Izuku wasted no time, charging in and killing one, then ducking underneath a punch to kill another. He slipped past another punch, going for a third Splitter when a fist connected with his head and the world went sideways.
'Fuck!' He thought, still reeling. 'How many strength quirks did they pack into this one? It's like 'Shock Absorption,' wasn't even there at all.'
It was different from the sheer destruction of the Gray—he was starting to suspect that one to be some form of direct effect rather than force multiplication like he originally thought—this was nothing but raw strength.
He twisted in midair, managing to dodge another punch before going for the one that hit him, hands bladed and ready to destroy its head and heart, when suddenly he found himself frozen.
He blinked, noticing the four Ragdolls at the edge of the clearing.
'Fuck. The slowing effect does compound.'
The eleven remaining Splitters immediately surround him, grabbing at him, holding his arms, and pulling him to the ground. They… they were restraining him. What?
He tore an arm free, lashing out with it, pushing it as fast as he could—embarrassingly slow—with his flight quirk. It sliced clean through two of the Splitters but rather than kill them it just had two new ones appearing and grabbing hold of him with the others.
A Gray suddenly appeared, throwing a punch that connected with his right shoulder, tearing both arms away along with part of his lung.
He pulled on his flame quirk, now regretting how little he'd practiced with it. He put everything he could into it, creating a raging inferno around him that stretched high into the sky. The Gray burned away in an instant but the Splitters just… absorbed it?
'Fuck, they have the absorption quirk too.'
A Rebounder appeared behind him, charging right through the flames, and landed three rapid punches to the center of his back. The first did nothing, the second fractured his spine and ribs and ruptured his organs, the third completely pulverized everything and ejected most of it from his chest in a bloody mess. The fire vanished, leaving the ground smoldering and glowing orange.
Izuku coughed, spitting up a mouthful of blood as his lungs regrew. As soon as he had the breath, he roared, ripping his left arms free, leaving some of his flesh in the hands of the Splitters. He pulverized the head of one of the Splitters and kicked up a massive rush of air with 'Air Cannon,' knocking back some of the approaching Noumu but doing nothing to the Splitters around him, who were quick to resecure his arms.
He tried to just fly straight into the air but before he could even move an inch a new Splitter and Rebounder come in from above, slamming him into the ground.
A new Gray appeared in the clearing, and Izuku's heart, freshly regrown, stopped when he saw that it was not focused on him. Its eyes were trained on the crowd of spectators, on Iona
He ripped his right arms free, decapitating two Splitters with a wild swing before three rebounders took their place. At the same time he doubled down with 'Captivate,' to pull the Gray's attention towards him, only for his eyes to widen when it completely ignored him, charging straight past.
He pulled on his tongue quirk, lashing out to catch it, only for a Rebounder to intercept. He wrapped the Noumu up, transforming his head as he pulled it in and took a chunk from its head.
Nonono it was already too close!
He roared again, pulling on his gigantification quirk, flinging some of the Splitters as he managed to roll onto all fours, crushing one under his fist. But the Ragdolls were so damn debilitating, it felt like the more he struggled, the harder it was to move. The Splitters recovered quickly, grabbing hold of him again, joined by more Rebounders and Grays as they arrived.
Izuku managed to take a single, shuddering step when his eyes widened as he saw the Gray reach the crowd of students.
He watched, in slow motion, as they tried to act. He saw Todoroki's ice flash, catching it but doing nothing to stop or even slow it. He saw Bakugou's explosion wash over it, leaving it unharmed. Shiozaki's vines and Eraser's capture weapon reached for it but were too slow to catch it.
He saw it step right past Iida's kick, Tsuyu's tongue, Ochako's outstretched hand, and then right through the rocky barrier Pixie-Bob tried to put up.
Two more splitters died as Izuku swung an arm, but were replaced by three more before he could even move towards the Gray.
It pulled a fist back, stepping in close to Pixie-Bob and Iona, eyes trained on the latter. He watched the fist swing, saw what it would do with 'Observation.' He watched Tamako try desperately to move her out of its path.
He watched the fist connect. But not with Iona, at the last second, Mineta, of all the students present, managed to push Pixie-Bob and Iona both, left arm raised to shield himself.
The Gray's fist struck Mineta's arm, destroying it, leaving nothing but a ragged stump at his shoulder.
Izuku's brain finally caught up, and he screamed. He poured every ounce of willpower he had into 'Conqueror' and unleashed it. The Noumu restraining him shuddered and exploded into sludge. A second exertion did the same to the four Ragdolls. He exploded forwards as the Gray raised another fist.
He caught it by the wrist, pulling it towards him as his fist connected with its head, reducing it to brown mist that painted the nearby wall.
More Noumu emerged from the forest but Izuku, still frantic, focused on 'Tempest,' calling down lightning that reduced them all to dust and earned him a few spare seconds to think.
He looked down at Iona, out of breath, heart beating frantically, eyes still wide and panicked. He could only just slightly steady himself when he saw that she was unharmed.
Reluctantly pulling his gaze away from her, he looked at Mineta. Unconscious, arm gone, blood pooling under him, and heartbeat already faltering. He would not survive long enough to receive medical attention, wouldn't even last another minute.
He grimaced. 'Fuck it. My secret's already shot to hell anyway. And I do owe him for what he just did.'
Reaching down, and pulling back his claws and 'Metallum,' Izuku touched a finger to Mineta's forehead, pushing a regeneration quirk into him. It took effect immediately, pushing a mass of bone and muscle from the ragged stump and regrowing the limb in less than a second. He pulled the quirk back just as quickly.
He considered it for a moment, then decided that since he'd already gone this far, he might as well take it further. It was necessary, with what just happened.
He touched another finger to Iona's head, passing that same regeneration quirk to her. Then, standing back up, he pushed another to Ochako with a touch. That left him with only the one he took from the USJ Noumu.
Izuku took a deep breath, then turned to look at the approaching Noumu as his rage surged again, panic quickly burning away.
He clenched a fist and more lightning struck, destroying all the Ragdolls he could see. He couldn't afford to take too much from the storm before he found the portal, but he would not allow them to restrain him like that again.
Izuku charged back in, bladed hand bursting through the head of a Rebounder, and catching a Gray by the throat.
He silently vowed to himself as he fought, that if there existed a way to ensure that All For One suffered for the rest of eternity, he would find it.
Ochako struggled to catch her breath, struggled to calm her frantic heart. Iona was okay, she was safe. For now.
They-. The villains really were targeting her. Why? She was four. What possible reason could there be?
And that Noumu… The others that looked like it were able to tear even Izuku apart with just a punch—those images were definitely going to give her nightmares. So much of this situation was—and had completely destroyed Mineta's arm. Just… gone in a blink. If it had managed to hit Iona…
Aizawa appeared at her side, kneeling to check Mineta, pressing a finger to his neck, and then laying a hand on the brand new arm, as if checking to see if it was real.
Izuku had revealed yet another part of his quirk, and gave Mineta a quirk to heal him in front of everyone. Certainly it seemed necessary with how badly he was hurt, but it was still surprising. And that heat that seemed to press into her when he touched her… How the cuts on her face and side just vanished… He'd definitely given one to her as well.
