Darkest Before Dawn - 135

Chapter 135

[Komako Masu]

“I can’t believe this,” Melissa said and the silence that followed was more of an answer than anything else any of them could have uttered. Komako shared a look with Ronaudo – their host, since they didn’t have access to their club room on a break – and Futo, both of whom looked just as concerned as Komako felt. Mei, for her part, was the only one in her own little world, tinkering with some random piece of technology that she’d brought with her.

Her lips were pursed though, and there was an anger to her motions that spoke volumes.

“What’s going on with villains this year?” the only distance member of Pharos asked and there was frustration written all over her face. There were a number of answers Komako could have given in regards to that. The Management Team had actually looked into that before the latest… incident, considering the brushes with villains that Kazuki’s class had had so far and even the I-Island incident.

As it turned out, All Might’s longer and longer periods of inaction hadn’t gone unnoticed, even if people didn’t talk about it openly. That combined with his time being occupied teaching too those days, meant that villains were feeling bolder. The Symbol of Peace wasn’t around to impose himself as much as he’d been in the past and it was showing.

Villains were even poking at the hero himself now, targeting his favored class, attacking him and his students.

Or, at least, that was their best guess, but they had more.

Komako didn’t feel like it was the correct time to share guesses though, especially guesses like that. They all knew how high an opinion of All Might the foreign girl had too. Nobody was going to say something like that to her unless they had to and there was no need to at the that time.

“What’s being done?” the blonde asked and Komako almost sighed in relief. That, at least, they could answer. Although, it wasn’t a happy topic at all.

“Neito and Chikuchi mentioned that Yaoyorozu provided a location with a tracker,” Komako informed, but that was hardly a reassurance, really. Sure, they knew where Kazuki might be, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d been at the mercy of villains for, at least, going on a full day already. Anything could have happened to him and it was… it was difficult to wrap their heads around, really. It was difficult to imagine the guy that had sat with them and discussed normal things, shared ideas and made suggestions with them so many times was now kidnapped by villains. “They are working on a retrieval mission.”

“Not fast enough…” the girl on the other side of the videocall mumbled, probably not truly meaning to be heard. All the same, they did hear her. They also agreed, but it wasn’t like they could do much.

“Mei?” Futo said then and all their eyes moved to look at the tinkerer. The girl, for her part, seemed to have frozen where she was, her screwdriver mid-twisting. “Everything alright?”

“What if we do something?” the pink-haired girl asked and it was their turn to freeze. Silence permeated the room as every single one of them processed that. “Yaoyorozu provided the tracker, right? She can give us one…”

She really meant what she was saying, didn’t she? Was she that crazy? Surely not-

“Penny is transport ready,” Melissa mumbled and Komako felt their face pale. The blonde sounded like she was considering it. “If the others are on board, we could deliver support gear to them. We have working pieces and prototypes so-”

“No, absolutely not,” Komako said, but both Mei and Melissa turned towards them.

“You’re not the Boss,” the former pointed out, a grin on her face. “With Kazuki… out,” she continued then, her voice turning subdued and her expression falling. “That’s Chikuchi.”

“Do you have any idea how much trouble we could get into?” Komako asked, disbelieving. But a part of their mind, a not at all small part of their mind, whispering why not. Kazuki had been kidnapped by villains. He’d been stabbed and beat and then taken somewhere by villains. They could be doing anything to him, to the boy that had given them a chance to shine, that had befriended them and supported them and…

And now he needed their help.

But they could ruin everything. Everything they had all worked towards, everything Kazuki had worked towards. Pharos was an extension of Kazuki’s influence. If they all got in trouble, it’d reflect on him. Did they want to give him more trouble to deal with?

“Yes?” Chikuchi’s voice through a phone snapped Komako out of their thoughts, making them turn towards Ronaudo, who had apparently called their Second-In-Command.

