"Pffffft!" Saiki laughed, confusing most. "Vanguard Action Squad?! You wanna add a few more words to your villain super sentai team? Maybe 'Hyper Turbo Action Force: Villain Rangers'!"

The green man quickly turned from jovial to livid at the mockery, but before he could say anything in response, the other stepped in. Or rather, they didn't need to especially do anything more than shift the weight of the large beam under the arm. The one pinning Pixie-Bob's head in the dirt. "Careful dear. You should watch your smart mouth. Unless you want to see this pretty kitty's head pop like a grape."

"Hold on, big sis," the green one spoke again, stepping between the two groups. His smug calm returned to him by his partner reminding everyone who was in control. "When deciding who lives and dies, we must ensure we're abiding by Stain's principles!"

"Stain?!" Izuku gasped.

"So you're the ones–!"

"Holy shit, you're a fanboy."

Whatever Iida had been trying to say, it was lost in the far more invective words of Saiki. The lizard-like villain's head turned to look at him again. His high-minded, peacemaking overture lost, judging by the look on his face. "Excuse me?"

"It makes so much sense now!" the hero in training exclaimed, naked glee on his face. "The ugly, badly made mask, the scarf and... Oh shit, is that a replica of his knife on your back? You chuuni little bastard. Okay, this? This is officially my favourite experience of being attacked by villains. I'm gonna remember this when your dumbass is in jail and I'm gonna laugh. This right here is gonna be the memory I look back on to cheer me up when I'm having a shitty day."

"You..." the green man growled, reaching to his back and retrieving the enormous object strapped to it. "You are the exact kind of brat Stain warred to see purged from this world of false heroes! Allow me to introduce myself!" The cloth wrappings fell from the object, the weapon, in his hands. Revealing it to be not one weapon but over a dozen blades haphazardly strapped together into a big clump of jagged metal. "You may call me Spinner! The man who will make Stain's dreams a reality!"

Looking at the unwieldy mass of metal left Saiki confused. But then realisation struck. "Spinner, huh? So I guess that means your quirk involves rotation, turning that thing into a whirling chainsaw or something." That could be a problem.

A beat of hesitation, of uncertainty, before the gecko responded. His face once more returned to a confident smirk. "If you're all good boys and girls, you won't have to find out."

"What do you even want?" Saiki demanded.

It might seem like a strange thing to have happened. Saiki taking all of the attention onto himself with two pro heroes around, let alone the pros letting him do so. But it took no time at all to see the benefits of what he was doing. While Saiki mocked and argued, the rest were free to come up with some sort of plan. The other villain unwilling to act while holding Pixie-Bob hostage. It was her that was keeping the current stalemate, keeping the heroes from acting aggressively. Both sides wanted time, and intentionally or not, Saiki and Spinner were giving it to them.

"Midoriya," Mandalay said telepathically, "When the stalemate breaks, I need you to get the other students here back to camp."

"Wait, Mandalay!" Izuku had to respond out loud, the Pussycat's quirk only going one way. "I know where Kota is!"

"You do?!"

"He has a hiding spot on the mountain! I can't leave him all alone out there!" She took off in a run.

"Wait, Midoriya!"

"Midoriya?" the villain pinning Pixie-Bob asked, smiling. She lifts the beam from the pinned and unconscious heroine but before Tiger could take advantage, Izuku let out a startled yelp as she was halted and dragged back. Directly toward the end of the blood-marked rod.

"Izuku!" Saiki shouted, diving at her, adding his strength to hers as they attempted to resist the pull. Tiger attempted to intercede, to violently stop whatever the villain was doing. But Spinner came in to block his path.

"Huh," the woman in sunglasses smirked as she watched the two students barely resist the pull of her magnetism. "Well," she flipped the beam over lengthways, "That'll work too."

Without warning, with no way to understand how, the situation changed for the two students. First, Saiki's attempts to push Izuku were rendered useless as she slammed full force into him. Then, both of them found themselves dragged toward that beam, the distraction of slamming into each other stopping their attempt to fight it long enough that the pull grew too strong.

"Dammit!" Saiki cursed. Fighting it wasn't working. He could see what was about to happen and how little they could do about it. He and Izuku reached the same conclusion at the same moment, sharing a look of understanding. It was going to happen. They could only control what they did while it happened.

