Taken

Anzu left at one in the morning the next night. She had barely slept a wink the night prior. How could she? For all she knew, she could be arriving at her death sight. She took a train away from the U.A. campus, then a bus, then walked to the destination. It was her first time... outside really. She nearly drove the bus driver mad trying to figure out how to use Aizawa's money, nearly missed her train, and to top it all off took an hour to find the actual street. She wasn't cut out for this... at least not yet. Any form of training would've helped, but she had just dove headfirst into an entirely different world. To think she could conquer it in one night was absurd.

While traveling, Anzu also had plenty of time to think. The more she did, the more worrying her situation became. She was told to leave the day after she got the news. That had to mean it was urgent. They asked probably the most under qualified student to go, meaning she could be a last resort. Whatever the reason, her anxiety grew with every step. Anzu knew it was dangerous to hover over the destination, in fear of attracting attention, especially so late at night. Instead, she walked into a near by 24/7 coffee shop and ordered a caffeinated drink. She was hoping the magical brown liquid could somehow bring her back to life, but the warm coffee simply made her drowsy and reminded her of Bakugou. She felt an overwhelming sense of guilt for leaving without telling him. What if she never came back? What would he think? Did she mean enough to him that he would grieve? Her heart grew heavy and dull. If he didn't care... her disappearance would mean nothing. So that was the reason. If she died, her family couldn't sue U.A. The media wouldn't know... the students would get over it. After all... they never even knew what her quirk was. Anzu swallowed the scalding liquid with a gulp, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. She never even got to say goodbye. A great thought really... to think no one would care if you died right before you go on a suicide mission. Anzu shifted in her seat and looked at the time. Two o'clock exactly. With a heavy heart, and a mind that was slowly becoming quick, she began next door. The caffeine hadn't completely kicked in, but it would begin to do the trick soon. She needed her reflexes back.

The location was in a pretty rough part of town. People in baggy, mud soaked clothes walked around with begging cups, drunk and high teens littered at every corner. She fit right in with her big, shady cloak. The specific building was completely torn to shreds, the wall paint was crumbling and the balcony looked about ready to fall off and hurt somebody. Dead flowers were in a box at the top, dried out from years of neglect. Something told her they belonged to the residents before this, or at least they looked old enough to be. There were several empty beer bottles and pizza boxes strewn all over the sidewalk. Anzu shivered. How could someone live like this? None the less, she cleared her mind. Focus. The first thing she needed to figure out was entry.

She crept around back, looking for unlocked windows, a back door maybe... anything. Luckily for her, the first window she tried popped clean open without a sound. Anzu released the gallons of breath she had been holding for what seemed like forever. Opening a window was risky, especially if it hadn't been oiled in a while, but she got lucky. Quietly hopping in, she closed it behind her, landing softly on her padded boots and making no sound. If these people were as smart as Aizawa made them out to be, they would probably notice if the window was open. Luckily for her, no lights seemed to be on, so she blended in with her surroundings perfectly. Anzu crept to the doorway, identifying the place she was in as a kitchen. Oddly enough, it was more like a college dorm than a villain lair, but hey... villains got to eat too right? Anzu nearly tripped over a shattered beer bottle, had to walk ridiculously slow as not to step on any of the takeout boxes. Every single creak in the floor spiked her adrenaline and her heart beat was so loud it drowned out everything else. Anzu could go the direction of the living and bathrooms, but decided to go down a long hallway instead.

Once Anzu cleared the kitchen, she continued into the hallway. Luckily no one seemed to be in sight, but she refused to let her guard down, checking behind her every so often and keeping her wits about her. It was odd, the place was dead quiet. They would most likely be keeping important files in a safe of sorts, maybe a desk? Once the hallway ended, she came to a stop, peering over and seeing two rooms. One had the door shut, the other was open but there were no lights on. Anzu decided to go with the open one first, she could only hope no one would be there.

As she entered, the overbearing smell of alcohol entered her nose. She couldn't see incredibly well in the dark, but she wasn't blind either. The room was littered with empty liqueur bottles and the only other identifiable object in the room was a bed. It was barren but somehow still eerie. The way the breeze blew against the drapes seemed ominous, and she decided to leave. They assuredly wouldn't be in here. Instead she turned to the other door, the closed one. Taking several steps closer, she readied her hand on her knife. She then removed the can of oil from her utility belt and silently dripped it on the door hinges. You never could be too careful. She let her hand hover over the door knob, she lied to herself by saying she wasn't afraid. Hell, she was terrified, but Aizawa always told her that you can be scared and brave at the same time. Gently, she twisted the knob, silently opening the door as the hinges ate up the newly supplied oil. A soundless bug could've made more noise. Anzu peeked through the crack in the door, only to see that the lights were off. It was odd that nobody in the house was awake. You'd think they would have someone keeping watch if these files were really so important.

