Chapter Text
“We can’t give up, we have to catch up and get them back!” Izuku hollered as Asui wrapped her tongue around him and the others.
Asui launched Izuku–as well as Shoji and Todoroki–into the air, chasing after Mr. Compress desperately. Mr. Compress had sheltered Bakugou and Tokoyami in his glassy marbles, and he showed no sign of releasing them anytime soon. Asui catapulted the trio right into Mr. Compress’ back, crashing him into the dirt beneath them. With no time left to think, Izuku looked up from Mr. Compress; indigo flames quickly erupted towards them from their side.
“Get back!” Todoroki and Izuku manage to spit out as the flames flash closer to them. Izuku uses his poorly casted arm to shove Shoji out of Dabis field of action; the three of them crash into the dirt beneath them, rattling their skulls against the earth.
The trio hops back onto their feet as fast as their adrenaline will let them. Todoroki detours Dabi’s flames with his ice. He launches a wall of ice towards the villains, giving them a blink of an eye to collect themselves. Todoroki steals a glance behind him to check on Shoji and Midoriya, but is interrupted by Dabi’s laughter.
Twice and Toga are already launching themselves over the ice wall Todoroki created earlier, ready to strike down the trio. Todoroki extends his right arm like he’s aiming his palm in the direction of Dabi, sending more ice his way. The ice trails around Dabi like he's molding Dabi into an ice cube, refraining him from closing in on the trio.
Shoji springs into the air where Twice is, landing a kick against his gut. As soon as Shoji creates an impact against Twice’s stomach, the muddy remains melt onto Shoji’s leg–the particles of what’s left of Twice flying across the sky.
Izuku couldn't care less about the distractions that had been casted upon them. The only thing he could keep his focus on right now was getting to Katsuki and Tokoyami. They can’t waste their time entertaining the villains like this any longer.
As Izuku loses track of reality in his clouded thoughts (majorly because of the adrenaline rush and the impact he took to his head earlier), Toga rushes over to him–prancing herself into the air–and tucks her knees into her chest, releasing them once Izuku’s torso reaches her proximity. She’s able to kick Izuku with the balls of her shoes, thrashing his body back onto the ground.
“You’d be cooler if you bled more, Izuku!” Toga giggles as she swims her knife up above Izuku, beginning the ritual she's planned for him. Before Toga could swing her knife down at Izuku, Shoji strikes at Toga’s face with his fist, launching her a few meters away from the two of them.
With no time to talk, Shoji lends Izuku a hand to help him up as Twice breaks through the ice barrier Todoroki crafted earlier.
“Midoriya, Todoroki, we’re running away!” Shoji shouts out. Todorki swings his arm at the villains–and from it erupts a shield of ice that tops over one hundred feet. The three of them pivot the opposite way, beginning to sprint away from the action
Milliseconds after beginning the sprint, a magenta void appears amongst them.
“T.. the same villain from the USJ..” Todorki chokes out.
“Warp!” Izuku exclaims.
“Let us go, Dabi.” Mr. Compress chuckles from behind them. He taunts his tongue out at them, the marbles that possessed Tokoyami and Bakugo on the periphery of his lip.
Izuku rushes towards Mr. Compress before he could realize his legs were moving. He stops in his tracks–his shoes digging into the dirt beneath his feet–the moment a twinkling laser beams at Mr. Compress’ face. The marbles dance in the back of Mr. Compress' throat, forcing him to spit them out shortly after. Todoroki and Midoriya are the first ones to dash towards them–attempting to grab them.
Dabi appears before Todoroki in a flash, snatching the marble Todoroki reached for right as it grazed his fingertips; however, the moment Izuku touches the marble, he becomes engulfed into the marble prison, taking Tokoyami’s place.
Tokoyami tumbles onto the ground, finally released into the real world once again–his eyes fluttering in and out of consciousness. Twice steals away the marble with Izuku in it, heading into the portal as he giggles to Toga.
“That kid was a pain to deal with.” Twice complains to Toga as he playfully nudges her shoulder with his.
“I’m sad he pushed me off! I was so close to getting some of my sweet Izuku's blood, hmph!” Toga crosses her arms, pouting at twice as she nudges him back. The League of Villains all vanish swiftly thanks to Kurogiri’s portal.
