Goro and Nightshade both walked beside me until we came into a dark room. My heart started pounding as I realized the only light that came into the room was from a huge fireplace that was on the far wall. Facing it was a black couch where a man with long hair leaned back. His fingers pulled away from his mouth, revealing a thick cigar. Smoke exhaled from his mouth as the man just sat there.

I didn't get a good look at him as I turned my head, looking at everything in the room. Famous paintings hung on the wall, but they were all too dark, like the wallpaper that was used. To my right, there was a large desk with papers scattered across from it while a computer sat in the middle.

This room was much different than the childish room I was in, making me worried about what would happen in here. Even as I looked down, I noticed the dark mahogany floors seemed to show no evidence of any criminal acts as they were spotless.

"Boss, we have the girl," Goro said, clearing his throat. My head snapped up, worried what the man with the long hair would do, but he just sat there, twirling his cigar in his fingers. "She's a current student at U.A., and we think she's the shapeshifter you've been curious about."

Curious about? My eyes widened as I looked up at the man. Why would anyone be interested in my Quirk? It wasn't like they could get any use out of it. I wouldn't allow it! There was much more to a person than just looking like them.

Unless...what if the people who forgot their Quirks didn't actually forget them. What if they were stolen and given to someone else? Then what? What would happen to me then? I bit my lip as I started to overthink.

Could this be the end?

"What's your name?" a low voice asked.

At first, I didn't answer him. I didn't want to answer him. There was no way. That was until Nightshade slid her hand on my shoulder before lowering her head towards mine. She was still standing beside me, but it wouldn't take much for her to swoop in and knock me out.

"T-T-T-Tami," I shook, leaning away from Nightshade.

The cigar fell out of the man's hand. I snapped my head to look at what was going on. He pressed his hands onto the couch and stood up, still keeping his back towards us.

"Last name?" the man asked.

"Smith," I whispered, afraid that Nightshade would lean in closer or the man to my right would use his Quirk to make me into a human meatball.

Oddly enough, Nightshade pulled away from me as her pink eyes widened. "I was right?"

What did she mean? As much as I was afraid to ask, I still couldn't, not when the pink haired woman started jumping up and down, clapping her hands.

She might have looked as if she was in her late twenties, early thirties, but she was more immature than Ollie. I wanted to shield my hands in front of me in case she would get too excited and try something on me, but my arms were still connected by that goo behind my back.

"I was right!" Nightshade squealed again as she stopped and looked at me. I tried leaning away, but she was quicker. She grabbed my shoulders and continued to jump up and down. "Oh! This is so exciting! I can't wait for—"

"Stop it, Nii," the man in front of us said. My head snapped back over to him, noticing he didn't move a muscle from the time he stood to now. "Nii, Goro, please, leave me and Ms. Smith alone for a bit."

"Of course, boss," Goro said, letting go my arm. I looked back at him, noticing that his arms were growing a bit. As they did, the goo that had wrapped around my own was slowly disappearing.

Was that how his Quirk worked? He'd used bits and pieces of his own body to create a goo that would wrap around others? My stomach turned at the thought. There were a lot of gross Quirks out there, but having that kind was pretty disturbing.

Goro left the room, holding the door open for Nightshade. She waved and gave me a playful wink before she ran after her partner in crime. The woman even took a hold of the door from him and made sure to blow me a kiss before she shut the door on me.

With the door closed, I felt the room darken even more than it was. My head turned to look at the dark walls, noticing how they were looming over me. The paintings that hung on them looked larger than what they were.

A chill brushed from behind my neck. I shivered, wrapping my hands around my arms, feeling the tiny goosebumps forming. No matter how much I rubbed my hands up and down, all I could feel was the room growing colder and colder. It didn't help that I was in a short dress.

"Tami," the low voice cut through the silence, only this time, it was much closer than before.

I turned away from the door, finding the man towering over me. For me to look up at his face, I had to look all the way up. He was definitely taller than anyone I had ever seen before, and it wasn't calming my nerves one bit.

Even if he wasn't so tall, he still would've looked intimidating with the black suit he wore. He wore a black tie and a black dress shirt underneath it too, which made his green colored hair stick out even more. Something was familiar about his green hair, but I couldn't place it at first.

Had I seen him before? If so, where? Where could I have...

My eyes widened as I took a couple of steps back. He was the man from the festival! The very same one who prevented me from falling. I knew when I first met him something was off, but I honestly just thought it was that I had bumped into someone.

