Hitoshi had offered to carry the injured student, and he was regretting that now.
They had made it almost halfway around the looped trail before realizing anything was amiss. Hitoshi wasn't sure how much of that time they hadn't noticed the growing haze of poison gas, but it had somehow settled in layers over the forest long before they registered it. It swirled around their feet, thickest closer to the ground, and Hitoshi hid his face in his shoulder, trying not to breathe in too deep.
Ragdoll had waylaid them at the tag station, telling them to keep moving forward along the trail and make their way back to camp as quickly as possible. She'd checked over the Class B student, who she identified as Tsuburaba, and said he had probably breathed in a lot of poison because his quirk involved manipulating air with his breath. Then she'd said she had to go check on the others and directed them to carry Tsuburaba and any other Class B students they found unconscious along the way to safety.
Now Shouto was checking the bushes as they walked, running back and forth across the path as Hitoshi labored under the weight he was carrying. He wasn't weak by any means, but he thought that Shouto would have been able to go faster than he could. It was slow going, and he hated that he was the limiting factor on their progress, but he supposed if they did find any more Class B students to carry then he would just slow them down from there.
"I'm sorry I'm holding us up," Shouto said as he pushed aside a large bush to look behind it, interrupting Hitoshi's thoughts.
Hitoshi blinked, surprised. "You're not. I couldn't go any faster than this."
"You could if you needed to," Shouto replied easily, in what Hitoshi considered a generous estimation of his strength. "I'm the one slowing us down."
"We're setting a good pace," Hitoshi tried to reassure him. "It's no use getting us out of the woods if we leave others behind."
"I'm worried about our classmates who are still in the forest," Shouto confessed, running ahead to the other side of the path and beginning to push aside the shrubbery to look for students who might have passed out in the brush. "There's not much we can do, but we can search the route for people we can help."
"Izuku wouldn't have been in the forest yet," Hitoshi said. He knew it was what Shouto needed to hear, because he needed to hear it himself. "The last groups will have still been in the clearing."
"Where the villains attacked," Shouto reminded him.
"The Pussycats aren't amateurs," Hitoshi told him. "Mandalay will have used Telepath to contact Aizawa and Vlad King. She and Tiger will protect the students in the clearing. Ragdoll will round up everyone in the woods and it will all be-"
Ahead of him Shouto froze, and Hitoshi stopped short before he'd even seen what was wrong. A few yards away, shrouded in the shadows of the trees, was a figure kneeling in the middle of the path. It was difficult to make out, dressed in dark clothes even over its head, but he could tell it wasn't Tokoyami or Shouji. Those were the only two that should have been in front of them.
"Who's that?" Hitoshi whispered.
"So pretty," rasped the figure, looking down at something on the ground. "No! Have to work. Can't."
The man began to get to his feet, his movements strange and swaying, still looking down at the path. Hitoshi followed his gaze, then had to fight down a retch as he noticed a hand on the ground, dismembered and bloody where it had been severed from the arm.
"But it's so delicious," the man went on once he was standing. "Beautiful flesh. Don't tempt me."
The man turned, and now Hitoshi could see that he wasn't so much dressed as wrapped head to toe in dark green bindings, arms crossed around his middle like he was wearing a straight jacket. This was secured in place by black straps, each equipped with small red spikes as though to discourage removal. His eyes were covered, everything about his face obscured but his mouth, so it was impossible to distinguish anything about him. His lips were pulled back grotesquely by a ring of metal hooks, exposing his gums and teeth.
"I have a job to do," growled the man, sending shivers down Hitoshi's spine.
Shouto stepped protectively in front of Hitoshi, his right foot forward. Hitoshi risked a glance over his shoulder, the one not currently home to Tsuburaba's head, and saw a veritable wall of poisonous gas and an encroaching mass of blue flames coming from deeper in the forest. They couldn't go back, and they couldn't stay here.
They were trapped.
As he broke through the treeline and picked up the trail that led around the cliff face, Izuku began to question his decision to come alone. He had thought that it was best to concentrate students at the camp building, making that place safe by sheer numbers, but now he wondered if it wouldn't have been better to bring someone with him. The likelihood of running into enemies this far from anywhere students were meant to be was slim, but perhaps Iida could have gotten Kouta to camp faster, once Izuku showed him where to go. Maybe he shouldn't have gone anywhere alone in the middle of a villain attack, even though Mandalay had told him to.