The portal cuts back to their secret hideout, the bar in Kamino. Mr. Compress smirks cheerfully as Dabi and Twice approach him.
“Your fuck up resulted pretty well for us, how’d you manage that?” Dabi chuckles as he slips the marble with Bakugo into his palm.
“A great magician never reveals his tricks.” Mr. Compress weaves the marble with Bakugo around his fingers, fiddling with it. “All that matters is that we have both of the problem children now, who’d expect that? However, it’ll sure be a pain to deal with this one,” Mr. Compress then catches the marble Twice had thrown at him with ease; the one with Midoriya inside.
“Izuku Midoriya, hm? The annoyingly heroic one. Quite a pain on the battlefield, but the boss could use him for something.” Mr. Compress shrugged as he slipped the two marbles into his pocket. “Go fetch the quirk anesthetics, we’ll give it to them once I release them.” Mr. Compress shrugged as Twice prepared the anesthetics.
“Spinner, knock them out as soon as I release them.” Mr. Compress instructed as the rest of the league gathered around him. Twice clutched the bundle of ropes; Dabi leaned against the brick wall near the corner as he watched from afar, Toga held the syringes with the quirk anesthetics in her hands, Spinner stood directly in front of Mr. Compress with his sword in the air, and Mr. Compress held the marbles out and ready to drop them.
“On the count of three, everyone. You know how rowdy these two are.” Mr. Compress giggled as he squeezed the marbles once more. The league nodded, adjusting their position.
“One, two…three!” Mr. Compress released the tension in his palm, letting the marbles ripple onto the ground as Katsuki and Izuku appeared before them once again. Before the pair could process anything, the back of spinners sword is thrusted onto the nape of their necks, knocking them out instantly. Toga shuffles down to her knees as she injects Izuku’s veins with the quirk anesthetic first, then shortly after repeats for Katsuki. Twice joins her on the ground and begins tying Izuku.
Twice tools at the rope, then back at Toga. His eye bounces up as he lifts an eyebrow at her, shrugging slightly. Toga shrugs back at him, looking at the rope as she looks around the bar.
“You’re awful at this, why’d you volunteer if you don’t even know how’ta do your damn job?.” Dabi's voice sharpens as he watches Twice and Toga helplessly look around.
“Sheesh, then you do it then.” Twice bobs his finger at Dabi.
Dabi walks over to them, then kneels onto the ground.
“Move,” Dabi shoves Twice out of the way, then snatches the rope out of Twice’s hands. He ties Izuku’s entire body until his actual body is barely visible; until the areas that are visible turn white. He repeats on Bakugo. With the leftover rope, he decides to simply tie the two together.
Dabi rises up from his knees, dusting off his hands as he turns to look at the rest of the league. Twice pouts at Dabi as he and Toga sit on the bar stools.
“Isn’t that a bit overkill?” Twice throws attitude at Dabi, staring down at Toga’s pink, bedazzled flip phone as they play tetris.
Dabi simply scoffs at Twice’s comment as he melts onto the empty booth.
Izuku and Katsuki sit on the wooded ground tied up against each other, still unconscious. Katsukis back rests on Izuku's back, their hands tied together, unable to face one another.
Katsuki is the first to wake up. His eyes flutter open, not causing a scene. Slowly gaining consciousness, Katsuki’s eyes widen at the realization of the situation he’s in. The memories of what occurred only a few hours ago flood in, finally grasping what happened while he was unconscious. Despite this shattering realization, his breath remains stable, keeping quiet despite the slight panic. Katsuki knows better than to cause a scene with all the villains laying around the bar, sleeping.
This could be an advantage. All the villains are asleep. If he just uses the clusters from his quirk to burn off the rope tied against his wri-
It’d be a lie to say his heart didn’t drop when he realized someone was resting against his backside. The texture of the hair tickling the nape of his neck told him everything he needed to know about the person, because there was only one person he knew with hair as messy, untamed, and overgrown as the one against his neck.
It was Deku, and that pissed him off more than ever before. Deku was probably the last person who should be here, he had All Might's power (at least he was pretty sure he did, there were way too many pieces of evidence to back up his claim). If the villains found out, this could be really bad; so, so, so, bad. Not to mention, with Deku here, he can’t just blow everyone to hell and back and run, because now he also has to focus on getting himself and Deku out safely. What a pain.
