Chapter 30

Movement in the Dark

"You want me to make a receiver?"

"Yeah. You already know why we want it."

"... Please, give me some time to think about it."

Night had fallen upon Japan. The city continued to move about its business, critiques and the breaking news not even enough to bring about the slightest bit of change to everyone's schedules and routines. It would take more than just the news of a villain attack on yet another U.A. class to break the monotony. The lights turned on, and the people continued to move underneath on the sidewalks and streets, milling about their business as per usual.

No one gave a second thought to the two high school boys that stood in front of the hospital, seemingly waiting for something. Or rather, someone, or multiple someones.

Kirishima's brows furrowed as the minutes passed, a bit of doubt coming into his mind with every moment that fled by them without change. He couldn't help but be on edge, especially after the argument that their class had in regards to their admittedly reckless and borderline illegal plan. "I wonder what Yaoyorozu decided."

At his side, Todoroki tried to remain nonchalant about the entire situation. Still, even he had to admit that he was just as on edge as his classmate, hands clenched into fists hidden away in his pants pockets as he stowed them away. Their plan was certainly foolish, but there was no denying the frustration in his heart that was leading him to act in any way that he could. "Well, no matter how restless we are, it's up to her-"

The front doors to the hospital slid open with a hiss, making the two jolt from both the sound and the two figures that appeared. Kirishima's eyes lit up, though he remained wary. "She's here!"

But not just Yaoyorozu. Todoroki's eyes slid to the left to see a slightly smaller boy following after her, slightly hidden by her figure in the shadows. "Midoriya…"

The look on the green haired boy's face describe a bit of discomfort, but none of it seeming to be aimed at whatever they were about to do. Instead he looked rather determined, his answer solidified. A bit of Todoroki relaxed as he saw Midoriya's face and read his implied decision. He should have known better than to doubt that Midoriya wouldn't have shown up tonight. Not after everything that had happened.

This wasn't just about Bakugou. Even though their male classmate had been clearly within their grasp, all the way until the last moment when things had gone wrong, Rei's abduction hurt just as much.

If she was here, what would she have done?

To be honest, she most likely would have tried to call everything off, probably would have tried the hardest to stop them. She was one of the most logical of the entire class, similar to Tsuyu, but she wasn't afraid to use her fists to take even her comrades down a notch. Todoroki tried not to think too much about that. He would rather do something and act and take her fist to his stomach for his insolence than stand aside and do nothing.

Somehow, he knew that she would still understand.

The two newcomers stopped in front of their other two classmates, Kirishima shifting forward and pulling his hands from his pocket. Of the four of them, he was the most openly anxious, ready to get an answer and get a move on. "Yaoyorozu, what's your answer?"

She was clearly hesitant, eyes muddied with confliction as she turned her gaze to the ground, clasping a hand to her chest. Surely there would be an explanation to accompany her answer, as their vice president was more than logical while also wanting to help her classmates. If she disappointed them in some way, she would want to explain things as thoroughly as possible to mitigate the damage. It was how she was as a person. But even as Yaoyorozu opened her mouth to speak, she never got the chance.

"Wait!"

The baritone voice was loud and clear, disrupting the quiet night as the four of them turned to look back at the entrance, their eyes settling on an all too familiar and dissenting figure. Iida's glasses shimmered in the lights, his face difficult to read in the low lighting as he stormed over toward the group, hands bunched into fists. Midoriya in particular lowered his head, though he refused to remove his gaze from his friend's face, green eyes dancing nervously not from indecision but from the knowledge of what was about to come.

"Iida-kun…"

"Why… Why did it have to be you guys, of all people?" Iida's voice was surprisingly low, as though trying to avoid attracting attention from other passerbyers out in the street. It was a strange sentiment, seeing as how Iida normally was loud and unabashed by his bright nature that naturally attracted attention. To see him so changed, so out of his element, it was a telling sign of how unnerved or how much strife he felt in his heart. "You were the ones who stopped me when I acted recklessly for personal reasons, who both received amnesty with me…"

But his voice began to tense, growing louder as he became more passionate, unable to hold back any longer. "Why are you trying to make the same mistake that I did?"

"Iida, what are you talking-" Kirishima tried to walk forward, but Todoroki only raised a hand to block him, leveling the red headed boy with a glance that told him to not ask questions, Iida's words relating to something beyond him.

"We are still minors. U.A. is in enough of a bad position as is. Who will take responsibility for your actions? Do you understand?!"

