Chapter Text
QUIRK
his quirk is the ability to collapse anything with five-point contact (much like shigaraki’s quirk). once initiating a five fingered touch with an object (be it living or non) said object will begin to collapse in on itself.
when used on a human, i.e an arm (like shigaraki’s USJ arm grab on aizawa), the arm would begin to implode, and would look much like it was being crushed by an invisible force. in reality, the quirk just draws in all mass of whatever comes into contact with all 5 of his fingers.
-
Izuku leaned casually against the wall of the, frankly, disgusting alley he was positioned in, giving the area a lazy once-over and reaching into his pocket for his burner phone, which was currently giving him a migraine with the pitched, shrill ringtone that he couldn’t fucking figure out how to turn off.
It was probably Shigaraki, calling to complain to him or tell him that he shouldn’t ‘ fuck up the mission ’ or some bullshit like that. Although it was tempting to just ignore the call, he knew that the punishment for directly ignoring one of Shigaraki’s calls (no matter how stupid) far exceeded what little satisfaction he would gain from letting it go to voicemail.
So he flipped open the phone and answered the call with a quick tap, raising the phone to his ear and giving a short hum of acknowledgment.
“ Sending a warp to your position. Complete the mission and then come back within your timeframe or the muzzle stays on for a week. Don’t fuck this up. ”
How predictable.
The grumbling voice cut off abruptly when the call ended, and Izuku rolled his eyes with an irritable huff at Shigaraki’s childish actions. Did Shigaraki always have to act like such a bitch all the time? It made it near impossible to get anything done with him around, as he was either playing some stupid video game or whining about how something didn’t go his way. The shit that Sensei made him put up with just because Shigaraki willed it so was infuriating.
He picked absentmindedly at the metal muzzle around his jaw as he brainstormed all the reasons he hated Shigaraki, the fidgeting more of a nervous tick than a conscious action. The metal “mouthguard” that made it impossible for him to open his mouth had been a constant in his life ever since he was taken by the villains as a child, making any attempt at speaking come out as an incomprehensible, jumbled mess of syllables.
One of Sensei’s many quirks was one by the name of Seal , that locked an object tightly for any amount of time, which was applied to make sure that Izuku could never remove the muzzle without Sensei’s approval.
When he behaved, Sensei would remove the quirk and allow him to open his mouth freely, and if he was lucky he would be able to eat during the limited freedom he was granted without the muzzle. If he disobeyed an order or performed below expectations, Sensei ensured the muzzle would stay on for extended periods of time without relief.
While death by starvation or dehydration might be an issue for the majority of people, Izuku was.. different. When he first began his training from Sensei, the man deemed him a perfect underling for his successor -his capacity for analysis, destructive quirk, limited social life- all factors that were ideal for a pawn- Eventually ‘ gifting’ him with a quirk that allowed him to perform his missions as efficiently as possible. It granted him increased healing, however it came with the consequence of increased sensitivity in his nerve cells, making him feel twice the amount of pain one would normally feel. It also made it easy for his body to survive for incredibly long amounts of time without food or water.
This allowed Sensei to be increasingly stringent with the withholding of food and water as punishment for Izuku’s misbehavior.
It was traumatic, feeling your stomach acids dissolve your stomach lining in a painstaking process as his stomach digested itself over and over again, his regenerative quirk always healing him just enough that he survived, but felt such great pain that it made him want to be dead.
God, can he think about anything else right now? Less than 5 minutes before an important mission and he’s thinking about digesting his own stomach.
He tapped his foot impatiently, looking around in irritation. Was he in the wrong place, or did Shigaraki send him to the wrong place just to fuck with him? He wouldn’t put it past the man- Hell, it wouldn’t be the first time that manchild messed with Izuku on a mission just to get a quick laugh.
It was the tell-tale whoosh that let Izuku know that Shigaraki was true to his word, and that a warp gate was opening before him.
He stepped into the gate, feeling the cold gust of air that sent a chill down his spine, uncomfortably familiar with the sensation of travelling through Kurogiri’s portals.
It took only a second for Izuku to emerge from the portal, blinking at the sudden absence of light owlishly. He quickly inspected his new surroundings with a sharp eye, making sure the room was empty before turning to look at the house itself.
The house was a japanese styled one with polished bamboo floorboards and classical decor, with wide walls and huge rooms that made Izuku suddenly feel very small. Whoever owned this house was not struggling financially, that’s for sure. It was likely this was simply the home of a wealthy family, or it was home to a family of heroes (hero paychecks were definitely not small).
Strangely enough though, the walls were oddly bare, devoid of any sort of family portraits and the usual feeling of warmth and coziness that accompanied a well-lived home.
However, he couldn't stand around and analyze their home decorations- He had a job to do. Shigaraki had assured him it was a simple one, but even then it was difficult to believe him with his track record.
Sensei always made sure Izuku knew all missions were to be quiet and minimal mess. As amusing as it was to imagine rebelling against his captors and spraying the house walls with blood and announcing himself with a fucking megaphone, he really wanted to keep his brain from being turned to mush, thank you very much. Shivers ran down his spine at the idea of Sensei’s threats about turning him into a noumu.
With one last irritated adjustment to the chafing muzzle, Izuku took a silent step on the balls of his feet and padded down the wide hallway of the house, eyes peeled for his target.
After a few minutes trying to figure out which door to enter with little success, Izuku cursed silently.
Shigaraki couldn’t tell me where this kid was?
The only intel Shigaraki has so graciously gifted him with was the kid’s name- Shouto - and how many people were in the house- 3 . How was he supposed to find him with a name and a number?
Just walk in and shout for the fucking kid or something? Amazing plan.
His footsteps were quiet as he picked up the pace, looking around a bit more impatiently. If he wasn’t finished with this job in time for rendezvous, he wouldn’t get this damn muzzle off for a week.
Izuku eventually decided on the furthest door, one tucked away in the farthest corner of the house. Judging from the lack of snoring, the parents ( parent? ) were probably not in this room. There were no sounds leaking from under the door, and Izuku was mostly certain that this was the room his target would be sleeping in. Shigaraki said there were only 3 people in the house, and assuming they only had one child, the parents were in one bedroom and the child another. Although his deductions could be wrong, it was his best bet to finish his job and get out as quickly as possible.
So he rested a cautious hand- sans pinkie- onto the doorknob.
Izuku carefully turned the knob, pulling the door and wincing at the tiny squeak it made when he got it wide enough to squeeze through.
His gaze drifted to the messy head of hair shifting on the tatami mat, and his eyes immediately widened.
That two-toned hair-?
Izuku sucked in a short breath, mind flickering with recognition- he knew the child, teenager, really, from the news and constant hero evaluations Sensei had him studying when he wasn’t on a mission.
That was Todoroki Shouto, prodigious son of Endeavor who was aiming to attend Yuuei in the upcoming school year.
You know. Like, No. 2 HERO ENDEAVOR ?
