Chapter Two: Whispering Darkness


{0}


Inko's world had come to an end.

Her son was out there somewhere in the city. He was alone, and he had a plan to kill himself. The call from Mitsuki three hours ago had Inko leaving the train station to head back home, then instead stopping at a park bench to call the police. Then she called the school. Then she called Mitsuki. Then the police again. Then she called work to let them know she wasn't coming in. She was a mess. Should she head home? Should she go to the comic bookstore? Where would Izuku have gone? Unfortunately, the note he had left for Katsuki, Mitsuki's son, had not revealed what his plan was. But it was clear: if she did not figure out his plan and find him, her son would be dead.

Inko's world had come to an end.

Suddenly her cell phone rang. It was Mitsuki.

There alone on a park bench, Inko's depths of sorrow were joined by an uncontrollable rage. "Meet me at my apartment. Bring him with you."


{0}


It was late in the first period when Katsuki's phone rang in his pocket. It was on vibrate. He moved his hand instinctively to press the power button, ending the call and sending it to voicemail. Defiantly, it rang again. Other students noticed and glanced his way, but no one said a word. Even worse, their teacher walked up to his desk. "Your phone is supposed to be turned off completely, Bakugou."

Katsuki grabbed it roughly from his pocket and glanced at it before holding it up for his teacher. "It's my mom. You want me to answer in the hall?"

His teacher grabbed the offending device. "No, your mother should know you're in class." Then he hit answer and held it up to his ear. "Mrs. Bakugou, to what do we owe this pleasure?"

With unconcealed malice, she answered, "Put my son on the phone, or you're going to be in the same world of trouble he's about to face."

The teacher turned pale as he handed the phone back, saying, "It's for you."

Before young Bakugou Katsuki could make a smart remark, he heard his mother shout through the phone. "Get your ass in front of the school now! No bathroom, no principal, nothing on the way! If you're not out here in two minutes flat, don't bother coming home again!"

"What?!" he cried out, but his mother had already hung up. Cold sweat gathered on his palms. He grabbed his bag and stood, ignoring the words of his teacher and classmates as he walked quickly out the door. Once out in the empty halls, he ran. He skipped his locker and went straight outside, and just as he surmised earlier, his mother's car was parked in front of the school gate. The engine was still running.

He expected her to say something smart and mean as he got in, but the cold silence was worse. It continued long after she got the car moving, and he couldn't stand it anymore. "What is this about? What's going on?" He could barely contain his frustration.

His mother's temper was usually a hot boil, but this cold demeanor scared a part of him. "You told your classmate Izuku to kill himself, didn't you?" she asked. The words came out slowly.

Katsuki was stunned for a moment. "Stupid Deku doesn't know when to quit. What did he do, cry to his mom or something?" His attitude roared back to life after just a momentary hesitation.

"No," her words were like ice. "He took your advice, you piece of shit. We're trying to find him before he kills himself."

Darkness descended on Katsuki's world. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "He. What did he do?"

Mitsuki gripped the steering wheel hard as she made a right turn. Her knuckles were white with the strain. "He left a note. It's addressed to you. I read it, and unfortunately, you can't have it. I'm not giving it to anyone but his mother. He left it in our mailbox." As she continued to speak, his world seemed to shrink. "Oh, and he doesn't want you to blame yourself, just to ask you to be a better person and not treat anyone else the way you treated him. Isn't that nice of your childhood friend?" Her biting sarcasm made him feel dead inside.

Katsuki couldn't stand this helpless feeling. "So, he's going to kill himself just because he's Quirkless, just because of me? That's so weak. So…"

His mother's backhand across his face shut him up. "You idiot! Don't you realize what you've done to yourself? You will never be a Hero after this! What Hero course in this country would accept an applicant who's implicated in someone's suicide? You didn't just tell him to kill himself. You even offered up an idea of how he should do it! You told him to jump off the school! How fucking stupid can you be?!" The car swerved dangerously in her rage. "If that boy ends up dead, you'll be lucky if all you wind up with is a menial job to pay off the funeral costs!"

