Chapter Text
Katsuki’s the first one to notice the yellow door.
It’s natural. He’s been hyper aware since he and Deku were brought here and strapped in. Deku had passed out from the pain like a weak bitch.
(It was just like Deku. To get in the way. Always getting in the way. Trying to get in between things to save them. Even his destroyed arms didn’t stop him. Hell Katsuki’s not sure why he’s surprised by that. Deku didn’t fucking have a Quirk back in Middle School and that had never stopped the fucker either.
And then, in an absolutely truly Deku fashion, he’d proceeded to be useless when he could have been useful.)
Katsuki on the other hand had forced himself to stay awake. Couldn’t afford to fucking pass out when they were captured by fucking villains. Who knew what the fuck they’d do to them? Deku and him were already brought to this rundown place, and the Hands Fucker was in the middle some crazy rant. The crazy bitch with the knife had already stabbed him four times until the scarred patchwork skin fuck stopped her. Katsuki would thank him because he’s the reason Katsuki’s no longer getting stabbed, except the fucker kidnapped him. And along with the Lizard Fuck is now keeping watch over him like some creepy fucks from a B Rated movie.
Either way, Katsuki is awake.
He’s waiting.
The moment he gets a chance, he’s blasting Deku and him out of here. Like a proper Hero.
At least that was the plan.
Until the yellow door.
It had just fucking appeared out of nowhere.
It wasn’t there earlier. Katsuki would know it because he’d been staring at the spot right before he got distracted by the scarred fuck using his flames to light up a cigarette. It’s not blood loss, or a concussion. Katsuki knows what both of those feel like. And unless these fuckers have managed to sneakily drug him, Katsuki knows he’s not hallucinating.
There’s a bright yellow old yellow door right in the fucking middle of this shitty villain lair.
And it’s opening…
A sense of dread begins to form in the pit of his stomach. There’s no sense where it comes from. Katsuki can’t explain why. But something primal in him wants to stay the fuck away from that door.
A hand comes out of the door. Long, and spindly and sharp, yet twisting. It’s followed by a blonde head. Katsuki can’t make out anything else. Other than they feel wrong. Which is weird – and slightly concerning, not that he’d admit it even to himself – because Katsuki is surrounded by villains.
They’re tall and spindly, their hands are weird, their eyes are weird. Everything about them is weird. Katsuki doesn’t know what kind of fucked up quirk they have because even looking at them gives Katsuki a headache.
The shitty Villains finally notice them. Lizard Fuck starts yelling and the scarred fucker lights up, which is Katsuki’s only clue that this person is not another villain. A Hero then? Fucking finally!
Another person steps out from behind the weirdo blond fuck. He’s tall too. And far too plainly dressed for a Hero. Where’s his costume? Even Aizawa wears a costume!
“Gentlemen, you have someone we’re interested in. I’m just here to collect him.”
The whole operation at the Yueei summer camp had gone horribly wrong. Tomura had planned everything. Better than he planned the USJ attack. Personally had Sensei go over everything. Had Dabi lead the Vanguard because as much as he despised Dabi’s attitude and being a fan of Stain, Dabi seemed to be the only one to know how to lead an operation.
And still with all their preparations, they’d still fucked up.
They’d had the advantage. They’d had the element of surprise. And yet…
Compress had lost an arm. Twice and Toga both nearly lost their limbs too. They’d lost Muscular, Moonfish, and Mustard.
The Heroes and the Yueei kids had proven to be hard to deal with. Twice kept muttering about how there was something in those woods. Tomura would’ve ignored it, but Dabi, Spinner, and Toga confirmed it.
There was something strange in the woods Shigaraki. Dabi had looked like he was trying not to shudder at the memory as he reported it. Even Toga had been cowed, unusually stoic instead of her usual insanely gleeful bloodthirsty cheeriness. She looked scared.
They’d only managed to get two of their intended targets. The only good thing that Dabi had done was toss Ragdoll through Kurogiri’s portal to the hideout the moment they captured her. But the rest? Monoma Neito managed to avoid capture completely. It shouldn’t have been difficult to get him. The kid was useless without a quirk to copy! But he’d still managed to evade capture, nonetheless.
And Midoriya – who was quickly turning into the bane of Tomura’s existence – had managed to force Compress to eject Tokoyami and Bakugou from his marbles.
It was a sheer miracle they’d managed to recapture Bakugou. Tokoyami avoided capture until the very end, his Quirk going haywire and becoming too much of a threat to try and contain. But even Bakugou’s recapture was botched up, because Midoriya had managed to follow them into Kurogiri’s warp gate before it closed.