Both teens kicked off the ground, not away from the pull but towards it, fists ready to swing as they reached the beam. As they neared, Izuku's fist suddenly couldn't even get close while Saiki's punch was only a fraction of his strength due to his awkward position. Almost more like a backhand.

Even so, with him working with the pulling force, adding his own weight and force to it, the impact was enough for the shock to pass right through to the villain's arm. "Oo-hoo!" she grinned, "I can see why you're on the list too, champ!"

With a roar, Tiger leapt at her, taking a swing that forced her to back off. "What list?!" Spinner had been left sprawled behind him, desperately picking himself up.

The villain tried to fend off the feline-themed hero with the beam but found difficulty. She was strong but nowhere near as strong as the boy on the other end of that beam. Saiki grinned at her as he wrenched the object out of her grasp, ready to use it as a weapon.

Her only response was a considering grunt, a look at the approaching Tiger, and a smirk. Suddenly the pull acting on Saiki and Izuku vanished. Instead, Tiger found himself pulled in. To the villain's surprise, slamming into the open end of the beam. "Oh? And here I find a kindred spirit, Tiger."

The buff hero grunted in discomfort. "Saisei–!" he commanded.

Only to see the blue-haired student not paying his predicament any mind at all. "Izuku!" He called after the girl as she ran away, letting go of the beam in the process. Luckily what Tiger was after as he swung it to bash Spinner over the head.

"I have to get Kota to safety!" the girl shouted back, stopping only long enough to say where she was going before she dashes away.

"Dammit!" He felt the pull again. "Dammit!" He looked around frantically, spotted the person he was looking for. "Iida! Go after her! Keep her safe!" he demanded as he fought the magnetic pull.

"Saisei, we don't have permission to use our quirks to–!" the bespectacled boy argued back.

Argued. In a life or death situation, Whatever-his-given-name-is Iida thought the rules and permissions had any kind of worth when lives were on the line. Saiki didn't know why, couldn't even begin to understand why the other boy would think like that. But he also didn't care. He only knew he'd never forgive Iida for it. "What kind of hero are you?!" Saiki snarled, stopped fighting the pull. He slammed into the beam at the opposite end to Tiger and planted his feet. "Sorry Tiger." He lifted the beam and slammed it into the unsuspecting villain, Tiger and all.

"Ngh!" The hero grunted in pain from the impact but it wasn't anything compared to what the villain suffered, hit so hard it sent her flying to slam into a tree. The pull on both men disappeared.

Saiki didn't even wait an instant. Immediately took off and followed in the direction Izuku went. She said a hiding spot on the mountain. Easy to see which one she meant even in the limited light provided by the moon. She wasn't dumb enough to go all out to get to him, she'd pace herself. She'd just be dumb enough to go protect some random kid when she was apparently one of the villain's targets. Not like Saiki could say he was any better going after her when they were both targets. But at least he tried to send Iida instead. All he could hope for was that Tiger could deal with that Spinner prick quickly and look after the rest of the class. Sure as shit Iida wouldn't do it. Momo was still in the forest, dammit! Too much was at stake for anyone to be a chickenshit!

"Saisei, Midoriya, I know you can hear me. Head back to camp. The villains are after you specifically. We can't let you endanger yourselves like this!"

"Fat chance of that, lady," the boy grunted.

"But... If you won't listen... I'm escorting Pixie-Bob and the students who were with us to camp. Tiger is going after Ragdoll and those who were in the forest. If you're going after Kota, bring him right back to camp! We need to coordinate so we can keep everyone safe!"

"That's more like it." He ignored the messages warning students not to get in fights with villains and instead flee to safety. He was already far past the point of that being something he would consider.

He looked around, not seeing any sign of Izuku. Strange, as he felt he should have caught up to her by now, not to mention he found himself in a dead end where the cliffs rose above him. Hiding spot on the mountain. And without seeing where exactly Izuku had gone, Saiki was a little stuck.

The loud bang and explosion of dust above gave a helpful hint, however.

"Dammit, Izuku!" He launched himself upward, kicking footholds into the rock face to launch himself higher with every step. Up and up to an overhang.

"Your name's Midoriya, right?"

Hindsight kicked in. He should have gone up adjacent to the overhang to give himself a full view of the situation before leaping in.

"You're on the list, but I bet the boss won't mind too much if I have a little fun with you first."