Who could he have brought with him though? Iida was responsible for the rest of the students heading back to camp, so Izuku couldn't have asked him to come. One of the teachers then? There were no students at the camp to protect just yet, and even then, one teacher would suffice for a short time. He dug into his pocket for his phone, intent on calling Aizawa, just to let him know that he was going to grab Kouta and be back as quickly as he could.
The path curved around the cliff face, making it impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. As such, Izuku heard Kouta's voice before he saw him.
"Papa! Mama!" Kouta cried, and his voice was anguished, shaking with fear and pain.
Izuku picked up speed, heart hammering as he tried to imagine what could make Kouta sound like
that, and in the next moment the wider area of the path near the cave mouth came into view.
Kouta was standing in the middle of the path, facing Izuku, teeth clenched and eyes wide and wet with tears. Standing in front of him, between Izuku and Kouta with his back to Izuku, was a huge, hulking figure hidden by a black cloak. Only the figure's left arm was visible, and the forearm above the hand seemed to have no skin, the muscle completely exposed. The fist was raised as though to strike at Kouta.
Without hesitation Izuku leaped forward. He dove at Kouta, snatching the little boy up in his arms and carrying him out of the way as the hit came down. Izuku felt the fist smash into the ground behind them, creating a shockwave and kicking up dust. They landed hard on the rock of the mountainside, tumbling end over end and landing in a heap a few yards away from the villain.
"What are you doing?" Kouta demanded, both of them coughing in the dust cloud the impact had created.
"Huh," said the villain, and Izuku looked up to see a tall, strongly-built man with short blonde hair, staring down that them in bemusement. The left half of his face was heavily scarred, and his left eye had been replaced by an ill-fitting prosthetic. "Now you I recognize, you were on the list."
Izuku took stock of himself. He had lost his grip on his phone in the confusion, and he looked down to see it laying on the ground, screen cracked and dark. No hope of calling for help, and no one who knew where he was, so no hope of reinforcements. He was alone, and he would have to beat this villain alone. But . . .
Can I really do that while protecting Kouta at the same time? he wondered.
He glanced to the side, to see Kouta looking up at the villain with wide, terrified eyes. His tears had begun to fall, flowing freely down his cheeks in a continuous stream. He was probably in shock, and in no condition to run for his life.
No! Izuku shook himself. I don't have time to think! I just have to do it, right now, with whatever I have!
What he had wasn't much. He didn't have any of his gear: his armor and boots were at school, and Aizawa had his force lance. The terrain didn't give him a lot to work with, no doors to slam or places to hide. The only things he'd had on him were his phone, his eyeliner pencil and-
The pocket knife!
"Kouta, it's going to be OK," Izuku said seriously, digging into his lower right pocket for the knife. Without taking his eyes off the villain he pried it open, pulling out the blade. "I'm going to save you, so don't worry, alright?"
"You really think you can save this little brat?" the villain laughed.
As Izuku watched the muscle fibers on his arm lifted away, writhing like worms on wet pavement, and showed skin beneath them. So his quirk was increased strength due to exponential muscle growth. Good to know.
"That does sound like something a wannabe hero would say," the villain went on. "Your kind sure likes to mouth off about justice."
Izuku rose from his crouch, standing to place himself between Kouta and the villain. This was exactly the situation Aizawa had made him train for. No allies, no support items, just the strength, speed and skill he had cultivated. All he has was himself and the knife. He would have to make it work.
Well, he had one other thing. He had the heart Iida had drawn on his cheek.
"Kouta," Izuku repeated. "You see this mark? Answer me."
He touched his cheek with his free hand, fluttering his fingers over the heart.
"Yeah," Kouta said, still breathing harsh and ragged, but composed enough to answer the question.
"This heart means everything is going to be OK," Izuku told him. "It's the hearts of everyone who's cheering for me. I can't mess it up by crying because I got scared or hurt, so I have to protect it by winning. As long as I have this heart, I promise everything's going to be fine."
Kouta took a shaky breath, then, ". . . OK."
"You done soapboxing yet?" snapped the villain. "The name's Midoriya, right? Damn, that means I can't kill you. You're one of the ones Shigaraki wants brought back alive."