“We want to send you support gear so that you can go rescue Kazuki,” Mei said and there was a long silence on the other side of the phone after that. “I can have Penny over-”

“What does everyone else think?” Chikuchi asked, her tone different, lower but firmer. A moment later, there was an odd sound that made Komako think Chikuchi was moving.

“I suggested it,” Melissa answered almost immediately.

“... I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Komako said, pursing their lips. “You said the heroes are working on it, right? If we go, we might get in the way. We could even make things worse. You wouldn’t be able to coordinate with them at all, because they’d never allow you to do something if they knew,” they explained. Komako was playing devil’s advocate a little, but this was serious. This involved Kazuki’s life.

If they messed up and he ended up dead because of what they did…

“I want to help, I really do, but if we do this and things don’t go well…” There were a lot of things that could go wrong. “Even provided that everything does go well, you would all get in trouble anyway. Pharos would, UA would and Kazuki would,” they explained and there was a considering silence following the statement.

“I don’t like that, at all,” Neito said on the other side, and it seemed like Chikuchi had found their missing member… Or, at least, the missing member that they could actually get a hold of. “But Komako’s not wrong.”

“... Provided everything does go well, how bad a situation are we talking about here?” Chikuchi asked and Komako almost felt Futo straighten where he sat. This was his area, after all, so…

“Very. There’d be a bunch of laws being broken. It’d mostly be waved off if it all goes well, but that’d be in normal circumstances. These are decidedly not that. Kazuki’s already under a lot of scrutiny and what we do will reflect on him, since this is all connected to his club,” Futo explained what Komako already suspected. “They could say he’s been a bad influence on us, pushed us to be more reckless, more dangerous. And if things don’t go well…”

If things didn’t go well, Komako could already imagine the nightmare the press would make of it all. If they got in the way of the heroes. If they ruined the mission… Even if they still managed to get Kazuki, it’d be a shitstorm. It’d almost be better if they didn’t. At least then their friend wouldn’t have to deal with their fuck up…

“Ok… We’re shelving that for the moment,” Chikuchi said and Komako didn’t know if they should be disappointed or relieved. On the one hand, that was what they were arguing for, but on the other… that meant they’d be leaving Kazuki to his fate, whatever it might be with the heroes’ efforts. It didn’t feel… right. “I’ll talk Yaoyorozu out of that too, or try to. She was talking about going after Kazuki too and their group isn’t really connected to Pharos, but…”

“But they are very publicly connected to Kazuki anyway,” Neito finished and Komako could almost see his grimace.

What a fucked up situation they were in, truly. Komako wondered if they were all feeling the same helplessness. Because they were feeling pretty useless themselves. If they didn’t do anything, it felt terrible, but if they did do something, there was a considerable chance of making everything worse. There was no winning, at all, was there? Or maybe there was something they hadn’t considered.

“Do you have a TV over there? UA’s about to give a statement,” Neito said over the phone and Ronaudo was immediately fumbling with the remote. Not a minute later, they were looking at the news’ feed. “Also, we’ll probably be giving interviews soon. Remind me to apologize to Kazuki for all the things I said about him going to Uwabami. And also to thank him for it.”

“Noted,” Komako mumbled absently, her attention on Nezu as he spoke, answered questions. Nothing he said was comforting though. He didn’t speak about Kazuki at all. None of them were talking about it. They spoke of injured students and of security measures, even more than those already in place. They were talking as if Kazuki hadn’t been kidnapped.

Was that a strategy of some sort? Komako hoped it was, because it wasn’t doing a lot to reassure them, that was for sure. Komako could see the effect on the people around them too. They looked like they were considering the previous idea all over again and Komako didn’t know if they had it in them to argue a lot more.

“... Hypothetically, how difficult would it be to have things ready, Mei? Everything is at the school, right?” Chikuchi asked, voice clipped.

“I can manage, Second-In-Command,” the pink-haired girl replied with a wide grin.