The coast was clear and Anzu crept into the stark black room. The only light coming from a street lamp outside, a distant train the only audible thing. It was like she was under water, everything dulled to half it's original potency. But even if it was silent... she could hear the breathing. Black and lengthy silhouettes jumped from the walls. Approximately four of them. Three were giant... a little too big. A little un-human. However, she had seen them before they reached their target, and she had an even bigger advantage than them in her cloak. Dodging one of the bigger ones, she caught the only human looking one by the throat, twisting them around and slamming their head against the wall. Feeling the sickeningly familiar cracking noise in her grasp. However... that one was only human. Anzu blindly stumbled back as something as tall and built as All Might stepped in front of her. She could see it's features in the lamp light of the window. Bird like features, built like a body builder, completely black. Squinty, hawk like eyes that lacked a needed sentience. And a brain sewed into it's head. She could see the red seam lines connecting the pink tissue to the stark black substance that was considered it's skin. Anzu's heart walked out of her chest, leaving her mind to fend for itself as her heartbeat seemed to have given up. It would be a waste of time to mess with this thing's physical strength. It would probably crush her skull in like a strawberry. This thing... sparked real fear. Genuine, crude fear that seemed to send pins and needles through her spine as her feet glued in place. Even if it had been one. Even if it had been one standing there... rather than three of the disgusting creatures. She stared up at it with cold, unfazed eyes while inside she was begging her lungs to continue their one job. This thing was wrong. Something about it was completely unnatural. Seeing multiple types of skin sewn together was not something healthy to see, and she felt the only appropriate thing to do was run. But that wasn't her job. And besides, even if it was... it wasn't the type of person she was. When push really came to shove, it was like a switch turned on in her brain, turning it almost robotic. Confidence spilled over, unfounded or otherwise.

Anzu jumped back and veered to the side, leading the creature out of the doorway. Five more steps, she would open her left eye... and begin the count. Since her last use, she had practiced so much that the amount of time needed was dulled down to about twenty seconds. Since her dream however, she hadn't used it once. She didn't even know if there was something wrong with it. Issue was, it didn't take more than twenty seconds to be run through with a knife, or shot in the eye socket. She could feel the hard floor tremble with each step of the creature, odd, breath filled noises escaping the thing's deformed lungs. Nightmare material. It sounded like graphed skin was stuck in it's wind pipe.

Once it was out the door... it stopped a bit, cocked it's head. Anzu took the chance, opened her left eye and felt the familiar silent switch as her eye patch opened up, giving her a foggy vision. That was when it all went downhill. Anzu felt a throbbing behind the socket and sucked in dry air as the foggy gray began to slowly blur with blood. Around the corners only, sending sharp spikes of pain through her iris and she could feel the warm blood on her cheek. Either way, Anzu fought it. She willed it to go away, and in no time the constellation phase had come to her. She felt her sigh of relief catch in her throat as she stared at the nerve constellations. The white lights she was used to... were dyed scarlet. Twinkling red and mocking her with the overwhelming fear that it might change the way her quirk worked. Anzu bit her lip and continued with the procedure. She didn't want to over due it though. She still had two others to take care of. So she simply tried to take away the creatures use of it's legs and arms. Nothing else. But that wasn't the result she got. Instead... the creature screamed and fell to the ground, shaking the apartment building in it's core as the heavy body collided with the floor. It held it's graphed brain with hands that were supposed to be disabled. It screamed and shrieked as a slow trickle of blood crept out of it's eyes. Just like hers. The squawking pile of skin and muscle fell still, it's muscles still moving under the skin in painful convulsions. She watched the blood soaked eyes fog over and retreat into the creatures skull. There was no way in hell she could use this on a human. Not until she cleared away the red. Anzu swallowed a gag. She had never seen something so brutal. Just what in the hell had that dream done to her?

