Chapter 46: Get Yo Dog! It Don't Bite. YeS iT dO!
Time seemed to stop for Izuku, until just as suddenly as he was plunged into nothingness, he was spat right back out with a gasp of breath that seemed to enter his lungs for the first time in a while.
He crashed to his knees, still fighting for breath to reenter his body when an uncomfortably warm hand grabbed him by the back of his neck and yanked him to the side. Izuku let out a quiet whine and sent a glare to the hand's owner, only to see two very familiar bright blue eyes.
"Todoroki…"
The hand threw him to the side as the owner rolled his eyes, "Don't call me that idiot," He bit out as Izuku picked himself up and sent a sly smirk back at the guy.
"Wanna tell me what you're doing here?"
"Isn't it obvious? Also, you should be thanking me, I just saved you from being harassed again." He nodded his head to his right and Izuku's gaze flickered over to a blushing blonde who always sent a shiver up his spine whenever he thought of her.
"Hi, Izuku~"
"Toga, not the time."
The young girl pouted and took one of the knifes sheathed on the side of her thigh out and licked the still wet blood on its blade.
Izuku had to hold back a gag as he looked back at an equally disgusted looking Dabi. "Wanna explain what's going on?"
Dabi shrugged, "Just following orders. Boss says he wants you back, I came to deliver."
"I'm not going back there."
"You don't really have a choice, the only reason you escaped that guy's quirk was because of those stupid hero students."
"I'm not going to go down easily," Izuku lowered himself in preparation to take on both of the villains if not more.
Dabi sighed and ran his scarred hand through his black hair, "Thought you might say that. Compress!"
And again, Izuku's world was plunged back into nothingness.
The next time he emerged, it was utter chaos.
He came out gasping for breath once again and all of his senses seemed to return to him at once, which was extremely disorienting. Once he got a grip on himself, he took in everything around him, and his heart dropped at what he saw.
They were in a clearing; some students were there, and the villains looked to be retreating into portals opened by Kurogiri.
Tokoyami, Shoto, Shoji, and Kirishima were off to the side, frozen as they stared at their classmate in the literal clutches of a villain, the same teal eyed, burn scarred villain Izuku knew and was looking at in horror as he held his old childhood friend by his neck with his other hand threatening to set the boy ablaze.
He looked in the eyes of each of the students in the clearing, his eyes lingering on the bi-toned boy's horrified expression. Shoto gaped at the sight in front of him and when he was finally able to bring himself to say something, the only thing that escaped his mouth was a singular whispered name.
"Touya…"
The villain's eyes widened in surprise before they narrowed and landed on Izuku. He took a step back, one leg in the portal for his escape, before a smirk suddenly grew on his face and he dug out a small marble from his pocket, not breaking eye contact with Izuku for a moment.
One moment, the villain was simply holding a marble, and the next Hitoshi was in the same situation Katsuki was in, being held by the neck with no chance of escape without risking one or both of them possibly getting hurt.
Izuku's mind stilled as his eyes locked with his best friend's terrified ones.
There were no words, no secret messages or signals, just complete and udder silence as Dabi basked in the victory that seemed to have played out exactly how he wanted it to. However, unfortunately for him, he had underestimated Izuku.
Without another thought, as the villain stepped back further into his escape route, Izuku charged the villain and slammed into him, wrapping his arms around his body and causing all four boys to fall through the portal. The last thing he saw on the other side were the crazed eyes of his mentor before the portal closed and Izuku took in just how huge of a mess he had gotten himself into.
Sh*t…
He was in what looked to be another bar, bigger than the last one, was completely surrounded by villains, and was still sitting on top of a struggling Dabi.
The villain grunted and slapped Izuku's arm, causing the boy to jerk it away and rub the slapped area. "You snitch! You told my brother I was alive!"
"Of course I did, I had to figure out if I was right or not!"
