A/N: Chapter 2 is here,
No real warnings to worry about at the moment.

Ten Minutes Earlier

The two interns had quickly found out that helping Tamaki overcome his self-sabotaging anxiety was a bit harder than it looked. The sudden pressure of what he was expected to do had hit Tamaki like a freight train of paranoia and stomach-churning anxiety.

"It will only be until we can find the remote detonator and disable it. Once we're at their base we'll move as fast as we can." Creati told him gently, doing her best to reassure the now nervous manifest hero.

"That's still too long" Tamaki replied to the brick wall he was currently facing. "Besides, I can't act like that, that's not me."

Red Riot, who had been surprisingly quiet throughout Tamaki's initial realisation/freak out, piped up, "Of course it's not you, you just have to play a character."

Tamaki gave him a weary glance.

"Okay, let me explain," the redhead began, holding up his hands in surrender. "You're still pretty new to the whole hero game, so people don't really know much about you, just your name, right?"

As harsh as that sounded, Tamaki knew it was true, and he liked it that way. Being constantly recognised and scrutinised was exhausting, so he often tried his best to say out of the media's attention, letting the brighter heroes and sidekicks he worked with take the spotlight.

He nodded in response.

Red Riot continued, "So there is a good chance that these villains don't know much about you or your personality. It's perfect for you to play up a character."

Tamaki frowned and looked at the intern. "What do you mean?"

The sturdy hero scratched his chin. "You kind of already do it, play a character I mean. Normally, you get super nervous and quiet around strangers. That's just regular Amajiki. Then, when doing hero work, you get, like, super serious and manly, and only a bit nervous. That's Suneater.

We kind of all do that, now that I think about it. Anyway, you need to make another character to play. One that's confident, vain, and a bit cocky." Red Riot explained. He chuckled to himself. "I should have brought along one of Sero's Dungeons and Dragons character sheets."

Creati gasped, "Oh! Is that the thing you and the rest of your friends do in the common room? I heard Bakugou yelling something about dragons the other day. Can I join?"

"Yeah, he just found out my character is a half-dragon. But sure, I'll ask the group." He replied with a toothy grin, before focusing back on Tamaki. "So what do you think, Suneater?"

"That's easier said than done." Tamaki sighed, biting his lip. "I wouldn't even know where to begin for a role like that. This is stupid."

The two interns look at each other.

"Hey, you remember how big Kats- eh, Bakugou's ego was when he was a first year?" Red Riot began with a smirk, before continuing when Tamaki nodded. "If use that as a template, minus the excessive amounts of swearing and violence, you'll be able to pull it off perfectly."

"I-I just," Tamaki felt his cheeks growing warm. "I can't do that in front of people I know to begin with, let alone strangers. It's embarrassing."

Red Riot frowned and looked away in thought.

Tamaki clutched his cloak in an attempt to stop his hands from shaking. His head was spinning as mind became a jumbled mess, negative thoughts beginning to overshadow his reasoning.

This wasn't fair. He knew the interns were right, that he would have the best chance out of all three of them to get in and out relatively unscathed, but his nerves were getting the better of him. He had to focus. All he had to do was convince a bunch of strangers that he was- but he couldn't do that. It was selfish. He was being selfish. People's lives were at stake and he was chickening out-

Creati rested a hand on his shoulder. "Overthinking things is only going to make you feel worse," she sighed softly. Tamaki took a shaky breath and gave her a small nod. She was right.

"I got it!" Red Riot exclaimed before quickly slapping a hand over his mouth.

The suspects didn't seem to hear him from where they were inside the shop.

He slowly removed his hand and leant in.

"What if we don't watch. Will that help ease the pressure?"

"Kind of" Tamaki mumbled, turning around to face the two interns. He had to focus. "But how will you know when to follow me?"

Red Riot grinned and looked at Creati. "You've been spending time with the support class, right?" he asked her.

Back to present

He managed not to stumble when he landed behind the two suspects. In Tamaki's books, that meant things were already off to a good start. He dismissed his wings as both of the suspects whipped around to greet him.

