Chapter Text
Having grabbed their food and upon making their way towards a table at the far end of the cafeteria, Izuku and Kale noticed that it was nothing like the quiet cells they had sat in before. Loud sounds crashed over them in waves as metal trays clattered against tables, and voices overlapping one another in a chaotic chorus of arguments, laughter, threats, and whispering conversations.
The air itself felt thick and heavy with tension, with hostility, and the constant awareness that at any moment something could go wrong.
Izuku’s eyes moved carefully, taking everything in without lingering too long on anyone in particular. He saw that groups had already formed, most likely gangs that had been in this prison for a while, something that sent a chill up his spine as he didn’t want to imagine what being trapped in this place for too long was like.
Shaking those thoughts away, he noticed that some tables were packed shoulder to shoulder, others deliberately spaced out with individuals who clearly didn’t want company.
At the farthest end of the room, tucked away from the densest clusters of inmates and just close enough to the wall that they would only have to watch one direction instead of all of them, Izuku spotted an open table and guided Kale toward it with a small nod. By the time they reached the table, Kale looked relieved just to be sitting down. Though relief was probably too generous a word for it. It was more like she had found the least dangerous place to exist for the next few minutes and was trying to make peace with it.
She kept her tray close to her chest for a moment before carefully setting it down, her shoulders still stiff, her eyes flicking every few seconds toward the other prisoners around them as if expecting someone to attack or worse.
Izuku sat across from her, setting his own tray down with a dull metallic scrape before glancing at the food they had been given. Up close, it looked even less appetizing than it had while standing in the line.
A gray slab of something sat in the center of the tray, wobbling faintly with every tiny movement of the metal beneath it. It had a strange sheen to it, like it couldn’t quite decide if it was solid or not. Next to it was a pale, almost chalky-white substance that looked like it had been scooped out of can and dropped rather than prepared for consumption. A single piece of bread sat off to the side, dry and slightly cracked, alongside a small metal cup of water.
“…Okay,” he said slowly, picking up his fork and gently poking the gray slab as it jiggled.
Kale’s eyes narrowed as she leaned forward a little with cautious curiosity. “I-Is… is it supposed to do that?”
“I… don’t know,” Izuku admitted, poking it again. It jiggled harder this time, the entire slab quivering like it was offended by being touched.
Kale hesitated before carefully picking up her own fork. She reached out slowly, as if the food might bite back, and gave it a light tap. As soon as hers started to jiggle as well, she recoiled.
“No…I-I can’t, it’s moving,” she whispered.
“Kale, I-I don’t think it’s alive,” Izuku said quickly, though his voice carried just a hint of uncertainty.
Kale frowned. “…You don’t sound very sure.”
“I-I mean, I’m pretty sure,” he corrected, though he didn’t sound entirely convincing.
There was a brief pause between them before Kale hesitantly cut off a piece and brought it up towards her until she stopped halfway, staring at it like she was reconsidering every decision that had led her to this very moment.
“I-If I… If I die,” she said quietly, “tell my sister I tried my best.”
“You’re not going to die from cafeteria food,” Izuku said.
“…You don’t know that.”
“I… I mean… look around us… lots of people are eating this… maybe it tastes better than it looks?” Izuku tried to explain, but even he was hesitant to taste something this gross looking.
After another second of internal debate, Kale closed her eyes and took a bite.
For a brief moment, nothing had happened until immediately, her entire body had stiffened. Her eyes snapped open, pupils shrinking as her face went pale, and a strangled, horrified sound clawed its way up her throat.
“—MMMPH—!” She slapped a hand over her mouth immediately, her shoulders jerking forward as if she was physically trying to keep whatever that was from coming back up. Her other hand slammed onto the table, fingers digging into the metal tray as she fought to swallow it.
Izuku leaned forward instantly, alarmed. “Kale?!”
She forced it down with visible effort, her throat working hard before she finally swallowed. For a second, she just sat there, completely still, staring at her tray like it had personally betrayed her.
“I-It’s—! It’s—!” she choked out, her voice strangled as she swallowed with visible effort. “It’s so bad—!”
Izuku winced. “That bad?”
Kale grabbed the cup of water and immediately took a desperate drink, coughing lightly as she tried to wash the taste away.
“I-It tastes like… like… burnt rubber and— and something sour…!” she said, shuddering. “W-Why is it sour?!”
Izuku stared at his own tray, suddenly far less enthusiastic about testing it himself.
“Maybe the white stuff is better?” he offered weakly.
Kale looked at the pale substance like it had personally insulted her. “You try it first.”
“Riiiiight… it’s only fair.” Izuku said as he scooped a small portion, hesitated for a second, then took a bite.
Instant regret.
