Deku sat waiting in the interrogation room. He slowly fiddled with his fingers as he started feeling impatient. "Are you trying to bore me to death or something?" He asked and looked at the obvious one-way-mirror. "The ones you've requested to meet encountered a delay" an unknown man replied over the speakers. "Oh look. It replied" Deku said with fake surprise.
Just when Deku thought he was going to go mad with boredom, Hawks finally came into the interrogation room. "There you are. I've been waiting for quite the while now" Deku said with a confident smile. "Had a few incidents that slowed me down" Hawks replied. "There is a lot more to do as the number one hero" He added. "I would certainly think so. Maybe things would have been easier if you hadn't stabbed me in the back" Deku said retorted.
"Why did you want to talk with me?" Hawks asked, ignoring Deku's remark. "Straight to the point I see" Deku mumbled. "The is just a few things I wanted to discuss, since some things got in the way last time we talked" He explained. "And what would that be?" Hawks asked. "Just one question really" Deku replied. "How?" he asked. "I've played mental games with many foes. I played Shigaraki like a damn fiddle, kept my goals secret from All for one until I killed him and made Chisaki think I wanted to help him with his research" Deku explained with a small chuckle. "But you? I actually believed in what you told me. So how did you do it?" He asked and leaned forwards.
"Out of all the things you could ask, that is what you want to know?" Hawks wondered. "Yes" Deku replied. "Fine. It's because I meant a lot of what I was saying" Hawks said, giving Deku a puzzled look. "The is a lot of things not to like about the way things work. And the heroes are really just a solution that works on the surface. And believe it or not, you're the one who made me fully realise that" Hawks explained. "If that is true, then why not join me? Why not help me tear down the broken system?" Deku asked. "Because there is good to be found" hawks replied.
"Good? Where is the good? Is it next to the discrimination towards the quirkless? Under the bias towards certain quirks? Or maybe just behind the massive and widespread corruption that infects everything?" Deku asked aggressively. "Not the good in the current system. I'm talking about the good that is to come" Hawks replied. "I know there is a while since you met any of the kids at UA, or any heroics student for that matter. But they are much better that most heroes I can think of when it comes to that heroic spirit All Might keeps talking about" He explained.
"All Might?" Deku laughed. "He doesn't have a heroic bone in his body" He mocked. "I know you don't like him, but doesn't mean everything he says is wrong" Hawks objected. "I got an intern from UA who's about to graduate in a few months. And he has a great amount of respect for your ideals. Not your methods of course, but he wants to help bring the changes you would like in society" He explained. "Well, you can tell him that he doesn't believe in my ideals if he doesn't have the courage to implement them" Deku scoffed. "We are way past the point of gradual change for the better. People are dying, people are oppressed and nothing has been done for years while the system has gotten more and more corrupt. The only solution is revolution" He argued.
"Revolution that kills innocents? Tell me, how many innocent people have died because of you? How many innocents who never supported the things you hate, nor have any bad will towards you" Hawks asked. "By your standards of innocents, 21 567 deaths" Deku replied with a cold expression. "While they don't actively participate in the system, they allow it to continue. All the points I use against the system are easily checkable facts, just look it up. But many don't want to. The look the other way, hold their tongue when they see injustice. My teachers never bullied me, but they never stopped the bullying. They allowed it" Deku explained. "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. So while I try to avoid killing those people, they aren't as innocent as you portray them" He concluded. "Just because they are uninformed doesn't mean they choose to be ignorant" Hawks retorted.
"You know Hawks, it is almost fascinating. Our beliefs are so similar, yet so different" Deku said with a smile. "More of a difference in morals and values" Hawks said. "Maybe, but it doesn't change anything really" Deku said and leaned as closely to the glass as he was allowed. "You're a hero, even number one. And you betrayed me and tricked me. For all of that, I will kill you" Deku said with a sinister smile. "Good luck I guess" Hawks replied. He then promptly left the interrogation room, leaving behind a smiling Deku.
Deku did not have to wait long before the next visitor came. Just a few minutes after Hawks left, Bakugo entered the interrogation room and sat down on the other side of the glass. Deku stared at him with a cold look. "De…" Bakugo said, but stopped himself. "Izuku I-" He began, but was cut off by Deku. "Stop. It's Deku to you" Deku hissed. "No, I want to talk with Izuku. The one I used to know" Bakugo said. "Do you know?" Deku asked with a chuckle. "Haven't I told you? Izuku is dead. You killed him, All Might killed him and all of society let it happen. You're stuck here with me, the creature of your own creation" Deku said in a low voice. "Alright, Deku. But I know you're lying" Bakugo said. A small twitch spread across Deku's face at that.
"What do you want to talk about?" Deku asked. "I want to apologize" Bakugo replied and looked down. "Apologize!?" Deku exclaimed. "Do you have any idea what you put me through!? There is nothing you can ever say or do that will ever make me forgive you!" He yelled. "I'm not asking for forgiveness Deku! I just to do the right thing" Bakugo shouted back. "The right thing?" Deku wondered as a crooked smile appeared on his face. "If you want to do the right thing, then why not just take a swan dive off the roof and hope that you can redeem yourself in your next life?" He asked, filling Bakugo with shame.