He’s in Endeavor’s house! He walked on Endeavor’s bamboo flooring ! Oh fuck oh fuck oh shit -
The rustling of bed sheets broke his thoughts and he instantly whipped his head back to the sleeping teen who was shifting beneath the covers in a fitful sleep.
Oh god, he has to take care of this, and he has to do it now . Who knows what the son of the no. 2 hero would do to him if he woke up and saw some stranger in a weird mask creeping around his room at night?
Fuckshitfuckohgodfuckingjesuschristi’mgoingtodiE
Izuku stalked to the mat the kid was sleeping on, hand outstretched, quirk thrumming in his veins, when the boy’s mismatched eyes suddenly shot open and looked around wildly.
Izuku reacted instinctively, darting forward and trying to plant a hand on one of the boy’s vital regions- over the heart, lungs, neck, or skull - mimicking Shigaraki’s aggressive fighting style.
Whether he liked it or not, the years Sensei had spent drilling training into him definitely made a difference. Izuku hated himself for taking after Shigaraki, but he had to admit the fighting style made it a lot easier to attack with his quirk type if he focused on speed instead of strength.
However, it seemed Endeavor was also no slacker when it came to training, as expected of the No. 2 hero. The bi-colored teen reacted as quickly as Izuku did, pulling back without hesitation and jumping off the mat to land in a honed fighter’s stance, hand outstretched in a motion similar to Izuku’s.
Fuckhisquirkifit’sfirei’mfucking screwed
Izuku’s mind was whirling as he took a leap and just narrowly escaped the trail of ice that sprung to life where he was standing moments before.
If I could just get a hand on him and activate my quirk, it would be over in a moment.. With his ice, it would make sense he is a ranged attack, but there’s no doubt he has practice with hand-to-hand combat, no way Endeavor would be lenient with such a glaringly obvious weakness..
Izuku jumped over the blockade of ice and took a chance, attempting to make a grab for the boy’s arm, but immediately recoiled when he felt a blast of cold air from the boy’s right side.
“ Fuck!” he cursed out loud this time, but the muzzle strapped over his mouth muffled his words into an indistinct mumble.
Todoroki narrowed his eyes and pulled out of Izuku’s reach once again, considering Izuku’s fighting stance with a sharp eye and seemingly deducing he needs to stay out of reach. He seemed conflicted for a moment, then turned to cry out before Izuku could jump in to stop him.
“ Endeavor! ”
Izuku panicked, because fucking hell if Endeavor catches him he’s going to get incinerated into a pile of ash before the police could even come to throw him in jail. He could already hear the loud footsteps stomping down the hall, and it seemed the entire house shook as the No. 2 Hero himself thundered down the hall.
Knowing he was out of time, Izuku frantically sprinted forward, lifting a hand and making a feint jab to the right, watching Todoroki raise his arm to defend, then in a split second swiveled on his foot and made a desperate grab for the boy’s arm.
Thankfully, his hand made contact with the teen’s arm and Izuku instantly felt his quirk activate, pulsing through his fingertips and into Todoroki’s arm. With a sickening crunch , the heterochromic boy’s hand was turned to nothing but a mess of blood and bones as Izuku’s quirk crushed through the muscle. He felt it travel the length of his arm, and felt it creep closer to the boy’s chest- Just a little further, up the arm, down to the ribs, if I can compress the ribs-
The door burst open in a massive plume of flame, Endeavor’s grisly countenance kicking open the door and making Izuku jump back. Fire singed the tips of his hair, and he yelped when the intense heat of Endeavor’s powerful quirk nearly charred his skin to a crisp.
Izuku saw Endeavor’s enormous hand, engulfed in a bright wreath of flames, outstretched to grab him, and he immediately skittered out of reach. His wild green eyes darted madly around the room in search of an escape route, gaze settling on a window on the back wall. He grabbed a lamp off the bedside table as he ran past, launching it at the window and wincing at the loud crash of glass when the window shattered.
“ Get back here you little -”
Izuku didn’t hear the last word, vaulting out the window and dropping into a roll, instantly pulling back onto his feet and taking off at a sprint from the house.
Reaching into his pocket and for his burner phone with shaking hands, his heart plummeted to his feet when he checked the time. It was only 1 minute until meet up, and Izuku was already going to be punished for failing a mission, and if he was late on top of that, he was dead.
He darted into a nearby alleyway and jumped for a rusted fire escape, climbing to the rails and using it to pull himself onto the roof.
After a quick scan of the surrounding roofs, he caught sight of the distinctive purple mist of Kurogiri’s portals. His stomach sank when he noticed that it was already shrinking. Urging himself faster, he took a running leap over the building, crying out when he landed awkwardly on his ankle, wincing at the loud snap it made when he hit the ground. In a great mess of legs and arms, he skidded headfirst into the portal.
-
Izuku opened his eyes and blinked away the black spots clouding his vision. The final crash landing into the portal had sent him sprawling face first into the bar, and he could already feel blood dribbling down his chin from the impact. His ankle was burning with pain, and he sucked in a breath when he glanced at his foot, which was twisted in a gruesome display that was definitely not natural.
Izuku glanced up at the sound of a low growl, meeting the furious red eyes of Shigaraki.
“Well?” the pale man snarled, scratching his neck and glaring at him expectantly, completely ignoring Izuku’s crooked and bloody nose and broken ankle in favor of grilling him on his mission.
Izuku attempted to respond, but his muzzle held tight. He let out a sheepish grumble in response to Shigaraki’s insistence and tilted his head to stare shamefully at the floor, fighting back tears that had gathered in his eyes.
Shigaraki clenched his fists tighter.
“You little- You had one job! I’m going to fucking kill you-”
Izuku yelped and scrambled away from Shigaraki grabby hands, trying to explain himself in a slew of mumbled gibberish and frantic waving of his hands.
The lanky teen was nearly foaming at the mouth as he dashed forward with an outstretched hand aimed straight for Izuku’s face.
Izuku watched as a gate appeared inches before his face and redirected Shigaraki’s arm to the opposite corner of the room, where it hung harmlessly.
Izuku had never been more thankful for Kurogiri’s warp.
“Now Shigaraki, don’t go making another mess. I’m sure Sensei would want a word with him before you turn him to dust.”
Shigaraki let out a low growl but reluctantly retracted his hand from the portal, bringing it up to drag his nails down his neck. Izuku winced and looked away from the disgusting display, instead turning his guilty expression to the exasperated warp gate.
The mist showed no expression of sympathy, his narrowed yellow eyes devoid of any true emotion save for exhaustion.
The old television set perched on the bar flickered to life, flashing the words Audio Only when a deep voice began speaking from the speakers. All three of those sitting in the bar instantly silenced, turning their full attention to the screen.
“Kurogiri is correct, Shigaraki. Send Deku to me, I would like to have a word with him.”
“Yes, Sensei,” Kurogiri responded with a short bow, and mist swirled at the creation of a portal by Izuku’s side.
Izuku felt his heart skip a beat.