[}-o-{]

[Kazuki Endo]

“There,” Scarred-Villain said, pulling away and letting Kazuki rub at his half-sore half-itchy wrists. The guy was called Dabi, he’d learned just then, when he was ordered to untie him.

Shigaraki had said it because Kazuki was smart enough to read the situation and not do something dumb, and he hadn’t been wrong about that. It might be because Shigaraki himself was smart enough to read the room too though. Kazuki had started noticing how several of the villains felt several things whenever attention was brought to his situation, tied up to that chair as he’d been. Some even pitied him, which was… interesting.

He was suddenly reminded of conversations he’d had with Io, regarding how the less lawful members of society had a positive opinion of him, and even of what he did. Maybe there was some of that mixed into things then and there, but he wasn’t holding his breath on the matter. It could very well just be the attempt at recruitment and some villains having a sense of camaraderie… so long as the possibility was open.

He hadn’t denied it, but he hadn’t agreed either, and some of them had likely noticed that.

“I hope you’ll be able to see things our way,” Shigaraki said and he was almost convincing. He might have been downright charming, but Kazuki would never see it that way, and that was because he could feel his emotions. The guy was a liar like few Kazuki’d encountered. “We would be able to do so much with someone as strong as you, Endo.”

“Would we?” a new voice said and Kazuki turned towards it to see… a big, bulky man with messy blond hair that reminded him of Bakugo a little, if shorter. He also seemed to have lost an eye, what with the scars around it and the prosthetic replacement. “Because he’s a kid, a baby hero at that. You do know he’s more likely to betray us than not, right?”

If Kazuki hadn’t been paying close attention to Shigaraki, he might have missed the very slight spike in hatred, but it was oddly shaped. It wasn’t angry, not really. No, it was… muted, and applied to negative emotions, that usually meant an association with something positive he couldn’t feel.

Vindictiveness, maybe bloodlust then, or something along those lines.

“Muscular, please,” Shigaraki said all the same, acting like he cared, but not that much. The boss was stopping a fight, or so he wanted the situation to look like. Kazuki wondered if they knew he could read them like he was. People tended to overlook that part of his Quirk a lot, which he guessed was somewhat fair. It was probably a little overshadowed by the much more flashy Grimm. “Endo has seen the darkest parts of society and heroes, a society and heroes that failed him, like they’ve failed everyone else.”

If Shigaraki despised the shit he was spouting, then this… Muscular was somewhere between indifferent and annoyed at it. He was making no attempt to hide it either, snorting and rolling his eyes. All the same, either he didn’t know about Shigaraki’s true opinion, or he helped the guy hide it, because there was no mention in regards to that.

“And he still played the little hero, didn’t he? You’ve seen what he’s been doing, just like I have,” Muscular said, leaning down to stare intently at Kazuki, almost glaring. Interestingly, he was sensing some… curiosity, he was pretty sure it was, what with the muted confusion and the smallest hint of anxiety hidden very deeply. It was coming from Shigaraki, which was why he picked up on it so quickly and clearly.

He was the one that he had to keep “in sight” the most, after all.

“We can’t be holding that against him. He wasn’t offered many options,” Shigaraki said, waving the issue off easily. Kazuki wondered how much he really knew of his situation, of how he’d ended up where he was. “Were you, Endo?”

Shigaraki’s curiosity made him think that he was being tested. He hadn’t answered the previous “invitation” and now they wanted to know if he really was a baby hero or if he was a potential recruit. That was… troublesome, because now he had to navigate the situation in a way that wouldn’t come back to bite him later.

There were cameras around the bar and he’d seen them. If he played along, they’d have ammunition against him provided he managed to get away. No matter the context, people would latch onto something like that to crucify him, he was sure. Hell, reporters made it their life mission to get a story in any way possible, no matter how much they had to take something out of context.

He knew that.

Yet, if he didn’t play along, then he could very well end up tied up again, or worse. It was probably going to be worse, really. If Kazuki had to bet, he was sure he’d end up dead if the villains deemed him a lost cause.