Seeing the two suspects up close, there was now no doubt in the sidekick's mind that they matched the witness's accounts perfectly.

Ingrain stood at least three heads taller than him and had several abstractly shaped tattoos that ran down his neck that disappeared beneath his shirt. Despite his hulking muscular frame, he also seemed to have quiet a chubby face, which was not helped by the fact that he had shoved half of his ice cream into his mouth as he turned around. It kinda reminded Tamaki of a hamster. A really big, buff, baby-faced hamster.

Beside Ingrain's hulking mass, Paralay looked more like a twig that had a ratty white Halloween wig stuck to it. Her mismatched clothes hung loosely off her gangly limbs.

Tamaki clenched his fist, his ring finger brushing over the small button hidden on his palm. A nonverbal communication device. Buzzer, for short. The rest of the device was strapped to his wrist underneath his sleeve, while Creati wore a matching device on her wrist. She had explained to him that when the button was pressed, the other device would vibrate, and vice versa, before going over a long and somewhat complicated list of signals so that they could communicate.

In the end, they had chosen only five signals to use.

Creati had also made him a small, button sized tracking beacon, that he had placed under his shirt, just under his vest. Unless someone was really looking, both of these items weren't too easily seen, even though his shirt was skin tight. Both items, he had been told, were waterproof and somewhat shock proof.

Here went nothing.

"You know this area was evacuated at least 20 minutes ago. What? The shopping couldn't wait?" Gremlin Tamaki said with a smirk (Red Riot had come up with the name of the character, much to Tamaki's annoyance; in the end they didn't have time to change it). The two villains looked at each other, then back at him, seemingly in a state of shock that they had been found.

Paralay bit her lip. "It's none of your business what-" she managed to get out before the manifest hero interrupted her.

"Oh I think it is very much by business what you are doing here." Gremlin Tamaki sighed quickly, before chiming with as much fake enthusiasm and sarcasm as he could muster, "I was sent in to do a final sweep of the area to make sure idiot civilians such as yourselves were all clear." He gave them his best I don't get paid enough for this crap fake smile. Or at least he thought he did.

Internally, Tamaki's heart was pounding a little too hard for comfort in his chest and his mind was racing. There is no way they were buying this. Under his cloak, blunt nails dug into the palm of his hands in an attempt to keep them from trembling.

Ingrain's eyes flicked between the two of them, clearly intrigued in what was happening, but unable to talk due to him having shoved the other half of his ice cream in his mouth. Meanwhile, Paralay's right eye twitched.

"How, thoughtful, of you, little hero." She gritted out slowly, seemingly choosing her words carefully. "I don't believe I have seen you before, what was your name?"

Miraculously, Tamaki managed to keep the clearly fake smile plastered on his face. "The name's Suneater" Gremlin Tamaki began, throwing his arms out for added flare, "and once I bring you two in, I'll be promoted for sure."

"Mgghf!" Ingrain exclaimed, waving a hand before he spat out the now clean popsicle stick. "I've heard of him!" he cheered brightly. Tamaki's stomach dropped. He quickly pulled his arms back in and under his cloak.

They knew who he was, and they'll realise it was a trap. They'll-

The hulking villain continued, "I saw him on the news, he's a sidekick. He makes octopus arms and bird feet." Ingrain grinned at the two of them proudly. Tamaki felt his smile falter slightly, however Paralay didn't seem to notice. The white haired woman was pulling out a phone from her pocket. She typed something onto the screen.

"A sidekick, is that so?" She muttered, glancing between Tamaki and the screen. She paused, appearing to weigh up her options before slipping the phone back. Her eyes flick up to meet his. They were cold and calculating, with a slight hint of madness. Somehow, he was able to suppress a shiver that threatened to roll through his body.

"She had figured it out. She knew." His mind screamed at him while his throat tightened.

"You know who we are, don't you, little octopus." Paralay purred lowly.

Tamaki managed to swallow. He kept his gaze firm as he stared down the villains in front of him. He had to stay in character. He had to make this work. Make them believe. Become an asshole.

