Chapter Text
Katsuki charged the villain bitch after she'd pushed her way free from Cheek's hold. No way was he going to let her get away with whatever fucked up shit she was doing to his girlfriend. If he'd been able to use his explosions, he would have caught her easily, but between the dumb trees and Cheek's proximity, he couldn't risk it, and the bitch made it to the treeline.
"Stop!" Frog Girl cried out. "It's too dangerous; we have no idea what kind of quirk she has."
Damn it! He didn't doubt he could've taken her, but it was stupid to go charging off into the woods where she might have backup. Plus, he had to stay with Michan to make sure she got back to camp. With a frustrated growl, he stopped.
Katsuki turned to Cheeks, inspecting her injuries. The slash on her arm wasn't deep, but both it and the puncture on her thigh were bleeding sluggishly. He cupped her face, running a thumb over the splash of pinker skin on her cheek. "You good?"
"I'm good." She put her hand over his and squeezed his fingers.
"Who was that girl?" IcyHot asked.
"One of the villains," Frog Girl said, as if it weren't fucking obvious. "She was crazy!"
"We can't stand here and talk," Arms said. "Let's move."
Katsuki turned away from Cheeks to face the rest of the group, which is when he noticed that there was an important person fucking missing. "Where the hell is Izumi!?"
IcyHot whipped around, looking frantically, but she was nowhere to be seen. Damn it! Katsuki was supposed to watch her; she was right in front of him the whole way here, but then he broke formation to get to Cheeks. He thought Bird Boy would have been enough, but he was fucking missing too.
"Nice trick, eh?" A smug voice drew all of their attention. Another damn villain stood on a tree branch above their heads. He was wearing a mask, a stupid top hat, and a trench coat, and had a cane in one gloved hand while he tossed a blue marble up and down in the other. "I took the young lady you're talking about with my magic."
Fuck! Fucking damn it! This poncy ass wannabe magician was dead when Katsuki got his hands on him. IcyHot slammed his foot into the ground and sent a wave of ice toward the villain, but he dodged.
"Why the aggression? We merely wish to show her that there are options besides the fanatical world of heroism she's drowning in. It's important to choose a path that aligns with your core values, after all."
"It's not just Midoriya. Tokoyami's gone too," Arms said.
IcyHot was by Katsuki's side, both of their eyes trained on the villain. He was in the trees on the other side of the path now. Katsuki was about three seconds away from saying fuck it and blasting his way over there, forest fire be damned.
"If you're monologuing because you think you've beaten us, you're mistaken," Half-n-Half snarled.
Dude was pissed. Katsuki couldn't recall off-hand ever hearing the candy cane that upset before. Good. Maybe he'd stop holding back.
"A bad habit of mine, I was once an entertainer," the villain shrugged. "Taking Tokoyami was a bit of improv on my part." He did some sleight-of-hand bullshit and now had two marbles in his grip. "Moonfish, our dear bladetooth. He may not look it, but he's a dastardly death-row devil whose last appeal was denied. When I saw the avian take him down so easily and violently, I decided he should join our troupe."
So he'd been watching them since at least the fight with the tooth bastard, waiting for the chance to snatch Michan when no one was looking. So much for Arms' search ability.
"Give them back!" IcyHot's next wave of ice put everything he'd ever done before to shame. It towered over the treetops, sending jagged spikes of ice careening toward the villain. It was reckless and a huge use of power, but if it got the job done, Katsuki didn't care.
"Apologies, but sleight-of-hand and escapology are my specialties, not combat. I'm not foolish enough to fight hero candidates from UA." The villain slipped the marbles into his pocket before using an earpiece to radio the other villains.
As the villain sailed over the ice, Katsuki realized that the glacier now in the forest was good enough to protect the trees from his explosions. It was tempting to take off and pummel the bastard, but it was foolish to go by himself when they didn't know how his quirk worked or how many allies he had waiting for him.
As the villain continued to jump away, Katsuki turned to the others. "Cheeks, make IcyHot float. He and I are going after the bastard. Eyeball your release if you can, then all of you get back to camp and tell the Pros what's happened."
"Right!" His girl was quick to follow orders, planting five fingers on IcyHot's chest.
Katsuki suffered the indignity of having IcyHot hold onto him like a backpack, but at least he didn't weigh anything. He ran a few steps to get some momentum, and then activated his quirk to get them into the air. The villain had gotten a good head start, but Katsuki was faster. They collided mid-air, and IcyHot moved from Katsuki's back to grab one of the villain's arms as they started to fall. Cheeks must have timed her release well, because the villain yelped as he suddenly had the weight of a whole ass teenager try to yank his arm out of its socket thanks to gravity.
They all landed hard in the dirt, but Katsuki had taken worse hits. He used the villain's momentary distraction to fish around in his pockets, finding the marbles and pulling them out. All his flaunting backfired, giving away the secret of where Michan and Bird Boy were, but getting them back wasn't enough. The bastard needed to release them, too.