His cheek stung, but it was worse because it was his mother. She'd usually smack him on the back of his head or something. She had never hit his face before. "I never thought he'd actually do it." It was almost a whisper.

She calmed down a bit. "Once you uttered those words to him, you put your career in his hands. You didn't just prod him to end his life. You offered him your future so it could be cremated with him. All I can do now is wonder how I raised a son that can say he wants to be a Hero but ends up being this unfeeling, this mean, and this stupid. Frankly, even if he's alive and you get off free and clear from your stupidity, it won't be because of you deserving anything. You certainly can't look yourself in the mirror and call yourself a Hero. What kind of Hero tells a kid to kill themself?"

Her words hurt worse than her backhand. Katsuki had nothing to say.


{0}


Inko checked the inside of their apartment to see if Izuku had gone home, but there was no sign of him. He had been gone for three hours now. He could be anywhere.

He could be dead.

She thought about calling his father, her husband. He deserved to know, but with how far away he was, there was nothing useful he could do. She didn't want to consider the kind of phone call she might have to make to him when Izuku was eventually found.

She shook the thought out of her head and wiped away the tears so that she could stop and focus. Mitsuki would be here any minute. Her son would be with her. As angry as Inko was at the kid for driving Izuku to this low point, right now, he was the only real lead that they had. There had to be a reason Izuku left a note for his bully, something that would tell them what his plan was.

She walked down the stairs to wait in front of their apartment building. She got there just in time to see the mail truck pull up to the kiosk for the entire block's mailboxes. For what seemed like hours, she sat there next to the kiosk while the man standing next to her went on with his mundane task of filling each of those boxes. It was disheartening that the entire world would keep on going, apathetic to her pain or the life of her child.

"Miss? Miss Midoriya?" the man asked her.

She turned, barely able to see him. Tears blurred her vision, unable to vacate her eyes.

He walked up to her and handed something to her. "It seems someone left you a note."

"Mom," it said on the folded exterior. All hope and despair in the world filled her as she muttered a thank you and began unfolding the page. On one side was a series of notes about All Might. On the other was the note to her. The weight of her son's words crushed her. She had failed him. She had tried so hard for him, but she pushed in the wrong direction. Even with all her good intentions, it was clear that she had never given him the words of encouragement that he had needed.

Even as she hated herself, she could hear the words that she should have said.

Izuku, the road in front of you to your goal is not an easy one. You have no special powers, no Quirk, to help you stand out. You will find doors shut in your face all the time. People will judge you because of the way you were born. But if you work harder than anyone else, do more than anyone else, then you can do this. It won't ever be easy, and you will be told to quit repeatedly, but if you shut those voices out and make this your mission, then you can do it. It will cost you everything to do this without the advantages that others have, but I believe in you.

Her face was wet with sorrow over words she had held back, believing they would have done more harm than good. Looking down at Izuku's written farewell, she had to wonder what more harm could there be than this?

However, there was still a painful ray of hope. His plan involved the building where he met All Might. If she could find that building, she may be able to save him from himself. The only chance Izuku had now was that his friend, no, that his bully knew where that building was. If Katsuki helped her save her son, she would forgive him. If not, she would spend the rest of her life making his life a nightmare.

After an agonizingly long time, Mitsuki's car pulled up. Hurriedly Inko got up and pulled herself into the rear seat behind Mitsuki. Mitsuki wordless reached into her pocket and passed a note back to Inko. Now having both notes, a clearer picture formed in Inko's head of what her son was going through. That would help her assign blame, but that wasn't useful now. She had to focus on finding him. "Katsuki, tell me where Izuku met All Might yesterday."

Both mother and son of the Bakugou family whipped their heads rapidly to face Inko behind them. "Izuku met All Might yesterday?" Mitsuki asked. "I knew about the Sludge Villain incident, but this is news to me."

Katsuki grumbled only briefly. It had taken a long argument to get his mom to relent and let him go to school instead of to a hospital to get checked out. Deku rescuing him was a low point of his life. "Unless it was near the attack, I don't know where it could be. It was near the park east of here." He pulled out his phone's map application and thumbed through it manually until he pinpointed where the attack happened. As the mechanical voice began giving directions, the three of them fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"I'm sorry, Miss Inko," Katsuki said.