She wasn't sure if she was more relieved that she could now instantly heal from almost anything or terrified that Izuku had apparently reached a state of mind that he decided doing so was necessary. The panic in his eyes when he'd saved Iona…
Ochako gulped, turning to watch Izuku as the fighting started back up. How much longer would this go on?
Izuku's eyes widened as he slipped between the fists of two Rebounders, crushing the heads of a Gray and a Splitter as he did. He'd just caught sight of something at the very edge of 'All Sight.'
Finally.
It was a portal, just beginning to form a little over a mile away. The cloud of purple smoke was about the size of his fist and growing larger. He could make out some kind of laboratory on the other side, underground by the looks of it and packed with Noumu. And there, nestled in the center of that odd, warped space in between, was a familiar metal brace.
'About fucking time.' He thought.
Izuku roared, putting every ounce of willpower he had into 'Conqueror' once again. The Noumu surrounding him exploded into sludge. He noticed some of the students falling unconscious.
He pulled on 'Quick Thinker,' so hard that something in his chest began to ache, slowing the world to a near standstill. The ground beneath him exploded as he took off towards the portal, now about the size of a dinner plate. Trees and other obstacles were ignored entirely as he moved, exploding into chunks of shrapnel and not slowing him at all.
There were still Noumu heading towards the clearing, but all of them fell as he passed. Those he could reach without altering his path had their heads reduced to brown mist, those he couldn't fried and then crumbled to dust as he used 'Tempest' to call lightning down on them. With the world slowed by 'Quick Thinker,' he could just barely make out the stepped ladder for split second, and the flash of light lingered for what felt like seconds to him, searing jagged streaks of light into his eyes.
Two seconds—in real time—after he took off, he noticed the portal, which had reached the size of a window, start to shrink, All For One must've realized what he was doing.
He smirked. Not quick enough though.
Izuku was now close enough that he would've been able to see it with 'All Sight's' normal range. He pulled an arm back, and pulled back the scales that covered it.
His organs ruptured as he came to a dead stop, but he still stabbed his arm through the portal, fingers finding the brace and cutting right through the metal shell and into the brain within.
He pulled his arm back, bringing the brace with it, even as he ripped the quirk free. The portal, by that point having shrunk back down to the size of a plate, blinked out of existence the instant the quirk was gone, shearing away part of the brace as he pulled it out.
The quirk settled into his chest, and what a disgusting quirk it was. It felt misshapen, like someone had grafted several quirks together to make it. If it weren't so dreadfully useful—once he had a chance to get to know it, at least—then he'd be tempted to dump it on a random criminal just to be rid of it.
No matter. The important thing was that he had it and All For One no longer did. One of his three primary targets was dead. For good measure, he crushed the brain, then incinerated the remains with his fire quirk.
"So long, Kurogiri. May history forget you ever existed."
Not wanting to waste anymore time, Izuku took off again, heading back to the camp. He'd cut off the source, but he couldn't relax just yet. There was still one Noumu left. A Splitter that managed to absorb the lightning strike. By some chance it was the only Splitter that had not been in his direct path to the portal.
It had just reached the edge of the clearing. He watched in slow motion as, simultaneously, Eraser's hair rose, Bakugou raised a hand towards it, and Todoroki's ice appeared on the ground at his feet. It hesitated for a single moment, perhaps confused at the lack of its primary target, then moved to charge in anyway. But that single instant of hesitation cost it.
One of Izuku's right arms pierced its back before it could take another step, the other grabbing its head and driving it into the ground, before another push crushed its skull completely.
Izuku stood, panting, and ignoring the blood trailing from his mouth as his organs stitched themselves back together yet again. He scanned through the forest, looking for any sign that the situation was not yet resolved.
He saw all eleven villains accounted for—the clone of Touya not being counted for obvious reasons—all unfortunately still breathing and, also unfortunately, all but one still in possession of their quirks. Evidence of fighting littered the forest. The fires from Touya's quirk still raged, something he'd address when he knew he didn't have such a dire need for the storm above. The frozen wasteland left by Todoroki was still there. The trail that Bakugou and Goto Imasuji left through the forest was evident. Even worse was the trail he'd just left after ripping through the forest somewhere over Mach 2, twice.
He saw no sign of any more Noumu. He scanned through the entirety of his extended 'All Sight' range and saw nothing. He looked over at Eraser, who was watching him.
"Clear." He announced.
Eraser's eyes lingered on him for a moment, then he nodded and turned his attention towards the students.
Izuku took a deep breath, then released it, allowing the tension in his body to fade, and willing the tension built up in the clouds to release. The first few drops of rain came only seconds later.
He sighed. Crisis averted. Mostly. Probably. Iona and Ochako were safe, as were the rest of the students. Though now there was the issue of his quirk to address. He would have to-.
A piercing screech filled the air, clawing at his ears and all but stopping his heart. Everyone in the camp froze. It was a sound designed to be impossible to ignore, to convey just how Fucked a situation was, the most ear-gratingly obnoxious sound he and Rei could come up with. It was a sound he'd give almost anything not to hear. It was coming from Ochako's phone, and probably Izuku's too if sound could exist within 'Hotbar.'
The panic button.
Oh God. It was a diversion.
There was a panicked scream, somehow managing to overpower the alarm for a moment. Izuku was already crouched, legs tensed beneath him before he realized it was him.
His eyes met Ochako's across the clearing for a brief second, the expression on her face matching every bit of the fear he felt, then he launched into the air, just barely remembering to put up a sound-proof barrier with the illusion quirk before pushing his flight quirk as hard as he could.
He felt something in his chest shatter as the sonic boom shredded his eardrums and he rocketed into the sky.
Shouta's eyes were wide as he watched Etsumi disappear into the clouds, all the questions he'd been coming up with going forgotten as he suddenly found himself more worried than he had been through the entire attack.
He didn't know Etsumi was even capable of making such a noise. And the raw fear on his face in that split second before he'd taken off… Just what was that alarm? What could it mean, to have Etsumi so scared after everything that just happened?
Said alarm abruptly cut off. Shouta looked over to see Uraraka running towards him, phone in hand and face just as terrified as Etsumi's had been.
"Uraraka, what-?"
"It's Rei." She said, words rushing out of her. "Rei's in danger. That was a panic button, something to let us know if she's in trouble. She needs help."
That snapped Shouta out of his funk, because fuck, it wasn't over yet.
He pulled out his phone. He still needed to report all of this to Nezu.
Nezu picked up on the first ring, his voice all business. "Give me an update Eraser. What's your status?"
Shouta pushed back the surprise that Nezu was already aware of the situation. Probably Etsumi's doing, somehow. "Everything seems clear here. No casualties, a few minor injuries, all villains incapacitated. But we have reason to believe the attack is still ongoing elsewhere. You need to send heroes and law enforcement to Etsumi's apartment immediately. Etsumi is already heading there."
"Understood. I'll take care of it. Reinforcements and emergency services are en route to your location. ETA: twelve minutes. All Might will reach you sooner than that. Keep me apprised of any changes."