"Iida-kun, it's not like that! We don't think it's okay to break the rules either-"

It was enough. Midoriya hadn't seen the warning signs, hadn't read the situation properly. The other three members of their group watched from the side in horror as Iida slugged Midoriya across the face, the latter not even seeing the motion coming and unable to defend himself. His head snapped to the side as he staggered, the punch much more forceful than was perhaps called for, but Iida was not to be dissuaded.

"I'm worried too! And frustrated! It's only natural!" His voice began to break as he yelled at Midoriya, fists still clenched, unable to release.

"I am the class rep! I'm worried about my classmates! Not just Bakugou or Akatsuki. When I saw you in that hospital bed, I saw my brother's injuries as well! What if your body ends up irreparable, like my brother, because of your recklessness?"

Silence. Processing. Midoriya's eyes widened as he continued to hunch over, recovering from the blow as his cheek smarted while processing Iida's words. The thought hadn't crossed his mind; Bakugou and Akatsuki were gone, but that didn't mean that the rest of the class was only concerned with them. Jirou and Hagakure had suffered from the gas. Yaoyorozu had sustained a fairly severe head injury. And he, with his broken hands that were hanging on the verge of disrepair…

"Are you saying that you don't care about my worries?"

Iida's voice broke. He muttered half to himself, repeating his words as he grabbed Midoriya by the shoulders, shaking his friend gently as he continued to paraphrase his concerns. Unable to meet Iida's gaze, even as the taller boy hunched over with his face close to Midoriya, the latter found he was unable to raise his head.

He had been so consumed in his concern for Bakugou and Akatsuki that he had forgotten about himself. Wasn't that what heroes did? No, that was foolish. Heroes had to know their limits still. But Midoriya couldn't help but think about rescuing those that were in dire need. His mind couldn't think rationally, even as the adrenaline was gone. If his hand could reach…

"Iida. We don't expect to face them head on and win either." To everyone's surprise it was Todoroki who spoke up first. A set of blue and brown eyes settled on Iida's own, determination and cunning in the former's expression even as he tried to hide it behind a neutral face. "We'll extricate them without fighting."

"In other words, covert action." Clearly Kirishima and Todoroki had talked this plan through multiple times, already having a decent idea of what they wanted to do while considering what they could legally do given their student status. "That way, we can toe the line."

"I trust Todoroki-san." Everyone's eyes turned to Yaoyorozu in surprise next. It was the first time she had truly and clearly spoken during this entire meeting, her eyes both near and far as she clasped a hand to her chest. She stared at the ground, eyes lowered at a forty-five degree angle as she refused to look at everyone else for a moment longer, as though gathering her wits about her and trying to solidify her own plan first. "I plan to accompany them so that I can stop them, if something goes wrong."

"Yaoyorozu!"

Two voices called her name, one astonished that she would toe the line with them while the other sounded in relief that they had pulled another classmate to their side. It was when Midoriya shifted to stand up straighter that everyone looked back to him, awaiting his response.

"I don't know myself, either. But hearing that I could reach a little further, that I could do something instead of sitting around." Finally he lifted his head, green eyes sparkling. There was nothing except determination, the kind that usually alit Midoriya's expression when he had made up his mind, where nothing could change it except for perhaps knocking him unconscious or a stern threat from their teachers. But there was none of that here. "I can't stop thinking that I want to save them. Both of them."

"We can't come to an agreement then, huh?"

The four stiffened at Iida's words, watching his expression carefully as his furrowed eyebrows smoothed out, face going oddly placid and devoid of any tension that had been on it a moment prior. But when he opened his eyes there was determination, enough to match Midoriya's in passion and fire. "Then, take me with you too!"

"Huh? Iida…"

There wasn't time for Kirishima to say much else, as Todoroki stepped forward. "We can decide things as we go. We should start moving before we draw any more attention here."

It was logical enough. Both Midoriya and Todoroki took the point, with Iida and Kirishima in the middle and Yaoyorozu in the back. Slinging their bags over their shoulders and filtering out of the hospital for one final time, they were each left to their thoughts, at least for a moment.

Yaoyorozu was conflicted. That much was certain. She hadn't been able to dispel the feeling that something bad would come out of this excursion, ever since Todoroki and Kirishima had approached her about making another device to track the creature. In addition to the fact that they were still only students, that Aizawa-sensei's permission to fight had been retracted now that the camping incident was officially over, and that they were all healing in some form or manner, the now five of them were in no condition to be carrying such a mission out.