His expression soured immediately, eyes widening slightly as he slowly spat it back out onto his tray. Grabbing his cup of water and downing the cool liquid to wash down the utter filth that violated his taste buds.
“I am so glad that we’re all dead, because we don’t have to worry about tasting any of that slop,” Daigoro commented, earning a few chuckles from his fellow vestiges, even the vestige of All Might, until they saw Nana glaring at them.
“You guys are supposed to be adults here, act like it!” Nana stated, giving an annoyed huff.
“Oh! That's awful!” he said. “It’s like… chalk, and spoiled milk, but worse!”
“…Nope,” Kale gagged again just hearing that and immediately, she pushed the tray slightly away from her. “N-Nope, I’m done.”
For a brief second after Kale shoved her tray away, the tension between them cracked just enough for something almost normal to slip through.
Izuku glanced down at the sad excuse for a meal again, then back up at Kale, who was still clutching her water like it was the only thing keeping her alive. A quiet, helpless smile tugged at the corner of his lips despite everything.
“…Okay,” he said slowly, nudging the tray a little farther away from himself like it might try to redeem itself. “So… we can both agree that’s the worst thing we’ve ever tasted.”
Kale nodded her head in agreement. The sounds of the cafeteria continued around them, loud and chaotic, but at their table there was this small pocket of disbelief, like they were both silently asking the same question.
How is this considered food?
Kale slowly lowered her cup back onto the tray, her hands still trembling slightly as she swallowed hard again, trying to get rid of the lingering taste. Her face twisted as if the memory alone was enough to make her gag again.
“I… I don’t think I can eat anymore.” she admitted weakly, her voice small as she leaned back just a little, putting distance between herself and the tray.
“Let’s at least eat the bread, we have to keep our strength up. Otherwise we’re gonna have a much harder time escaping,” Izuku said after leaning forward and whispering to Kale.
Kale nodded as she reached over, grabbed the piece of bread on her tray and took a bite out of it. There was a crisp crunch when she chewed, but she sighed in relief that it wasn’t horrible.
“Mmm… t-this is not bad,” Kale said, taking a bigger bite of her loaf while Izuku followed her lead, picking up his own piece of bread and taking a cautious bite. It was dry, but compared to everything else on the tray, it might as well have been a gourmet meal.
“Yeah… definitely the best thing on the tray,” he murmured under his breath.
“Mmhm!” Kale said, scarfing down her loaf of bread quickly.
The moment Izuku swallowed his bite of bread, something in him shifted. It wasn’t painful, not like the overwhelming spikes he had felt in the past when facing something truly monstrous, but it was there. A faint prickle along the back of his neck, like invisible static brushing against his skin, just enough to make his body tense without him consciously realizing why.
His hand paused mid-motion as he lowered the bread slightly, his eyes narrowing as he set his loaf of bread down as a shadow loomed over Kale and looked down on her.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” The voice came from above and slightly behind Kale, low and smooth with a drag of amusement. Izuku’s eyes lifted first, already tracking the presence before the words had fully registered, his instincts sharpening as he took in the figure standing just behind Kale’s shoulder.
His skin was layered in rough, uneven scales that caught the overhead lights in dull, jagged reflections, giving him a texture that looked almost armored without actually being thick. A long, muscular tail curled lazily behind him, the tip twitching now and then. His face was where the unease truly settled in. His eyes were thin, slit-pupiled, and heavy-lidded, dragging slowly over Kale with an unashamed hunger. There was a faint scar cutting across the ridge of his jaw, and when his lips parted just slightly, it revealed rows of small, jagged teeth. His tongue flicked briefly across his lower lip, slow and deliberate, clearly liking what he was seeing.
Kale looked up, her eyes widening when she saw the lizard man leer at her. For a brief second, she didn’t move. The weight of his gaze alone seemed to pin her in place, like prey realizing too late it had already been noticed. His eyes didn’t meet hers right away either, which made it worse. They lingered lower, dragging across her chest in a way that was slow, and completely shameless, as if he wasn’t even pretending to be subtle about it. The slight dip of fabric at her collar became the focal point of his attention, and Kale felt it immediately.
Her breath caught, and almost instinctively, her shoulders curled inward as one arm crossed over herself, her hand pressing against her chest to cover what little had been exposed. The movement was quick, but it only seemed to amuse him further.
“Aw… don’t go hidin’ it now,” he said, his voice dipping into something softer, almost coaxing, though the intent behind it was anything but kind.
“Um… I-I…” Kale did everything she could to make herself as small as possible, her voice shrinking with her posture as her fingers tightened against the fabric of her uniform.
