Quick reminder: The heroes don't know Hikari gave her tracker to Izuku, who handed it to Eri in the last chapter.

Chapter 70: confrontation

How much time had passed?

Izuku pressed his gloved hand to his mouth, trying to silence the gasps. Cold, rusty metal beams pressed into his back. He wished his eyes would finally adjust to the dark, but there was nothing to adjust to in the complete blackness of the old tunnel. He could light his fire, but that would give his position away.

The hero in training held his breath once more, listening to the deafening silence surrounding him. All he heard was the rustling of his shaking arms and the rush of his own blood.

Nightmare and the other villains were still somewhere out there. Izuku had managed to keep them at bay for a bit before he had been left no choice but to flee into the tunnels. He just hoped Eri-chan and the others had gotten a good head start.

The mouldy smell in the air made him feel sick. Still, Izuku allowed himself to breathe again and took a careful step forward. Then another. He couldn't just sit around and twiddle his thumbs! His best bet was to sneak back and make sure the villains were still after him, he couldn't let them get close to Eri-

His toes stubbed against something hard. He hitched a breath but managed not to scream. Which didn't matter, because whatever he just kicked, the metallic clank it caused when rolling over the ground echoed between the narrow walls, travelling far into both directions. Izuku stopped in his tracks.

Nothing. Maybe he was lucky and-

A high-pitched screech escaped him as something wrapped around both his legs and pulled him to the ground before aggressively dragging him backwards. Cursing internally, Izuku summoned his flames, melted the sand around his ankles and shattered the glass with One for All as soon as it cooled down. Fast steps approached.

"Found you."

The windowless room was brightly lit, people scurried around, their antsy behaviour unnerving him even more. Some of his colleagues were having a screaming match about what to do next, but he had long tuned them out, eyes scanning the city map displayed on the big TV screen at the other side of the conference room. Most of his and Vlad King's students had been found. Emphasis on most. Of course, the usual troublemakers were not included.

Aizawa sighed, closed his eyes and pinched his nose. The majority of the most agile and stealthy heroes who had not been incapacitated were out scouting, trying to find Dragon's hideout. Which shouldn't be as much of a problem as it was. Where was the villain hiding? How did he make it back into the city? Was he even still here? They were all waiting for a broadcast. Dragon loved the drama, the publicity, surely, he would bring whatever message he was trying to convey to their attention in some form. The only questions were when, how, and most importantly, whatever fucked up thing it was. What on earth could motivate a man to cause two attacks of this scale? To cause so much destruction and death?

Mulling over his thoughts, the U.A. teacher missed the beeping of his phone.

"Eraserhead," one of the local heroes tried to get his attention. Vlad was off looking after some of his students who got injured during the spread of the gas. He should be doing the same, heck, he should be out there looking for the missing kids, but he could barely keep his burning eyes open. All those quirks out of control… He had tried to stop as many as possible, but he was only human. Only one man against a thousand quirks going berserk.

"Eraserhead," the hero called out once more, louder than before. Aizawa finally snapped out of his grim thoughts and glared at the younger man, probably a sidekick. The young man nervously averted his eyes. "Your phone…"

Not an incoming message or call - he always had it on silent anyway - not his alarm clock. No, this was a completely different sound. Taking a sharp breath, the underground hero pulled the device from his pocket. A map greeted him, the same as was displayed on the big TV screen, a bright red dot blinking somewhere far up in the corner.

Shikogane's tracker went off. Fuck. Not now, not-

"Eraser!" Just in that moment, his colleague decided to burst through the open door. Vlad's brows were furrowed, his teeth clenched. He strode towards Aizawa with long steps, his mouth already spilling, "The students we sent out arrived. I just contacted the other shelters, all except one are back."

He felt almost relieved. Almost. Clenching his phone harder, he set out, "Shikogane-"

"Came back with them. She and some others ran into Neo Kumo and got injured, but nothing too serious. He's… Not a problem anymore."

Aizawa allowed himself to breathe. Problem child number two was safe. But that left…

"Still no signs of Midoriya."

Of course. What else could Dragon want but his son? Aizawa had been against bringing the students from the beginning. He knew this would happen. Even Nedzu had tried his best, but the commission… He hoped they would have to face some repercussions after this was over. They deserved it.

"It was to be expected," a new, deep voice spoke. So, he wasn't the only one. It was none other than the current number one hero, followed by two of his sidekicks, who entered the already crowded room. Endeavour crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Wherever he is, it's safe to assume Dragon won't be too far." Silence followed the statement. Even the ever louder growing argument of the two heroes behind Aizawa had come to a halt.

"So, what do we do?" One of them asked. Track his phone? If Dragon truly had Midoriya, the villain must have made sure there was no way for the heroes to locate the boy. He had probably taken his equipment, all his devices, maybe even drugged him to make sure he couldn't use his quirk to escape.

