A/N: Heyo, all! Good news. Since the next couple of chapters are already mostly written, I am planning on doing a weekly Sunday update schedule until ~May 15th, after which I am hiking the AT for a month and so will be going completely dark for that time. Still, until then that means you guys will get at least three or so more chapters more reliably over the next weeks. :)
Also, I took a look at the story stats as we authors do, and was surprised to see how many people are actually reading this story! I really wanted to ask you all to review so I can get some thoughts and feedback. I especially really like reviews that tell me your thoughts or speculate on what is going on. I'm greedy, please, and it does help.
Alright, here we go. I give you:
Chapter Five: Escape, Part 2
Izuku wanted to prove Nighteyes wrong.
He wanted to prove that he was a worthy wielder of One for All, like All Might had told him. He wanted to show that he could be a hero, a real one, who would stand up despite the odds to save the people in danger.
But now…
He bit his lip as he looked forward, peering into the darkness, as the steady swish of Mirio's cape accompanied him to his right. They were walking forward, trying to find evidence of the escaping party. Nighteyes had told them that they would likely intercept the League of Villains on this path, and to watch out and be forewarned. They had been told to retreat if confronted by more than one member and to prioritize their own lives over capture. It had been Nighteyes' attempt at a cold reassurance that their lives were important.
Izuku was not much reassured. He remembered the burning gaze of Bakugo, his childhood friend's face angry and full of spitting betrayal. He had been called a snake, for trying to do what was right.
Abruptly, he realized that his right fist had clenched. It nearly shook with the force of it.
I'm, Izuku realized, angry.
Angry at his childhood friend for constantly getting into trouble, always reacting with anger and shouts first when anything went wrong. Angry at him for wasting away all that he had, throwing away his victory, his drive to herodom because he just couldn't trust the people trying to help him. Angry at this situation. Angry that despite it all - despite how irrational and self-prided Bakugo usually was, that the other boy was right, that despite claiming to want to help, Izuku couldn't help but feel that he had made the situation worse.
He cooled himself, taking a breath. Now wasn't the time. There were villains out here tonight, not just Killua, Bakugo, and Gon. If he was careless, it wouldn't only cost him, but Lemillion too.
He had to focus.
Snapping his eyes open, he regained alertness, analyzing every shadow and flicker for a sign of movement.
.
Killua aimed his fishing rod from his perch on the fire escape landing, several blocks away from the yakuza stronghold. With a practiced swing, he swished the line forward, electricity sparking down its line as the bob flew into the air. It gripped a nearby streetlamp, and with a loud pop, overcharged, the lamp flickered off.
There. Killua retracted the rod as it slipped off the pole. The signal was sent. He had practically broadcasted his location to the nearby hero. If Kobayashi was smart, he'd use the opportunity to call the police to report a sighting of suspicious activity, for plausible deniability of his own involvement - Killua had discussed this sort of possibility with the man before. Now, he could only hope that the yakuza who had taken them in would make the most of it.
He waited, ears craned to listen in the darkness. After a pause, he began moving, leaping from building to building.
His bait had been taken.
Just ten paces behind him, the hawk-masked man leapt after him, talking gruffly and loudly into a radio receiver. Killua took it slow, testing the man's speed. Nearly twenty paces away, he could sense Dabi below, lingering on the ground in the alley's shadows. His zetsu was imperfect, Killua noted with some satisfaction.
It was going all according to plan. Almost too smoothly, in fact.
He took care to not move too fast to lose his pursuit, letting glimpses and flashes of himself be seen as he advanced. The hero - the hawk-masked man - it seemed, was slower than many of the heroes Killua had encountered at UA, such as All Might or Aizawa, and he had to pause frequently to keep the tail. As Killua lingered for one such instance, he could hear the sounds of the man barking into the radio receiver, the sharp clip of a police response returned, and he had to suppress a smile.
At some point, to his surprise, he found himself flying over the seedy Kabukicho district, where he had met the - prostitute? - Kira who had given him Kyoshi's home address. It was surprisingly close to the yakuza base. Police were on the street, more than the near-zero presence he had seen when he had last been there, and they pointed at him as he leapt overhead.
"Killua," the hawk hero shouted behind him, after he too, had bounded the distance over the seedy street. Killua gave him a backwards glance, even as he continued dashing forward. "Is this what you want to do? Run away your entire life? You have a future here!"
Killua scowled.
"What do you know?" he tossed back. "I just want to get back to my world."
"Then we can help you with that too!"
Killua didn't answer this time.