The faint prickle of danger that Izuku had felt brush against his senses moments ago was a lot clearer now the instant he saw the way that man was looking at her. It wasn’t overwhelming, not like the crushing alarms he had felt in life-or-death battles, but it didn’t need to be. It was enough to tell him exactly what kind of person had just walked into their space.
His chair scraped harshly against the floor as he stood up abruptly, the sudden movement cutting through the noise around them like a crack of thunder. The sound alone drew a few nearby glances, but Izuku didn’t care. His body had already placed itself between Kale and the reptilian man, blocking that line of sight completely without hesitation.
“Back off,” Izuku said, his voice firm and immediate, leaving no room for misinterpretation. For a moment, the lizard man didn’t respond. His attention lingered where Kale had been sitting just behind Izuku, as if he were reluctant to give up the view, before his eyes finally lifted. Giving off a mild annoyed look when he met Izuku’s gaze.
“Do you mind, I’m trying to have a conversation here,” the lizard man said, trying to look past the green-haired boy.
Behind Izuku, Kale hadn’t moved. She was still curled inward slightly, her hand pressed firmly over her chest, her eyes darting between Izuku’s back and the reptilian figure in front of them. The tension in her shoulders hadn’t eased at all.
“I said back off,” Izuku repeated, glaring at the lizard man as he stood firm. “She’s not interested.”
“Oh, really? I didn’t hear her say anything,” the reptilian man replied, clicking his tongue in quiet amusement, his lips pulling back just enough to show the faint edge of sharpened teeth. His gaze shifted again, not fully leaving Izuku, but angling just enough to try and catch another glimpse past him.
His tongue slipped out between his teeth for just a second, dragging lazily across his lower lip before retreating again, and the gesture alone was enough to make Kale shiver in disgust behind Izuku. The way he stood there, relaxed and unbothered, like this was just another casual interaction for him, made Izuku’s anger flare further.
“That’s because she doesn’t have to,” Izuku shot back immediately as he planted himself more firmly in place. “You’re making her uncomfortable. That should be enough.”
Kale flinched at that, her fingers pressing tighter against the fabric of her uniform as she tried to pull it higher, her face burning with a mix of embarrassment and fear. She didn’t say anything, but the way her breathing had grown shallow, uneven, was enough to make it clear how much she wanted this interaction to end.
“Heh… relax,” the reptilian man muttered, rolling one shoulder lazily as if the entire situation bored him. “Didn’t mean to scare her off. Just appreciating what I see and I gotta say… not every day you see a Saiyan lookin’ like that.”
Kale’s breath trembled as she shrank further behind Izuku, her fingers pressing tighter against the fabric of her uniform as if she could somehow make herself disappear entirely. Her eyes darted downward, refusing to meet his, but that didn’t stop the way her shoulders tensed or the way her posture curled inward protectively. The silence from her only seemed to encourage him.
“Aww… c’mon,” he continued, voice softening into something almost playful, though the edge beneath it never left. “You’re gonna hide all that from me? That’s just cruel.”
His eyes dragged downward again, slow and deliberate, tracing along the curve of her chest even though she was trying to hide it, as if her attempt to cover herself only made it more interesting to him.
“You know,” he went on, voice lowering further, almost conspiratorial, “I’ve got a tongue that could make you—”
He was immediately cut off as Izuku’s fist slammed into his face. The punch landed hard enough to twist the lizard’s head sideways as a spray of blood splattered across the table, the sharp crack of bone and knuckle cutting through the cafeteria noise like a gunshot in a tunnel as he stumbled backwards, falling over as he barely caught himself on the edge of a nearby table. His claws raked across the metal table with a loud screech. People began to turn their gaze towards the trio as they watched the scene unfold before them.
For a brief moment, nobody moved as the lizard man remained hunched over, one hand still braced against the table, while the other dragged slowly across his nose as blood continued to pour freely between his fingers. His breaths were uneven as he processed what had just happened, humiliation settling in before the pain fully registered. The lazy amusement had vanished as his lips peeled back, letting out a snarl that exposed every jagged tooth as his slit pupils narrowed to thin, furious lines.
“You— You little piece of shit!” His voice cracked, as every word spilled like venom.
“You think you can just fucking hit me?!” he roared, loud enough that conversations across the cafeteria faltered entirely now. “You think you’re some kinda hero in here?!”
His gaze flicked past Izuku for a split second, landing on Kale, and whatever restraint he might have had snapped completely.
“And you—” he snarled, pointing a claw toward her. “You think hiding behind him is gonna save you? I was gonna have some fun with you, but now? Now I’m gonna make sure you watch every second while I tear him apart!”
Kale shrank further behind Izuku, her hands gripping the back of his shirt instinctively. Her body trembled, but she didn’t pull away. She stayed close, trusting him, even as fear tightened her chest.