"Will do."
Nezu ended the call there, leaving Shouta to look out at the students spread haphazardly in front of the camp building. Some were still unconscious from… whatever it was that Etsumi had done—if certainly felt like bloodlust, just like the sports festival, but it also seemed like a physical force with how it disturbed the ground and killed the Noumu, and he'd never seen or heard of anything like that before—while others couldn't stop shaking. Mineta was still covered in blood, though at least he wasn't missing an arm, and was alive, which was one desperately needed positive.
Shouta closed his eyes. His heart refused to settle. He couldn't shake the feeling that despite how bad this day had been, it would only get worse.
…Fuck.
Izuku tore through the sky, air whipping around him in a frenzy as he pushed his flight quirk to propel him faster. The air itself was beginning to ignite in front of him which meant an approximate minimum speed of Mach 5, but calculations based on landmarks passing beneath him put it closer to Mach 6. 48 seconds since the alarm sounded, an estimated 36 until he reached the apartment. Not nearly fast enough.
Fuck. He couldn't believe how stupid he was. Of course it was a diversion. They'd trickled in wave after wave of Noumu, just enough to keep him tied down at the camp, and sent in a handful of disposable idiots to make it seem like a real attack. And then targeting Iona to make him think she was the objective. And with how the ante had immediately jumped right after he transformed and revealed his quirk, as if they were waiting for it… they must've known. All For One must've already figured it out.
It made sense. Horrible, terrible sense, but the logic was there. All For One must've figured out his quirk.
He wasn't exactly discreet about flaunting his power in either form, tearing through triad bases one after another as Oni and then fighting All Might to a standstill during the exams as Izuku. If they could learn about the location of the summer camp, then it probably wasn't a stretch for them to learn about the exams as well.
So, two individuals who displayed almost identical meteoric rises in power and who were both thorns in All For One's side, both of whom had left Noumu quirkless during separate incidents, something that was probably easy for All For One to verify, especially with him just doing it out in plain view of everyone during the Hosu incident, like an idiot.
He'd been careless. He should've taken more precautions with one or both of his identities. Held his strength back, been more discreet. Now, because he hadn't, because he'd been stupid and not been more cautious when he learned of All For One, he was left with this.
Because what was All For One to do, once he'd noticed the connection between Izuku and Oni? And once he'd discovered the possibility of another instance of his quirk? Izuku certainly knew what he would do if the roles were reversed. He'd target his enemy's weak points, of course. Either capture or kill to hurt the enemy or force them into a situation that would lead to their end.
Well, Izuku only had three weak points, and two had been under his protection at the camp.
Four seconds away. He could see the outskirts of Musutafu.
Three seconds. He could see Central Musutafu.
Two seconds. There was the apartment building. He pulled on 'Metallum.'
One second.
He came to a dead stop, the shockwave shattering the balcony windows right before him and many other windows on the floors below.
He scanned the apartment frantically, as well as every apartment below that he could see. His heart throbbed painfully when he saw no sign of Rei. There were signs of a fight, including several bodies, but no Rei. A strangled, panicked sound wheezed out of him.
"No no no no." He muttered, then pulled on 'Quick Thinker,' faster and harder than he'd ever pulled on a quirk before. There was a deep, piercing pain in his chest as something shattered, then instantly reformed and slotted into place.
Then the world froze.
Nothing moved, from the people below him to the glass shards that used to be the balcony windows, stuck frozen in midair.
He scanned through the entire apartment, taking note of every single detail, room by room. Rei's room, Ochako's, and Iona's were as they should be and so were ignored for the moment. Rei's office displayed signs of a fight. There were four bodies present, all male, all marked with the Triad's signature tattoo, and all dead. All four carried wallets which he used to verify their identities.
Hiroyasu Omori was lying in the hallway between Rei's office and Ochako's room. His skull was caved in.
Yoshiki Deguchi was lying in Rei's office, neck broken, head twisted completely around.
Tasuka Okino was embedded into the wall of Rei's office, chest completely crushed, the indents in the wall on either side of him indicated that her tail was what crushed him.
Norogumi Shinkai was barely recognizable as human. His body was mangled and looked very much like his internal organs had been squeezed out of him, forced right out through the top.
Omori would've appeared first, Rei punched him right through her office door. Okino was probably second, crushed into the wall by a panicked thrash of her tail. Shinkai and Deguchi would've appeared at close to the same time. She caught the former in her tail and crushed him while she used her hands to deal with the latter. More would've arrived shortly after, leading to the other signs of a fight.
Her desk was overturned, computer monitor flickering, her other belongings scattered haphazardly. Her phone sat discarded in the middle of the room. There was a sizeable dent in the wall opposite the door and a bit of blood on the floor right under it.
Lastly there was his own room. All unchanged with the exception of his Oni mask, which sat in the center of the room, partially disintegrated. Confirmation of Shigaraki's involvement, and that they knew of the link between his identities.
For the briefest of moments there was a flash of fear that Shigaraki might've just killed Rei outright, but another scan through the apartment did not reveal any dust aside from that which his mask was sitting in.
Conclusion: Rei had been taken.
Izuku took a deep breath as he released his hold on 'Quick Thinker,' allowing the world to resume its normal speed. He reached out to grab the edge of the kitchen table. It had seen so many meals, first just him and Rei, then with Ochako, then Tsuyu, then finally Iona. It was one of the first pieces of furniture they'd bought for this apartment.
It buried itself into the wall with a flick of his wrist, then he doubled over and screamed.
Every piece of glass in the apartment, and every piece for several floors below shattered instantly. The building shook with the force of 'Conqueror.' Fire burned in his mind, 'Wrath' kicking in so hard, spiking his adrenaline and blood pressure so fast that his nose began to bleed, and blood began to seep from his eyes.
That motherfucker! He-. First his daughter, and now he goes after his sister!?
Izuku's fists clenched, spilling blood onto the floor as his fingers tore straight through flesh and muscle.
He-! He would teach them! He would teach them all the true meaning of fear! He would teach them what happened when someone targeted his family, teach everybody, would paint that lesson across the city with their fucking blood!
Izuku turned to look out of what used to be the window, and did not see the city, only the scorched wasteland it would become.
There would be no hideout, no safe haven, no fucking crevice that they could hide in. He didn't care what he had to do, where he had to go, what he had to become, he would wipe the fucking scum from the face of the fucking planet and carry Rei to safety if it was the last thing he ever did.
He took a step forward and froze when he felt the building shake under him, blinking as a realization cut through the fire inside of him. This rage, this frenzy… it was not what he needed right now. There would be need for it later, when he finally found his targets, but until then what he needed, what Reineeded, was a cool head.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, shoving the rage down, forcing himself to calm. He settled the raging inferno in his mind, swallowed the mind-numbing rage that would see cities razed and mountains of corpses left in his wake. In it's place he was left with… nothing. Emptiness. He was left devoid of any emotion that might get in the way of his search for Rei and the people that took her, left free of any moral or limit that might've slowed him.
