•16: Weak•

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I freeze, my eyes widening and breath hitching in my throat. A shiver runs down my spine as I hear a footstep aligned with mine, but much lighter compared to my heavy plastic cast. If it weren't for the heavy chunk of plastic around my foot, it would've been almost impossible to tell they were someone else's footsteps being timed correctly with mine.

My heart pounds in my chest as an awful wave of fear floods my veins. 'At this point, jail might've been the better choice.'

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"Seems like you're sharper than you seem." A high-pitched voice giggles while coming out from behind a concrete pillar to reveal girl a few inches taller than me with dark blue hair wrapped into two buns on her head and wearing a red short-sleeved, dress reaching her knees with a slit running up the side. "Though it's hard to tell under your mask." She slowly approaches me in a nonchalant manner.

"What are you villains doing here?" I ask her as she stops a few feet in front of me.

Completely disregarding my question, she scans me up and down, her dark eyes flickering to my mask. "Ah! I know who you remind me of!" She excitedly remarks. "You look like the Masked Vandal! But what are you doing in this hero school?" She asks in a tone that seems as if she knows and is just toying with me. "Was it a sudden change of heart? Decided to leave your life of crime behind?"

"Trust me, I'm not here voluntarily." I mutter.

"Thought so." She snickers. "Your name's Rin, right Masked Vandal?" She asks and I reluctantly nod. "My name's Carnal. You should remember since we're going to be here for at least another hour- that is, if I don't have to kill you."

"Hey? Are you listening?" Carnal suddenly asks when I don't respond. "I can barely tell when that mask is covering your face. It feels so impersonal." She pouts.

"Like I want to get personal with you." I snap.

She raises an eyebrow. "Ooh, you're fiesty. I like that." She says. "Honestly, you're way more suited to be a villain. If you aren't with these goody-two-shoe heroes, then why not abandon them and come with me?"

I narrow my eyes. Although the offer to get out of here is tempting, I'm not interested in being a villain any more than a hero. "No thanks." I reply before repeating my initial question she brushed off. "Well, are you going to answer my question? What are you villains doing here?"

"I'm just helping out the boss." She responds with a smile. "And if you're going to get in the way, I'll just dispose of you. If you got close to the stairs, I would've killed you."

'Let's try to avoid confrontation.' I tell myself as I glance down at my cast. 'I'm at a bit of a disadvantage.' "The boss?" I query.

"Curious one, aren't you?" Carnal says. "Well, since you're adorable, I guess I'll entertain you. The boss is the one who assembled this whole plan to take down the Symbol of Peace- All Might. He's the one with all the hands all over his body." She explains. "Kind of gross, if you ask me." She sticks out her tongue is disgust. "Anyways, my boss is another story, he's amazing! The boss basically recruited my boss and our little group for this expedition. I don't know why my boss agreed, but oh well. I'm loyal to him, so I'll help out whether I like it or not." She gushes, pulling a red and blue fan out and fanning herself. "My boss is so handsome, too!"

"Are you dating him or something?" I idly ask, keeping the conversation alive while I think of a way to escape. 'I'm basically trapped here like a rat if I don't engage in combat.' I note.

She blushes. "Well, I'm not opposed to it!"

I suddenly remember the night vision feature on the mask of my hero costume. 'How could I forget something so useful?' I quickly turn it on while Carnal rambles on about how amazing her boss is. I'm slightly taken aback by how much more of the parking lot I'm able to see now. 'Holy crap, this floor is a lot bigger than I thought.' I remark. My eyes suddenly land on the stairwell all the way on the other side of the lot. 'How the hell am I going to get all the way over there?' I think. 'Especially since I'm probably a lot slower because of the cast.'

I close my eyes and imagine an image of myself painted on the concrete pillar behind me. I furrow as I focus on getting the lighting just right because of the opening letting in outside lide next to me. As she's distracted by talk of her boss, I try to slink away.

I creep away as quietly as possible as she continues to converse with the 2D image of myself left behind. She abruptly stops talking. "How dumb do you think I am?" Carnal's tone changes into a much colder one as she uses her fan to slice right through the concrete pillar and my illustration. She whips around and runs towards me. "I really thought we could get along."

I pick up the pace as I try to make it to the stairwell. She catches up to me and slices the concrete pillar next to me. It crumbles and topples down, blocking the way to the stairs. 'Ah, fuck.' I stop and quickly turn tail, running back towards the wall with openings looking out.

"Did you think you could escape, little Rin?" She jeers, cackling. "You're trapped here like a hopeless little rat." She snickers. "Weak- like a little rabbit conered by a predator."

My eyes widen in anger at her words. "Take that back!" I snarl.

"Oh? Did I hit a nerve?" She laughs. "Don't think I don't know all about you, Rini." She taunts. "I know all about your mom, Mirorress, too."

My eyes widen in shock. 'Does she know where my mom is? The police mentioned spotting her a few times.' "Y-You don't know anything!" I shout out.

Her laughter erupts into hysterics. "Y-You're so funny!" She mocks, running up to me and pressing her fan towards my neck. "Too bad I couldn't spend more time with you." I feel the fan's sharp edge press into my skin, warm blood tricking down my neck.

'I didn't want to engage in combat...' I think as I grasp her wrist with my hand, pulling the fan away from myself. I wrap my feet around her knee and push her off-balance. We both fall to the ground, me pinning her down. She rolls out from under me and gets up as I do the same. She swings her fan at my neck and I quickly block it, grabbing her arm and twisting it. I throw her onto the ground and step on her hand. Her fan falls out of her grip and I quickly pick it up.

"Give that back!" She kicks my knee, causing me to fall forward. I hear a horrifying crack as she pushes me down and stomps down on my ribs. I cough out in pain as she swipes the fan from my grip.

"Aw, looks like it was futile. Look at you laying there on the ground." She sniggers. "Weak."

I feel tears pricking my eyes. 'She's right. If I was stronger, I wouldn't have been caught. I would've been able to face my mom. I wouldn't be on the ground like this. I'm no different than the Little Bunny.' I clench my jaw as my mind wanders back to my dream, my mom's voice, the rabbit. 'I'm weak.'

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