A/N: For my instantaneous readers who usually get here seconds after I post (you know who you are), I KNOW I'm posting at a really weird time, and there's a reason for that! In T minus 6 hours, I'm going to (hopefully) be getting a tonsillectomy. I have been a more high-strung ball of anxiety than my Pomeranian leading up to this, so I unfortunately do not have any completed chapters past this one, and I'm not sure how the medications/pain/recovery/etc. will affect me. If you don't see an update for a little longer than usual, that would be why. I should definitely be on here responding to comments and such, though! (Also, I say hopefully because one of my housemates has tested positive for Covid-19, so I'm not sure if they'll go through with the surgery or insist on rescheduling, even if I test negative. We'll just have to see!)

When Denki's alert song filtered through the soulmates' minds, they shot out of bed like he was there and had just electrocuted them. Opening their mouths to respond, to give him something, anything, they both had similar ideas as they blurted out the first lines of their own alert songs before stopping and looking at each other. Neito reached out a hand to Hitoshi, nodded at him, took a breath, and started to sing the lullaby that had become a familiar comfort to Hitoshi.

"Well, he knows now, too. But why is he singing that song?" Then, with horrible realization, "where was he patrolling today?" Hitoshi grumbled as Neito sung, switching between rifling through Denki's outlines of patrol plans and scrolling on his phone to find the group chat from Endeavor's agency.

Spare him his life from this monstrosity! Easy come, easy go, will you let me go? Bismillah! No, we will not let you go!

Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening me!

"It's out of order," Neito frowned.

Hitoshi nearly snorted. "I'm a fan as much as the next guy, but is now really the time to be a music snob?"

"That's not it," Neito said. "He's sending us a message, I think. He's asking to be let go, and someone is saying no. He's captured, maybe?"

"Captured? Who could have captured Denki? He can literally turn into—" Hitoshi paled.

"Toshi?" Neito hedged, stepping closer. "Tell me. What are you thinking?"

"Why would thunder and lighting frighten Denki?" Hitoshi asked, looking up to meet Neito's eyes. "Full Throttle?"

"I hope you're wrong," Neito said, but both heroes were already ripping their civilian clothes off, pulling their hero gear on, and tearing out of the room to find backup.

"Me, too."

"Denki's in trouble!" Hitoshi blurted out to Aizawa.

And that's how they ended up rushing through the explanation that the three of them were actually soulmates, promising to explain more later, just please gather up the forces while they had the advantage of having an early lead.

The response seemed to move at a snail's pace to the soulmates, but from an objective perspective, things moved quickly. Aizawa had a lot of sway all on his own but adding Present Mic to that sped things along that much more. Plus, even being new heroes of their own right, Phantom Thief and Mind Jack have already had made names for themselves and established some powerful connections. Adding all of that onto the fact that everyone absolutely adores Denki, and well, people were cutting corners and ignoring the red tape to get the rescue and search teams in position. The required paperwork would still be there when they returned with Denki, safe and sound, and no one would squint too hard at the suspicious timeline of the paper trail or question about whether a document had been backdated.

The general search notification went out to all active heroes across Japan, telling everyone to be on the lookout for any signs of unnatural lightning accumulating in any one area. Some surveillance heroes were sent out specifically to look for signs of such phenomena in more isolated locations where it might not be noticeable, like in the forests, mountains, and oceans.

Hitoshi and Neito, along with a few other heroes and sidekicks, scoured the area that Denki was supposed to be patrolling that morning, but nothing was out of the ordinary. There was no sign of struggle or any scorch marks that would indicate that Denki used his electricity. Hitoshi and Neito sat a little ways off the path through the lightly wooded area, sitting in the shade, leaning against the sturdy trees to face each other and the unknown.

"I didn't know that Denki knew Bohemian Rhapsody," Neito said suddenly.

"He didn't learn it from me," Hitoshi said. "That wasn't one of the ones I used in rotation during internship patrols."

"I bet it was from Hawks. Probably played it on full blast along with any other song that even mentioned lightning while he was training him as inspiration," Neito guessed, a whimsical smile on his face as he imagined Hawks guarding a little radio from the lightning striking off of the powerhouse that was his soulmate.

His soulmate.

"I wonder how he's holding up," Neito said, trying to sound unbothered and failing spectacularly.

Hitoshi graciously ignored Neito's failure and said, "why don't we find out? Broke boys don't deserve no pussy!" he sang suddenly and without inhibition.

Neito's jaw dropped and he looked around to see if anyone saw Hitoshi singing such a vulgar song in public while in his hero costume, but all thoughts of public image were gone when Denki's response flitted through their minds, reassuringly chipper and without a second of hesitation to answer the call that Hitoshi had sent out.

