Nobody really knew how to respond to that. 

     The most reasonable option to everyone's mind was to just shut up and make them think nobody was inside or had heard them, but that 'act dead' option was no longer possible after Layla had already responded. What was there to do? Connecting the mental dots, it wasn't really much of a stretch to assume that they were after Elijah and, in a certain sense, Taneo.

     Both were run-aways, one considered a traitor.

     In the silence no one dared to speak a word, some from boredom of the situation than anything else. But finally you turn and notice the chemist waving her hand in frantic motions, quickly snapping your head up to look at her face for some sort of translation. 'The door. . !' She mouths, pointing to Taneo as one hand gripped on Elijah's forearm, urging him towards you, seeing as you were the closest to what she was gesturing to. 

     Thoughtlessly you grabbed the shaking male as you pushed yourself towards the single door to your right, recalling correctly that this was her storage room of some sorts.

     As it slid open you ushered him inside, Taneo following closely behind with a visibly dazed look. Some sort of defense mechanism against whatever bad memory was resurfacing, no doubt. Either way you let the two men inside, Blue slowly making her way over as her voice drops to barely a hushed whisper, "There's a door behind the farthest shelf, it goes to the other lab," Another knock, this time sounding a little bit more impatient.

     'We know you're in there, Elijah!' That sickly sweet tone kick-started your body enough to nod and follow her word, following inside the two other men while the door behind you slid close. 

     In the cramped space you could barely scoot your way past, multiple cabinets and shelves holding various bottles that made your brain think you were in some sort of witch's dream storage room. But you couldn't focus too much on that as you look around in a frantic pattern, hands twitching to do something while shaky eyes scanned behind metal holdings. And as the door behind you hisses as it opened, you finally did.

     Behind dusty old books and some scattered glass bottles you saw the outline of a door that barely stood out, a handle sticking out obviously now that you saw it.

     So with a grunt you worked your way to sliding it, grabbing whatever item you could carry and hauling them off to a different surface. Elijah and Dabi—who was apparently the reason why the doors slid open in the first place—helped the best they could, while Taneo sat quietly and off to the side, shaky hands fidgeting in a pattern. But no matter, you had managed to move the shelf just enough to move your way past it and push open the door, sighing in relief at the fact that you could at least stand in front of it. 

     But as you gripped the door and pushed, it came as a sad surprise that it was a pull-type.

     So you did, a little impatiently, not helping with your growing temper as it could barely let an arm of yours squeeze through. As you turn to tell them it was hopeless, the sounds of muffled talking came from outside, the familiar voices of the ones you no doubted heard in the broom closet downstairs making you gulp down your words and keep trying to move the heavy shelf that stood at practically Dabi's height. 

     He was quick to help, the added strength of the three of you barely enough to keep it from scraping the floor and alerting those outside.

     As you were about to let it down slowly however, someone's hand must've slipped, because one end of the stand dropped suddenly before the rest and let out a clang. You flinched, hand gripping onto your end of the stand as though that would somehow reverse what had already happened. It wasn't that loud, but seeing as you were supposed to be keeping absolutely dead-quiet, it was pretty damn loud.

     Outside the closet the little exchange of pleasantries pauses as the sounds of slight clattering came from the slightly-open door, the chemist trying not to make her sharp intake of breath obvious with a forced smile. "You sure that wasn't Elijah?"

     "Which one? I know a lot of Elijah's," It wasn't really a lie, for all she remembered she might actually be friends with one already. Or if not friends at least someone she's talked to at least once. 

     But no matter how much truth was in her words it didn't faze the girl before her, the exact opposite of herself sporting a dramatically raised brow that complimented her dark skin, "Ah, huh," She chuckles, one hand pushing away her lab coat to place a hand on her hip, "I think you know which one we mean." Before Layla could retort that she didn't, her other. . . doctor companion was tilting his head and trying to see past the brunette and into her laboratory. She silently thanked her growth spurt and conscious fashion choices of wearing high heels, said doctor practically at least  half a foot shorter than her. "Hey, shouldn't you be downstairs, anyway? Looks like you were in a pretty-important list."

     The mention of that made her internally groan, the all-too sudden remembrance of that piece of shit with her name on it sounding like nails on a chalkboard to her ears. "It isn't mandatory, and I've already made face," She explained as politely as she could, the thought of being lured out of this room for some stupid responsibility of sucking up to some sponsor not at all a pleasant one. "You sure? We can accompany you downstairs if that's what you're concerned with," She sends a wink, braids being pushed out her face with a flick of her head, "I'm great company."

     "Barely." She elbowed the man beside her, but the brunette had had enough and backed away, hand letting go of the door to let it slide close, "Sorry, but I have some work to attend to. Nice meeting you." 

     The people behind her were either ducking behind the table or inside the closet as well, hoping that the thing would shut fast enough to make up for her sudden lack of a barrier into seeing the insides of her lab. But of course it didn't, a rough brown hand landing on the side of the door before it could go any further, "From what I checked, your schedule should be free nowadays. How's that early finish on your assignments going?" It was getting harder and harder to mask the frown on her face now, the biting on the inside of her cheek her telltale. 