“That’s not gonna happen,” Izuku said, as his voice cut through the tension like a blade drawn from its sheath. He drew is extended fist back and settled into a fighting stance. “I’m not letting you anywhere near her,”
“Ha! You got guts kid! But that ain’t gonna save ya!” He snarled as a grin spread across his face. “All of this and for what!? A pair of tits?!”
Across the cafeteria, Molassa tilted her head slightly, her expression unreadable but her attention fully locked onto the confrontation.
Nearby, a massive figure sat alone, his presence impossible to ignore even among the chaos. His frame was enormous—thick, heavy muscle packed onto a towering build that stretched and strained against his torn orange prison uniform. His arms were especially monstrous, corded with dense power, marked by dark, vein-like patterns that snaked along his skin and eventually disappeared beneath the fabric. Embedded nodes jutted subtly from his forearms, as if something had been forced into his body long ago and never removed. His head was dominated by a cluster of thick, heavy tentacles that hung where a mouth should have been, swaying faintly with each slow, measured breath. They draped down over his face to his chest like living cords, obscuring whatever expression he might have held. His eyes, set deep beneath a ridged brow, remained locked on the fight with a cold, unreadable focus.
At another table, several prisoners had already turned fully in their seats, no longer pretending to eat. A few leaned back for a better view, others angled their trays aside so they would not lose the scene if it spilled across the floor. Even those who tried to keep their heads down couldn’t help lifting their eyes toward the brewing fight. The lizard man noticed the room’s gaze upon him immediately, and that only made his anger worse.
It was not enough that Izuku had hit him or that Kale had recoiled from him in utter revulsion. Now the room had seen it, and worse than that, Molassa had seen it too. His one chance to prove himself, to show he was worth letting into her circle, had suddenly been twisted into public humiliation by a green-haired prisoner who should have been easy prey. His tail lashed violently behind him, striking the floor with a sharp slap as his claws flexed open and shut.
“You got nothing to say! You think you’re real tough, don’t you?” Vex snarled, blood running from his nose and dripping down over his teeth. “You think one lucky punch makes you something special? Don’t you know who I am? I am Vex Talos! I’ve gutted men bigger than you just for breathing too loud, and I’ve left tons of bodies twitching on the floor. When I’m done with you, everyone here is gonna remember exactly why they shouldn’t laugh at me.”
Izuku didn’t answer him as the previous One For All users watched on. The cafeteria had become a pit of watching eyes, and every second Izuku stood there without flinching made the reptilian inmate look weaker in front of the people he was trying so badly to impress.
“Midoriya,” Kudo said first, his voice firm and clipped with urgency. “You need to understand the position you are in. This isn’t a street fight, or some schoolyard confrontation. You are in a prison full of people who measure value through strength, fear, and opportunity. You just made yourself visible to all of them.”
“He was defending Kale,” Nana said immediately, her voice carrying a quiet heat that matched the anger sitting behind Izuku’s ribs. “I’m not going to fault him for stepping in when that creep was leering at her. Was it reckless? Yes, absolutely, but sometimes doing the right thing means acting when no else does.”
“Doesn’t mean he gets to be stupid about it,” Bruce added, his voice low and blunt, though there was no real condemnation in it. “You made a choice, kid. Now you have to deal with the fallout. For now, you’re gonna have to fight, make him regret ever messing with you two.”
“He’s right,” Daigoro said. “You already threw the first punch, and I’m not saying I blame you for it, because I don’t. Right now though, the bastard’s pride is bleeding worse than his nose, and guys like that don’t back down when everyone’s watching. He’s gonna come at you hard.”
“Then I’ll try to end it quickly,” Izuku answered inwardly, his eyes never leaving Vex. His breathing settled into a steady rhythm as his hands lifted a little higher, one foot sliding back across the cafeteria floor. “I’m not planning on using One For All. I don’t need it for him.”
“Good. Keep it that way.” Kudo said, his eyes narrowing at the lizard in front of them. “Your collar not suppressing One For All is an advantage only as long as no one realizes it. Use your training, your reflexes, and Danger Sense. Nothing that can give you away.”
Vex’s tail slapped the floor again, harder this time, the sound cracking through the tense space between them as his shoulders rolled forward. His breathing grew louder, rougher, wet with blood as he stared at Izuku with pure hatred. Never in all his life had he ever been humiliated by some riff-raff, and whatever scraps of smug confidence he had been clinging to finally burned away beneath the humiliation of having an audience at the wrong moment. He had to turn it around, and he had to do it quickly.