When he leapt over the next alleyway, he came to a halt, blinking at the sight in front of him. Not unexpectedly, he had been rounded in a trap. Three pro heroes waited in front of him, in flashy costumes, looking battle-ready and stern. In the alleyway below, the street was flooded with police cars, blocking off virtually every avenue of escape – the heroes had been able to coordinate alarmingly quickly. When Killua checked for Dabi's presence, he was nowhere to be seen.
Behind him, the hawk hero slowed down, until he was just five paces behind.
"Killua," the man said. "You still have choices."
"I'm not seeing them," Killua muttered. Despite himself, he was annoyed. "You guys just want to force me into doing what you want, right?"
"That's not true," one of the pro heroes to his front called. She wore flashy red and yellow in jagged stripes, and a mask covered half her face. "You don't know how many resources we're pouring into this case. Kid, we want to help you. It's what we heroes are all about."
"Then let me go," Killua said coldly, stepping to the side so that he could keep them all in his peripheral vision. "I'm not doing anything wrong. Overhaul was a villain anyway. His lackey was trying to kill us. I just did what I needed to end it."
The heroes exchanged glances. After a mutual pause, the three in front stiffened, adopting fighting stances almost in unison in some taciturn agreement, but the hawk hero behind him did not, instead stepping forward with his hands stretched outwards, empty, as if to show he meant no harm.
"Then why don't you go ahead and tell us the whole story?" He spoke soothingly. "We can calm down, and hear the story from your side. Just come with us, and I swear no one is going to hurt you."
"I'd rather not," Killua said shortly. He shook his head. "So you can cast your own judgement on what I did? I doubt any of you would understand."
"Try us," the man challenged. "This is your best chance, Killua. We can't understand if you don't tell us. You can come clean, and help the world understand where you're coming from while you're at it. Wouldn't you like that?"
"Stop saying my name," Killua said with some annoyance. "It's creepy. I don't even know your name. You're just some hero who's been following me, then making demands all the sudden."
"My hero name is Sparrowhawk," the man said steadily, stepping forward once again. He was now too close, and Killua stepped backwards, unfortunately moving him only somewhat closer to the three waiting heroes who ringed him. "But my real name is Kawata Teruo."
"Great," Killua said sardonically, and waited, tense.
His time as a distraction, he decided, was over; Bakugo and Gon should have been able to get their disguises by now. Killua would just worry about getting out of this situation now.
When the man stepped forward again, Killua swung his fishing rod, but grimaced when his aim went slightly too far, scratching the man's cheek, before he swung the line in a circle to keep the other heroes, who had sprung forward at the motion, at bay. He didn't let the slip stop him though, and without another thought, he pushed against the ground in a nen-augmented leap, throwing himself to the side and out of the ring of heroes at a breakneck velocity.
It was enough to get him out of the bounds of the heroes in an instant. Though the police were still swarming below on the street, they couldn't do a thing from the ground. As he landed again, he propelled himself forward to skid across the rooftops, refusing to let his momentum die. He looked back at the now-distant heroes, feeling confident.
But it was only to see the hawk man springing to the sky, a thick sheet of fabric suddenly blooming from his back like a pair of blue feather wings. The man was flying, chasing after him with far greater speed than he had exhibited before.
Killua's eyebrows raised. Despite himself, he was impressed. The hawk man had been hiding his capabilities. Had he known that Killua was holding back, and took advantage of it to conserve his own energy before they sprung the trap?
But if he had known Killua was deliberately distracting him… Worst case, that meant two possible things. One, either they were so invested in capturing Killua, as the first arrival of his world into this universe and thus the head of public attention - or, they had another tail focused on Gon and Bakugo.
'You don't know how many resources we're pouring into this case…'
Could they really have invested more than just four pro heroes into this case? Did they really care that much, when Killua had just killed a couple of people who were villains anyway? No - more importantly, did that mean that Killua's distraction was just a waste?
No.
Over the months he had been here, he had grown to understand this world. If he could keep any of the heat off Bakugo, prevent the older boy from being forced to fight and raise his hands against the heroes he had idolized, then it would be worth it.
In this world, there were things far more scary and pervasive than just a strong enemy you could overcome if you became strong enough. Legal consequences would prevent you from living normally. That was the barrier in this world - a barrier constantly being broken by the arisal and strengthening of quirks over the generations. Killua could break it, but that was because he didn't belong here, because he was planning on leaving anyway. Bakugo couldn't, because he belonged here. And - besides, Killua wasn't sure if he'd want it to be any different, in all honesty.
If the law was broken, overthrown, this world would be no different from his own. Every precedent that stretched the limit of the law would only damage it further. Killua wasn't sure he wanted that anymore. He had liked the peace here, while it had lasted.
"Killua," Sparrowhawk shouted into his hesitation, the loud wind almost snatching away at his words. "There is no need to run!"