Brought back alive? Izuku's brain scrambled to accommodate this new information. The League of Villains wants to kidnap students? And more than one? Why? I would understand if it was just me, but who else-
"I guess I can have a little fun with you," the villain interrupted his thoughts, magnanimously as though making some kind of compromise for Izuku's benefit. "The kid I'm definitely gonna kill, so stay out of my way and I won't hurt you too bad."
Kouta drew a hitching breath in fright.
I can't let him hurt Kouta, Izuku thought. Gotta remember my training. Get him talking.
"What does Shigaraki want with me?" Izuku asked as the villain extended both arms, muscle fibers beginning to worm their way down and stitch themselves back into the skin. "Why does he want me alive?"
"Hell if I know," the villain said dismissively. "Something about you being number nine. Hey, do you know where a kid named Shinsou might be? We have something of a shopping list."
They're after Hitoshi too? Izuku realized, fear churning in his gut. How many students are they here for?
"What does he intend to do with us?" Izuku pressed. "Didn't your leader share his plans with you?" "I was given a list of kids I could kill and a list of kids I couldn't kill," the villain said, gripping the
front of his cloak. "Your little friend there wasn't on either of them, so I get to decide. Move aside, or all bets are off on you too."
The villain ripped his cloak from around his shoulders, tossing it away to reveal that his right arm was bulging with exposed muscle up to the shoulder.
"Show me your blood!" the villain yelled, launching himself at the two of them.
Izuku did not move aside. Instead he leaned back, sliding under the villain's swing, then slashed upward with his knife. The blade caught on a cluster of muscle fibers and ripped through, spraying blood from the severed tissue. The villain grunted and jerked back, reflexively clutching at his injured arm, and Izuku straightened and stood his ground.
"Will any blood do?" Izuku asked calmly.
This was not a villain he could reason with. He talked about killing too gleefully, was too eager to harm children with less than no provocation. That meant Izuku's best bet was to intimidate him, get him to run or at least make a mistake he might exploit. Izuku had to give the impression that he was in control, that the villain stood no chance at winning against him.
"Not bad kid," the villain admitted, giving Izuku a cruel smile. "But not that great either."
He lifted his hand away, to show the last of the torn ends of muscle fibers retreating under his skin. A second later they reemerged, whole and undamaged, and snaked down his arm to connect at his wrist.
"You're not strong enough to hurt me," the villain explained, voice growing rough with excitement. "You're not strong enough to even try. Keep pushing your luck though and we'll see how bad I can hurt you."
"If you go now, I'll let you run," Izuku told him. His voice didn't shake. He was Dekiru right now, so he wasn't scared. "You can probably get away while I help deal with your friends down the mountain."
"Don't provoke him!" Kouta sobbed. "He's gonna kill you!"
"No he won't," Izuku insisted. "I know his type. He's never gone up against anyone with real power before."
"You sure about that kid?!" shouted the villain.
Again he leaped forward, swinging more at Izuku than Kouta now. Instead of dodging, this time Izuku held up his left arm and braced himself, preparing for the impact as best he could. Experience had taught him how to take the hit, and he leaned into it so that the force of the blow knocked his whole body sideways without breaking his arm. He flew through the air and hit the cliff wall hard, the breath punched out of him, but he landed on his feet.
"Ready for your turn kid?" asked the villain, grinning maniacally as he rounded on Kouta.
Izuku dove forward. As he had expected, the villain was ambidextrous, and now began to power up his other arm for another swing. He had all but forgotten about Izuku, now focused on Kouta, and he didn't even see the body flying at him. Izuku thrust his left hand through a loop of muscle fiber around the villain's forearm and a moment later felt them close around him. He was now attached to the villain by his wrist.
"What the-" the villain began, beginning to turn his head.
Izuku jammed the blade of his knife beneath the villain's artificial eye, and with small pop as the mechanism released, the eye came loose. The villain let out a roar of rage and pain, thrashing as he tried to shake Izuku off, and eventually Izuku was thrown free. He hit the ground and rolled, coming to a stop and popping back to his feet long before the villain had regained control of himself. The villain was between him and Kouta, but that was fine now. All the villain's attention should be focused on Izuku.