His second thoughts died as he reached the halfway point of his change in course. No time for that, he had to act. He kicked off and upward with enough force to send him up to the lip of the overhang, grabbed, gripped and swung his body over using his momentum, rolling into a spin to face the voice he heard. Blond. Cloak. Didn't recognise him at all. That was all he needed. He paid no attention to the kid, or to Izuku who seemed only intent on protecting said kid. All he focused on was his fist impacting the villain.

The villain's arm. He had been aiming for his face, but that's what incredibly telegraphed shots got him, no matter how fast they were. Even so, it was a punch that should've shattered bone on an ordinary person. Instead, Saiki felt the hardened flesh underneath ripple before he bounced off.

"Not bad, not bad! I was right, the fun's just starting!" The villain grinned down at him, shaking his arm as he threw away his cloak to reveal the built physique underneath, and the fleshy tendrils tightening around his right forearm. The one he just used to block. "Must be my lucky day, the priority target coming right to me!"

"Priority target?" Izuku whispered.

"Man, but what to do now," the villain groaned in distress. "If it was just the girl they probably wouldn't have cared but I don't wanna get chewed out by Captain Handsy for passing up a perfect chance to–" Saiki brought the villain's indecisiveness to a swift end, taking another run at him, faking another straight punch into sliding under, kicking off the floor to take his back.

Only to get backhanded into a wall.

"HEY! I'm thinkin' here!" the villain complained angrily, glaring at the boy who despite taking the hit remained more or less fine. "Fine! You wanna play, let's play!"

"Get the kid somewhere safe, Izuku," Saiki told the other student, knowing she received the same message from Mandalay that he did.

"Saiki–!"

"You wanted to save him so bad, then save him!" he barked at her, not taking his eyes off the villain as he extricated himself from the wall. "I'll be right behind you."

Her options weren't great. She knew Kota was a liability in any fight .Collateral damage the villain could and would make use of. He was even willing to kill him without anyone there, just because he could. That meant at best she'd be busy protecting Kota even if she stayed, not to mention risking the boy... It was unacceptable. But if she left, she could get Kota to safety, then send Eraserhead or Vlad King to help Saiki. That is if Saiki didn't bring the villain to camp and save them the trouble. There was only one decision she could come to. "You'd better!" She flashed over to the small boy, grabbed him and leapt away across the cliffside and down into the trees.

"Aww, that's cute. She your girlfriend, hero? Going so far to protect her?"

"It's complicated," the boy grunted in response.

"Well, tell you what," the muscular villain grinned with his arms out, making a show of the muscle fibres coiling and spreading over them. "I'll be classy about this. When I'm done delivering you to my buddies in the League, I'll only make her blow me before I hand her over too. I'm a gentleman like that."

Saiki knew, he knew the villain was just trying to rile him up. To make him want to fight it out for real when they both knew his best play would be a fighting retreat. It was exactly the same thing Saiki had been doing to that dorky Stain wannabe, getting him to run his mouth. Thankfully, his willpower wasn't lacking as he forced the anger into a little box in his mind. Set aside for later. "Yeah, you seem like the type of guy who has to force a woman. Even before you got that ugly-as-fuck eye prosthetic."

And of course the bastard didn't rise to the bait either. "Hey, when you're strong enough, who cares what they think, right? Enough power and you can do whatever you want." His hand curled into a fist. "Here, let me show you!"

Just like Saiki's punch earlier, the muscular villain's assault was telegraphed to the point of being absurdly obvious. Even so, Saiki's eyes widened as he barely moved fast enough to dodge it. The natural wall of stone behind him took the hit in his stead, long and jagged cracks forming on its surface that stretched a great distance from the point of impact. Was that punch as strong as All Might's? No. Was that punch as strong as every hit Saiki had taken from All Might, that had beaten him unconscious in short order?

It... That was much harder for him to determine. But he leaned in the direction of yes. And that solidified his goal in this encounter. Fight to escape. Whether he could win was up in the air. His chances weren't great, but more importantly there was nothing on the line. Izuku was gone, the dumb kid was gone, everyone was regrouping. Going mano-a-mano with some muscle freak wouldn't help him achieve his goals. The only thing that matters at this moment is survival. To survive and get stronger. If he bought time with a delaying fight and an escape that gave time for backup to arrive. UA had to be monitoring this area from afar, to say nothing of regular law enforcement. A huge forest fire? That would get attention. The villains couldn't hang around for long.

