Chapter Text
“Tell us where they are.”
“For the last time, I’m not saying a thing!” Murai insists, banging a hand onto the interrogation table despite the cuff wrapped around his wrists.
“This doesn’t need to be difficult. Just tell us where they are and I promise everything will be okay.” Tsukauchi pressures, his fist clenching under the table. They’re so close. “What’s the point of protecting them?”
“I’m not protecting them! I’m protecting myself, don’t you see?! If I snitch…”
“Even if you don’t say anything tonight, All For One has already lost any use for you. Doesn’t matter what you say, you’ll be dead before you can explain yourself.” Murai seemed as if he was about to retort, but Tsukauchi beat him to it. “But, if you say what we need to hear right now, you’ll be put into protective custody until we’ve arrested him. You’ll be safe."
“Do you not already know where he is?” Murai asks, wondering why they’re trying so hard when he’s already got one foot in the grave.
“No. Why would you think that?”
“Your vigilante friend made me tell her. She threatened me! You’re saying she didn’t tell you the moment she found out?”
“If what you’re saying is the full truth, then no.” Tsukauchi informs, looking behind him through the two-way glass in concern where Shota and All Might are watching the scene unfold.
Shota walks up to the microphone and sighs before speaking. “She didn’t say a word to me, just up and left pretty much the minute I showed up.” He confirms.
“Right.” Tsukauchi whispers to himself before turning back around and facing Murai. “Just tell us what you told her, that’ll be the last time we’ll ask you about this.”
“Christ…” Murai groans. “They’re located in a warehouse on Shore Street. That’s where I was told to go for specific meetings. All For One never showed himself there, but many other members did.”
“Like who?”
“Kurogiri, Arona, and myself.” Murai says. “There were other dudes there, but I don’t think they were official members like us. They were more like guards...”
---
As Inko approaches the warehouse, she’s glad that the artist didn’t lie to her. The place looks suspicious enough on its own, with guards patrolling the perimeter of the building. From an outside perspective, it just looks as if regular cops are watching over the place to prevent any vandalism, but Inko knows better now.
She spends a few minutes just observing the officers. How they patrol, what their patterns are, how to get past them. Inko knows she’s on a time limit, especially since Murai is now in custody.
There are two sets of patrols, as far as Inko can see. One is by the back of the building, while the other is by the front - where Inko is currently watching. She reckons she could get by without being spotted if there’s a way in by the roof. Like a vent or skylight, though not many warehouses have skylights. Vents it is then.
After watching their routines, she warily approaches the building, making sure to move when she’s sure the guards won’t spot her. She climbs up a rickety drain pipe attached to the wall that leads to the roof, praying to herself that it won’t break as she clambers up. Every now and then she pauses in her ascent, listening out for the footsteps of the guards and for any sign of the pipe collapsing.
So far things are in her favour. Inko climbs to the roof successfully without alerting anyone to her position.
She grins to herself as she notices some vent entrances in the middle of the roof. Inko walks up to it, inspecting it for a moment before picking up the opening, bending her knees under the weight before placing it beside her. It’s pitch black within the vents, and so Inko pulls out a small torch from her utility belt she keeps for emergencies, and clicks it on before vaulting over into the vent.
It’s when she’s entered the place she realises she has no idea where to go. This was quite last minute, she supposes, but Inko can’t just waste time crawling over the whole building in the vents hoping for a glimpse of Arona. She’s sure the police are on their way already, she has to finish this quickly.
Inko passes by more unsuspecting guards as she crawls through the tight space of the vents aimlessly. This isn’t going to work. She’s making her way around the building too slowly, with no real plan, and she bets the police are hot on her tail already.
Looking through the air duct’s slits, she comes across a room that looks as if a murder or two occurred within it. There’s blood splattered across the room, some fresh, some not. There’s a stained chair placed in the centre of the room, ripped up duct tape stuck onto the armrests and front chair legs - as if someone had been there recently.
It makes Inko’s stomach churn.
Just what could’ve happened in there? And why? So many questions with so little answers. Inko takes a breath through her mouth, her nose unable to stand the metallic stench from the room and decides to move on to the next duct in the vents, unable to stay any longer than she needs to.