He was also the same man who visited the fortune teller tent before my friends and I did. He must have wanted this whole thing to happen, which meant this whole thing wasn't an accident. He made sure everything would happen, so I was here.

It just didn't make sense.

"Wh-wh-what do you want from me?" I asked.

The man tucked his hands into his pants' pockets. "You're Tami Smith?" he asked, not sounding very impressed.

For a moment, I didn't answer him. Instead, my hands just froze as they slid down to my elbows, pulling my arms closer to my body. Why was it he was in disbelief with who I was? My stomach dropped the more he stared down at me. His thin lips pressed down into a frown, almost as if he wasn't buying it.

"You're the girl with the shapeshifting Quirk?" he asked.

I slowly nodded my head, taking a step back. As I did, I could feel the door press against my back. My head turned to see the doorknob right there. Maybe, I could quickly make a run for it.

The moment the thought came into mind, the man let out a sigh. "Don't you dare think about it. Nii and Goro will be waiting outside."

My head dropped, so I could avoid looking at the man. Whatever he wanted from me, I just wanted him to get it over with. There was obviously nothing I could do about it. All I wanted was to go home and get away from this place.

There was just one problem with what I wanted. I was outnumbered. No matter how I'd use my Quirk, they'd be able to stop me. Their Quirks were much more powerful than my own. I could only look like other people. Goro's Quirk allowed him to melt parts of him off in order to trap people inside a sticky goo. Nightshade could knock people out with a kiss. This man in front of me, well, whatever his Quirk was, it was enough to make him the boss. Whatever it was had to be more powerful than the other two.

Even if their Quirks wouldn't play a part in that, it would still be three against one. They literally outnumbered me, not just in the way their Quirks worked.

"Why?" I murmured as I squeezed my eyes shut and wrapped my arms tightly around myself. "Why do you—why do you want me?"

A small chuckle escaped the man's lips. My muscles tensed as he did. It wasn't because his laugh reminded me of Nightshade's. His laugh was much different than hers. There was something about it that forced all the heat to leave the room, forcing the goose bumps on my arms to accumulate.

For some odd reason, that small laugh, it was familiar, and not in a good way familiar.

"You're serious," the man sounded dumbfounded. "Your Quirk can make you turn into anyone, an exact replica of anyone."

"H-h-how do you know that?" I asked.

"I have my ways," the man answered. "Come, I'll show you."

I looked up, seeing the man offering out his hand. For a moment, I stood with my back against the door, not wanting to take his hand. After all, all it took for some Quirks was for a simple touch. Nightshade only needed a kiss to knock someone out. For all I knew, this man could have been the same.

Unfortunately, he didn't take that lightly. When he realized I wasn't going to take his hand, he grabbed my left arm and yanked it away. His grasp was as hard as steel. He dragged me over towards his desk, yanking me behind him. I tried pulling my arm out of his grasp, but nothing worked.

The man wasn't happy about that as he pushed me into the chair behind his desk. He kept one hand around my neck, keeping a firm grasp to warn me not to struggle. With his free hand he grabbed the mouse, moving it to the left side, so it was easier for him to use.

"If you listen to me, things will be a lot easier for you," he warned. "After all, when I heard it was you who Nightshade caught, I told her to be nice, not to do anything to you. I gave you a nice bed, clothing that's appropriate for your age, and yet you still don't listen."

For a moment, I tried to open my mouth to protest, but I didn't. I couldn't. This man had the upper hand. I didn't know what his Quirk was, but he could easily snap my head off for all I knew.

Plus, I was outnumbered.

He clicked something on the screen to open up a video. He pushed the play button, and when he did, I could feel my heart started to race. There, on that screen, was me.

It started out in the streets, or what looked like the streets. I was looking around, hoping no one would find me, until I shrunk and changed into my brother. The moment my eyes opened on that screen, I grabbed my pants and tightened it around the shirt I was wearing.

"Have you found any of them yet?" Chiyo's voice came from the screen as two green haired kids turned the corner of the street.

Ollie, or me in Ollie's body, ran to the nearest bench to hide. As that happened, I realized where this video was taken from. It was the day of the first exam at U.A. The goal was to find a kid and save them alongside our partners before the other group got there. My partner, Raiden Yamamoto, wanted me to change into one of the Go twins, but it didn't happen. Instead, I turned into my own brother to trick them.

The video changed, and I was in the library, prying the goo off of Raiden as hard as I could. The voices from it was much softer than the previous video, but it was just loud enough for me to hear.