Thankfully the kid had collapsed in pain shortly after. There was no telling what damage he’d try to cause if he hadn’t. Twice had been on the end of one of the kid’s kicks. And Tomura had gone back to try and fetch Muscular. What was left of him was not pretty.
Tomura wasn’t fond of Muscular either. It wasn’t because of his crimes – no those were the reason Tomura let him join the League in the first place. Tomura just didn’t necessarily condone or empathise with Muscular’s ideals. He was a useful mook. That was all. A mook could rarely become something more, but Muscular was not in that category.
Yet… what happened to Muscular…
Tomura shuddered at the memory.
The fact that Midoriya managed to do that and still last so long with both his arms destroyed was something worthy of praise as much as Tomura hated the thought. If only he could bring out Midoriya’s bloodlust. The kid definitely had a lot of it in him. The remnants of Muscular was proof of that. But no. The brat with One For All was too heroic to ever give in.
(Although a smaller voice in the back of Tomura’s head wondered if Midoriya would be considered Heroic after just what he’d done to Muscular came to light.)
And the fact that the Heroes let the brat endure that much pain? Or if they let him get away with what he did to Muscular? It just proved what Tomura already knew. Heroes were corrupt to the core.
But still with Midoriya passed out and in pain, Sensei might be able to convince him to give up that accursed quirk. Wouldn’t that be a delightful downfall of All Might? His own successor tortured into giving up his very legacy to a man he failed to kill.
Yet Tomura could barely even celebrate. His League was nursing their injuries, counting their losses when the Heroes sent someone!
When the fuck did the Heroes have someone with a warp quirk on their side?
Dabi had been expecting the Heroes to attempt to retrieve the League’s guests. He just didn’t expect it so fucking soon. The League had barely got their bearings. Not after the sheer hell they went through to attack the summer camp.
He never wants to remember what the Midoriya kid looked like ever again. Hopes that Shigaraki will convince him to switch sides or just get rid of him. Dabi’s not one for killing kids but… Midoriya….
(Something is wrong with that boy, a voice in Dabi’s head whispers. Like a warning borne from a deep primal fear.)
Hell Dabi wouldn’t mind seeing the whole first year Heroics classes wiped out.
Maybe it’s just what happened in the forest still fucking with his brain. Dabi isn’t usually one for wanting kids to die. He’s ambivalent to people outside his family and his colleagues on most days.
The League were supposed to be the ones doing the terrorising. Yet they’d almost been taken down.
The memories of feeling watched, being chased, hunted in the forest still left him shaky. ‘Something dangerous and wrong is here in the dark with you. It’s not just one thing. And none of them are your allies,’ his hindbrain had kept whispering to him. He’d gone into survival mode. One glance at the others told him they had too.
So, Dabi was looking forward to down time. To regaining his bearings. To going back to some sense of normalcy.
He definitely hadn’t been expecting the Heroes to use a Warp Quirk. The yellow door is garish. So is the Hero who pokes their head through it. Their mere appearance is headache inducing.
He’s used his fire too much today. But he’s not going to let their hard work be undone so quickly. He’d already failed to capture all their intended targets. Shigaraki had given him so much shit for it. They’re out of that accursed forest and Dabi has the home advantage. Lighting up is easy.
He’ll incinerate these poor shmucks.
And then another Hero steps out and…
Dabi forgets how to breathe. His fire falters.
Natsuo is here.
Natsuo is here, dressed like he’s maybe out for dinner or for class.
He hasn’t seen Natsuo since… fuck he’s not seen his brother in years.
Dabi can’t believe it. When the fuck did Natsuo become a Hero? How did he become a Hero? Did he go behind dad’s back? No, Dabi’s been keeping an eye out on Endeavour and any Hero news.
Is Natsuo even a Hero? Are any of the people that came out of that door Heroes?
The others… maybe. But Natsuo? There’s no way someone Quirkless would become a Hero, let alone the Number 2’s Quirkless son become a Hero and the media stay quiet about it. No amount of bribery would work on a scoop like that.
(Would Natsuo count as Quirkless? Their father had papers forged to register Natsuo developing a late blooming weak frost Quirk. Did Natsuo develop a late blooming Quirk?)
Dabi’s already fought one sibling today. He’s not ready to deal with a second.
But Natsuo is here. Walking out of a yellow door that just appeared, dressed casually as you please, saying, “Gentlemen, you have someone we’re interested in. I’m just here to collect them,” and walking towards where Midoriya is passed out and chained.