So Killua couldn't afford to fight. But he did need to escape, for the sake of his own friends who needed him, who he knew would be waiting for him by the train station when he arrived.
He had to believe that.
So Killua laughed, "Catch me if you can!" at the pro hero, because he felt that if he was determined enough, if he kept playing this game, then maybe he could win.
.
Katsuki hurried through the alleyways, Crazy Stabby Girl eerily and silently skipping by his side. Rather than her normal appearance, she wore the skin of a girl with brown pigtails and swarthy skin. In Katsuki's backpack, two boxes filled with foodstuff rattled in plastic containers, muted by the surrounding fabric. They were nearly up to the main street where a thin crowd walked in the dark, hurrying from place to place in Katsuki's best attempt at silence, when everything went to shit.
Toga's head suddenly snapped up, and she sniffed, like a hound on the hunt. Then her false-brown eyes widened in delight, landing on a spot of darkness in the alleyways.
"Izu-kun's here!" she crowed delightedly.
"Huh?" Katsuki looked at her like she was mad – which, hell yeah, she fucking definitely is – before his eyes filled with dread. "Shit."
He knew immediately what it had meant. Deku must've followed him back here – somehow. This was his fault. Shit. He doubted the two incidents, so closely timed, weren't somehow related. But – how? He had been sure no one had followed him –
The crazy girl gave him a somewhat conspiratorial grin, eyes sparkling. It made him draw back, nonplussed, and forget his train of thought.
"Don't worry," she said to him, like they were fucking best friends and she was confessing her deepest secret to him, even giggling once for good measure. "I'll distract him."
Katsuki's eyes widened. "No, shit, the plan –"
Then she was off, bounding forward in the darkness.
Katsuki scowled, discomfited. Fucking crazy. How had he gotten into this mess?
He spared a moment to worry for Deku, before he realized what he was doing and then rushed off to do his own part. He needed to find disguises. Deku'd be fine. He had that hero agency and shit at his back, and if he went out on his own he was stupid enough to get what he deserved. Katsuki needed to worry about himself, for now.
Unfortunately, he was well aware that without Toga, he cut a far more suspicious figure. A teenage boy, walking alone at night, dressed in rough, scratched-up clothing? Far more suspicious than a young girl and boy going on a night walk. There at least was a plausible excuse for that kind of thing. Now, it was far more likely that a hero or passerby might stop him to ask questions, if an ongoing investigation was going on around here or if anybody recognized his face.
Still, Crazy Girl hadn't left him with much of a choice but to deal. He wasn't sure if she'd ever come back at all. He wasn't sure if he wanted her too, even if it was more convenient. She was still a villain.
"Gon," he called out softly, as he kept hurrying forward, hoping that the young boy could hear him.
A moment of silence. Then a shuffle, and to Katsuki's relief, the small boy appeared jogging out of the shadows in front of him.
Katsuki didn't waste any time on pleasantries.
"New plan," Katsuki said shortly. "Crazy Girl's abandoned ship. We're almost at the street; we'll walk together. If anybody asks, you're my kid brother who ran off and I'm draggin' back home."
Gon frowned, but nodded. Katsuki hoped the kid could lie convincingly, if it came down to it. Hopefully it wouldn't.
Hustling forward, entering the main street, they ducked into the nearest clothing store Katsuki recognized. It was big, and scarcely any customers were there. It was easy enough to get lost in the dozens of clothing racks, and so once they were deep enough into the store, Katsuki picked off a set of two random hoodies and tossed one to Gon.
"Here," he said. Then, ignoring the response the boy made, he went to find some hair dye, grabbing a pair of caps and cheap sunglasses along the way. He figured they'd need something like that. He then grabbed a bunch of chips, other food, streamers, anything he could think of.
"Going to a party?" the cashier asked when he had finished and rounded back to the front. The teenager sounded tired as he looked over their items.
"Yeah," Katsuki lied. "Friend's throwing a real big one tomorrow night. Said it's a costume party. Figured I'd bring my brother along while I'm at it."
"Well, have fun," the teenager murmured, finishing scanning all the items on the counter before Katsuki dragged Gon over to let him scan the hoodie the squirt was still holding in front of him. "That'll be eighteen hundred yen. Do you want a receipt for that?"
"No thanks," Katsuki said, handing over the right number of bills, then took the offered plastic bag before striding out the store doors, night air hitting his face. Gon followed behind him, looking pretty lost.
"Put that hoodie on," Katsuki said immediately, once they were out. He dug into the bag and threw a black cap at him. "And that hat. You can't be wearing those clothes you always wear, you know? They're strange enough, and somebody's going to notice soon or remember you."