Aizawa felt another headache incoming. The boy's quirk was already odd enough. From super strength that wrecked his body to suddenly being able to produce fire and some sort of pyrokinesis… He didn't need his quirk to become even weirder. Or God forbid, if he became unable to use it. With his drive, Midoriya would still try to be a hero, and Aizawa would assist him, but that would be an even greater pain in the ass than it already was.

The beeping demanded Aizawa's attention again. Vlad had said that Shikogane had arrived with the others. Was the tracker malfunctioning? Should he turn it off? Did Shikogane loose it or-

He almost dropped the phone. It was obvious. Of course she would do that. What did he expect? Taking a deep breath, Aizawa got ready to announce the situation, when even more people decided to storm the assembly. He immediately shut his mouth and grinded his teeth.

Crimson eyes glared at the number one hero before setting on the teacher. With his grenade-shaped gauntlets on, Bakugou looked ready to jump into a fight, supported by his anger filled expression and the drops of sweat running down his front. Standing slightly behind him was Todoroki, who didn't fit through the door because he was supporting Shikogane, who looked like she had just been hit by a train. Needlessly to say, Aizawa wasn't pleased.

"Oi-" Bakugou growled, but before he could say more the U.A. teacher held up his phone, eyes fixed on the girl behind him.

"Midoriya, I presume?" He didn't even have the energy to be angry. Shikogane's pale face flushed - so she probably wasn't feeling as bad as she looked - and her gaze dropped to the floor.

"I… It was only logical…" Trying to defend herself by using his own argument against him? He didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse to have some of the smartest kids of the year in his class. Sighing, Aizawa began with the scolding, "First of all, that was incredibly stupid. It left you without protection, even if your brother was announced dead there was still a high chance Dragon might come after you again. You also left on your own without telling anyone where you were going- Yes, I've heard about that part," he added, watching his student wince, "which counts as disobeying orders and acting recklessly. I think detention and some lessons on basic common sense should be in order."

Was scolding his student in front of a bunch of heroes, including the number one, harsh? Yes. Did he think she deserved it? Yes.

"Second." He saw Todoroki's hold on the girl tighten, his eyebrows angle even more. He already parted his lips, but Aizawa continued, "As stupid as it was, it's probably also our best shot right now."

Ignoring the surprise flashing over his students' faces, Eraserhead turned to address his colleagues, "If the signal comes from Midoriya, he must be in trouble. Dragon or some of his henchmen are probably there."

"We could send some to infiltrate and-"

"We'll ambush them," Endeavor interrupted the hero, "the risk of an infiltrator getting caught is too high. We don't have enough men. Assuming Dragon doesn't know about the tracker, he expects us to send small groups to cover as much ground as possible. He would have an easy time taking those out. He won't expect a strong, head-on attack, it's our chance at overwhelming him."

"What about the gas?" Someone made a fair point.

"The city is prepared," another local hero with an ocean themed costume threw in, "when building this shelter we prepared for all kinds of scenarios, which included a breakout of poisonous gas, so we're well stocked up on masks. It will be more than enough to protect us, should Dragon try to use the same means as before."

In Aizawa's opinion, it was too risky to bet everything on one attack. They had to keep protecting and rescuing the civilians, some people would be needed to coordinate the operation, the injured had to be tended to, they were in desperate need of more men.

But still… Endeavour was right about Dragon expecting them to take the safe route. Another hero seemed to share his thoughts. "What about waiting for backup?"

"Not gonna happen." The room turned to Burnin, one of the two hot-headed sidekicks sticking to Endeavour's heels. "We just managed to contact the commission, country's in deep shit. Five other cities got gassed the same time as this place."

This couldn't get much worse, could it?

Bricks shattered as the wall burst into a thousand pieces. Izuku barely got out of range before Shockwave's quirk could do the same to his bones. He didn't remember it to be so powerful but who knew, maybe Dragon had forced some enhancers on them after seeing how his son got away last time.

A low patter reached his ears, warning him of Nightmare's next attack. He kept his flames activated even though it made him an easy target; They were his only hope at stopping the dark sand. Izuku twisted his body mid air and angled his legs, barely avoiding the next hit. His suit was torn in multiple places, mostly from him crashing blindly into all kinds of obstacles lying in the abandoned tunnel system. Out in the open, he might have been able to win this fight, but down here he was at a disadvantage. His body temperature had risen considerably thanks to the constant use of his quirk, despite the cold of the stale air. That never really happened before, not to this extent. He didn't have a secondary quirk to cool him down like Shouto, how was he supposed to counter that side effect?

"That's enough." The onslaught stopped abruptly. Izuku landed, sliding to a halt on the gravel covered ground. He tryed to ignore the goosebumps the voice left him with.

Dragon had arrived.

Izuku inhaled sharply. His hands started trembling. This wasn't good. At this rate, they would only drag him back to their headquarters. He needed to buy Eri-chan the others more time, they couldn't have gotten far yet. Under no circumstances would he let his father get his hands on her again.

"Izuku," Dragon called him. The teen could barely make out his silhouette against the faint glow coming from far behind the closest branching point. Despite his gut screaming at him to launch himself at the man, he chose to follow logic, and took a handful of deep breaths to calm himself while deactivating his quirk. If Dragon wanted to talk, so be it.