He opened his eyes again, still not seeing the city, only potential locations and hiding spots for his targets. He strode out onto the balcony, with no excess strength shaking the building or output from 'Conqueror' making the air tremble. Nothing but ironclad control over every inch of himself.
He trained his eyes in the direction which he knew Kamino to be, where he would begin his search.
"All right, motherfucker. You wanted my attention? You fucking have it."
Tamako trembled, insofar as they actually could. They were immensely thankful that Iona and Kemono were asleep. Neither of them needed to feel the sheer rage pouring through the connection to Izuku, or any of Tamako's fear.
Tamako had a better view into Izuku's mind than anyone else. Rei might still understand him better, but even she wasn't privy to his inner thoughts and emotions.
Normally, Izuku kept the two of them separate, so that they could both keep their thoughts private, but there was always a connection. Even if Tamako wasn't with Izuku, there was always something there, always a thin stream of emotions, physical sensations, and even thoughts if they were strong enough
Like right now.
Right now there was no separation, no barrier, all walls were down. Even though Tamako was with Iona and Izuku was miles away, they saw everything as if the thoughts and emotions were their own. They had an unobstructed view into Izuku's being. And what they saw…
Death…
Izuku's mind and soul burned with a rage Tamako was not equipped to understand. They saw what he wanted to do, what he would do. Villains, faces permanently twisted in terror and agony, flayed of their flesh and torn apart. They saw the world razed to the ground a thousand times over. They saw mountains of corpses, rivers of blood, cities reduced to rubble. The Earth, reduced to ash and dust, gray and lifeless.
Then all at once Izuku's mind shifted and refocused, sharpening to a fine point, and that rage changed.
Gone was the hot, blood-boiling anger that set his mind ablaze, that would have the world burning in kind. In its place Tamako saw a cold, endless… emptiness. He looked out over the city and instead of seeing something to burn to the ground, he saw nothing at all. Because that's what it was to him now, because he no longer cared enough about it to do even that.
Tamako shuddered as they realized what had happened. As potent as the rage had been, it was nothing but a hinderance, a distraction. The villains weren't Izuku's target, weren't what he was looking for. They were just the obstacles in his path, so he'd put them out of his mind. They got the amount of focus they deserved, which was none.
Tamako shuddered again. Something was wrong. Something was really, really wrong.
It had to be Rei. He wouldn't be like this if she wasn't hurt or in danger or worse.
Tamako prepared to jump back to Izuku, ready for the discomfort of snapping back over such a long distance and hoping none of it made it back to Iona. Izuku had told them to watch over her but with the way he was feeling… no, whatever was happening to Rei had to be more important.
They were about to jump when suddenly Izuku's voice rang through Iona's head, crystal clear despite the distance and Tamako didn't even know he could communicate through the connection like this.
"STAY. WITH. HER."
Three little words, and each one shook Tamako to their core.
Tamako was only dimly aware of the fact that Iona's body was now trembling, their fear skyrocketing with those three simple words. Each one seemed to carry every ounce of Izuku's rage and anxiety.
"Iona?" They heard Ochako speak, then felt hands on Iona's shoulders. "What's wrong?"
She turned Iona around, kneeling down to her level. "Iona-." Her head tilted, eyes narrowed. "Tamako?" She whispered. "What's going on?"
"Something's happened to Rei." They responded, voice faint. "Izuku is angry."
Their trembling became worse. "I need you to catch her." They whispered. Ochako grabbed Iona under the arms just in time for her knees to give out, Tamako drawing back and huddling as deep as they could within her mind. They couldn't let her feel any of this, any of their fear, their sheer panic, or Izuku's rage. She didn't need to know what was going on.
"Please. Please let her be okay." Tamako thought, begged. "Let them both be okay."
Rei shut her eyes, trying to steady her breathing, and trying to ignore the pain throbbing across her body. She could already feel her face swelling up. Her split lip throbbed in time with her heartbeat.
She'd gotten Izuku's text, and had just finished kicking every police headquarters and hero agency within 50 miles of the summer camp into a frenzy when villains were dropped into the apartment out of nowhere. The first four had just been pathetic grunts—Izuku would've called them insects—and she'd put her strength quirk to good use dealing with them, but then suddenly she was pinned against the wall by one of those gross monsters—the Noumu. The villain from the USJ that Izuku had told her about, Shigaraki, was there a second later, four fingers touching her tail.
She wasn't even able to get a word out before some kind of black sludge came spilling out of her throat, and she found herself in some dingy bar.
A few minutes later a handful of unconscious villains spilled out of that same sludge into a pile on the floor. Rei had smiled at the sight, knowing that'd be Izuku and the other hero students putting the villains to shame, which is what earned her the split lip.
Now she sat pinned against the wall, arms secured by thick chains and a simple warning from Shigaraki that if she even tried to move her tail, she'd be dust before she could do anything.
She pulled at her restraints as inconspicuously as she could, trying to test whether or not her strength quirk would be enough to break them. She hoped that, by now, Izuku would know that she'd been taken, and would be on his way to rescue her, but she'd like to know what her options were if push came to shove and she had to try to free herself.
She almost smirked at the thought of how Izuku react. Oh, he'd be furious. It'd been bad enough when that lone, stupid villain had broken into their old apartment all those years ago, but now that she'd been kidnapped? Oh, he'd paint the room with these stupid villains.
Rei could not wait to watch it happen.
Izuku certainly wasn't the only one with sadistic tendencies because of his childhood trauma. His were much more intense, definitely, but when it came down to it, when the situation warranted it, it was oh-so satisfying to watch a criminal get torn to shreds. She'd never admit it to him if she didn't have to, but when Izuku used his quirk to punish criminals, extracting their quirk as slowly and as painfully as he could, Rei enjoyed the screams almost as much as him.
Rei froze as a chime went off in her head, a bit of relief washing over her with it. There it was. He knew. It sounded off three times in quick succession, paused, then launched into morse code as Izuku spelled out a message for her.
She carefully translated each letter, putting the message together. Relief washed over her like a wave when it was complete.
"Iona and Ochako safe. Coming for you. Love you."
Despite her situation, Rei smiled, the action pulling at her split lip and sending fresh blood rolling down her chin. A quiet laugh bubbled up out of her throat.
"What's so funny?" The ugly villain with all the scars asked. Hopping down off of the bar to stalk towards her like he was supposed to be intimidating. "What're you laughing at?"
Rei smiled even wider as she lifted her head to look him in the eyes.
"I'm laughing because you idiots are already dead. You just don't realize it yet. You're going to be ripped apart and I cannot wait to watch it happen."
She pulled at her restraints, wishing her lone strength quirk was enough to break them so she could strangle him herself. "He knows that you have me. He's coming for me, and nothing on this planet will stop him."
Laughter from the back of the bar cut off the villain's response, and the sound of it had Rei's blood turning to ice. From the shadows emerged a giant of a man, stark white hair and blazing red eyes almost shining in the dim lights in the bar. He smiled at her, and Rei felt her hearts stutter.
"Oh, my dear." He said, the air around them trembling with his voice. "What makes you think that's not what we want?"
