Each ring of swallows sunk Izuku further down in his depressive state. He could hear the rushing of the man’s lungs, coupled with a rapid heartbeat, he paid no mind to it. The crushing tube of the esophagus was enough to make Izuku wish he was just crushed along with it, maybe he wouldn’t have to endure the suffocation and burning of his destination or finding himself face-to-face with Todoroki’s corpse.
He didn’t notice as he was suddenly free-falling into a much open area, the sudden change in humidity and the lack of being squished woke him up like ice thrown in his face. Below his falling body was only rank darkness and liquid splashing in the chamber. Izuku’s eyes widened, his flight-or-fight response mode finally activated. He let in a sharp inhale, the air already burning his lungs and screamed as he was dropped into the acids.
The liquid… wasn’t as deep as Izuku thought it to be. He paddled in chest-deep acid, every thought in his mind had been cut off, the only thing he could think about was survival. Izuku swam through the dark acids, trying to find a dry spot to get the stuff off him. After swimming for what felt like hours, he finally meagerly floated above the juices, resisting the urge to vomit at the pungent sourness of milk coffee and the gastric acids in the air around him. Surprisingly, despite the thin air and slight burning of his lungs and skin, he didn’t feel any of the expected excruciating pain. Still, who knows when it could be activated. Or maybe it’s merely slow working. I need to find Todoroki. His heart sank, or at least what’s left of him.
“Midoriya, is that you?”
A voice called out in the darkness, and Izuku felt hope surge back within.
“Todoroki? You, you’re alive??” he responded blindly. It was too dark to see much of anything.
“I guess I am,” from the tone of his voice, he seemed as surprised as Izuku, “Do you feel the stinging as well?”
“Yes! I’ve been looking for a dry spot, so I can slow down the process, but it’s too dark to see anything… w-where are you?”
The liquid splashed a bit with what he could only guess were Todoroki’s movements, and a hand blindly touched his shoulder. Izuku jumped a bit before realizing it was just Todoroki.
“Midoriya?” the boy called out a bit too loudly, testing if the green-haired teen was really there.
“Todoroki?” Izuku replied, grabbing onto the boy’s wrist a touch too tight, just glad that he wasn’t alone in this hellish pit. “I-I thought you were gone! We need to figure out how to make him vomit,” green eyes glinted with determination, staring up into the thick darkness at what he thought was the esophageal sphincter. “Hopefully, before he gets to Kacchan.”
“Yes, let’s do it.” the duo haired teen coolly stated before following Izuku’s lead and landing a painful sounding blow on the nearest stomach wall. The chamber lurched and gurgled, acid level slowly beginning to rise; Izuku’s eyes widened, and a nervous grin made its way to his lips, they must be causing some indigestion!
“I think it’s working, harder!” he called out to his friend, proceeding to land a full cowl without his quirk driving the power. It was less effective, but Izuku was desperate to try anything to escape death.
The students kicked and clawed at the rubbery walls, though they were stripped of their quirks, they still had the stamina from long hours of training on their side.
“LET. US. GO!” Izuku yelled, praying it would reach the man’s ears.
There was no response from the winged pro hero, only digestive squelches that made Izuku’s skin crawl. He could hear Todoroki’s irritated breaths by his side, his frustration getting more and more evident with each punch he inflicted on the man’s internal walls. Izuku withdrew, staring into the inky darkness to Todoroki.
“Maybe we need to try harder, there’s no way he can’t feel this. He doesn’t have organs of steel.”
The acid was beginning to reach his forearms, bubbling and slushing with irritation, yet still refused to release them. Though he couldn’t see a thing, the way his clothes clung to his skin, he could tell his hero uniform was going to be absolutely stained from the acids. Izuku flinched, feeling his skin burning up and itch. After inflicting another force driven punch on the tender walls, he flicked the extra slime from his hands and continued. He had to make it out alive and warn everyone about the League’s surprising new addition.