Talking always took more time than fighting. More time for the others to escape. The tracker was active, it should only be a matter of time until the heroes would find them.

"My boy, why are you running? I told you, I only want what's best for our family."

"Maybe what you deem best is not what we want," Izuku snapped. His nerves were getting the better of him. He needed to cool down as much as possible, gathering some strength for when the battle continued. Because without a doubt, it would. There was no changing his father's mind.

"Maybe what you think you want, is nothing but the nonsense those heroes planted inside your head," the man shot back, his fuse growing shorter.

"Says the one who cut a deal with All For One, the Symbol of Evil." He wasn't the best at comebacks. Screw that, Izuku tried to avoid unnecessary conflict as best as possible, unless it was about helping a friend. Also, it might not have been a good idea to challenge the short temper of his villainous parent, because it looked like a small trail of smoke rose from the man's lips.

"I did what I had to, all in your best interest."

"So, the end justifies the means?"

A shrug.

"See, Dragon," Izuku would not give him the satisfaction of calling him his father, "that's the difference between us. You're not any better than the League of Villains. You'll do everything to reach your goal, no matter the cost. You destroy and hurt and kill, all without remorse. I could never stand for that. So, I'm sorry to destroy your dreams." He took a deep breath, steeling himself, and widened his stance. "But I will never agree with your ideology! You can kidnap me, torture me, break me, try to brainwash me, but the real me will never walk by your side!"

A tiny, bilious green flame flickered in front of Dragon's mouth, illuminating his features, letting the fury glint in his eyes for the split of a second. The sheer anger Izuku saw in that one moment had him take a step back and gulp.

"I've tried, I really did," Dragon spoke quietly but cold as ice, "I'm trying to make the world a better place, can't you see? I took in all those poor souls after Seishin Academy closed. I promised them a better future, where those with and without a quirk would stand as equals."

That… Explained a lot. He remembered now. That anxious face he had seen in the crowd belonged to a student who had been in his class during his short stay at Seishin.

"You manipulated them?!"

"I did no such thing. I intend to fully keep my promise. You, of all people, should know how much they suffered. They deserve better. Don't you want to help them too, hero?" Dragon spat the last word in disgust.

"I-" Of course, he did, but… "N-not like this! There has to be another way, a way where no one gets hurt-"

"Do you know how many have tried? And failed? This society is twisted, rotten. And what do you do with something when part of it is rotting away?" Dragon opened his arms, but Izuku refused to answer.

"You remove the part that's already dead."

Izuku's eyes flickered to the left. Nightmare had merged with the shadows, he wasn't moving, making it impossible for Izuku to make out his exact location. Shockwave was standing a bit closer to Dragon, her head darting back and forth between her boss and his son. The Puppeteer and Voodoo had also arrived on the scene - meaning no one was following Yotsune, Eri and the girl, thank All Might - they were both waiting patiently in the back. And they would have to stay patient.

"I see now. There really is no point in talking to you, is there, my boy?"

Izuku huffed, "There is only one person who's allowed to call me that, and it's not you, Dragon."

That did the trick. The villain sighed in defeat. "Very well then. Everyone, go get the girl. I'll deal with this one."

No. Izuku couldn't let that happen.

"Wait-!" He barely avoided the beam of blazing hot fire that shot his way.

"Remember, son. This is what you wanted."

The dark tunnels were scary. The beam of the flashlight bounced off a wall in front, forcing them to turn right. Eri clutched the boy's shirt harder. He didn't smell very nice, and he was a bit mean, too, but he was helping her and Hiromi-san, who they called 'The Void', to escape. She would rather be with Deku-san. But her hero had stayed behind to distract the villains.

Why did it always have to be this way? Why did all the bad men want her quirk? She still couldn't properly control it and did more damage than good. She had healed Deku-san when he fought her father, but Overhaul also made Lemillion-san lose his quirk because of her. She had wanted to believe Deku-san when he told her that her power was good, but she was struggling to do so. She didn't want more people to get hurt because of her.

AN: A/N: *Unholy screeching* I'm sorry it took so long. Dragon is angry and so done. Izuku, I don't think this was a good idea…

Thank you for staying, reading, and being patient. It means so much to know that at least a handful of people are actually waiting for updates and would maybe care if this thing never got done.

Thank you.

Review time:

*Ddraig3652: Thanks for the review! And thanks so much, I'm glad you like it! Hope the next chapters won't be as disappointing as this one...

*Ryu: About three more chapters... I'm sorry. Thank you so much for your constant support!

*Nixxon Mysterio: Ahhh thanks for that chunk of a review! Can I be the fanfiction mom now? Yotsune was a rather despicable character in the beginning. He still has his flaws, but ultimately chose to do the right thing. Character development and such. And yes, I never intended for this fic to be this long, and there are so many things I would do differently in hindsight, but here we are, almost at the end. Hope next chapter will be better.