Hello earthlings! I own nothing except a dysfunctional computer.

Overall, things couldn't have been much worse.

A group of students training to be Heroes had been attacked in what was supposed to be a safe location. Many of them had been injured, including a princess of a foreign kingdom. A student, one of the more famous ones in the 'less civilized' part of the kingdom, had been taken. So far UA had been able to hide what had happened from the general public, but the healers called in to examine the students were beginning to tell tales. Soon everything- and that meant everything- would be spread among the public.

Izuku couldn't bring himself to care.

Kacchan was gone. Gone. Taken by villains. It'd been two days since he'd disappeared. Apparently after all of the villains had vanished through the portals, the adult Heroes had arrived and carried Izuku back to the camp. Then all of the students were taken to the healing center at UA and treated for whatever injuries they had. But that didn't matter all that much.

Because Kacchan was gone. Izuku hadn't been able to save him.

He sat in the small white bed. He ended up in small white beds with the Healers a lot. It was probably a problem. Maybe if he was less weak, it wouldn't be. Maybe if he was just stronger, braver, if he just worked harder...

The Healers had told him to stay in the room for at least another night. Apparently his injuries were really, really bad- the worst of anyone else in 1-A. Which made sense. He had fought villains and been launched into the sky with two broken arms. One of them even said he might have permanent damage, and even sorcery couldn't fix the scars left on his wrists.

All Might had visited him. He'd told Izuku he was proud, that he did his best, that he was just happy he'd survived, but he'd looked stressed. For good reason.

At least Kota had survived. The little boy had come out of everything with no other injuries, besides for a bit more trauma. That was the only thing Izuku had done right.

Someone knocked at the door to the small room. A few seconds later, Izuku heard Uraraka call, "Can we come in?"

"Yeah, sure."

Apparently 'we' meant the entirety of Class 1-A, minus Jiro, Hagakure, Yaoyorozu, and Kacchan. They all piled into the relatively small room. Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki, and Tsuyu stood closest to Izuku's bed. No one spoke for a few seconds. No one moved.

"So…" Izuku said slowly. "Is everyone alright?"

"We need to talk about something."

Weirdly, it was Kirishima who spoke first. He walked to the front of the room, standing right next to Izuku's bed. The red-haired boy took a deep breath and turned back to the rest of the class. "We need to rescue Bakugo."

Kaminari laughed, sounding extremely, extremely bitter. "No shit, bro."

"The Heroes are-"

"I don't mean the Heroes should rescue Bakugo. I mean we should rescue Bakugo. Class 1-A."

No one spoke for a few seconds. Then Iida said, mostly calmly, "No."

"But if we can get him out of here, the Heroes can do whatever they want without having to worry about hurting him!"

"It's too dangerous. We're Hero students, not Heroes yet. Mr. Aizawa-"

"We've fought villains twice already, I think that makes us more like full Heroes than anyone else our age! Besides, tons of teenagers fight villains without actually being Heroes. Like Bakugo when he was the Dragon King!"

"Yes, and look what happened to him because of it. He became a target of the villains!"

"But he also helped people, and he was younger than we are now and he was really untrained!" Kirishima looked at Izuku pleadingly. "You knew him back then, right, Midoriya? Didn't you live in the same village?"

"How'd you know that?"

"He told me. If you lived in the same village, you knew what he was like back then! Are we more trained than he was?"

Izuku thought about it for a few seconds. The day Kacchan left the village to go find treasure and fame and… whatever had been a long time ago, but… "Yes. He'd never had any training."

"So we can do this!"

"We don't even know where he is," Iida said, sounding tired. Izuku's friend looked stressed. The USJ, then his brother, then Stain, and then the training camp… it was no wonder he was worn out.

"Awase was able to put a tracking potion on one of the Nomus," Todoroki said suddenly, stepping away from Tsuyu to stand next to Kirishima. "Yaoyorozu told me about it. She also said she was able to get Awase to make her a potion that would tell her where the Nomu was, as well as the one he made for the Heroes. We think that they're keeping the Nomus where they're keeping Bakugo."

