The poll on my profile is now closed and I'm happy to say that 'The Disappearing Hero' had won 8 out of 27 votes which is 29% of the poll.
Thanks to everybody for voting!
Here's the next chapter, hope you'll enjoy it.
Djinn - Thanks so much. Pony doesn't get a lot of screen time in the anime or the manga which is sad for the viewer, but good for writers who expand on her character. I get the feeling that she's quite mischievous at times. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Neo Infinity - Thanks so much. Wow! New Yeah, huh. It's been a while.
Guest - Oh, I'm always coming up with ways that they can hang out together. I have to do a chapter when they both go to a cat cafe.
FireFox573 - Si estás hablando de en quién estoy pensando, entonces sí, tienes razón. Va a ser muy difícil para Lewis.
Sí, lo dije, ¿no? Soy un poco voluble así, supongo. Por ahora, digamos que es una broma, porque todavía estoy debatiendo sobre ello. Gracias por leer.
Guest - Thanks so much!
FanSuoerAnime -To you too and don't worry about being late. I mean, I haven't updated this story in three months apparently. I have looked into Solo Levelling and it does look interesting. I have to watch the show when I have the time. Thanks!
Guest - Thanks so much. I just knew I had to have Lewis at least be a part of the Wild Wild Pussycat motto. His quirk will develop as the story progresses, as you said, but I don't want to reveal too much yet. I have to leave some surprises during the battle with AFO. Thanks so much for reviewing and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter just as much as the last one.
wellingtonlucas282 - No problem, thanks for reading.
0DINS0N - …hisn?
Dudethatlikestoread - I'll be sure to pass that on to Lewis. I'm sure he'll be pleased with that.
Guest - Yep. No disrespect to Mineta or anything…I mean, he does have one or two perks…sort of…damn, it's really easy to hate him. Anyway, thank you so much.
Soberityy - Sorry for the wait.
Guest - I had never heard of Basto Cards until you mentioned them and so I did some research on them. I'm glad you did, because they look awesome. I see what I can do with them, thank you so much!
nexusplayer - Wow, quite a few reviews. I see if I can answer all of them in one go. Thanks so much, I'm glad that you are are enjoy the story so far. Firstly, maybe…maybe not :D. Secondly, I don't know about Zoro, but I can imagine Cavalier somehow travelling across the universes. Could make for a good omake. Thirdly and fourthly, yes his Fading technique can allow him to teleport without being concealed. It takes some time to do it and a lot of concentration, but he could use it to dodge things. Fifthly, not yet, but I'm tempted to put it in sometime. Sixthly and seventhly, I'm not too sure, because I'm fairly sure that there are no demons left after Demon Slayer finishes. However, I'm sure I could do a side story where Lewis goes on a journey to learn about his past and all about Michael, I can even write a special chapter where they can actually meet. Finally, yeah, you're right. I'm sure Pony would use that information to her advantage. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.
Thanks for reviewing everybody :)
Chapter 36: Night Of Fear
League Of Villains HQ, Unknown Location
Shiragaki was irritated. More so then he usually was.
On the night that U.A students were doing their camp games, he was sat alone in the old karaoke bar, muttering under his breath. He had his elbows leant on the beer-stained bar and glared with his blood shot eyes down at the photo in front of him; scratching the side of his neck until it started to bleed. He was tempted to destroy the photo now and get it out of his sights, but he knew that there would be no benefit to that; it wouldn't settle in annoyance. The best he could do is wait and do nothing until they return.
A black mist appeared behind the bar and, not too long after, Kurogiri stepped out of it, his metal mask shimmering in the dimly lit bar. He turned to his young master and nodded to him in respect.
"The Vanguard have been delivered, young master," Kurogiri informed in his dark voice, "They shall begin at any moment."
Shiragki hissed something from behind his hand mask, but did not look up from the photo in front of him. Kurogiri gave a simple sigh at the lacklustre response.
"Young master, may I remind you that our targets were selected especially by-"
"I know that!" Shiragaki snapped at him, "Doesn't mean I have to like it. Why this guy? He's not even the most powerful little brat in his class."
"It's not all about power. Sometimes it's the person itself and the things they have done…or they people they have encountered."
"Bah! Who cares if he met that noseless freak show. It's stupid how one video got everybody so riled up," he grumbled bitterly, "The damn media and those conspiracy theorists idiots exaggerated everything and now the entire world is losing their mind."
"Nevertheless, it has been rather effective. Especially in recruiting more members," Kurogiri said as he began to clean some dirty glasses left over on the bar, "Some of them are quite eager to meet him, you know."
"Like I care about what they think," he growled as he looked down at the photo once again, "I still think we should have gone with that Bakugo," he muttered as he tossed the photo off the bar and into a nearby bin.
A photo that clearly showed Lewis Fleetwood during the U.A Sports Festival.
Forest
At night, the forest seemed much different than during the day.
While they had the privilege to see between the trees and the ground beneath their feet under the sunlight; the night didn't allow them to have anything of the kind. Routes that have taken many times become unrecognisable, trees and bushes seem to appear not where they are supposed to be and there is now way of knowing who could be watching you. The only thing they could see for definite were the stars that sparkled and the crescent moon which hung gently in the night sky. They saw the fireflies dance they way in between the trees and the sound of some nocturnal bird tweeting in the darkness. Other than that, it was completely silent It was creepy, silent and seemingly endless.
Perfect for a bravery test.
Lewis and Mina began their test a mere few minutes ago and already feeling as if they were completely lost. They kept to the path, kept their eyes focused on the tree line on either side of them and pointed their torches to the ground to see where they were going. Lewis couldn't help but look down at Mina and frown slightly in concern. When they first entered the forest she had been her usual talkative self, but now she had fallen silent with her eyes focused on the path ahead.
'Is something wrong?' he thought in worry, 'It's unusual for her to be this quiet.'
Meanwhile, Mina kept her yellow eyes on the tree line on either side and smirked inwardly at what she was planning.
'Hehe, this is it,' she thought, 'Class B must be here somewhere and when they jump out…well, then it's my time to shine,' she thought with a chuckle as she imagined two chibi characters of Lewis and herself in her head.
"Kya!" Chibi Mina cutely screamed as she fell into chibi Lewis' arms, 'Gosh, these woods are scary.'
"Don't worry, Mina," chibi Lewis said as he held her hand, 'We can hold hands for the rest of the challenge. How does that sound?"
"Aww, thanks Neko-chan," chibi Mina cooed while the real Mina snickered.
'Perfect,' she thought.
"Err…Mina?" Lewis asked, snapping her from her plotting to look up at him, "Are you alright? You're really quiet."
Mina gave him a wide smile, "Ah, don't worry. I'm just preparing myself in case-"
Suddenly, out of the bushes, covered in head to with black mushrooms, Bondo leapt out into their path with his arms over its head and gave a roar as loud as he possibly could.
"Roar!"
"GAAAAHHHHH!" Mina yelled loudly in fear, completely forgetting her plan. She immediately slapped a hand over her mouth and blushed in embarrassment, 'Ah! That wasn't a cute scream!' she thought before she looked over at Lewis.
To her surprise, Lewis was a few steps away from her and stared at her with wide eyes rather than at her person who attempted to scare them.
"Huh? What's that face for!?" Mina cried out.
Lewis smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, you just made me jump when you yelled like that."
"I scared you more than he did?" Mina uttered before looking at Bondo…who was also looking at her with fear in his eyeholes, "What!? You too!?"
Komori poked her head out of the bushes to the side, "We weren't expecting such a noise to come from you," she told her honestly.