"You're gonna regret that kid!" the villain shouted, whirling around to face him. "Make me," Izuku invited, holding out his knife in front of himself.
If the villain had any inclination to leave him alone in favor of killing Kouta, it was gone now. He shoved a hand into his pocket and pulled it back out, coming up with an object Izuku couldn't identify until he put it to his blood-streaked face. In a few seconds he had another artificial eye in place, this one more mechanical looking. If Izuku had to hazard a guess it was some kind of night vision or infrared alternative prosthetic.
For a moment Izuku considered. His only real plan so far had been to do damage wherever he could, but he needed something more strategic than that. He needed to finish the villain off and get Kouta back to camp. The villain could regenerate any damaged muscle, but he could be hurt; eyes clearly didn't count, and could be damaged permanently. A blind opponent was as much a danger to themselves as anyone else, especially with a hundred foot drop off to one side. Despite having one missing eye, this villain clearly relied on artificial augmentation rather than compensating with his other senses. Of course, there were only so many additional prosthetics he could fit in his pocket.
Guess I'll have to take that one too, Izuku thought.
He threw his knife up in the air and caught it with his other hand. He wasn't as good with his left hand as with his right, and knife combat wasn't his specialty, but it took two hands to wield a staff and both his arms were strong. The villain immediately began to power up his right arm, muscle fibers straining as they piled on top of each other, much larger than could possibly be sustainable. It was no wonder they could retreat under his skin when they needed to. If he'd had that much muscle all the time he wouldn't have been able to turn his head.
Izuku was banking on that.
He ran forward, lips pulled back in a snarl and a growl of effort in his throat. The villain tried to strike at him, boxing Izuku in with his left arm and swinging with his right, but at the last second Izuku ducked and dove between the villain's legs. He immediately whirled around and jumped, leaping onto the villain's back.
"Hold still you damn-" the villain began, trying to turn his head, but to do so he had to loosen some of the muscle fibers around his neck.
Izuku shoved his right hand between two fibers, then using that hold to steady himself he released his grip. When he'd transferred the knife to his left hand the villain had prepared for at attack from the right, so his left arm had been neglected. Now that he was coming from behind, Izuku was free to jam his knife once more beneath the second artificial eye, twisting and prying it loose. With a sickening squelch it shot from the villain's face, until it sailed over the edge of the cliff. The villain howled in pain.
"Got any more eyes in your pocket?" Izuku asked savagely.
"You really do just wanna die, don't you kid?!" the villain growled.
"I'm not-" Izuku began, but before he could finished the villain jerked his arm forward.
Izuku was swung around to the front and the muscle fibers released him just it time for him to slam into the ground. He landed hard on his back, grunting at the impact, and the wind was knocked out of him. His knife fell from his hand, skittering away across the stone.
"What was that kid?" the villain wondered mockingly, and in the next second the villain was on top of him, pinning him to the ground with only one hand.
Izuku coughed, the villain's hand pressing down on his chest with the force of a steel beam. He felt around for the knife with his left hand, not taking his eyes off his opponent, but he couldn't find it. His right hand gripped the villain's wrist, but it was no good. He couldn't push him off.
"What did you promise?" the villain asked, blood dripping from his injured eye onto Izuku's face as he pressed down even harder. "That everything would be OK? How's that working out for you?!"
Izuku turned his head to the side, taking his eyes off the villain to look for the knife. It was there, only a few inches from his hand, but when he tried to reach for it he could only touch it with the tips of his fingers. It was too far away.
"You really think you're a hero?" the villain demanded. "If you wanna call yourself something like that you should live up to your words!"
Izuku reached, stretching his arm, his hand, his fingers as far as they would go. Only the pads of his fingertips could touch the knife. He flexed his first knuckles, trying to pull the knife toward himself. He just needed another few moments and he would have it.
"You're just a fraud making promises you can't keep!" the villain yelled. "And you'll die that way!"
Suddenly there was a splash, and something cold dripped onto Izuku's face. He looked up, to see that the villain's face was suddenly wet, and was turned to one side, away from Izuku. Izuku followed the villain's gaze, to see Kouta standing beside them, hands pointed toward the two of them palm-out.
So Kouta has a water quirk, Izuku noted absently.