"... Right," Gon said, then followed his instructions as Katsuki did the same. It was almost painful, however, when he looked over and saw Gon trying on the hat. It didn't quite fit over his stick-rigid hair, and the way Gon was trying to smush it onto his head, sitting mockingly at the peak of his high haircut rather than anywhere near the skin of his head, it looked even more suspicious and strange than if he had gone without.
"Let me do it," Katsuki snapped, grabbing the cap out of the boy's hands, then smoothing back his hair until the bristles stayed back and underneath the cap, though they still jutted out at the edges. Seeing how it strained, he then rebuttoned the cap a mark tighter at the back to prevent the hair from popping the thing right off again. He couldn't believe he was doing a little kid's hair in the middle of a fucking escape plan.
It did look remarkably strange on Gon when he was done though, so he had to declare it as a success. The kid's fucking hair was such a distinctive feature so of course they had to hide it.
"It feels weird," Gon said, frowning, tapping at the top of his hat. He then grinned at Katsuki. "Thanks, Ba- er, onii-chan!"
"Yeah, well, deal with it," Katsuki grumbled. "Let's keep going to the train station."
.
The chase lasted for far too long. Killua still wasn't practiced enough with the fishing rod, but at least it seemed effective enough to keep the hero away, warding him from a distance. At some point, Killua had started channeling electricity through the rod in an effort to just knock the hero out, once he had proven to be irritatingly persistent, but Sparrowhawk had never seemed inclined to risk getting close enough to let the fishing bulb touch him. So primarily, it was a chase of speed. Killua had yet been unable to shake him.
It reminded him of the chase he'd had with Aizawa, when he had first entered this world. That had been fun, but the stakes were higher now. Gon was counting on him, so that they could both get back home. Bakugo was waiting on him, and he still needed to convince that thick head that he needed to stay here with his family while he had it. He had things to do.
Being able to fly, Killua thought with a grimace, was completely unfair. Whenever Killua tried to duck into alleyways on the ground, or disperse into crowds, the man had still been able to pick him out from his aerial view. The man's eyes seemed eagle sharp. What was his quirk?
Damn it, this wasn't working. Killua would have to try something else.
He drew to a sharp halt on the next rooftop over, letting the man close in. To his credit, once the hero realized what was happening, he didn't immediately fly down to the rooftop, but instead spiraled around the rooftop as if looking for traps. Now that Killua could get a closer look, he noticed that the man hadn't broken a sweat at all. Damn him. While Killua had to run, he supposed the man had been barely expending any effort at all. It was unfair.
Finally, the man called out, "Is this a truce? Do you finally want to talk?"
"Yes," Killua lied, deliberately putting away the fishing rod, then waited.
Seeming to get his message, the hero landed softly, several feet away from him. Sparrowhawk stared.
"So," the man said hesitantly, "what changed?"
"Do you mean why I stopped running, or why I started in the first place?"
"Both."
Killua thought for a second. If nothing else, this was a good chance to get his side of the story out there.
"I don't want to fight you," he said slowly, "and it looked like you wouldn't go away if I didn't tell you something."
"So why?" Sparrowhawk sounded frustrated, waving his hands in the air. His fabric wings fluttered in the air behind him."Why do this, kid? You're causing a lot of trouble for yourself, and for others too. Do you know all the kinds of things people are saying about you, and your world? There's been all kinds of trouble, recently..."
Killua frowned. "What kind of trouble?" That was news to him.
"Do you really not know?" Sparrowhawk asked incredulously. "I get that you're young, but I thought you… Well, there's been a lot of unrest recently. Not everyone's pieced it together, but it's definitely gotten a lot worse, and it's definitely related to your world somehow." He then breathed in, seeming to reign in his frustration, before he continued forcefully, meeting Killua's eyes, "Killua, kid, this isn't just about you anymore. As soon as you got on that stage two months ago, you became a representative of your world."
Killua's eyebrows rose.
"What are you talking about?" His frown deepened. "You mean because I got the media involved?"
The pro hero nodded, eyes sharp like the hawk his mask depicted.
"When All Might started helping you, your case skyrocketed in popularity, made it more credible. People heard about it before, heard rumors, but then... You were what people saw when they heard about the 'other world', a world which no one knew anything about," the man said. "Can't you see it kid? When that video started circulating, with you killing those yakuza, even if they were villains… I get that things aren't what they always look like, that a camera can't capture the full story. You seem like a good kid. You're listening. This clearly bothers you. If you were just defending yourself, if you could just show up and tell everyone the full story -"
Killua shook his head, taking a step back.
"It's not my responsibility," he said, though the words felt sour on his tongue. "Besides, what'd happen to me, then? I know what your world's about. It's not like I'd still get off free, even if I had a good reason."
The pro hero hesitated.