He wiggles his torso, gently hitting Izuku’s back with his. The tight ropes made it difficult to move around freely, so this would have to do. Katsuki rotated his neck as best as he could towards the direction of the wall–just in case the villains were awake–so he could whisper to Deku and somehow wake him up.
It takes a few more nudges and a few more whispers before Izuku gains consciousness. In contrast to Katsuki, Izuku attempts to jump forward the moment he gains consciousness. His eyes bounce open, and his torso dashes forward quickly. This sudden movement tugs on Katsuki’s rope, inflicting a burning sensation from the rope against grazing his skin. Katsuki hisses at the pain, and then turns to Izuku again.
“Shut up, Deku. You’re going to wake them up with your noisy ass.” Katsuki whispers. Most people would think he's speaking gently, but Izuku could hear the irritation in Katsuki’s tone.
“Sorry, Kacchan!” Izuku whispers back a little louder than Katsuki as he wiggles his wrist against Katsuki’s.
“Do you not know how to whisper? Shut up or do it properly.” Bakugo moves his torso forwards, then slams it back in just like Izuku had done earlier–except with even more force. Even if the situation was serious, Katsuki couldn’t refrain from his habit of getting revenge.
Izuku rolled his eyes, “I do know, it’s a little harder when you have a concussion though.” Izuku responds quieter–snarkier–than last time, taking Katsukis complaint into account.
Katsuki breathed out an annoyed sigh, then silence arose again.
The two used this time to analyze the situation. Izuku also noticed how advantageous this time could be for them if they use it correctly. Shigaraki seems to be the only person missing from the bar, while the rest of the villains sleep in the cushioned booths, so they’re out of sight. The only person who isn’t asleep in a booth is Dabi (who moved because he got uncomfortable), and happens to be asleep with his head resting on the wooden bar countertop
There are multiple problems when it comes to an escape plan, though. They could just use Kacchan’s quirk to disintegrate the rope that ties them together, but there’s a possibility of his quirk making noise. Kacchan has a good–no, he has mastered his quirk, there's no doubt about that. He doesn't have any problem controlling it; however, a factor that he cannot control is the sound that erupts from his quirk. Even a few sparks could have an outlier; one spark could end up being louder than all the others, causing the villains to wake up. It all depends on how sweaty Kacchan is. If one bead of his sweat (the nitroglycerin droplets) is bigger than the rest, it could completely backfire on them before they even get out of the ropes.
Another hazard would be his emotional state. Kacchan could be more nervous than usual; hence, causing him to sweat more in a shorter amount of time. This factor could also contribute to the sound hazard. The rhythm of his heartbeat is yet another thing to be cautious of; the more nervous Kacchan is, the harder it is to control the density of his power. Even if they did get out successfully, the door could make a loud creak or the door could even lead somewhere deeper into the facility. Right now, they don’t have any information on where this bar is located, and if it’s not a part of a more complex structure. So in other terms–right now–this plan is a no-go. Not until they had more information.
If they wanted to go with the more abrasive plan, Izuku could activate full cowling, break the ropes all at once, punch in the direction of the villains, and use the aftermath wind to give them a few seconds to punch through the wall they’re currently against and run. But-
“Keep it down, you’re rambling. I hate when you do that shit.” Bakugo whispered. “First of all, the front door locked not only from the outside, but from the inside. I don’t know where the other doors lead, but our best bet is the front door. Before those bastards knocked us out completely, I was able to catch a glimpse at the front door. The front door leads outside, I know that for fucking sure.”
Izuku glanced once again at the front door; Kacchan was right, there was a lock. It wasn’t like a normal door lock either, it looked more like a lock you’d put on a locker. Which meant there was either a masterkey that could open every door in this facility, or a different code for every lock (if they had thrown out the key for safety measures).
“But that means the villains also can’t get out. Why are they keeping them here?” Izuku whispers back, questioning Katsuki.
“The lock isn’t for them, dumbass. They probably know the code, they aren't stupid enough to sleep peacefully while the door is in plain sight. It could also be so no one breaks in.” Katsuki looks at the wooden tiles as he explains to Izuku.