It was foolish. This was something that they should leave to the pro heroes. There was no need to meddle in these dangerous affairs, no reason to get further entangled. They were in over their heads, and if they thought otherwise then they weren't thinking at all. Clearly, that seemed to be the case here. No one was thinking with their heads screwed on properly, and those were the kinds of mistakes that could get people killed in the real world.

Then why couldn't she say no? Why didn't she just refuse to make the transponder from the beginning? Why had she determined that her best option was to follow the group and simply make sure that they followed the laws, when all of this could have been circumvented by simply denying them from the beginning?

A part of her knew that it was because she understood their itch to move. Yaoyorozu wasn't unfeeling. Even if she had been in the forest, she had felt Rei's loss in a real way. If it had been only Todoroki that had been asking for the receiver, she was almost certain that she would have said no. They were friends, and out of everyone in the class they probably knew each other the best, aside from the other girls that Yaoyorozu was close with, but it was exactly for that reason why Yaoyorozu knew that she would have been able to deny Todoroki his wishes. But when Kirishima had accompanied him, had essentially laid down the groundwork for what they had wanted to do and why, Yaoyorozu hadn't been able to deny him.

Not just because they weren't quite as close, but because Yaoyorozu had understood. The two of them hadn't been there in that moment, and as a result Akatsuki and Bakugou had both suddenly been there in one moment and gone the next. It was different from Todoroki, Midoriya, Tokoyami, and Shoji's experiences. It was the absolute feeling that they did nothing, that they had essentially stood to the side while their friends had been taken away from their grasp.

That was the reason why she found herself walking at the back, completely conflicted about the entire situation. She knew that the other four boys weren't thinking with their heads completely screwed on. Extracting Bakugou and Akatsuki without combat was near impossible, considering the caliber of villains that they were dealing with. But at the same time she couldn't leave them now. She would have to think for them, would have to be the voice of reason. Even Iida was passionate about this mission.

And yet, she knew that she couldn't be the voice of reason.

At the end of the evening, she was just as emotionally invested and placed in turmoil, because it was her best friend that was dangling in the villains' grasp.

Anxiety.

Fear.

Despiration.

Hope.

Time passed.

Eventually the hope began to fade, leaving nothing but a dark feeling of resignation sitting in her chest.

It was not resignation that led her to the villain's cause. No, this was a different sort of resignation. It was that of a hopelessness that came with the realization that rescue might not ever come. She was hidden away in a place she knew not where; how could she have hope that she would be rescued? She didn't even know the first location that she had been brought to, where Bakugou still was. Now that she was at a secondary location, there was no hope.

There was no return, and the longer that Rei thought about that fact, the more that reality began to settle in.

After what had seemed like hours, All For One had taken his leave. He warped from the room, or had moved with such quickness that she had no idea where the door was. She was trapped in darkness, sitting on the same chair that he had bade her sit upon when he had forced her into this small, dank, dark, room. Time was beginning to blur. She was exhausted, which was most likely part of the reason why she had no idea how he had left.

But even in her exhaustion, Rei was not a fool; she knew that somehow, some way, he was still watching her every more.

It mattered little.

As soon as he left, the room went silent. But the silence drove her mad. Silence, absence of voice, a dearth of any other living creature. She could not move from her chair, for fear of the repercussions.

So she did the only thing she could.

She screamed.

It was mingled and choked with a sob as the tears ran down her cheeks, spilling from her chin and onto her dirty exercise clothes that she still wore from the night of the test of courage. How long ago was that now? In this room, time meant nothing. It could have been hours, or days.

The tears continued to fall. Eventually her sobbing dimmed to a warble, lips quivering but soundless as she began to compose herself.

She was beginning to enter a state of deliriousness. And yet, she couldn't find it in herself to care.

No one was coming.

There was no way out.

What was going to become of her?

"And now, the U.A. High School press conference briefing will begin."

Aizawa, Vlad King, and Principal Nezu all rose from their chairs in a coordinated fashion, the first being at the center of the group and leading the charge. With his unwrinkled suit and hair pulled back out of his face he hardly looked like the permanently exhausted homeroom teacher of Class 1-A, though his eyes still held a weariness. This time, however, they looked more tense from the audience in front of them, as well as the knowledge that the press conference was being broadcast around the nation.

