(( Holy god, 10,000... I am in tears, like happy tears but in tears all the same I don't think a lot of folks would understand why but it means a lot to me that we've come this far. Thank you all ;-; ))

Chapter 31

"The Canary in the Coal Mine"

The group went stark still, there was the faint sound of birds in the distance, and a rustle of leaves. Though there was an urge to speak, cry out, anything, it was difficult to do so. Even if their heart rates were elevating from hearing a strangers thoughts pierce their own, their command like cold ice in their heads.

They were trapped in their own bodies, and Shinso briefly wondered if this is what his quirk felt like.

They looked around quickly for the creature or individual responsible for holding them in place. Jiro and Kaminari exchanged a glance, he could potentially let out a burst, that wouldn't technically be movement, but... Jiro knew from experience he wasn't keen on hurting his friends at all. They needed to get someone's attention, but how? Jiro found she couldn't really move but... her earplugs.. well she couldn't extend them but she could move them a little. Not much...

"h-hey f-fuck you" Jiro heard Bakugo say, and then that thought came back with another icy command for them.

~such a mouth! Keep your cursing to yourself, don't speak such vulgarities!~

Jiro could practically feel that invasion of her speech, too. Wincing at how strong such a command was. There was a grunting noise from him, and something like a low growl from Alarice. The thought commands could be fought, it seemed, in small ways.

A thought did occur to her, but she couldn't move her earplugs enough to help any one else, and this was going to hurt a lot. She started to hear the next command and plugged herself into herself. It was painful, extraordinarily so, but the pain and sound of her own body, looping into itself, was enough to keep her from even 'hearing' the stranger's thoughts.

She saw her friends, through blurring vision, cast their phones into the grass, even their IDs. Identifying information was being tossed onto the grass, willingly, it would seem. Her her head was pounding with pain, she had to unplug from herself, as her nose began to bleed. The earlier compulsions were still there, to a degree, Speaking loudly wasn't going to happen and her movements were slow. However, quick movements were likely to give her away, anyway.

So she imitated her classmates, who had no choice, in case they were watching. Though she heard no other thoughts invade her own, to call her out for delayed response.

~excellent! Also remember not talk about this!~

They hadn't noticed that Jiro had mostly broken free, the relief meant she was too late to catch that command and grimaced to herself.

~Now please, come to –

Jiro hurriedly plugged herself back in, throwing herself towards the only other student she could reach, to stop them, too. Her own feedback loop wrecking her, and her plug only barely making it into Bakugo's leg, the painful deep thrumming blocking the compulsion to leave with the others, from his brain. She nearly lost consciousness, barely pulling back out again before that happened. She could audibly tell that Bakugo was mostly free, and hadn't let that go to waste. Alarmingly though, their classmates where already disappearing into the trees. "OH no you friggin don't"

Bakugo hissed out, increasingly irritated, now that the former compulsions were remaining, and found he couldn't run, the remaining compulsion still kept him from moving too much, speaking too loudly, and also cursing. Jiro still lying on the ground, watched him spark a bit, literally, realizing he could probably still use his quirk to move.

~Please no quirks now kids, please behave.~

Somehow it was enough, faint as that thought felt for Bakugo to stop. Jiro could practically hear his teeth grinding as a result. Their friends were no longer in view, was it his sparking or was one of their classmates trying to defend themselves, too? It was impossible to tell, now.

Much to Jiro's surprise, Bakugo turned, and in that forced slow pace, bent down and picked her up. She was grateful that he could tell she was dizzy and unable to stand, currently. Protecting them both hadn't exactly been easy or comfortable.

"Mother clucking fecal matter of a dog." Bakugo tried to growl out, carrying his classmate away, at the painfully slow pace they were stuck at. "I'm going to beat the booty off of them."

Jiro tried not to find any humor in the situation.

000

Ashido was the first to see them as they crossed over the threshold of plants, to paths again. Midoriya wasn't that far away from her, but he wasn't paying attention.

"Oh my … are you two okay? What happened?!"

"a Mother trucking psychic piece of poop just-" Bakugo looked like he wanted to explode and also die, and Ashido, (between snickers) was genuinely relieved that he didn't explode, helping Jiro to her feet when he put her down. Furiously trying to use his quirk but a small poof of smoke his only reward. Jiro struggled to find words, too. "Something... bad.. just happened."

"mother of a cuss!" Bakugo managed to 'yell', it was more like a raised voice, but slowly he was fighting off some of the compulsion. Midoriya was attracted over by the sound of frustration in Bakugo's voice.

"Kacchan?" Midoriya asked, face the picture of classic concern from him, Jiro noted, and Bakugo's immediately enraged further.

"Deku, you fricking frick, some frappin fart with a telepathic quirk got in!" was all he managed to get out, but the fury on his face was extremely telling on what had just happened. Midoriya took stock of what he was seeing, and also the lack of explosions, and what he was hearing.

"Someone with a telepathic quirk that... made you stop cursing?" Midoriya asked, looking considerably concerned, and increasingly so, as he wracked his brain for knowledge. "I... don't know of any one in the school with a quirk like that."