“Shigaraki and the warp villain are missing.” Izuku adds as he observes the room.
“Yeah, I noticed earlier. It’s pissing me the hell off.” Katsuki grunts quietly.
“If Shigaraki was the only one missing, that wouldn’t be too much of a problem. I’d assume he was most likely captured by the Pro’s because he doesn’t have any fast mobility quirks. But the fact that both the warp villain and Shigaraki are missing is a problem. The warp villain wouldn’t be missing unless he was taking Shigaraki somewhere else, somewhere he has business being. The warp villain follows his orders; he goes wherever Shigaraki goes. Our classmates could still be in danger.” Izuku mutters as he continues to eye the bar down.
…”Deku.”
Izuku freezes at the tone of Katsuki’s voice, despite it still being a barely audible whisper.
“I can’t use my quirk.” Bakugo whispers sharply as Izuku lets the words hang in the air before digesting them.
Izuku attempts to activate One for All, but it’s just as Katsuki said: he can’t activate it.
This sends Izuku’s heart to the bottom-most pit of his stomach; what had happened when they were unconscious? Actually, scratch that–how long had they been unconscious for? And why can’t they use their quirks?
Okay, think. He had actually read about this sometime before he got his quirk, the days where he spent all his free time analyzing quirks instead of training one like everyone else. He’s read about this stuff ever since he was a kid.
There was an investigation he’d stumbled across while looking for a school project. It was on the new black market–the silver market–single-handedly increasing the rates of sex trafficking by using quirk reducing drugs. Izuku got sidetracked and ditched the search for an article on pre-quirk era politics and read the entire investigation up instead.
How was the silver market different from the black market? Well, the difference was that the silver market wasn’t easily attainable. The rise of heroes–even ones like All Might–also meant more villains, despite it being the era of peace. As much as Izuku admired All Might, he knew that Japan was far from the era of peace, at least when it came to issues below the surface level. Of course, it's the calmest it’s ever been in Japan for decades, but it didn’t mean other issues weren’t brewing up where nobody could see them. The silver market was much harder to attain. You had to know the right people, and these people were almost always wealthy, powerful figures in society. A low-grade villian wasn’t capable of getting in, even if they wanted to. The exchange of weapons, people, and drugs was a common factor in both markets; however, what made the new one so dangerous was the fact that quirks were a predominant factor in the silver market.
High value quirks are worth more than money nowadays. They’re the cheat code to becoming filthy wealthy. One of the easiest examples to point out could be the Heroes Commission. Ever since the era of quirks began, the government has been sending a disgusting percentage of tax dollars to the Heroes Commision, rather than the military or other branches in society. To put that into perspective, the Japanese military had only put three percent of their tax dollars into the military pre-quirk era. Now, however, a whole seven percent of tax dollars were being put into the Heroes Commission alone, lowering the military percentage to lower than one percent. The United states hadn’t even gone to that extent, they simply evened out the military and their Heroes Commision tax distribution to fifty-fifty. Japan had gone above and beyond, becoming one of the most developed countries when it came to quirks.
Not only that, but the Heroes Commision has copyright to every single piece of Japanese hero merchandise you’ll ever buy. It’s no surprise they’re as powerful as (if not, more powerful than) the government.
Back to the point! The investigation focused on one of the bigger organizations involved within the silver market. Apparently, they had been able to get away with sex and human trafficking for almost half a century because of the quirk drugs they had created throughout the years. At first, the people involved found a way to exploit their own quirks, but then it turned into exploiting the quirks of people they trafficked. Some people would even donate their own quirk DNA for a hefty amount of money–an amount that could last them until retirement and beyond. The process was quite simple: the quirk users blood would be drawn (the amount differing on how long you want the drug to last), it’d be mixed into other drugs (most commonly sleep anesthetics), then injected into the bloodstream.
Izuku had always heard rumors about quirk exploitation ever since he was a kid. He would fall for the quirk supplement scams, fraudulent quirk purchasing, quirk manifestation schemes, any type of swindle that had introduced him to the opportunity of possessing quirk.
