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Shinsou's agonized screams echoed throughout the room, the sounds cementing themselves forever into Shouta's memory.
All the while, he tugged fruitlessly against his restraints.
The people who took them had done their research, they knew far too much. They knew that Shouta would be taking his student out for a patrol that night. They knew where on the patrol route to ambush and abduct them while avoiding any surveillance cameras. They knew to blindfold Shouta and to gag Shinsou to keep their quirks from causing them too much trouble.
Worst of all…
They knew that their best chance of getting Shouta to give them the information they wanted was not to target him, but to focus on his real weakness. His student.
Shinsou.
Shouta didn't know how long he'd spent sitting there, blind and immobile, listening as their captor tormented Shinsou. The sound of a reedy implement whipping through the air and striking skin, bare skin, as Shinsou at first fought to keep quiet before she eventually couldn't help the desperate sobs and screams that left her as the hits just wouldn't let up. Chains creaked and boots just barely scuffed along the ground and laughter rang out, cruel and cold, as the man carrying out the torture took delight in Shinsou's pain, promising all sorts of cruelty to follow.
"Enough!" Shouta shouted, and not for the first time. His wrists were bloody from tugging at his bonds to no avail, but he continued to struggle. "Leave the kid out of this! I'm the one with the information you want. If you're going to hurt someone, hurt me."
It should be him enduring the torture, not Shinsou. Shinsou was innocent in all of this, and she was still just a student, a kid. She was under his watch, he was supposed to keep her safe. Yet here she was, taking all of the pain meant for him.
He was such a goddamn failure.
The tormentor only laughed more and it was the hardest he'd laughed so far. If there was any humanity within him to appeal to, it was long gone. "Oh, don't be so impatient, Eraserhead. Once her body gives out, you're next. You just have to wait your turn."
Shouta heard the shifting of weight followed by a sudden shriek from Shinsou, the rattling of chains indicating her thrashing. It was almost worse that he couldn't see what was happening. He had no idea of Shinsou's condition, no idea of what exactly she was being put through. Only that it was painful for her, so so painful.
"Orrr… you could always put a stop to this entirely," the man spoke casually over Shinsou's moans and whimpers, "all you have to do is give us the information we need to retrieve our friend that you helped arrest last month."
Shouta grit his teeth so hard his jaw hurt, anger and guilt boiling up in his gut so much he thought he’d be sick.
He couldn't give that information over.
Paradoxically, the one thing that could put a stop to his protege's torture was the one thing keeping her alive. Shouta knew the group this man belonged to, knew how ruthless they could be. He knew that the moment he turned over the information, he and Shinsou would be killed. There would be no letting them go, these people took "tying off loose ends" to a brutal conclusion.
Giving in would spare Shinsou further pain, true, but it would not spare her life.
So all Shouta could do for Shinsou was sit here and bear witness to her pain, and hope that sometime soon, their absence would be noticed and the tracker in his belt would lead rescue to them.
Useless. He was useless.
Their captor let out a long-suffering sigh, "sorry sweetheart, I thought Eraserhead might be willing to help you out, but it looks like he's willing to let you suffer for him," he said with fake pity as he addressed Shinsou.
Shouta wanted to tell Shinsou that it wasn't true, that he'd save her if he could. He’d give his life up in an instant if it meant she got out of this alive, but he remained silent instead. He wouldn't play this madman's game.
But while he remained silent, Shinsou spoke up. Or, she tried to at least. She was still gagged, but Shouta could hear the anger and the strength ring through the pain she was feeling as she grunted out what had to be a statement of defiance against their captor.
The man laughed, cruelly, tauntingly. There was the impact of a hand against flesh and the swinging of chains, "it's so cute that you still have an attitude-"
The man cut off mid-sentence.
For a moment, there was no sound in the room save for Shinsou's labored, pained breathing.
Shouta shifted in his seat, the sudden change in atmosphere putting him on edge. What happened? What was going on? For as long as they'd been here, the man couldn't seem to shut up, and now silence?
Wait...
'Don't tell me…'
A footstep.
Then another.
Slow stilted steps approached Shouta at an uneven pace, circling around behind him. His hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he felt the presence behind him, unable to do anything but wait to see what happened.
The rope binding his wrists was cut loose.
Shouta instantly tore off the blindfold, his eyes squinting to adjust to the light. A damp, windowless room came into view, its walls stained with the dried blood of countless previous victims. A cart, containing various instruments used to inflict pain sat at the ready and a cane, wet with fresh blood, lay discarded on the floor.
In the center of it all, hanging from the ceiling by her wrists, was Shinsou.
Shouta swallowed back bile.
The outer layers of her costume had been stripped away from her upper body. Her undershirt had been cut open at the back, hanging on by mere threads around her neck to serve a mockery of cover for her front. She was absolutely soaked through with sweat and her face was a mess of tears and mucus. Her eyes were glassy and her teeth clenched against the rag used to gag her, every breath she took was let out in a haunting moan of agony. He couldn't see her back from this angle, but Shouta knew it was a mess, the fresh blood splatter on the wall behind her was enough to prove it.
"Oh, kid…" he whispered, his throat tight. He stumbled out of the seat he'd been tied to, looking behind him to confirm his suspicion.
There stood the man that had put Shinsou through all of this misery, his eyes fogged over with the evidence of her quirk's control. Even though her words had been muffled, even through all of the pain she was in and the stress she was under, she had managed to establish a connection strong enough to take control of her captor. Then, if that wasn't impressive enough, she had given him a silent command that he had actually followed through on. And even now, she kept him under her control.
Shinsou really was amazing.
Shouta didn't waste another second, he rushed forward and set about getting her down.
"It's okay, kid. It's okay."
He was as careful as he could be as he lowered Shinsou to the ground and removed her restraints, but it still wasn't painless. She cried out as every motion angered her ruined back, and it was as bad as he thought it would be, her flesh shredded and oozing blood. Shouta could do nothing but whisper apologies and promises that this ordeal would soon be over.
"You did good, kid. You did a good job," he told her as she slumped in his arms. She didn't speak, even with the gag out, merely gasping and groaning with each painful breath, completely out of strength while still keeping their captor under her influence.
Shouta pushed Shinsou's sweaty hair out of her face and hardened his resolve.
"It's almost over," he told her. For all that he felt useless before, restrained and powerless, he wasn't anymore. He had her to thank for that. "Just leave the rest to me."
He wasn't able to keep her safe, but he could get her out of this mess he brought her into. No more harm would befall her today, he would make sure of it. Anything else he could to make things right by her would have to come later.
But first…
"I'm going to get us out of here."