Mina buried her face in her hands and groaned embarrassment.
Meanwhile, further up the track from them, Bakugo growled in annoyance as he stomped down the forest path; grinding his teeth together and shoving his hands deep into his trousers as he went. He glanced back and gave an irritated grunt when he saw Shoko was behind. She was equally as annoyed as he was, but she hid it much better than he did.
"Why the hell are you still following me!?" Bakugo barked at her, making her roll her eyes.
"That's the point of the challenge. We're supposed to stay together," she replied plainly with a hint of anger in her tone.
"Like I care about that! Stay a few meters away from me! I ain't going to hold your hand, Half n' Half!
Shoko narrowed her eyes, "Fine, I'll do that," she said. She then proceeded to walk faster and passed him on his right side before slowing down until she was a few meters in front of him, "Happy now?"
Bakugo's eye twitched, "Hey," he growled menacingly, "What the hell you think you're doing?"
"Keeping a few meters away from you," she pointedly replied before she gave him a bored look, "Like you wanted."
"I never said walk in front or me!" Bakugo roared as the palms of his hands sparked with small explosions, "You trying to test me or something!?"
"I never want anything to do with you if I could help it, Bakugo. In fact, I would rather not have to interact with you at all."
"Shut it! Now get out my way!"
Shoko sighed and stopped in her tracks, "Of all the people to be stuck with."
"You're stuck with me!? No way, I'm the one stuck with you!" Bakugo yelled as she turned around to look at him, "You think I chose to be with a shitty half n' half like you!"
"And you think I chose to be with volatile, childish brat like you," Shoko calmly replied.
"WHAT WAS THAT!"
Meanwhile, as their argument continued to escalate, Pony and Manga hid behind a nearby tree and kept very quiet in case they heard them.
"Are we going to scare them or what?" Manga whispered to her.
"Nah," Pony said with a shake of her head, "they're totally…ruining…the mood."
'I wonder how Shoko is getting on,' Lewis thought as they continued to walk down the forest path, 'I guess I would have heard Bakugo's explosions by now if things got out of hand,' he reassured himself.
Although he did cast a weary glance over the tree line just to be sure.
After encountering a few more of Class B and their attempts at scaring them, they had finally made it to the midway point of the challenge. The path began to bend back on itself in a large 'U' shape that would lead them back to camp. Illuminated by two paper lanterns hanging on the trees was a table cloaked in a pink cloth covered in black paw prints patterns all over it. On the table were several cards with the team names on them, just like Tiger said there were going to be. However, Lewis couldn't help but notice that Ragdoll wasn't there, causing him to frown slightly.
"Weird," he mumbled in English, "Where could she be?"
However, he didn't have time to ponder any further as Mina ran up to the table gleefully.
"Yes! We made it!" she cheered as she skipped over to the table, "Now all we have to do is grab the card and-"
"Congratulations! Meow!"
Mina yelped and almost tripped over her own feet when Ragdoll suddenly appeared from behind the table, shaking her paw gloves gleefully in the air as she did. The Wild Wild Pussycat member chortled at Mina's reaction and wiped a tear from her eye.
"Haha! Got you!"
"No fair. I thought only Class B were supposed to do the jump scares," Mina complained with a pout.
"They sure are, but that doesn't mean I can't get in on the fun! Meow!" Ragdoll laughed before she pointed down at the cards, "You're halfway there. Just grab your card and go, go, go! Plenty more scares for you to go through! Meow!"
Lewis looked over at the table and picked their card up. He then noticed three of the eight cards have been taken, meaning that three of the groups have already come and gone. They said their goodbye to Ragdoll, who went back under the table to wait for the next group, and headed on their way; being sure to keep eye on the tree line in case there were anymore jump scares.
"So, what do you think we're going to do tomorrow?" Lewis asked in a low voice.
"More training likely," Mina sighed miserably before she perked up, "But I'm sure we can do fun camp stuff for the rest of the week. We still have to build a camp fire and maybe a scavenger hunt if we have the time. Oh! Have you heard of nagashi?"
"Sorry, I don't think so."
"I always wanted to try it. We can get Momo to build us one maybe. We also have to find a natural spring somewhere. We can ask the Pussycats where they could be one. Not only that…"
Lewis couldn't help but smile happily as he listened to her excitedly talk about the things they could do on their trip. She really showed her emotions through her movement and her words and he was glad that she could be like this. She was completely different from the person hiding from her exam; she was much more confident in herself and positive in her skills and it was clear in her body language. It was very endearing how infectious her enthusiasm was. That's what he liked about Mina; he never got tired of her energy.
"…you doing alright, Neko-chan?"
"Huh?" he was snapped out of his thoughts by her question and noticed that she was looking up at him curiously, "Sorry. I just got distracted."
"Oh? Distracted by what?" she inquired teasingly.
He gave her a shy look and turned away, "Well…I'm just glad that we can do this together, that's all. It would have sucked if you were stuck in remedial classes all summer…I…really enjoy spending time with you. We should do it more often."
Mina blushed at what he said and looked away shyly, "Really?" she questioned with a timid laugh, "I feel the same way," she cleared her throat, "Err…Fleetwood, do you think we can-"
However, before she could finish her sentence, a piecing scream rang out from behind them, making them stop in their tracks. It frightened them how genuine it sounded as and how blood curdling it as; a shiver of fear shook down their spines. They looked around in shock before they shared an unsure look.
"That came from where Ragdoll is," Lewis uttered.
"Maybe she scared the people behind us," Mina suggested with a concerned frown.
Lewis shook his head, "I…I don't think so. Let's check on her."
"Right," Mina agreed as they began to jog back to where the midway point was.
They were unaware of the dark purplish mist rolling in from behind them.
They knew something was wrong even before they reached the table. There was a deadly silence that hung in the air which weighed on their mind like a pound of lead. They felt their hearts began to race and their muscles tense in anticipation. But it was only when they returned to the midway point that their fears were confirmed.
The trees that stood on either side of it had collapsed and the lanterns had been extinguished, plunging the area into darkness. If it wasn't for their torches and the light of the moon, they would have not seen the carnage that had just taken place a few seconds earlier. Blood was splattered across the table top and over the remaining cards; there seemed to be long claw marks on the table and on the ground as if somebody had been dragged away forcefully.
Mina gasped in horror while Lewis' stepped back in shock. They never thought something like this would happen tonight.
"Ragdoll…" Mina uttered, "…what happened here?"
Lewis took a deep breath and looked around the area with his torch. He then pointed the beam of light towards one of the fallen trees and frowned in confusion, "Look at the cuts. The tree has been cut down," he told her, "why would they do that?" he questioned as he pointed his torch to the forest beyond the path and saw more trees like it, "Let's follow the destruction. It shouldn't be too far ahead," he told her before he noticed Mina staring at the blood stained table in horror, "Mina, don't look at it. We need to find what took Ragdoll before they disappear."
Mina tore her eyes away from the table and nodded nervously, "R-right. Let's go."
They sprinted past the table and deeper into the dark forest, following the trail of scratched trees and torn ground as they did.
'What could have done this?' Lewis thought as he studied the damage as they ran, 'They must be pretty powerful to cause all of this.'
"Hey, I hear something up ahead," Mina called out to him.
Lewis listened and agreed with her. There was a loud thumping noise up ahead like the sound of something heavy hitting the ground regularly. It was proceeded by a mechanical whirring sound like that of a chainsaw or an electrical tool. They immediately followed the noise and found something oafishly stomping through the trees or pushing them away with a swipe of its large hand.