The next brings a grin to Inko’s face, her sickness long forgotten as her eyes lay on the one person she’s been looking for all night. Arona. Sitting there with one leg over the other as she’s distracted with something on a computer.
It’s the perfect opportunity.
She seems to be alone, and just as Inko’s about to bust in, she hears a door opening just beyond what she can see from the air duct.
“Miss Arona,” the voice starts, and Inko doesn’t recognise it. “The meeting will commence in ten minutes, make sure you are well prepared.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think there’ll be any meeting tonight.” She replies, looking up from her computer for a moment and looking in probably the direction of the other voice.
“What makes you say that?”
“Word got out that Murai had been arrested. The moles in the department sure are quick with it.” Arona replies, looking back at her screen intensely. “It’ll be a matter of time before the heroes get here. Murai hadn’t ever been the strong-willed type.” She says with a sigh.
“You think he’d betray us?” The voice speaks up, and Inko really wishes she can see further to at least get a face with the deep voice she’s hearing. Then she processes her words. Tsukauchi definitely was not paranoid for suspecting people in the department to be moles, that’s for sure.
“Maybe reluctantly.”
“I’ll be sure to let Sensei know.”
“You do that, I’ll work on this for the time being.” Arona nods without looking up from her computer. Maybe she’s looking at the camera system? Or putting up security measures around the warehouse now that they’re aware the heroes are most definitely on their way? Either way, Inko can’t let her go on.
Once she’s sure the other occupant of the room has left, she unsheathes a throwing blade from her holster and smashes her way into the room by elbowing the air duct below her and swiftly making her way down. She instantly finds her footing, throwing the knife in Arona’s direction with no hesitation in her body.
The knife misses her head by an inch, the blade embedding itself into the couch she’s settled on. Her eyes are blown wide before they narrow on Inko’s ragged form, her breathing uneven and harsh. Her throat feels dry, especially now there’s no way out but to fight her husband’s killer.
“Hm.” Arona regards Inko with a look, taking a breath before getting up from her seated position in no real hurry to get started. She flashes Inko a predatory grin, leaving no warning to the vigilante before she leaps at her, slashing her own knife erratically, forcing Inko on the defensive. She backs up step after step, but Arona keeps getting too close. Uncomfortably so.
“I was wondering when you’d find this place.” Arona starts, but Inko isn’t listening and instead focusing on not being affected by her quirk. It’s hard, and the dizziness is making her movements sloppy. Inko eventually feels the wall crash into her back, Arona taking the opportunity to pin her there and press her knife threateningly over her neck. Reminiscent of how she acted towards Murai earlier that night.
“You definitely put up more of a fight, but that simply wasn’t enough.” Arona huffs, pressing the knife deeper into her throat hard enough to draw a bead of blood. “It definitely wasn’t enough for your husband, that’s for sure. If anything, he gave up the moment I entered that house and used my quirk on him. Kind of like how you reacted your first time, except he wasn’t as lucky as you were.”
All of a sudden, at the mention of Hisashi, Inko feels her blood boiling beneath her skin. Her grimace contorts into a snarl, glaring daggers through Arona’s eyes. All too quickly she pushes Arona from her position with a newfound energy, remembering who this is all for. Inko aims for Arona’s wrists, loosening her grip of her knife enough for her to drop it, the metallic sound echoing around the room as it hits the ground.
Her husband? Giving up? Sounds nothing like the man she used to know.
“Shut up!” Inko yells, pulling out another knife from her own arsenal and pouncing at the villain in front of her. How dare she even suggest such a thing!
She manages to get a slice in on Arona’s cheek, albeit shallower than Inko would’ve hoped for. Despite that, it’s enough to take the villain by surprise and allow Inko to get another hit in, this time on her shoulder with a cut that’s much deeper than the one on Arona’s face. Inko grins, teeth bared, as Arona comes to her senses and dodges out of the way of another slash coming her way. She looks rattled, glancing at Inko in a new light.
“You shouldn’t be able to think right now!” Arona yells, her eyes blown wide in confusion. Inko snarls at her, her breathing uneven as she tries to catch it. Inko brings up an arm to wipe at her forehead, wiping away the uncomfortable feeling of sweat building there.