He knew this would happen if he failed, and he still didn’t complete his mission-
“ -- MPF ! ”
His thoughts were cut off by a sharp four-fingered shove that pushed him tumbling into a portal that appeared in front of him.
-
Izuku bit down on a yelp as he tumbled through the portal once again, landing badly on his ankle and prompting a hushed hiss of pain. He began lifting his head, but the heavy weight of Sensei’s eyes on his back kept him on his knees.
“S-,” he attempted to gasp out, but Sensei simply lifted his hand sharply and gestured for silence.
“Deku,” the man started slowly, looking down at the kneeling boy with a crushing, unseeing gaze.
“It has come to my attention that you have failed your mission. Is this true?”
Izuku bowed his head closer to the floor, and nodded ruefully.
“Deku,” he repeated icily, firmer this time, and with a clear indication for Izuku to speak.
Izuku felt his cheeks burn in humiliation, but he spoke.
“Y-e-s,” he choked out, the words gibberish through the mouthguard.
Sensei seemed satisfied, leaning forward from his chair and setting a heavy hand on Izuku’s shoulder, causing him to flinch.
“You know what that means, don’t you, Deku?”
Izuku bit back a sob and responded quietly.
“Y--s,” he murmured.
Sensei hummed once again, then spoke in his deep, menacing voice.
“Kurogiri, send in Nikusui.”
In an instant a portal appeared next to the scarred man.
From the portal stepped a lavishly dressed woman, curves and breasts highly accentuated in the skin-tight outfit that hugged her body. Her confident sashay emanated danger and made Izuku physically ill.
Her crimson reptilian eyes were slitted and full of smug mirth as they flickered over Izuku’s cowering posture. Her razor-sharp teeth were bared in a chiding sneer in an animalistic fashion.
“All for One,” she greeted to the seated man respectfully with a slight bow, although her eyes never strayed from where Izuku was quivering on the floor.
“Nikusui. Deku had some complications on his mission. Do teach him a lesson.”
The snake-eyed woman tossed her long, red hair over her shoulder with a splitting smile.
“Sure thing, boss.”
All for One turned away and Izuku’s breath caught in his throat. Nikusui heels clicked methodically when she stalked across the room and grabbed the green-haired boy’s arm and began tugging him into a side room, surprisingly strong for her stature.
Izuku did his best not to struggle, but his breath was coming in short gasps and his heart was pounding in his ears. He dug his heels in the ground best he could and dropped his body weight to the ground, pulling at the woman’s arm in an attempt to be released.
Nikusui tutted at his resistance, and in response to his continued tugs, dug her needle sharp nails deep into his arm, prompting a cry of pain. Trails of blood dripped from the crescent-moon indentations along his scarred forearms and Izuku forced himself limp to allow the woman to drag him through a familiar doorway.
The dried blood that covered the floor made him gag violently. He could tell from the newer looking stains on the floor that he was not the only one who comes to this cell.
Nikusui’s heel came down swiftly upon Izuku’s temple, and he felt the breath knocked out of his chest when he hit the floor. He trembled and attempted to push himself to his feet, but fell back with a grunt when Nikusui placed a heel on his chest and pinned him to the floor.
She giggled, crimson eyes glimmering in the dark.
“Little Deku, what have you done now?” she chuckled, licking her lips with a lecherous purr.
Izuku forced Nikusui’s foot off his chest and pushed himself into the far corner of the cell. He brought his hands over his head, eyes blown wide, chest rising and falling in rapid hyperventilations.
The woman stalked forward, kneeling down and slowly trailing her fingers carefully down Izuku’s cheek and swiping a thumb over the tears streaming down his face.
She pressed her nails into his freckled cheeks, forcing them down in a quick movement and creating a deep claw mark from his temple to the beginnings of his cheekbone. Her eyes followed the drops of blood beginning to drip from the wound with sadistic desire that made Izuku sick .
“Pity,” she whispered with a giggle, lifting the bloodied claw to her mouth and licking the blood off with a generous swipe of her tongue.
Nikusui cupped his chin and jerked his head up, forcing him to stare into her slitted eyes. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he trembled in her grasp.
“You’re useless, aren’t you Deku?”
She pinned his arms above his head and forced him against the wall, leaning her full weight onto him, her chest pressing against him and rendering him incapable of moving.
Nikusui giggled while Izuku thrashed frantically beneath her, leaning in close to the boy’s ear.
“ Your poor mother would be so disappointed, wouldn’t she Deku? ”
She hissed the words, and Izuku fell still beneath her- his eyes scrunched tightly closed, holding in the sobs that bubbles in his throat and threatened to drown him.
don’t don’t don’t don’t
“Ah,” Nikusui murmured sullenly, entwining her fingers in Izuku’s curls and giving it a sharp tug, “that one usually works.”
Izuku clenched his jaw and fought back the urge to bring his head forward and smash the woman’s nose in with his skull- that wouldn’t work. Nothing he could do would hurt this monster disguised as a human.
Nikusui narrowed her eyes at Izuku’s lack of reaction at the prodding and teasing about his mother, looking sorely disappointed.
With a sigh, she began to speak again, seeming much more irritated than before.
“You’re no fun, you know that?” she growled, fixing him with a bored stare and a scowl.
Izuku met her eyes with his own large green ones, quivering and squirming under her and trying to remove himself from the hold she had pinned him to the wall in.
Nikusui rolled her eyes, scowl deepening as she flashed her pointed teeth at the struggling boy.
“ Might as well get this over with, ” she hissed into his ear, causing his hair to stand on end.
She lifted her hand and allowed her scowl to blossom into a crazed grin, giving Izuku a look of unfiltered desire, an unsated desire to inflict pain, to hurt -
Izuku screamed , spasms racking his body as he convulsed on the floor, unable to do anything but howl in pain while Nikusui’s quirk electrified all the nerves in his body and forced him unconscious.
--
“Stupid Deku doesn’t even have a quirk!”
“Yeah! Come on Katsuki, maybe we’ll teach him not to play hero!”
“Can’t be a hero without a quirk Deku !”
The three bullies stood over the shivering green-haired child, green eyes shining with tears.
“Leave me alone!” he cried.
The bully with exceptionally long fingers stepped forward, hands balled into crude fists. The winged boy flapped his leathery wings and sneered. Katsuki let loose a few small explosions in his palm and cackled.
“Stop it!”
Katsuki stepped forward, reeling his fist back in preparation for an explosive punch to Izuku’s face.
Izuku held his hands up to his face and screamed, squeezing his eyes shut in preparation for the pain.
It never came.
His eyes snapped open to the sound of a horrific shriek, and he immediately began wailing at the sight before him.
Katsuki’s hand had barely made contact with his own hands, but the instant it did, it was crushed - blood splattered and the boy yanked his destroyed hand back and clung to it, his red eyes wide with fear and pain as they stared at the ruined mess of flesh.
Izuku looked wide-eyed at his childhood friend, hands shaking, and he reached up to feel his freckled cheeks, recoiling when they came back slick with blood.