It was a tall, muscular human-like creature with dark green skin. It had a narrow head which was covered in a purple helmet with two red visors and the top of its brain exposed for all to see; there was a metal muzzle nestled in its sharp teeth and on its lower half it wore a pair of black trousers. Protruding from its large back were six muscular arm, but instead of hands there was a tool. Four of them had chainsaws, one had a drill and the last one had hammer. It lumbered through the forest with all four of its chainsaws buzzing and cutting any tree that happened to be in its path.
Lewis felt his stomach drop at the sight of it as he immediately recognised what it was. Memories of previous encounters came rushing back to him. The USJ, Hosu City; the nightmare seemed to happened to him over and over again as if he was being punished.
'No way,' he thought in horror, 'It's a Nomu. What the hell is one doing out here?'
"It's that thing…" Mina uttered from behind him, equally as shocked before she took notice of what was in the Nomu's hand, "Oh god. Ragdoll."
He turned his eyes away from the Nomu and saw that she was right. Ragdoll was hanging limply in the Nomu's large hand; blood was pouring down from her head and over the right side of her face; her arms and legs look bruised and scratched and her headpiece was smashed to pieces and falling to the ground with every stomp that Nomu took. He couldn't see her breathing. He had no idea whether she was alive or dead. However, Lewis growled in anger and reacted on instinct. He disappeared and reappeared right next to the Nomu's head and rammed both feet into the side of his face.
The Nom roared at the sudden attack and instantly tried to swipe him away with his tool arms, but Lewis had already disappeared to the branches of the trees above. He leapt off the tree branch, rolled forward and stuck his leg out, using the momentum of the roll to make the kick stronger before he appeared just above the Nomu's head. He aimed the heel of his shoe right at the Nomu's exposed brain, but the Nomu sensed he was there and caught his leg before he could land its hit. Lewis yelped as he was hung upside down by his leg in the Nomu's grasp, held up like a newly caught fish. The Nomu raised him up to his eye level and growled angrily at him. Lewis should have been afraid, but he grinned at the Nomu's red eyes instead.
"Mina now!" he yelled.
"Right!" Mina cried as she charged towards the Nomu and threw several drops of acid at the arm holding Ragdoll up and watched it burn and smoke instantly.
The Nomu yelled in shock and dropped Ragdoll instinctively. Lewis, at that moment, disappeared from his grasp and appeared underneath Ragdoll on the ground and caught the pro-hero before she could it the ground.
"Run!" he yelled before he and Mina took off into the forest whilst supporting an heavily injured Ragdoll between them.
The Nomu growled angrily, turned around and charged after them so it could retrieve its stolen prize. They were now in a diffract situation; carrying and running with an injured Ragdoll through an unfamiliar forest whilst being chased by enraged and power monster; things couldn't not get any worst than this. However, little did they know that this was merely the beginning of the night of horror that have yet to meet.
After taking sharp turns through the trees to get the Nomu off the tail, they found a bush beside a tree big enough for the three of them and climbed under it. Lewis made sure to cover Ragdoll's blood, that had dripped on the ground, with mud in case the creature tracked them on scent. They kept hidden by crouching down next to the tree and tried not to move too much; Ragdoll laid on the ground between them with her head supported by Mina's hand. She was bleeding far too much and too quickly; Lewis tried his best to dress it using some of his shirt that he ripped up, but even then it wasn't enough.
"She's going to need surgery," Lewis muttered, "I think her skull's cracked so make sure you keep her head up."
"Right," Mina whispered as he carried out his orders, "That thing…it's a Nomu, right? Like the one at the USJ?"
"And the Hosu attack," Lewis agreed, "If it's here, then that means…the League Of Villains must be close by."
Mina looked at him in worry in her eyes, "But how would they know we're here? The whole reason we're at this camp is so they don't go after us. Even our parents don't know where we are."
"I don't know, but we cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now…" he trailed off when a loud animalistic shriek rang out over the forest followed by the roar of several chainsaws. It sounded like the Nomu was somewhere in the distance, but it was too close for comfort, "…we need to tell the heroes and get Ragdoll to safety."
She nodded in determination, "Okay, I'll stay here with Ragdoll and you go back to camp and warn them that they're here."
"Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?"
"Yes, but please hurry."
Lewis was about to disappear when he heard a voice enter his head, making him jump in surprise.
'Attention everybody, this is Mandalay!' the voice spoke to him.
He looked around, thinking that the pro-hero was somewhere nearby, but he couldn't see her. Judging by Mina's similar reaction, she also thought Mandalay was near. That's when he remembered something from the other day when they Pussycats were explaining their quirks.
"It's Mandalay's telepath quirk," Lewis whispered to Mina, "She can communicate to us into our heads."
"Freaky, but cool," Mina whispered back.
'Two villains have invaded the area! It's possible that there are more out there!' Mandalay informed urgently, much to their surprise, 'Those who are capable, head immediately to the facility! If you should come face to face with the enemy, do not engage them in combat! Retreat for now!'
Mina's eyes widened in shock, "They already know they're here," she uttered as she clenched her fists tightly, "That's good right? Right?"
Lewis, much to her dismay, shook his head solemnly, "This has got to be a coordinated attack. The teachers were caught unawares…Mina, I don't think there's anywhere safe we can go to."
He had no idea how much he was right. In some parts of the forest, trees were alight with blue flames which spread across the woods quickly. In other parts, the forest was shrouded by a think purplish mist which knocked people out with one smell of it. Students were being attacked by villains on all sides with no way of anticipating their movement. They had even taken out Pixie Bob who was suffering from a head injury and is in a serious condition. At the main camp building, Aizawa was facing a villain who could cremate people with a wave of his hand. No where was safe.
The silent, peaceful night had descended into a night of fear.
"We can't get to the teachers, I can't go back to U.A, we have no phones and no other way of communicating to anybody or else the villains know we're here," Lewis muttered as he heard the Nomu roar out again, "And we can't run away or we'll make Ragdoll's injuries worst."
"We can't hide here forever," Mina said, a panic tone appearing in her voice, "Can we fight our way out?"
Lewis frowned thoughtfully, "We can try. How confident are you in fighting?"
"Not very. I don't use my quirk for full out attacks or I kill somebody. But if we do it together…then I don't mind…as much."
"I would fight better if I had my costume or my equipment. Damn it, I don't even have my googles," Lewis grumbled as his glasses he wore weren't exactly practical for hero work, "If we fight then we only have one chance. Otherwise, we'll have to hide Ragdoll somewhere and run."
"For a normal villain that would work, but that thing is a freaking monster," Mina gulped in fear, "One of them took on All Might. I don't know if it has a weakness that we can use against it."
"…b-back…of…neck…"
They were surprised when they heard a weak voice croak and looked down to see Ragdoll was half-awake. Her eyelids were partially open and she was taking deep, heavy breaths. She looked like she was on death's door…and yet she was still strong enough to regain her consciousness for a little while.
"Ragdoll?" Mina uttered as the pro hero looked up at them with tired eyes.
"…there's…there's a device controlling it…remotely…on the back of its neck…" she whispered as she forced a small and very pained smile on her bloodied face, "…my quirk's cool, isn't it? Meow…"
"A device on the back of its neck," Lewis repeated, "So, if we destroy it we can stop it."
"Yes," Mina whispered hopefully, "Thank you Ragdoll. You're the best-"
She was cut off when Ragdoll reached out and grabbed onto Lewis' shirt and weakly pulled him down so she could get a better look at him.
"Seriously…you two," she uttered as she fixed them a stern look, "I give you permission to use your quirks…but when you defeat it or if something goes wrong…run. Just leave me behind and go back to Aizawa. Don't you dare attempt to save me."