"Aren't you supposed to be like an expert with secrets being a vigilante and all?"
"I am!"
"Apparently not, because you went and blabbed about me to my kid brother!"
"How was I supposed to know it was a secret?!"
"CONTEXT CLUES!"
"YOU DON'T HAVE ANY!"
"Will you two shut up? You're starting to give me a headache."
Both boy's heads snapped over to the young and scratchy voice that could only belong to a very special dust-man. Izuku's eyes traveled around the bar and eventually landed back on the still scowling face of Dabi underneath him. "I hate you." He drug out in a sigh before suddenly jumping off of the villain with both of the students in his hands and throwing them behind him as he crouched down in anticipation.
The two of them groaned as they hit the ground again, but other than that, they all knew that they were in an impossible situation and that if they tried to act out, they'd only get killed.
"Now, now, no need for that." Shigaraki stood up from the stool he had been sitting on and made his way to a feral looking Izuku. "We didn't bring you here to hurt anyone."
The very sight of Shigaraki made Izuku's blood boil as he remembered his friend's wrist after his conversation with the villain. He sent the coldest glare he could at the guy, "Forgive me if I don't take your word at face value. You don't exactly have the best track record of keeping your hands to yourself."
"That's fair. I never did get to apologize to you or your friend for…well, you know." He rolled his eyes as if Izuku's anger was more of a petty thing rather than completely valid as he had not only killed Izuku himself, but he had also hurt Hitoshi and Aizawa before. "Regardless, I have no intention of hurting you or your friends."
He nodded his head to the two boys behind Izuku and before Izuku could stop them, the words rolled out of his mouth, "He's not my friend, but touch either of them and you'll be the one dying this time."
"Touchy," Shigaraki began circling Izuku and messing with the hand on his face, "Aren't you supposed to be some sort of hero or something? Killing seems a little dark for you."
"I'm not a hero."
The villain's mouth stretched into a smile under his face-hand that looked like it was on the verge of breaking his face, "My point exactly. I really wish you would reconsider our offer Serpentine; you would be an invaluable member to the League."
Izuku let out a scoff as he rolled his eyes at the mere thought of doing so. "Over my dead body."
"Not as easy as it might sound it seems. Imagine my surprise when I learned of your quirk and told Master. He was even more interested that I thought he would be in you, although to be fair, he's always had an eye for you."
"That makes me uncomfortable."
Shigaraki's expression faltered as Izuku heard Dabi stifle a laugh that threatened to escape his throat.
"So that's why I'm here? To meet with your Master or whatever? Then why drag these two into all of this?"
The villain hummed as he eyed the two boys behind Izuku. "That one has potential. With such a destructive quirk and a little encouragement, he could do great things." He locked eyes with Katsuki who quickly looked away and shoved down the panic that was quickly rising in his chest.
His eyes moved to Hitoshi who hadn't stopped glaring at him since they got there.
"And this one," He leaned closer to the boy, ignoring the low snarl the came from Izuku as he did so. "We all saw his abilities at the festival, mind control…no one knows exactly how it works but a quirk like that…plus we needed some incentive to bring you here."
"You son of a-" Izuku's curse was cut off as Shigaraki placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and shushed him as he forced him back down into a crouch.
"Ah, ah, ah," He taunted, "I'd be careful if I were you Serpentine. Wouldn't want him to get in the middle of our conversation again, remember what happened last time?" He eyed the bandages still wrapped around Hitoshi's wrist and smirked before looking back at Izuku who, if looks could kill, would've murdered the bastard a long time ago.
"Thought you weren't going to hurt him."
"Plans can change." He shrugged as he eyes Izuku with a smirk. "I think we're done here for now," He turned back towards his league members, "Tie them up, separate them, and keep an eye on each of them. If one of them gives you a hard time, just make sure you don't kill them."
He turned back to Izuku; his eyes crazed with power as he spoke.
"Except for this one, Master would like to speak with him…privately."
