They move. One step at a time, one inch at a time.
Katsuki steps out of the booth, Hitoshi follows him, and Suzume brings up the rear, her side aching. But her attention isn't on the blood starting to gather and drain down her side.
It isn't on the TV, now sliding to different reports of a prison break.
It's on Shigaraki as he picks up the corpse hand, and delicately refastens it to his face.
She feels the weight of his eyes land on her, and her broad shoulders draw tight. Her skin prickles, and his voice comes out quiet. Just for her.
"I could get you a quirk."
The world shifts. Slightly. Suzume's chest squeezes and for a second her breath is caught.
Then Hitoshi opens his mouth. "Are you a fucking idiot?"
Katsuki's palms pop with firecrackers, and his skin is starting to glisten with sweat, flushed and pink from the rise in temperature and his own irritation.
"She doesn't need a quirk, dumb ass," he spits. His palms are actually glowing with his quirks power.
Suzume jerks in shock at their words, so like her own, so angry on her behalf.
Her teachers defending her honor. Her friends defending her status.
(her other friend making a stupid, cruel offer)
"Don't bite my head off for asking. I was hoping you could be reasoned with. You're all important pieces…"
"But I guess there's no choice now."
Suzume stiffens, and blood pops out of her side, making her hiss, but there's no time for this. Because she knows what happens next.
Except.
It doesn't.
"Let's get out of here," Dabi says to the other villains, rubbing the back of his neck. "This recruitment failed, and you heard what they said. They're investigating. We should make tracks before something else happens."
"Wait, what? You can't be serious!" Mustard argues instantly. "We went to all the work to kidnap these kids, and you're not doing anything?!"
"I'm pretty sure we're older than you."
"Is now really the time?"
"I dunno, it feels relevant."
"It wasn't 'for nothing'. Did you miss the part where the media was attacking UA? Even if the recruitment failed, we broke faith with that shitty hero school, and dealt a blow to people's trust in heroes to protect anyone at all," Shigaraki waves his hand vaguely at Mustard, although he seems miffed that Dabi is calling the shots at all. "He's right. Let's get a move on."
"But we can't just leave them here! They're hostages, they've seen out faces, and-"
"And I said we're leaving," Shigaraki's voice drops into a hiss, and he tilts his head to the younger man. The temperature seems to drop, even though a spark forms of Dabi's finger tips. His gaze darts to Suzume, who ignores it in favor of looking at Mustard. Smoke- no, gas, starts to rise around his shoulders, and his hand is on his gas mask.
"Cut that shit out, and make the little heroes go to sleep again. We're. Leaving."
"I can't believe he's so stubborn. I'm almost impressed," Magne muses.
"The explosion kid, or Mustard? They're both bullheaded…"
"If you want me to listen to you, then get on your knees and die!" Katsuki snaps.
"Did you really think any of this would work?" Hitoshi asked cooly.
"Well, we did-" Suzume watches Spinner stiffen, and his eyes go distant. Hitoshi's quirk. She reached for Hitoshi, trying to stop him. They were leaving! It was over!
"Hit-"
"Grab Magne and hold her still. Now!"
Spinner tackles the woman to the ground, pinning her beneath his heavy body. For a nerd he was strong, and he got her to the ground before she could use her quirk or fight him off.
Well. Fuck it I guess.
Suzume lunges for Mustard, slamming him into the wall behind him. She hits him with two sharp jabs, nearly breaking his jaw and knocking him out before the sleeping gas can get thick enough to do any damage.
She plucks his gun out of his pocket.
A knock sounds at the door. She hears something about pizza, and instinct kicks in. Suzume spins to launch herself at Katsuki and Hitoshi, ignoring the sharp pain in her side.
"Get down!"
Katsuki reacts, twists, grabs her around the middle and they dive behind a table as chaos roars into the room. Chaos in the form of All Might.
His plan had been to get to the back door.
If he, Brain Kid, and Suzume could get out into the street they'd have more maneuverability and options. They needed to get out of this stupid, shitty bar, and somewhere else. Literally anywhere else would be better than where they were right then.
Except, the villains were going to fucking retreat, the cowards, and then Brain Kid jumped the gun and got one of them to attack the other.
It wasn't a bad move. Katsuki could respect it.
Suzume moved fast enough that he still barely believed she was quirkless, and he himself twisted to avoid a knife launched at his face.
Then a knock sounded at the front door, and someone said something about pizza.
"Get down!"
He didn't need to be told twice from her.
Katsuki grabbed Suzume, yanked her into shelter with Brain Kid, and the door blasted off its hinges.
Heroes swarmed in.
All Might, Kamui Woods, Edgeshot, some loser in yellow, they darted in at speed.