“What-” Arona doesn’t get to finish her sentence as a myriad of guards burst into the room, guns at the ready and pointed at Inko. Arona smiles at Inko smugly, raising a hand towards the guards to signal not to shoot. Yet.
“Well, Juniper,” the villain chuckles, “it seems you’re all out of ideas.”
Just then, a grey rope of some kind wraps itself around a couple of guards by the entrance, picking them up and smashing them together hard enough to knock them out. Inko sighs in relief. She knows who that rope belongs to.
“Not quite.” Eraserhead replies for her, immediately fighting against the other guards that are by the door. Gunshots ring out across the room. She turns over a table to hide behind and once she’s settled Inko looks over to see if Eraser is okay. She finds him seemingly fine for the moment as he swiftly disarms the guards with his capture weapon before going in for the kill. And by that she means he knocks them out, of course.
Inko turns her attention back to searching for Arona during the chaos, only to find her fleeing through a different door. Inko gets out from her spot, feeling as if she’s got tunnel vision. Her only aim is to make sure Arona doesn’t get away.
As she’s sprinting to the door Arona fled through, a stray gunshot embeds itself into her left calf. Inko doesn’t feel any immediate pain, though after putting pressure on the leg she cries out and collapses to the floor.
“Juniper!” Inko hears Eraser yells from somewhere across the room, though she’s not sure where exactly. Eventually the sounds of shots dwindle down, but her head continues to ring anyway. Inko adjusts her position on the ground to one where she leans her back on the wall, making it easier to assess her injury.
It’s bleeding profusely, crimson gushing out of the wound as she hisses in pain. She distantly hears footsteps approach her, and looks up when the source of the footsteps crouches by her.
“Eraser…” Inko starts, without really knowing what to say. It's not her first time getting shot, though she’ll admit it’s been quite a while.
“You’ll be okay, Juniper. It’s okay.” Eraser comforts uncharacteristically, slicing a clean section of his capture weapon and applying pressure to Inko’s wound. Her face scrunches up into a grimace, to which Eraser winces in sympathy.
Inko thinks a few minutes have passed of Eraser treating her, though she’s not entirely sure. She vaguely hears a commotion nearby, though she doesn’t know what’s causing it.
“Are you hurt?” She asks.
“Just a few bumps, I’m fine.”
“Huh.” Inko hums, glancing back down to her gunshot wound. It feels as though it’s burning under her skin. “That’s good…”
“I don’t think the bullet hit anything important. It doesn’t seem to be bleeding that much anymore.” Eraser explains, pulling out some gauze from his utility belt and wrapping it up for the time being. “The heroes are here now and almost to our location.”
Inko doesn’t know why he’s telling her this, and Eraser must know from her continued silence.
“You should be getting out of here before you’re caught.” He explains.
“I can’t walk like this.” Inko counters, gesturing to her calf.
“You don’t have a choice. Not unless you want to get arrested tonight?” Eraser sighs, standing up from beside Inko to offer a hand to her. “C’mon, I'll help.”
Inko takes a steadying breath before accepting his hand, allowing herself to be pulled up by Eraser and immediately regretting it when her leg flares up with pain.
“Fucking hell…” Inko whispers, steadying herself as she clings to Eraser’s arm, only to lose her balance as the earth shakes beneath them, but Eraser was quick to support her before she collapsed completely. Any other day she’d be embarrassed about the amount of vulnerability she’s showing, but right now all she can think about is the pain radiating throughout her leg, and wondering what the hell that was.
All too slowly, Eraser guides her towards a corner within the room where there’s a bunch of boxes and crates piled up. He sets her down behind a box, out of sight from anyone who may come through into the room.
“Stay here. I’ll come find you when this all blows over, okay?” Eraser informs her, waiting for Inko’s response before leaving. She nods in acknowledgment, knowing she won’t stay long enough for him to come back for her. He nods back anyway, running off in the direction of the sounds of fighting in the distance.