Lewis frowned at that, "But Ragdoll, we can't do that."
"My…job is to protect you students…not the other way round…please…don't do anything else…I'll be fine…"
Before they could argue her statement, Ragdoll's eyes rolled back in their sockets and she fell unconscious once again. Lewis and Mina hated the idea of leaving her behind and they understood why she would say that. But it just wasn't heroic of them to do it. However, Lewis decided not to think about that now and focus on the main problem. He gave Mina a confident look.
"I have an idea. Are you ready?"
She hesitated slightly, but seeing the commitment in his eyes made her regain some confidence in herself. She nodded in reply.
"Ready," she said.
The Nomu trudged through the forest and sniffed the air. The scent of blood was in the air; the blood of its prey; but it was covered by the smell of the smoke from the nearby forest fires and the purplish gas that was spreading. It was finding it difficult to track its prey, but it understood that it wouldn't be too long until it finds it. That was he programmed to do.
It gave another animalistic roar and started to search again when he heard a twig snap over to his right. He snapped his head around and saw Mina standing between the trees a few meters away. Her legs were trembling and there was sweat building on her face, but she stood her ground and faced of the monster.
"Hey! Over here, you…you thing!" she cried out
The Nomu growled at her and lurched towards her, its tool arms whirring and spinning anticipation. When suddenly he felt a weight full onto his back, causing him to snarl in confusion.
Lewis, seeing that Mina had distracted it, appeared on his back and wrapped his legs around his neck to prevent him from falling off. The Nomu was caught off guard, allowing him to find what he was looking for.
'Here it is!' he thought as he found the device that Ragdoll told them about, embedded into the top of the spinal column, 'All I have to do is break it!'
He tried to rip it off, but it was attached too tightly and so he tried to hit it off. However, as the Nomu squirmed and tried to fling him off, he found it hard to even get a solid punch on it. He growled in frustration and tried again, but he sensed something coming at him. He ducked underneath one of the chainsaw arms that swung at him and then once again at another one. He was unlucky the third time as a saw nicked his cheek as he moved away, leaving a bloody cut. He yelled out in pain and pressed a hand against the cut, causing him to lose his grip and tumble off the Nomu's back and land painfully onto the ground.
The Nomu snarled and glared menacingly down at him; it looked as if it was going to attack him, but for some reason, he held itself back at the last second. Lewis looked up at him in pained confusion as the Nomu stepped back away from him, but before he could question any further, a glob of acid smacked right onto one of the chainsaw hands, causing it squeal out in pain. It was followed by another and another until all tool arms were hit, melting away the tools which dropped to the ground around the Nomu.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Mina roared as she continued to hurl more globs of acid at the Nomu, "YOU BASTARD! DON'T HURT HIM!"
The Nomu yelled in pain before he swerved its monstrous head towards her and roared in anger. Mina started to produce more acid into her hands, but her eyes widened in shock as the arms began to regenerate themselves from the acid burns. Before she knew, all the tools had returned and were whirring dangerously. All of them were pointed at her.
"RUN!" Lewis yelled, "MINA RUN!"
At his shout, she turned on her heel and bolted away from the Nomu as it quickly chased after her. She zipped and weaved past the trees, hoping to throw it off her tail, but the Nomu would simply crash through them as if they were nothing. She gritted her teeth and didn't dare to look around; she was already terrified out of her mind.
Lewis watched the Nomu chase after her and cried out in anger. He wiped his bleeding cheek with his arm before he chased after the Nomu as fast as he could. It was easier running after it because of the destruction and he soon caught up. He took a deep breath and disappeared and reappeared several feet in the air. As he fell towards the ground, feet first, he waited until he built up enough momentum and teleported underneath the Nomu's chin with the soles of his feet upwards. He slammed hard into the Nomu, causing him to cry out in shock and become distracted from chasing after Mina. The Nomu looked around in search of Lewis when he suddenly appeared next to his head and slammed into him again and then again and again. He didn't let it rest for a second; disappearing and reappearing all around him whilst using the trees for cover.
Mina, noticing that the Nomu was longer chasing her, turned around and narrowed her eyes in determination, focusing on the device on the Nomu's neck. She ran quickly towards it, secreting acid into the palm of her hand as she did, and used her agility to leap onto the monster's back. She slammed her hand onto the device and coated it with a thick layer of acid in order to melt it off. She gave a small cry when she felt it start to work. The device was slowly melting away from her strong acid. But then the Nomu had already grabbed ahold of her leg and pulled her off, flinging her over to the side and onto the ground.
"Mina!" Lewis yelled in fear during one of his kicks.
He was distracted long enough for the Nomu to swipe him away with his clawed hand, sending him flying across the woods and collide a tree. He felt himself briefly fall unconscious as his head hit the trunk. He slumped forwards as the world around him began to spin, making him feel dizzy.
The Nomu snarled at him before turning back to Mina. She had managed to pull herself together and stumbled onto her feet. She gulped in dread as the Nomu towered over her. She managed to secrete some more acid into her hand and lobbed it towards it fruitlessly, but it only hit one of its drill hands. The drill fell to the ground with a clatter, still working as normal. Almost instantly, the hand regenerated itself and now all four tool hands were pointed directly at her. Mina stumbled back; her face filled in absolute horror as the monster approached her. She wanted to scream, but found that it was caught in her throat.
There was nothing she could do.
The Nomu lurched towards her with murderous intent…
…when suddenly…
With a mighty roar, Lewis appeared from nowhere and landed on the Nomu's back with the detached drill hand still operating in his hand. He slammed the drill tip into the remote device, breaking the already melted plastic casing in an instant. It sparked and burst in front of him, making the Nomu cry out in shock before it slumped forwards and fell to its knees. Lewis jumped off his broad back before it could fall onto its front.
It didn't move.
He tapped his shoulder with the tip of his shoe.
It still didn't move.
He tossed the drill over to the side and leant down to feel its neck. He felt an inconsistent pulse; not a natural one, but a pulse all the same. It was still alive, but it was immobile; like a puppet whose strings have been cut. He sighed in relief and turned to Mina.
"I think it's-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence before Mina slammed into him, wrapped his arms around his neck and embraced him tightly. He stumbled back from the force, but he caught his balance and hugged her back. He started rubbing the top of her back when he heard her sob into his shoulder; he felt crying himself, but he knew that it wasn't the time for that.
"It's fine," he whispered to her, "We're okay now. It won't hurt us."
Mina sniffed and pulled away, trails of tears falling down her face, "That was so scary! I don't want to do that ever again!"
Lewis nodded, "But you were so brave. Very heroic."
"I…I guess," she mumbled as she wiped the tears away and gave him a small smile, "Can we get out of this forest now?"
Lewis frowned in determination, "We need to get Ragdoll first and get her to safety."
"But she told us to leave her," Mina told him.
"I don't care. I'm not leaving her here. Come on, let's get her," he said before he turned and ran back to where they hid her.
Mina frowned in concern and looked over her shoulder cautiously at the Nomu. She didn't want to leave Ragdoll here either; she was a hero after all, but she couldn't help but feel somewhat uneasy. She shook off her worries and followed after him, leaving the immobile Nomu alone in the dark, cold forest.
Somewhere In The Forest
"Huh? What's wrong with this thing?"
The villain hit the remote device on its side with his scarred hand before trying to work it again; only to growl in annoyance when it still didn't work.