Katsuki wailed and turned to run in the direction of the school, following the already retreating backs of the two menacing boys from before.
So Izuku ran. He ran to the city, running as far from the school as he could.
He ran until he couldn’t run anymore, collapsing in an alleyway in an unlit corner of town.
Izuku fell to his knees in the darkened alley, putting his head in his hands and sobbing quietly. He felt blood- Katuski’s blood- on his face, but he didn’t care. What has he done?
He jumped, hearing quiet footsteps coming his way. He lifted his head, now red with blood, and looked up to see a silver-haired teen looking amusedly down at him.
“I saw what you did back there,” the teen purred.
“I-I didn’t- I didn’t m-mean to, I d-didn’t know,” Izuku stammered.
“I think it was really neat.”
Izuku looked up with teary eyes.
“Wh- Huh?”
A too-wide grin split the teen’s pale face, and Izuku felt alarm bells ringing wildly in his head. Izuku whipped around to see a wispy, purple shadow growing behind him, fog drifting from the edges and making it appear blurry.
“Come with me.” The silver-haired boy took a step forward, face darkening.
“N-No,” Izuku replied, backing up and feeling his stomach drop when he hit the back wall.
“ Come with me ,” the older boy repeated, louder this time, grin suddenly disappearing as he lunged forward, hand outstretched to grab Izuku’s arm with thick gloves, clasping a hand tightly over his mouth and giggling as he dragged him through the portal.
Izuku yelped when he was thrown down onto hard floor.
The place he was taken to was unfamiliar, and the smell of alcohol floated in the air and mixed with the coppery scent of blood. At the bar stood a man, indistinct, with no face or body, a man made of mist. The pale boy that had pulled him here was sitting atop a barstool and cradling a disembodied hand in his lap.
“W-what do you want from me?”
The misty, indistinct man ignored Izuku in favor of polishing a clear glass.
An old television set sat on the bar counter, crackling with a quiet static hum.
Why was he here? What is this place? Are these villains ?
The TV set rumbled to life, the previously blank screen now displaying the words Audio Only.
“Young one, I see you have quite the quirk. If I may ask- What will you do with such an extraordinary ability? ”
Izuku didn't hesitate to answer, despite his uncertainty he would not waver in his devotion to heroes.
“I-I want to be a h-hero. I want to help people w-with a smile, j-just like All Might!”
“Ah,” the deep voice said in a clipped tone, the tone of distaste seeping through the static filled speakers of the television set and making Izuku immediately tense.
“Kurogiri, send him to me. We have some.. Work to be done.”
“Yes, sir.”
“N-no, p-please, don’t -”
--
Izuku blinked awake with a gasp, heart pounding in his ears as he tried to sit up. Instantly he recoiled and regretted his sudden movement, wincing deeply and biting his cheek to hold in a sob at the pain that shot through his entire body. He could feel the cold sweat running down his temples from his night terrors.
Taking a deep breath, he tried to remember the relaxation exercises he practiced whenever he woke from a particularly bad nightmare- In, 2, 3, 4, 5, Out, 2, 3, 4, 5.
He lifted a trembling hand gingerly to his face and lightly rubbed his cheek, wincing at the pain emanating from the deep claw marks across his face.
With one glance at his lower body he could see the extent of the damage caused by Nikusui’s quirk. His arms were covered in bloody wounds that zigzagged around his arms, crept up his neck and torso, and then circled completely around his lower body. Dried blood kept his blood from leaking onto the floor, but it made his wounds unbearably itchy.
His skin was already a collage of different scars and wounds from the years he had spent stuck with the villains, ranging from thin, pale lines from Nikusui’s claws, jagged scars that were the work of her quirk, or just from scuffles during missions.
Izuku turned his gaze from his wounds to the walls, allowing himself a second to recollect his scattered thoughts and take a few more deep breaths.
He clenched his teeth and began climbing to his feet, leaning heavily against the wall and hissing between his teeth from the burning pain that engulfed his legs.
Tears pricked the edge of his eyes and blurred his vision, but he stayed standing, tightening his hands in white knuckled fists.
His breathing quickened to shallow gasps, his knees trembling and threatening to buckle beneath him.
Of course, the regenerative quirk Sensei had forced upon him would greatly reduce the time needed to heal. However, it didn’t mean he didn’t feel pain- In fact, the drawback of the accelerated healing quirk meant that his nerve endings were extremely sensitive- he felt twice as much pain as one normally would. It also meant he had to sleep for an incredibly long amount of time to restore his body.
That was the reason Sensei could afford to be so generous with the amount of punishments he could enforce.
Although serious injuries were quickly closed by his quirk, the scar tissue remained. Izuku slowly inspected the new crooked scars that winded down his arms and up his neck, and encircled the entirety of his chest and lower body.
When he brought his hands to his face again, he knew that he had two new twin claw marks along his cheek- courtesy of Nikusui- that overlapped with the many other facial scars that decorated his skin.
He could guess that he had been asleep for a day or two just by how healed his injuries were, but it was impossible to be certain.
He reluctantly began to stumble out of the door and make his way to the bar.
Kurogiri’s warps wouldn’t appear unless Sensei or Shigaraki ordered them to, and Shigaraki probably would enjoy the idea of Izuku hobbling through the building and struggling to get back to the main room.
Grumbling to himself angrily, he followed the hallway that he knew led to the bar where Shigaraki would be waiting. His legs still felt like they were burning, but it was nothing he couldn’t bear.
When Izuku reached the old wooden door that he knew would open into the bar, he hesitated with his hand on the doorknob.
Steeling himself and taking a deep breath, he pushed through the door with a quiet oomf .
He was unsurprised to see there were a few patrons drinking at the counter. Most of them were recognizable as villains, if the man with the literal gun hands was any inkling of that.
The only people who knew this bar for what it was had seen worse than the wounds that were slowly healing across Izuku’s face, and after an unimpressed glance in his direction, most of the patrons turned back to their conversations without a second glance.
Izuku stumbled to the bar counter and sat himself down heavily on a barstool with a groan.
Kurogiri ignored him, instead busying himself with an already clean glass and turning his gaze to the back booth, where Shigaraki was huddled and tapping away at some handheld game.
Izuku tuned out irritating blips of the game and Shigaraki’s occasional grunt of frustration and resigned himself to waiting for the last few customers to finish their drinks and leave the bar, halfheartedly listening to the news that came from a dinky old radio sitting on the bar counter.
“ Our top story this morning covers the elusive villain spotted fleeing from the Endeavor residence early yesterday. Informed sources say that the villain was attacking the No. 2 hero’s youngest son, and it was only because of Endeavor’s interference that the boy came out alive. The boy was rushed to the hospital after suffering grievous injury to his left arm, and officials say he was lucky to come out alive from an encounter with such a dangerous quirk. The police department does not currently have any intel on the individual yet, but are currently undergoing an investigation as we speak. The only information we have on the villian currently is the metal mask that covers the lower half of their face. Stay tuned folks, we’ll explain experts' thoughts on what the villains quirk might be after this short break. ”
-
Izuku awoke with a start when the back of a game controller struck his head, lifting his face from where it rested on the bar in an instant, whipping his head around and looking for the source of the sudden pain on his skull.