"That's true enough," the man said evenly, finally, meeting his eyes again. "You won't get off free - but your punishment might be lighter than you think." Seeing the look on Killua's face, the man changed tracks. "How long do you think you can keep this up? Running away? You said it yourself, you're just trying to get back home. You don't have a way back. Why don't you come with us, serve a juvenile sentence, while we work on getting you home? Come on, kid, it might even just be some community service. It won't be that bad."
"It won't work," Killua said shortly. "I don't have time to sit around and play by your rules anymore, anyway. You guys can't get me home."
"I don't understand," Sparrowhawk said, frowning. "Why? Weren't we trying to help you already? All Might was getting on stages to talk to people about your world and the quirk you needed. Why are you being so paranoid now?"
"Look," Killua said with frustration. "It wasn't going to work. There's no way you guys would be able to find someone with a quirk to take me back. Are you guys stupid!? Why do you think no compatible quirk's been found yet? Why do you think no one's known about the two worlds until now? It isn't as if the knowledge is just lying around!"
"What do you -"
Killua had enough of this. They weren't getting anywhere now.
He rushed forward, in a sudden burst of speed.
"Sorry," Killua said impulsively, a whisper's distance from the man's back. Sparrowhawk began turning, a wide-eyed look appearing behind his mask, but it was too late. Killua sent a satisfying chop to the back of the man's neck, and then he was down.
Killua confirmed it immediately then, crouching down to check the man's pulse and smushing his hands against his face after he took off the man's mask. The hero was completely unresponsive, eyes unfocused and blank. He was out like a light.
Weak, Killua thought with disgust. After all that, and the man had been weak. Why had he wasted so much time running away and talking, anyway? All these people with quirks were so hyper-specialized that even if they were powerful in one area they often severely lacked in others. He should have known to be less wary; these heroes were only most dangerous in teams.
He sighed. He already knew that wasn't the real reason. He had been trying to do this without fighting. It was stupid, and it was soft, but maybe he had just gotten used to not needing to fight anyone for real over the past two months. Fighting without killing was hard, and he already regretted killing Overhaul, if just for all the trouble it had caused them.
He supposed that he was actually lucky, that this Sparrowhawk had been so weak to be knocked out at a single blow.
Killua frowned at the unconscious man, before shaking his head and taking to the streets again. It was over now. Now, he'd just have to find the train station, meet with Bakugo and Gon, and continue the plan.
.
Izuku stiffened. What was that?
Out of the corner of his eye, he had seen a flicker of movement, black against black.
Then a figure emerged out of the nearby alleyway.
"Aizawa-sensei!" For a second, he was relieved. "What are you doing here?"
"Midoriya," the rough, haggard man greeted shortly. "I was put on the case. Have you seen Zoldyck anywhere around here?"
Izuku shook his head. "No," he said, then looked to Lemillion. "But we heard that there are some members of the League here – we're keeping an eye out. Have you seen anything, Aizawa-sensei?"
The man hesitated, then said, "I thought I might've seen something in an earlier alley. Maybe we can split up to take a look."
Izuku and Mirio traded a glance.
"Hold on," Mirio stepped forward, smiling. There was a joking, yet serious tone to his voice as he said, "Isn't it kind of funny that you're here, Eraser Head-san? I'm sure you're not acting without authorization, seeing that you're not even in your hero gear…"
Izuku did a double-take, and saw that the words were true. Aizawa didn't have his yellow hero goggles with him, and even his capture bandages looked funny. And under the night light, the bags under his eyes looked even deeper than they usually did, like he hadn't slept for days.
"Aizawa-sensei!" Izuku protested. "Don't tell me you came here to find Bakugo and Killua yourself!? Aren't you always telling us to be more responsible and scolding us for not following proper procedures?"
"Ah, that is…" The teacher scratched at his hair, looking uncomfortable.
"Then you should head back," Mirio said firmly, though there was some gentleness in his voice. "I understand, Aizawa-sensei, that you want to help, but this is an active operation and you're needed at UA. If you want to get involved, please, next time, talk to Sir directly."
Aizawa sighed. "Maybe you're right," he muttered. Then he straightened, somewhat clearing his throat. "I'd like to talk with Midoriya about something. Requesting permission to take him with me. I'll leave immediately after."
Lemillion gave him a long look, and Izuku's gaze switched between his senior and his teacher. At last, he stepped forward, making his own decision.
"I'll do it," he said, before stepping forward to meet Aizawa. "You don't look like you're in good shape, sensei… let's get you back to the dorms…"
"I'm more than fine," Aizawa grumbled back, but, concerningly, he accepted Izuku's helping hand, looking oddly happy at the contact.
Izuku traded a look with his senior partner. Mirio nodded, eyes level and observant behind his visor.