He was young man who looked to be in his early twenties with wild spiky black hair and dark blue eyes. His most prominent features was the patches of wrinkled, purple skin that covered most of his body including his lower face, his neck, below his eyes and all over his arms and legs. It looked like he had been severally burnt all over and they all seem to remain onto his body because of the multiple surgical staples that lined his burned skin. He wore a dark blue trench coat over simple blue trousers, with the ends of the legs stuffed into boots, and a greyish white shirt.
The villain sighed as he shoved the device back into his pocket. The raid was already a risk; the last thing they needed was faulty equipment when they already have several pro-heroes and forty or so heroes in training to worry about. Although, he had to admit that things were going well. Spinner and Magne had attacked three of the four Pussycats near the base camp; Moonfish, Toga, and Mustard had ambushed some of the students; Twice's clones of him had made contact with Aizawa and Vlad King and Muscular…well, he didn't know where that psychopath was, but he was sure it wasn't pretty. All that was left was the Nomu to return the other Pussycat, but he had somehow lost contact with it.
The villain clicked his tongue in annoyance and scratched a bit of his rugged skin, "Damn, guess I have to go out and find that thing," he sighed, "It better have not killed that Pro before we can get our hands on her."
"Dabi, why don't you allow me," drawled a voice from beneath the shadow of a nearby tree, "I been meaning to stretch my legs for a while now."
The villain, now named Dabi, looked over towards with a bored expression, "You should have left ages ago. Why the hell haven't you gone already?"
"Patience, Dabi, patience," the man hummed as he adjusted his top hat on his head, "I've been waiting for the right moment to make my appearance and I have the feeling that now is my grand opening," he told as he strolled into the forest, "I shan't be long."
Exhausted and in pain, Lewis and Mina carried Ragdoll back through the woods towards where they thought the camp was. The hero was in a much worst state then when they left her; her face had gone pale and her breathing was more erratic. They needed to get her to help immediately; never mind the risks.
"What do we do if they're at the camp," Mina urgently asked in worry.
"I'll…I'll sneak in and get the First Aid kit. I think I know where it is."
"You can also find a phone to contact the police. Would they get here on time? We're in a remote place."
Lewis tried his best to give her a reassuring smile, "I'm sure there's a local police station or an emergency services nearby. We just have to keep on going and-"
He was suddenly cut off by the voice of Mandalay coming into his head, making them stop in surprise.
'Attention everyone, I have a message from Eraserhead,' Mandalay announced, 'All students of Class A and B are authorised to use your quirks as a defence against the villains! Please be safe and don't do anything rash.'
"Authorised to use our quirks," Mina muttered, "That doesn't sound good. Are we that desperate?"
Lewis gritted his teeth, "Damn, maybe going back to camp is not as safe as we thought."
Before they could question any further, Mandalay's voice entered their head once again.
'The student named "Kacchan". Whoever Kacchan is avoid combat as much as possible. The villains are targeting you. Refrain from solo events!' she ordered before the voice disappeared suddenly.
Lewis frowned slightly, "Kacchan? Isn't that what Midoryia called Bakugo?"
"Yeah, I remember that," Mina agreed, "That's the reason why they're here. To kidnap one of us? Why would they target him in particular?"
"Maybe because we enjoy his company, hmm? He did leave an…interesting impact at the Sports Festival after all."
They froze at the new voice and a cold chill ran down their spines. They looked up and saw a figure perched on top of a branch of a nearby tree looking down at them as he played with a marble with his fingers. He was dressed strangely; he wore a knee-long light tan coat with a high collar over an orange shirt and black trousers. He also wore high white boots, orange gloves, a stove pipe hat with a white feather and a white mask with black markings over a black balaclava. They were caught off guard by his appearance since they didn't even hear him sneak up on them and was taken aback. The strange man gave a chuckle as he rolled the marble on his fingers whilst twirling his white cane in the other, feeling somewhat amused by their surprise.
"My apologies," the man drawled cooly as he bowed dramatically to them, "I suppose I have to introduce myself. My name is Mr Compress and I am current employed by the League of Villains. I don't suppose you have heard of it, no?"
Mina gulped nervously, "Fleetwood," she whispered urgently.
"I know," he whispered back, "Just remain calm."
The villain, now named Mr Compress, rose up from his bow and tilted his masked face to the side, "You know, it is rather fortunate that I happen to upon you. That Nomu we brought with us, for some reason, broke down. But you have no need to worry, I quickly repaired it and it's now on its way," he informed casually, making Lewis and Mina flinch in shock, "Suddenly, I happen to find two U.A students a hero not too far away. This is, indeed, a rather good show, if I do say for myself. Very convenient considering that Katsuki Bakugo is not just our target, you know?"
Lewis glanced over at the unconscious Ragdoll in his and Mina's arms and raised his eyebrows in concern, 'That's why the Nomu was going after her. It has been ordered to do so. But why her?' he thought before he looked back up at Mr Compress, "Just so you know, we're more than capable at fighting back now. Are you really going to risk a two vs one battle?"
"And are you going to risk her life, hm?" he asked pointing the tip of his cane at Ragdoll, "She doesn't look took good now, does she? Shouldn't you be more concerned about that heroes?"
He had a point. Ragdoll was getting worse by the second. They didn't have time to fight him.
"Mina," Lewis whispered urgently, "We need to split up and run."
"Are you crazy," Mina hissed at him, keeping her eyes on the villain, "Let's just run together."
"I didn't hear him sneak up on us and he's able to catch us by surprise. I know he must be fast. He'll catch up to us in a second," he told her, causing her to hum in concern, "You head left and I head right. You want me to take Ragdoll?"
Mina looked like she wanted to argue, but gave up quickly. She subtly used her feet to take off her shoes, leaving her bare foot on the dirty ground, "I'll take her," she said, "I can slide away on my acid so I'll be quick…will you be alright?"
He reached sideways and took her hand and gave it a warm, comforting squeeze, "I'll be fine. I'll shake him off and get back to camp as soon as I can. Will you be alright?"
Mina nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, I will. I'm a hero. I can do this," she said in determination, "Be careful, Neko-chan."
"You too. 3…"
"…2…"
"…1…"
"…now!" they both yelled as they took off in different directions.
Lewis sprinted as fast as he could to the right while Mina secreted acid on the soles of her feet and slid away with Ragdoll on her back. Mr Compress hummed in amusement as he watched the two students run away as a smirk crept onto his masked face.
"Oh, I see. Chase two rabbits; catch neither of them," he sighed as he twirled his staff in his hand, "A shame that it will not work, but clever all the same," he said before he turned to the direction Lewis headed off to.
Lewis felt his lungs burn in exhaustion as he sprinted through the thick forest. The fight with the Nomu left him winded and a little dazed and it didn't help that he had been using his quirk too many times in a short period of time, making his brain feel a little fuzzy. However, he still continued to run; running as far away as he could whilst hoping the Mina and Ragdoll were safe. He still had no idea whether that villain was going after them or him.
He dared to look behind to see if he was pursuing him when he frowned in confusion when he saw a marble flying through the air towards him. It was small and blue and flew out of the darkness of the woods from seemingly nowhere. Before he knew it, however, the marble made a 'pop' sound and it suddenly turned into a large oak tree that was about to crash into him.
He gave a startled cry, stopped and ducked underneath. The rough bark of the tree sailed past his head before colliding into a grove of trees in front of them, smashing them into pieces of splinters and leafs. He looked at the tree in disbelief.
'Huh? That was a tree! A whole tree came from the marble?' he thought in shock.
"Surprised?" the cool voice of Mr Compress inquired. Lewis looked around and saw him balancing on a tree branch above his head, still twirling his cane in his hand, "I was too when I watched that video of you and the hero killer," he tilted his head forward and leered down at him, "Tell me, why did you support Stain during that incident, Mr Fleetwood?