“ w- ”
“Wake up! You’ve got work to do. Don’t think you’re getting off easy.”
Izuku rubbed at the back of his head and grumbled, arching his back and hopping off the barstool. He turned to glare at where Shigaraki was standing with his arms crossed, receiving a scowl in return.
He mirrored the older teen’s posture, leaning back and crossing his arms with a dramatic tilt of his head and gesturing for Shigaraki to elaborate.
A bone-chilling smirk spread across Shigaraki's face, and Izuku couldn’t help tensing at the frightening expression. This could only mean bad news.
“Deku, you always have wanted to be a hero , right?” he said smugly, red eyes full of intense hatred as he spoke the word hero.
Izuku took a hesitant step backwards, feeling the intense aura of absolute batshit crazy that seemed to roll off Shigaraki in waves.
“I bet you wanted to go to Yuuei, huh?” Shigaraki took a step forward, hand twitching at his sides in manic excitement.
“Well today’s your lucky day, kid. You get to take a trip to Japan’s top hero school, isn’t that fun? ”
He suddenly dropped the act and leaned forward with a hand grasped threateningly around Izuku’s throat, index finger raised but worryingly close to touching his neck. Izuku held his breath and didn’t dare to move, eyes wide and trained on Shigaraki's hand.
“All you have to do is grab a piece of paper, ‘kay?” He looked down thoughtfully, hand still firmly held against Izuku’s skin.
“I can’t go for obvious reasons. If they know my quirk, our attack will be ruined. That’s where you come in, rogue. News that All Might ,” his red eyes lit up angrily as he spoke the name, “has taken up a job teaching at Yuuei, and the press is hungry for a story. Make a distraction and get into the building. Kurogiri will be ready to warp you there.”
The tense lines of his shoulders immediately relaxed when Shigaraki‘s hand released its grip on his throat, and Izuku brought a hand up to nurse the four finger-shaped bruises that now dotted his neck.
“Here’s the floorplan. Get to the teachers lounge and figure out where the first-years are going for their field trip.”
Izuku looked up at Shigaraki and nodded shortly, turning to acknowledge the portal that was starting to form beside him. He stepped through the warp and swallowed the lump forming in his throat.
-
Izuku had to squint his eyes at the sudden brightness that blinded him when he exited the portal, bringing his hand up to cover his eyes from the intense sunlight.
He looked around and stopped short when he caught sight of a massive archway that stood in front of a building he thought he would never see in person.
It was Yuuei, just like Shigaraki had said- All Might’s alma mater, and the top hero academy in the country.
And he was here to steal from them.
Great! Finally fulfill the life-long dream of coming to Yuuei by illegally entering the campus, stealing sensitive documents, and actively contributing to aid a direct attack on the school.
Izuku groaned and pulled his black hood over his head, pushing his hair in front of his eyes and tugging a surgical mask from his coat pocket and pulling it over the metal mouthguard that was still locked around his lower face. Couldn’t be recognized before he got into the school anyway.
With his appearance mostly concealed, he shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked to the gates of Yuuei. He trotted over to where a crowd of reporters were clustered around a few students who seemed to be struggling with the demanding reporters.
Ignoring the few microphones that were shoved his way, he carved a path through the swarm of reporters and found himself in front of an immense metal barrier that was shut tight. It seemed to work on a keycard system, but the sensors may be less superficial than they seem to ensure safety.
Despite the reinforced metal that the door was crafted from, Izuku doubted it could stand the crushing power of his quirk.
So he lifted a hand to the cool metal and pressed, feeling the familiar hum of his quirk vibrating the metal, before jumping back when the metal crumpled like tinfoil.
The reporters immediately seized their chance, stampeding through the crumbled door and calling for All Might.
Izuku didn’t hesitate either, walking slow enough not to draw attention to himself but fast enough to keep up with the crazed herd of reporters.
He looked up and saw two figures attempting to calm the reporters, who he immediately recognized as Present Mic and Eraserhead.
The reporters created enough of a distraction for him to sneak into the shadow cast by the immense building and look for another way in.
Izuku knew his time was short, and judging from the alarms blaring from the loudspeakers the school was on high alert. So he yanked his hood down further and ran to the side of the building, reaching a wall that he hoped would lead him to where he needed.
Quickly placing a palm on the wall, he felt his quirk activate, the wall collapsing in seconds .
As soon as the dust cleared, Izuku barreled through the opening in the wall and tried to remember the floorplan Shigaraki had shown him.
If 1-C was back there, and 1-B was down the opposite hall, then the teacher’s lounge should be close to 1-A, which would be..
Izuku turned the corner, giving a silent huff of relief when he saw a sign that read Teacher’s Lounge in bold text hanging above a door directly before him.
Looking around to see if there were any teachers left around and, thankfully, seeing none, he hurriedly made his way to the door and inched it open.
The door creaked open and Izuku peeked his head inside, scouring the room and once again seeing no staff members left in the room. He shoulder-checked the door open and crept into the room, eyes darting from desk to desk until they landed on a schedule hanging on a particularly messy looking desk.
There was only one object unrelated to schoolwork, and Izuku snickered when he leaned down to inspect the yellow cat bobble-head that was tucked behind the computer screen.
He lifted a careful hand to pick up the schedule from where it lay on a pile of lesson plans, skimming his eyes over the scribbled writing and giving a sigh of relief when he found what he was looking for. Sensei would probably let Shigaraki disintegrate him if he came back empty-handed again.
Shoving the paper into his pocket, he spun on his heel and made a dash for the door. The alarms were still blaring incessantly, and it seems he’d only been inside Yuuei for a few minutes at most.
Izuku halted in his sprint to get out of the school and looked around. He really was in Yuuei, huh. What a great way to finally see the school of his dreams.
He turned the corner by the teacher’s lounge with a sigh, but instantly tensed when he locked gazes with a familiar pair of mismatched eyes.
-
Ice sprung up from the floor and encapsulated Izuku in a shell of ice, and he felt his arms and legs restrained tightly. He turned his wide eyed gaze to the boy who had captured him, meeting a narrowed set of heterochromic eyes that looked quite unhappy.
His skin burned at the prolonged contact with the chilly ice and he jerked his body, trying to get free, feeling too restrained and enclosed. It was much too reminiscent of some of his punishments for his liking, and he began hyperventilating as his thoughts spiraled downwards and his breaths became short and gasping.
“You,” Todoroki said with an icy glare.
Izuku ignored the hateful utterance and continued thrashing in his bonds, feeling ice scratch painfully across his skin and the blood spring from his scrapes, although he couldn’t bring himself to quell the fear that shook him to the core, and he yanked his arm to try and escape the ice, feeling a distinctive pop as his elbow dislocated in his struggle.
Todoroki seemed to notice something was wrong, and although his features didn’t betray any emotions, he turned his head and began looking for a teacher.