"But you don't know that. If you're wrong, you'll be breaking into a building full of Nomus for nothing. Nomus are extremely dangerous. Everyone involved could end up seriously hurt."

"I can't just do nothing again, Iida!" Kirishima protested. He drove his hand into his fist. "I let the villains take one of my best friends while I just… sat there, inside a safe building with Heroes and I… I didn't leave! I didn't even try to help anyone, and now my friends are hurt and one of them was captured and I was useless! I have to do something!"

"Which is why the two of us are going to rescue Bakugo tonight."

Izuku nearly jumped out of the bed. The entire class went completely still and quiet. Eventually Ojiro shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"It's also not smart to just sit in the hospital and wait for the Heroes to take care of things. Clearly the Heroes are not going to do an amazing job of it, as they've sort of… not taken care of it up until now. Someone has to do something, and it'll likely have to be us."

"Eijiro…" Ashido whispered, staring at her friend with wide eyes. "This is… you're going to get yourself killed!"

"I agree," Iida added. "I have to ask you not to do this. It likely won't end well for anyone involved. The best thing we can do in this situation is wait here for the Heroes- the ones trained to deal with these kinds of situations- to deal with it."

"My father is the one who is in charge of all of this," Todoroki said. His voice still sounded monotone, but there was a slight edge to it that only someone close to him could recognize. "I can promise you that he doesn't care about Bakugo. He wants to defeat the villains, and he will be more than willing to disregard his safety to reach his goal. Besides, he already didn't like Bakugo. The fact that some peasant was running around in the countryside with similar powers to Endeavor calling himself the 'Dragon King' who also had a literal dragon has bothered him for a long time. I don't know for sure, but I believe he thinks Bakugo is a threat to the throne."

"But there are… other Heroes who will try to save Bakugo, right? Heroes who care about him! Like Mr. Aizawa or the Pussycats or-"

"But Endeavor will be the one in charge. He's decided to personally go out and fight the villains himself, to prove to the queen that he is still capable of protecting Yaoyorozu. If it comes down to saving Bakugo or killing a villain, he will order the other Heroes to take out the villain, and they will have to do it. He is the king."

"Aizawa wouldn't," Shinso said, sounding weirdly defensive. "He'd do whatever was right."

"Yes, but then he'd be punished severely for it. It is better for us to save Bakugo to make sure none of the Heroes are put in that position. Besides, I want to do this." Todoroki shook his head slowly and stared at his hand for a few seconds. "I'm the reason Bakugo was captured. I wasn't able to get him away from the villains in time. I'm the crown prince of this kingdom. It's my job to make sure all of my subjects are safe. So Kirishima and I are leaving tonight. Anyone who wants to come with us-"

"Like you, Midoriya!" Kirishima turned back to Izuku with wide eyes. "You should come with us!"

"Midoriya is still recovering from his injuries-"

"He's mostly healed, right? And he's the one who knows Bakugo the best, and he's good at making plans! If anyone can figure out a way to help him, it's Midoriya!"

"I'm not sure about that-" But, of course, no one was listening to Izuku.

"It's too dangerous! None of you should be doing it!" Iida had started moving his arms back and forth, the way he did whenever he was feeling any emotion too strongly. "The best thing to do is wait for the Heroes-"

"Like you did in Hosu?"

Izuku looked quickly around at the rest of the class, who looked confused. No one except him, Iida, and Todoroki were supposed to know about what had really happened there. Iida seemed surprised that Todoroki would even mention it.

"That was… different."

"I don't see how."

"This is more than one villain! It's far too dangerous for us, especially since most of us have already been injured in the past few days! Besides, Mr. Aizawa has told me- very explicitly- not to leave the hospital until Bakugo is rescued!"

Izuku had not been told that, but it could be because Aizawa had been too busy with other things to come tell a student with two broken (mostly healed) arms not to break out of the hospital to go fight villains. Because who in their right mind would do that?

