"Hmm... There's nothing at this location either. I wonder if that means the others found them? No, if that were the case we would have heard something from Uraraka. I guess this means we should get over to the last site and meet up with them there," Midoriya said.
Touma nodded in agreement as he followed his partner towards the next area. He was glad that he got paired with the little green-haired kid rather than the super serious ice guy. He wasn't sure if that guy would be able to team up with Accelerator but figured he'd have a better chance than this kid would. Midoriya seemed like a good person, but maybe not so strong in the confidence department. Accelerator would have walked all over the poor guy had he ended up working with him. He was sure Todoroki wouldn't let that kind of stuff slide.
"So Kamijou... I was just curious, what kind of things happen in your city? I heard about the fight you had with that Accelerator guy. Does that kind of thing often happen where you live?"
"Well, to be honest when it comes to bad luck and misfortune I seem to have an impressive ability to attract it to me. I've had my fair share of trouble in the city. But I'm sure you could find that kind of trouble anywhere, even here. I also... Well, it will probably sound awful considering that the people who kidnapped Sumire were part of the Magic side. But, recently I've gotten to know some Magicians. There's one that I'm also protecting, in a way, but she wouldn't ever consider hurting anyone on either side. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that not all Magic users are like the ones that hurt Sumire."
Midoriya agreed, "I see your point, it's not good to judge an entire group based on the actions of a few. Like I said before, crime has dropped due to the Pro-Heroes, but it's not entirely peaceful. We manage to find ourselves in trouble too. So I guess high school life is pretty interesting wherever you happen to be." Both boys laughed and continued to their meeting place. Their steps were light and quick, but Midoriya caught a new sound in his ear and quickly became suspicious. Were we found out by the villains? It sounds like someone's following us but they aren't attacking... If they had the advantage here, they should have made their move by now.
He glanced at Touma and rolled his eyes behind them. The nod Touma returned confirmed he had noticed them as well. "So, Midoriya, what time should we be getting back to the school? Getting kinda hungry and tired here," said Touma as he raised his arms up over his head and did some exaggerated stretches. He used the opportunity to get a better look behind them, but nothing seemed out of place. Midoriya had stopped walking and watched him, also surveying the area.
"It's a little late for a stroll, don't you think boys?" said a voice directly behind them. The two boys cried out in surprise and spun around to find Midoriya's homeroom teacher Mr. Aizawa and several other teachers watching them.
"M-Mister Aizawa! Funny meeting you out here? S-So how's the plan going? Not that we were paying attention or anything, we're obviously... not... involved in any way..."
"Can it Midoriya, we've been tracking you since you left the last location," Aizawa said as he rolled his eyes, annoyance showing on his face. "You were told not to get involved in this, yet here you are. And let me guess, Todoroki and that other Esper are out there somewhere too, aren't they? I swear you children seem to crave punishment."
Just then, Midoriya's phone started to vibrate. "Oh, it's Uraraka, I should probably take this, sir," he said as he put the phone to his ear. "Hey, any news? Yeah, well we just met up with our teachers. They didn't find anything either? Oh, okay. Bye."
"Something you'd like to share, Midoriya?" asked his teacher.
"We were only looking at the places you were going to be searching. We figured that narrowing down the locations would get help to Sumire faster. We checked the four furthest locations and didn't find anything suspicious. We planned to meet at the fifth one and then report back if we found anything. We didn't intend to interfere or fight, just help with surveillance."
Aizawa sighed heavily, "Well, I think we can trust you kids enough to be able to tell when something's not right, so we'll focus on that last location with our full force. You may want to call back your buddies now. After this is over, we've got some talking to do regarding how to handle this act of disobedience."
"Y-yes sir!" said Midoriya as he tried to dial Todoroki's number. It rang until it went to voicemail, so Midoriya disconnected the call. He must be trying to stay quiet or something. Hopefully, that's the only reason he's not answering.
...
Accelerator was fuming as he watched the gate swallow up Todoroki right in front of him. He looked around frantically and caught a flash of light from within the building in front of him.
So all they did was drop him inside, huh? It looks like we're in the right place. He rushed to the front doors and used his Reflection against them, blasting them right off of their hinges.
He got a good look of the room, noting who was positioned where. It looked to be just the misty guy in the corner behind the bar. He looked straight to the back and saw Todoroki standing to the left. And just beyond him was Sumire being held in place by some strange man with what looked like a severed hand palming his face.
"Sumire! Get out of the way; I'm taking this bastard out!" He charged forward, but just as he was about to reach the man holding Sumire captive, Todoroki shot his right arm out in front of Accelerator and halted his movement.
"What the hell do you think you're doing just standing there?!" he yelled to Todoroki.
"We can't touch him, Accelerator. That man is Shigaraki Tomura. His Quirk can disintegrate anything he touches. But he has to use all of his fingers to do so. Look at him, his hand around Sumire's neck. He's keeping one finger up to avoid setting off his Quirk. He's got us in a standoff right now. There's no way either of us could make it in time to keep him from making contact with that last finger and breaking her down in front of us."