A force hit him, knocking Katsuki back before he could dish out any punishment on Top Hat Guy. When he'd stopped rolling, he looked up to see three more villains in the small clearing where they'd landed. The blonde bitch who'd hurt Cheeks, a dude in a black full-body leotard, and the one who'd hit him. The bastard's face was a gnarled mess of scarring, but Katsuki could see long fangs in his smile. He was dressed almost as ridiculously as Top Hat Guy, in a flowy white shirt, black vest, black slacks, and a black and red cape.
Katsuki growled before sending an explosion at Cape Dude's face. The bastard dodged with a laugh.
"Well, well, if it isn't little pops, all grown up."
Was he supposed to know this guy? Didn't matter. He was between Katsuki and his goal. A glance showed IcyHot fighting both of the other two villains while Top Hat Guy watched sedately from the sidelines. The Candy Cane was only using his ice and not doing very well on his own, though.
"Stop pussyfooting around, Half-n-Half! Worry about the trees later and kick their asses!"
"Look around, Katsuki! There are flammable chemicals everywhere. If I use my fire, we could die."
Damn. He'd missed it before, but IcyHot was right. There were crates of Molotov cocktails scattered around the clearing. It must have been what the villains used to set the forest on fire.
Cape Guy was fast. Katsuki barely dodged his next hit, throwing a punch of his own toward the dude's kidney. He turned around and hit Katsuki in the solar plexus, winding him and pushing him back, before darting over to Top Hat Guy.
"Do you have Midoriya?"
"Of course," Top Hat Guy boasted, digging around in his pocket.
Katsuki grinned sharply when the dude realized his pockets were fucking empty. "Looking for something?"
The villains turned to look at him, and he held up the marbles.
"Ooh ho, color me impressed." Top Hat Guy laughed.
Both he and Cape Guy were forced to dodge as a wave of ice nearly engulfed them courtesy of IcyHot. The other teen made his way over to Katsuki, keeping a watchful eye on the four villains. They weren't attacking at the moment, but that could change at any time.
"You have them?"
"Fished them from his pocket when we landed."
"Then we should go."
Katsuki wanted to beat the crap out of Top Hat Guy, Cape Guy, and the blonde bitch, but the odds weren't in their favor at the moment. The villains all had their gear and support items, while Katsuki and IcyHot were just in their street clothes. Plus, he had to keep hold of the marbles—no way was he putting them in his pocket and risking more sleight-of-hand trickery—which meant he was practically fighting with one hand behind his back.
Heavy footfalls from behind them had Katsuki turning to see who was joining the party, only to find a godsdamned Nomu lumbering toward them. He shoved IcyHot as he ran, moving both of them out of the monster's path, only to be stopped again by a purple and black warp gate appearing in front of them.
"Not this guy," IcyHot cursed.
"It's been five minutes since the signal," the deep voice of the warp villain sounded out from his gate, and more portals opened up near the villains. "Let's go, Drac."
The name sounded familiar, but Katuski couldn't afford to pay the niggling memory any attention. The Nomu and two of the villains stepped through the gates without hesitation. Top Hat Guy made for the one near him, but was stopped by Cape Guy. "Hold on, we aren't leaving without the girl."
"Don't worry," Top Hat Guy said, turning around. "They were so proud of themselves for rooting through my pockets that I thought I'd let them gloat."
Katsuki bared his teeth. That didn't sound good. What trick had the bastard pulled?
"Allow me to explain a basic tenet of magic. If I'm flaunting something shiny," he started as he pulled his top hat and mask off, "it's because there's something else I don't want you to see."
When he stuck out his tongue, revealing two blue marbles, Katsuki and IcyHot both let out a yell of frustration. He was too far away; there was no way either of them could reach him in time to stop him from stepping through that portal!
The villain snapped his fingers, and the two marbles in Katsuki's hand expanded into large chunks of ice.
"Is that my ice?!"
"That's right. During the freezing attack, I prepared dummies and slipped them into my pocket."
Fuck this. Katsuki and IcyHot both charged forward as Top Hat Guy and Cape Guy moved toward the portal. Maybe they couldn't catch him, but like hell were they just going to stand there while the smug bastard got away!
"A little bit of misdirection. Forgive me, I do so adore a twist ending."
Katsuki pushed himself to run faster, but it wasn't going to be enough.
"One last bow," Top Hat Guy said, bowing like a fucking tool. Katsuki was going to break his fucking face!
Suddenly, a blast of glittering light slammed into Top Hat Guy's face, shattering his mask and forcing him to cough up the marbles. It looked like the eclair's quirk, but hell if Katsuki knew where the coward had been hiding all this time. He was willing to forgive him for not fucking helping earlier, though, as IcyHot snagged one marble and Katsuki—
Cape Guy grabbed it and zipped out of reach.
"Too slow, little pops. Such a shame," He taunted. He and Top Hat Guy were halfway through the portal now. "Make sure we have the right one. Release them"
Top Hat Guy griped about his ruined finale as he snapped his fingers. Tokoyami appeared next to IcyHot, and Michan materialized in front of Cape Guy.
"NO! Izumi!" IcyHot screamed, reaching for his girlfriend, but he was too far.
The caped bastard smiled as he grabbed her around the back of the neck before quickly pulling her through the gate without another word.
It was too late.
Izumi was gone.