"We should just wait!"

"Wait for what?" Kirishima snapped. "The Heroes aren't gonna be able to get their shit together! You heard Todoroki, they're gonna focus on stopping the villains, not actually saving people, and I refuse to just sit there while one of my friends is in trouble!"

Ashido stepped forward, reaching a hand towards her friend. "But what can we do to stop it? We don't… we can't do anything."

"I'll find a way to fix this!"

"This is not a very good plan," Tsuyu said, like she was just stating a fact in class and she was not in a room where many people's emotions were about to explode. "You have no plan. Going would likely put even more people in danger besides just Bakugo. Also it will be severely breaking the rules that the school set up for our protection."

Kirishima sighed and looked back at Izuku. It was clear what he wanted to say but wouldn't. Todoroki nodded at Tsuyu. "Alright. You have a good point. We are breaking the rules. If you would like to come with us anyway, meet us in front of the dorms later." And the two boys pushed their way back through the group and left, with the prince calling over his shoulder, like it was an afterthought, "I'm glad you're feeling better, Midoriya."

No one spoke for a few seconds after that. Then everyone slowly started to leave, most of them stopping to say something quickly to Izuku and then going. It was understandable. They all had other things on their minds.

After about a minute, the only people left in the room were Iida, Uraraka, and Tsuyu. The tall boy was still moving his hands quickly back and forth like he was thinking hard about something. The two girls sat down at the foot of Izuku's bed, not saying anything.

"That is a bad plan," Tsuyu said finally. She looked straight at Izuku, like she knew what he was thinking. "I don't think you should go along with it."

"I would also not recommend it," Iida added. "It would put you in too much danger and possibly even get you expelled from UA, if Aizawa is mad enough about you breaking the rule. I don't want for that to happen to you."

Izuku nodded and smiled. He was sure it looked fake. "Thank you. I don't want… for that to happen either."

Iida did not look satisfied. That was the problem with having friends who knew Izuku way too well. But no one else said anything. What could they talk about, the weather? Villains had invaded the training camp, which made it the second time in that year their class had been attacked by villains. Uraraka was still limping slightly from Toga's stab wound. A student had been captured by the villains. Nothing made sense anymore.

Except for the fact that Izuku was a Hero. More than that, he was the future King. He hadn't asked, but he was well aware of what All Might would do if he was in that situation.

So that was what Izuku would do. Because Izuku was the Heir.

More importantly, Kacchan was his friend.

The head healer told Izuku that his arms were healed enough for him to go back to the UA dorms instead of staying inside the hospital. Which was a very clear sign that none of his classmates had told the sorcerers about Kirishima and Todoroki's plan. Otherwise they probably would have tried to keep him for another night. Or maybe they just didn't think a boy who had two mostly healed broken arms would be stupid enough to go hunting for villains.

Kirishima grinned as Izuku walked towards him. "Hey, Midoriya!" he called. Loudly.

Izuku waved. The Ruling Sword was heavy on his back. He wondered for a few seconds if All Might would summon it at some point. It was not out of the question to think that the former king would sneak into a mission headed by the current king just to fight some villains and rescue one of his students. That… was actually entirely something he would do.

That was somewhat concerning for multiple reasons. If people figured out that All Might was alive, that could destabilize the country as people took sides behind either him or Endeavor. Plus if Izuku was in a near-death situation and the Sword was summoned away from him, that could also be… very bad, but that was more of a selfish thought.

A few feet from Kirishima, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu were standing together. The princess still had a bandage wrapped partly around her head, but she seemed alright. Her staff was tied to her back by a piece of cloth and she looked somewhat nervous.

"Are you coming?" Izuku asked as soon as he was close enough to her so he didn't have to yell. Yelling seemed bad when they were sneaking out of the academy.

"Yes, I am." Yaoyorozu nodded, standing up slightly straighter. "These people are to be my subjects in a few years, and I am the one with the tracking potion. I will come."