As the belly grumbled and pulsated, the strong wrinkly walls shifted, and Izuku yelped, getting outright bathed in bile. Before he could fathom the sheer grossness he just endured, a torrent of watery acid and the creamy sweetness of canned coffee washed over them. The two students struggled to stay above the sludge. Izuku clung onto Todoroki as if his life depended on it, but the instability of the chamber and amount of bile made it difficult for Izuku to get a solid grip on the boy. It was useless, they were barely floating above the acids, and the stomach continued to threaten to drown them. Another wave of constrictions and Izuku found himself thoroughly submerged in the muck. Acids flooded his eyes, mouth, ears, every open crevice of his body. Everything spun around, and with the constant shifting of the chamber, up and down were near indistinguishable. Izuku felt his head lighten while the burning sensation got stronger, hotter. He made the mistake of inhaling in desperation, his throat opened up and the hot juices spilled in; mind reeling, his lungs felt like they were on fire. H-help! He thought, too afraid to open his mouth again. The darkness, combined with copious amounts of liquid made it difficult to gauge if Todoroki was okay or in the same predicament as himself.
No…I need to get out, I need to focus on getting out. Don’t drown, and then focus on Todoroki. Don’t drown…Todoroki. Need to find up, just any up. Izuku thought frantically, his thoughts began to meld together. With a final burst of energy, Izuku blindly propelled himself upward, having no idea if this was actually up or just his perception. He didn’t care, thrashing in the juices before finally popping his head above the liquid, Izuku felt as if he had escaped the brink of death. Feeling tears drip down his cheeks, or maybe it was saliva, it didn’t matter. For once, he was thankful for the stale air. Izuku greedily inhaled and began to sputter, throat still burning from the sour juices.
Despite this, Izuku continued breathing in the fermented air, trying to recover from his multiple brushes with death. The stomach lurched, and Izuku found himself thrown halfway across the chamber. It took everything in his power to stay afloat against the powerful belly’s currents, Izuku’s own stomach twisted, he felt like a ragdoll, limply tossed to and fro without any say or control.
“TODOROKI!” He found himself shouting against the noisy gurgles and groans of their prison. Holding the wall just for a steady footing and inevitably stumbling back into the juices, he knew it was a fruitless attempt. However, survival and stability were still etched on the forefront of his mind, despite the faulty rationale.
No response at first, he called again.
There was still no response from Todoroki, and Izuku feared the worst. There was no way he would be able to find the boy with the amount of liquid that filled the chamber, even though it had gone back down to his waist, the constant shifting would make it near impossible to find his friend.
Finally, he heard dry heaving from his far-right, and Izuku’s eyes shot wider. Todoroki! He swam as fast as he could through the sludge, his eyes adjusted a bit more to the darkness, so he prayed he could identify a Todoroki shaped blur. Trudging deeper, he found a shape that appeared differently to the rushing sea of chyme and grabbed it.
“Todoroki?” he called to it, it had to be him. It felt like a body… unless. No, Izuku refused to go there.
“Midoriya?” The freckled teen’s mind was swept with relief, the boy’s usually cool toned voice was scratchy and weighed heavily with fatigue. Izuku didn’t blame him, it was a constant uphill battle to compete with the motions of their living prison, and the lack of fresh air didn’t help.
Todoroki coughed,
“I’m sorry, Midoriya. I was trying to find you, but with the darkness and all the acids—-.”
“That’s fine!” Izuku cut him off, “What’s important is that we’re both okay. Let’s try to make him throw us up again!”
Todoroki looked at him quizzically, as if he wanted to say more. Instead, he remained quiet, only nodding.
The two students reassumed their assault on the larger man’s organs, but similar to before, they only seemed to cause the chamber to grow noisier and more difficult to gain footing; nothing that benefited the boys. The heat rose, and the liquid reached their chests, Izuku winced as the acids splashed and bit at his neck. His attacks were growing weak, and from what he could gather, Todoroki was in the same boat. Still, he refused to succumb to defeat.