I know that's right!

"That was one of the songs that was in rotation during my internship patrols," Hitoshi stated.

"I'm aware," Neito grumbled.

"That was also one of the dances that Denki ate and left no crumbs. It got so many views."

"We were probably half of them," Neito stated, daring Hitoshi with his tone to argue against the extreme exaggeration.

Hitoshi was his soulmate for a reason, though. "At least," Hitoshi agreed easily with a nod.

-.-.-

"Relax," Full Throttle suggested. "Phantasm can't choose for you to have a good trip or a bad trip specifically, and statistically for her quirk, you're more likely to have a good trip. The hallucinations won't start for a few minutes, so you can stop wondering if everything you're seeing and hearing is real for now."

Denki didn't need to be told to relax. He was already floating, his anxieties easing when the quirk eased over him more than hit him.

"Phantasm," Denki repeated. "Her quirk causes hallucinations?"

Full Throttle nodded, caught himself, frowned, shook his head, then verbally answered. "Yes. Hallucinogenic Gas is what her quirk is called."

"She's cooler than you," Denki said bluntly. "But that doesn't take much."

"What?" Full Throttle asked, turning toward Denki. "I thought we were getting along, here."

"Don't take it personally," Denki said. "It's all in the name. It's bad luck and completely uninspiring to have your alias match the name of your quirk. I mean, look what happened to Overhaul."

"Your buddy's hero name is his actual name," Full Throttle deadpanned. "And that's probably only because Half-Cold Half-Hot doesn't exactly roll off the tongue."

"It suits him," Denki defended with a huff. He opened his mouth to argue further, probably to point out that Half-Cold Half-Hot was never even mentioned as an option, but, at that moment, broke boys don't deserve no pussy rushed through at the forefront of his mind, and Denki automatically brought his hands up to his mouth to amplify his voice as he yelled out, "I know that's right!"

Full Throttle squinted at Denki before humming in realization. "Soulmate check-in?"

"Soulmate check-in," Denki confirmed, unable to stop the smile growing on his face at the fact that he had referred to Neito and Hitoshi as his soulmates.

In from the doorway walked Spinner and Mr. Compress. They were discussing something heatedly, Spinner talking loudly and animatedly with his hands and Mr. Compress spinning his staff as he nodded to show that he was listening and actively engaged with the conversation.

Full Throttle's eyes tracked Denki's and saw him focus on something that wasn't there. Before Denki could call out his greeting, Full Throttle warned, "it's a hallucination. What do you see?"

"Really?" Denki asked, mesmerized as he looked at Full Throttle for confirmation before looking back at the duo. "The League of Villains," Denki answered without thinking.

Full Throttle hummed and shifted in his chair to get more comfortable. "Sorry, Chargebolt. Looks like you drew the short straw, this time."

"What do you mean?" Denki asked, too confused to feel too afraid to ask.

"When you start off with a bad trip, it's nearly impossible to turn it around. Usually what you start with is what you're stuck with."

"Oh," Denki said and left it at that.

There was no use explaining to Full Throttle that it wasn't a bad trip, even if he could get around Force Majeure's quirk. Thinking Denki is going through a bad trip could help give Denki the edge he needed, anyway. It might make him underestimate him enough to give him an opening to get the hell out of there or let some information slip that he could find a way to get to the soulmates without alerting Full Throttle of what exactly kind of information he's sending across.

But then, Denki realized something else. "Hey, Full Throttle? You live under a rock or something?"

Full Throttle laughed, his eyes trailing through the air above him, following after his own hallucinations most likely. "Basically," he said. "Why do you ask?"

Denki had been wondering if Full Throttle, and now also Phantasm, were brave or just stupid for going directly against the League of Villains' order of protection over him. Now, though, he was starting to see that they were probably just completely unaware of it to begin with.

"Seems kind of dangerous, is all," Denki said. "What if I had super powerful connections? What if you pissed off—I don't know—the League of Villains, or something, by taking me, and you didn't know it because you aren't in the know?"

Full Throttle hummed, dragging his eyes away from whatever he was seeing to look at Denki through the bars. "There's always risk no matter what we do. Right now, we already have our hands full with the devil we know, so we don't have time for the devil we don't. So, we fly under the radar, only surfacing to gather information before ducking down and laying low," Full Throttle said, trailing off. Shrugging, he refocused and said, "it's been working so far."

"So, what's the plan then, huh?" Denki asked distracted as Magne popped in, told Spinner that Shigaraki needed him, and they both left through the doorway, leaving a bittersweet, empty aching in his chest. Denki pressed himself against the bars to watch them leave, trying to keep Magne in his sight for as long as humanly possible. "You going to let me out of here, take me out into the open, and try again?"