"I'll be back soon," Izuku told him. "I'll just take him to the main street and call a taxi."
He turned away. Aizawa at his side, they began walking, Izuku leading the way. Soon enough, they had left Lemillion behind.
"So," Izuku asked, cautiously. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
There was a flash, a sense of danger, a whip of wind passing by his face, and Izuku immediately leapt away, pushing himself to a nearby wall with a hair-trigger-activated Full Cowl. For good measure, he leapt further away once more, before he turned his eyes down the alleyway towards his opponent.
He stared at the location he had just been in to see a knife occupying the space, then towards the haggard man who had wielded the knife.
"Aww, you dodged!" And it was eerie seeing his professor take on those pouting tones and childish expression. "I just wanted to scratch you a little! See a little blood. Come on, is it so much to ask for?"
Izuku's lips thinned.
"Who are you?" he asked.
Aizawa-san's form giggled, then began melting like wax, until it adopted the form of a young teenage girl with wild blonde hair and golden eyes. Himiko Toga. A member of the League of Villains that had attacked the forest training camp and kidnapped Bakugo. She immediately hopped closer, trying to span the distance that Izuku had set between them, but he warily danced backward.
"So, so?" The girl grinned at him, excitement flushing her face. "How was it? Were you convinced? That I really was Aizawa, your professor, all worried and alone and looking for his lost students?"
"No," Izuku said. "I thought something was wrong. But this…" He grimaced, eyes hardening as he looked at her. "Why did you want to see me?"
'What interest does Himiko Toga have in you, Deku?' Nighteyes had asked.
"Huh? It's because I have a crush on you, dummy!"
W-what? For a moment, he lost his composure, eyes widening.
The girl turned away, looking abashed, though she also almost looked like she was salivating. "You're exactly my type, Izuuku," she said. "You looked so beeat up and handsome when I saw you in that forest. It just made me – want to cut you up more, you know?" Her blush grew deeper. "It made me want to be like you, Izuku. You can understand that, can't you? It's love. Liking someone so bad that you want to become like them, see them all scratched up and bloodied up..."
Izuku stared at her, shaken.
This… he had never seen anything like this before.
"Himiko Toga," he said slowly, keeping his fists raised. "You attacked my friends Ochaco and Asui at the forest training camp, do you remember?"
"Of course!" she chimed. "I wanted to become friends with them so bad too!"
"Then why?" Izuku asked, frustrated. "Why did you hurt them?"
Toga stared at him, her blush somewhat fading away.
"I just want there to be the things I like in this world," she said matter-of-factly. "All the things I don't like, I'm going to kill. The League, is going to help me with that. So I needed to help them too, in exchange."
"So what does the League want with Bakugo and Killua?" Izuku asked, steadying his nerves and following the train of thought to its further conclusion. "And what do you get in exchange?"
She stared at him for a long moment, then giggled, shoulders hiking up as she pressed a hand to her face.
"Oops!" she said. "You weren't supposed to know that. Did I give it away, by being here?"
Izuku watched her, remaining silent. She frowned, lowering the hand.
"Aww, this is no fun," she said. "C'mon, Izuku-kun. You're supposed to be more flustered, more surprised. Why aren't you?"
"If I tell you why," Izuku said slowly, "will you tell me why you were with Bakugo and Killua?"
"So there is a secret!" She grinned, then stepped forward, leaning in, and this time, Izuku had to fight to not leap backwards again, especially as the knife in her hand glittered sharply in the lamplight. "Alright, I can tell you. We'll share secrets, okay, Izuku-kun? You're their friend anyway, right, Izuku, so I can tell you?"
Izuku nodded.
"Killua didn't want you guys to know," she said, in a confessional tone, sidling closer. "But he doesn't like us, anyway. Did you know? He once held me down and threatened to kill me! So I don't like him either, even if he's still just a cute little kid."
Izuku frowned, and the girl's tone turned more serious.
"I don't think they want anything to do with the League," she said, and Izuku was startled by her rapid shift in tone, and the way her incessant shuffling had suddenly stopped as she met his eyes with what seemed unusual severity. "Shigi wants them to join, but I don't think they will. They just want to get back home. I don't want to stop them, but I think they need the League to get back for whatever reason. They keep asking about Tomura's sensei… All For One. They keep calling him that."
Izuku's eyes widened, and he barely held back a gasp at the name. Before he could ask, the girl across from him spoke again, rapidly, shifting just as suddenly into her initial insane, giddy girlish persona.
"Now it's your turn!" she said brightly, grinning at him, showing sharp teeth. "What's your secret? Why weren't you surprised to see me, huh, Izuku-kun?"