There were times when a hero had to do all kinds of work that they didn't necessarily enjoy. This, at least for Aizawa, was one of them. But it was a necessary diversion, one that they had to pull off for the other teams to get into place so that they could strike Shigaraki and his apparent Vanguard Action Squad that he had pulled together. Tonight, All Might and the other heroes, as well as the police, would be making their move.

Now, all the three on stage had to do was pull their attention away.

"We deeply apologize for the incident that has allowed harm to come to twenty-eight first years of the hero course because of our unpreparedness," he began, eyes harshly looking forward though earnest. "We apologize for causing unease in society, due to our negligence in properly defending ourselves as a place of learning."

The trio bowed in unison at the waist, cameras beginning to flash. "We are truly sorry." Short, sweet, and to the point. But now began the real test. For all intents and purposes, the press conference was real. It was intended to act as a diversion, knowing that Shigaraki would likely be tuning in, but aside from the three at the front under the spotlight, no one else in the room knew the truth. The reporters were unassuming, ignorant of the scheme that ran beneath their very feet, but their questions would be true enough.

The difficult part was about to begin.

A monitor called upon the first hand, starting with the major reporting centers as the trio sat down in their seats. "Yomiuri Television, reporting. Since the beginning of the year, U.A. high school students have had four encounters with villains. This time, there were even students injured. How did you explain to their families, and what sort of specific countermeasures are you taking?"

Principal Nezu took the first question, speaking with tension in his voice. At least one of them was clearly an actor, feigning stress to an oddly effective degree. It was believable, and had Aizawa not known about the truth he surely would have believed the act himself. Although, not all of his stress was feigned; the safety of their students was something the principal prided himself in, so perhaps not all of this was completely faked.

"'We will increase policing in the surrounding area and review security protocol with the school, ensuring the students' safety with a strong position.' That is what we told them. We have every intent of following through with this plan. Our students' safety is our top priority."

Another reporter took the mic, an older gentleman that Aizawa recognized. He was a long time reporter with a reputable newspaper, from what he could remember, and had established himself as the biggest antagonizer and critic of U.A. ever since the USJ incident. Trying not to glower at the man, Aizawa kept his face as neutral as possible.

"You spoke about the student's safety, Eraserhead. During the incident, it appears you urged them to fight. What was your intention behind this?"

This was clearly going to lead somewhere. But Aizawa dutifully leaned forward into the microphone, staring back at the man with intensity that bordered on a look that dared the reporter to cross him in a bad way underneath his mask. "I concluded that, because we were unable to fully grasp the situation, it had to be done in order to prevent the worst possible outcome."

"And what do you mean by, 'the worst possible outcome?' You don't call twenty-six casualties and two abductions 'the worst possible outcome?'"

A quick read of the room determined that most of the inhabitants were on the side of the reporter. Most faces wore looks of focus that vaguely disguised their irritation and muddied emotions of objection and upset at U.A.'s handling of the situation. Many leaned forward in their chairs, hunched over notepads while glaring up through lidded eyes and furrowed brows, clearly not on U.A.'s side of things. It was to be expected, but that made the battle all the more difficult.

Still, Aizawa proceeded both carefully and bluntly. There wasn't any point in trying to bullshit his way past the reporters at this point. That was the job of Principal Nezu, and the question hadn't been directed at the loveable, furry, principal.

"The 'worst outcome' I assumed in that situation was that the students would be at their wits' end and be killed."

Nezu stepped in anyway before anyone else could react, most of all the reporter who continued to stand in the crowd with a formidable frown on his face. "The gas attack accounts for most of the victims. We have determined that it was a sleeping gas from one of the enemies' quirks. Thanks to the quick response of Miss Kendo and Mister Tetsutetsu, there were no serious injuries from that attack. In addition, we are providing mental care for the students, but at the moment we do not see any signs of any serious psychological trauma."

"Are you saying that it was a bright spot in this tragedy?"

Yes. Yes, that was in fact what they were saying. But a blunt admission was sure to only egg the reporters on and gain an even less favorable response from their audience both in the studio and beyond.

Thankfully, Principal Nezu responded smoothly once more, rewording such a response in a much more articulate and placating manner. "We believe that the worst possible outcome is the one that would have infringed upon the future."

"Can you say the same thing for Bakugou and Akatsuki?"

Aizawa knew it was coming. He should have expected it. But in combination with the reporter's tone of voice, the mocking and disparaging tone that mixed with a subtle mockery of the very future that the principal was promising, the constant disappointment was beginning to wear and grate on Aizawa's nerves. He couldn't help the twitch of his eye and the subtle flinch as the reporter's eyes turned onto him in particular, knowing that his comments were about to make the stoic and grumpy U.A. teacher squirm in his seat.