“We have to do this, we can’t let him win!” Izuku let out another flimsy punch, tears blurring his vision. He didn’t want to admit it, but his energy was already depleted.
“I don’t think this is going to work, Midoriya. We can’t make him sick.”
Just as Izuku was about to answer, more labored swallows came from above, and something splashed into the chamber. It can't be. Yet, he knew what, or rather who, that had to be. More gulps followed suit, and Izuku braced himself for the worst. He gasped in surprise at the rainfall of chilling liquid, coming down in gallons. Izuku shivered, finding himself thoroughly soaked to the bone with the icy liquid. There was a reverberating, airy “Ah!” from above, but Izuku shoved his anxiety deep down, teeth still chattering, and waded to whatever had dropped into their prison. From the sound of it, the object must have been a decent size. He nervously chewed on his lip, he… already got to Kacchan. It has to be him.
——
As he felt Bakugou trickle into his belly, Hawks couldn’t help but gag at the spiciness of the boy. He downed the rest of the water, trying to ease the burning in the back of his throat. Sheesh, it’s like he coated himself in peppers. The kid remained unconscious, which from seeing his sass back when he “stole their kill,” he was immensely grateful Bakugou wasn’t conscious during the whole swallowing bit like the two students before him. Rubbing at his slightly bloated abdomen, Hawks winced. Those two had really left a number on his organs; however, he had to keep moving forward. He exhaled, grateful that the ordeal was finally over.
Putting back on his visor in an attempt to get ready to leave, Hawks found himself staring at the empty glass jar, golden eyes widening; he had no idea what to do next. Of course, he was going to let them out, but it was a matter of how to go about it and quick. He could go to U.A. and show one of the teachers or Endeavor what happened, but that would lead to an explanation as to why exactly he was at a villain’s hideout and directly put the students’ lives in danger…And just repeating that in his head was a valid reason why he should rush to his hometown to release them instead. Yup, back to Fukuoka it is!
——
Izuku sneezed, his body was taking forever to reacclimate to the mugginess of the belly. Despite his current situation, he just wanted to be warm again, and the sudden shift in temperature due to the freezing water did not adhere to his wishes. Additionally, trying to find Bakugou in a relentlessly moving acid pit proved to be more difficult than he initially thought. Izuku needed to find him soon, with the levels rising again, he didn't want to think about what would happen if he wasn't able to find him. Todoroki was grasping in the liquid as well, trying to feel for something solid and human-like.
Finally, Izuku's hands landed on a heavy object, floating helplessly in the juices, and he grinned. As his arms closed around the heavy body, Izuku pushed himself from his knees and found himself carrying Bakugou bridal style. An amused chuckle arose from his throat, and Izuku quickly disguised it as a cough. No doubt would Bakugou have his head if he suddenly woke up and found himself in Izuku’s arms. Todoroki was stumbled towards Izuku and Bakugou, still finding himself grimace at the squickiness of the chamber and the way the acid covered floor almost caved in on his shoes, like a slimy, living variant of sand. He could feel his face turn green with nausea again, but instead, he grabbed onto Bakugou’s side and planted his feet firmly on the ground, providing some support.
The stomach lurched once again, and Izuku’s head hit one of the walls, luckily not hard enough to render him unconscious but still enough to force him to drop Bakugou accidentally.
“N-No! Kacchan!” he gasped, he couldn’t let the unconscious boy drown.
“I’ve got him,” Todoroki shouted back, fishing his classmate from the juices.
“Ah! Thank yo—.” Izuku blinked, taking in the muggy pink chamber accompanied by a wary Todoroki trying to lift Bakugou from the liquid. He could see! His eyes had finally adjusted to his unusual predicament.
The leftmost wall rippled while sticky saliva continuously dripped down on them, he looked down, seeing the juices foam a bit around him. This time he could actually see the brassy yellowness of the acrid acids, and it sickened him. Izuku swallowed heavily, he really rather would have rather stayed in the dark, literally, if it meant avoiding visually seeing just how real this situation was.