Izuku smiled at her. He didn't know the princess that well, and she'd seemed kind of off ever since the Sports Festival and the exams. Apparently something had happened there that none of her group would talk about, but she'd been acting less confident since then. Which didn't make sense to Izuku, because he'd seen her fight and analyze others. She was a badass genius, and they were lucky she was coming with them. "I'm glad."

She smiled slightly back at him before turning to Todoroki. "Should we go? I doubt that anyone else is coming."

"So you're actually going to do this?"

Iida walked out of the UA dorms with his arms crossed and his sword sheathed at his waist. Izuku was normally happy to see his friend, but it was probably not the right time.

"None of you should be doing this, but especially not Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. You are the two future rulers of Uyay. You should not be-"

"As the future king, it is my responsibility to keep my kingdom and my subjects safe."

"If Yaoyorozu is killed, her mother will likely attack Uyay!"

"My mother is very reasonable. She will see that my death is no reason to kill thousands more, especially since I have left a note in my dorm promising that my going was of my own free will."

"It is… you will be breaking the rules! Students are not supposed to seek out villains. That is a general rule of the school. Aizawa also specifically told us not to!"

"Sometimes you have to break rules in order to help people!" Kirishima said forcefully.

"That is ridiculous! Breaking the rules never helps people!"

"I wouldn't be alive if Ashido's family hadn't broken the rules! Demons aren't supposed to really interact with human babies, but they took me in!"

"That's… that's different!" Iida's hands were moving again rapidly, and his eyes were darting from place to place. "This is too dangerous, and I can not allow it."

"Both Yaoyorozu and I outrank you. We can simply order you-"

"At the moment, we are the same rank since we are both students and Mr. Aizawa or the other teachers outrank all of us."

"Iida," Izuku said, stepping towards his friend and holding out one hand. He understood the other boy. He hated breaking rules of any kind, and everything that had happened with Stain probably hadn't helped with that. Iida had gone looking for a villain and he and two of his close friends had nearly died. Izuku couldn't blame him for being worried, but it would be different that time. "Come with us."

"What?"

"What?" That one was from Kirishima.

"I know you want to save Kacchan as much as any of us-"

"You don't understand!" Iida shoved Izuku away, sending him stumbling back a few steps. "All of you are my classmates, and more importantly all of you are my friends, and I do not wish to see any of you get hurt!"

"We-"

"Do you understand what it is like for me? My brother was almost killed fighting a villain a few months ago, and now two of my best friends want to seek villains out after I almost got them killed because of my own recklessness? I want to stop you from making the same mistake I made!"

"But we're not going to fight villains. We're going to find Bakugo and then get away quickly. Hopefully-"

"Hopefully? Even if you don't want to fight villains, you're still at least going to be near villains, and that could be… I don't want for any of you to be hurt worse than you have already been!"

"Then come with us! You can… if we need to… you can get us away. If we actually come in contact with villains and there's a chance that we're about to fight them, you can make sure that we don't!"

Iida froze for a second, staring at Izuku. "That's not… I…"

"It's the best solution. We're going whether you come with us or not, and if you come with us, you can make sure we don't do stupid things." Izuku grinned at his friend, who looked like he was thinking. Which was fair. If he hadn't been fairly sure that deep down Iida actually wanted to go, he wouldn't have asked it of his friend.

Izuku tried not to be stressed out by how long talking to Iida was taking. He understood. There were rules, and the rules were there for a reason. Maybe that reason just wasn't good enough in that specific situation. And they were going to be in danger, but they were always in danger anyway.

"You're really going to go, Midoriya?" Iida asked, his voice suddenly much quieter. Like he was talking just to Izuku. The green-haired boy stared into his friend's eyes.

"I do."

"Then I will come with you. However if there is actual combat, all of us are going to leave immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

No one objected. Todoroki even smiled slightly as Izuku and Iida walked over to join the group. Izuku was probably smiling too. His friend was amazing. They were going to save Kacchan. Everything would be alright. Izuku would make up for his failures.