His lips twitch as a smirk slowly stretches across his face. "Of course I do. You and your little Rebuilder gang full of low-level Stain wannabes weren't too hard to find," he proclaimed.

There is a pause, before something snapped.

Paralay makes the first move, dropping her bag and darting forward with her hands outstretched. Tamaki almost didn't react at first.

It had worked. He couldn't believe-

"Fight first, lose, capture the villains, then celebrate," a voice at the back of his head cut in. In an instant, Tamaki's fingers on his right hand had become tentacles, reaching and binding Paralay before she could touch him. Or at least he did. He felt a sharp pin prick on his fingers, and two of his tentacles immediately fell away from the woman. There was a yellow glowing dot on both of them.

Her quirk.

Acting fast he pivoted and swung his arm, using the momentum to fling the woman into the side of a building. The glowing spots disappear from his limp tentacles and he quickly retracted them.

There was a blur of movement in his peripheral vision; the only warning his got as a long narrow stone-like javelin came at him. Tamaki threw himself to the side just in time to avoid getting impaled through the chest. The offending item retreated. Glancing in the direction it came from, he saw who he could only assume to be Spearhead approach, both his arms were grey and came to points.

"This isn't good" he thought to himself, once again manifesting his right hand into tentacles. He couldn't manifest anything on his left hand, not without the risk of damaging the buzzer. He lifted his arm, flaring the tentacles out towards Ingrain, who was still standing in place, pulling out another ice cream from his pocket.

Tamaki wrapped the long appendages around the large man, intending to swing him around and throw him into Spearhead, only for his arm to jerk back painfully as the large man didn't move. "

He has fused himself to the ground." Tamaki realised. Before he could retract his tentacles, Paralay was up and up in his space, giving both his shoulders and his lower back a quick jab.

Three pin pricks and just like that, it was over.

Both of Tamaki's arms fell limp. His legs crumble out from underneath him and he collapses, landing hard on his left side, causing him to gasp as pain shot up his arm and chest. The tentacles slowly begin to retract on their own, twitching and writhing occasionally as they did so. Paralay gave him a cold smile before walking with Spearhead over to Ingrain. They begin to talk in a hushed tone leaving Tamaki to lay there on the road.

At least he didn't have to try and convince them he wasn't throwing the fight.

Glancing down at his now numb appendages, Tamaki tried to move his fingers, wiggle his toes, anything at all, but his body didn't seem to want to respond. He did, however, felt a slight vibration against his left arm and side. Two short bursts. You good?

He scowled. What was the use of a buzzer if he couldn't even press it?

Tamaki blinked. Couldn't he?

Paralay had jabbed his lower back, but not his upper back.

Theoretically, Tamaki could manifest tentacles from anywhere on his body (much to the amusement of Mirio). The ones from his back, while not as graceful or precise as those from his hands or fingers, tended to be a lot larger and stronger than any others.

He bit his lip.

Large wasn't what he needed right now, but it was good to know that he wasn't completely at their mercy. He takes a deep breath and narrows his eyes in concentration. "Small, it needed to be small" he thought, chanting the words inside of his head.

From the middle of his back, just between his shoulder blades, a long thin tentacle manifested. He kept it pressed firmly against his skin and slowly began to snake the new appendages down his left sleeve until it came to rest on the buzzer's button. Using the tentacle, he sent two short bursts in response, I'm good, just as he heard the sound of footsteps approach him. Opening his eyes, he lifted his head to see the three villains walk over to him. The newcomer to the fight, Spearhead had a buzz cut and wore a simple pair of jeans and a muscle shirt, leaving his well-toned grey arms bare. His face was seemingly void of emotion as he stared down at Tamaki.

Paralay grabbed her discarded bag and checked its contents, the fingers she used to paralyse Tamaki were now glowing bright yellow. She looked up, a wide grin forming on her face.

"Good news, little octopus, you're coming with us. We're gonna make sure you get all the attention you deserve."