Izuku wasted no time, charging in and killing one, then ducking underneath a punch to kill another. He slipped past another punch, going for a third Splitter when a fist connected with his head and the world went sideways.
'Fuck!' He thought, still reeling. 'How many strength quirks did they pack into this one? It's like 'Shock Absorption,' wasn't even there at all.'
It was different from the sheer destruction of the Gray—he was starting to suspect that one to be some form of direct effect rather than force multiplication like he originally thought—this was nothing but raw strength.
He twisted in midair, managing to dodge another punch before going for the one that hit him, hands bladed and ready to destroy its head and heart, when suddenly he found himself frozen.
He blinked, noticing the four Ragdolls at the edge of the clearing.
'Fuck. The slowing effect does compound.'
The eleven remaining Splitters immediately surround him, grabbing at him, holding his arms, and pulling him to the ground. They… they were restraining him. What?
He tore an arm free, lashing out with it, pushing it as fast as he could—embarrassingly slow—with his flight quirk. It sliced clean through two of the Splitters but rather than kill them it just had two new ones appearing and grabbing hold of him with the others.
A Gray suddenly appeared, throwing a punch that connected with his right shoulder, tearing both arms away along with part of his lung.
He pulled on his flame quirk, now regretting how little he'd practiced with it. He put everything he could into it, creating a raging inferno around him that stretched high into the sky. The Gray burned away in an instant but the Splitters just… absorbed it?
'Fuck, they have the absorption quirk too.'
A Rebounder appeared behind him, charging right through the flames, and landed three rapid punches to the center of his back. The first did nothing, the second fractured his spine and ribs and ruptured his organs, the third completely pulverized everything and ejected most of it from his chest in a bloody mess. The fire vanished, leaving the ground smoldering and glowing orange.
Izuku coughed, spitting up a mouthful of blood as his lungs regrew. As soon as he had the breath, he roared, ripping his left arms free, leaving some of his flesh in the hands of the Splitters. He pulverized the head of one of the Splitters and kicked up a massive rush of air with 'Air Cannon,' knocking back some of the approaching Noumu but doing nothing to the Splitters around him, who were quick to resecure his arms.
He tried to just fly straight into the air but before he could even move an inch a new Splitter and Rebounder come in from above, slamming him into the ground.
A new Gray appeared in the clearing, and Izuku's heart, freshly regrown, stopped when he saw that it was not focused on him. Its eyes were trained on the crowd of spectators, on Iona
He ripped his right arms free, decapitating two Splitters with a wild swing before three rebounders took their place. At the same time he doubled down with 'Captivate,' to pull the Gray's attention towards him, only for his eyes to widen when it completely ignored him, charging straight past.
He pulled on his tongue quirk, lashing out to catch it, only for a Rebounder to intercept. He wrapped the Noumu up, transforming his head as he pulled it in and took a chunk from its head.
Nonono it was already too close!
He roared again, pulling on his gigantification quirk, flinging some of the Splitters as he managed to roll onto all fours, crushing one under his fist. But the Ragdolls were so damn debilitating, it felt like the more he struggled, the harder it was to move. The Splitters recovered quickly, grabbing hold of him again, joined by more Rebounders and Grays as they arrived.
Izuku managed to take a single, shuddering step when his eyes widened as he saw the Gray reach the crowd of students.
He watched, in slow motion, as they tried to act. He saw Todoroki's ice flash, catching it but doing nothing to stop or even slow it. He saw Bakugou's explosion wash over it, leaving it unharmed. Shiozaki's vines and Eraser's capture weapon reached for it but were too slow to catch it.
He saw it step right past Iida's kick, Tsuyu's tongue, Ochako's outstretched hand, and then right through the rocky barrier Pixie-Bob tried to put up.
Two more splitters died as Izuku swung an arm, but were replaced by three more before he could even move towards the Gray.
It pulled a fist back, stepping in close to Pixie-Bob and Iona, eyes trained on the latter. He watched the fist swing, saw what it would do with 'Observation.' He watched Tamako try desperately to move her out of its path.
He watched the fist connect. But not with Iona, at the last second, Mineta, of all the students present, managed to push Pixie-Bob and Iona both, left arm raised to shield himself.
The Gray's fist struck Mineta's arm, destroying it, leaving nothing but a ragged stump at his shoulder.
Izuku's brain finally caught up, and he screamed. He poured every ounce of willpower he had into 'Conqueror' and unleashed it. The Noumu restraining him shuddered and exploded into sludge. A second exertion did the same to the four Ragdolls. He exploded forwards as the Gray raised another fist.
He caught it by the wrist, pulling it towards him as his fist connected with its head, reducing it to brown mist that painted the nearby wall.
More Noumu emerged from the forest but Izuku, still frantic, focused on 'Tempest,' calling down lightning that reduced them all to dust and earned him a few spare seconds to think.
He looked down at Iona, out of breath, heart beating frantically, eyes still wide and panicked. He could only just slightly steady himself when he saw that she was unharmed.
Reluctantly pulling his gaze away from her, he looked at Mineta. Unconscious, arm gone, blood pooling under him, and heartbeat already faltering. He would not survive long enough to receive medical attention, wouldn't even last another minute.
He grimaced. 'Fuck it. My secret's already shot to hell anyway. And I do owe him for what he just did.'
Reaching down, and pulling back his claws and 'Metallum,' Izuku touched a finger to Mineta's forehead, pushing a regeneration quirk into him. It took effect immediately, pushing a mass of bone and muscle from the ragged stump and regrowing the limb in less than a second. He pulled the quirk back just as quickly.
He considered it for a moment, then decided that since he'd already gone this far, he might as well take it further. It was necessary, with what just happened.
He touched another finger to Iona's head, passing that same regeneration quirk to her. Then, standing back up, he pushed another to Ochako with a touch. That left him with only the one he took from the USJ Noumu.
Izuku took a deep breath, then turned to look at the approaching Noumu as his rage surged again, panic quickly burning away.
He clenched a fist and more lightning struck, destroying all the Ragdolls he could see. He couldn't afford to take too much from the storm before he found the portal, but he would not allow them to restrain him like that again.
Izuku charged back in, bladed hand bursting through the head of a Rebounder, and catching a Gray by the throat.
He silently vowed to himself as he fought, that if there existed a way to ensure that All For One suffered for the rest of eternity, he would find it.
Ochako struggled to catch her breath, struggled to calm her frantic heart. Iona was okay, she was safe. For now.
They-. The villains really were targeting her. Why? She was four. What possible reason could there be?
And that Noumu… The others that looked like it were able to tear even Izuku apart with just a punch—those images were definitely going to give her nightmares. So much of this situation was—and had completely destroyed Mineta's arm. Just… gone in a blink. If it had managed to hit Iona…
Aizawa appeared at her side, kneeling to check Mineta, pressing a finger to his neck, and then laying a hand on the brand new arm, as if checking to see if it was real.
Izuku had revealed yet another part of his quirk, and gave Mineta a quirk to heal him in front of everyone. Certainly it seemed necessary with how badly he was hurt, but it was still surprising. And that heat that seemed to press into her when he touched her… How the cuts on her face and side just vanished… He'd definitely given one to her as well.