Lewis narrowed his eyes and grabbed a stone from off the ground, "Why don't go ask him yourself!" he cried out as he threw the stone at his mask.
Mr Compress merely flicked the stone away with the back of his hand before looking down at Lewis…only to find he was no longer there. He frowned slightly and looked around the area; assuming that he ran off somewhere. Suddenly, Lewis appeared behind and kicked him right between the shoulder blades, making the villain cry out and fall off his perch. Mr Compress landed roughly on the hard ground and growled in pain. He looked around and up back to where he had fallen from only for Lewis to have disappeared again. He staggered to his feet only for him to be punched suddenly on the side of the head, forcing him to stumble back slightly.
Lewis disappeared before he could look at him and appeared in the top of a nearby tree. He watched as Mr Compress was looking around for him and struck again. He reappeared behind the villain and aimed a kick for his side…only for him to kick nothing but open air.
"What!?" Lewis uttered in surprise.
The villain had vanished in a second with no trace of him in sight. He looked around, trying desperately to find him before he attacked.
'This has to be his quirk,' he thought, 'But I can't tell what it is.'
As he looked around, he missed the blue marble that was on the ground where Mr Compress had stood. The marble shifted a little bit before it transformed back into the villain when Lewis had his back turn. Lewis heard it happen and he tried to whip around but, before he could, he was kicked sharply in the ribs. He was thrown of his feet by the powerful force and fell to the floor, clutching his aching side in pain. Mr Compress chuckled in amusement.
"I see you are quite spellbound by my quirk," he drawled dramatically, "Allow me to explain. My quirk is simply called Compress. It allows me to compress objects of any size into this," he said as he waved his hand in the air produced another blue marble out of nothing, "It is simple, but effective. And rather deadly. Shall I demonstrate?" he asked as he flicked the marble towards him.
The marble flew through the air towards him before it transformed into a large two meter wide boulder that hurtled towards him. He rolled out of the way and it smashed into the ground where he had previously been. He got back onto his feet, darted into the tree and disappeared. He reappeared behind him and aimed a punch between his shoulder blades, however, Mr Compress, somehow sensing his movement, swung his arm around and blocked his punch before he high kicked at his head. Lewis ducked at the last second; he punched up at him, but the villain gracefully stopped it with his cane. Instead, Lewis used his arm and left hooked him in the side of the mask, making him to stagger back by the force. Lewis was about to charge at him again, but before he could, Mr Compress twirled around and produced a marble from hus sleeve.
"Wait, wait, wait!" he commanded as he held the marble aloof, "You must be wondering why we are-"
"I don't care," Lewis muttered, "You injured Ragdoll and almost killed Mina. Now put that marble down and give yourself up."
"You're awfully cocky, young man. Give myself up when I still hold the right cards? I would be foolish to do such a thing."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, think about it. We both partake in this battle on similar terms and yet you think you will win because you are the hero. How do you know I am not the hero in this scenario and I will win. Perhaps I should be asking you to surrender to me."
"Stop wasting my time!"
"All I'm asking is for a little bit of perspective on my part. Our battle has just begun and yet you automatically think you'll win. That the problem with U.A and, well, society as a whole to be honest. All of you hopeful young ones and institutionalised to think heroes are good and villains are bad. Whereas some of us know that's not necessarily true," he titled her mask face at him pointy, "And I believe you know as well, don't you?"
Lewis flinched at that before he narrowed his eyes, "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but, funnily enough, I have not been institutionalised to care for my friends. That has come naturally and by my own free will."
"Has it really?" Mr Compress hummed, "Well, I suppose that is something. Unfortunately for you, that has given me quite the advantage," he said as he showed him the marble between his fingers, "You have been informed of our target, haven't you?"
Lewis looked at the marble and flinched in dread, 'Bakugo,' he thought, 'Damn it, they already got him."
"Judging by the slight shift in your features, I take that a yes," Mr Compress chuckled, "Now, here is the deal, young man. To guarantee their safety, you will come with me back to our lair willingly and gracefully,"
Lewis gave him a strange look, "Me? Why do you want me?"
"Well, it is rather like a performance you see. The more people involved on the trick, the better the act. However, while our target is the magician, you are his fabulous assistant. Understand?"
"So…I'm a bonus, then?"
"In layman's terms, yes. You do care for your colleagues, don't you? They will be safe as long as you come with us. You have my word."
Lewis sighed and closed his eyes in frustration, "Damn it," he muttered, "Fine, I'll go with you. But you will promise me he'll be safe. No tricks!"
Mr Compress raised his hand up and nodded, "I promise."
"Good," Lewis said before he gave him a smirk, "Oh…by the way. I have to apologise."
"Hmm? For what ever for?" the villain inquired in intrigue.
"Earlier, I blamed you for wasting my time…well, I guess I was being hypocritical," he said with a victorious grin, "Because it's actually…"
"…I that has been wasting your time."
Mr Compress frowned in confusion as he heard Lewis' voice from behind him instead from his mouth. He felt a quick hand snatch the marble from his and whipped around to see another Lewis a few meters behind him, holding the marble up proudly with a smile. The villain looked around in time to the first Lewis wave to him before he faded away and disappeared into thin air. Mr Compress made a noise between an annoyed grunt and snarl before he looked back at Lewis, clutching his cane tightly in his hand.
"What a troublesome quirk," he grumbled.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Lewis said before he glared at him and raised the marble up, "Now return him back to normal."
Mina ran as fast as she can through the forest, not daring to stop for a second. With Ragdoll on her back and the fact that she had to go bare foot, she was beyond exhausted. She assumed that the villain didn't follow them which she was glad of, but that only mean she left Lewis to deal with him. She had faith in him, but she was still concerned.
She saw a clearing up ahead and ran past the tree line; she found herself on wide woodland trail and breathed a sigh in relief. At least she was no longer lost.
"Ashido!"
She whipped her head around and gasped when she saw her classmates down the trail. Ochako and Tsuyu looked as if they had been attacked by a sharp knife; Fumikage, Shoko and Bakugo looked exhausted as if they had come from a battle; Shoji looked just as tired as he carried a badly injured Midoryia on this back. The green haired boy was bruised and dirty and his broken purple-coloured arms fell limply at his sides. All of them looked as if they had the same experience that they had been through, but she was relieved to see them.
"Guys!" she cried out as she ran to them, "Thank god! I'm so happy to see you!"
Tsuyu nodded in agreement, "So are we? Is that Ragdoll? What happened to her?"
"It was one of those Nomu. Like the one at the USJ, but different," she explained, "we managed to take it down."
"They brought a Nomu here," Shoji muttered in shock, "Really want to kill us."
"Indeed," Fumikage sighed, "We should take her back to camp as soon as possible."
Shoko stepped up to Mina and frowned seriously, "Ashido, where's Fleetwood? Why isn't he with you?"
Mina looked down at the ground guiltily, "We were ambushed by a villain so we split up," he told her, "I-I don't know where he is now."
"Why would you do that!? You should have stayed together!" Shoko angrily told her.
"We had no choice, okay!" Mina yelled back, "I hated the idea as much as you!"
"Wait," Ochako uttered, her eyes wide in fear, "Are you saying that he's fighting a villain right now?"
"No…well, I don't know. He could have used his quirk to get out of there."
"He won't do that," Bakugo snarled, "That idiot would have stayed behind to fight the villain. I know it."
"This is bad…this is really bad," Ochako uttered as she held a hand over her mouth.
Mina gave her a strange look, "W-what? What am I missing here?"