All he needed was a way to keep this guy occupied for his escape. And the big idiot just showed him one.

"Guess you being puny means you can move pretty quick!" the muscle freak taunted, rounding and coming for the hero student again with another wild swing, and then another. Which a more focused Saiki was entirely capable of evading. He began to develop a certain suspicion. That this guy... Was a moron. All power, no technique, no tactics, just complete reliance on his quirk to literally do all of the heavy lifting. As such, it became not easy, but certainly more comfortable to dance around the lumbering oaf, dragging his fists and feet where Saiki wanted them to land. Something that went even easier and faster as the villain's quirk built even more muscle, making him yet stronger and faster. That unfortunately narrowed the gap between Saiki's ability to evade and the brute's punches and stomps. Enough that even the air pressure from one swing was enough to throw him a little off balance.

Thankfully, it was the strike Saiki has been waiting for. One more heavy and powerful fist smashing into the stone. The impact that set the entire cliffside to shattering under the onslaught it valiantly endured until this point. The cliffs above broke, fractured, came apart to cause a rockslide that came down on the villain like the multiple tons of bricks that it was. Staggered, Saiki leapt off the ledge to leave the villain buried under his own actions, barely managing to control his descent along the shaking mountainside.

And then he ran. He doesn't know how long that would slow the villain down. If durability came with that insane growth rate of strength and speed, he wouldn't have long. It was just a matter of getting away and disappearing into the forest to get back to camp. All it would take would be one look from Eraserhead and the brute would be easy pickings. If said brute wasn't down already.

Which... Saiki very much hoped he was.

He ran, doing his best to stay quiet while keeping to a fast pace. He–

Coughed blood as something slammed into him and drove him down into the dirt. "Thought you'd come this way, little bitch," the villain laughed. "Of course you'd run your little legs back to the campgrounds to hide under your teacher's skirt."

Before he could recover, Saiki felt the hands wrap around his shins, then the force of his entire body being swung into and through a tree. Then another. Then another. Each impact was honestly not as bad as the first one that knocked him flat, mild enough for him to somewhat recover his wits. But not fast enough before the villain made his next move. Swinging faster in the cleared space and then suddenly up.

The villain let go. And suddenly, Saiki was airborne. Completely unable to act. Utterly at the villain's mercy.

On the ground, the villain Muscular was having great fun watching the kid soar. "Looks like a Hail Mary pass, ladies and gentlemen! The receiver runs for it!" he ran commentary on his own actions as he charged through the forest chasing the flying boy. "The forty! The thirty! The twenty! The ten!" As Saiki came down he grabbed the boy overhead and spiked him directly into the dirt, driving him in like a nail.

"TOUCHDOWN!" Even going so far as to make fake crowd roars. "Hahaha, man I was right! You were fun!" Ripping the boy back out of the soil, he saw a broken teenager. One who after such treatment should have been very, very dead. But, if he were only unconscious with a lot of broken bones, that was probably why the League wanted him so bad. At least that was what Muscular thought.

"Glad you're having fun but you're making too much noise," another voice complained. Belonging to a man with what looked like strips of leathery dead skin stitched to his face. The man's eyes narrowed when he saw the thing in Muscular's hand. "Well. Guess I can't complain too much when you've got what we're here for. He's still alive, right?"

"Yeah, tough kid isn't he?" the blond asked, shaking the boy like a ragdoll.

"Alright. Let's not push our luck. We got what we came for. Anything else is a bonus. A couple of the others turned out to be more trouble than they were worth."

"Yeah, I found another target but, well, she's probably back at the campgrounds by now," Muscular admitted, sheepishly for him. "Little guy played hero to let her get away. You sure we can't take a run at 'em? Could be fun!" He tried to make it enticing. Appealing to what would make him agree in his compatriot's position. "Plus I did make a promise to the little hero here."

"We're not taking a run at where they've fortified themselves," the stitched up man responded flatly. "That's just asking to turn this victory into a loss. Come on."

"Yeah, yeah," the musclebound villain moaned as he acquiesced, following his ally with Saiki's limp body hanging from his shoulder.

-(-)-

Frantic.