So… how to play things…

“... The deal was that I got out early if I attended UA,” he admitted, because that would appeal to them. It’d make them think he had no choices other than that if he didn’t want to. “Nothing to gain if I stayed, right?” he added, channeling some boredom and disdain as he shrugged.

He was trying really hard to remember how he’d felt back then, when he’d first been offered the chance. He’d been skeptical, for one, he’d been bitter and angry. He had seen the worst of it and everything. That was the kind of mindset he was likely working with now, the one he needed to use and the one he needed to appeal to.

Shigaraki seemed happy with that, if the lack of emotion spikes was anything to go by. So was Muscular, he supposed. Several people around the place weren’t though, which was odd, but he didn’t have a lot of information to go off on. He was kind of flying by the seat of his pants, really.

“You wouldn’t have had a leash, for one,” Muscular said, disdain clear on his expression and tone. Kazuki wasn’t too worried about that. He did feel like the man was playing bad cop to Shigaraki’s good cop, funnily enough, but other than that…

“And I’d have no chances either,” he replied, shooting the disdain right back at the man. “Heroing has been going great for me,” he said with a shrug. He was toeing a line, he knew, and that might have been a step too far to one side, but there were no real safe options in that conversation.

“So you’re in it for the money?” Muscular decided to accuse then, seemingly amused all of a sudden.

“People not coming at me with pitchforks and torches is great too,” Kazuki answered wryly. “And besides, if you’re how villainy is supposed to go…” he added then, making a show of very obviously looking at the man’s prosthetic eye. “You don’t make as compelling an argument, I have to say.”

“Why you, little piece of-?!” the man growled immediately, his expression shifting into a snarl as he reached over to him. His hand grabbed his collar and pulled him up in the air, his feet dangling with the tips barely scrapping the floor. Muscular’s other arm started unraveling, expanding and growing muscles outside the skin and rearing for a punch.

More than anything though, the flaring on his injuries made Kazuki worried that a wound could get opened.

Beyond that, he wasn’t too afraid, considering-

“Muscular,” Shigaraki interrupted and Kazuki took advantage of the fact that he was no longer facing the villain boss to grin at Muscular. Shigaraki cared for his continued health, in so far as he remained a possibility, it seemed. He didn’t care for Kazuki himself, but his emotions had spiked all the same and it gave him key information to work with. Being put down back on the ground felt like a massive victory to Kazuki. “Sorry about that, Endo. He can get… a little fired up.”

“No worries,” Kazuki said, feeling bold all of a sudden. Which is why he continued right afterwards, carefully keeping his words casual and almost bored. “Can’t blame you for not being able to handle all… that,” he said, like it was an insult meant for Muscular. It had a hidden insult just for Shigaraki though and the guy obviously put it together. He couldn’t be sure it’d been on purpose though, and Kazuki was banking on that.

‘So far so good,’ he thought, glancing around the bar and trying to ignore the pain of his injuries. He was still surrounded by crazy villains and he could still die at the drop of a hat, he knew. However…

He could still play.

[}-o-{]

[Hina Maeda]

That had been exhausting and difficult, but they’d managed to come out of that somewhat looking good. Or, UA had, really. Hina hadn’t had a single worry around the entire thing, but she had done her best anyway. Kazuki kind of needed UA to remain standing and a top school, since they were the ones that gave him a chance.

Although, just in case, she had a few plans at the back of her mind about maybe sending him to some other school. Now that he’d built a case for himself, surely someone else would give him a chance too, right? And besides, it’d be safer for him, considering how much shit was happening around UA and now the last disaster? Hina didn’t think she wanted to risk another incident.

Kazuki had been kidnapped by villains.

She thought she could be forgiven for not having a lot of trust in the faculty those days.