The reptilian prisoner sprang forward with a violent hiss, his claws spread wide and his jaw open in a furious snarl as he closed the distance between them in a sudden burst. Throwing himself at Izuku in rage as his tail whipped behind him as prisoners near the table scrambled back to avoid being caught in the path of his attack. Izuku moved before Vex reached him, slipping off the line of attack with a quick step that made the first swipe cut through empty space. Vex’s claws passed close enough for Izuku to feel the air shift beside his cheek, but there was no panic in him. Expecting thr opening to present itself, he drove his fist forward the instant Vex overextended, slamming into the reptilian prisoner’s ribs with a compact and controlled strike that made him gasp for air from his mouth in a rough grunt.
Vex staggered sideways, one clawed foot scraping loudly against the cafeteria floor before he twisted back with another snarl, swinging both hands in a vicious cross-slash aimed at Izuku’s face and throat. Izuku, though, ducked beneath the vicious slashes, his body moving with calm precision as the claws missed him by inches. Before Vex could recover, Izuku stepped in again and drove two quick punches to his reptilian opponent’s stomach that made him reel back, before driving a swift uppercut to his jaw that sent him stumbling backwards several steps.
He barely caught himself on the edge of another table, his claws digging hard enough into the metal to leave curved gouges behind. He tried to reset his jaw,with minimal success, and when he turned back toward Izuku, blood dripped from his mouth in thick red strings. For the first time since he had approached their table, the confident leer was gone completely, replaced by a twitching, ugly fury that made the scales along his neck rise like jagged armor.
“You little bastard…” Vex hissed, spitting blood onto the floor as his tail coiled behind him. “You think dodging around makes you better than me? You think because you landed a few hits that you’re in control?”
“Honestly?” Izuku said, his voice steady and stern as he kept his stance low, one fist raised up near his face and the other hovered lower. “You’re just making it pretty obvious.”
Several prisoners began to laugh as Vex’s face turned a bright red hue.
“You think this is funny?” Vex shouted, his voice cracking as blood dripped from his chin and spotted the floor beneath him. “You think I’m some joke because this green-haired little shit got in a couple lucky hits?! I’ll rip his damn throat out and make every last one of you choke on your laughs!”
Izuku did not look toward the laughing prisoners. He didn’t let the shift in attention distract him, because Vex was already unraveling in front of him and that made him more dangerous. The reptilian inmate’s stance had lost all balance now, his knees bent too deeply, shoulders hunched too far forward, every muscle in his body screaming that he was about to rush in again. Izuku’s focus settled on the movement of his hips, the angle of his feet, the twitch in his right shoulder that gave away his next attack before he even moved.
“The creep’s not thinking rationally anymore. Try to be careful kid, and take advantage of it, use his rage against him.” Daigoro whistled, crossing his arms as he glared at the lizard.
Vex lunged forward again with a raw, guttural roar, throwing himself forward with both claws raised. This time, he didn’t try to feint or corner Izuku. He simply attacked, slashing down in a brutal diagonal sweep meant to tear from shoulder to hip, his other hand already coming in from the opposite side to catch Izuku if he dodged the obvious path. It was fast enough to frighten the nearby prisoners into scrambling back, but to Izuku…
This was child’s play.
Izuku stepped inward instead of retreating, sliding beneath the first claw and turning his shoulder so the second attack passed just behind him. His fist drove into Vex’s ribs again as the sound Vex made was half-snarl, half-choked gasp. Izuku followed with a short elbow to the sternum, then pivoted away as Vex tried to bring his knee up into him, letting the reptilian inmate strike nothing but air.
Vex spun around with a hiss and swung his tail low toward Izuku’s legs, trying to sweep him off balance. Izuku jumped lightly over it, landed on the edge of a bench for half a heartbeat, then pushed off and came down with a punch that clipped Vex across the cheek.
The blow wasn’t flashy, but it landed cleanly as Vex stumbled sideways into a table hard enough to send trays clattering and water cups tipping over in a messy spill. Kale stared from behind the table, her eyes wide and shining with fear and awe all at once. She had seen strength before, real strength from her fellow saiyans back on Sadala, from her big sis Caulifla and the more Vex raged, the more the green-haired boy seemed to understand exactly where he would be next.
“I-Izuku…” she whispered, clutching the edge of the table as her heart hammered in her chest. She wanted to tell him to be careful, wanted to tell him to stop before the Metalmen came, but the words caught in her throat because she couldn’t look away. “He’s… he’s really doing it…”
Vex shoved himself off the table with an enraged growl, his claws shaking now from frustration and pain coursing through his body. To him, dealing with this welp should have been a warm up, a mere exercise. All he had to do was kill the kid in front of everyone and he’d be welcomed into Molassa’s gang with open arms. But now that was all being put in jeopardy…
By some brat…
“You’re making me look bad,” he muttered, almost too low for anyone else to hear, though Izuku caught it clearly. “You have no idea what you’re screwing up for me.”