Katsuki gripped Suzume to his chest and pressed shoulder to shoulder to Brain Kid behind the table as fire erupted, burning across the wooden man in blue flashes of raw destruction.
She hissed against his shoulder, and his hand touched something warm and wet.
Blood.
She was injured. Goddamn it!
She was just going to have to deal with it for now, they didn't have time to patch her up or find someone with a healing quirk. If such a person was even around. Katsuki wasn't hiding, he was just guarding the other two. If it was just him he would have lunged head first into the danger, but with two other teenagers here who weren't pro's he couldn't risk it in this chaos.
Katsuki swore viciously and the pair of them peaked up in time to see Edgeshot knock out the fire fucker. Shigaraki was on the phone, shouting at some 'sensei' of his.
So he wasn't the final boss after all?
Then he tasted something gross.
Foul.
Like that sludge villain, it was vile and sticky as it swelled in the back of his throat and punched its way through his lips and teeth.
He retched, vomiting dark mercury all over himself and Suzume. She clutched his shoulders as the same thing happened to her and Brain Kid gagged behind them. The world twisted into a glittering darkness that made his head hurt to try to comprehend.
Was it dark or was there light enough to know the liquid spilling from his lungs was shiny? Where the hell was it coming from and why could he still breath around it as existence tumbled around them and he, and she, fell into dirt.
Suzume cried out in pain, before shutting her mouth with a click of teeth.
Katsuki blinked open his eyes, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on.
They weren't in the bar anymore, of course.
They were in the middle of a crater, that was in the middle of a city. And a man in a black mask with no face was hovering above them.
He was built powerfully, so much so that his suit bulged with it around his shoulder. A tube ran from his nose into the collar, and he was smiling like there wasn't a goddamn thing wrong in the whole world.
Shigaraki knelt to him.
And something like ice slithered down Katsuki's spine.
Whoever this guy was, he was very, very dangerous. And every instinct Katsuki had was screaming at him to get the fuck out of there right now. Katsuki wasn't a fucking cowered, but something about this guy pressed down on him, oppressive and vile.
"Christ on a cracker," Suzume coughed and spat the foul black-silver goo out of her mouth.
Katsuki shook his head to clear it. He wasn't a stupid middle schooler, and he wasn't trapped in the slime. It was just a quirk, nothing more, and there was no way he was going to sit here and let himself be capture again, pinned down, invaded and-
Brain Kid stumbled towards them.
He was there too, his dark eyes just as determined at Suzume's.
"That was so gross!" the crazy blonde bitch called, and covered her mouth.
"This black stuff sucks! I love it!" said the nut who'd grabbed Katsuki out of the forest in the first place. Twos or something stupid like that.
"Sensei," Shigaraki's voice was low and rough. There was something weird about the way he said that. Something between reverent and bewildered. Had he been smacked in the head?
"So you failed once more, Tomura." the floating weirdo said as he came closer. His feet touched down lightly. A groan came from somewhere to the right, and Katsuki looked over to see Best Jeanest propped against a wall.
With a hole in his side.
"But you must not be discouraged, you'll try again. That's why I brought your comrades back with you. And these children," He motioned toward them, and extended a hand gallantly at the League of Villains leader, "Because you judged that they were important piece's on your game board. Rooks, Bishops, Knights even. All for you, Tomura."
The way he talked made Katsuki's skin crawl. It was slick and smooth, like oil on the ears.
"Start over as many times as you like. I am here to provide you with help. All of this is for you."
Suzume pushed herself to her feet, and Katsuki followed suit. He hunched forwards, his hands ready. His ears were ringing slightly, and he could still taste the foul liquid from before.
Something pressed down on his shoulders.
Weight. Gravity.
It was the feeling of looking at a god.
Because this man was powerful. Insanely powerful. Best Jeanist was one of the best of the best, and as the smoke settled Katsuki could see more prose knocked out, injured in the rubble. This one man had done all that.
This one man was behind the League of Villains, for real. He was stronger than them. All of them.
He was like All Might's dark shadow.
While All Might was victory itself, light and brilliant and joyous, this man was anathema to it.
He was darkness and cold, oil slick words.
And Katsuki had never wanted so badly to run from someone in his life.
He felt like a rabbit when the man's attention turned on him. He felt, in his very bones, that he needed to run.
Instead, he dug his heels in.
Like hell he was running from some creep with no eyes!
Heat gathered in his palms, ready and waiting.
Suzume stood at his side, at the ready, and Brain Kid was on the other.
"You children- Ah," Whatever he was going to say got cut off.
He tilted his eyeless face towards the sky.
"So he did follow you."
A flash of blue and yellow, and All Might hurtled down like an avenging meteorite.
"There you are." He said. And blocked. The. Punch.