There was a growl of frustration, and a few more puffs of sulfur-smelling smoke.

"It's... we were commanded not to talk about it." Jiro said uneasily. Midoriya's stress and concern rising exponentially. "Kaminari, Shinso, and 'rice were with us."

"Someone got on to UA grounds." Midoriya said, looking for confirmation from his two classmates as he put it together. There was more anger and a downcast look from Jiro. "With a Telepathic quirk who compulsed you n- Ashido, can you take Jiro to Recovery Girl?"

"Got it." Was the pink haired girls response, leading her friend towards the main building.

"Kacchan, let's go!" Midoriya responded, quick to find one of the little security drones that would have been useful earlier. Picking it up as Bakugo said some other ridiculous line of sanitized swearing and bitching. Repeating what he had gathered information-wise to it, before taking off with Bakugo, who was furious about the entire affair. The tiny robot was a faster method of getting the info to the school than running to tell them, themselves. Time was of the essence after all.

000

The two hell-hounds jumped into the van, as it materialized from the pile of leaves and logs it had appeared to be. The eggshell-colored one, clutching three perfect looking eggs in its mouth, laying them gently down onto a soft fabric 'nest' to protect them. The sicklier of the two, shifted back into a man, retrieving clothes and getting into the van. While the side of the van door was shuttered closed carefully by a fourth person, a small woman. She settled-in, next to the eggshell-colored hell-hound.

"I'll finish dressing as we go, Dupe. Best we go now, too, there were two others I wasn't able to catch." The clean-faced, well-kept man stated, putting on the loosely fitting clothes as the van pulled onto the road, and headed away from their spot. He settled into the passenger seat, grabbing a pack of energy bars, and proceeding scarf them down. Unwrapping several more, and tossing them to the back for the other, still maintaining hell-hound form.

"Manticore won't be pleased." Dupe commented, a fellow of equal age to the other, covered in tattoos. His hair messy but his face easier on the eyes than his compatriot's.

"When is she ever pleased? Those kids will be struggling to explain what happened to them, even still." Jerry, settled into his seat more, seemingly unphased by his inability to ensure the capture of all the kids. "Besides, I did my research, we wouldn't have wanted one of them any way. If my ears didn't betray me, one of them was that kid from the Kamino ward incident."

There was a grunt from the one still a Hell-hound, as they laid their head down on their paws, not really relaxing or sleeping but casually maintaining their shape.

"Ah." Dupe acknowledged. "Still, kidnapping any UA kid is risky, given the info from that same Kamino ward incident."

"Or if the security I had to work through, to put you both IN THERE, was any clue, Jerry," growled the woman, arms over her chest and looking displeased with him. "This was a terrible idea."

"So what you're saying is, it's fine I didn't grab the explosive child anyway." There was a huff from her after that. As far as he was concerned, even getting three kids was a stretch he hadn't really wanted to do. Not to mention he'd have to lay out another round of compulsion once they got to the docks. He dug into another energy bar and cracked open a soda. "You good back there, Thomas?"

There was a snuffling snort from the Hell-hound behind his seat. As well as a sigh from the woman who looked thoroughly displeased about being there.

"Alright then." Jerry said with another shrug, drinking his soda deeply, sucking down the whole can, politely putting it into a trash bag, right after. The car ride went quiet for awhile, casual radio music playing from the radio at a low volume. "I do hope the Tenshi-clan aren't going to be too demanding about claiming a pup."

"Manticore will give them something, she has to." Dupe said with a bored look at the road, at least traffic was light, they were making good time. "She doesn't have a choice, as they've been such good hosts to us. Especially now that there's still a large chance that UA will come knocking on Tenshi's door looking for their kids."

"Tenshi clan knows what to do, they've been fending people off for years." Jerry stated, finally putting on his shoes, since he'd been entirely naked earlier. "Manticore will probably have us moving out tonight or tomorrow night anyway." They were still an hour out from the main location to get onto the ship. The only problem was, of course, that their hell-hound looking friend would need cover to be gotten onto the ship. Hopefully Isolator would be there help them out with that.

They pulled into their docks after awhile, Dupe having to shake Jerry awake, before they carefully awoke their compatriots "Want me to carry the eggs or?"

The hell-hound gave them a huff, and collected the eggs themselves, carefully into their jaws. They shrugged, Thomas could do what he wanted with his eggs. They came around the side, nodding to their boatman, an associate as well. The woman got out and gave a noise. No Isolator, so they went with Plan B: Thomas in a box, lightly covered, loaded onto the ship. They loaded up and Dupe made sure the van was responsibly parked and taken care of, before heading over to catch a ride to the Island.

The Tenshi clan island was decent travel away from Japan, settled just far enough away they fell into almost international water, but only barely. By and large, it was considered Private Property, but more importantly, it was also considered 'protected' territory. The Tenshi clan manor was historic in its value. The lands on it containing protected animals, at least as far as they claimed. However it wasn't open for tourists, since the family still lived there.

A few hours travel later, the little boat the four hell-hounds and one associate were on, docked peacefully at the island. Another larger ship was docked at its side. A privately owned ship.