Lying flat on his stomach against the sloped corrugated iron of the warehouse roof, Izuku felt the cold night air swirl around him and he fought back a shiver. His hero costume had a fair amount of padding to protect from physical attacks, but it wasn't designed to insulate and his lofty vantage point could hardly be more exposed to the elements.

Ignoring the chill as best as he could, he focused on why he was here: stakeout duty. Ruefully he reflected that it wasn't exactly what he'd expected to be doing at the start of the day, which felt like a lifetime ago after all that had happened. This morning all he'd been thinking about was catching up on homework and maybe getting in some more practice out on the training fields to master One For All, but all that had changed when he'd received a phonecall from a number he hadn't recognised and had answered it in confusion.

"Hello?"

"Izuku Midoriya, good morning. My name is Ryuko Tatsuma – but perhaps you might be more familiar with my hero name, Ryukyu?"

Izuku had almost dropped the phone in shock. "Ryukyu the Dragoon Hero?! O-Of course I'm familiar! You're one of the top ten heroes in the country!" Hearing her make an amused hum, he bit his tongue before he started gushing like a fanboy. "And, uh, we worked together during the raid of the Eight Precincts. N-Not that I, y'know, expect you to remember an intern like me…"

He heard her chuckle pleasantly. "I most certainly do remember you. And that is exactly the reason for my call. I was wondering if you would be able to assist with a classified mission that my agency is undertaking."

His eyebrows had shot up in confusion. "A mission? Me? B-But I don't understand, don't you have a whole agency?"

Ryukyu had sighed down the phone. "Yes, but currently I'm a little understaffed. Many of my agency members are stretched thin with other missions and I need someone urgently for tonight. I could have found a freelancer, but I wanted someone I knew would work well with my interns, so I asked for their input and you were recommended to me by Miss Uraraka and Miss Asui as being both reliable and strong. Miss Uraraka in particular was highly complementary of your talents."

Izuku's face had lit up in a blush but he tried to sound professional. "Umm, I would be happy to help with whatever you need me for, so long as it's agreed with UA."

"Splendid," Ryukyu answered briskly. "I shall ask my assistant to make the arrangements with Mr Aizawa – he is your homeroom teacher, correct? Please come by my office in one hour's time and I will explain in greater detail."

With that the call had ended and Izuku had immediately grabbed his hero costume and ran to the train station, head spinning. Being called out of the blue by a nationally acclaimed heroine was enough to throw him for a loop already, but to be told he'd been personally recommended to her? The other passengers must have thought he was a total lunatic as he'd been muttering pretty much non-stop the whole journey, speculating what he was being called in for. Half of him was still in disbelief, telling him that this must all be some idle daydream that he was about to wake up from.

When he'd arrived at her agency's office, Tsuyu and Uraraka had been waiting for him and he'd spent about five minutes stumbling over his words as he tried to thank them over and over for giving him this chance. Tsuyu had just nodded with a friendly smile, but Uraraka's beaming face had struck him dumb. "Of course I recommended you, Deku. You're already such an amazing hero – I can't think of anyone more reliable than you."

Before his heated face reached critical mass he'd been invited into Ryukyu's office with the two of them, where the older woman had explained the situation. "I've had a tip off from one of my sources that a gang is meeting tonight down by the warehouse district to purchase some illegal firearms. The weapons dealer is inexperienced and didn't cover his tracks, but rather than arresting him right away we thought it would be wiser to see who his buyer was. I want all three of you to run reconnaissance and, when the weapons dealer and his customers show up, call in the police to catch them red handed. This isn't a combat mission, so I want all of you to stay hidden throughout."

The rest of the meeting had been focused entirely on the best way to co-ordinate the police force and arrange to monitor the gang. Ryukyu hadn't been particularly happy about the lack of intel her staff had gleaned about the potential buyers, so it was decided that Tsuyu would position herself with a police unit, waiting as back-up to strike. He and Uraraka would watch the courtyard where the meeting would likely take place from different angles, Uraraka stationed at the north and him at the south.

And so here he was, perched on the roof of a warehouse like a gargoyle and trying not to freeze. It was fair to say that stakeout work was definitely not one of his favourite hero duties but he kept his eyes peeled, looking for any sign of their target.

It was then that the earpiece inside his cowl buzzed and Uraraka's voice whispered in his ear. "Deku, I think I've spotted the buyers! Five of them, big guys, all wearing the same kind of leather jacket. They're coming from the northwest, right by those big red shipping containers."

Izuku scanned the area below and spotted a group of five men where Uraraka had described, steadily moving towards the courtyard in front of him. The leader seemed to be a thickset man with a mohawk, who was looking around suspiciously for any sign of intruders, and Izuku shied back slightly, just to be extra sure that he wasn't visible from down below.

Checking the opposite direction his eyes widened as he saw another person walking towards the courtyard, wheeling a trolley stacked with crates. "I've got eyes on the weapons dealer as well. They'll come face to face in thirty seconds. Asu– uh, Froppy, are you in position?"