Accelerator let out an aggravated sigh and stood down. "So what are we going to do? He can't hold her like that forever!"
The man holding Sumire hostage finally spoke. "I'm not familiar with who you are, but you're certainly right. This is a very uncomfortable position I've been put in here. We were aware that the heroes were planning to search for her. The surprise for me was not expecting you brats to show up first. But I have no intention of harming this girl unnecessarily. I intend to bring her into our Alliance, either whole," he paused to glance down at her hands, "or missing a few limbs."
The two boys looked in the direction Shigaraki had pointed out and noticed Sumire bracing her hand against her chest. They could see blood seeping through some of the parts of the glove and uniform she was wearing.
"You are dead you son of a bitch! You'll pay for every ounce of pain you've given her! You act like you're some leader, but all I see is a coward hiding behind someone much stronger than you will ever be!"
"As I said, I'd like to prevent harming her any further. What's bothering me is I had just managed to rid this room of unwanted guests, just to have more of them appear. This is becoming more troublesome than it is worth. Kurogiri, make us an exit. I suggest you two stay where you are, or you'll be seeing much less of your friend here. Perhaps I'll finish the work I did on her hand. I'm sure her Quirk can work just as well with only one arm."
Kurogiri stepped away from the bar and shifted the mist around him towards the rear of the building. A portal swirled into view with a quick rush of wind. For a moment Shigaraki's attention was diverted towards their new exit. Accelerator looked to Todoroki for a sign to make a move. The young man answered with a nod.
Accelerator tapped his knuckles against one of the bar tables next to him and sent it flying towards the portal, followed by several of the bar stools. Taking advantage of his distraction, Todoroki's right side erupted with an icy flash. He sent a frozen spear towards Shigaraki, aiming with precision. The ice struck the hand against Sumire's throat and surrounded the fingers, freezing them in place.
"Keep sending shit flying at them!" yelled Todoroki as he rushed towards Sumire to pull her away from Shigaraki's grasp.
Accelerator nodded as he directed the next row of chairs and tables towards the portal's entrance. "Just get her out of there!"
Todoroki pulled Sumire away from her captor. Icy fragments clung to her neck as she rushed away from him.
"I don't think so!" Shigaraki said as he tried to swipe his unfrozen hand towards the two. Accelerator's power grew so intense the floor beneath them trembled. The villain lost his footing as he reached out, stumbling against the two students. His free hand made contact first with the left side of Sumire's face, splintering her skin as his fingers raked across her.
Hearing Sumire cry out, Todoroki pulled her away from the evil man's reach, positioning himself between the two. Pain radiated from his shoulder and down his left arm as Shigaraki's fingers clawed against him as the man fell to the floor. The contact was brief, but the damage was significant.
"Get to the front doors!" said Accelerator as he continued his barrage of attacks, flinging any vector he could contact in the villain's directions. He slowly started to back away after Todoroki and Sumire passed by him, covering them as they all made their way towards the doors he had previously destroyed.
"I won't make it that easy for you," said Kurogiri as he used the bar as a shield and sent his mist towards the front entrance, blocking their exit.
"See if your ability can get rid of it, Accelerator," Todoroki said frantically. He tried to hold his injured arm against himself to lessen the pain, but it didn't help much at all. Sumire was next to him, her face, fortunately, wasn't as damaged as his arm. She must have been in contact with Shigaraki for less time than me. At least I managed to protect her from worse pain.
Accelerator grinned sadistically as he sent his hardest hitting attacks towards the thing blocking their way out. "Just stay out of my way, I'll tear these fuckers apart!" He noticed Todoroki leading Sumire back to the side wall, away from the danger. "Now we can start to have some fun!" he said as he let loose another barrage of debris towards the mist and its source behind the bar.
Unfortunately, none of the objects Accelerator sent towards the mist did any damage. They only went flying through it, landing in the yard beyond the entrance. "This doesn't make any sense, that mist is made up of matter. And matter can be manipulated. What the hell kind of power is that?" He wasn't sure whether to continue his attack though, so he settled for backing up and standing in front of Sumire and Todoroki. "I'm drawing the line here you shitty excuses for villains!"
Suddenly the ground felt like it was giving way underneath Accelerator's feet. He looked down to see one of the gates had formed beneath him. He had already fallen through before he had time to react, disappearing and leaving the wounded Todoroki and Sumire unguarded.
Shigaraki slowly approached the two, the hand that was against his face earlier was missing. Now uncovered, his face twisted in a frightening display of anger and hate. He spotted the missing hand on the floor nearby, leaned over and retrieved it. Rather than replacing it on his face, he opted to slide it into his coat pocket.
"Get behind me, Sumire!" yelled Todoroki as he positioned himself between her and the villain. Grimacing through his pain, he spread both arms out to prevent him from getting to her. She was too close to him to be able to use either his ice or his fire without harming her.
"That's a real shame; you had such potential. Now all you'll do is become a stain on her memory as you waste away in front of her," Shigaraki said as he reached down and wrapped his right hand around Todoroki's neck.