, he thought of how nice it was to have people to rely on in this strange new world.
Tomura watched them all talk and celebrate with Glitch. It wasn't enough just yet to get them back on top, but it was a start.
"So, what even happened, Toga?" Compress asked, "Did you get sick or something?"
Toga calmed her celebration and pondered this, "It started pretty quickly after I drank Spider-Mans blood. I drank enough to last a few hours but it started failing after just 30 minutes. I've never felt so ...icky."
Compress examined the marble of green energy. Whatever was inside of Parker's blood nearly killed her. Had it not been for Glitch, she would have certainly been lost.
"See if you can find out what's in his blood," Tomura commanded, "Whatever it may be, it just means that there is more to Spider-Man than meets the eye."
Compress nodded and stashed the marble away.
Toga had never had a reaction like that before. It didn't matter whose blood she drank in the past; it never gave her a sickness like that. There was something about Parker's blood that was different; special in a deadly way. Whatever it was, she hoped she never had to drink it again.
"Can I just dump the blood, then?" Toga asked.
"No," Tomura ordered, pondering the vile she held, "It …could be useful."
…
When all had calmed, Glitch made his way to his new room. There was still no more than a futon, but that was okay. He had more than enough just looking out the window at the beautiful streets below. The sun was only just starting to set as a golden glow overtook the sky. He never imagined colors and shapes would look quite like this, but he wasn't disappointed.
He was no longer a puppet without strings. Now, he could enjoy the beauty of the world and everything it has to offer.
"Feeling okay?" Asked a voice.
Glitch turned to see Twice standing at the door, only, he wasn't wearing his villain outfit. Rather, he was just wearing some casual street clothes. "Twice?" Glitch asked.
"Just call me Bubaigawara," he said as he walked in, "You seem a lot more …alive."
"Yeah … it's so strange," he looked back out the window, "It's like …when Toga got hurt, something clicked into place. My emotions …my identity came back to me. I still can't remember anything else before I was in that void, but I feel more like myself—whoever that's supposed to be."
"Doesn't matter who we used to be," Jin commented, putting a hand on his shoulder, "We choose who we are now, Glitch."
He smiled, "Glitch, yeah. I actually really like it."
"Since few people know my face, I'm heading out to grab us dinner. Recommendations?"
"Uh …I'm kinda craving Hibachi chicken, actually."
"I'll put it on the list."
Jin patted his shoulder before leaving. Glitch remained at the window and admired all the colors only he could see. Finally, he was no longer trapped in nothingness.
Finally, he was free.