Inko said nothing in response. Mitsuki didn't either, but she was glad that she didn't have to tell him to at least try to apologize. She only worried that it was too little and too late.


{0}


They had been driving for twenty minutes and were near their destination when they saw it. A large explosion. Several seconds later, they heard the roar of the blast. It had come from one of the apartment buildings north of them. Inko had an excellent view of it, and something in her heart knew that her son was near that explosion. She felt part of herself die at the idea that he had been either caught in or even the cause of that blast.

Shrapnel rained down from above, pieces of fine brass lit with green fire. Wherever they struck, they let off noxious fumes. Bits of the strange metal fell like a pelting of arrows, each reflecting the garish green of the fires erupting in the area. Car alarms blared. Some poor people unlucky enough to be walking down below were caught in the fallout of the blast and had to contend with fire and metal from above. It was a scene out of some hellscape. Calls to emergency services rang out from multiple phones.

If it was this bad here, then up close, it had to be an absolute nightmare.

"Step on it, Mitsuki, we have to get over there before the police set up a road barrier. There's no time!" Inko wailed. Despite how crazy this was, Mitsuki complied, making a sharp left turn and breaking traffic laws in the process. Then they got a much better view.

His mother had to focus on the road, and Inko couldn't see through the car's ceiling, but Katsuki had a front seat view of the hell they were heading into. Billows of dark yellow-green smoke rose from the apartment complex in front of them. Arcs of violet electricity shot out randomly from the epicenter of the fire. It was clearly on the roof, but it wasn't clear if the building itself was in danger of collapsing, if the fire was descending into the building itself.

"Mom," Katsuki began, but he didn't continue speaking. He hoped to somehow convey the urgency without betraying his inner fear.

His mother grimaced. "Think of it as paying Izuku back for rescuing your ass yesterday."

His eyes darted back and forth, glancing at her and Miss Inko in the backseat. Both women had a determination that he hoped could infect him as well. He faked it for now. "Yeah, got to pay him back. Then we'll be even."

Inko said nothing. Even was a foreign concept to her now.


{0}


Sakamata Kugo, otherwise known as Gang Orca, was not the first Pro Hero on the scene. He was the fourth. The first, if you counted them as one, was a team of lower-ranked Heroes called the Fire Supporters. They often acted in concert with firefighters when a fire involved multiple rescues or simultaneous hostilities such as a Villain attack. The second and third on the scene was Mount Lady accompanied by Kamui Woods.

It took more than three hours for the fires to be put out and the injured to be placed in ambulances. This effort was complicated by debris that continued to reignite. It even burned asphalt and concrete. Thankfully, each fire was small, but their heat was extreme. There was also fine dust laid across the area that was not typical ash for an explosion of this kind. It was metallic, and there was a danger even to the uninjured of breathing it in.

None of that, however, was why Gang Orca was called in.

There were several extreme complications to this fire, beyond the fire itself.

The first complication was a pair of mothers who recklessly drove onto the scene and tried to make their way into the building through the fire escape. Naturally, they were fighting against the flow of human traffic, as many were exiting by that method. To make matters worse, the teenage son of one of them got separated from the older pair during the chaos and was presumably somewhere in the building. The worst shock, though, was that the other mother claimed that her son was on the roof of the building, where the fire had started. Her assertion was both alarming and unlikely, but it had to be checked out. Meanwhile, the building had to be searched top to bottom for the errant teenager and any other that hid rather than evacuate.

The second complication was far more worrisome. Even with the fire under control, the Heroes were quietly evacuating the entire apartment complex. The Fire Supporters had found something disturbing on the roof. A massive shell was lodged into the building, slowly crushing the structure beneath it by its sheer weight. It was made from the same green-hued metal that had exploded outward at the start of the fire, and based on the blast pattern etched into the roof, it was the source of that explosion. Violet arcs of power shot out as the thing seemed to grow, thankfully becoming less and less frequent now that it was so massive.