Izuku’s eyes narrowed as he said. “Then walk away.”
“Walk away?” Vex spat, his voice rising again as he pointed one claw at Izuku’s chest. “From you? After you made me bleed in front of everyone? Humiliated me! No, no, no, you don’t get to embarrass me and then act like you’re being merciful.”
Izuku lowered his chin, his stance tightening in response. “This isn’t mercy. It’s a warning. Stand down now, and save yourself the embarrassment.”
“You fucking brat! I’m not done!” he screamed, though the tremor in his voice betrayed him. “You hear me?! I’m not done!”
Izuku didn’t mock him, or even insult him. Instead, he simply raised his hands again, waiting for him to come at him again. Vex immediately charged at the green-haired boy, letting out a loud roar of rage as he closed in on him. His claws raked forward in a wild rush, one aimed for Izuku’s face while the other tore toward his stomach.
However, Izuku waited till the last possible second before shifting his weight and turning his body sideways, letting the first claw pass just barely a centimetre away from his face while the second tore through the front of his prison shirt instead of his skin. He felt the fabric give, felt the rush of air across his stomach, but he didn’t retreat. He stepped in hard, planting his foot into the ground and drove his fist straight into Vex’s solar plexus with enough force to knock the breath out of him in one ugly burst.
Vex’s eyes bulged as his body folded around the hit, but Izuku didn’t give him time or room to recover. He grabbed the reptilian prisoner by the front of his torn uniform, pulled him forward, and slammed a short punch across his jaw that sent blood spraying across the floor. Vex stumbled sideways, swinging blindly out of instinct, but Izuku ducked beneath the desperate swipe and answered with another clean strike to the ribs.
He fell to the ground hard, his back slamming against the metal with a heavy clang as air burst from his lungs in a broken hiss. For a moment, he lay there with one claw pressed against his ribs and the other scraping weakly against the ground, blood streaking from his nose and mouth while his tail thrashed in short, furious jerks. His eyes were wide now, not with fear exactly, but with disbelief so raw it had curdled into something uglier. He had come to that table expecting prey, a frightened Saiyan girl and some green-haired boy foolish enough to stand between him and what he wanted, only to find himself on the floor with half the cafeteria watching him lose.
Izuku stood over him for only a second before stepping back, his fists still raised as he took deep and slow breaths. He didn’t move in to finish him, didn’t kick him while he was down, and didn’t give the crowd the kind of brutal show they seemed half-hungry to see. His torn prison shirt hung loose where Vex’s claws had cut through it, exposing how close the attack had come to reaching skin, but Izuku barely looked at the damage. His eyes stayed on Vex, cautious and ready, because even beaten down, the reptilian inmate still had too much hatred burning in him to be considered finished.
“Stay down,” Izuku said, his voice low enough that it didn’t sound like a threat, though the weight behind it carried all the same. “This doesn’t have to get worse.”
Several prisoners nearby exchanged glances at that, some amused, some confused, and a few visibly stunned that he would even bother offering Vex the chance to stop. In a place like Black Star Void, mercy sounded almost absurd. It was a word that didn’t belong between metal walls, electric collars, and prison trays filled with gray slop. Yet Izuku said it as naturally as breathing, and somehow that made the room watch him even more closely.
Across the cafeteria, Molassa’s expression had gone cold. She no longer looked entertained by Vex. Any spark of interest she might have held for him had faded completely. Her purple fingers rested loosely against the table, tapping once against the surface as her black sclera made the bright yellow of her irises seem even sharper under the overhead lights. Those eyes didn’t linger on Vex for long. They shifted instead to the greenhaired boy, narrowing slightly with a new kind of curiosity.
Vex noticed the look in her eyes. Even from the floor, even through the pain, he saw the way Molassa’s attention moved away from him and fixed on the boy standing above him. That single glance cut deeper than any punch Izuku had landed. His chance was slipping away. His chance to prove himself, to crawl his way into her gang, to become something more than another knife-waving predator in a room full of monsters. It was being stolen by a prisoner who wasn’t even trying to impress anyone.
His claws dug into the floor.
“No…” Vex rasped, his voice wet and trembling with rage. “No, no, no…”
Izuku glanced back toward Kale for half a second, making sure she was okay at their table and out of reach. It was only a brief look, barely anything at all, but Vex saw his opening and took it with every ounce of hatred he had left.
The reptilian inmate exploded upward with a raw, guttural scream, all pain and humiliation forgotten as he lunged for Izuku’s exposed back. His claws aimed high, his jaws opening as his entire body twisted into one final, vicious attack meant to maim, to punish, to kill the boy who had made him look weak.
Kale saw him move.