"Thanks, Toga," he muttered, delaying, thinking over what she had said. "You really helped."
He was surprised when she looked inordinately pleased, smiling in a way that was much more chaste than her earlier red blush. "So?" she demanded, after she recovered herself. "What's the secret? C'mon, you have to tell me now, Izuku!"
He took a breath, then nodded.
"We knew all along it was you."
She frowned, eyebrows furrowing, looking confused. It hadn't been the answer she had been expecting, or at least not the one she had been hoping for. He had to force himself to meet her eyes levelly.
"Sorry. Aizawa-sensei never would have gone alone into an operation without informing any of the other heroes. He would call it 'senseless' and 'irrational'," Izuku informed her, somewhat apologetically. Then he tapped his earpiece. "And you didn't have one of these. A real hero would have known to be contacted as soon as they entered the premises. And besides, those aren't real capture bandages, are they? Aizawa-sensei never would have gone in without his hero gear. We knew right from the start. That's why I wasn't surprised."
And besides, when they knew to look for it, it was easy to recognize the signs. Just before the operation began, Nighteyes had debriefed them both about Himiko Toga's quirk, that she could shift forms and take on someone else's appearance. They had already been on the lookout for unusual behavior.
"That's right!" Lemillion said cheerfully as he emerged from a nearby wall, taking Izuku's words as the signal. He appeared on the opposite side of Izuku, across from Toga so that they had her penned in the alleyway. "Sorry Miss Toga, but it looks like this is your unlucky day. Why don't you just turn yourself in and make it easy for yourself?"
The change was stark. As soon as Lemillion appeared, she hissed, eyes widening, and held out her knife warningly in front of her, curling back like a rabid animal.
To Lemillion, it was answer enough.
Lemillion leapt forward without another word, a soundless rush. His arm was raised in a punch, capture tape trailing behind him. In a frozen instant, as Lemillion descended, Himiko Toga turned to meet Izuku's eyes with a wounded look.
That look, Izuku knew instinctively, would stay in his mind for a long, long time.
It wasn't a look of an insane villain who only wanted to inflict violence upon others. It was a look of pain, of felt betrayal, of childish hurt. It was senseless, he knew. He didn't even know Himiko Toga, and all Toga had done to him was try to hurt him and his friends. But when he saw that expression of pain -
He couldn't help but want to reach out.
Then the moment was gone, and the girl was jumping away with a hiss, disappearing from his senses like her existence had suddenly crawled its way out of his thoughts. He looked around, startled, trying to figure out where she had gone, but only moments later Mirio announced that she was gone and they had accomplished their mission.
Minutes after that, checking around every which corner, they were certain that the place had cleared. At least, Izuku thought it was minutes. It might've felt like decades, the way his mind was running on.
"Good job, Deku," Mirio said, smiling at him, after it was over.
"But we didn't capture her."
"The mission today was to gather information, not to capture the League," Mirio said, clapping him on his back, and Izuku let loose a tentative, though uncertain smile in response. "Come on, let's tell Sir about everything we learned."
Izuku nodded, but as he followed in silence, his warbling smile died a slow, choked death.
Something… Izuku thought, something doesn't feel right about this.
I'm supposed to be a hero, right?
The look on Himiko Toga's face hadn't seemed to agree.
And earlier that same night, neither had Bakugo's.
If this is what it meant to be a hero… feeling queasy, Izuku suddenly wasn't sure if he was worthy of wielding One for All, after all.
.
Katuski and Gon were apparently the first to arrive at the train station. Gon had confirmed it, sniffing at the air like a dog, saying that there was no scent of Killua or Dabi.
So they had to wait.
He was tapping his foot impatiently, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, when he spotted Flame Face over the crowd, hooded but clearly recognizable to Bakugo's searching eyes.
"Where's Killua?" Katsuki demanded roughly, striding up to the tall, dark-haired boy, butting shoulders with the crowd to get to him. When he arrived, the villain looked down at him with eyes full of glittering amusement.
"Last I saw, he was blockaded by some police and pro heroes." He paused. "I wouldn't worry though. That kid's resourceful. I'm sure he'll be able to escape just fine. He probably even knew he was walking into a trap."
Katsuki growled.
"You were supposed to be his backup!" Katsuki hated the idea, but in this moment, he hated the idea that Killua had been abandoned and alone even more. His fists curled, and he felt the familiar sensation of popping, anger rising up in him.
Dabi's expression lost its amusement.
"Are you sure that's what you'd want?" he asked. "What do you think would happen if I showed up to try to rescue him, in front of all those heroes? When you've been so careful to try to stay disconnected to the League?"
"Right," Katsuki snarled. "Then it would've been a golden opportunity for you, huh? Chicken shit. You just abandoned him 'cause it was convenient for you."