"Remember Water Hose?" Kouta asked, tears pouring from his eyes. "My mom, and my dad! Did
you torment them too? Before you killed them?!"
"I-" the villain began, but in that moment Izuku jammed his knife into the the villain's one remaining eye.
The villain howled again, rearing back, and Izuku gasped and rolled away. He only rolled though, coming to a stop somewhere near Kouta and not immediately scrambling to get his feet under him. Instead he sat up slowly, breathing deep and even, careful not to make too much noise. The villain was still yelling, flailing with loose muscle fibers trailing through the air, but he had no eyes left. As quietly as he could Izuku maneuvered himself into a crouch, then looked at Kouta and pressed a finger to his lips. Kouta nodded, then opened his mouth so he could breathe more quietly.
"Where are you?!" yowled the villain, whirling around as he blindly searched for the two of them. "I'll kill you both, you damn brats! Where are you?!"
Izuku waved a hand in front of Kouta's face to get the boy's attention. When Kouta looked at him Izuku gave a reassuring thumbs up, then began to mime his instructions.
Spray water at the cliff face, he mouthed, flicking out his fingers to convey motion and then pointing at the solid wall of rock nearest the villain.
Kouta nodded and lifted both hands. Water shot from his palms, flying forward to splatter loudly against the sheer cliff beside the path.
"Found you!" roared the villain gleefully.
He whirled around to face the cliff, his whole upper body bulging with muscle. It was so big he seemed to be more muscle than man, like a ball of pure power. All that strength hit the cliff wall in a single superpowered smash, reminding Izuku forcibly of All Might. The rock exploded, sending huge cracks racing right up to the top of the mountain, and Izuku realized that his plan was going to work a little too well. He snatched up his cell phone which had fallen nearby, grabbed Kouta and took off back the way he had come, feeling the path crumbling behind him as he ran. He managed to stay ahead of the destruction, clutching the boy to his chest, until the noise behind him began to die down and he stumbled to a stop.
Thankfully the path had stopped collapsing some yards back, so he turned and let Kouta slide back to the ground. There was a huge swath of crumbled stone, like someone had dug a fork into a slice of cake, running up and down the mountain. The path was completely destroyed, but Izuku could see where it started up again on the other side of the scar in the landscape. At the bottom of the cliff was a huge pile of rocks that had slid down from the top.
Somewhere underneath all that was the villain.
"Is he dead?" Kouta wondered, walking to where the path ended to peer over the edge.
"Probably not," Izuku said, even though he honestly had no idea. "He's down though, he won't be able to get out from under those rocks, and he's most likely unconscious."
Kouta made a noise of acknowledgement and backed away from the drop off. After a moment of walking backwards he bumped into Izuku's legs. Immediately the little boy turned and gripped the fabric of his shorts, huddling against Izuku's side and trembling.
"Hey," Izuku said soothingly, hurriedly stuffing his phone into his pocket so he could collapse and put away the knife, "it's OK. It's over now, he can't hurt you anymore. You did great."
"I did?" Kouta asked, looking up at Izuku with eyes wet and shining.
Izuku knelt down beside Kouta. "It must have been scary to face him, knowing what he did to your parents," he said quietly. "But you stood up to him. You used your quirk to protect someone, even though you were scared. It's only because of you I was able to win."
"Really?" Kouta whispered, eyes wide and searching.
"Yes," Izuku nodded, giving Kouta his best Dekiru smile. "Your water quirk is amazing Kouta! And you used it in such a clever way! You're a real hero!"
Kouta sniffled, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.
"Hey," Izuku said, flicking the brim of Kouta's hat. "Don't cry, OK? Remember, we have to stay strong for the people who are cheering for us. Is the mark still there?"
He turned his head and showed the heart on his cheek. Kouta nodded, mouth a thin, wibbling line. "Then everything's OK," Izuku assured him. "You're going to be OK too."
Kouta sniffled, then wiped purposefully at his eyes with both hands. When he looked back at Izuku his face was set and determined. His eyes were still wet, but the tears didn't fall.
"OK," he said firmly.
"Good," Izuku replied, standing up and glancing at over the edge again. "We'll leave this guy here for the time being. I've got to get the information I gathered to Mandalay, so she can warn everyone that the villains are here to abduct students."
"Do you really have to go face more villains?" Kouta asked anxiously.