Worse, the shell was giving off radiation. It wasn't a lethal dose unless someone stayed too close for too long, but even that was alarming. There was speculation within the team that this was some kind of Quirk-made nuclear device, and the earlier explosion was a prelude to something much worse.

It was the latter problem that Gang Orca was called to investigate. There was no rush to disturb a potential bomb, and the exterior seemed impervious to any attempt to pry inside. Orca's sonar was the only thing anyone could think of to figure out the interior of this device. Despite the danger to himself, he had to place a hand on the outer shell as he guided sound waves, getting an accurate reading as she unleashed repetitive waves of sound. What he saw inside through his echoes disturbed him.

This wasn't a nuclear device at all. A person was trapped inside this thing. Worse, there wasn't much air inside at all. They were suspended in a mostly viscous liquid. By his estimation of the heart and breathing rate of the unconscious young man inside, the poor lad would eventually suffocate to death or drown. The chamber appeared airtight, and he credited the hibernate state of the boy as the only thing keeping him alive.

Stepping away and walking to the edge of the building, he addressed the only person around who could help. "Mt. Lady, we have a situation but not the one we feared."

Bending low so that her massive frame put her eyes at the same level as Orca, she addressed him. "So, what is that thing?"

He flexed his hand that had touched it. It was still unbearably warm. "There's not a detonator. Instead, there's a kid trapped in there. His heart rate and breathing are slow. It's airtight, and he's running low on time."

She contained her shock professionally. "What's the plan?"


{0}


Bakugou Katsuki was hiding in an abandoned apartment. He had no idea who lived here, but they were in such a rush to evacuate that their door was wide open. After closing the door, he rushed to the restroom and washed his face. The sand-like ash in the air made breathing difficult outside. He felt it coating his skin. It was warm to the touch but abrasive and gritty. There was a pale sheen on his arms where the sand had gathered.

Suddenly the lights went out. The temperature in the room dropped. Katsuki felt the hair on the back of his neck rise with alarm.

"Bakugou." He heard a breathy whisper as though a mouth pressed uncomfortably close to his ear. He spun around, but nothing was there.

"Who's there? Stop hiding, you bastard." He growled into the darkness of the apartment.

He looked around but saw no one. The dim light from the windows of the living room gave just enough illumination to prove he was alone. He knew Kamui Woods was prowling the building looking for anyone left behind in the evacuation, but he didn't want to be found. There was no way he'd let Deku show him up. If Deku could rescue him, then he could save Deku's sorry ass.

There was mirthless laughter coming from a shadowed corner of the room. Katsuki rushed over in a rage and knocked a chair aside. It was futile, though. No one was there.

"He's gone. Deku is gone." The whisper continued from another corner of the room.

The room lit briefly as Katsuki let loose an explosion into the center of the room. In his fury, he forgot that the noise would attract attention. His eyes alight with impotent rage, he watched shadows dance across the room to escape the light, but still, he saw no one. The shadows rushed forward as the light of the explosion retreated, ensnaring into the grooves and valleys of the young man's muscular frame, the folds and wrinkles of his clothes. "I just wanted to thank you for giving him to us."

"Who are you?!" Katsuki shouted into the darkness.

Suddenly the shadows of the room deepened, growing almost thick before his eyes while the light from the windows dimmed. Cruel laughter filled the room. As quickly as it arrives, just as suddenly it was gone. The shadows receded, and Bakugou Katsuki was alone dripping with anxiety.

Then the door burst open. The Hero, Kamui Woods, stood outside. "Alright, kid. Let's go. We have too many problems to worry about you trying to hold it out in here." He held out his hand to help the young man to provide solace, but no comfort could reach him. Bakugou Katsuki had failed to even find Deku, let alone rescue him. Instead, he had blown his cover and was to be escorted from the building.

"Have you found another guy my age? Green hair, just a bit shorter than me, a bit on the shrimpy side of the weight scale. Freckles. Anyone like that?" He had to ask.