Now that she’s alone, she can’t help but feel pissed off at herself. Inko had her! She was going to catch Arona, and make her pay for what she did to Hisashi. But she got away. She let her get away. It’s all her fault. If only she didn’t get shot, she would’ve caught up to her and wouldn’t have wasted Eraser’s time and resources to help her.
She’s so useless. Just as Arona said when they first met. Nothing she does is ever enough, and now she’s injured and without a safe and immediate exit near her.
Could this night get any worse?
---
“You got that, Eraser?” Tsukauchi asks over the comms in Shota’s ear. He grunts an affirmative response, surveying the warehouse in question. The minute Murai revealed where it was, he immediately made his way to the place. Tsukauchi has been filling him in on the interrogation happening still within the department, and is now aware of the possible enemies he could encounter in the building.
“It seems their patrols were undisturbed. Either Juniper hasn’t arrived yet, or she’s just that stealthy.” Shota reports into the comms, his capture scarf waving in the wind from where he’s perched on a nearby roof.
“Most likely the latter. We know just how elusive she is.”
“I’m going in, be on standby.”
“Be careful, back-up will arrive in five minutes.”
“Roger.” Shota says before leaping into action. He first aims for the guards by the front of the building, knocking them out efficiently before they have the chance to pull an alarm. It’s easy to take people off guard once their quirks have been erased, that’s for sure.
Shota makes sure to take care of the next patrol group before entering the building, his every step echoing around the hall despite his attempts to walk quieter. He sees some guards down the hall as he peers over the edge of a wall, but he doesn’t have to deal with them at that moment as they run off in the opposite direction Shota is in.
That’s unusual.
Well Shota is not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, that’s for sure. He takes off in the direction they left, curious to see what they must be busy with.
As he approaches, he hears a voice speak out in the room he assumes the guards went into.
“...it seems you’re all out of ideas.” Shota only catches the end of the sentence, but even then he makes his way into the room and catches two guards with his scarf, knocking them out against each other before the others have time to react.
“Not quite.” He responds gruffly, observing the room. He quickly spots Juniper in the room, the woman looking a little worse for wear than he remembers. Immediately, the rest of the guards catch up to the situation and begin shooting at him. He tries his best to avoid them, taking them out one by one, but he ends up getting grazed by a couple bullets as he does so. Nothing too serious, but could be problematic without medical attention soon.
Shota continues fighting, too full of adrenaline to even feel his injuries, and swiftly ends the fight by yanking their guns from their grip with his capture weapon and then knocking them out easily with their quirks erased.
The guards were not made of muscle, and seemed to rely on their weapons and quirks instead of brute strength, which worked out perfectly for him. It’s then when he notices Juniper collapse onto the ground, his heart pumping wildly in his chest at the sight.
“Juniper!” He calls out, dealing with the last guard before making his way to her side as she drags herself against the wall.
“Eraser…” Juniper starts with a faraway look in her eyes. Shota looks down at her in concern, observing her frame for where she’s been hurt. He eventually finds it when he notices there’s blood gushing out of her calf.
“You’ll be okay, Juniper. It’s okay.” Eraser reassures her, tearing a clean section of his capture weapon without a second thought and applies pressure to Juniper’s wound. Her face scrunches up into a grimace under her mask, to which Shota gives her a sympathetic look. It’s not easy getting shot.
As he waits for the bleeding to stop, he hears the sound of people entering the warehouse and listens to them start fights within the building. A moment later Tsukauchi talks into his comms, explaining that his backup has now arrived.
His attention is brought back to Juniper when she asks, “are you hurt?”
“Just a few bumps, I’m fine.” He responds, continuing to ignore his own injuries he’d gotten earlier.
“Huh.” Juniper hums, glancing back down to her gunshot wound. “That’s good…”
“I don’t think the bullet hit anything important. It doesn’t seem to be bleeding that much anymore.” Shota explains, pulling out some gauze from his utility belt and wrapping it up for the time being. “The heroes are here now and almost to our location.”
Shota blinks at Juniper’s silence, realising she must be more out of it than he thought.
“You should be getting out of here before you’re caught.” He continues.
“I can’t walk like this.” Juniper counters, gesturing to her calf, which is a…decent point to make.