Anzu lept back as a hand came crashing down, nearly clipping her hair in the process. Instead she took out her dagger, at first glance it looked stupid and puny, but luckily for Anzu the creature literally had it's brain sticking straight out of it's skull. A kill would cause her a little harm, but at least she could avoid using her quirk. She took it and dodged another attack, coming up on the left and swiping at it's arm. To her utter and fearful dismay, the creature's odd skin was a leathery substance. The knife simple came off, not a scratch on the creature. Slowly, it turned around with soulless eyes trained directly on her heart. Anzu felt her skull collide with her brain and she felt such an overwhelming strike of fear, her mind wouldn't tell her what to do next. The aura, the look, everything about it was disgusting. Anzu stood like a dear in the headlights as it stretched its hand out and trapped her against the wall with a giant claw. It was trained directly on her throat. The talons crept inward, slicing little holes in her neck and causing an eruption of numbness. That was when she decided it was too close for comfort. She opened her eye just a split, seeing only red now as the lens was covered in the mostly familiar crimson substance. The constellation phase was now a collection of black constellations on a red background. Anzu swallowed down a twinge of annoyance. One change in her quirk was ridiculous, but this? This was just absurd. How many times until it made up it's mind? Hell it had one job! She didn't even need to see out of it! She attempted to shut off the beast's right arm as it's grip grew too tight for comfort. Instead, it stumbled back shrieking all the way as it collided with the other wall, smashing it to bits and shaking the building from the ground up.. It fell to the ground, holding it's head in it's hands and shaking with the same muscle spasms as the last one. At this point there was no going back. Anzu stared directly at the other beast, this time skipping the constellation phase entirely. She blinked and it died on the spot like the other two. As the final set of eyes rolled into it's skull, Anzu fell to her knees as her head grew foggy. She couldn't even remember why she came here. Instead she was surrounded by three giant bodies, dead but still alive as their muscles suffered from spasms. All she wanted was some files. She didn't want to slaughter creatures, not to mention brutally. What would Aizawa think? Aside from the nail marks in her neck, she didn't have a scratch. Knocked around sure... but not injured. If this was the new way her quirk worked... she could never be a hero. This would be it for her. She'd just be a serial killer in a costume. No wonder they locked her up. Did they know she could do this? Was that it? Did they lock her away her whole life because they knew she could do... this?

An odd foggy sensation crept over her neck. It felt like the weird numbing paste they would put on burns. It wasn't bad... just an odd sensation that left her uncomfortable. This whole thing reeked of suspicion, and Anzu made up her mind to retrieve the files and leave as quickly as possible. Stealth mission my ass. I didn't know I'd have to kill to get some damn files. She thought, grimacing as she checked the beast for a pulse one last time. Nothing. Utter silence in the room as the rhythmic beating was no where to be found. Shit. Aizawa's going to be furious. Anzu walked to the back of the room and found a file cabinet. Plain sight. Too easy, and Anzu knew it. Sooner than later she realized this had to be a trap somehow. The person she had caught couldn't have been their first line of defense. He was way too easy, even for her. However, upon glancing to where the person was in a crumpled heap on the ground... he was gone. That just put even more of a time limit on her situation. The bastard probably already called for backup. Instead Anzu crept around back, searching the rest of the room and walking on pins and needled as the dull sensation in her neck slithered to her chin and collar bone. Crawling like spiders, spreading the weird feeling. When finally, Anzu decided something was off and returned to the bodies. She walked over and inspected the talons that had gripped her neck. They were still soaked in the blood of the creature, but she could see a white tinted paste on the talons. She poked at it with her finger, picking up the small bit of paste and feeling it around with her thumb and forefinger. Instantly they turned numb. She could feel, it creeping to her shoulders, leaving her arms slightly impaired. Screw the files. This was too dangerous. If this kept up, she'd go completely numb in no time.

Anzu made her way back to the window she came through, as the numbness crept to her arms. She could still move them... but she had lost all feeling, and the amount of use was fading. As she closed in on the window... she tried the latch. It was locked. She never locked it and she knew right then and there that it was a setup from the start. The use of her arms failed, and her legs grew shaky. Another window... and the next... and the one next to it. Panic set in, and Anzu began to feel fear again, the color in her eye growing brighter like a red beacon in the dark. She stumbled around in the light devoid room like a caged animal until the numbness canceled the use of her legs and she pressed her back up against the wall, leaning against it as her entire body became useless. So this is what it felt like. The lights flickered on and she squinted as three figures walked in. Among them was the fake. How the fuck did she get out!? And that was when it clicked.

"You got the blood of Eraser Head? No easy task eh?" Anzu smirked as her brain grew numb too. She knew deep down Aizawa wouldn't send her on a mission yet. She was too much of an amature. In the end, it was just her stupidity that got her here. The guy with blue fire was there, smiling and crackling a flame in his hand. They were standing beside someone, he had blue hair and a literal hand sticking off of his face. Maybe the numbing drug was mixed with a hallucinogenic. Anzu thought angrily. It was just like her to get caught and at last, of course, in the end... the animal being chased always gets caught? At least that's what happens in the fairy tales, right? She tried to open her eye quietly, but she had lost feeling in that too. She was alone... no one knew where she was... and the last thing she saw was the black and purple portal as the numbness over took her. Odd part was... should couldn't stop smiling.