The journey itself was rather short, but it was far from comfortable. They had continued to gloat (and by they, it was mostly Paralay, spearhead had stayed silent and Ingrain had started to eat another ice cream) while they plucked each of his food pouches off his vest. Thankfully, Creati had suggested that he leave his quirk nullifying handcuffs with her, as well as his phone. The last thing he needed was to have those put on him.

Then, they might have a problem.

With their attention preoccupied by the pouches, none of the villains had picked up on the buzzer on his left wrist, nor the thin tentacle that was hiding under his arm. Once done, he had been scooped up and thrown over Ingrain's shoulder as if he weighed nothing, the large villain's shoulder jabbing him painfully in the stomach with every step he took. All Tamaki could do was keep his head down and wait, hoping that Creati and Red Riot weren't too far behind.

"You have got to be kidding me." Tamaki couldn't help but say out loud when he caught a glimpse of the building the Rebuilders were using as a base. Ingrian didn't respond and continued to carry him around to what he can only assume is the back of the building. Meanwhile, to his left, Paralay chuckled. "It's almost like fate brought you too us, don't you think little octopus," she said in a sing-song voice.

"Fate, and you lot trying to blow up parts of the city-" Tamaki let out a yelp as Ingrain jostled him, his shoulder punching the air from Tamaki's lungs as it dug into his stomach, again.

The building in question was a small, abandoned aquarium. Tamaki remembered briefly seeing it in the news a few months back, having been stuck in financial limbo before it could ever be open. Photos on the news had shown that the aquarium had been fully furbished and ready for fish before it's abandonment. It was a shame, really.

Ingrain carried him inside, with the other two villains following closely behind. The door's locks click into place as the door shuts.

"Nothing Creati couldn't handle," he thought to himself.

The room was dark, with what he could only assume to be the emergency lights lighting up the area. There was an overwhelming musty smell that saturated the room and made his skin feel damp. He didn't get much of a chance to try and look around as Ingrain continued down the hall and up a set of stairs. Behind them, he can hear a soft voice, Spearhead he assumed, having a one-sided conversation with someone. A phone call?

Straining, Tamaki can only make out a few words.

"We found… Yes… on schedule… She got popcorn."

Ingrain walked through a door labelled "Staff Only", and into a large, open room. He dropped Tamaki painfully onto his back and stood back.

Tamaki raised his head and did his best to look around. He could see several spots around the room where there was a guard rail encircling what he could only assume was the entrances to several different display tanks.

Entrances like the one that was beside him.

"Oh." He thought dully.

He spotted Paralay dragging a small industrial spotlight over to where he was, setting it up just above the entrances of the tank next to him, so that it would shine down into it.

"Oh great."

Spearhead suddenly loomed above him, a rope in hand. He knelt down and rolled Tamaki back and forth as he worked the rope around the manifest hero's waist, tying it tight. Tamaki laid there and glared up at the villain.

Despite having a pretty good idea about what they were going to do to him, Tamaki found himself to be surprisingly calm. He had been in worst situations before, not that that was a good thing. Anyone else would have told him to pull the plug here and call for back up, but after mentally going over what he had eaten that day on the journey there, he was feeling rather confident.

Everything had been going smoothly and he trusted Fatgum's interns, so why quit now.

Spearhead sat back and tied the other end of the rope to a single cinder block. Once done, he gave Ingrain a thumbs up. The larger man hauled Tamaki up by the front of his bare vest and dangled him over the tank, while Spearhead kicked the block into the water. The sudden jolt pulled the rope around Tamaki's waist painfully taunt.

"Well Suneater, any last words before we make you famous? Perhaps beg?" Paralay purred, as she leant on the railing. Tamaki narrowed his eyes at her. For all his weaknesses, there was one thing he didn't do, and that was beg.

He kept his mouth firmly shut and just glares at her.

Paralay tilted her head to the side and smirked. "Okay then little octopus, suit yourself. Welcome to your new home." She leans forward and adjusts his cowl, pulling it forward, before giving Ingrain a nod.

Ingrain grunted and let Tamaki go, dropping him into the murky water below.