'Dammit! Shit! Dammit! Dammit!'

Was the mantra that replayed again and again in my mind as we rushed to where we heard the scream, parting the crowd with ease.

In an closed off alleyway was a young girl, she was screaming hysterically as crates and bottles, and a man in some sort of uniform spun around her in a giant tornado.

"An escapee." Kaminari muttered as he examined the scene.

The girl, who couldn't have been older than nine years old, had sky blue hair that was matted into dreadlocks, her face was dirty and scraped and tears streamed down her face as she screamed herself hoarse. She wore a tattered black jumpsuit that was a size too large. She must've been apart of some sort of experiment.

A bloodied body dropped unceremoniously in front of us from the sky, there was a boy with a mutant Quirk in the same clothes as the girl circling above us like a vulture, the body was a woman's and she was a member of the Lotus syndicate - an underground branch of the government.

"Shitty Hair, activate your Quirk and get in there!" Bakugo barked out orders like an army commander.

"Pikachu, prepare to knock her out." He whirled around and motioned to us and  Kaminari gave him a mock salute and charged up his Quirk to the lowest voltage.

"Pinky, Deku watch our backs."

We both nodded gravely, now was not the time for witty retorts.

I leapt up, my hands grabbing the edge of the roof and I hoisted myself up onto the roof. It was the perfect place to keep a lookout. Scanning the streets, I watched as the crowd disappeared into the nearby buildings, scurrying away like insects and the once bustling street was now empty. I bit back all my memories and emotions and thoughts, I wanted to roar and then run away and curl up in a little ball and never move. I wanted to punch a hole in this roof and then run far away. Everyone becomes a coward when faced with their greatest fears. I wasn't ready to return to this place, to face this part of my past. Panic settled in my bones as my mind ran rampant despite my best efforts to suppress it.

"Midoriya!" Ashido shrieked and launched acid at my attacker, it was a futile attempt.

Surprisingly it wasn't the boy with the bat wings whom attacked me, instead it was a man in an all black suit with claws and pointed ears and sunglasses covering his eyes. The boy had subdued and wrapped up in a net. 

"I know you." The man hissed, his voice was like a kettle whistling in a grave yard. It froze me to my place.

"You're that run away with the sight Quirk. Oh you're gonna fetch me a pretty penny."

The creepy man slithered towards me, striking hard and fast like a viper. I dodged the best I could, trying to keep away from the edge. No matter what I did I just couldn't land a hit on the man.

'I need to get to that boy!'

Suddenly there was an explosion, two explosions and Bakugo came hurtling forward and slammed the man into the roof and blasted him to next week.

The tornado had stopped and the girl had been knocked out by Kaminari and was curled up in Kirishima arms.

"Listen here Deku whatever the fuck is going on with you I don't care. Just get your shit together." Bakugo growled at me.

"Bakugo, w-we need, we need to find a place to hide." I stammered, breathing heavily and my fingers curled into my hair. Bakugo glared at me and was about to go into a raging rant, probably about how he's not going to listen to someone like me and that they didn't need to hide away like cowards and bla bla bla.

"Look there's going to be more of them out there," I indicated to the mangled body of the woman on the ground and the knocked out man beside us, "people like this don't travel in pairs. They're apart of a dangerous gang, you know the one the news has been all over."

Bakugo's eyes widen with recognition and he let out a string of curses that even a sailor would've blushed at.

"B-besides, we have to find out why they were chasing these kids and have a place for Eraserhead to come and pick them up." I pleaded.

The explosive teen growled lowly before hoisting the net that had the winged child in over his shoulder and leaped down from the low roof.

"We need to find a fucking place to lay low for awhile and where we can contact Aizawa." Bakugo declared as if it was his idea.

I took the front, quietly leading them through the maze of identical looking seedy buildings, concrete factories and shacks. Ashido was right behind, muttering as she struggled with the map. I simply tuned them all out, these routes were programmed into my system.

I still remember what everything is.

There was the school that no one used, the kitchens where rations were handed out, that yard over there was used for keeping fit, that building is a textile workhouse, that one is a cotton workhouse, that one is a metal workhouse, the building behind it is a clothing production line, the brick one across from us is where they assemble weapon parts. The road over there leads to the limestone quarry.

There is the building that Sparky and turned into his headquarters, where only his inner circle were allowed. It was known as The Devils Den.

The walls had been lined with beautiful street art, courtesy of Prism, there had been slogans and flowers and fight scenes and thunder clouds. Hammocks had been strung across the beams of the roof forming something like a miniature village in the trees, you had to use the boxes that were stacked against the walls and some fancy gymnastics to get up there. We had piled stolen cushions in every corner, a small battered dresser had stood against the wall. In the centre of it all had been a metal table, it was where we performed first aid, planned our shenanigans and equipment runs.

I really wanted to peek inside and see if things were still as we left it, but I knew we couldn't.

After taking a couple of detours and scenic routes we arrived at a guard safe house, where Aizawa had instructed we waited if anything had happened. After the guards patted us down, performed a routine interrogation and we had said the code, where we allowed in. Kirishima contacted Aizawa and we left the unconscious children with one of the guards, who put them in the infirmary. I wasn't comfortable being in here, neither was Sparky. Constantly I was tugging at my beanie, making sure it covered my head.

"What do you think is going to happen to those kids?" I whispered to him.

Without even turning to look at me, eyes trained on his game of tetris, he murmured, "What does it matter? It's not us."

"Yeah but still what if they're sent back..." I muttered, fiddling with my sleeve.

"Why do you care? Are you saying you'd rather it be me and you stuck in this jail?" His voice took a threatening tone. He sounded so hurt.

"N-no! Never. I would hate if that happened to you and I wasn't saying that." I exclaimed quietly.

"Well that's what it sounded like. Just be glad it's not us in there okay?"

"Okay."

Tense silence bloomed between us once again.

"Let's get going, Aizawa-sensei is on his way." Bakugo commanded, fixing up his disguise and marching towards the door.

"We aren't finished yet?" Kaminari whined and Ashido joined in.

Bakugo yelled at them for it, "Of course we aren't finished yet you idiots!"

We got in formation, Bakugo heading the team, and marched out the door.

Let's hope that we don't run into any more people from the syndicate.

•~•

'Only an hour left to go!' I cheered in my head.

We haven't had any more major incidents, just broke up a street fight between some kids and reported them to the guard station. It sucked being the thing I once feared.

We didn't attract any attention to ourselves either. At the moment we were at the edge of the market place, there were fewer stalls than earlier and also fewer people. Which meant less distractions and more analysing of the surroundings.

"Hey g-guys how about we head back, we don't want to be late." I tell them tiredness oozing from my voice. The others nod, even more exhausted than I sounded.

Turning away from the market place, we start to head back the way we came. With their backs turned I slipped away and went to check out what had caught my attention earlier that day.

A wanted poster.

I peeled it bringing specks of grey paint with it.

She had grown a lot bigger since the last time I saw her. Her once snow-white floor length hair was now in a pixie cut and was more of an ivory colour, she still wore that over sized purple sweater that I gave her but now at least she fit into it. She must be around...twelve now? Her eyes were the only thing that hadn't changed, they were still an intoxicating lime green that resembled pools of poison. She was like a younger sister or cousin, the youngest of Sparky's rag tag group of followers. It had hurt to leave her behind but we hadn't known what was out there, Sparky and I. I hadn't wanted to risk any other lives.

I had assumed she had been cleared out as soon as we had left but this poster proves otherwise.

I fold it up and then slowly rip it to pieces.