"Yaoyorozu," Iida said, "where are we going?"

"We are going to follow the potion." The princess pulled a small glowing vial out of a bag at her waist and held it up. "The closer we get to the Nomu that the tracking potion was on, the brighter this potion will glow. I was planning on borrowing some of the academy's horses."

"So we are stealing from our school?"

"We will, of course, bring them back."

Iida sighed, looking like that might have been too much for him. Izuku touched his right arm gently. "You don't have to-"

"I'm going to." The taller boy took a deep breath. "It is for… for a good reason. It's for a good reason." He smiled slightly at Izuku. "But thank you for your consideration."

"Thank you for everything." He wasn't sure what else to say there, but it was true. Maybe it was all he needed to say. Or maybe he was still just exhausted from the past week. Maybe he was just grateful that his friend existed.

There was a slightly awkward moment where Yaoyorozu and Kirishima were staring at the two of them with wide eyes. Todoroki, on the other hand, had already turned around and was walking towards the stables. "Well?" he said, looking back quickly. "Let's go."

"I don't think the kid's gonna join the League, Shiggy."

"Give it some more time."

"I don't think he is."

Tomura bared his teeth at Toga, who looked very unbothered by it. Because of course the little brat did. He missed the days when everyone he interacted with was terrified of him.

If those days had ever existed.

He leaned back slightly in his chair, eyeing the kid. Katsuki Bakugo, the Dragon King. One of the most famous kids. The most like a traditional hero from legends, not the kind who got paid for it but who just wandered around fighting demons and getting glory. Maybe it was just because Tomura had always loved the ideas of the old heroes, but there had been something about the kid that interested him. Apparently he'd been friends with the elfling and had actually spent time with All Might, so that was something else.

More than that, though, the Dragon King seemed fairly unstable. There were many stories in his part of the kingdom of him getting mad at some villager and yelling at them instead of at the demon or bandit he was supposed to be fighting. And then there was the time he'd lit part of someone's house on fire. On accident and he'd paid them back for it, but still. And then there was his performance in the Sports Festival at UA.

Extremely powerful with anger issues. A great combination for the League. Tomura's source reported that he was extremely intelligent too, which was just an added bonus. And according to Master, his mother was… a piece of work, so maybe he had some parental issues too. The perfect recipe for a good villain.

The problem was that Bakugo was stubborn as shit. He hadn't eaten in two days and spent all of his time tied to a chair with metal cuffs over his hands, making it hard to use his sorcery, but he still tried to bite anyone who came close enough. Even with a gag in his mouth, Tomura could still hear him cursing and yelling from the upstairs part of the bar. It was ridiculous.

Tomura got up and strolled towards the kid, who was glaring up at him through bloodshot eyes. He admired Bakugo's grit. It made sense why Master had been so interested in him. He knelt down, looking him in the eyes. Magne and Spinner, who'd been guarding him, both quickly backed away.

"You know who I am, right, brat?"

Bakugo didn't respond. Just stared at Tomura until he brought his hand towards Bakugo's face, touching him with two fingers. "You were there when I attacked UA. You know what I can do to you."

It was hard to tell with the gag on, but it sounded like Bakugo said, "Fuck you." Tomura laughed. The kid had guts. There was no denying that. He might be a bit more trouble than he was worth, though. There had to have been other powerful kids at UA who were easier to manipulate and control, like one of the demons. The more powerful one, the bird-headed one, had been a target, but Tomura had suggested that they try to get the pink one too. Master had refused, saying he wanted Bakguo specifically, and Master knew better than Tomura.

"Alright, kid." Tomura said, shaking his head. "So here's how this is gonna go. You haven't eaten or drank water for a couple of days, right? You must be real hungry and thirsty, right?"

Fuck you!" That one was slightly quieter. A good sign.

"You need water and food to live. Well, we have water and food. Water and food we'd be happy to give you if you'd just cooperate with us."

"Fuck you!"