Izuku felt tremors race down his back and he heard Todoroki call for assistance. Footsteps pounded in the hallways at his urgent call and his breathing quickened as the footsteps drew nearer.
Todoroki turned back to Izuku with a neutral gaze, but his tense posture betrayed his emotions. He lifted his right hand, and Izuku winced at the bumpy mess of scar tissue that ran up his arm and stopped at his shoulder.
Right, he did that.
Izuku could feel his limbs freezing, and it would only be moments until the pro heroes got here. He pulled at his arms once more and hissed in pain when his elbow was jostled out of place once more.
Izuku felt his heart jump up to his throat when a crowd of teachers and students turned the corner, all with quirks activated and weapons drawn.
“Todoroki!”
A man with shaggy, dark hair and a capture weapon clenched in his hands leapt forward, eyes glimmering red and hair floating in a messy aura around his face.
Eraserhead, his mind supplied, and he looked over the students with wide eyes and analyzed the amazing array of quirks displayed in a threatening manner.
Present Mic stood in front of the students protectively, flanked by Midnight, both looking properly angry and ready to engage in combat.
Eraserhead motioned for Todoroki to get back, which he gave a curt nod to and joined the rest of his peers with an icy puff of air. The underground hero turned to another boy, this one tall and well built with some sort of quirk in his legs- it looked like engines of some sort, probably a speed quirk. The bespectacled boy took off in an instant- definitely a speed quirk - in the opposite direction, probably to notify the headmaster.
Midnight stepped forward then, hands fisted in the thin fabric of her hero costume. The students and teachers moved backwards, and Midnight took another step forward, ripping the fabric back in a flurry of pink dust.
Izuku was for once thankful for the muzzle that covered his lower face, feeling the mechanism that filtered his air whirr to life and make sure none of Midnight’s noxious gas got into his system. He knew Midnight couldn’t keep it up forever, seeing the crowd of students as well as teachers waiting behind her.
Izuku clenched his teeth and made the decision to play along. He hung his head and let his body fall limp, despite the burning claustrophobia that was clawing a hole through his stomach. His mussed bangs fell in front of his eyes and he let his tense shoulders loosen, ignoring the crawling sensation dancing across his skin from the touch of the ice.
He forced his eyes shut, praying his rapid hyperventilations would slow down enough to sell his act long enough to make his escape.
Izuku took measured breaths and waited, almost sighing in relief when he felt the cloud of mist around his head dissipate.
He strained his ears to listen for the clicking of Midnight’s heels as she stepped cautiously towards him.
Midnight’s voice came out relieved as she announced to the gathered group he was apprehended.
He barely restrained a flinch when a hand came uncomfortably close to his shoulder, a warmth blazing from the palm and slowly melting the ice that kept him restrained.
Izuku felt the ice that kept his legs tightly bound was slowly being melted away, and it took all of his willpower to not bolt then and there.
When the ice holding him upright was finally melted away, he let himself fall limp to the ground in a tangle of limbs. He bit down a whimper of pain that threatened to escape from his throat at the jostling of his dislocated elbow, managing, barely, to keep silent.
He heard Midnight’s telltale footsteps click-clacked as she backed away, the soft padding of Eraserhead’s silent stride replacing them when he began moving forward. He felt Eraserhead’s quirk at work, but he knew Eraser could only erase one quirk at a time- that’s why his wounds hadn’t begun to close yet.
So he waited another moment, just one more step and he can make a break for it-
At the sound of Eraserhead’s foot hitting the ground, Izuku jumped up from the ground and scrambled backwards, eyes blown wide and hands trembling as he did a 180 and bolted for the exit, feet scrabbling on the floor and dodging multiple varieties of quirks thrown his way.
He heard Eraserhead coming behind him and he didn’t dare turn back to look, instead increasing his sprint down the hall. The hallway rumbled with Present Mic’s quirk, and he nearly tripped from the enthusiastic screech that thundered behind him.
And just then- he saw it, the opening in the wall he had gotten in through, he was so close-
Eraserhead’s capture weapon shot from where it was wrapped around the man’s neck and secured itself around his legs, and Izuku crashed to the floor with a muffled SHIT! that was quickly cut off by Eraserhead knocking him to the ground and tying him up with brutal efficiency.
The man’s messy hair was floating above his head, eyes glowing red and glaring at where Izuku lay face down on the floor.
The firm grip of Eraserhead’s hands on Izuku’s shoulders made him nauseous, and he nearly choked on the bile that came rising up throat. He tried to pull away in a frantic movement, trying desperately to buck the underground hero off of him, but his breathing quickened once again when he couldn’t shake Eraser’s vice grip.
The scruffy pro hero quickly lifted his hand and brought it down hard across Izuku’s skull, sending him into a spinning black void of unconsciousness.
-
Shouta Aizawa was having a good day. Hell, he was having a great day, even.
Keyword there though- was.
Today was going pretty well, compared to most. Mic had brought him an extra cup of coffee (honestly, bless that man sometimes) and he didn’t have any work that he had to grade as he had finished it late last night.
However, the moment the security alarms began blaring in his ears, he knew it was all going to shit. Because why should he have a good day, god forbid?
And here he is, watching Midnight knock out a villain that had managed to sneak onto school grounds while he was outside trying to get reporters off of school property.
It was somewhat frustrating, turning the corner to the teacher’s lounge and seeing Todoroki, one of his more aloof students, standing in front of a human-sized chunk of ice.
Inside the cocoon of ice was a child. Because why not?
It was jarring, seeing the villain, who looked no older than the students in his class. A little small for their- he? she? it was hard to tell with the curly green locks covering the majority of their face - age, no doubt, but a child nonetheless. The influence of villains on the kid’s life must have been prominent to sway them to this life.
The kid looked downright terrified, green eyes widened in fear and trembling to the bone. Of course, that may just be the ice, but it was pathetic either way.
Nonetheless, they were trespassing on Yuuei ground, no doubt trying to steal something, which made them a villain. He would not go easy on a villain if it meant endangering his students, no matter how old they may be.
“ Todoroki! ” He called, running up beside the two-toned boy and standing between him and the villain, activating his quirk and staring at the restrained villain with a threatening flash of his quirk. His capture weapon was clenched tightly in his fists, hovering around his head menacingly.
The rest of his colleagues and students brought up the rear, skidding to a stop behind him and gasping and conversing in hushed whispers. Aizawa shot a quick glance to Midnight and gave the tiniest of acknowledging nods, and stepped back, motioning for the others to do the same.
“Iida, go notify Nedzu of the situation. Now! ”
The engine legged boy nodded and dashed towards the principal’s office, the engines in his legs flaring to life as he skidded down the hallways.
The villain’s wide green eyes swept the crowd, blinking with recognition when he gazed at each of the pro heroes. Annoyingly enough, despite his status as an underground hero, the villain seemed to light up in recognition when his eyes met Aizawa’s own.