Izuku glared at the hand-man as he circled around to tie him up. Two of the other villains went to grab the boys behind him and as he looked back, he met their eyes and shook his head, knowing full well that both of them would not hesitate to try and fight their way out of this. They looked at him and relaxed as their hands were forced behind their backs and the two of them were pushed through the double doors of the bar.
"If you lay a finger on either one of them-"
"We'll incur your wrath, blah blah, I know how it goes. Just shut up and stop fighting me." He did as told and allowed his hands to be tied around his back. Once Shigaraki was content with the restraints, he yanked the boy to his feet and began to drag him to the long bar counter, making sure to keep only four fingers on him.
He sat the two of them in some bar stools and suddenly the tv that sat next to the bar turned on and showed a screen of static.
"Hello Tomura." A deep voice came from the television and Izuku could feel every nerve in his body go cold at the sound of it.
"Master." He grinned, "Look who I brought for you."
"I see," The voice praised the young villain, "Very good, you did well."
The villain perked at the praise from the screen and Izuku had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes at the very obvious daddy issues staring him right in the face.
"Serpentine," The voice called Izuku attention, "It's wonderful to finally meet you, although, I'd rather our interaction be face to face." Izuku shifted on his stool a bit. Even though the words weren't particularly threatening, he doubted that it mattered what words left the man's lips, they would sound terrifying nonetheless. "Unfortunately, before we officially meet there are some…precautions that need to be handled."
What is that supposed to mean-
Izuku was suddenly shoved, chair and all, through a purple misty portal and slammed onto the hard ground, still restrained and unable to move.
Shigaraki followed Izuku through soon after and smirked down at the boy. "I wouldn't get too comfortable if I were you."
The next few hours were absolute hell.
If Izuku had thought he died a lot before, what they were doing to him now made that all seem like child's play.
He remembered his conversation with Eraser in the car and the hero's pleas for him to stay alive echoed through his mind. They echoed experiment after experiment until Izuku began to relive the conversation and a few other ones he had with the hero as the villains tested his quirk.
Izuku had a little inside joke with himself. He would always snicker at the thought that nothing could ever kill him as much as himself.
He was wrong.
Over and over again. They were testing how much he could die, how long it took him to come back, the repercussions of coming back, how extensive the healing was after dying…they tested everything. They killed him so many times, Izuku just eventually stopped feeling the pain.
At one point, everything just kind of glossed over and everything Izuku could hear and see was blurry, almost as if he was underwater, muffled to everything around him. Even in that state, he knew exactly what they were doing to him. You'd think that after so many times, he'd lose count, but he didn't.
One-hundred and two. That's how many deaths it took for them to finish their tests.
They finished and picked Izuku up, muttering about taking him somewhere, but the boy was too out of it to understand anything that was happening. His body was somehow completely numb and screaming at him at the same time. He felt as if he was being tied down with hundred-pound weights. He could barely open his eyes enough to take in that he was being moved before his eyelids fluttered back closed due to the overwhelming exhaustion that was coursing through the boy.
He had never felt like this before. Sure, he knew his quirk used up his energy and that he needed a few nights of recovery to get back to his usual tiredness, but even though he knew he was alive and healed, he felt like death…death that was dangling in the arms of whoever was carrying him until they got to where they were taking him and dropped him on the hard floor like he was nothing.
The boy slammed to the ground. Not even having the energy to react audibly, he just grimaced at the pain and laid there, defeated. Several footsteps echoed as they left the room and the door shut behind them and Izuku was left alone.
Well, at least he thought so, until a voice that sent ice down his spine sounded in front of him.
"Serpentine." The deep voice echoed in the cold room and Izuku felt his breath hitch as his eyes pried themselves open instinctually. It was as if the sheer amount of exhaustion he felt didn't matter in comparison to the absolute terror that voice instilled in him. "It's nice to finally meet you. I am All For One."