Spinner reacts faster than Dabi, rushing for Natsuo.
“Yeah no. That won’t do.”
And Spinner’s gone. So is Toga who rushed in ready to attack. And Twice too.
How?
Was it Kurogiri? Or the one behind the Yellow Door Warp Quirk?
A sick sense of déjà vu hits Dabi. He feels like he’s back in the forest attacking the Summer Camp. Trying to survive the night.
“I’ll bring them back, don’t worry. They’re not even tasty.” Natsuo says sounding least interested in everything.
Then Natsuo’s gaze meets Dabi, and narrows in recognition. “Oh,” he says, “you.”
Dabi couldn’t breathe earlier, but now he feels lost. Confused. He’s hit with a powerful sense of vertigo making him dizzy. It’s like he’s falling, falling, falling.
The feeling only stops leaving him winded when Natsuo’s gaze breaks. Dabi coughs from the dizzy spell to see Shigaraki in the room, his hands, all five fingers on Natsuo’s throat.
And nothing’s happening. Shigaraki’s Decay isn’t working.
(Dabi isn’t sure whether to be relieved or even more terrified. Not after everything that’s happened tonight. Not after all this strangeness. What the fuck is up with Natsuo? What kind of Quirk does he have that makes him be able to do that and be immune to Shigaraki? Nothing about this makes sense. Nothing about tonight makes any sense any more.)
Natsuo simply pulls Shigaraki’s hand away with strength Dabi does not remember Natsuo having and flings him off. Like a ragdoll. “Too weak little not yet Piper. You may reek of blood but you haven’t begun to become yet.”
He resumes walking towards Midoriya. His distant expression only drops to something annoyed once he gets Midoriya out of his restraints, and Midoriya’s eyes fly open, but they look wrong. Vacant and empty. “Look at him. Always playing the Hero. Seriously, I got dragged out for this. Why does he cause so much trouble, we should just cage him up until we’re ready and be done with it.”
A scoff answers him. Someone else, tall and hulking and seemingly monstrous with a hood over their features emerges from the door and heads straight for Midoriya.
“That’d be impossible.” His voice sounds like a blood gurgling through a smoker’s rasp.
The hulk picks up Midoriya with little effort, doesn’t seem bothered by the fact Midoriya seems awake – or is he? His eyes. His eyes – and begins walking back to the door Natsuo following him. Natsuo stops and turns to look beyond Kurogiri. “Don’t even try. You come here and you can kiss yourself goodbye. I’m annoyed as is having to be roped in for this little retrieval mission because our favourite target got away. You come here, I will throw you into the Vast forever. I don’t give a fuck about what the Mother of Puppet’s plans are for you Spider bait.”
But the pressure is already building, and whoever the fuck Tomura’s esteemed Sensei is, Dabi can feel him coming.
“Ooh no let him into our hallways. Been a while since we’ve had a meal. And we love to fuck with the Mother of Puppets.” The blonde says unfazed.
Natsuo huffs out a laugh at that.
“Don’t. As fun as that would be, I’m not dealing with more nonsense tonight.”
“Hey what the fuck about me?” Bakugou screeches.
Natsuo turns back to him. “What about you kid? We came here for this guy.”
“What kind of Heroes are you? Not that I need your fucks help, but get me out.”
Natsuo’s expression is jarring. Amused but cold and detached. He’s looking at Dabi, at Bakugou, at all of them like they don’t matter. Like they’re insects.
“That’s your mistake. We’re not Heroes.” The blonde nightmare by the door says cheerfully.
“Think those guys should come for you pretty soon. If they don’t, sucks to be you kid. Oh right.” Natsuo snaps his fingers and there’s a rush of air and Toga, Twice, and Spinner are back, gasping for breath. Twice looks shellshocked. Spinner and Toga look like they’ve been crying. “Hope your fall was fun. The terror was certainly tasty.”
“Hey Not Yet Piper, start listening for the music if you want to be useful. Oh and Nii-san? Keep a good eye out on Nee-san. She’ll show you what it’s like to really burn. The correct way.” And with that mysterious and ominous titbit Natsuo and the hulk gone with Midoriya.
The nightmare blonde gives them Dabi what thinks is a smile. There’s far too many sharp teeth in strange angles in that headache inducing visage of a mouth. Then they disappear through the door as well. And the yellow door closes and vanishes.
Dabi doesn’t even time to catch his breath, because a moment later Dabi can’t breathe again, because someone’s screaming “pizza delivery” and the Heroes are bashing in their door. And Tomura’s Sensei is here.
—