"We want to destroy society. All of it. We want to burn it to the ground and then just let people do whatever they want. Be whoever they want. I know kids like you. You wanna burn, right? You're angry at everything and everyone all of the time. You're stronger than everyone, so why do you have to be held down? Why can't you just do what you want?"

Something shifted slightly in the kid's eyes. He did want that freedom, Tomura could see it clearly. He was always angry and he did want to burn everything down. The older boy tried to hide the slow smile spreading over his face. Almost. Almost there. And then the League would have a new member and Master would be satisfied for another day. And King All Might would be annoyed. Even the elfling would be annoyed. That was the best part about the whole thing.

Tomura wasn't sure why he hated the elfling so much. He was just a kid who'd likely grown up worshiping the ground All Might walked on, like so many other kids. Sure, he'd lied about not being the Heir. There was no way he was not the Heir. Most of his classmates and teachers had apparently bought the bullshit about his Sword just being a replica, but there was no way. Master had confirmed it. The kid was the next rightful king of Uyay.

But Tomura had nothing against liars.

It was probably just the kid's face. His stupid face, staring up at Tomura with fear, the way he'd saved him even though he was about to kill his teacher… goddammit, he hated people who really thought they were heroes. They always were the same. They thought they were better than him just because they 'saved' anything who moved, until it became too inconvenient for them.

"So," Tomura continued, backing away from the kid slightly so his fingers were no longer touching his face. "I think you should join us."

The kid laughed. The same way he had the last three times Tomura or one of the others had said something similar.

It would go so much faster if they were allowed to physically torture him. And be more fun. Toga was starting to get bored. But Master had made Tomura promise that they wouldn't torture, which made sense. Ripping someone's toes off probably wasn't likely to convince them to join the League. But still, dealing with stubborn asshole teenagers was tiring and Tomura was also starting to get bored.

And when he got bored, people usually started dying.

"What? You think we won't kill you? Because we will. Eventually we're gonna get tired of this little game, and we're gonna kill you. The Heroes aren't gonna come rescue you. No one's gonna come rescue you."

That seemed to bother Bakugo. His head fell, just for a second, before he picked it back up and kept looking angry. No one could withstand two days without food, water, and the constant threat that they were about to be destroyed. Not even stubborn little baby Heroes.

"Besides, the Heroes like to tie you up, right? Like how they restrained you at the Sports Festival. That couldn't have been fun, could it?"

That… that had a real reaction from the kid. Tomura nearly grinned. He hadn't won, but he was close.

"No one'll ever try to restrain you, once you're really with us. We only restrained you now because you're a threat. They did it because… what? They don't think you deserve to be powerful? They don't think you deserve to prove that you're the best? I say that's bullshit! In fact…" Tomura reached for the cuffs around Bakugo's hands.

From behind him, Twice made a small noise. "Uh… Boss…"

"I know what I'm doing!" He touched the cuffs. They dissolved as Tomura stepped backwards slightly, spreading his hands apart. "You're free to do whatever now. As a villain, you'll always be free to do whatever you want."

Bakugo slowly stood up. He looked very confused as he tore the gag out of his mouth, but then the confusion was replaced by a smirk. A tired, fake-looking smirk, but it was still the smirk of someone who was about to go batshit. And Tomura realized he may have made a mistake.

"You dumbass, you think I'd ever become a goddamn villain? No! I'm gonna do whatever I want but not because I destroyed everything else, because I'm gonna be the best, strongest Hero Uyay has ever seen! And first, I'm gonna absolutely fucking destroy all of you!" He leapt at Tomura, sending a blast of fire at his face that he was barely able to dodge. Dammit.

Twice moved quicker than Tomura had ever seen him move, trying to get behind the kid, but Bakugo just blasted him directly in the face, sending him falling backwards even as he still went for Tomura. He could feel the full heat from that attack even from several feet away. The kid was strong. Stupid, idiotic, but strong. He would have been perfect for the League.