“Todoroki, can you, um, see?” he felt a little awkward once saying it aloud, in any other situation, there would have been an obvious answer.
“I can see hints of red outlines but not more than that,” Todoroki blinked a bit, peering down at his hand and watched it clench and unclench to test his vision, he looked back up at Izuku. “I’m able to look straight at you, but you’re more of a red Midoriya shaped silhouette if anything.”
“That’s odd, I wonder why I can see more clearly when you’ve been here longer.”
Todoroki shrugged, not having an answer in response. How could he? He knew just as much as Midoriya.
Liquid sloshed about and further soaked the students. Izuku stared with disgust at his slime laden gloves, there were patches of cloth that had been eaten away by the acids and now he could really see the angry redness of his skin. His heart thumped miles a minute against his chest, he was so focused on trying not to drown and helping his friends that he didn't even notice the direct impact the acids would have on him.
N-no.
A booming, muffled voice from above sent shivers down Izuku’s spine despite the muggy heat.
“Woah, I can feel them.” his voice was a caked with shock and awe as Izuku felt something foreign press on the frontmost wall. He was taunting his occupants.
Hawks was so loud, so omnipresent, Izuku wanted to cry. They had already been trapped in here for who knows how long and Izuku could feel his skin redden with first degree burns. The traitor was just going to digest the students as if they were nothing. If the coffee was any indication, it was clear Hawks wasn’t used to eating much before a mission. A wall contracted and pushed Izuku back into the sludge, frustrated tears formed back in his eyes as he tried to complete the seemingly impossible task of maintaining his balance. Judging by the chorus of groans and gurgles of the chamber, the man was hungry, and they were the only solid food source. Fear rang into Izuku’s ears, they were going to be digested into a soupy mess in no time.
Another ring of contractions separated Izuku and Todoroki, threatening to nearly drown them in the acids once again. Izuku bobbed up from the liquid, absolutely drenched in the stuff. Coughing and sputtering up the bitter juices, he gasped for breath as more heads popped up from the acids. Todoroki resurfaced, gasping for air while shifting his arms up to maintain his hot-tempered friend’s weight. He waded over the foul liquid, still keeping hold of Bakugou over his shoulders. Izuku swam up to him, helping support Bakugou’s left side.
“We’re going to get out of this,” Izuku assured, though he was beginning to doubt himself. He had to stay optimistic for everyone else.
“You think so?” came an aloof reply from the heterochromatic.
Izuku looked up, Todoroki was completely unreadable. He was a peculiar mix of dissociation and fury. Izuku had seen him as one or the other, but never both.
Unbeknownst to them, the blond on Izuku’s back began to stir and cracked an eye open. Wherever he was, it was pitch black; Bakugou wrinkled his nose, and stunk like vomit. He could hear the medley of gurgles and groans accompanied by other organic sounds. Eyes slowing adjusting to the initially impermeable darkness, he could see almost a sort of redness coming from all around him. The strange walls of this prison were rippled and moved erratically, making him think he was inside some kind of bag on the move. Ordinarily, he would have acted first and asked questions later, but he had no idea what type of situation or trap he was in. It didn’t seem like he was restrained, though. Could I blow this shit-hole up? A trigger-happy piece of his brain nagged. Digging his nails into a lumpy platform, the platform had tensed… it felt almost as if someone was carrying him. Sandy blond brows furrowed in both indignation and perturbation, he stewed quietly, trying to grasp the situation before a drop of something sticky hit him square in the nose.
His face violently reddened, and quickly averting his attention from what or who he was on, he shook his head, trying to get whatever had fallen on him off. The sticky stuff seemed to only spread and began to prickle while his nose started to burn. Crimson eyes narrowed before he started struggling on whatever was holding him back, finally yelling,
“WHAT THE HELL?”
