A/N: Warning, this chapter has gore, violence, and is darker than any of the others before it.

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We leave through a back exit and don't look back. Helping citizens is one thing. Getting caught is another. There'd be fines for using our quirks, but not doing so was worse. At least, that's what I keep telling myself as I cough, still trying to keep up.

"Are you-"

"I'm fine."

Purple scowls and we keep to the shadows. We make it to a busy intersection and Shinsou steps forward. Still lagging behind, I move to do so as well when something pulls me back.

I try to scream, but a hand clamps over my mouth, something sharp and painful pressing in my neck. A needle. Cold, liquid drips beneath my skin, running through my veins.

"Don't struggle Intern-san," whispers a familiar high-pitched, nasal voice. I freeze. I'm dragged backward even as Shinsou walks forward without looking. I shake, tears coming automatically to my eyes. I can't reach out. "I have a special surprise for you."

My captor removes the hand and steps back, whatever I've been injected with is fast. My head spins, my legs feel like lead, my heart races, my stomach lurches. I scratch my arms, summoning the shadows.

But nothing comes.

A familiar laugh, high pitched and nasal.

"Better," says the voice. I look up, terror clawing at my chest, and a black mask stares back down, two holes at the top, like snake bites carved into the forehead.

"Asp," I gasp. "What… what did you do?"

"Hoki Rin," he sneers. He reaches down, grabbing me by my vest. I tremble against the alley pavement, dirt and debris pressing into my palms. His mask leers. "I'm disappointed. I expected so much more after watching the festival."

I open my mouth to scream.

He slaps my face, cutting it off. I choke, smoke in my throat, blood in my mouth.

Asp rises, his figure sharp and looming under the steady fall of rain. Hand still wrapped in my vest, he drags me to my feet. Without speaking he pulls me with him, further and further back. Whatever he's injected me with spreads in my bloodstream. My feet slip from under me. My hands clutch at him, shaking, trying to understand. The world spins, my face burns, and as we turn another corner, he slams me against the wall.

I don't know what makes me do it. One hand slides into my vest, flipping open the phone. I've added both of our numbers, they're for emergencies only. It's already charged. I press the call, not knowing who or even if it's actually dialing. I can't hear it. I can only hope. He yanks my hand out, twists me around, and restrains my arms. It hurts, the muscles in my shoulders aching as rope winds between my limbs, the friction of its movement burning across my skin.

"Why?" I heave, jaw aching, chest stinging, and lungs burning as he ties it. My senses are off, but I have to try. "Why are you doing this?"

"Shut the fuck up," he snaps.

He jostles me forward, taking fast, heavy strides. He leaves the alley quickly, moving to another and then down a third. Faster than I can walk, he's nearly carrying me.

He's separating us. He saw me with Shinsou.

"Where are you taking me?" I gasp.

"I told you, shut up-"

"Why?" I grasp relentlessly. I have to hope someone picked up, to pray my death's not being recorded as one of my Sensei's messages. "Stop!"

"You're a disease, all of you. But you-"

A hand winds in my hair. I stumble, and he pushes me at the wall. I grunt but don't scream, too afraid he'll bash my head against the bricks. I can hear his breaths, fast and short. He can't breathe well behind the mask. He's wearing himself down.

"I'm going to make you suffer."

He drags me again, this time walking slower, at a steadier pace, down another alley, and I scramble to keep my legs under me. I want to call my shadows to my hands, I want to summon black fire and claws, nightmares and death, but they don't come. They won't come. Terror wells, the thick, cloying kind that clogs my throat and constricts in my chest. Tears mingle with rainwater and I choke on silent sobs.

"I knew you heroes would come running. So damn predictable. Though I thought you'd be with that damn DJ. He takes the time to teach me and hugs me when I'm sad," the masked man mimics in his high, nasal voice. "and… and he's the nicest person I've ever met. Fucking pathetic. I hope he enjoyed my present."

"Prese-"

"I left him a bomb," Asp sneers, his mask moving to watch me. I can't see his face, but I can imagine the grin twisting beneath. I choke on emotions. Sensei. I sob and he laughs, his voice nasal and high.

I struggle to think, panic and countless emotions I can't name buzzing through my limbs. We pass a sign, a garbage can, the noise of sirens drifting behind us, becoming more and more distant.

"Sakura Street!" I yell, hoping my voice carries to the receiver in my pocket—hoping that someone picked up, that I'm not talking to thin air.