Master would be disappointed if Tomura killed him, but that was alright. He would understand. Tomura had been attacked first. He twisted around another attack, reaching his hand towards Bakugo's arm. The boy saw it, clearly. His eyes widened and he hit Tomura in the chest with a blast, strong enough to send him backwards.

"Shit," Tomura muttered, wiping ash off of his shirt and catching his breath. The kid was annoying. But he'd be dead soon enough. Twice was on his feet again, and Spinner and Magne were advancing towards Bakugo. It wouldn't be long before he was either restrained again or dead.

And then there was a loud crashing sound from outside the bar. Tomura whipped around towards the window, but there was nothing. Nothing but darkness.

And then the wall crashed in.

Fire swirled through the new opening as Endeavor- the goddamn king- strolled into the room, followed by a group of other Heroes. The king pointed one finger at Tomura. "Boy!" he snapped. "Release the child, or we will kill you."

"No way in hell!" Tomura sprang forward, but a gust of wind blew him sideways, ramming him into a wall. He hissed, trying to get back to his feet, but Endeavor and the other Heroes, the ones not fighting the other members of the League, walked towards him.

Just being near Endeavor, the pinnacle of everything Tomura wanted to destroy, filled him with a weird, manic kind of energy. He wanted to attack. He wanted to attack, wanted to destroy, wanted to tear apart everything-

Not yet.

Master.

Don't attack them. Let them get close to you. Stay still.

It went against every instinct that had been drilled into Tomura's body, but he stayed still. Didn't move as Endeavor and the Heroes got closer and closer, close enough that Tomura could reach out and kill them with a single movement, one second…

A black mist enveloped Tomura. He grinned, even as he heard the other League members who were less used to that power panic, even as he heard Bakugo cussing, even as the Heroes lunged at him.

It's time.

It was time.

The world had no idea what was coming for it.

Tomura waved one hand as the darkness took over his vision. "See ya, Heroes."

"Left! Yaoyorozu shouted, and all of the teenagers jerked their horses to the left. Tenya was not exactly the most experienced horseback rider, but the horses they'd picked out (stolen, which was something he was trying very hard not to think about) were well-behaved. Of course they were. They were the horses of Uyay Academy, and only the best could be expected for the best.

The best- meaning the students who had stolen horses and were currently disobeying the explicit instruction of their teacher to go rescue a classmate who had been taken by villains and, though no one was willing to say it, might have already been killed.

That was another thing Tenya was trying not to think about.

The potion in Yaoyorozu's hands was getting brighter and brighter with every step until, finally, the princess pulled on the reins and her horse slowed to a stop. They were on a tiny road in a small village, about two hours from UA. Kamino. Tenya was fairly sure the village was called Kamino. It was mostly known for its expansive warehouses, which had once been used for storing emergency food supplies in case of famine but no one really knew what it was being used for anymore. It was completely isolated. There was a wide river surrounding it and only one road with a bridge going out and through it. No travelers ever really came through, and it was notoriously difficult to find. All in all, a very good location for villains to operate in.

Cautiously the students got off of the horses and tied them to a pole with a lantern at the top. They looked around, trying to figure out where to go. In what building would the villains be hiding? Were they about to attack? Tenya gripped the hilt of his sword.

"I think the villains are in that warehouse," Yaoyorouzu whispered, gesturing to a large silver building on the other side of the narrow road. No one else was about, which was likely good. They didn't have to try to hide as they ran across the road towards the wall around the warehouse. The only sound in the night were some dull thuds coming from the other side of the wall, like something was running into the wall over and over again. Or Heroes were fighting Nomus and villains inside the warehouse.

"Can anyone see over it?" Yaoyorozu whispered. Tenya, the tallest, could not even when he stood on the balls of his feet. Quickly he reached out for Midoriya.

"Climb onto my back and try to see over that way."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm certain I can handle carrying you."

The half-elf boy nodded, stepping onto one of Tenya's hands and then pushing onto his shoulders. "It's too dark."

"Do you know if there's a way for us to get over the wall?"

"No, but-"

And then they heard the screaming. The yelling. The fires.