He heard a ribbit coming from his earpiece. "I'm all set – once you give me the signal I'll be there. Make sure it's only after the weapons have exchanged hands though, so that we can catch them in the act like Ryukyu said."

"Got it." He ended the conversation, not wanting the group assembling below to hear him, and waited tentatively. If everything went to plan then the weapon exchange should happen without any issues, but even in his short span as a hero in training he'd learned that there was always an element of chance that things could go badly wrong.

The dealer and the gang stepped out into the courtyard and there was a tense silence, neither side making a move. Deku peered out over the edge of the rooftop, hardly daring to breathe in case he missed something important.

Eventually the weapons dealer walked forward. He was a small man with a pinched, rat-like face and even from a distance Izuku could see his discomfort. When he spoke his voice was nasally and taught with fear. "You said there would just be one of you! This wasn't what we agreed!"

The gang's head honcho stepped forward and spoke, his voice low and ugly. "Quit whining. We're paying you well enough for this. Now show us the merchandise."

The dealer reached down reluctantly and removed the lid from one of the crates, pulling out what looked like a rocket launcher of some kind. "I got what you asked. Now show me the payment."

The gang leader surveyed the weapon critically and snapped his fingers. One of his lackeys grabbed hold of the trolley and another pulled forward a briefcase, stacked with cash. The dealer's eyes lit up in greed and he reached towards the case, but the man with the mohawk blocked him. "Not so fast. Before we pay, we want assurances."

"Assurances of what?" the dealer demanded and Izuku shivered. Even from a distance he could feel the mood changing. The gang leader was not someone to take lightly.

"We need a recurring order. The same again, every month."

Izuku stiffened and the dealer laughed incredulously. "A recurring order? With the trouble to took to get hold of these? That's simply not possible."

"That wasn't a request."

Suddenly the dealer seemed to realise just how out of his depth he was. "Now look here, I've done all that you've paid me for and I won't be dealing with you again. Now kindly hand me the money and leave, or else!"

The gang leader moved in close, a sneer spreading across his face, and Izuku noticed that his eyes had started glowing an eerie black. "I don't take kindly to threats."

He grabbed hold of the weapon dealer's shoulder and stared him dead in the eyes. The dealer seemed to freeze, breathing raggedly for a few seconds, then suddenly screamed incoherently and waving his arms around like he was having a fit. Izuku watched transfixed in horror and he heard Uraraka let out a cry of shock. "Deku, he's torturing him!"

Overcoming his initial reaction, Izuku tried to think. "It must be his quirk. It's some kind of fear stimulator or an induced hallucination. Froppy, bring the police in, now!"

He heard Froppy issue the command, but as the man's screams rose higher and higher he felt a sickness bubbling up inside him. He knew he had his orders to be here for reconnaissance only, and the dealer may have been a lowlife, but he couldn't stand by and do nothing, could he?

He clenched his fists as the poor man contorted, writhing in anguish, and Uraraka's frantic voice sounded in his ear. "Deku, we have to do something! He's going to kill him!"

Her words kicked him into action. "Ok, I'm going to knock the mohawk guy away – it looked like he needed to reach out and touch to activate his quirk, so separating them should deactivate it!"

"Midoriya, no!" he heard Tsuyu shout. "The police will be there in a minute or two!"

"He might not last that long!" Izuku squatted at the edge of the rooftop. "Uraraka, when I attack can you deal with the henchmen?"

He heard her determination in her reply. "On it."

With that he let the power of One For All flow through his body and hurled himself forward at the gang leader with a wordless roar. The mohawk guy looked up in shock and Izuku slammed his fist into his ribs, making sure to hold back enough to avoid a fatal strike.

He must have held back a fraction too much – the gang leader landed awkwardly, sprawling on one side, but scrambled back to his feet, cursing foully. But in doing so he'd released the weapons dealer, who fell to the ground sobbing limply. Izuku checked to see that he was out of immediate danger and saw Uraraka had already managed to subdue the four goons. With Tsuyu and the police on their way he faced the gang's boss, ready to either convince him to stand down or follow up with a second knockout blow.

But as he met the mohawked man's eyes, clouded with hatred, he felt his body begin to go limp and realised he'd made a mistake – the man's quirk wasn't touch driven at all. It was based on eye contact. When he'd seen the eyes glow black he should have realised, but instead he'd made an assumption and stupidly he'd blundered right into it.

There was a pulse of light that blinded him momentarily and he blinked, disorientated. He tried to gather what little knowledge of psychic-related quirks he had – since they weren't often associated with hero work it wasn't an area he was all that familiar with. Could he defend himself at all? Was it something he could fight back against? All he really had to compare it to was when he'd been controlled by Shinsou at the Sports Festival – an out of body experience where his limbs wouldn't obey him.

But it was nothing like that at all. It was a thousand times worse.

His breath caught in his throat and all of his senses went haywire at once with a fight-or-flight response, raw adrenaline making him panic uncontrollably. It was nails on a chalkboard, the coppery taste of fresh blood, the tearing of muscles, a maelstrom of noise and colour and smell.