The only word to describe Izuku's state of mind. She had done what she needed to. She had gotten back to the campgrounds, made sure Kota was alright. When she got there Eraserhead was gone. He had left to help Tiger track down the other students who were still in the forest, leaving Mandalay and Vlad in charge of protecting the camp. Her plan to get help for Saiki sunk immediately. So all she could do was have faith that he'd come back safe.

She waited.

The ground shook. Everyone at the camp could see the cloud of dust and earth billowing up from the mountainside due to an enormous rockslide.

The realisation. The understanding that she couldn't just take it on faith that Saiki would be okay. There hadn't been a situation he failed to overcome. From the USJ to the festival to I-Island, even final exams. He was always in control, always seemed to know what he was doing. How to survive and win.

But just because that had always been true, that didn't mean it was true in this case. And the evidence before her was enough to get wriggling knots of worry squirming inside her. And just like every other time she believed someone needed her help, Izuku Midoriya couldn't just sit idly by. Even if it put herself in danger, she couldn't just stand on the sidelines and let things play out. Especially not when it was someone she cares about. Not when he was in danger because he came to help her.

She ran. Hard. Flashing through the trees, making her way closer to the fallen mountain. Looking for any sign of him. If she were to look up, she might have seen the boy descending back under the tree canopy far in the distance. But she didn't. The first sign she saw some time after was blood. A large stain of fresh blood scattered over broken earth and stones.

Ice flooded her veins. "Saiki," she gasped. Knowing what this meant. He hadn't come back to camp. There was nowhere else he would go if this blood wasn't his. That meant more than likely, the villains had him.

She weighed her options. She could go back to camp. An option she dismissed out of hand. Vlad King wouldn't leave the other students unguarded. She couldn't hide. She had to save him! He came for her! Even if he hadn't she wouldn't leave him at the mercy of villains!

Throwing caution to the wind she ran back toward where the villains had first appeared. The clearing where they had prepared for the test of courage. "Kacchan!" she shouted, glad and terrified all at once. "Everyone!" She didn't know if it was really everyone but she was glad to see so many safe and sound, if a little worse for wear. Several were unconscious. Momo had several worrying injuries. By comparison, Katsumi and Todoroki were just scraped up.

"Midoriya, what are you doing here?" Todoroki asked in his usual considering monotone.

"I– Has anyone seen Saiki?!" she asked in place of answering.

Katsumi's eyes narrowed as she pointed to her head. "Mandalay said he was with you."

"He– I went to find Kota who was hiding on one of the cliffs but when I got there a villain was attacking him, I got Kota out of the way but my phone broke, then Saiki showed up and told me to take Kota, since Kota would be a liability I did and went back to camp to tell Mister Aizawa but he was already gone and then the cliff exploded, when I got back there all I found was a crater and a bloodstain!"

"Deku!" Katsumi barked, her hands popping with uncontrolled explosions. "Where is he?!"

Lost. Tears welled in her eyes as the guilt-stricken girl dropped to her knees. "I don't know."

-(-)-

The first thing Saiki experienced on waking was pain. A rare enough occurrence for him that it immediately brought him to full wakefulness. Sleep. Unconsciousness. By the time he came out of it the worst had usually long passed.

The memories came. The muscle villain. The forest. Izuku. He... Oh no.

His eyes snapped open, his limbs worked but can't budge an inch. He looked around him, some kind of laboratory? What the hell?! And– "Ragdoll!" He saw the Pussycat nearby, completely unconscious. Restrained just like him. Though as he finally took a look at his own restraints he saw they were far more sturdy. Presumably rated for greatly enhanced strength.

This was bad. No, not just bad. This was quite possibly the worst situation he could find himself in. He didn't know where he was or why, but the other creatures in the room with their exposed brains painted a worrying picture.

And then he heard it. Soft but certain footsteps. The gentle and careful clicks of wooden soles on concrete. "Good morning, Mister Saisei," a muffled voice greeted him before he could get a look at its owner. A dark suit. The first detail Saiki saw. And as he saw more he questioned how that could have happened. How the first thing he noticed wasn't the enormous black mask covering the man's entire head and neck. A gas mask? The tubes suggest it. But Saiki hadn't heard of any gas mask that needed to be that bulky, nor why one wouldn't have any eyes. "It's truly a pleasure to see you in person. Figuratively speaking, of course."