“You don’t have a choice. Not unless you want to get arrested tonight?” He sighs, standing up from his crouched position to offer a hand to her. “C’mon, I'll help.”
She takes a steadying breath before accepting his hand, allowing herself to be pulled up by him and Shota can tell just how much agony she must be in when she hisses in pain.
“Fucking hell…” Juniper whispers, clinging onto Shota’s arm for support when suddenly the ground begins to shake, leaving Juniper unbalanced and Shota rushing to keep her steady. Was it an earthquake? He helps guide her to a secluded corner of the room, the boxes piled allowing for great cover to any onlookers or guns that may encounter her. Shota helps lay her down behind a crate.
“Stay here. I’ll come find you when this all blows over, okay?” Shota informs her, nodding in response to Juniper’s nod, taking that as silent permission to leave and that she’ll be okay without him for the time being.
With Juniper safe and out of the way, Shota briskly makes his way to the action. He hopes Juniper snaps out of it soon enough, it would be unfortunate for her to be caught over something like this. Officially, he’s supposed to be trying to capture her. He knows he’s supposed to, but he just can’t bring himself to.
Shota already lost Juniper once.
He will not lose her again.
“What’s the situation?” Shota demands into his comms, approaching the battle scene.
“ Eraser! You’re okay!” Tsukauchi sighs in relief. “ You didn’t respond, we thought something happened to you.”
“Well, I’m here now. What’s going on?” Shota asks again, turning a corner in the warehouse and stopping in his tracks.
“ This battle is bigger than anything we’ve seen before…” Tsukauchi begins, though Shota has stopped listening, observing what he’s seeing in front of him.
This half of the building had been completely demolished. That must’ve been what caused that supposed ‘earthquake’.
Beyond the rubble and settling dust, he surveys a multitude of heroes at the scene each fighting with some lackey. There’s some heroes he recognises like Ingenium and Midnight, though there’s many he doesn’t know. It doesn’t matter, though. They’re all doing their part. Shota begins to erase some villains' quirks to help the heroes finish their battles quickly whilst simultaneously taking on villains himself, wrapping them in his capture scarf and swiftly knocking them out.
Suddenly the fighting ceases for a moment as every hero, villain and civilian looks further down and spots All Might grinning down at a white-haired man in a suit. Everyone is captivated by the sight, and Shota barely registers the faraway voice of Tsukauchi in his ear.
“ All For One… ”
Shota promptly chokes on his own spit.
That’s All For One?
Both All Might and All For One seem to be talking about something, though Shota can’t hear over the sounds of people starting back up their fights after the initial shock wears off.
Shota tries to ignore the sounds of harsh hitting fists into skin and climbs to the roof of a nearby building. Far enough away from All Might and All For One so there’s no threat of getting hurt, but close enough that he has All For One in his sights. He makes it in time to see All For One pierce All Might’s skin with some sort of tendril on the left side of his body, All Might spitting out his own blood as All For One yanks back his tentril. Shota grimaces at the sight.
He notices All Might reel back his fist in preparation of a most definitely devastating blow despite the damage inflicted on his body, and as he leaps in All For One’s direction, Shota takes the opportunity to erase the villain’s quirk.
Whatever his plan was, he didn’t have the chance to follow through as All Might punches All For One in the face, knocking him down to the ground and creating a crater in the ground by the sheer force of the punch.
Shota blinks, rubbing at his eyes for a moment due to using his quirk so much already tonight. When will this night end? As the dust settles around the crater, it’s revealed All For One is not where he’s supposed to be.
All Might is immediately on the defensive, glancing at every possible point All For One could emerge from. But nothing comes. No blows, no quirks, nothing.
At the disappearance of All For One, the villains freeze in their fighting in anticipation for their leader. It never comes, allowing the heroes to arrest the last of the villains and deal with them accordingly. Shota looks back to All Might, the man is gripping onto his injury but soon enough medics arrive on the scene to check him over.
“ Eraser, come in.” Tsukauchi says through the comm. Now that the adrenaline has worn off, Shota can feel each and every cut littering his body, exhaustion overflowing his senses.
“I’m good. Is it over?”