Ochako gave a worried sigh, "We…we think that Mandalay's message is wrong. We don't think the villains are targeting Bakugo."
"W-what?"
Midoryia looked up from Shoji's back and gave her troubled look, "I battled a villain and he said that they were going after Kacchan so I told Mandalay to send out a message."
"However, we also encountered a villain as well," Tsuyu told her, "And she kept on talking about the whereabouts of her 'little rabbit'. She kept on talking about wanting to drink his blood again and how she wants to see him again."
Ochako nodded,"And when we asked Bakugo about this, he said-"
"I told them I don't know vampire freaks!" Bakugo snapped, "Why the hell would I know anybody like that!"
"You tend to make a lot of enemies with that attitude of yours," Shoji muttered.
"I told you I don't anybody like that!"
Mina felt a sense of dread fill her heart as the pieces slowly came together. She almost didn't want to believe the possibility of what they were alluding to.
"You…you don't mean-" she managed to utter, "Surely, you can't be serious. Why would he know somebody like that either. He never mentioned that before. Even then how do you know she wasn't lying."
Shoko, however, set her stern look; there was a fiery determination in her eyes that Mina understood the meaning behind. She felt the same way. She too was scared for Lewis' safety.
"Ashido," she said, "Which way did Fleetwood go?"
"Now return him back to normal," Lewis demanded seriously as he glared at the villain.
For the first time, Mr Compress was silent for a long period of time. Clearly he was trying to think on how to get out of this. Eventually, he sighed in defeat and held up his wrists as if he was wanted him to puff handcuffs over them.
"Very well. You got me. According to the intelligence, you were unable to teleport unless you are not seen by anybody…but it would seem like it is out of date," he said, making Lewis frown in intrigue, "However…before they arrest me and throw away the key…I will have to apologise to you as well."
Lewis hesitated slightly; both from his change in attitude to his question.
"What are you talking about?"
Mr Compress stayed silent for a few seconds before he released a dark chuckle from behind his eyeless mask, "I have down played the role of the glamorous assistant significantly. They are not merely a side act. Do you know the important role they play in the performance by chance?"
Lewis gritted his teeth together in anger, "While the magician distracts the audience…the assistant is the one who sets up the trick while nobody is looking. They are the most important part of a magic show and nobody realises it."
"Precisely," Mr Compress said as he smirked deviously, "People focus on the grand and marvellous magician…when they should be really focusing on the real target," he said as he snapped his fingers.
Lewis dropped the marble as it suddenly grew bigger and bigger; morphing into a person that was definitely not Bakugo. He stepped back and gasped in shock when he saw the chainsaw Nomu towering over him with a beastly growl before it shot out its claw hand, grabbed him around the neck and lifted him off his feet. He gasped as he felt his throat squeeze tightly in the monster's grip as his legs flailed uselessly beneath him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mr Compress casually walk up to him as he twirled his cane in his hand. As soon as he got close enough, he released another dark chuckle and raised his hand up to his head and pressed his fingers onto his skull.
"A sleight of hand trick. Simple, yet effective," he said before he compressed Lewis into a marble which dropped to the cold, hard ground.
Lewis felt nothing. Saw nothing. Heard, smelled and tasted nothing.
It was hard to describe what being compressed into a tiny ball. Lewis had consciousness and thought, but he had no use of his actions. In fact, he wasn't too sure if he actually had a body to do anything. There was no pain, no heat or any other elements that could effect him. He just simply existed. He would be lying to admit that it wasn't an unpleasant thing to experience, but he would rather like to…well, not be compressed into a little marble. As soon as possible.
His friends must be worried sick for him and he was equally concerned for them. He couldn't use his quirk and no other means of escape. All he could do is fret helplessly.
'Damn it!' he thought, 'How could I be so stupid! What am I going to do!? I'm stuck here!' he gave a mental sigh, 'Calm down, Lewis. You have to wait until the villain releases you and then you can make your escape…hopefully. How long have I been here for anywa-'
It all happened at once, he felt like he been ripped out from somewhere and thrown into somewhere completely alien to him. Finally, he felt the hard, cold ground beneath him, the night sky and the tree tops looming over him, heard the sounds of yelling, smelled the sharp aroma of burning wood and tasted bitter smoke in the air. It all happened at once that, for a few seconds, Lewis was completely dazed by the symphony of senses rushing towards him.
However, he regained his senses quickly and lifted himself up into a sitting position. The first thing he noticed was that he was in the middle of a forest clearing; a complete different location where he had previously been in. Then he saw his friends a few meters in front of him; Shoji, Midoryia and Shoko were rushing towards him with determination in their eyes. All three of them were badly beaten up, but Midoryia looked the worst in comparison. He looked behind him and saw two villains; the first was Dabi and the other a disgruntled Mr Compress whose mask was broken slightly; they were stood in front of a misty portal which looked like the one at the USJ incident. The same one that teleported all the villains in.
"FLEETWOOD!"
He was snapped from his stupor by the cry and saw it was coming from Midoryia. It was the last thing he shouted before he collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion. His broken and mangled arms hanging loosely at his sides. Shoji went back to help him, but Shoko continued to sprint towards with a steely, determination in her eyes.
"Run!" she shouted, "Fleetwood you have to run!"
Lewis acted before he thought and stumbled onto his feet and ran towards her as fast as he could. She stuck her hand out as if to pull him to safety and Lewis eagerly did the same.
"Fleetwood," Shoko cried out, "I'm sorry for-"
However, before their fingertips could touch, Lewis sensed something headed towards him and leapt back before it could hit him. Without waning, a wall of blue flames erupted in front of him, severing him from Shoko and almost roasting them alive. Shoko leapt back as well, surprised by the blue flames, but she then looked over to him and she screamed.
"Behind you! Look out!"
Lewis jolted in surprise at the scream before something heavy slammed into the back of his head, knocking him to the ground and into a heap. To Lewis, the entire world began to spin in circles; light and colour flowed and crashed into each other dizzyingly in front of his eyes. If he was in any state, he would have guessed that he was falling unconscious once again. However, all he heard was the roar of the wall of flames in front of him and then somebody grabbing him by the collar and pulling him back towards the warp gate.
"You ain't getting away that easily," he heard a dark voice said, "You're coming with us."
As he slowly began to close his eyes and the darkness began to fall over him, he saw, for the briefest of seconds, Shoko on the other side of the wall of flames. She was yelling something at him as she tried to use her ice to extinguish the fire, but he couldn't hear her properly. The were tears steaming down her face and her usual stoic visage was broken to show a look of pure absolute horror. Her screams sounded distant to him, but he thought he could hear her say something.
"I'll save you! I promise I will find you, Lewis!"
Lewis felt him slipping away, but, before he did, he thought of one thing.
'I'm sorry Shoko. I wasn't strong enough. Everyone please help me.'
Fifteen minutes later and the emergency services finally arrived.
The villain raid lasted no longer than half an hour and yet it had devastating effects on everyone. Nobody was killed, thankfully, but several students were injured or knocked out due to the toxic gas that was released by one of the villains. Ragdoll and Pixie Bob had been taken to intensive care for their injuries. Midoryia went as well for injured arms despite his insistence to stay with the others. It was a devastating blow for U.A.
On the other hand, the League of Villains had managed to lose three of its members. The villain known as Muscular, a violent and dangerous villain, had been defeated by Midoryia while Mustard, a teenage villain wannabe, was taken out by Kendo and Tetsutetsu, and finally Moonfish, a villain who loves the taste of human flesh, was brought down by Funikage's Dark Shadow. They were swiftly arrested and taken away by the police before they woke up.