"I've got a few bumps and bruises, but I'm not badly hurt," Izuku said, rubbing his arm where the villain had landed a hit on him. That was probably the worst of his injuries, though his chest didn't feel great either. "There are more people I can save. First though, I have to get you to camp."
Izuku bent and lifted Kouta into his arms, and the little boy immediately wrapped around Izuku like a koala. He was tired from the fight and the day's training, but he set a swift pace as he headed back down the mountain. They had no time for hesitation or exhaustion. He had to get Kouta back to camp, and then find Mandalay so she could warn the others.
He had to save Hitoshi.
Shouta had cause to be thankful for Hizashi's forethought as he ran through the thick of the forest. His new hiking boots were much more suited to the terrain than combat boots, and it was paying off in speed. They hadn't even provided much of a drawback as he'd fought the fire villain just outside the camp building, and he didn't think they would fare any worse against any other villains he found out here. A handful of his students were safe at camp, but the majority were still in the woods, and he was going to make sure they all got back safe.
Even if he had to fight off every villain attacking the camp himself.
"Hey look!" called a high voice off to one side, and Shouta paused as Midoriya came into view, running on a trajectory perpendicular to Shouta's, with Shino's ward Kouta clutched in his arms.
"Aizawa-sensei!" Midoriya cried in excitement upon seeing Shouta, picking up speed for a moment before stopping short as they met in the middle. "You're here! Thank goodness!"
Midoriya was panting as he let Kouta slide down from his arms, and as Shouta looked closer he seemed to be somewhat roughed up. There were splatters of blood on his face, though there was no obvious wound there, but the bruises along his left arm were unmistakably from a punch. He had gotten into it with a villain.
"I need to catch you up on what I've learned about the villains, but we don't have much time," Midoriya gasped, still breathing hard.
"Hey," Shouta began, trying to get his attention, but Midoriya was wild-eyed and frantic as he
spoke.
"Plus I need to find Mandalay," he continued breathlessly. "There's something I have to tell her!"
"Hold on!" Shouta pressed, but again he was ignored.
"Please take care of Kouta while I'm gone," Midoriya instructed, turning to continue on his original path. "I-"
"Midoriya!" Shouta said loudly, managing to stem the flow of words at last.
Midoriya looked at him with the eyes of a cornered animal, not sure if it needed to run or fight, and Shouta sighed. The logical thing to do would be get the information he had and send him to take Kouta back to camp, while Shouta carried on to deliver the intelligence to Shino.
But, as Hizashi kept reminding him, children weren't logical.
Without an adult to supervise him Midoriya might not go back to camp, or might drop Kouta off at the door and then leave again. He had already fought one villain to protect Kouta, and likely had an inflated sense of his odds against any others he might find. His eyes told Shouta he was ready to go against orders to protect his friends. He needed to feel like he was doing something, but that something had to carry him into the path of an adult who could watch over him.
Shouta sighed and pulled Midoriya's force lance out of his back pocket.
"Go," Shouta said, throwing Midoriya the weapon and making his eyes widen further in surprise. "But tell Mandalay something for me too."
Once Midoriya was off, and Shouta had picked up Kouta and begun to carry him back toward camp, he wondered if he'd done the right thing. He'd told Shino about Midoriya while bragging about Hitoshi, so surely she would take his tendency towards self-sacrifice into account. That was to say nothing of the fact that he'd just rescued her ward, a member of her family whom he knew she loved like her own child. She would want to see him back to camp herself.
Right?
"Mister," Kouta sniffled just next to his ear, distracting him from his morbid thoughts. "Is he gonna be OK?"
Shouta wasn't sure how to respond to that. He'd never been the best with little kids, ones too young to understand adult logic, and from what Shino had told him Kouta wasn't of an age where he could be reasoned with. Too full of anger and youthful stubbornness. Now though, his voice sounded small, shaky as though from fear or uncertainty.
"I sort of tried to punch him," Kouta went on when Shouta didn't respond. "But still, he fought that villain to protect me. The villain even said he wouldn't hurt him if he just let him kill me, but he wouldn't. I never apologized, or even thanked him! Please tell me he's not going to have to fight anyone else? I don't want him to get hurt!"
Shouta still didn't know what to say to that, but he knew he had to say something.