"Your Quirk, does it give you the normal abilities of someone else?" Raiden asked.

I didn't realize it until I watched the video, but he was looking around, almost as if on lookout. He even tried squirming a bit to try to help me get the goo off of him. Every time he did, it seemed almost as if I had better luck prying the stuff off.

Somewhere in there I must've responded, but I didn't hear as his head snapped over towards me. "Change into me," he suggested.

Even from the distance of the video, I could see my face pale as I looked up at him. Despite how soft my voice was the last time, I had actually spoken loudly enough for the camera to hear what I had said.

"I-I-I don't think that's a very g-g-g-good idea," I squeaked.

"If you're worried what everyone will see how I'll look in a skirt—"

"No!" I squealed even louder as I started pulling the goo further off of him. Since I didn't see his face then, I didn't realize how my words effected Raiden. The more I spoke, the redder his face turned, realizing that he had put me in an awkward situation. "Y-y-you're bigger. My clothes, I, they, I—they'll break, er, rip..."

While Raiden didn't say a word, I noticed he turned his head away. His eyes squeezed shut as he started to shake his head. I didn't recall him doing that back when it happened, but then again, I was paying attention to the goo.

"H-h-how?" I asked, feeling the man let go of my neck. "H-h-how did you get the—those videos? You shouldn't have been able to see what goes on in—at U.A."

"That wasn't the hard part," he said. "You know, U.A. has top notch security. There's surveillance everywhere. Getting those tapes were pretty easy, as you sure know, we have people who can knock others out with a simple kiss while someone else wraps them together."

Nightshade and Goro.

"I—if that wasn't the hard part, then—then what was?" I asked.

"Why, that would be finding you, of course. You know how many years I've been tracking you down? Oh, but your mother—even without her full memory—knew to keep you away. You would've been safe too, except for when you got accepted into U.A. They're not afraid to show everyone in the world their first class, flaunting it as if you all would be the next great heroes," the man said from behind me, as I felt both his hands laying down on my shoulders. "It's pathetic. Even more pathetic that you'd go there."

My head dropped to look down at the frilly dress I was in, ignoring the fact that he was touching my shoulders. Everything about what he had just said didn't settle well with me, nor did it make sense. I didn't even know where to begin to think.

He was tracking me down? For how long? Why would he? Not only was that creepy, but that had to have been illegal. Well, what he was doing now by keeping me hostage here was also illegal, but this was just more stuff to add to his track record.

Then there was the part about my mom. She wasn't that old. Her memory was in perfect health. There was no way she had dementia or any problems with her memory. If she did, it would make life a lot harder. It was hard enough she didn't even have a Quirk, so that statement didn't make sense.

And his last statement, that it was "even more pathetic that I'd go there?" Did that mean...he knew, didn't he? This man, who I had never met before, knew I didn't want to be at U.A. How? How did he know when I didn't tell anyone?

Apparently, I must've said something because the man sighed in disappointment. "You really have no idea?"

"No idea a-about what?" I asked, carefully looking back at the man.

When I did, I wished I didn't. Until now, I never had the chance to see his face. The darkness had concealed most of it, even though I could always make out his long green colored hair. Now, with the computer screen light shining from behind, I could make out his face.

Or what was left of his face.

If this was a nightmare, I needed to wake up at that very second. His face was covered in scars that didn't look as if they had fully healed. Even his left nostril caved in a bit, while his left eyebrow was almost missing.

"It's a rather long story, but I think you deserve to know. After all, once I'm done telling the tale of what happened, you won't try to run away again."

Author's Note:

Early update as I probably won't have time to make an update tomorrow, the scheduled update date. Sure most of you don't mind with this arc's high intensity and everything.

Guess that leaves me for this chapter's question, huh? Hmm...let's see, what have I not asked yet? Well, seeing that Tami is dealing with villains and there are no heroes in sight, I want to know, who is your favorite hero (or vigilante, if you read the BNHA off series...which I may or may not have just gotten into. It's amazing, BTW) in the BNHA universe? It's a hard question, I know, as there are tons of awesome heroes in the BNHA universe.

Yeah, I know, random question, but hey, if my questions were based on this chapter, they'd be pretty dark, and to be quite frank, I don't like leaving y'all on a dark note. So, with that being said, I hope you all enjoyed it. Tune in Monday to find out what these villains are up to. Take care, and have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Character Spotlight: Goro
Quirk: Meatball
Likes: Going to the Opera

Song: Dark Piano - Void