     With a heavy sigh she places both hands in her pockets, a glare settling on her face to the smug girl forcing her way and annoying presence into her life, "Alright fine, I was already finished. But I have independent projects, and those need working on. So if you'll kindly excuse m—" The sounds of. . . something one can only compare to the unsheathing of a sword slices through the air, a pained gasp escaping the brunette. With a shaky turn of her head downwards she sees a little black tendril shooting straight through the lower region of her stomach, the inky-like substance having piqued her interest had it not been a threat to her well-being. 

     The pooling blood was slow and small, barely staining through her turtleneck, dyeing that part of it a somewhat purple. "Sorry," Blue eyes snapped upwards to glare once again, an amused look dancing on Ann's—as what she had heard from her companion—face, following the source of the strange material and seeing that it had ejected from her arm, "I don't like liars."

     As it retracts the chemist wastes no time in pressing some button, smoke hissing from some random source on top of the two outside. They disappeared into the fog, the only signs of them being there being their hisses of pain. She of course takes this time to escape, running past a confused Compress who was previously sitting behind the table. "Don't inhale that shit!" She yells, making her way to wrap a cloth around her new wound and impatiently moving her way inside the now-emptying closet.

     Emptying, because Shigaraki was still inside glaring at the other door as though it was somehow the bane of his entire existence.

     But the sounds of struggle from the main laboratory and a frantic, bleeding brunette pushing past him was enough of a wake-up call for him.

     "Shigaraki! Little help!?" Compress's head peeks through the sliding door, two hands holding close around his neck before he gets a chance to kick her off. With a click of his tongue, he decides he might as well. God, did he have some shit to say to Dabi. The first time he got along with his bullshit he gets dragged into this. Laboratories and having to fight for the sake of random people he didn't know was what the man hated the most. Not regular gloves that he can't wear, not the fact that there ever won't be a day where he can rest all five of his fingers on something and not worrying that he might break it—no. It was doing what he might do on a regular day in his job, without getting paid.

     . . .but yeah maybe it was his fault for even suggesting that he came along with him, but he couldn't exactly blame himself for the sake of an argument, so projecting that anger onto the phoenix was his biggest bet.

     With a dodge to the oddly familiar tendril, he grips the thing as tightly as he could, all five finger spreading the crumble he was satisfied to see. But the girl was either smart enough to detach that extended line on instinct alone, or she was learning from someone else's experience.

     It didn't take long for the blue-haired man to realize that this ability wasn't natural, and that whoever shared it no doubt came from the same source. And the one he had fought and let escape from the warehouse when they saved you from that kidnapping. . . had it possibly warned the rest of it's brethren? 

     Or was the bitch just being observant?

     Either way it made the man's blood boil as he gets a jump on the other guy, silver hair whipping as it tries it's best to shield itself from his pounce. It was pretty obvious that this thing was another one of them, the flesh suit or. . . whatever it was using to disguise itself as a typical male not getting past the snarling Shigaraki. Now that he had a closer look he saw the forming cracks on it's neck, and the hands that desperately tried to pull away his own pair that was pressing down on it's airflow, had little lines squirming underneath the skin. 

     "What are these things?" Compress asks, once again barely managing to dodge a reckless tendril that shot past his face. Maybe he shouldn't have left his mask at home, how careless! "Do I look like I know?!" He lands a swift punch on the jaw of the disguised man, jumping off before he could get thrown off and lose the upper hand. 

     "Rude, you don't see us asking you that," The girl had the gall to sass, even more of the black lines emerging from the skin on her calloused dark hands. "Because unlike you, we're normal!" That raise of his voice was apparently enough to keep the girl distracted long enough for a fire extinguisher to land on the back of her head, smacking her unconscious  and rolling onto the table in the middle of the room.

     Her form knocked down many on it's way down, the sounds of crashing and sight of it's friend getting beat making an inhuman noise escape the other one's throat. "Yup, normal."

     With only one more left it wasn't a stretch to say that it was easier to deal with, the two men making quick work of the silver-haired male.

     A simple punch and the same method of the heavy red item letting it drop alongside the girl's—stolen—form, a small pile of the two's bodies on the already-messy floor as the two colleagues sigh.

     "Did they leave us?"

     "Great observation, genius."

     As the others were left to clean the mess in the laboratory, you were left making your way through the empty halls and trying to find a way back to the elevators and out the backdoor without getting seen. It was already enough that you had narrowly escaped a fight from people that were looking for two of your own, Taneo and Elijah both shivering at the though of ever having to go back.

     "I just don't understand why they're here and were given access," Blue had voiced her evident confusion with a click of her tongue, pressing down tightly on the cloth she had on her stomach. For a small stab she was losing a shit ton of blood. "Oh yeah fuck they're with those assholes downstairs," She groans loudly, raising a brow as she walked alongside your right. "God! I knew this whole partnership thing was too out of place. It just feels impossible and too-much of a hassle to think that they'd do this entire shit just for the sake of tracking down a person."