"What?" Asp sneers, dragging me closer.

"I said, that's Sakura street! Where are you taking me?" I snap, trying to focus on anything but the idea of Sensei… the thought of Present Mic unconscious like those victims. "I won't help you."

"Help?" he laughs. It's cruel and vicious, the fingers in my hair tug painfully. My head tilts back, exposing my neck. "I don't need or want your help, hero."

He moves further, two more blocks all hidden in the shadows. I twist and ache in the ropes, trying hopelessly to call my anything to the surface. Shadows, flames, even a bit of smoke. Nothing comes. Nothing comes, damn it! Why won't it come? Why can't I do this?

Shinsou. Aizawa-Sensei. Yamada-Sensei.

I gasp when I recognize the street. A pawn shop sign flickers in a nearby window, a pair of broken pots litter the ground.

"T-t-the Last One!" I cry, digging in my heels as he pulls me forward. Hair rips as I get a foothold. He knocks my head against the brick wall. Shadows sweep across my vision, pain shoots through my skull and neck, nausea rises instantly. He pulls me back and blood drips from the wall.

"Home sweet home," he sneers.

I can't even scream. He laughs, high pitched and nasal, and throws me at the stairs.

I trip and try to summon up my shadows.

Please. Please, come.

Nothing does. He opens the door, picks me up by my hair, and tosses me inside. I slide against the worn hardwood, knocking over bookbags and back slamming into the base of the stairs. He turns around and clicks the lock into place. Muffled cries spill out into the hall, childish and broken. I look up, dazed, to see light spilling from the kitchen. I groan and twist, trying to rise, wrists and shoulders aching from their restraints, body aching from the abuse. Asp doesn't let me.

"Are you ready for your surprise?" he asks. His voice takes on a sing-song sound and I flinch. He laughs cruelly. Then, he kneels in front of me, fingers pressing back my hair in some mockery of concern.

"W-W-What-"

"I'm going to make you pay, hero," he whispers. His hand moves, slipping beneath my head to cradle my skull, twisting my head to look at him. "I'm going to make you watch as I destroy everything you've ever loved."

I scream and throw my head forward, intending to smash his mask into his face, but he sees it coming. He dodges left and drops my head. Without support, it lands with a loud bang on the floor. The world spins again.

"Don't be crude," he says amusement gone.

I barely focus over the throbbing in my head. Delicately, he pulls down the fabric under my chin, his thumb rubbing over my bloodied lip. I try to snap at him, but he's too quick. Something cold and rubber is pressed against my face.

Fingers deftly tie strings in the back, twisting and knotting. A mask aches as it's tightened, suffocating my wheezing breath.

"Ah, good."

Asp stands, one hand in my armpit as he jerks me up. He drags me in the kitchen and, unlike every other time, gently deposits me by the wall. The room is filled with children and dead bodies. Shin cries in the corner, Yui-san slumped next to him, throat slit and a sideways 8 carved in her forehead.

"And there we are! We're all here, just one big, happy family, right Rin?"

I gag and curse.

Niko's on the floor nearest him, her trunk cut off in a gruesome display of raw flesh, her mouth gagged, and face covered in bruises. Nausea climbs in my stomach. Even bloodied and dismembered, she snarls at Asp, leaning protectively over two smaller figures behind her. Asp spreads his arms and I can taste the amusement in the giddiness of his posture.

"See, Rin-chan here, she destroyed my family," he says. I can't think straight, can't breathe. I wiggle in the restraints, but they're too tight and I still can't breathe. Asp bends down, produces rope, and ties my feet. I try to kick at him, but he's too strong. He quickly overpowers me. "So now I'm gonna take hers. Sorry brats. Life sucks."

The sobs become louder, someone, I think Shin, hyperventilates in the corner.

Asp stands, stretches, and then reaches towards the counters. It's then I notice the set of candles. Six, each a little further away from the other. They release a purple smoke as he lights them, a smoke I can't smell.

I choke on tears and the cruel, slow breath of the mask.

He laughs. My chest aches at the sound of it.

"Ten minutes of this smoke will kill any adult," he says, voice soft, dark, and amused. He returns to me, spinning my feet and repositioning me so I have a full view of the others. So I can watch them die. I glare, tears still pouring down my face. He leans forward and tucks a loose hair behind my head. "Your quirk won't be back for another twenty. Enjoy watching your world fall apart, hero."

Without another word, he walks out.