Midnight brought a hand to her hero costume and pulled it back with a puff of pink mist, and Aizawa made sure to keep a respectful distance from the cloud of gas. The green haired villain was concealed in the pink haze, and after a moment the cloud dissipated.
The villain was slumped over in the ice, head hanging limply and eyes covered in the messy green bangs that drooped forward.
Aizawa sighed and turned to Todoroki, jerking his head towards the hunk of ice and giving him a pointed look.
Todoroki only nodded and stepped forward again, extending a hand towards the unconscious villain and starting the slow process of thawing the ice.
When the ice was melted, Aizawa watched as the villain fell to the ground with a thud and then began to move in to restrain him properly.
He took a step forward and dug in his pockets for his capture tape and cuffs, then stalked towards the unconscious villain.
Aizawa jumped back when the villain suddenly scrambled to his feet and bolted, bounding down the halls and out of sight.
He cursed and ran after the escaping child, gripping his capture weapon tightly and sprinting after him. He pulled his goggles from his neck and pushed them over his eyes, taking off after the villain with a frustrated groan.
It was surprisingly tricky to catch up to the boy, he could definitely run faster than his small stature would suggest. Aizawa took a running leap and barrelled into the villain’s back, knocking the wind from the boy and pushing him to the ground, which he quickly restrained with his capture weapon.
Taking no chances, he brought his hand in a jab to the boy’s head and felt him go limp underneath the restraints- this time, he was sure the kid was finally unconscious.
The students and teachers came up behind him, quirks out and ready for a fight.
Aizawa activated his own quirk again, despite the itching soreness he could feel flaring up in his eyes.
“You kids, go to Class 1-B while I deal with this. If I hear any of you disobeyed my orders, you will be expelled. Got it?”
The students all nodded hastily and turned to enter Class 1-B’s door, chattering in hushed tones and sending wary glances towards the slumped boy that was tied in Aizawa’s capture gear.
Bakugou, another one of his more troubled students, didn’t move from where he was standing, despite Aizawa’s warning. His normal scowl was absent on his face, wide red eyes trained on the green haired boy Aizawa had restrained.
“Bakugou, last warning.”
The boy blinked and the scowl settled back across his face, brow furrowing and eyes narrowing in anger. He didn’t say a word, but turned around and walked with his hands in his pockets towards Class 1-B.
With the students finally gone, Aizawa looked to his colleagues, all mirroring his worried expression.
Hizashi was the first to break the tense silence.
“He’s young,” the voice hero whispered in a hushed voice and an unhappy frown, a stark contrast from his usual exuberant tone and goofy grin.
Midnight hummed her agreement beside him, brows scrunched thoughtfully as she gazed down at the shockingly young villain that lay on the floor before them. She looked to Aizawa with a slightly smug curl of her lips, eyes mirthful despite the circumstances. He nearly groaned.
Aizawa sighed heavily, then leaned down towards the kid and lifted him onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes with ease.
Worryingly enough, the kid felt like he was 20 pounds lighter than what he should be, even for his height.
“Come on,” he grumbled with an annoyed roll of his eyes, “We should take him to Recovery Girl before we send him to be interrogated. God knows what villains would do to a kid like this.”
Mic gave a half-hearted chuckle in an attempt to lighten the mood, and Aizawa scowled and turned to walk towards the nurse’s office with the boy slung over his shoulder.
-
Aizawa pushed open the door of the nurse’s office with Midnight and Mic in tow, meeting a very irritated looking Recovery Girl and an all too cheery looking Nedzu.
“Out of my office, the lot of you!” She growled, waving her cane threateningly at the hovering teachers.
Aizawa watched Mic mumble an apology and follow Midnight out the door and back towards the classrooms, then turned his gaze towards Nedzu with a slight tilt of his head.
“Ah, Aizawa! Is this the one I’ve heard about?” The small rodent said with a wide smile, beady eyes sharp and calculating in ways that definitely did not belong on an animal.
Aizawa gave a hum of confirmation and set the boy down onto the bed Recovery Girl had prepared, watching as she clipped on a set of quirk restraining cuffs and secured the kid’s pale arms to the hospital bed.
“Necessary precaution?” He looked to Nedzu, seeing that look in the principal’s eyes that sent a shiver down his spine.
“Mmm, I believe it to be rightly so. That metal mouthguard ring a bell, Eraserhead?”
Aizawa looked down at the boy’s face, getting a good look at the young boy for the first time that day. Recovery Girl had swept the hair from his face to take a temperature, showcasing in gruesome detail the discolored scars that covered nearly all of the kid’s skin, leaving no smooth skin that he could see.
As Nedzu had said, there was some sort of metal support item that covered the boy’s lower face, stopping short just under his eyes and across the middle of his nose.
“The mouthguard.. The villain that attacked Endeavor’s house had a mouthguard, didn’t he?”
Nedzu gave another beaming smile. “Precisely! Sharp as ever, Eraserhead. Now, Todoroki was the one who found the villain, correct?”
Aizawa nodded, still raking his eyes over the boy and inspecting every bit of skin he could see (which wasn’t much, considering the long sleeved black undershirt that covered the majority of his arms and neck. What he could see, though, was covered in an array of varied scars that didn’t have any business on a 14-year old’s body.
“So you’re saying this is an attack on Todoroki, specifically?”
Nedzu looked away thoughtfully, beady eyes instead trailing over the unconscious boy’s body, no doubt inspecting the scars that covered his skin.
“I’m certainly saying it’s a possibility, but we can’t know for sure until we ask!”
Aizawa gave his grumbled response and turned to leave the room.
“He’s not leaving this office until I make sure his vitals are fine, you hear me?” Recovery Girl snarled at the principal, swatting him with her cane and giving him a threatening glare.
“Of course. The police station has been notified and they’re sending a detective now, when you deem him fit to be sent in for questioning we’ll let them know.”
Recovery Girl grunted her reply and turned her glare to Aizawa, shooing him out the door and slamming it behind him.
-
“Deku, what have you done now?”
The man in the suit towered over him, eyes gleaming something sinister even as he spoke in a sickly sweet tone that made Izuku’s skin crawl.
He tutted chidingly, leaning down and resting a heavy hand onto the small boy’s nest of curls, carding through his thick locks gently in a manner that should be comforting. The effect was immediate- The boy’s shoulders tensed and his eyes widened, glazed with a thick sheen of tears that threatened to fall at any moment.
“What to do with you?” The man hummed, speaking nonchalantly as if discussing the weather.
He let his hand fall from the boy’s hair and to his shoulder, suddenly dropping the fake nice act and gripping the quivering boy’s shoulder with his large hand. His mouth had dropped the soft hint of a smile and morphed to a stone cold mask that radiated disappointment.
He leaned his head closer to Izuku, whispering words that made the Izuku’s breath hitch.
“What would your mother say, Deku?”
Izuku’s eyes snapped open, and he tried to get up from the bed he laid on with a frantic yank, giving a panicked cry when he found his wrists strapped to the bed’s metal railing. His breathing quickened as he felt the walls close in, pulling wildly at the cuffs on his hands, feeling the nearly healed scrapes from the ice reopening in his struggle.