Like it was easy.
Like it wasn't All Might himself who had smashed into him.
Who the hell is this guy?!
The ground shook and crumbled under the force, but the masked man in the suit didn't even seem to notice. A shock wave blasted against the trio.
"I'll have you return my students, All for One." All Might roared as they collided. For the first time Katsuki could remember, he looked pissed. There was no smile on his face today.
"Have you come to kill me a second time, All Might?" The man, All for One, taunted. The pair separated to face off, like a battle of titans. "It took you long enough to find us. It's only 6 kilometers from the bar to here. And yet it was at least 30 seconds after I sent the Nomu that you arrived. You've gotten weaker, All Might."
"You're one to talk, it's kind of difficult to ignore that fancy life support mask you've got on. Aren't you over exerting yourself?" Katsuki watched All Might start stretching of all things, as the smile bloomed across his face one more. "I won't repeat the mistake I made 5 years ago. You hear me? This time you're getting locked away for good!"
All Might lunged for the man, who activated a wind quirk on his arm to counter All Mights smash.
"We need to go," Suzume said, her voice firm despite what's happening all around them.
Katsuki was starting to seriously wonder if it's even possible to phase her. Brain Kid was quivering. Katsuki was fighting the urge to beat tracks. But she was calm and cool. If she looked death in the face, would that make her panic?
"No shit," he grunted. But the problem was, where did they even go?
Then the suited man struck All Might, and the pro was sent hurtling into the distance.
"There's so much to do. It'll be tough for both of us….Air Cannon plus Springlike Limbs, Kinetic Booster times four, Strength Enhancer times three. This combination is fun. Maybe I'll try to add a few more enhancer-types."
"All Might!" Katsuki couldn't help but shout.
All For One dismissed his concerns. "Try not to worry, he won't die from something like that. So run away from here, Tomura, and take them with you."
Abruptly the man's fingers darkened and turned geometric and glowing. Long, angular tendrils shot out and stabbed into mist guy's still knocked out form.
A warp gate opened.
Whatever thoughts the villains had about letting them go must have left, because Shigaraki and the others converged on the three of them, on All For Ones orders.
"Don't make this hard," the redhead hefted a huge slab of metal.
"Go fuck yourself," Katsuki spat at her.
"You don't even need us now," Suzume pipped up, "You know we aren't going to agree, you already said you were leaving."
"Things change," Shigaraki said simply. He stalked forwards, trailing left. So they were between him and the warp gate. Cornered. "Go on now."
Shigaraki lunged, and All Might turned from his fight to try to rush back to help them. Katsuki moved to swing at Shigaraki while Suzume positioned herself beside him, hands up and read.
"We're not-"
Suzume was cut off by a shocked yelp when a shadow slammed into Shigaraki from the side, taking him to the ground. His hands pinned, his voice muffled in a howl by the creepy hand on his face.
The hunched figure lifted his face.
Black hair, red eyes, and a mouth covered in Shigaraki's blood.
Suzume's jaw dropped.
"Kaname?!"
But the young man was focused on something else. He glanced at All Might.
"Focus on him," he told the pro, "We'll handle things down here."
The man jumped to his feet, dodging Shigaraki's hand when it swiped. It was a weak swipe though, and the man struggled to his feet. He was bleeding from the neck.
Blood covered fangs dripped acid green.
Poison.
Suzume's family was full of poison quirks.
Yusada Kaname, Krait, stood in battered, bloody glory. His yellow visor was shattered across one eye, where blood dripped from his brow, and his gray hood was torn off completely.
His claws flexed and his teeth glittered.
The crazy blonde bitch made a sound like a kicked puppy at the sight of him.
Lizard Fucker, freed from Brain Kids quirk, rushed at the boy, but in a move that Katsuki had seen Suzume use a hundred times he twisted out of the way and struck at the Lizard Fucker's back. His claws pierced his skin easily, and the next swing taken was sloppier.
Krait rushed into the League of Villains, spinning and darting like a snake through the crowd. Each strike drew blood, and each drop of blood was poisoned.
He was fast.
Almost before Katsuki could comprehend he'd slashed across Shigaraki, Lizard, Redhead, Two's, and Blonde bitch.
Familiar gas rose up, and the guy Suzume knocked out rose to his feet, gas mask in place.
"You mother fuckers. Go to sleep already!"
Krait didn't even blink. Didn't slow down. He walked into the rising mist, and the kid backed up quickly. He patted his side frantically, looking for something that wasn't there.
"Anesthesia?" Krait asked, his voice low and dry. "Try it on someone else."
His claws pierced into the kid's chest, and his fist smashed into the opposite side of his face that Suzume's had.
The League of Villains lay, prone and defeated, on the ground.
"Holy shit."