“Izuku! Look out!” she cried, panic tearing through her voice. Izuku began to turn, Danger Sense flaring along his nerves, but another figure was already there.
Barleyon stepped in from the side with frightening speed for someone his size, his broad frame cutting across Vex’s path like a wall thrown into motion. His fist came forward in a short, efficient blow as it slammed into Vex’s face with a brutal impact that stopped the reptilian prisoner dead in his tracks.
The reptilian prisoner crashed hard against the floor, his limbs going slack as his tail gave one weak twitch before falling still. Blood ran from his broken nose and smeared beneath his cheek, his mouth hanging open just enough to show the jagged teeth he had been so eager to use. Whatever threat he had been seconds ago was gone, reduced to an unconscious heap at Barleyon’s feet.
Barleyon lowered his fist slowly, flexing his knuckles once as he looked down at Vex with open disgust. There was no satisfaction in his expression, no joy in the violence, only weary irritation. He gave Vex’s limp body a small nudge with the toe of his boot before turning his attention toward Izuku.
“Idiot,” Barleyon muttered, though whether he meant Vex or Izuku wasn’t immediately clear. His eyes narrowed slightly as he grabbed Izuku by the shoulder and shoved him back toward Kale’s table firmly enough for the green-haired boy to get the message. “Don’t turn your back on someone if you don’t intend to finish them off. That’s gonna get you killed, brat.”
Izuku stumbled half a step before catching himself, his adrenaline still rushing even though the fight had ended. He looked from Barleyon to Vex, then back again, his chest rising and falling as the realization settled in. Vex really had tried to attack him from behind, and if Barleyon hadn’t stepped in when he did, things could have become much worse if he didn’t react in time.
“Thanks,” Izuku said quietly, though his voice carried the weight of someone still trying to calm down. His knuckles ached, his shirt was torn, and his heart was still hammering, but his eyes shifted immediately toward Kale. “Are you okay?”
Kale nodded quickly, though she looked anything but okay. Her hands were still pressed close to her chest, her shoulders drawn inward, but her gaze kept bouncing between Izuku, Vex, and Barleyon with stunned disbelief. She swallowed hard, then forced herself to take a small step closer to Izuku, as if making sure he was really standing there unharmed.
“I-I’m okay,” she whispered, her voice trembling with leftover fear. “B-but you… you almost…”
“I know,” Izuku said, softening as much as he could in a room full of watching predators. He wanted to say more, wanted to reassure her properly, but the cafeteria around them had not stopped watching. “I’m fine. He didn’t get me.”
Barleyon scoffed under his breath, folding his arms as he glanced toward the entrance where two Metalmen had finally begun stomping toward them. Their heavy footsteps cut through the lingering murmurs, mechanical bodies forcing prisoners to lean away as they approached with glowing eyes fixed on the unconscious body on the floor. They didn’t ask questions, didn’t check for injuries, and didn’t seem concerned about what had started the fight.
The two seized his arms and dragged his unconscious out of the cafeteria like trash. With Vex removed, noise had returned to the cafeteria, conversations from before had resumed as forks scraped against the cold metal trays as they all scarfed down their food. Some prisoners looked in Izuku’s direction and when his gaze turned towards them, they immediately looked away. He wasn’t just another frightened newcomer anymore. Whether he liked it or not, he had become something people had noticed.
Across the room, Molassa’s expression had gone dry with disappointment as she watched Vex disappear between the Metalmen. Whatever chance he thought he had of ever joining her crew had been crushed along with his face. She thought he had some potential, albeit small, since it had been awhile since anyone had joined her crew. The sight of the lizard being dragged away bored her. Her glowing yellow irises that shown brilliant against her black sclera had found something else to focus on: the green haired newcomer.
She leaned back in her seat, one arm draped lazily over the bench behind her as a slow smile began to form. Her gaze drifted briefly from the boy to the Saiyan girl as the cogs in her head began to turn.
“Well,” Molassa said softly, her voice carrying just enough for those at her table to hear. “That was disappointing.”
The massive wolf-like prisoner beside her gave a rough snort, his thick arms crossed over his chest as his lips pulled back to show sharp pointed teeth. He was heavily built, broad across the shoulders and covered in dark fur, with a scar cutting through one eye and a torn prison uniform that exposed his powerful muscles beneath it. His collar flickered around his neck as his claws tapped impatiently against his biceps, glaring as he was at the receding figure of the unconscious reptile being dragged out of the cafeteria.
“Disappointing?” he growled. “That lizard embarrassed himself so badly I almost feel insulted that we even considered letting him join.”
A tall insectoid woman standing near Molassa shifted with a quiet scrape of chitin against metal. Her emerald exoskeleton gleamed beneath the harsh lights, black segmented plates lining her athletic body, while long dark hair spilled behind her shoulders. Her amber eyes remained fixed on Izuku with intense focus, and the razor-edged blades along her forearms rested angled downward.