"Don't worry," he began, picking he way around the truth. "Midoriya's one of my most capable students. He has a mission in life, and he has no intention of dying before he fulfills it. Though as his teacher, when this is over I'll have to scold him for acting without my permission."
"Really?" Kouta asked quietly, sounding worried.
"You'll get your chance to talk to him again," Shouta assured the little boy. "And when you do, put more emphasis on the 'thank you' part."
Kouta sniffled, then nodded. "OK."
"You're not-!" the villain who had called himself Spinner began, swinging his sword at Shino.
She dodged, barely avoiding getting the front of her costume sliced open by the nearest knife, but immediately she was on the defensive again.
"-a real hero!" Spinner concluded, swinging his sword back the other way.
Shino dodged again, this time with more room. He was sloppier on the backswing, and he clearly wasn't used to fighting with the giant weapon. A recent acquisition then. Or perhaps creation? She couldn't imagine anyone building an unwieldy monstrosity like that and then selling it.
"You brought this on yourself girl!" Spinner yelled, and Shino jumped back as he slammed his sword into the ground where she had just been.
"Jeez you're persistent," she remarked, still looking for an opening.
"As are you!" Spinner retorted. "But it's time to knock you off your false throne!"
He raised his sword high, but before he could swing down something slammed into the multitude of blades from the side. Spinner was dragged off his feet as the sword went to the ground, and it came to rest with a small body standing on top of it. Shino's eyes widened as she recognized the mop of green hair. It was Hizashi's kitten, her friend's precious protege and the one she had sent to look for Kouta. In his hands was his mechanical staff, his signature weapon, and Shino realized he had probably used it to vault into the air and leap at the sword. Before Spinner could move Midoriya hurriedly collapsed it and tucked it away, then pulled something out of his pocket.
"Mandalay!" Midoriya shouted, crouched over the sword with both feet on the sharkskin-like blade. He had a knife of his own in his hand, though Shino didn't know where he'd gotten it, and he was cutting as many of the small belts and straps that were holding the sword together as he could reach. "Kouta! He's safe!"
"You found him?" Shino asked hopefully, relief coursing through her that she hadn't completely failed him. Kouta's constant wandering had seemed to be the only thing that brought him peace. She'd never imagined it would put him in danger.
Spinner gave a roar of effort and jerked on the hilt of his sword, dislodging Midoriya. Undaunted, Midoriya merely rolled away and popped back to his feet.
"And I've got a message from Aizawa-sensei! We need you to use Telepath!" he called as he got his feet under him, squaring off against Spinner. "Tell everyone in Class A and Class B that Eraserhead has granted them permission to engage in combat with the villains!"
Shino gaped for a moment, then narrowed her eyes. So that was Shouta's game.
Everyone in Class A and Class B! she thought, reaching out with her mind until she was sure all the students could hear her. In the name of the Pro Hero Eraserhead you are granted permission to
engage in combat! I repeat, use your training! You may fight these villains!
I hope you know what you're doing Shouta, she thought, privately to herself, then launched herself
at Spinner.
"Get back to camp right now!" she commanded Midoriya, slamming her foot against the side of the villain's sword and causing the unsecured knives to fall apart and clatter calamitously to the ground. "You've done enough by finding Kouta! You need to get to safety!"
"I'm sorry, I can't!" Midoriya cried, then turned and sprinted for the woods. "You need to send one more thing! I know one reason the villains are here! They're trying to kidnap students, and one of them is Hitoshi!"
"Eraser's kitten?" she realized in alarm. "No, wait! Stop! Midoriya!"
Thoughts chased each other around Shino's head as she hesitated. Shinsou? Why? Because he's a hero's protege? Are they trying to hurt Shouta? Shinsou's still in the woods! Did he run across villains? Do they already have him? There were no good answers, and Midoriya was getting farther away with every second.
Suddenly Spinner broke off from his fight with Shino and launched himself after Midoriya. He had a knife in one hand and a katana in the other, and he was screaming in inarticulate rage. Shino remembered how he had singled out Midoriya before and went after him, but before she could reach him Magne broke off from her fight as well and grabbed him under both arms.
"Cool it Spinner!" Magne said, holding the other villain still only with great effort. "Remember what we're here for!"