She wasn't sure if she was more relieved that she could now instantly heal from almost anything or terrified that Izuku had apparently reached a state of mind that he decided doing so was necessary. The panic in his eyes when he'd saved Iona…
Ochako gulped, turning to watch Izuku as the fighting started back up. How much longer would this go on?
Izuku's eyes widened as he slipped between the fists of two Rebounders, crushing the heads of a Gray and a Splitter as he did. He'd just caught sight of something at the very edge of 'All Sight.'
Finally.
It was a portal, just beginning to form a little over a mile away. The cloud of purple smoke was about the size of his fist and growing larger. He could make out some kind of laboratory on the other side, underground by the looks of it and packed with Noumu. And there, nestled in the center of that odd, warped space in between, was a familiar metal brace.
'About fucking time.' He thought.
Izuku roared, putting every ounce of willpower he had into 'Conqueror' once again. The Noumu surrounding him exploded into sludge. He noticed some of the students falling unconscious.
He pulled on 'Quick Thinker,' so hard that something in his chest began to ache, slowing the world to a near standstill. The ground beneath him exploded as he took off towards the portal, now about the size of a dinner plate. Trees and other obstacles were ignored entirely as he moved, exploding into chunks of shrapnel and not slowing him at all.
There were still Noumu heading towards the clearing, but all of them fell as he passed. Those he could reach without altering his path had their heads reduced to brown mist, those he couldn't fried and then crumbled to dust as he used 'Tempest' to call lightning down on them. With the world slowed by 'Quick Thinker,' he could just barely make out the stepped ladder for split second, and the flash of light lingered for what felt like seconds to him, searing jagged streaks of light into his eyes.
Two seconds—in real time—after he took off, he noticed the portal, which had reached the size of a window, start to shrink, All For One must've realized what he was doing.
He smirked. Not quick enough though.
Izuku was now close enough that he would've been able to see it with 'All Sight's' normal range. He pulled an arm back, and pulled back the scales that covered it.
His organs ruptured as he came to a dead stop, but he still stabbed his arm through the portal, fingers finding the brace and cutting right through the metal shell and into the brain within.
He pulled his arm back, bringing the brace with it, even as he ripped the quirk free. The portal, by that point having shrunk back down to the size of a plate, blinked out of existence the instant the quirk was gone, shearing away part of the brace as he pulled it out.
The quirk settled into his chest, and what a disgusting quirk it was. It felt misshapen, like someone had grafted several quirks together to make it. If it weren't so dreadfully useful—once he had a chance to get to know it, at least—then he'd be tempted to dump it on a random criminal just to be rid of it.
No matter. The important thing was that he had it and All For One no longer did. One of his three primary targets was dead. For good measure, he crushed the brain, then incinerated the remains with his fire quirk.
"So long, Kurogiri. May history forget you ever existed."
Not wanting to waste anymore time, Izuku took off again, heading back to the camp. He'd cut off the source, but he couldn't relax just yet. There was still one Noumu left. A Splitter that managed to absorb the lightning strike. By some chance it was the only Splitter that had not been in his direct path to the portal.
It had just reached the edge of the clearing. He watched in slow motion as, simultaneously, Eraser's hair rose, Bakugou raised a hand towards it, and Todoroki's ice appeared on the ground at his feet. It hesitated for a single moment, perhaps confused at the lack of its primary target, then moved to charge in anyway. But that single instant of hesitation cost it.
One of Izuku's right arms pierced its back before it could take another step, the other grabbing its head and driving it into the ground, before another push crushed its skull completely.
Izuku stood, panting, and ignoring the blood trailing from his mouth as his organs stitched themselves back together yet again. He scanned through the forest, looking for any sign that the situation was not yet resolved.
He saw all eleven villains accounted for—the clone of Touya not being counted for obvious reasons—all unfortunately still breathing and, also unfortunately, all but one still in possession of their quirks. Evidence of fighting littered the forest. The fires from Touya's quirk still raged, something he'd address when he knew he didn't have such a dire need for the storm above. The frozen wasteland left by Todoroki was still there. The trail that Bakugou and Goto Imasuji left through the forest was evident. Even worse was the trail he'd just left after ripping through the forest somewhere over Mach 2, twice.
He saw no sign of any more Noumu. He scanned through the entirety of his extended 'All Sight' range and saw nothing. He looked over at Eraser, who was watching him.
"Clear." He announced.
Eraser's eyes lingered on him for a moment, then he nodded and turned his attention towards the students.
Izuku took a deep breath, then released it, allowing the tension in his body to fade, and willing the tension built up in the clouds to release. The first few drops of rain came only seconds later.
He sighed. Crisis averted. Mostly. Probably. Iona and Ochako were safe, as were the rest of the students. Though now there was the issue of his quirk to address. He would have to-.
A piercing screech filled the air, clawing at his ears and all but stopping his heart. Everyone in the camp froze. It was a sound designed to be impossible to ignore, to convey just how Fucked a situation was, the most ear-gratingly obnoxious sound he and Rei could come up with. It was a sound he'd give almost anything not to hear. It was coming from Ochako's phone, and probably Izuku's too if sound could exist within 'Hotbar.'
The panic button.
Oh God. It was a diversion.
There was a panicked scream, somehow managing to overpower the alarm for a moment. Izuku was already crouched, legs tensed beneath him before he realized it was him.
His eyes met Ochako's across the clearing for a brief second, the expression on her face matching every bit of the fear he felt, then he launched into the air, just barely remembering to put up a sound-proof barrier with the illusion quirk before pushing his flight quirk as hard as he could.
He felt something in his chest shatter as the sonic boom shredded his eardrums and he rocketed into the sky.
Shouta's eyes were wide as he watched Etsumi disappear into the clouds, all the questions he'd been coming up with going forgotten as he suddenly found himself more worried than he had been through the entire attack.
He didn't know Etsumi was even capable of making such a noise. And the raw fear on his face in that split second before he'd taken off… Just what was that alarm? What could it mean, to have Etsumi so scared after everything that just happened?
Said alarm abruptly cut off. Shouta looked over to see Uraraka running towards him, phone in hand and face just as terrified as Etsumi's had been.
"Uraraka, what-?"
"It's Rei." She said, words rushing out of her. "Rei's in danger. That was a panic button, something to let us know if she's in trouble. She needs help."
That snapped Shouta out of his funk, because fuck, it wasn't over yet.
He pulled out his phone. He still needed to report all of this to Nezu.
Nezu picked up on the first ring, his voice all business. "Give me an update Eraser. What's your status?"
Shouta pushed back the surprise that Nezu was already aware of the situation. Probably Etsumi's doing, somehow. "Everything seems clear here. No casualties, a few minor injuries, all villains incapacitated. But we have reason to believe the attack is still ongoing elsewhere. You need to send heroes and law enforcement to Etsumi's apartment immediately. Etsumi is already heading there."
"Understood. I'll take care of it. Reinforcements and emergency services are en route to your location. ETA: twelve minutes. All Might will reach you sooner than that. Keep me apprised of any changes."