"Bakugou enrolled at U.A. with excellent marks and won the sports festival. In addition, during the sludge villain incident in middle school, he resisted the powerful villain alone, so he has a history of showing how tough and heroic he can be. On the other hand," the reporter began feigning concern, though his look was overall too dark and attacking to be truly concerned with the aforementioned boy's attitude, "the violence he showed during the finals and at the closing ceremony show that he is not always mentally stable. What if the villains kidnapped him because they had an eye on that?"

The reporter narrowed his eyes at Aizawa, his full attention now directed at the teacher. The two of them had their eyes trained on one another, daring the other to break away. Not even Nezu could interfere at this point, the temperature of the room dropping at the accusations. "Furthermore, Akatsuki enrolled with fairly average marks, but also placed highly in the sports festival. She has proven to be cunning and intelligent, but her track record leading up to U.A. has been less than stellar. When one looks at her past, one has to question just what she is doing at a hero school, and if one can look beyond the history she surely brings with her as she moves into the future."

At this Aizawa couldn't hide his frown, lips twitching downward. The reporter was darting into dangerous territory, finding private information on a minor. But without explicitly stating anything, an attack on his sources could prove fruitless, and the U.A. panel would be accused of trying to steer the conversation off course. It was a clever, if not underhanded and slightly illegal, tactic that he was carefully playing, and they knew it. The best thing to do would be to move on and ignore the comments about Rei's past, but there was a sharp piece of defiance that struggled to rise to the top to defend his student.

Aizawa had received Rei's full report when they had been deciding whether or not to let her into the school. Every account of every fight that had been documented came with her academic record, her school's not so subtle way of trying to warn them that she came with a troubled and loaded history. It was a marvel to consider the fights that hadn't been recorded, what with the way that her dossier was loaded to the brim. Even though she had placed second in the entrance exam, just under Bakugou himself, it was barely enough to counter the fact that she looked to be a problem child, and Aizawa himself hadn't been entirely convinced of U.A.'s decision to offer her a spot at their prestigious school.

But she had wormed her way into his heart. She worked hard. Over time, Aizawa came to see that she truly was trying to get her record straight and clean up her act, her desire to become a hero not so foreign and strange as it had originally seemed. If he had to pin down a moment where he truly began to see her in a new light, it was the day that he had told her about the special scholarship for students with financial needs. He saw just how much she struggled, and yet how much she refused to lie down and give up. Combined with her raw talent and her promise for improvement, it was why he had accepted her in the class.

Even though she hid among the rest of her classmates, playing at being average and fitting into the middle so that she didn't stand out too much, she was one of the most promising. And Aizawa had taken it upon himself during the camp in particular to see that she made the most of her time and began to put her on the path to the future she envisioned and pursued with all her might.

"Kidnapping those two with deceitful words, and dyeing them with the path of evil? What evidence do you have for saying that they have a future?

To hear this reporter slandering both Bakugou and Akatsuki was enough to push his irritation over the breaking point. Standing up, Aizawa forced himself to his full height while swallowing his anger as best he could, in order to calmly deescalate the situation. He knew that the reporter was only trying to provoke a reaction, to try and catch them off guard.

He couldn't slip up. Not now. No matter how much he wanted to snap the reporter in half with his binding ties.

Bowing at the waist, he made sure his mouth was still close enough to his microphone. "As an educator, I take full responsibility for Bakugou Katsuki's violent behavior. However, his actions at the sports festival originate in what he considers his 'ideal strength.' He is trying harder than anyone in his pursuit of becoming the 'top hero.'"

Aizawa stood up straight, looking back at the man. "If the villains saw that and thought they had an opening, then I believe that they are short-sighted."

"Furthermore," he continued as the reporters in the audience began to mutter amongst themselves, sounding as though they were in awe or at least surprised by recent revelations, "in Akatsuki Rei's case, she has proven in multiple cases a solid application of basic hero operations, usually the first one to respond as taught in crisis situations. If one is troubled by her past, then they only need to look at her future. She has proven her desire to become a hero and protect those in need, and shows the most promise of her peers in becoming an outstanding member of society."