“ It seems that way. We’re creating a perimeter a few miles out to see if we can find any sign of All For One.”
“Seriously?” Shota retorts, surprised. “Surely nobody could survive a punch like that from All Might? I saw it with my own eyes.”
“ We’d rather not take any chances. I’m by the front of the warehouse, if you’ll come by to be seen by paramedics? We’ve got a team searching within the warehouse already, so you don’t need to worry anymore.” Tsukauchi tries to reassure him, but the mention of the police sweeping every inch of the building puts him on edge.
Juniper is still there.
“I’ll be right there.” Shota says all too quickly, surely coming off as suspicious to the detective, but it doesn’t matter now. He’s just gotta take a slight detour.
Shota walks as fast as he can without bringing too much attention to himself, passing the officers Tsukauchi told him about. He arrives at the room he left Juniper, only to find she’s not there but a medium-sized puddle of blood where she was originally shot and drips of blood leading to where he sat her down.
Thinking quickly, Shota tears yet another section of his scarf and cleans up any visible spots of dried blood from the floor. Surely it’ll be enough to keep her clear, even for just a while longer. He finishes his final sweep of the room, making sure no evidence of Juniper is visible just as the officers catch up to him and enter the room.
Shota takes a breath, barely regarding the officers as he leaves.
Surely that’ll be enough.
The only thing he wonders now is where Juniper ran off to. Or perhaps limped is a better term for it? He can only hope she’s alright and safe, and not in the back of a cop car on the street.
---
It takes longer than Inko would’ve liked to arrive at Amaya’s place. Her leg feels like it’s on fire, each step she takes encourages a throbbing pain around her calf. At least she’s not bleeding out, but the bullet is still embedded into her skin. She cannot take it out alone.
She couldn’t go to Eraser. He was busy and had already done so much for her. She doesn’t have her husband anymore to help patch her up after patrols. And so, that leaves her longest friend, Amaya.
It’s long into the night already, and going off by the slightly brightening sky, it must be around dawn.
She hopes Izuku doesn’t have to see her like this as she arrives at her door, knocking a couple of times and waiting for an answer. Minutes pass by, and just as Inko was about to knock again, the door opens to the sight of Amaya looking as if she had just woken up.
Amaya quickly wakes up, though, after realising it was her at the door and letting her limp into the apartment.
“Inko!” Amaya whisper-yells, helping her take off her boots before they walk further into the living room. “What the hell is going on?”
“She got away.” Inko says, a burning hatred boiling in her chest. She rips off her mask from her face and puts down her hood, taking a seat on the couch. “She got away.”
“Who got away? Inko, what happened?”
“The person who killed my husband! She got away, and it’s all my fault!” Inko lashes out, to which Amaya crouches by her with a sympathetic look.
“Listen. I’m sorry, but getting worked up won’t help anyone. Izuku’s just in the other room, remember?” She reminds her, which makes Inko feel even shittier. There she is causing a scene, almost getting caught, with her son still here. What would’ve happened if she died tonight? If the bullet hit her chest instead of her leg? Would he even know? Sure, she left a letter for him, but what good is that if he doesn’t even know to look for it?
Inko can’t let go of the rage bubbling beneath her skin, though it’s subdued at the thought of the possibility of Izuku waking up and seeing her in this state.
“Now from the top. What happened?”
And Inko tells her everything. Of Arona, and how she’s the one who killed Hisashi. She found out where she was, and immediately went to try to give her a taste of her own medicine. How she snuck out of the warehouse without getting spotted thanks to all the fighting and distractions. She tells her everything.
“You’re such an idiot, Inko-”
“I know, how could I let her slip away so easy-”
“No. Not that. You’re an idiot for not telling anyone, not even me, about the shit you’ve been doing. Just what do you think would’ve happened if you died tonight? I would be left without my best friend. Izuku would be left without his mother. ” Amaya takes a breath. “You need to stop this, before you get seriously hurt.”
“I can’t stop now! I am so close, I-”
“I’m not hearing it! You need to be here, and live. If not for yourself, then for Izuku and Hisashi.” Inko doesn’t reply, knowing if she were to agree to Amaya’s terms, it would just be a lie. She can’t stop now, and she’s sure Amaya knows that now too by her silence, her lips pressed into a line. “I’ll get you some fresh clothes you can borrow tonight, the bathroom is through the door to your right.”