These organizations would create drugs that had the same abilities as quirks, making it easier to spread a quirk deemed helpful by organizations. Quirk drugs made it easier to traffick people quietly, but also helped the organizations make a disgusting amount of money from the drugs alone. One of the articles he read up on was all about the drugs created by the organization caught; one of the drugs possessing the ability to temporarily paralyze–or in other words, numb–a quirk from its user. This is where the main headline of the article came from; these quirk drugs had the ability to remove a person's self defense system in an instant, creating a rise in sex trafficking.
Izuku popped out of his thoughts after a few moments, much calmer than before. Katsuki wouldn’t ever admit it, but Katsuki knew Izuku could sense he was on edge.
“It’s a quirk drug.” Izuku whispered reassuringly to Katsuki.
As each syllable flowed off Izuku’s tongue, Katsuki’s tensed muscles relaxed against Izuku’s back.
“I was watching the villains earlier when you were looking over at the door, and one of their phones received a notification, so the screen lit up. It was on the booth table, but there was a big mirror on the wall next to the booth. I was just barely able to see the reflection, but I found out that currently, it's almost ten thirty. That means it's been at least almost twenty-four hours since we’ve been separated from our class, considering it was eleven at night when we were taken. I kinda connected the pieces: I got a concussion, broke my arms, and had an adrenaline rush, so it would be likely for me to sleep that long. But that's where it wouldn't make sense. You wouldn’t be asleep for that long, it's also strange how we woke up at the same time even if you did wake me up a few minutes early. And I know none of the villains have a quirk to paralyze or steal a quirk, so I came to the conclusion that it’s a quirk drug. The huge amount of sleep is usually the sign that you’ve been under a quirk drug, it's because quirk drugs are also heavy sleep anesthetics.” Izuku took a breath after he finished his wordy ramble.
“So what you’re saying is that it’ll eventually wear off..?” Katsuki questioned Izuku quietly.
“Yeah, even faster if you have a certain blood type,” Izuku nods, his head gently rubbing against Katsuki’s every time he moves his head. “I have type O, so mine is gonna wear off a lot slower than someone with type A.” Izuku continues.
“So mine is gonna wear off soon because I’m A? Fuckin’ finally.” Katsuki questions.
“Yeah, but in the meantime, we have to do something. We don’t know when the league will eventually wake up, so we have to act fast.”
“No shit, you don’t have to tell me. I’m not an idiot.” Katsuki rolls his eyes, furrowing his brows.
“First, we have to get the hell out of these ropes. I counted while you drifted off into ramble world; I'm tied with one rope. By that, I’m assuming you're also tied with one rope, and then there's one rope that ties us together. I say we untie the rope that ties us together first so we can move our hands.”
“I think so too; but Kacchan, I think my rope is tied too tight for that.” Izuku is only able to wiggle the tip of his fingers against Katsuki’s.
Katsuki flinches at the contact.
“Stop doing that! It feels weird.” Katsuki moves his fingers to hold Izuku’s to stop him. Izuku can feel Katsuki’s back trembling on his back.
Izuku’s mind goes blank. Not for any serious reason, but because he’s never seen Katsuki act like this before. He has no idea why Katsuki’s shaking, and why he was so startled by his sudden hand movement. It’s strange, but not in a bad way.
Then, Izuku connected the dots.
“Kacchan…are your hands ticklish?” Izuku whispered ever so quietly, the sides of his mouth perking upwards.
“Yeah yeah, so stop doing that shit unless you want to give us away!” Katsuki screamed at Izuku; well, scream whispered anyways.
Katsuki released Izuku’s fingers, and Izuku didn’t fiddle with his hands again for their own safety. He couldn’t help but chuckle despite the situation, though.
Izuku and Katsuki sat in silence for a few seconds, hypothesizing another way to escape. Then, Izuku’s eyes widened.
“Kacchan, I know what to do. Oh my gosh, how did I not think of this before.” Izuku mutters.
“Just spit it out, I’m itching to get out of this shit already.” Katsuki let out a quiet, annoyed grunt.
“Help me undo my casts; once they're off, the rope will loosen.” Izuku turned to whisper to Katsuki.
Before Izuku had been taken by the villains, he had fought too recklessly and emotionally, causing him to overdo One for All and breaking his arms. One of his friends had used their shirt to cast away the bleeding temporarily. His hazy memory forbade him to remember who it was, but he was eternally grateful to whichever one of his classmates had done him this favor.
