Beast Speaker, Monster Tamer

58: The Hanged Man

Kamino Ward, Villain's Bar; half an hour before the raid.

Elise woke to the slow 'drip-drip' of blood trailing out of her nose and hitting the ground.

"O—brat's—eeding aga——do something—bout it?"

Her senses were still fuzzy, eyelids glued shut under a massive weight. But aside from her pain, the next things she noticed were unyielding metal restraints on her wrists and the fact that she was lying on her side on rough wooden floors. It reeked of alcohol, sweat, and rot.

"It's fine, leave it. I think she's about awake by now. Why don't one of you go check?"

Footsteps, then the toe of a shoe nudging her side. When she barely twitched, it withdrew and came back with a vengeance to kick her unprotected gut, making her ribs scream in pain. Memories rushed back into Elise with sudden, cursed clarity. A strangled cry left her as her eyes snapped open, seeing the blurry figure of Dabi standing over her. Behind him were the various other villains from the attack, lit by the yellowed lights of the aged bar they were in. Wheezing, she was reminded of who came here with her.

Katsuki!

Her frantic gaze locked onto his unconscious form across the bar, strapped into a chair and sporting the same blocky manacles on her wrist and hands. Seeing that, Elise tried to reach for her quirk, but nothing happened. They had put her in chains and taken her powers.

The villain saw her awake and huffed, turning back to his seat.

"Dabi! You shouldn't be so rough! The orders were to get her back whole!"

"You kicked her that was a stupid move! Well done show the brat her place!"

"Shut up Mr. Compress, Twice. She's not dead and still has all of her body parts. What more can we ask for?"

Elise slowly pushed herself up, wincing as her ribs reminded her of what they went through with Muscular and then Dabi. When she reopened her eyes, the blonde girl who fought Uraraku and Tsuyu was inches away from her. Recoiling, Elise hit the wall behind her with a thud but the girl only followed her.

"Wowie... The other students weren't that cute when they bled, but you're kinda cute. Of course not as cute as Midoriya though!" Her fanged smile was wide as she whipped her head back. "Shigaraki, can I have a teeeensy bit of Wing-chan's blood? She's bleeding a lot."

Shigaraki shifted and Elise finally saw him leaning up against the bar on his stool. "No, Toga. Sensei has some plans for her so don't touch her."

"Pleaseeee, pretty please?"

"G-Get away!" Elise snapped, voice catching in her dry throat, she struggled to her feet and scowled at the girl.

"That's enough."

The pale fingers which had been inching towards Elise's face withdrew sharply and Toga stood up to skip away. She sat down next to the tall redhead woman who first fought the Pussycats—Magne—and pouted. "You guys are no fun."

Shigaraki stood up and replaced Toga's position in front of Elise, eyes peering through the gaps in the grey hand on his face. She met his eyes, trying to school her expression to one of strength, even though her hands and knees were trembling. With Katsuki unconscious and both of them in a foreign unfamiliar place surrounded by enemies, it would do her no good to falter.

"Interesting..." Shigaraki hummed, idly scratching at his neck. "Despite plans beforehand, I was asked to try to convince you to our cause if possible. I don't see why we need a character like you in our game, but Sensei knows best. So, join us."