But the reporter still seemed displeased, though perhaps it was because the others in the audience seemed to be turning toward U.A.'s side, if only marginally. Rolling his shoulders back and puffing himself back up, he raised his voice. "That is not evidence, though. This isn't a question of how you feel; I'm asking whether or not you have a concrete plan in place."

"We are not just standing by idly." The Principal was showing signs of stress again, although his anxiety did seem to become more genuine for each second that passed in this place. One slip up could ruin the entire guise. "We are currently investigating alongside the police. We will definitely get our students back."

At Principal Nezu's words the reporter finally sat back down, reluctantly relinquishing the microphone as an aide walked up and gestured for him to return to his seat in order for others to ask more questions. The next reporter made their way to the center aisle in order to ask their question properly, the three at the front sipping their water in an attempt to parch their dry throats.

It was only the beginning, and they were already getting grilled. Hopefully the next few would be easier, now that most of the intense questions had already been asked. But it was a reminder of how much of a bad reputation U.A. had garnered, and how much they had to answer for in these times.

It was going to be a long night.

It was fear that kept her rooted to her seat. Fear that kept her from moving. Fear of repercussions, of the unknowns in her situation.

Fear of All For One and his brilliance, his insightfulness that could surely see through every move she wanted to make.

Time passed more slowly now that she was alone. Hunger had long abandoned her. It was her thirst that was driving her insane at this point. In the dark she swore that she could see colors swirling in her vision, behind her eyelids and in the naked black abyss that stared back whenever she opened her eyes.

Now was the time to think. But she did not want to think.

She dared not think of home, for fear of breaking one more time. She couldn't bring herself to think of the people that she missed. No, she couldn't. She would lose it even further. So instead she tried to meditate, to calm her mind, to bring the shreds of her mind back so that she could at least keep the last shreds of her dignity.

It was difficult. But it was the only thing she could do.

She was in limbo, stuck between losing all hope and fighting for her life. Half of her expected the worst. But the rest of her was convinced that, because she was still alive, she was still able to serve some use. If she could be resourceful enough…

But that brought her back to square one. All For One was cunning, that much was true. He was much more ancient and wizened than Rei could ever hope to be at her young age. Surely he had predicted her every move, if she tried to escape from this place. It was the main reason why she had not dared to move from her seat.

Think. Think! What purpose did she serve, if she was still alive?

It was clear that All For One wanted to recruit her. He had been searching for her for years, looking for ways to get her on his side. But why? For what purpose?

Rei feared that she would soon find out.

The moment that he stepped back into the room, the suffocating feeling returned. Rei stiffened immediately in her seat, flinching as a light in the corner of the room was turned on and shone on her. Blinking at the harshness, she came face to face once again with the monstrosity that was All For One, his mask and respirator haunting and gleaming even in the darkness.

"You've been a good little girl, little cat. Nearly a full day has passed and you still haven't moved from your seat."

Silence. It was clear that he was waiting for some sort of response, but Rei simply hung her head. Even if she had the guts to raise her voice and reply, her throat was bone dry from dehydration. She couldn't speak even if she wanted to.

"But no more," he continued. It was becoming clear that he did not expect her to answer. It was cruel. Rei could feel his satisfaction and amusement even from behind the metal facade he bore. "I think it's time to get to see something special. Or rather, someone."

That was enough to gain Rei's attention. Her head raised slowly as she looked upward, a look of confusion and fear on her face.

"Who?"

She hated how raspy her voice was, the way it made her cough in a fit from the dryness that tore at her throat. She hated the man in front of her, the reason for her discomfort and pain. And yet her golden eyes showed nothing but fear, for concern of whom the villain talked about.

"Oh, certainly nothing has happened to Bakugou yet. You've been such a good pet, my dear." The validation felt slimy on her skin, and Rei had to resist a shudder at the partial endearment, partial infantilization. "No, I had someone else in mind. Perhaps you've wondered about your parents, from time to time?"

Rei could no longer speak, but it was clear that her curiosity was piqued. Her parents? The last she had heard of her parents, had seen them, was on a cold and stormy night years ago when she had run away one final time. Rei had physically put a space between her and them and abandoned them, just like they had emotionally abandoned her from the beginning. Why would she care, after all these years?

Why did she care? Did she care? If it was any other situation, Rei would have said that she couldn't have cared any less. But here in this situation, with All For One gleaming down at her, there was an undeniable ball of fear welling in her gut, even for these people that she had resolved to throw out of her life from a young age. What had he done to them? What was going on?

