Note: I'm so sorry for the wait- I'm still not 100% satisfied with this chapter, but... I've kept you waiting long enough.

Just a heads up that the next semester is starting up for me on Tuesday, so... writing will still be slow, just not as slow as this chapter was in coming... hopefully.

"You really blew it, kid."

The first voice is almost regretful as he cinches the strap around her ankle tighter.

"Whatever's coming to you, you definitely earned it!"

The one that follows is spiteful, vindictive.

Momo flinches.

He's right.

She did blow it, although she's not sure what she could have done differently. Just let him continue hurting Bakugo? No, that… that would have been unacceptable.

Her cuffs from before have been replaced with a block-like pair similar to the one she's seen on Bakugo. The moment they click in place and she feels their weight, it all comes crashing down on her and she feels hollowed out.

"What's going to happen?" she whispers, more to herself than to the villain crouching in front of her, but he hears her regardless.

To her, to Bakugo. She doesn't specify. It's all the same.

Twice pauses.

She can't tell with the mask in place, but she thinks he might be trying to appear sympathetic.

He yanks the last strap tight across her waist and pats her knee.

Momo jerks her knee reflexively. She doesn't want his hands on her. Maybe he's not as bad as the others, but he's not her friend and she won't let herself fall into the trap of thinking that he is.

"Well, you see," he says and he sounds so upbeat about it, like that's actually a good thing, or worse, like he's actually trying to comfort her, that Momo can't stand it, "your parents or UA will pay whatever amount Shigaraki asks for," he rubs his forefinger and thumb together in the universal gesture for money, "and you'll be home free. Easy peasy."

"Or they won't pay." The second, more cynical voice breaks in then. The statement is accompanied by a shrug. He doesn't sound like he cares much one way or another. "If that happens, you'll probably die."

He shrugs.

No biggie. No worries. Your life only depends on an exorbitant amount of money and its timely arrival.

To him, it probably isn't.

"I don't care what you think I blew," Momo snaps, tears blurring her vision. "Don't you get it? I don't care!" She lowers her voice, shoulders shaking. "I just want to go home."

Twice is quiet for a good long moment.

"Hurry it up, Twice." A villain she knows only by his marble quirk pokes his head in. His face is bereft of the mask he wore during the attack, but . "You're taking an awfully long time and Shigaraki's getting impatient."

"What? Already?"

"It's about damn time!"

He finishes the job and stands up. He casts one more look at her- Momo can't tell which side of him she's looking at.

Maybe it's better not to know.

"Fuck." Aizawa curses under his breath and lowers his head. He steeples his fingers and lets his forehead rest against them. Dealing with the press never seems to get any easier and this time had been particularly grueling.

In addition to UA being under fire for the abduction of two students, there had been several… suggestive questions regarding the instability of one Bakugo Katsuki.

It's infuriating to think of.

"Hey." Nemuri sits next to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. He bristles at her touch, in part due to her own role in the Sports Festival, but he knows that he too is to blame for not stepping in.

She removes her hand immediately.

He doesn't raise his head, but he can sense her fidgeting next to him. He knows he's made her uncomfortable and he's certain she's questioning why, but he can't bring himself to tell her. He can't force himself to feel guilty.

Nemuri rests her whip across her thighs and sighs, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"They contacted Yaoyorozo's parents," she says, voice tight.

"What?" She has every bit of his attention now.

Nemuri's lips are an angry slash across her face, but her poise is completely collected.

"The League. They contacted her parents for a ransom."

Shit.

Aizawa slides his eyedrops out of his pocket. "Did they provide proof of life?"

Whatever they provided would more likely than not be unpleasant, but at least he would know that his kids were alive.

"No. They provided nothing." Carefully polished nails tap a rhythm against her knees. "Hostage negotiators are working with her parents right now." She pauses. "UA received the same demands this morning."

"They'll get twice as much," Aizawa supplies, clenching his fists. That's all his kids are to these people. Not human beings. Not children.

(His kids have the makings of heroes, more so than any other class he's taught- they've shown their true colors again and again in situations they shouldn't have had to face- but in the end, that's what they are: kids.)

Still, that they should go to such lengths to kidnap two hero course students just for money?

It doesn't sit right with him.

Bakugo and Yaoyorozo both have wealthy parents, that much is true, but if money were all they were after, there are other teenagers with wealthy parents. "And Bakugo?"
If they've reached out to Yaoyorozo's parents, there's a chance they've contacted Bakugo's as well.

Nemuri shakes her head, looking grim. Her nails stop drumming their pattern. "Nothing," she says. "We've heard nothing about Bakugo."

Aizawa can tell by her face that she shares his concerns.

He feels sick contemplating the possibilities that that lays out before him.

As much as he hopes the kid had the good sense to keep himself alive, he doubts Bakugo makes for a very cooperative hostage. There's a chance they decided he wasn't worth the trouble and killed him.

He presses his palms against his knees and exhales.

That's a worse case scenario.

"Believe me, I know how you're feeling," Nemuri says and Aizawa bites back his initial response to tell her she can't possibly know how he feels because she's a teacher here too. She cares about these students- his students, he thinks possessively- too. "I want to be out there helping them too."

He still can't believe it. No, that's actually a lie. He can believe it because he knew from the beginning that his kids were special.

Attaching a tracker to one of the Nomu is still more than he expected.

For Yaoyorozu to have accomplished that is indicative of more than just clear thinking in a hostile situation.

A hostile situation sounds far too… impersonal for what it was, but Aizawa knows that it's important for him to maintain a degree of impartiality, no matter the situation.

The moment he stops thinking like a hero and starts thinking like a teacher is the moment he opens himself to a mistake and mistakes in his line of work can be costly.

Still, it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth to know that he's been excluded because of his personal connection.

"Don't take it personally," Nemuri says, like she's read his mind.

Aizawa bristles, immediately ready to protest because, of course, he is taking it personally. He stops himself from reacting.

She crosses one knee over the other, folding her arms against her chest. "I'd like to be out there too, but someone has to stay behind to take care of things on our end. I know it sucks, but sometimes that someone has to be us." She sighs, uncrossing her arms and pushing her hair away from her face. "I didn't mean to sound patronizing."

There are plenty of times where he's certain she absolutely means to sound patronizing. The sarcastic remark rises halfway up his throat before he swallows it back down.

Now isn't the time.