An Unlikely Partnership~Tododeku

14~ Step Mark

The four had just set off for Hosu. They had no particular idea of what was going to happen, but had the gut feeling to keep going.

Upon arriving at Hosu, nothing seemed any different.  They took up their positions, patrol and hunt. 

Bakugou looked up. Indeed, on the doorway, there was an arrow carved in the frame, pointing to the left.

"I think it wants us to walk in that direction," Midoriya pointed to the left. "And mark on the floor the places where that number is."

They nodded. Kirishima decided to be the stepper. Todoroki grabbed a nearby rock that could serve as chalk and started marking the numbers out.

Forwards one. Marked.Forwards two. Marked. Forwards two again. Marked. Forwards four, then one. Marked. Forwards two, seven, eight and eight. Marked.

They waited, but nothing happened. "Perhaps we should try doing the original numbers?" Todoroki shrugged and looked slightly annoyed, for what reason was unknown.

So, they tried again.

1.22.4.12.7.88. All marked. Again nothing. They tried separating the numbers differently. Nothing. Backwards. Still nothing. Backwards, then forwards. Nothing happened either.

Kirishima groaned in annoyance, notebook filled with scribbles of all the combinations they had tried.

"Come one guys! We can't slack off now!" Bakugou screeched, obviously annoyed and frustrated too. "Do you want the villains to find the nesxt clue first?!"

"No Kacchan..." Midoriya mumbled quietly and sighed, sweat dripping off his forehead.

It was roughly around one in the afternoon, the sun at the highest peak of the day. They had been trying combinations for over three hours, backs aching, arms hurting, heads aching.

Todoroki sat down. "Guys- Give me a moment, I can't really breathe- Need a breather..." The floor was a little warm, but he didn't care. He was drained and had no energy. They hadn't eaten or drunk anything either.

Midoriya took a large gulp out of his canteen. The cold water was a relief to feel on a hot spring day.

"ALRIGHT EXTRAS! We have to keep going!" 

Kirishima jumped out of his skin before he composed himself. Reaching for the clue which he had placed down beside him, to pick it up and continue the puzzle, only to find that it wasn't there.

"Huh? Bakugou? Did you take the notebook with the clue in it?"

The blonde shook his head.

"Todoroki? Midoriya?" The other two shook their heads.

"Kirishima? Did the clue get lost or..?"

"I don't know! I-it was right t-there! I swear!" Kirishima had started to panic. He'd never lost something important before. And if he'd lost the clue, then it was possible that the world would end right there. If the villains figured out the clue before they did, they'd take control. Game over. Quite literally game over for everyone.

He exhaled hard, internally questioning himself about it. He checked his pockets, under rocks- just generally around the area. But he couldn't find anything.

"Looking for something?"

They all turned. There infront of them stood a woman. She wasn't very tall, but not short either. She had long hair that was split in half, half black half white. A little like Todoroki's hair. Her mask matched the separation of her hair and so did the rest of her outfit. (A/N- Why am I getting Ranboo vibes... OK I'M NOT TRYING TO MAKE HER A FEMALE VERSION OF RANBOO! KEEP THAT IN MIND... Thank you for coming to my TED Talk...) Her suit had the same colour scheme at the rest of her outfit. It seemed tight fitting, except it had a long, white jacket with black wavy rims, black boots with white flame patterns and a gun holster on her leg with a black and white gun. 

On her chest was pinned a badge. One of a bird, half black, half white, split evenly down the middle. On that bird, three letters were etched. BWO. Below that, was a name and what seemed to be a quirk tag.

Midoriya squinted and read the badge. "BWO... Zumishi Ito/ Magpie... Mirror..." His eyes widened. "Wait... The BWO? MAGPIE?!"

She laughed, orange eyes flashing. "That's right. My name's Zumishi Ito, also known as Magpie from the Black and White Organisation. Nice to meet you!"

Bakugou gritted his teeth. "What are you doing here."

She laughed, a long heart laugh that seemed very carefree. Too carefree to be in a situation that they were in. "Oh! I just came to show you I have something!" She pulled something out of he pocket. It was Kirishima's notebook.

The heroes paled and looked at one another, hoping that she hadn't figured the clue out before them. 

"Let's say... I already figured it out."

Midoriya paled even further than what should be allowed. She'd figured out the clue? That was bad, really really bad.

She swished her hand briefly in the air, bringing it down with a crack and all of a sudden, the heroes were bound in steel rope. They struggled in their bonds, but they wouldn't break.

"Ok... Let me show you how it's done!" She smiled as if they were best friends and pulled out a piece of chalk from her pocket, marking down her steps as she went.

Forwards one. Marked.Forwards two. Marked. Forwards two again. Marked. Forwards four, then one. Marked. Forwards two, seven, eight and eight. Marked.

Then she pulled out her phone and dialled the number. 122412788. The phone rang and she put it on speaker.

"Well done. You have used your creativity and brains to figure this one out. Now, you shall be able to advance to the next round. Everyone within a three metre radius of the building shall be teleported to the next round in ten seconds."

Magpie smirked. "That's how it's done. Thank you!"

Bakugou growled and measured the distance with his eyes. They were just out of range. 

Suddenly, they felt their bindings loosed around them, the silver rope fading away. Bakugou grinned. She must have one of those hour limits where she could only use her quirk every twenty-four hours for one hour or something like that. A little like Nighteye's quirk.

Bakugou quickly wriggled out of the bonds, letting the rest of them out and pulling them into the proximity of the three metre radius. 

Magpie hadn't noticed they'd escaped yet. And was still facing away from them when the jump happened. A blue light flashed and everyone squinted, huddling together, apart from Zumishi who was crouched on her own. They felt themselves being pulled through space and then there was nothing. 

When they stood up, it was dark and hard to see. They helped each other up, suddenly noticed by Magpie who seemed livid that they'd made it.

Suddenly, along all the walls, torches sprang to life, illuminating old stone. In front of them was an old archway with some words etched onto the archway. Apart from the archway, the rest of the room was blocked off, so to go forwards was the only option.

Zumishi walked closer to the writing. "Final Test. Mystery Maze. Life or Death. Claim your power at the end of ends. Begin."