Before she could restrain, Rei nodded her head. All For One was clearly delighted, beckoning for her to stand up and follow him. With his other hand he opened a door behind him, striding through with confidence and only stooping slightly to fit his massive figure through the regular sized door frame. On shaky legs that trembled from exertion and nerves, Rei followed slowly, finally leaving the dark room and entering a new space.

It was beyond what she had imagined.

She was in some kind of warehouse, with tiny windows allowing the faintest shreds of moonlight to filter into the space. It was dark outside, and briefly Rei wondered how many days had truly passed since her capture. Were there heroes out there looking for her as she wandered this desolate space?

No, not desolate. Snapping back to attention, Rei looked on in curiosity at the tubs and tubes that lined the facility. There were dozens of them, lining the walls and the center of the room, all neatly organized according to some sort of schema that she clearly did not understand. It was difficult to see in the hazy dark, even with her enhanced vision, but it was already a welcome change from being trapped in absolute darkness like in the previous room.

She didn't know how it didn't hit her earlier. Perhaps she truly was losing her mind in that place.

The smell sent the hairs on her neck prickling upwards, a jolt of adrenaline running down her spine.

This was not the musty smell of an abandoned warehouse. She knew what that smelled like from the training ground at school.

This… was like a middle school science experiment, a mix of formaldehyde and other astringent qualities that assaulted her nose in a pungent array of layers and made her eyes water.

As she continued to follow All For One, she watched as he stopped in front of a few upright tubes. Golden eyes followed, widening in horror as she looked inside.

Nomus.

Monsters.

Staggering backwards a bit, All For One chuckled at her reaction, seeing her fear so openly displayed once more. "Disgusting pieces of work, aren't they? But it is such a shame. I wonder how your father would feel if he were… here, so to speak."

If her father were here? Rei's eyes narrowed as she looked at the tank, covering her nose with one hand as the smells began to take their toll on her senses. It was making her nauseous. "What… do you mean?" She finally croaked, her precious words wasting away.

But they were not wasted, not to All For One. Even hidden, the smile on his face surely grew. "Ah, I wondered if you would recognize him." Stepping forward to one tube in particular, he rapped a few knuckles against the tank, the sound ringing delicately though slightly dampered. "Then again, you haven't seen your father in years, have you? Changes happen. It's quite alright."

Rei's eyes widened.

He couldn't be implying…

No.

No.

"No…"

"Oh, yes. He volunteered, you see? And I couldn't turn down a volunteer."

No.

No, no, no.

Her father was not a good man. Rei had known that. But no one, absolutely no one, deserved to be morphed into the likening of the grotesque creature that now floated lifelessly in the tank of fluid, half dead, half alive.

Wait.

But that meant that Nomus…

Rei staggered backward again in horror.

"I see you now understand. The history behind the Nomus."

She shook her head adamantly. No, that couldn't be possible. Nomus were monsters, hideous nightmare creatures that destroyed cities and took lives. They fed off of the screams of the innocent, and even the quaking knees and disturbed hearts of the police and heroes that were forced to fight them. Knowing that they had been human…

Golden eyes turned back onto the specific tank that All For One stood next to, golden eyes taking in the bird and cat like features of the nomu. From her deepest memories she summoned an image of her father, blurry as it was. There was no way she could make the connection between that man and the monster in front of her. But All For One seemed so certain, so assured that this was truly her father.

There was no choice but to believe it.

This was more than she could bear. There was too much horror, too much information. Falling to the ground, Rei curled up into a ball. She didn't want to go on. She wanted to cry and sleep and scream and kick, all at the same time.

This was too much.

"Akatsuki Rei." All For One was talking again, and from what it sounded like, this would be long winded again. Rei wanted to shut her ears, to scream at him and tell him to shut up, but the fear of retribution kept her lips cemented shut. "You're a smart girl. Smarter than most. It's the reason why I've taken so many precautious and taken my time to get my hands on you. Surely you realize the situation that you're in."

He loomed over her, forcing Rei to peer up at him while quaking on the cold cement floor that she lay upon. "Consider your options well. I'd rather not have to turn you into a mindless Nomu, but if it comes down to that then I have no qualms against it. Your quirk is powerful, perhaps even better than your father's own. I will have it on my side. How it ends up with me is up to you."

Turning away, he began to fade from her vision. "I will leave you here to ponder your decision. After all, you're not foolish enough to move from where you are now, are you?"