Katsuki didn’t respond, but instead started right away. Izuku would move his hands as best as he could so Katsuki could unravel his cast quickly. They eventually undid the first cast, letting one of Izuku’s arms freely move around. Once the second cast was undone, Izuku had full range of motion in his arms again. Izuku turned to face Katsuki now that his ropes were basically undone because of how much the ropes around him had loosened.
Izuku slowly rotated Katsuki’s body towards his direction.
“Tch.” Katsuki let out a complaint the moment he finally met eye-to-eye with Izuku. “Why’d you have to be the one let out first.” Katsuki whispered.
“Just be grateful that one of us even got out, Kacchan.” Izuku responded as he narrowed his eyes at Katsuki.
Izuku tried undoing Katsuki’s knot, but it was just too tight. Katsuki didn’t have any sort of extra room like Izuku because of his casts, so it felt impossible to get Katsuki out with nothing but his bare hands. Izuku hissed as the rope grazed the finger that had slipped off while undoing the knot, sparking up a pain that burned as if he had touched an open flame. He put the finger in his mouth, then took it out–shaking it–as he tried to ease the pain. Katsuki appeared equally as frustrated.
“Hurry this shit up, this rope’s gonna cut off my circulation.” Katsuki complained to Izuku as he wiggled in the rope.
“I’m trying!” Izuku returns Katsuki’s attitude as he continues to undo the knot. Suddenly, Izuku stops to grip his head as he quietly groans in pain. The ringing in his ears echoes through his head, scraping at his skull each second longer it goes on. His vision begins to blur in and out of darkness; Izuku shakes himself out of it, hoping it’ll help.
“Deku, I swear to- Don’t you dare pull these garbage symptoms right now. Keep untying me.” Katsuki quietly demands, but to Izuku it feels more like a plea.
Izuku glances around the room again, and he concentrates on the wine glass on the bar counter. Before he knows it, Izukus is on his feet–slightly wobbly–and heading to grab it.
“What the fuck are you doing, Deku! Get back here!” Katsuki whisper-screams as he frantically looks into the direction of the villains, then back at Izuku. Izuku manages to grab the wine glass, shuffle back to Katsuki, and plop back onto the ground in front of him. Izuku uses his physical strength to break a small piece of the wine glass off, then begins sawing at the rope Katsuki is enveloped in, freeing him soon after.
The rope pops open as the piece of glass saws through the ropes, the remains sliding down Katsuki’s body. His first reaction is to move his neck and arms joints in small circles, stretching his stiff muscles.
Izuku shuffles onto his knees, preparing to get up, until Katsuki grabs the back of his shirt and drags him back down, whispering into his ear.
“Stop deciding shit on your own. Now, we have to find the code to the lock if we wanna get outta here.” Katsuki whispered as he pointed to the door.
“We can’t go through the front door. The only way we’re gonna find the code is if we look through the villains' things. That’s way too risky; what if they wake up? It’s better to just go through one of the other rooms.” Izuku pointed towards the two other doors; one on the left wall of the front door, one on the right wall.
“Alright nerd, since you know everything, what’s gonna happen if they’re both dead ends, hm?” Katsuki responds back sarcastically.
“Then I guess then we’ll have to find the code after that. There’s no harm in checking all our possibilities.” Izuku frowns, his brows knitting together as he returns Katsuki’s mannerism.
“You stuck up-” The two of them freeze; their eyes widening at the same time as they hear the front door rattle against the lock. Both of them have the same idea, prancing onto their feet as they grab a few bottles of alcohol as they rush–as quietly as possible– to the two other doors besides the front door. Bakugo, being behind Izuku, heads to the opposite door while Izuku isn’t looking. Izuku whispers something to the Katsuki behind him when he enters the lounge room on the right of the bar, only to notice he’s not there. Izuku peeks his head back out the door and calls out to Katsuki as quietly as he is able to be.
“Kacchan! What are you doing! Come here!” Izuku whispers angrily as he waves his hand–whipping it frantically–in a way to encourage Katsuki to come to his side.
“No! If we’re both together, the villains can catch us easily! I’ll take them by surprise and then-” Katsuki is cut off by the door rattling once again, this time someone knocking.
Izuku’s stomach churns as he is left with no other choice but to separate from Katsuki.