“He was useful as a test,” she said calmly. “Not a good recruit, but a test all the same. The boy reacted fast, showing restraint when he could have kept attacking. He has control and something tells me he was holding back.”
A four-armed woman seated nearby lifted her head, all four red eyes narrowing faintly. She had smooth, pale lavender-gray skin, long black hair, and an eerily composed presence, as if nothing in the cafeteria truly surprised her anymore. Two of her hands rested folded in her lap, while another held a utensil and the fourth tapped lightly against the table in slow, thoughtful rhythm.
“He also drew attention,” she said, her voice even and distant. “That can be dangerous, but it can also be valuable. The room knows he can fight now, and the Saiyan girl trusts him.”
At the end of the table, a panther-like man sat half in shadow, his black fur blending into the darker corner of the cafeteria. His body was lean but powerful, built more for speed and agility than brute force, with yellow-green eyes that watched everything without needing to move his head much. His torn orange uniform hung open slightly at the collar, revealing scars beneath the fur, and one claw traced slow circles against the table as he studied Izuku.
“He’s small,” the panther man said, voice low and smooth. “But the runt moves like he’s been trained, it wasn’t luck, the kid clearly knows how to fight.”
Molassa’s smile widened just a little, her yellow irises gleaming brighter against the darkness of her eyes. She rested her chin lightly against her knuckles, watching Izuku as Barleyon pushed him back toward Kale and away from the center of the room. Her expression carried a dangerous kind of curiosity now.
“Glad to know that I’m not the only other person here that sees that, Jagura. Usually, brave idiots like that die quickly here, but this kid… there’s more to him than meets the eye.”
The wolf-like prisoner turned his head sharply toward her, ears angling back in disbelief. “You’re not seriously thinking what I think you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking that Vex, despite failing miserably, helped us find a potential recruit,” she said. “The one who humiliated him might be worth far more than the lizard ever was.”
The insectoid woman’s posture shifted slightly, her bladed forearms catching the light. “You want the human?”
That word sent a subtle ripple through the group, even though none of them raised their voices. The wolf-like prisoner’s eyes widened with immediate disbelief, while the four-armed woman paused mid-tap and stared at Molassa more directly. Even the panther man’s claw stopped moving against the table.
Molassa finally turned her gaze toward her own crew, clearly enjoying their reaction. “Maybe.”
The wolf-like prisoner snarled low in his throat, leaning forward with clear objection written across every inch of his face. “A human? In our gang? Are you out of your damn mind, Molassa? Just because he beat the worthless lizard doesn’t mean he’s strong enough to keep up with us.”
The four-armed woman tilted her head, all four eyes narrowing as she thought carefully rather than immediate rejection. “Humans are usually unimpressive by galactic standards, even after most of them went extinct. Short-lived, fragile, limited. However, that one is unusual, what do you think, Mantras?”
The insectoid woman nodded once, her amber eyes still on Izuku. “He protected the girl without hesitation and he refused to escalate once his opponent was down… though I’m hesitant to give a firm answer. He is skilled, yes, but Vex was a weakling and he couldn’t even land a single hit on him. Fenrik is right, just because he beat Vex, doesn’t exactly mean he’s powerful.”
“Hmm…” The Majin’s eyes narrowed as she thought long and hard about the boy. “Perhaps you are right… however, did you guys happen to see his feet?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on Moonseer, don’t tell me you didn’t see it with all four eyes?” Molassa asked the four-armed woman. “It was very subtle, but I saw his feet float for a bit when he was dodging Vex’s attacks.”
“Impossible! Even if the human has Ki, or magic, or even psychic powers, these damned collars are designed to keep us from using them!” Fenrik shouted, letting out a snarl.
“Watch your tone Fenrik, or perhaps I need to remind you who’s in charge here, is that what you want?” Molassa said, hopping off her seat and standing up to the wolf. Despite Fenrik being twice her size, he immediately stiffened as his ears fell back.
“N-No,” Fenrik said.
“I may not be able to sense Ki, but my eyes don’t lie… that boy was floating briefly during his fight.”
“Perhaps his collar was malfunctioning?” Moonseer suggested with one of her hands on her collar.
“No, the Metalmen would have been on him immediately if it was. That damn Yardrat designed the thing that even if it malfunctioned, the Metalmen would be able to detect it and would have killed the kid,” Mantras explained.
“So we are missing something then?” Jagura asked.
“And that is exactly what I want to find out,” Molassa said, licking her lips as she grinned back at her cohorts. “Something tells me that the kid might just be our ticket out of this dump.”