There was a taunting tone in his voice, and Rei knew for sure that he had been watching her in the black room. In an instant the heaviness that smothered the air was removed, and Rei knew that the villain was gone, leaving her alone once more.

Alone, but not unwatched.

The thought alone was enough to make her curl up even further into a ball. She shivered from the chilled cement floor, but she refused to get up. She couldn't bring herself to do it.

Time passed.

Her mind grew hazy.

The knot in her throat refused to go away.

Now, more than ever, Rei wished for a hero to rescue her.

If only she could say goodbye to her friends and family, one last time…

Closing her eyes, a single tear leaked from the side and splattered on the cement.

The building shook, and on the other side of the warehouse the ceiling shattered.

As soon as Mount Lady demolished the ceiling and side of warehouse, the heroes wasted no time dashing inside amidst the debris and smoke. In an instant the nomus were secured by Beat Jeanist's threads and Gang Orca's fists.

"The nomu hangar is completely under our control."

"Ugh, are these things seriously alive? Still, is it really okay for our job to be this easy though, Jeanist? Maybe we should have gone with All Might."

Jeanist's eyes refused to leave the scene, even as Mount Lady expressed her disgust over the writhing nomu in her hands. They peered into the darkness, watching carefully as the threads under his control pulled even tighter as the nomu wiggled in his grasp. "Don't mix up difficulty and importance together, newcomer."

Still, he had to admit that the situation had been taken control of rather easily. It was mostly thanks to the element of surprise, as well as the fact that there really hadn't been any guards stationed at this outpost. Shrugging off any doubts and concerns, Jeanist returned to the matter at hand. "Riot squad, get the maidens ready. They might still be here."

"Ragdoll, answer me!"

Gang Orca moved toward Tiger's side, but something caught his eye deeper in. No, not something. Someone. He hesitated before moving away, deeper into the warehouse. "Jeanist, how are the nomu holding?"

"Fine enough. Why?"

"I'm going in deeper." Before anyone could say anything, Gang Orca walked deeper into the warehouse, footsteps as delicate as possible. His eyes widened as he took in the shivering form of a small girl that was hunched into a ball, proceeding cautiously but with more haste than before. Black choppy hair told enough of a story, and as he moved to kneel over her form he nearly shouted in relief as golden eyes stared back up at him.

"It's Akatsuki! I've found her!"

Mount Lady's astonishment was the most vocal in the space, but Gang Orca wasted no time scooping up the tiny high school student into his arms. Rei shivered, a hand clutching onto his vest as feverish eyes stared up at him. "G-gang-g Orca?"

He attempted the most reassuring smile that he could, even while being intimidating. "You're fine now, Akatsuki. The heroes are here to take care of things."

"N-n-no… can't move…"

The pro hero blinked, though his footsteps never wavered. Perhaps she was in worse condition than he thought. Her voice was broken, and her eyes were wide, almost delusional.

"He'll come for me. I'm… going to die."

"The heroes are here, Akatsuki-san. You're alright now."

"He's coming."

Footsteps sounded in the dark.

"Sorry Tiger, she's always had a good quirk. Akatsuki as well. It was the perfect opportunity, so I took it."

Rei shuddered in Gang Orca's arms, squeezing her eyes shut.

They were doomed.

AN: I'm still alive! Another short chapter, but I'm more focused on chunking chapters out and getting you all at least some content instead of worrying so much about how long the chapters are. The ending on this one is a little rushed, but I'm going to go back and fix later instead of worrying about all this stuff up front.

Reminding me of that, as soon as I'm done writing the training camp arc I will probably be taking a small break so that I can go back and start editing what I already have. I'll keep you updated as I go. Please enjoy!

dragontamer64: I think it didn't let you post since I technically just replaced chapter 29 with the actual chapter and you probably commented already, but haha yay for thinking of a work around! I'm so glad the last update brought you so much joy, and I'm so happy to be back as well. I'll do my best!

shad. 16: I AM BACK :D We're getting into it now! I'm really excited to start working on the next part of this story, especially since I haven't quite figured out what exactly I'm going to do... lol whoops

Guest: Thank you! They will probably not be super consistent, but I will do my best to update around once a month.

Greatest Guy: Thanks for the review!

Hired: Awwww, thank you! You are too kind. I will do my best to continue providing good content.

akagami hime chan: I love that you loved the AU chapter! I had a lot of fun writing it as well. And yeah... poor Rei isn't going to get out unscathed. It's definitely different from what I originally planned, but it'll be tough!