“Thanks…” Inko says, the nickname she always calls her on the tip of her tongue, but she refrains, sensing it’s not the time. Amaya, true to her word, passes Inko some clean pyjamas and Inko takes that as her cue to get up and take a shower. It’s hard to walk, but she manages without help and eventually finishes getting cleaned up.
She walks back out of the bathroom twenty minutes later to find a pillow and a duvet laid on the couch without Amaya in sight.
Inko sighs to herself, getting comfortable in the makeshift bed and falls asleep almost immediately.
---
“You scared me half to death, y’know? Getting a call saying you’re in the hospital was not a great experience.”
“I’m sorry to worry you, but I’m fine. Really.” Shota tries to reassure his husband sitting by his hospital bed. Shota hadn’t realised just how injured he’d gotten last night, he thought he was grazed by the bullets but turns out a couple did manage to sneak their way in. He had to undergo surgery to remove the bullets, and now he’s on a whole bunch of painkillers for the time being.
“You almost died, what do you mean you’re fine ?” Hizashi asks incredulously.
“The doctors said most of my bleeding was internal. That’s where the blood’s supposed to be.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“But you love it.” Shota huffs at Hizashi’s attempts to keep a smile off his face.
“If you’re well enough to make jokes, should I call in the detective?” Hizashi wonders, their previous conversation forgotten as Shota remembers the night. He hasn’t been given any updates since Tsukauchi told him of the perimeter they established, and that must be because he’s been in surgery.
“How long has it been?”
“Give or take nine hours since you got into the hospital itself? But six hours out of surgery. You’ve been resting all those hours, and I was wondering if you’d be okay to see Tsukauchi or would you rather wait a little longer?”
Shota debates the pros and cons in his head, before settling on seeing Tsukauchi then. Better to get it out of the way.
“I can see him now.” Shota says, giving his husband a nod.
“Alright. I’ll be back in a moment.” Hizashi informs him, standing up from his seat and exiting the room. While he waits, he ponders how Juniper is doing. The thought of the vigilante pulls his lips to a frown.
She wasn’t looking too hot when he left her. At least she got out, and her injuries could’ve been worse. He also hopes his attempts at cleaning the evidence she left was enough to keep her out of the claws of the legal system.
He can’t stop thinking about her, and what exactly she was trying to achieve. Why was she there? Why didn’t she tell anyone else? It’s driving Shota crazy.
“I’m back, with our favourite detective.” Hizashi greets as he enters the room, Tsukauchi close behind.
“Hey, Aizawa.” Tsukauchi says, taking a seat by the foot of the hospital bed while Hizashi sits on the chair he was on earlier.
“Hey.”
“I’m sure you’ve been dying to know the results of last night,” he begins before back tracking a moment, “no pun intended.”
“I wasn’t dying, but sure, please fill me in.”
“Right. Well, the good news is that we have arrested over forty of All For One’s servants that were at the scene which includes all those armed guards you must have encountered.”
The way Tsukauchi is telling the events is putting Shota on edge. “And the bad news?”
“Most of All For One’s main members have managed to get away. This includes Kurogiri and Arona, though we’ve got Murai.” Tsukauchi sighs.
“What about All For One himself?”
“We believe he must’ve died on impact. Just like you said, nobody could survive a punch like that, not even All For One.” Shota feels the tension bleed from his body. “Your contribution helped out immensely, it didn’t go unnoticed that you used your quirk to erase his, that might’ve saved All Might’s life.”
“How is he, anyway?” Shota asks, grimacing as he remembers how All Might had been stabbed by the villain.
“He’ll live.” Tsukauchi responds bluntly, not going into any details. He probably can’t, it’s the condition of the number one hero, afterall.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re close to him.” Hizashi speaks up.
“It’s alright. He’ll pull through, and be just fine.”
Offhandedly, Shota wonders if Juniper will pull through too.
---
There’s a lot of things Izuku regrets.