"Will do."
Nezu ended the call there, leaving Shouta to look out at the students spread haphazardly in front of the camp building. Some were still unconscious from… whatever it was that Etsumi had done—if certainly felt like bloodlust, just like the sports festival, but it also seemed like a physical force with how it disturbed the ground and killed the Noumu, and he'd never seen or heard of anything like that before—while others couldn't stop shaking. Mineta was still covered in blood, though at least he wasn't missing an arm, and was alive, which was one desperately needed positive.
Shouta closed his eyes. His heart refused to settle. He couldn't shake the feeling that despite how bad this day had been, it would only get worse.
…Fuck.
Izuku tore through the sky, air whipping around him in a frenzy as he pushed his flight quirk to propel him faster. The air itself was beginning to ignite in front of him which meant an approximate minimum speed of Mach 5, but calculations based on landmarks passing beneath him put it closer to Mach 6. 48 seconds since the alarm sounded, an estimated 36 until he reached the apartment. Not nearly fast enough.
Fuck. He couldn't believe how stupid he was. Of course it was a diversion. They'd trickled in wave after wave of Noumu, just enough to keep him tied down at the camp, and sent in a handful of disposable idiots to make it seem like a real attack. And then targeting Iona to make him think she was the objective. And with how the ante had immediately jumped right after he transformed and revealed his quirk, as if they were waiting for it… they must've known. All For One must've already figured it out.
It made sense. Horrible, terrible sense, but the logic was there. All For One must've figured out his quirk.
He wasn't exactly discreet about flaunting his power in either form, tearing through triad bases one after another as Oni and then fighting All Might to a standstill during the exams as Izuku. If they could learn about the location of the summer camp, then it probably wasn't a stretch for them to learn about the exams as well.
So, two individuals who displayed almost identical meteoric rises in power and who were both thorns in All For One's side, both of whom had left Noumu quirkless during separate incidents, something that was probably easy for All For One to verify, especially with him just doing it out in plain view of everyone during the Hosu incident, like an idiot.
He'd been careless. He should've taken more precautions with one or both of his identities. Held his strength back, been more discreet. Now, because he hadn't, because he'd been stupid and not been more cautious when he learned of All For One, he was left with this.
Because what was All For One to do, once he'd noticed the connection between Izuku and Oni? And once he'd discovered the possibility of another instance of his quirk? Izuku certainly knew what he would do if the roles were reversed. He'd target his enemy's weak points, of course. Either capture or kill to hurt the enemy or force them into a situation that would lead to their end.
Well, Izuku only had three weak points, and two had been under his protection at the camp.
Four seconds away. He could see the outskirts of Musutafu.
Three seconds. He could see Central Musutafu.
Two seconds. There was the apartment building. He pulled on 'Metallum.'
One second.
He came to a dead stop, the shockwave shattering the balcony windows right before him and many other windows on the floors below.
He scanned the apartment frantically, as well as every apartment below that he could see. His heart throbbed painfully when he saw no sign of Rei. There were signs of a fight, including several bodies, but no Rei. A strangled, panicked sound wheezed out of him.
"No no no no." He muttered, then pulled on 'Quick Thinker,' faster and harder than he'd ever pulled on a quirk before. There was a deep, piercing pain in his chest as something shattered, then instantly reformed and slotted into place.
Then the world froze.
Nothing moved, from the people below him to the glass shards that used to be the balcony windows, stuck frozen in midair.
He scanned through the entire apartment, taking note of every single detail, room by room. Rei's room, Ochako's, and Iona's were as they should be and so were ignored for the moment. Rei's office displayed signs of a fight. There were four bodies present, all male, all marked with the Triad's signature tattoo, and all dead. All four carried wallets which he used to verify their identities.
Hiroyasu Omori was lying in the hallway between Rei's office and Ochako's room. His skull was caved in.
Yoshiki Deguchi was lying in Rei's office, neck broken, head twisted completely around.
Tasuka Okino was embedded into the wall of Rei's office, chest completely crushed, the indents in the wall on either side of him indicated that her tail was what crushed him.
Norogumi Shinkai was barely recognizable as human. His body was mangled and looked very much like his internal organs had been squeezed out of him, forced right out through the top.
Omori would've appeared first, Rei punched him right through her office door. Okino was probably second, crushed into the wall by a panicked thrash of her tail. Shinkai and Deguchi would've appeared at close to the same time. She caught the former in her tail and crushed him while she used her hands to deal with the latter. More would've arrived shortly after, leading to the other signs of a fight.
Her desk was overturned, computer monitor flickering, her other belongings scattered haphazardly. Her phone sat discarded in the middle of the room. There was a sizeable dent in the wall opposite the door and a bit of blood on the floor right under it.
Lastly there was his own room. All unchanged with the exception of his Oni mask, which sat in the center of the room, partially disintegrated. Confirmation of Shigaraki's involvement, and that they knew of the link between his identities.
For the briefest of moments there was a flash of fear that Shigaraki might've just killed Rei outright, but another scan through the apartment did not reveal any dust aside from that which his mask was sitting in.
Conclusion: Rei had been taken.
Izuku took a deep breath as he released his hold on 'Quick Thinker,' allowing the world to resume its normal speed. He reached out to grab the edge of the kitchen table. It had seen so many meals, first just him and Rei, then with Ochako, then Tsuyu, then finally Iona. It was one of the first pieces of furniture they'd bought for this apartment.
It buried itself into the wall with a flick of his wrist, then he doubled over and screamed.
Every piece of glass in the apartment, and every piece for several floors below shattered instantly. The building shook with the force of 'Conqueror.' Fire burned in his mind, 'Wrath' kicking in so hard, spiking his adrenaline and blood pressure so fast that his nose began to bleed, and blood began to seep from his eyes.
That motherfucker! He-. First his daughter, and now he goes after his sister!?
Izuku's fists clenched, spilling blood onto the floor as his fingers tore straight through flesh and muscle.
He-! He would teach them! He would teach them all the true meaning of fear! He would teach them what happened when someone targeted his family, teach everybody, would paint that lesson across the city with their fucking blood!
Izuku turned to look out of what used to be the window, and did not see the city, only the scorched wasteland it would become.
There would be no hideout, no safe haven, no fucking crevice that they could hide in. He didn't care what he had to do, where he had to go, what he had to become, he would wipe the fucking scum from the face of the fucking planet and carry Rei to safety if it was the last thing he ever did.
He took a step forward and froze when he felt the building shake under him, blinking as a realization cut through the fire inside of him. This rage, this frenzy… it was not what he needed right now. There would be need for it later, when he finally found his targets, but until then what he needed, what Reineeded, was a cool head.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, shoving the rage down, forcing himself to calm. He settled the raging inferno in his mind, swallowed the mind-numbing rage that would see cities razed and mountains of corpses left in his wake. In it's place he was left with… nothing. Emptiness. He was left devoid of any emotion that might get in the way of his search for Rei and the people that took her, left free of any moral or limit that might've slowed him.