Full Throttle laughed, throwing his head back. "Nice try, Chargebolt, but I'm not going to underestimate you."

Denki gave up trying to spot Magne again, sparing a glance at Mr. Compress, who seemed to be staring right back at Denki, leaning against the far wall, tossing and catching a marble over and over again. "Well, it's going to be hard to have a rematch with these," Denki said, extending his arms through the bars to allow the harsh fluorescent lights to glint off of the quirk-cancelling cuffs.

"I appreciate your concern," Full Throttle said, "but my quirk isn't inhibited by quirk-cancelling technology worn by the recipient."

"Oh," Denki said, pulling his arms back toward him and stepping backwards to retreat further into his cell.

"I'll get my rematch on my own terms soon enough," Full Throttle said easily. "I'm just still confused as to why I need a rematch in the first place. Care to enlighten me?"

"No."

"Oh?" Full Throttle said, his eyes shooting from whatever hallucination he was experiencing straight to Denki. "It's not that you don't know? That's fascinating. I was under the impression that it was a fluke, but something happened, didn't it? Something intentional, with purpose. A plan that was put into action that actually worked to stop my quirk? Won't you tell me?"

"No means no, and consent is sexy, and all that, so—"

Full Throttle's eyes narrowed, he glanced down at his hands that still loosely held the file folders, and dread filled Denki's stomach with stone as he watched the realization come across Full Throttle's face.

"You're so resistant because it has to do with your soulmates. It wasn't you or anything you did to stop my quirk. It was Shinsou, wasn't it? Did he brainwash you and command you to—what? Reject my quirk? Turn your own quirk off?"

"Does it matter?" Denki asked, at a loss for what other options he had. He was backed into a corner. "You said yourself that I won't be able to send them any hints to find me because of all the trouble you went through, so what does it matter now that you have me right where you want me?"

"I don't have a soulmate of my own, but I know how they work," Full Throttle said. "You say you'll do anything, but they'd also do anything for you. I get all three of you, I win, you lose, the end."

"Is it ever really that simple?"

"It used to be," Full Throttle said. "Before you survived my quirk."

Denki refused to answer, and Full Throttle didn't press further, so they sat in silence. Well, to an outside observer, it would have been silence. To Full Throttle, he watched and heard tennis balls bounce around the room, a gaggle of children playing a game and making up the rules as they went. Denki watched and heard various League members, Hawks included, come in and out of the room and snippets of their conversations.

Mr. Compress was the only one there from the beginning who had stayed in the room the entire time. Denki wasn't looking at him when he tossed the marble, but he acutely heard when it when the marble rolled across the floor. His eyes followed it, the smooth surface glinting the harsh light catching his eye easily enough as it bounced against the wall right next to a couple of rats. Denki was surprised that the rats didn't scatter because of the intrusive marble, but then he remembered that it was just a hallucination.

"Tell me your weakness."

"What?" Denki asked.

"Hallucination," Full Throttle sang.

"Tell me your weakness," the small voices said again, and Denki squinted at the rats and decided to go with it.

"Oh, I keep it a secret."

"Oh, come on, just one vice."

"Okay, it's vodka on ice," Denki responded, and was about to continue when the idea slapped him in the face.

"Full Throttle!" Denki whisper-yelled. "Do you see the rats over there?" he asked, pointing.

Full Throttle gave a glance over and nodded lazily. "Not a hallucination. Don't tell me that Chargebolt is afraid of mice."

"They aren't mice. They're rats. And I'm going to serenade the shit out of them!"

"What?" Full Throttle hesitantly asked, immediately regretting his decision to not ignore it.

"Just remember that they started it. I'm just returning the favor," Denki insisted. If real rats paired with hallucinated voices didn't promise a good time, Denki didn't know what did.

"Whatever," Full Throttle muttered, going back to watching his hallucinations argue about a rule change mid-game.

"Into your sanctum, you let them in! Now all your loved ones, and all your kin, will suffer punishments beneath the wrath of god! Never to forgive, never to forgive! Them rats! Oh-oh-oh! Rats! Oh-oh-oh! Rats! Oh-oh-oh! Rats! Oh—"

"Would you shut the fuck up?" Phantasm deadpanned from the doorway.

Mr. Compress barely spared her a glance. Spinner flipped her off. Shigaraki, smiling maniacally, reached his open hand toward her unsuspecting face.

"Sure, yeah, of course," Denki agreed easily. "I think I got my point across."

She glared at him as he forced the corners of his mouth down, mentally scolding hallucination Shigaraki for palming her face and looking so disappointed that his quirk wasn't working.

A/N: Songs used in this chapter:

Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

Up – Cardi B.

The Stand – Mother Mother

Rats - Ghost