For being quirkless. For being useless. But the worst of all must be not being there for his Mum when it mattered the most.
That night, when she came to visit, Izuku wasn’t asleep. Well, he was, but the voices from the other room woke him up. Moving on, he was going to leave said room only to pause at the tension coming from beyond his door.
“The person who killed my husband! She got away, and it’s all my fault!” Izuku heard his Mother say. His hand was on the doorknob, ready to twist it and run into his Mother’s embrace. Except he didn’t.
She never told him what happened to his dad. Always a quick snippet before the conversation changed. He felt as if he was intruding on something he shouldn’t be. He let his hand drop from the handle, and listened to their conversation with rapt attention.
“Listen. I’m sorry, but getting worked up won’t help anyone. Izuku’s just in the other room, remember?” At the mention of Izuku, he held his breath and kept steady, making sure not to creak the floor. “Now from the top. What happened?”
And she does. Izuku absorbed each and every detail spoken from his Mum. About the villain named Arona that killed his dad, and almost his Mum tonight. He doesn’t know why she’s been put into such dangerous positions as of late. First the bad men after them, which is why he’s even staying with Amaya in the first place, and now this?
“You’re such an idiot, Inko-”
“I know, how could I let her slip away so easy-”
“No. Not that. You’re an idiot for not telling anyone, not even me, about the shit you’ve been doing. Just what do you think would’ve happened if you died tonight? I would be left without my best friend. Izuku would be left without his mother. You need to stop this, before you get seriously hurt.”
“I can’t stop now! I am so close, I-"
“I’m not hearing it! You need to be here, and live. If not for yourself, then for Izuku and Hisashi.” There’s a prolonged silence after Amaya’s declaration. Surely she’s considering it? Izuku doesn’t know what he’d do if one day she didn’t come home. “I’ll get you some fresh clothes you can borrow tonight, the bathroom is through the door to your right.”
“Thanks…” Sensing that’s the end of their conversation, Izuku swiftly made it back to his bed and acted as if nothing had happened.
And here they are now, sitting at the table eating breakfast with a tension so suffocating Izuku can hardly breathe. It’s a good thing he’s almost done, so he can go to school and leave this behind.
“Izuku, honey?” Inko starts, which startles Izuku for a moment.
“Yeah, Mum?” He responds, as if he knows nothing about what she was up to last night. He’s always been good at acting.
“You know I love you, right?”
“Of course… I love you too.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been around as often as I would like.” She sighs, rubbing at her eye.
“It’s okay. I know you must be busy.” Izuku smiles, not wanting to see her upset.
“Yes, she must be so very busy.” Amaya chips in from the kitchen with a roll of her eyes, earning a glare from Inko.
Sensing the energy changing once again, Izuku takes that as his sign to get up and head out. He puts away his plate before pulling on his school bag onto his back.
“I have to go, or else I’ll be late for school.” Izuku excuses himself, quickly making his way back to his Mum to give her a hug and then goes to hug Amaya before leaving.
“Have a good day at school, Izuku!” He hears his Mum call out as he closes the door behind him. Only then does he sigh in relief, finally out of that suffocating home. Now he has to deal with a suffocating school. Great.
He begins his journey, keeping to himself as he walks in the direction of his elementary school. Ever since his Mum spoke to the principal, the bullying had calmed down. Not a lot, but at least everyone hits where it’s harder to see so nobody could be alerted. It’s weird though. Kacchan used to be his main instigator, always using his quirk on him to practise.
He doesn’t anymore. Kacchan doesn’t even look at him most days. Maybe he’s worried about getting in trouble? Though, Izuku doesn’t see why that would be the case. He’s never cared about it before, so what changed?
Izuku doesn’t have time to dwell on it any longer as he approaches his school, red shoes thumping onto the ground.
Izuku breathes a sigh.
Maybe today won’t be so bad?
He is immediately proven wrong when he passes the gates and trips over someone's foot sticking out where he walked. He lands face first into the concrete, and laughter emerges from his classmates around him. He quickly gets up, not wanting to hang around any longer.
He mutters an apology to the student he tripped over before all but fleeing to the school’s entrance.
Some things never change, huh?