"Shigaraki's the one who wants him alive!" Spinner argued, still struggling.
"Yeah, and he's the reason we're here," Magne pointed out.
They want Midoriya alive? And Shinsou too? That's more than a coincidence. They have to be trying to hurt my friends!
Suddenly furious, Shino launched herself at the two tussling villains. Yawara beat her to it, smashing into the back of Magne's head with his gloved fist, and only when Magne fell to the ground was Shino able to land a solid hit on Spinner with her boot. She looked after Midoriya, but he had already vanished into the woods.
Can't stop the boy, but I can relay his message, she thought to herself.
Listen, we've discovered some of the villain's targets, she broadcast to every mind she knew within range. One is Hitoshi Shinsou, and another is Izuku Midoriya. They mean to abduct these and possibly other students. All of you should stay together in as large a group as you can manage, and the students I've named should avoid combat. Be on your guard and protect each other as best you can!
She forced herself to stop there. Telepath would only be a distraction once she'd delivered the relevant information, no matter how much she wanted to reassure the students. Spinner and Magne were getting up, still reeling from the hits they'd taken, so she had no choice but to keep fighting. She had to press her advantage.
With a growl, she dove back into the fight.
Shouto shivered as frost creeped up his right side. He would use his left side to counterbalance it, but he was afraid of accidentally setting the forest on fire. He couldn't avoid using his quirk though. Even before he'd had permission from Aizawa, he'd needed to create an ice wall to protect himself and Hitoshi.
"Have to keep going . . . have to work . . . do my job . . ." moaned the villain.
His speech was somewhat garbled, but Shouto figured that was because of the way his teeth had extended out of his mouth in long, angular blades. Each one was razor sharp, and capable of growing and moving independently of the others. Several of them were holding him aloft high in the air, and the rest were striking out at the barrier that separated the villain from his targets.
"I have to brainwash him!" Hitoshi hissed, doing his best to shelter from the onslaught without using the unconscious body on his back as a shield. "We have to get past him!"
"And how far would we get before you were out of range?" Shouto demanded, adding more ice to the barrier as it was chipped away by the villain's teeth.
"We've never tested the range before!" Hitoshi protested. "We can't stay here! The fire is getting closer and we can't hang out in this gas forever!"
"I can protect us from the fire," Shouto argued. "Weren't you listening to Mandalay? They're here because they're after you!"
Hitoshi opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything a length of tooth broke through the ice wall. It was shiny like metal, for all Shouto knew it might have been metal, and it shot towards the two of them. Shouto let his quirk react on instinct and more ice sprang from where his foot touched the ground, throwing up another barrier between the villain Hitoshi.
He couldn't do anything for Izuku right now, but he could not let the villain get Hitoshi.
The villain drew back his elongated teeth, then before he could fall shot them out again. They propelled him sideways across the path, then retreated again as he landed purposefully among the branches of a tree.
"Damn it!" Shouto swore. "He's good at moving through this terrain with his quirk. This clearly isn't his first battle."
"We have to end this!" Hitoshi insisted as the villain rose again into the air, this time upside down, supported entirely by his teeth. "I have to use my quirk on him! We're allowed!"
"Show me . . ." the villain rasped. "Show me your exquisite flesh!"
"You can't!" Shouto said firmly as the onslaught began again. "Remember, they're after you, and they want you alive! They might have something to counteract your quirk, or use it to catch or hurt you! We can't risk them being ready for you so you have avoid combat!"
Hitoshi made a frustrated sound, looking up at the villain. Shouto knew he must be feeling helpless, even more so now that they knew Izuku was also in danger. If Mandalay had felt the need to tell everyone Izuku was a target, that meant he probably hadn't made it back to camp. He was out here, vulnerable, and there was nothing they could do to protect him. The only thing that would get Hitoshi to drop the idea of fighting was some way he could help.
"Hitoshi," Shouto said, turning away from his enemy briefly to look his friend in the eye. "I need you to let me protect you this time."
Hitoshi looked startled, then stricken, then lost. He looked up at the villain, then back the way they had come. He seemed to be waiting for something, or perhaps considering his options, but whatever solution he was expecting didn't present itself. Finally he looked back at Shouto, then nodded.
"I'll get us out of this," Shouto assured him, turning back to the villain. "I promise."