     Now you had to actually voice your confusion. "What do you mean?"

     "What I mean is that it seems kind of counter productive and stupid to create this whole contractually bound business move for the sake of taking back a rogue scientist. There shouldn't even be a way for them to know that Elijah would be here, seeing as this is his first time stepping into this damn place." She runs a hand through her hair, the strands that were thrown into her usual high bun/short ponytail threatening to pop right out, "And for Taneo, that'd be even more unlikely. If he were to come across a normal folk on the street he'd be considered crazy and left alone, so on normal circumstances they'd just let him be and let an immigrant either die on the street or get deported. Which makes the chances of them knowing he'd be here in this school with people who believed him downright impossible."

     She kept going, but at this point you had nodded off long ago and kept moving. She insisted on letting her deal with her wound on her own, the suggestion of stopping for a first aid kit apparently too much of a risk with two random idiots on your ass. (If you could even call them that, after all they had managed to track down the exact room where two of their stowaways were kept.)

     "What do we do now though?" You ask as she had finally stopped for a breath, grunting in response as Dabi shrugs. Your previous choice of a safe haven in keeping Taneo with Layla was no longer much of a possibility, and with the added weight of Elijah that was two people you were going to have to smuggle out of a highly monitored facility. 

     The sounds of quick footsteps from behind had your heart jump straight up to your ears, but upon seeing only Shigaraki and Compress you calmed down. "The hell happened?"

     "Well they fought," The curly haired man says matter-of-factly, matching the speed of everyone else as he sighs, "Shigaraki knocked them out and tied them to the table. And oh yeah," He turns to Layla upon quickly remembering something, a blank stare on his face, "We ruined your room. Sorry."

     With the way she just waved it off you assumed she was either not listening or didn't care, still clutching tightly around her stomach. She had put the cloth directly over the wound, probably one of her hisses earlier telling you that she did as she pressed down on her turtleneck over it. The blood was starting to dry now, a nasty pop of color against the blue. "Here," She eventually grumbles, the elevator at the end of the hallway leading you to your next goal. It wasn't that much, but it was better than just wandering the halls aimlessly.

     Staggering inside, the lot of you cramped up the metal reflective box.

     "Well this feels familiar," You grumble, once again pressed up against a Dabi on your back. He simply chuckles, having to readjust again as Shigaraki enters.

     With a struggle, the chemist managed to reach the button for the ground floor, silver doors sliding close with a hum. It was an uneventful ride, the claustrophobic sounds of everyone's breath being the only bother you could currently, actively name. But the further you descended the more your heart picked up it's pace, some gut feeling of yours telling you not to feel too much at ease just yet. 

     . . .

     And in some sick twist of fate you were right.

     As the doors opened to reveal the familiar and similar white walls, stood an unfamiliar figure. Unfamiliar to you, but apparently not to Elijah.

     You felt the man cowering somewhere beside you, easily shrinking behind the towering figures of the four other men. The woman that caused such a reaction didn't stand out particularly that much, a simple get-up with the on-brand white coat matching everyone else's. But the name tag that blatantly read 'Dr. Harrison' was enough for you take a gulp. It would be pretty impossible for her to recognize you, so you really had no reason to fear. 

     But of course, Elijah had one. Taneo probably had several. And that was enough to have you trembling as well. 

     The woman in question simply stared, the square-rimmed glasses resting lowly on her face giving you the mental image of a typical librarian. But instead of the harsh glares that you normally associated with them. . . she had none of that. Her eyes looked soft, scared even, as she gazes at your group.

     Without warning she lets out a laugh, flinching when she came close to press a hug to you and Layla, "Ah! So good to finally meet you!" Her petite stature struggled to capture the both of you in, eyes looking around in a panic in any case this might've been a trap. But as her head rested on you and Layla's shoulder collectively, you couldn't miss the tremble in her voice, "You aren't safe here. . !"

     . . .

     One, you had to fight back the urge to say that yeah, you knew, because that would just make you look like a major asshole when she was only trying to help. 

     And two. . . wasn't Dr. Harrison supposed to be the one running this? What the hell was happening right now?

note ; ARE YOU A KAMINARI SIMP?!l!)!*()(!^%??? PERHAPS????? 

 HI HELLO SORRY FOR THE DELAY, BUT IDK ABOUT YOU I LIKE THIS NEW SCHEDULE LMAO

ANYWAY THANKS FOR READING, SEE YOU IN 3 DAYS.

 IF U R OR KNOW ANY KAMINARI SIMPS, I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU CHECKED OUT MY OTHER BOOK, 'TANGLED IN YELLOW'

ITS SET IN THE FANTASY AU AND IT'S A RAPUNZEL-ESQUE LOVE STORY BETWEEN EVERYONE'S FAVORITE BLOND DUNCE AND READER

OKAY THANKS GUYS LOVE YALL GOODBYE