Despite the no fatalities, the news of Lewis' kidnapping made it feel that they had lost. The pro-heroes, specifically Mandalay and Aizawa, were distressed; Aizawa because it was his responsibility to keep his students safe and Mandalay for giving out the wrong information.
Class B, the ones that were conscious, were upset as well. Lewis may not have been part of their class, but they had worked, laughed and were friends with him. Komori had retreated to the room followed closely by Kendo who went to comfort her. The rest of the class were silent for the rest of the night, even Monoma and Kuroiro looked depressed by the revelation.
Class A were, by far, the worst of. Mina wouldn't stop crying the whole night despite the rest of the girls comforting her. She kept blaming herself for leaving him behind and kept insisting, through tears, that she should have never let him go. Bakugo remained silent and remained aloof throughout the evening. He didn't bother to talk to anybody and everybody left him alone. Shoko was the same and stayed in an isolated room all through the night. They tried to check in on her, but she had froze the door shut. They had no idea what she was doing in there, but it was clear that she didn't want to be disturbed.
What had turned from a school trip for training their quirks had quickly descended into chaos. The following days will be tough for U.A and their students. The parents, the media and the entire country would set their eyes on them once again and criticises their actions. But the students wouldn't care about any of that.
All they wanted was Lewis to be back. Safe and sound.
Unknown Location
'Where am I? Why can't I see? What's holding me down?'
Those were a few of the questions that ran through his head as Lewis slowly regain consciousness. His eyes opened for him to only see darkness, but he did feel some sort of rugged cloth was over his head, leading him to guess that he had a bag over his head. His arms and legs were tied up tightly to the chair he was sitting on by ropes that dug into his skin as he moved. He groaned in pain; his head hurt like hell and his body was racked with pain all over. It took him a few seconds to remember what happened.
Mr Compress. The Nomu. Kidnapped…again.
It all came rushing back to him.
He heard talking from somewhere and, before he knew it, the bag was unceremoniously torn off his head. The sudden light stung his eyes, making him wince and for his headache to get worse. He closed his eyes long enough for his eyes to adjust and saw a blurry room filled with seven or eight people who were also blurry. He frowned in confusion wondering what was going on when he felt a scaly hand on his shoulder.
"Oh hey, here you go," the person said as he sloppily put his glasses back over his eyes, "Sorry, they didn't fit underneath the bag."
With his vision restored, he finally noticed that he was in a strange, dingy bar. It reeked of old alcohol and cigarettes. The wall paper was mouldy and starting to peel and, on the far side of the room, was a karaoke machine that look like it hadn't been used in years. The people around him started to clear up as well and he saw all seven of them. He recognised Mr Compress, Dabi, the one who dragged him to the warp gate, as well as the mist villain from the USJ behind the bar. However, he was unfamiliar with the others.
The first was a muscular, tall person with shoulder length dark red hair and fair skin. Their lips were larger than normal and their eyes were covered pink tinted sunglasses. They wore a v-neck white shirt under an orange jacket and denim trousers; they also seem to have a large metal object about a meter long at their side. Ever so often, they would rap their fingers over it protectively as they sipped their whiskey at the bar.
The second was a slim man who was covered head to two in a black and grey body suit, along with grey boots, with not a single shred of skin showing. Over his head he wore a mask which was mostly grey at the top while the jaw and lower parts were black with white eye sockets. On his wrists were red and green wristbands, but Lewis was unsure what they were for. The man seemed to pacing up and down, twitching ever so often as if he was agitated about something. However, Lewis was fairly sure that he was talking to himself.
The third unknown person was the one who placed his glasses on his face. He was a young man with a reptilian features like green, scaly skin and a lizard-like face. He had long purple hair that stood upright and sharp reptilian eyes. He wore a sleeveless shirt, dark, baggy trousers, a white fabric eye mask around his head and black googles perched on his forehead. Around his arms were tightly wrapped bandages and a long red scarf around his neck. It took Lewis a moment to realise that he was dressed exactly the same way Stain did. Everything from the bandages to the sword on his back to the eye mask. Despite this, Lewis did his best to thank him for returning his glasses.
The last person, however, sent a chill down his spine for some reason. He had the awful feeling that he had met her somewhere. She was pretty (Lewis had to admit) with her blond hair done up into two untidy buns, her large bright honey-coloured eyes and her sharp fang-like teeth. She looked to be around his age and she wore a school uniform consisting of oversized beige cardigan, a dark blue skirt and a red scarf tied into a bow. As Lewis previously thought, she was pretty but there was a something strange about her…other than the knife and holder strapped to her thigh. Her eyes seemed to gleam wickedly and her grin looked crazed; she also seemed to be blushing as she stared at him from her barstool like a cat would to a canary. She looked hungry. Lewis felt the palm of his hand, where there was now a scar, itch and realisation him like a train.
The park several months ago. She was the one who had the knife to his throat.
"It's you," he uttered in horror, "It's you again.?"
The girl gasped happily, "You remember me," she giggled, "I'm so glad. You look just as delicious as the day we met, little rabbit," she said as she licked her lips and stared at the scar on his hand, "Very delicious."
"Hey now! You never told us you knew him!" the villain in the bodysuit yelled at her as he zoomed over to them, "No fair! I wanted to meet him first! No, I didn't. Why would I want to meet him?" he snapped at Lewis in a different tone, "You think you're special or something, huh? I've got better things to do, you know! Ha! No, I don't. I don't have anything going on at the moment."
Lewis gave him a confused look, "I'm sorry?"
The man glared at him angrily, "What!? You got a problem with me, punk!"
"Hey, Twice. Cool it, alright. He's not making fun of you," the reptilian man told him before he looked down at him and cleared his throat, "Sorry about him. You want anything? A drink? Something to eat."
"Err…some water, thank you."
The reptilian villain looked towards the bar and waved to Kurogiri, "Can you get him a glass of water for him."
"Get it yourself, Spinner," Dabi sighed from the corner of the room, "He's not your butler."
"I'm only asking because he's closest."
"Can we get this over with," Mr Compress said as he played with a marble along his fingers, "Where is our leading performer?"
"Sulking, likely."
"Miss Magne," Kurogiri warned the muscular person at the bar.
"What?" Magne said as she sipped her whiskey, "It's true, isn't it?"
"I-I think he should be here," Spinner stammered earnestly, "He's our leader, isn't he?"
"Have patience, please," Kurogiri urged as he stepped around the bar, "The young master is on his way."
Suddenly, a door on the far end of the room opened up and a skinny figure stepped inside. Lewis' eyes widened in shock and he gasped; he recognised him from the USJ. He never thought he would see his grisly face or those dark, sinister eyes ever again. He hoped that he would be gone from his life and never bother him ever again.
He should have known better than to trust his luck.
Shiragaki staggered across the bar and glared down at him through the fingers of his hand mask, his eyes turning blood shot the more he focused on him. He saw his fingers twitch irritably as if he wanted nothing more than to destroy with him a single touch.
"All of you are too loud. I heard you from the back room," Shiragaki snarled before he leered over Lewis menacingly, "Welcome to the League of Villains, Fleetwood," he hissed, "We've got a lot to talk about."
Lewis began to sweat nervously. He was chained up to a chair, in a unknown villain's lair, surrounded by villains who could kill him at any second with no method of escaping. He was trapped. Completely helpless.
'Please…everyone,' he thought desperately, 'Get here as fast as you can.'
That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed it.
I found it a little hard to write this chapter, to be honest. I wanted to capture the serious tone of this arc whilst not repeating everything. I think I did good.
Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.
See you! :)