He opened his eyes again, still not seeing the city, only potential locations and hiding spots for his targets. He strode out onto the balcony, with no excess strength shaking the building or output from 'Conqueror' making the air tremble. Nothing but ironclad control over every inch of himself.
He trained his eyes in the direction which he knew Kamino to be, where he would begin his search.
"All right, motherfucker. You wanted my attention? You fucking have it."
Tamako trembled, insofar as they actually could. They were immensely thankful that Iona and Kemono were asleep. Neither of them needed to feel the sheer rage pouring through the connection to Izuku, or any of Tamako's fear.
Tamako had a better view into Izuku's mind than anyone else. Rei might still understand him better, but even she wasn't privy to his inner thoughts and emotions.
Normally, Izuku kept the two of them separate, so that they could both keep their thoughts private, but there was always a connection. Even if Tamako wasn't with Izuku, there was always something there, always a thin stream of emotions, physical sensations, and even thoughts if they were strong enough
Like right now.
Right now there was no separation, no barrier, all walls were down. Even though Tamako was with Iona and Izuku was miles away, they saw everything as if the thoughts and emotions were their own. They had an unobstructed view into Izuku's being. And what they saw…
Death…
Izuku's mind and soul burned with a rage Tamako was not equipped to understand. They saw what he wanted to do, what he would do. Villains, faces permanently twisted in terror and agony, flayed of their flesh and torn apart. They saw the world razed to the ground a thousand times over. They saw mountains of corpses, rivers of blood, cities reduced to rubble. The Earth, reduced to ash and dust, gray and lifeless.
Then all at once Izuku's mind shifted and refocused, sharpening to a fine point, and that rage changed.
Gone was the hot, blood-boiling anger that set his mind ablaze, that would have the world burning in kind. In its place Tamako saw a cold, endless… emptiness. He looked out over the city and instead of seeing something to burn to the ground, he saw nothing at all. Because that's what it was to him now, because he no longer cared enough about it to do even that.
Tamako shuddered as they realized what had happened. As potent as the rage had been, it was nothing but a hinderance, a distraction. The villains weren't Izuku's target, weren't what he was looking for. They were just the obstacles in his path, so he'd put them out of his mind. They got the amount of focus they deserved, which was none.
Tamako shuddered again. Something was wrong. Something was really, really wrong.
It had to be Rei. He wouldn't be like this if she wasn't hurt or in danger or worse.
Tamako prepared to jump back to Izuku, ready for the discomfort of snapping back over such a long distance and hoping none of it made it back to Iona. Izuku had told them to watch over her but with the way he was feeling… no, whatever was happening to Rei had to be more important.
They were about to jump when suddenly Izuku's voice rang through Iona's head, crystal clear despite the distance and Tamako didn't even know he could communicate through the connection like this.
"STAY. WITH. HER."
Three little words, and each one shook Tamako to their core.
Tamako was only dimly aware of the fact that Iona's body was now trembling, their fear skyrocketing with those three simple words. Each one seemed to carry every ounce of Izuku's rage and anxiety.
"Iona?" They heard Ochako speak, then felt hands on Iona's shoulders. "What's wrong?"
She turned Iona around, kneeling down to her level. "Iona-." Her head tilted, eyes narrowed. "Tamako?" She whispered. "What's going on?"
"Something's happened to Rei." They responded, voice faint. "Izuku is angry."
Their trembling became worse. "I need you to catch her." They whispered. Ochako grabbed Iona under the arms just in time for her knees to give out, Tamako drawing back and huddling as deep as they could within her mind. They couldn't let her feel any of this, any of their fear, their sheer panic, or Izuku's rage. She didn't need to know what was going on.
"Please. Please let her be okay." Tamako thought, begged. "Let them both be okay."
Rei shut her eyes, trying to steady her breathing, and trying to ignore the pain throbbing across her body. She could already feel her face swelling up. Her split lip throbbed in time with her heartbeat.
She'd gotten Izuku's text, and had just finished kicking every police headquarters and hero agency within 50 miles of the summer camp into a frenzy when villains were dropped into the apartment out of nowhere. The first four had just been pathetic grunts—Izuku would've called them insects—and she'd put her strength quirk to good use dealing with them, but then suddenly she was pinned against the wall by one of those gross monsters—the Noumu. The villain from the USJ that Izuku had told her about, Shigaraki, was there a second later, four fingers touching her tail.
She wasn't even able to get a word out before some kind of black sludge came spilling out of her throat, and she found herself in some dingy bar.
A few minutes later a handful of unconscious villains spilled out of that same sludge into a pile on the floor. Rei had smiled at the sight, knowing that'd be Izuku and the other hero students putting the villains to shame, which is what earned her the split lip.
Now she sat pinned against the wall, arms secured by thick chains and a simple warning from Shigaraki that if she even tried to move her tail, she'd be dust before she could do anything.
She pulled at her restraints as inconspicuously as she could, trying to test whether or not her strength quirk would be enough to break them. She hoped that, by now, Izuku would know that she'd been taken, and would be on his way to rescue her, but she'd like to know what her options were if push came to shove and she had to try to free herself.
She almost smirked at the thought of how Izuku react. Oh, he'd be furious. It'd been bad enough when that lone, stupid villain had broken into their old apartment all those years ago, but now that she'd been kidnapped? Oh, he'd paint the room with these stupid villains.
Rei could not wait to watch it happen.
Izuku certainly wasn't the only one with sadistic tendencies because of his childhood trauma. His were much more intense, definitely, but when it came down to it, when the situation warranted it, it was oh-so satisfying to watch a criminal get torn to shreds. She'd never admit it to him if she didn't have to, but when Izuku used his quirk to punish criminals, extracting their quirk as slowly and as painfully as he could, Rei enjoyed the screams almost as much as him.
Rei froze as a chime went off in her head, a bit of relief washing over her with it. There it was. He knew. It sounded off three times in quick succession, paused, then launched into morse code as Izuku spelled out a message for her.
She carefully translated each letter, putting the message together. Relief washed over her like a wave when it was complete.
"Iona and Ochako safe. Coming for you. Love you."
Despite her situation, Rei smiled, the action pulling at her split lip and sending fresh blood rolling down her chin. A quiet laugh bubbled up out of her throat.
"What's so funny?" The ugly villain with all the scars asked. Hopping down off of the bar to stalk towards her like he was supposed to be intimidating. "What're you laughing at?"
Rei smiled even wider as she lifted her head to look him in the eyes.
"I'm laughing because you idiots are already dead. You just don't realize it yet. You're going to be ripped apart and I cannot wait to watch it happen."
She pulled at her restraints, wishing her lone strength quirk was enough to break them so she could strangle him herself. "He knows that you have me. He's coming for me, and nothing on this planet will stop him."
Laughter from the back of the bar cut off the villain's response, and the sound of it had Rei's blood turning to ice. From the shadows emerged a giant of a man, stark white hair and blazing red eyes almost shining in the dim lights in the bar. He smiled at her, and Rei felt her hearts stutter.
"Oh, my dear." He said, the air around them trembling with his voice. "What makes you think that's not what we want?"