"I should never have said that" Bakugo mumbled. "You're really dumb if you think that is the worst thing" Deku said. "No, the worst thing was to go home every day with the same fake smile and the same lie" He hissed. "Telling my mother that everything was fine, with a fake smile, that I was happy. All the while knowing that it was not. That was the worst thing" Deku said with rising anger. "And I did that for ten years!" He yelled.
"I'm sorry!" Bakugo exclaimed as his eyes teared up, surprising Deku. "I treated you like a piece of shit! All because of some stupid quirk!" Bakugo yelled. "I got so self-absorbed in my stupid quirk that I couldn't see anything else" He said as he calmed down. "I just kept thinking about myself, blind to what I was actually doing to you, what others did to you. I should have helped you, I should have done something. But I realised that too late, far too late. I know there is no going back for you, but I want to change, I want to help those like you. So that maybe one day I won't look in the mirror and feel ashamed" Bakugo explained.
"You're so stupid Kacchan" Deku mumbled. "I didn't need protection" He said as tears started forming. "I needed help! Someone, anyone to acknowledge me and just say that everything is going to be alright" He exclaimed. "And above all, I needed change. People now need change. A few good people won't fix everything" Deku explained. "Then I'll help implement that change" Bakugo said. "As a hero? Heroes can't do anything but say things to make people feel good, without solving any of the problems" Deku said. "But maybe we can make the people want change?" Bakugo suggested. "That is what I'm doing. Forcing people to see all the flaws. So that they realise they no longer need heroes" Deku explained.
"And what will you do then? Kill me? Return Japan back into a dictatorship?" Bakugo asked. "I'll do whatever it takes to undo the years of propaganda. Only then can people rule themselves again. And yes, I'll kill you" Deku replied. "Then maybe you'll finally forgive me" Bakugo said and stood up and walked over to the door. "I'm sorry Izuku" He said. "Leave" Deku hissed before Bakugo closed the door.
Once Bakugo had left, Tsukauchi entered the interrogation room. "Do we have to continue? I really just want to get back to my cell" Deku complained. "You will, but you promised to tell us where you sent your companions once you had these meetings. We've fulfilled our part, now it's time for you to do the same" Tsukauchi stated. "Fine, you want to know where I sent them. 35,685143 degrees north and 139,72338 degrees east. You'll find a staircase. If you stand at the bottom of it a look away from it, then it is the first house to the right. That's where I sent them, but I don't guarantee that they'll be there" Deku explained. "Noted" Tsukauchi replied and wrote down the coordinates. "The guards will transport you back to your cell now" He said and quickly left, not noticing the small smirk on Deku's face.
Later that night, Deku woke up inside the familiar dreams. "So, how did you and Bakugo's meeting go?" Uraraka asked. "Didn't he tell you himself?" Deku wondered. "No, he just walked to his room. Even Kirishima couldn't get in touch with him" Uraraka replied. "So I'm not the only one who needed some time to think" Deku said, mostly to himself. "What happened?" Uraraka asked. "I'd rather not talk about it right now. He said some things, and I need to think about it myself first" Deku answered. "Alright" Uraraka said.
"Ochako, do you think I'm a bad person?" Izuku asked after a moment of silence. "Why are you asking me that? Aren't you always sure in what you do?" Uraraka asked in response. "I used to be. When I began I was completely sure of my actions? But, now? There has just been a lot on my mind" Izuku replied. "Well, you let Iida die, you turned Todoroki against me and the rest of the class, you planned Endeavour's murder, and kidnapped Lemillion. Not to mention the thousands of innocent deaths" Uraraka said. "But at the same time, you've done good as well. You killed the league of villains, and you saved Eri and became the father she deserved, as well as punishing Overhaul for what he did. Your revolution has also opened up so much debate about the way our society works. I've even heard rumours that they are changing UA's entrance exam so that quirkless people theoretically can enter the heroics course" She said, with a small smile.
"So you think it is complicated?" Izuku wondered. "Yeah, especially considering all that you've been through. I'm just not sure what to make of it" Uraraka replied. "Well, I don't have much problems with all the actions I take to make a better society. But I'm afraid that I let that get in the way of other things" Izuku said. "Like what?" Uraraka asked. "I abandoned Eri" He replied. "I got so absorbed in trying to get mom out of there that I completely forgot the promise I made to Eri" Izuku said as tears started forming. "I promised her to never leave her, always protect her. But I forgot that and became selfish. Thinking about what I wanted, instead of what she needed" He said as he began crying. "What kind of father am I? I just forced her away because of my selfishness. I'm no better that my own father" Izuku said through the sobs.
Uraraka sat down next to Izuku hand placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You're nothing like your father. He didn't regret leaving you. You regret your actions" Uraraka said. "But I still left her" Izuku objected. "You did and now you realise that was wrong. Therefore you won't do it again. If there is a next time that is" Uraraka said. "Oh don't worry Ochako. I'll get out. And when I do, I'll find Eri, and hope she-" Izuku said, before suddenly waking up. "-forgives me" He finished. "Until then, I need to make sure I can protect her" Deku said and dropped to the floor as he began doing push-ups.
A/N: So Deku got his meetings and told the heroes where he sent Dabi, Todoroki, Spinner and Eri. Those coordinates aren't random by the way. Deku also begins having doubts in some of his choices, actions and himself. The next chapter will cover more time, maybe even up to the end of Deku's time in prison. You'll have to wait. Anyways, I hope you're all having a wonderful day. Goodbye.