None of that mattered at that moment though. They were just thoughts, ideas at the back of her mind. Hina was more concerned with the current situation though. She had to help UA remain standing for Kazuki’s immediate future and, most important of all, she needed to help Kazuki. So, she’d pulled a few strings, helped smooth things over with a few media outlets. She couldn’t do anything about the vultures, but she could minimize the effect they had with their dangerous questions and twisting of words.

There wasn’t much Hina could do in regards to the actual rescue efforts, however. At most, she’d made a few calls and directed the police at some of her sources, but she wasn’t that kind of hero, really. She was a Rescue hero, not an Underground one nor a Battle one. She had called some of her friends though. Ryuko was otherwise occupied, but Rumi had answered readily, and she was just one of the best Hina had called, but far from the only one.

Beyond that, Hina had to content herself playing support behind the scenes.

She’d have to trust the police, UA and the group of heroes that had gathered when it came to Kazuki’s rescue. It was not easy, but she had to do it anyway. She was suddenly having a lot of respect for the people that waited patiently, if still worried, during emergency situations. She didn’t know how they did it, personally.

So, to get herself through the mess, she’d dived into what she could do. She’d let the media interview her, giving her all to paint the best picture she could considering the shitshow that was happening at the moment. The heroes would save Kazuki’s life, but Hina would keep it from crumbling around him for something that was not his fault at all. She could do that, and she could do it well and, thus, she did.

Still, that didn’t stop her from needing a break.

That’s how she found herself stepping away from the spotlight for a bit, and also away from the people involved in the whole mess too. She donned a simple disguise and stepped away, moving through the nearby streets and trying to clear her thoughts. She failed miserably though, because every time she thought she managed, she ended up imagining what could be happening, what could have happened, to Kazuki.

It was torture.

It was-

“Uwabami,” a voice called and she groaned. Of course someone had found her. Why wouldn’t a vulture stumble upon and recognize her in a crowd while in disguise? She’d been too optimistic, obviously.

She wanted to just tell them to piss off, but she couldn’t do that. It wasn’t the friendly answer she knew she had to give. So, instead, she took a split second to gather herself, plaster a smile on her face and then she turned around to face the music. A hero’s work was never done and all that, even if it was just PR. Especially if it was PR, if she was honest.

“I’m sorry, but I’m taking a break from inter…views…” she started, only to trail off as she looked down an alleyway and her eyes found the person that spoke. Black and red and white greeted her, all wrapped around a slouched form with blade handles poking out here and there. It was messy, but it worked, her mind commented, definitely an underground aesthetic, although it leaned more to vigilante or straight out villain, as far as she could tell…

The larger part of her brain realized immediately who it was that stood before her and she stood still, shoulder stiff and eyes alert. Her snakes immediately snapped in his direction and she took a deep breath in. ‘Why?’ Hina couldn’t help but wonder, more annoyed than worried or afraid. She did not have the time to deal with that bullshit. ‘Why now and not literally any other time?’

“Stain,” she half growls half whispers. Immediately, she takes a step back. Not instinctively, but premeditatedly. She needs to put some distance between them. There’s not a lot of people on that street, but if she can get into a fight in a public area, back up will come pretty fast, especially with all the heroes currently close by because of what’s happening.

Some might call her a coward for already planning to run away and buy time, but she was not a Battle hero and there was no point dying while trying to be one.

“Finally found you,” the man told her, his voice growly and scratchy. He doesn’t speak loudly, but it’s enough for her to hear him clearly. “It’s time we had a talk, I believe.”

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

This arc is turning out to be more of a problem than I thought it’d be. There’s a lot of moving pieces around, and there’s a lot I want to do and show. So much so, that I have to try and discern what can be feasibly done and what needs to be cut out, at least in regards to the latter example. You guys know I’ll never cut out something that needs to happen, but I might very well lose on what I want to happen.

Such is life, I guess.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Noodles or rice? Personally, I tend to prefer rice, but I’m a great fan of both, honestly.

See you.