"If that's what you want to believe." The tone was deathly bored.
Katsuki wanted to punch him. But already, they were making a scene, drawing too many eyes. Still, his hand shook, and it was with effort that he didn't just throttle the villain in front of him where he stood. He wanted to. This was the villain who had kidnapped him, had his hands around his throat as he was dragged into a portal of black miasma into the villains' lair. This was the villain who had injured Killua, hissing smoke around his wrist. This was the villain who seemed to appear time and time again, and for a moment, Katsuki couldn't understand why he couldn't, couldn't just get rid of the man now.
Then, like a shadow, Killua appeared from the crowd, standing just shy of Dabi's back, meeting Katsuki's eyes. The murderous rage disappeared, to be replaced by a shock and relief. The brat had made it.
"Come on," the twelve-year-old said quietly. "Let's go. We're all here, but they'll still be looking for us." The boy then shared an impromptu grin with Gon, who had just come up behind Katsuki. "Nice hat, Gon."
Katsuki stared at him, stricken by how quickly and silently he had appeared. Just like that, they were ready to leave?
Then Killua looked around with a frown.
"Toga?"
"She left us," Katsuki replied immediately with a scowl. "Good riddance." He hesitated. "Though - she said Deku was there."
Katsuki wasn't sure what he had been expecting from Killua after saying it, but the younger boy didn't look concerned.
"I see. Guess we'll leave without her. It's probably for the best." Killua's eyes flickered to Dabi for a moment, and Katsuki hoped that meant that he hadn't wanted Dabi to arrive, either.
A minute later, they were standing by the train tracks, almost idyllically waiting for the next train to arrive. It was strange. So much tension, but it seemed like for all that, nothing had happened. They had all arrived in one piece. There was no commotion around them, so it seemed like the heroes and police hadn't cottoned on to their location, and the train was coming in just a minute. Was it really that easy?
"How'd you escape?" Katsuki asked Killua in a low voice, looking around to see if there were any listeners.
"I had to knock out the tail," Killua replied, just as quietly. "But it was no big deal. No one got hurt."
Katsuki breathed out in relief, but still felt suspicious. This was too easy, wasn't it?
A minute later, precisely on time, the train arrived. They walked in, jostling shoulders with nearby passengers as they sped to their seats. Aside from the thick tension in his shoulders, it seemed like a normal Saturday night crowd, just like those days when Katsuki'd take the train back home late from UA after training had run too long.
In the train, a quiet discussion began, muffled to the best of their ability amongst the residual chatter. This was when the other shoe dropped for Katsuki. They discussed how strangely certain the heroes had been of their location, and how the hawk hero hadn't even contacted backup as he waited despite the police and other heroes being able to coordinate alarmingly quickly. Killua asked about Katsuki's scuffle, because of his scrapped fists, and then, as Katsuki spoke, explaining the story of how he had run into Deku and the mystery suited hero -
It clicked.
That damn face. He had only caught a glimpse of it in the dark, when he was upset, but of course he fucking recognized it - the face of the man who had been sidekick to the Number One.
Sir Nighteyes. A hero reputed for being able to make eerily accurate predictions regarding the locations of villain hideouts and the optimal places to strike. It was with a chill that Katsuki understood.
"When I slapped his hand," he muttered in disbelief. He well remembered the look of shocked surprise on the man's face at that moment; he hadn't understood it then, and anything Katsuki didn't understand tended to linger in his mind. "He used his fucking quirk on me then."
Seeing the others' looks of incomprehension, he explained. And as he explained, he grew angrier. Damn it, that whole thing had been a trick. Just a trick to get their quirk pegged on him, liking tracking him as they spoke. That fucking Deku -
"It's not a tracking quirk," Flame Face interrupted, looking strangely serious. "It's probably a precognitive quirk. We'll have to take countermeasures. If it works by touch then…" He looked at Katsuki speculatively.
"Countermeasures"apparently meant tying a blindfold over Katsuki's eyes and slamming in some earplugs, because apparently, if a precognitive quirk worked by touch and was activated by someone's perspective, odds were that it was seeing through your eyes and ears somehow. The theory checked out, Killua reluctantly agreed with it, and Katsuki eventually had to too when he thought of how stupid he'd been to not have checked for it sooner.
And so Katsuki was forced to angrily sit far away from the rest of them in the train as they planned, unable to see or hear but simply trust that the brats had his best interests in mind, because somehow fucking Bakugo Katsuki had become a liability because he had slapped away Sir Nighteyes's hand, Sir Nighteyes, the ex-sidekick to the number one hero All Might, and was now being chased by heroes and police alike.
What a fucking night, he thought.
It was high time he got some sleep.