And then his vision flashed with all the worst memories of his life, flaring in front of him in a kaleidoscope of misery, and he screamed, screamed until he went hoarse. It was like he was reliving it all over again, over and over, a loop of loneliness and desolation. Even closing his eyes tightly shut didn't help. He saw it all; his mother crying when he found out he was quirkless, the hopelessness he'd felt at All Might's initial rejection of his dreams of being a hero, Kacchan's bullying, Deku, Deku, Deku…

"Deku! Deku, please, snap out of it! It's not real, it's not, you're safe!"

He cracked open one eye, hardly daring to believe the words. But through his tears he could make out Uraraka's face, swimming in and out of vision, and he reached for it desperately, the sound of her voice the only thing anchoring him in reality. He tried to concentrate, to touch her, to find some way out of this whirling torrent that was submerging him –

And in a jolt the sensory overload stopped, like turning off a tap. There was sweat pouring down his face, mingling with tears, and he couldn't stop shivering. But he was himself again and he took the most welcome breath of air he'd ever had, choking back sobs.

He was suddenly aware of a tight grip on his chest and he shifted his gaze down to see Uraraka holding onto him for dear life, big fat tears dripping down her face. "D-Deku? Are you… back?"

He nodded shakily and she crumpled onto his shoulder, crying tears of relief and clutching onto him even tighter. Any other time he would have been frozen with embarrassment by this level of physical contact with her, but now he just held her close with trembling arms, so thankful for her presence that he couldn't put it into words. If it hadn't been for her, how far would he have gone? He didn't want to think about the answer.

Gradually becoming more aware of his surroundings, he managed to just about get his breathing under control and looked around. Tsuyu was crouched alongside him, her hand on his arm, and behind her stood Ryukyu. "I'm glad to see you have regained your senses, Midoriya," she said softly. "You had us all extremely worried."

Izuku brushed his face with one gloved his, trying to wipe away the tearstains. "What… what happened? I remember knocking away the gang leader, then getting hit by his quirk. And then…" He shuddered, not able to continue.

Tsuyu offered him a wobbly smile. "Uraraka managed to knock the guy out after you got hit. We hoped that would break the quirk, but even when he was unconscious you were still under its effect." She halted and stared at him, subdued – she was better at hiding how she felt, but Izuku could tell she was almost as shaken up as Uraraka. "At first you just kinda slumped over. Then you started screaming and flailing around. It was… really scary."

Ryukyu took over the story. "The police took the dealer and the gang members away, but they weren't able to break you out of the quirk. At that point I was called and I rushed here as soon as I could. I have come across a similar variation of this quirk in the past, albeit much weaker – it's called Nightmare. A psychic quirk, able to prey on the victim's subconscious and leave them trapped in their own worst memories and fears. Exposed to it for too long, death is a very real possibility. Luckily, Uraraka was able to help snap you out of it."

Izuku glanced down at her again and she gave a tiny sniffle, raising her head to meet his gaze. "I'm… I'm so glad you're ok."

Ryukyu patted Uraraka on the back soothingly. "You did well to keep your composure in battle and stay focused until the enemy was defeated. Fighting on when a comrade falls is no easy feat."

"This is all my fault," Izuku whispered, stricken with horror. How could he have put his friends through this? "If I had paid attention to his quirk being used through his eyes… or just not jumped in without thinking…"

Ryukyu looked down imposingly at him. "Tsuyu explained the situation to me. Mistakes were made, but jumping in to save the dealer was not one of them. Despite the hastiness of your decisions, remember that your actions today most likely saved a life. If there is any fault to apportion, it is mine for not demanding more information before sending you three on this mission." She sighed, looking worn out. "There is an ambulance waiting for you, Midoriya. You will need to spend the night in hospital so that they can run some tests on you."

Izuku opened his mouth to protest, but closed it when he saw the look in her eyes, instead mumbling a, "Yes, ma'am."

Ryukyu stood, nodding brusquely, and began walking away towards the ambulance. Tsuyu got up and followed her, looking behind her one last time, and then it was just him and Uraraka. He was glad to see that her tears had now stopped, though her eyes were red and puffy.

"Do you think you can walk?" she asked, voice croaky after crying.

He swallowed. "Y-Yeah, I think so. I… I'm so sorry. For putting you through all this. And…" His voice cracked. "When I was trapped, y'know, in my head, it was you that pulled me out of it. You saved me."

"I didn't save you," she said, so quietly he could barely hear her. "I couldn't do anything. It was awful, seeing you in so much pain and not being able to help. At first I tried to be strong, but when Ryukyu came I just… broke down. I thought I'd lost you."

He almost wanted to cry again at how brave and selfless she'd been. "You did save me. I don't think anyone else could have pulled me out of it like you did. When you were calling out my name, I remembered. I remembered how you changed the meaning of it into something positive and then I… I was able to grab onto it. Thank you for not letting go"

Uraraka sniffled and managed a tiny smile. "I'd never let you go."

Leaning on each other they walked the short distance to the ambulance, closing the door behind them.