Midoriya instantly jumped- literally jumped- down from Tenya's shoulders and started sprinting towards the noises. The rest of the group ran after him. Which went very much against Tenya's better judgment.

He was only there to keep his friends out of danger. Not to run with them into danger. The noises made it sound like a battle of some kind was happening. The Heroes had likely started their operation, but where? They were at the warehouse where the Nomus likely were, but…

The League's central hideout could have been in a different location than where the Nomus were stored. It seemed logical that the Heroes had used their tracking potion to find the Nomus, but some of them were fighting in the warehouse while the rest of them went looking for the real League and Shigaraki. And Bakugo was, more than likely, being kept with the real League.

They had already failed at the first part of their mission: getting Bakugo away before the Heroes arrived.

Tenya looked ahead at Midoriya, who was running through the dark without caring about what was in front of him or behind him. He always became single-minded when someone he cared about was in danger. It was one of the things Tenya most admired about his friend. It was also one of the things that made him most scared for his friend.

He was the type of person who jumped into a fight with a villain with zero hesitation just because one of his friends was in trouble. He was the type of person who would destroy his body to protect a little kid who didn't even like him. It was terrifying. One day he would jump into battle to protect someone and he wouldn't come out, and then Tenya didn't know… he didn't know what would happen to him without his friend.

He promised himself that he would not have to find out tonight. He would protect Midoriya and make sure he got to go home along with everyone else.

Directly in front of them, black mist swept over a small courtyard. The teenagers immediately ducked behind a nearby empty cart, crouching behind it and looking cautiously over it. Villains. Tenya was debating forcing the group to go back at that point, but technically they weren't fighting villains yet. Also none of them were likely to listen to him. So they stayed there, looking out.

The mist dissipated, and there were villains. Tenya didn't recognize most of them, besides Shigaraki and Kugogiri from the USJ, but the others seemed to recognize at least a few of the villains. Midoriya made a small noise when he saw a villain who looked like a teenage girl.

And Bakugo. Bakugo was there, standing among the villains and looking confused.

"What the hell?" one of them, some guy in a mask, said loudly. "What happened?"

Before anyone could say anything, Bakugo moved. He shot off an explosion directly at the masked person's face, sending them stumbling backwards as the student launched himself into the air, flipping over the head of the teenage girl and a lizard person and blasting them both. He landed neatly and jumped to the side, avoiding getting touched by another masted person with a top hat and almost getting hit with a blast of blue fire from a weirdly scarred man.

"We gotta get him out of there!" Kirishima hissed, getting to his feet. Tenya was about to say something about how he was supposed to make sure none of them got hurt, when he felt something.

A dark feeling, creeping inside his brain, tearing at him. Telling him to run, but his body was frozen with some kind of ancient terror, refusing to let him move. The night seemed to instantly become darker, darker than any night Tenya had ever seen before, and the shadows seemed to come alive, twisting, taunting all of them.

It felt like death itself was standing over them, looking down at the teenagers.

The others seemed to feel it too, but none of them more strongly than Midoriya. He reached behind him and grabbed at his back where his Sword should have been but wasn't. Had he dropped it somewhere? Tenya was fairly sure he'd had it when they first got on the horses. He watched as his friend seemed to realize he was defenseless from whatever nightmare was nearby and started to drop to the ground, clutching at his head. He was crying- actually crying. Tenya didn't know what to say or do or if there was anything he could do or if he could think because his brain wasn't working and all he could feel was the darkness and complete, utter terror creeping inside of him.

Black mist spread across the area again, but the villains didn't disappear again. That time, a man stepped out of the mist.

He had on a black cloak with some kind of mask and hood pulled on so that no one could see his face. The only part of him that was bare were his unnaturally pale hands. As he moved forward, the dark terror increased until it felt like Tenya was suffocating in it, choking.

"Hello, Master," Shigaraki said.

All for One time guys! I'm excited about this

Leave a review with questions, constructive criticism, and/or words of encouragement! Later, potaters!