Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 15

In a feeble attempt to push past the accident, I drove the hilt down, but the villain swirled around, catching my arm in his hand. His grip on me was tight to the point that it nearly made me flinch, but I didn't give him the satisfaction. I could feel my concentration waver, and my grasp on the mental images I'd created for the villains faltered before collapsing altogether, but at least I'd knocked the young boy out with enough strength that he wouldn't be waking up for a while, so no more of whatever that gas was. Still, I had a much bigger problem at hand now - three villains were now staring me down with almost a hungry look on their faces.

"Well, well, well. Would you look at that," the scarred villain smirked, his grip on my wrist getting a little tighter when I tried to twist out of it. "It seems this little princess got lost."

I glared back at him in silence, ignoring the fact that Spinner, along with the third villain - Shigaraki? - were both watching my every move. "Yeah, well this little princess is about to make you wish you were never born," I snarled back, and in a quick move, broke free from his grip, driving my knee into his stomach and leaving him winded. In the few seconds of time that I bought myself, I whirled around, knives flashing, and attempted to knock the two others out, but only managed to give Spinner a thin cut along his scaly skin before the first villain with heavily scarred skin grabbed me again, this time standing behind me, his hands holding mine in an uncomfortable position that I'd probably never break out of.

"A shame, really, that you're so persistent." I tensed when he leaned down, his mouth near my ear as he whispered. "But I'll be good today, alright? So why don't you run along now and pretend you saw nothing?"

Yeah, right. As if I'd let a dirty criminal like you walk freely after even associating yourself with the League of Villains. You must be delusional. Even though I could feel the toll of overusing my quirk coming, and my body was already exhausted, as soon as the villain's grip on me loosened enough for me to slip out, I broke free from his grip, throwing my head back - if I was right, then the top of my skull would hit him right in the nose. A sickening crunch from behind me made me smile, and I spun away from him, delivering a quick punch to his solar plexus, a sadistic smile spreading over my face when he glared up at me, blood flowing from his nose as he pulled off his gas mask, realizing that it was useless now. My victory, however, was short-lived, because Spinner and Shigaraki were already beside me, Spinner with his two katanas drawn and ready to cut through me, while the other had four of his fingers tightly holding on to my wrist.

I briefly recalled the reports on him - from the past hero's experiences with Shigaraki, all I knew was that if he touched something with all five of his fingers, it would immediately die. And yet he's still keeping me alive. I wonder why. I pushed the fear in my chest away, instead meeting the villain's sickening smile with my own. "Well, what are you waiting for?" I glared up at him, too scared to move but not wanting to admit my weakness. I still need to return to Keigo. I still haven't told him how much he means to me. I can't die here. I desperately prayed that my expression hid what I was thinking - I didn't need the villains to know how vulnerable I was right now. "Go on. Do it. Kill me, right here, right now. Wouldn't that make things so much easier for you?"

From behind me, that deadly-calm voice echoed, and I did my best to face the scarred villain without letting Shigaraki's fifth finger touch me. "Because you have potential, Kira," he sneered, wiping the blood coming from his nose, a smug look on his face when I froze at the sound of my name. Shit. If they know my actual name, not the hero name I go by, then they probably know a lot more about me than I would hope. I felt myself go cold when I felt another hand reaching to grab my chin, forcefully turning me back to the very same scarred villain. "We've been watching you for a while now, you know? We've seen the way you act. Being a hero really doesn't suit you, princess."

It took all of my self control not to spit at him. Who is he, a villain, to tell me what doesn't suit me? He doesn't know shit. His blue eyes pierced into my own, but while my stare was full of hate, it almost looked as though he was amused. That stupid face of his looked oh-so-punchable, and if it hadn't been for the other two holding me back, I would've already made sure that his bleeding nose was broken. Still, with every passing moment, I could feel the anger build up within me like a raging hurricane waiting to wreak havoc. Even though his nose was seeping with blood and my attacks hadn't gone unnoticed by him, he still had that same cocky smirk on his face that made me want to put his head through a wall.

"Well, princess, what do you say? Care to join us?"

"In your dreams, asshole," I spat back, still struggling against the grip of the other two villains. The cold smirk on his face slowly disappeared as another burst of blood started to drip down, and he wiped it off with his thumb, his eyes darkening.

"You'd like it if I dreamed of you, wouldn't you," he sneered, his tone mocking, but his expression deadly by now, and it took all of my strength to not cower slightly. Once his eyes turned from mine to Spinner, I almost let out a sigh of relief. "Tie her up. Shigaraki, I hope we both agree that taking her in will be a valuable asset."

So I was right. Shigaraki - the leader, if I'm not mistaken. A valuable asset? What are they talking abo- My eyes widened, and as I felt Spinner tie my hands behind my back, I struggled to break free, but Shigaraki's grip on my wrist tightened, four sharp nails painfully digging into my skin as a reminder. Why do they want me to join so bad? I'm just another hero. There's nothing special about me, and if they think they'll somehow manage to win me over to their side, then they're even more delusional than I thought. Still, if it meant that I'd have a little more time to come up with a plan to get myself out of this mess, then their craziness was something I was thankful for.

By now, there were two things I knew for sure. I was valuable to them, so they wouldn't kill me. Something about me made them think that having me on their side would give them an advantage, and although I hated it, I had a sickening feeling that if they knew my name, they knew about my connection with Keigo, too. That would explain why they were yet to kill me - having me alive on their side would be a chance for them to get through to the number two hero. The other thing I was sure of was that they seemed absolutely convinced that they would be able to make me switch sides. It was absurd, really. How could they ever think that I, a hero, would join a group of filthy criminals that went out of their way to make the lives of others as miserable as possible for their own enjoyment?

Lost in thought, I only realized my hands were tied by the time it was too late, and although Shigaraki still had four fingers dug into my wrist, the other two villains seemed more relaxed now. The leader of the group ordered for the others to enter the vault, which only left me and him as Spinner jogged to the opposite side of the bank with the scarred villain behind him. If it's only this guy, I can take him. As long as he doesn't touch me, I'll be fine. I slowly shifted my arms until the rope was hovering over one last hidden dagger I'd tucked into my costume, and sawed in a slow, consistent back-and-forth motion until I felt the rope loosen almost completely. I waited until the perfect moment when Shigaraki was distracted with the other two, watching them unlock the vaults, and at his weakest moment, I managed to break out of his grasp, simultaneously tearing apart the rope.

The make-shift mask had already slipped off by now, but the remains of the gas barely affected me now that they dispersed slightly, but I was still cautious to hold my breath whenever I could as I tried my best to get an opening to knock the villain out. The dangerous dance lasted for longer than I would've hoped, and I felt the exhaustion from earlier start to return as my movements got weaker and slower. This is it. I'm done for. They'll capture me, torture me, and use me to weaken Keigo. Just when I thought it was over for me, with Shigaraki dodging another punch and rushing forward to restrain me, the front doors of the bank flew open, catching all four of us off guard. I spared a quick glance at the doors, more than relieved to see several heroes already rushing forward. 

Finally.