He could hear the monitor beside him speed up with his increasing heartbeat, but he couldn’t care less. His skin burned , and he couldn’t get free- he tried to scream, but the only thing that came out was a muffled garble of sounds.
“-insou!”
Izuku barely registered the footsteps running towards him, the hands reaching out to grab him-
He flinched hard when hands grabbed his shoulders and held him down, further restricting his movement and making his skin crawl- Ohgodhe’sgoingtohurtherhe’sgoingtoKILLher
“ -alm down! We aren’t going to do anything, calm down! Can you hear me?”
Izuku jerked away from the hands, pulling desperately at the cuffs and trying to get the hands away .
“- Mff ”
And then he froze, unable to do anything more than keep his breathing steady. He heard a soft sigh, but with the static haze clouding his vision, he couldn’t tell who stood before him. It sounded like there were 2 or 3 people crowded around him, and he wanted to get them away, but his body wasn’t responding.
“We aren’t going to hurt you,” a low voice spoke, loud and clear in his ears, ringing around his head and making him dizzy.
“Take deep breaths and calm down. You’re okay, just calm down. We just need to ask you some questions.”
Izuku took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then released it. He repeated this a few times against his will, feeling his heartbeat slow back down to his regular pace.
“I’m going to release my quirk now. Don’t freak out, alright?”
Izuku felt himself absently nodding, head bobbing in a slow mechanical movement. In an instant he was back, and he took a sharp inhale when the cotton in his head was suddenly dissipated. He whipped his head to the side and saw 2 figures- Eraserhead and - wait, who was that? - hovering beside the bedside, eyes trained on him carefully.
Trying to keep his breathing under control, his eyes darted to the other figure beside him. It was a tall, lanky boy with lean muscle below his school uniform, with dark eye bags that mirrored Eraserhead’s sitting below his neutral purple eyes. He had a shock of purple hair that splayed in every direction, quite reminiscent of Izuku’s unruly bedhead.
A brainwashing quirk?
The sound of a throat clearing sent his eyes darting back towards the two figures. Izuku’s jade eyes widened when Eraserhead’s capture weapon started moving , and lo and behold an actual rat ( Mouse? Bear? Dog? ) hopped out from inside the capture weapon.
“You’re awake! I hope you wouldn’t mind answering some questions now that you’re feeling alright?”
The animal spoke cheerfully, but a sharp undertone that suggested there was no room for argument made Izuku nervous.
Of course, the rat didn’t wait for Izuku to respond ( not that he could, anyway ). He simply flashed Izuku a wide grin that was unmatched by his beady eyes and tugged on Eraserhead’s capture weapon, almost as if tugging on a horse’s reins.
The gruff hero complied with a grumble of discontentment, walking towards the door to the nurse’s office that Izuku wished he could get out through.
He swung open the door, revealing a rather plain looking man in a trenchcoat and a wide hat that matched his jacket.
“Ah, you’re ready for questioning?” The man spoke in a boring tone that matched his plain appearance, turning his head to look at the white animal perched on Eraserhead’s shoulder.
“If you wouldn’t mind Detective Tsukauchi, we’d like to begin,” the animal smiled, the action looking less superficial than the broad grin he had shown Izuku before that more resembled baring his teeth if anything else.
The detective gave him a short nod and turned to Izuku, fixing him with a neutral glare. The student sat down in the chairs near the front of the room, watching Izuku with a gaze that looked uninterested but in all reality was keen and searching for any signs of aggression in his body language.
Izuku fidgeted in his seat, hands itching to be free from the restraints and face burning under the detective’s scrutinizing glare. His shoulders were set in a tense line and he had a slight tremor that shook his fingertips, but he held the detective’s gaze stubbornly.
The man pulled a pad of yellow legal paper and a pen from his jacket pocket, flipping to a blank page and clearing his throat.
“We can start simple. Who are you?”
Izuku attempted to speak, but the only thing he managed to choke out was a quiet squeak.
Abandoning any attempts to actually speak, he began tapping his fingers on the side of the bed, turning to the rodent, who seemed much more intelligent than he would appear, with a meaningful look.
tap tap tap tap
The detective seemed confused at first, but it seemed that the white creature in the tiny vest perked up.
“Morse code?” He chirped, tilting his head to the side in a surprisingly animalistic manner with a flick of his ears.
Izuku nodded hesitantly, trying to repeat his message again for the rest of them to hear.
tap tap tap tap
“Can’t talk.. Muzzle?” the detective piped up slowly, eyes trailing down to the metal mouthguard that was tightly clamping Izuku’s jaw shut.
Izuku nodded vigorously, tapping out his next message much more rapidly with a desperate look in his eye.
taptap tap tap tap
“Help me,” Eraserhead murmured under his breath, shaking his head slowly and leaning forward.
“It seems our guest here might need some assistance with his muzzle!” Nedzu spoke brightly, gaze flickering over the skeleton-like figure, but eventually landing on Eraserhead, nodding for the hero to attempt to open the muzzle.
When Eraserhead took a step towards Izuku, however, the green haired boy shrunk back into the bed and started shaking his head wildly and trying to pull away as far as he could from the teacher. He tapped out a shaky message with trembling hands, eyes wide and darting from each of the teacher’s faces.
tap tap tap
“It’s locked by a quirk?” the detective inquired, taking a respectful step backwards to avoid overwhelming the exasperated boy that was currently curling up on the hospital bed.
tap tap tap tap
“Don’t touch,” the emaciated man translated in a raspy voice from beside Izuku, leaning forward to inspect the metal mouthpiece that clung to his lower face.
Izuku nodded, green curls bouncing as his head bobbed up and down.
He watched with wary eyes when Eraserhead’s eyes glowed red once more, fixing the muzzle with a molten glare. To his despair, however, the muzzle remained locked tight.
He cast his gaze down to the bedsheets, letting his hair fall in a thick curtain over his eyes, poorly concealing the tears tracking down his face from the gathered heroes ( and the strange purple haired boy the kind of looked like Eraserhead’s son that hadn’t spoken so much as a word since he woke up ).
The adults were quiet, looking amongst each other, all sharing the same lost expression. Nedzu, however, looked much too happy for the grim situation.
“I would be correct in assuming you are not working with the villains by choice?” The rodent’s cheery voice starkly juxtaposed with his tense posture and the impatient swishing of his tail.
Izuku nodded hesitantly, lifting his head to look at the animal with an owlish stare, eyes red from tears that he couldn’t wipe away.
“I have an offer for you! How does this sound? You stay at Yuuei and our staff offers full-time protection from whoever is looking for you, and in return, you tell us everything you know about the villains responsible for your.. Situation.”
The teachers around him appeared unfazed by the sudden bargaining coming from their principal, but they were smart enough not to question the intelligence of their superior.
A pitiful sob escaped his throat, low and ugly and raw with emotion that
he was finally safe.