The Hero's stern but sad expression while he slowly shook his head somehow made Katsuki feel even worse. It felt like a long shot, but maybe, just maybe, Deku wasn't even here. Just maybe, Deku was safe elsewhere. A gnawing part of him knew that it wasn't true, that his friend was here, and the explosion from earlier could mean he was in a hospital or worse by now. For the first time in his life, Bakugou Katsuki truly hated himself. It wasn't the casual hatred people have for themselves for short periods as they bemoan their failings but a more deep-seated revulsion. "I had to ask. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't try, right?"

The professional Hero put a hand on the young man's shoulder. "I know, son. I know."

No. There was no way he could know.


{0}


Inko's feelings of coddling indignity combined with bitter helplessness. At least she wasn't sipping on hot chocolate like some of the other evacuees. Inko fumed silently as she stood with her friend Mitsuki in the public park. There were throngs of people gathered. Many had their phones out taking pictures and videos, but others were just worried about their possessions or their pets.

Unless someone they knew was in the hospital, no one here was worried about a family member. Everyone was accounted for. There were injuries, true, but no one was worried about whether their missing child might be dead.

At least not here at the park. A more rational part of her mind told her that those families who had more severe trauma were already at the local emergency room.

In addition to the disaster-survivors were support crews offering supplies and food, news crews trying to get the latest for their viewers, and members of the public who wanted to sate their curiosity. It was this last group that attracted her notice at the moment. Many of them were not recording but watching something on their phones. The phenomenon spread outward to eventually include those among the evacuees who lacked the level of anxiety held close to the breast of their other neighbors. "Mitsuki, do you see what's going on over there?"

The two of them were looking out from one of the Support Corps vans where they had been allowed to sit until news of their sons could be ascertained. Mitsuki perked up from where she was staring off at the stairwell Katsuki had disappeared to. Turning to her friend, she eventually noticed the trend herself. "That's odd," was all she could muster.

Inko stood. "I'll let you know what it is. Be right back." She walked over towards the nearest phone-holding video-viewer. Looking over the young man's shoulder, she gasped. Pulling out her phone, she ran back to Mitsuki.

"What's going on, Inko?" Mitsuki didn't know whether to have hope or fear when she asked.

"Izuku's on Youtube! Maybe we can figure out where he is!" Inko's excitement masked her fear. She had no idea what horrors she was about to watch.


{0}


Hours before in the building across from the one Izuku was standing on there were many apartments that had an unobstructed view of the teenager. It was a taller building by several stories, completely blocking the view south. One such apartment was a studio with a single woman living by herself. Her name was Kumiko, and her American boyfriend was visiting.

To Kumiko's annoyance, he was recording.

"Okay, everyone: this is Kumiko, my girlfriend. She's an upperclassman of business studies at Yuei Daigaku, that's U.A. University for the rest of you uncultured Americans," he narrated as he filmed her. Even though she displayed mild irritation, she also found it adorable.

"Are you going to film our entire visit together?" she asked, almost wanting to hide behind a map of the city she had printed out for him. Her dark hair framed a face that, though partially hidden, showed sparkling eyes that betrayed a concealed smile. "Or are you giving up medicine for photography?" she teased.

Steve, her tall blonde boyfriend, gushed with pride. "Hey, I bought this camera just for this trip. I want everyone back home to see how amazing you are. A little phone camera just doesn't cut it. But don't worry, after this, I'll only have it out when we're doing the whole tourist from America routine, okay?"

Kumiko rolled her eyes. "Fine. Go capture the amazing view from my apartment then. Then you can put that away, and we can plan all the sights I'll show you today, and where we can eat." The sarcasm in her voice was affectionate. She didn't enjoy looking out her window to see nothing but other buildings. She would have preferred it if her view was on the other side of the building, but the rent was higher due to a view premium that she could not afford.

He laughed a little as he acquiesced. "That is my girlfriend, folks: super organized even when we're having fun. But I wouldn't change a thing about her. Go ahead and draw on the map babe, I want a shot of our route when I get back from the window."

She laughed. "You're impossible; you know that, right?"

He laughed back as he went out to the small balcony and took in the view, panning the camera across the buildings that surrounded them. "Impossible to resist, you mean, kinda like this view."

She sighed. "Now, I know you're bullshitting."

There was a hitch, a lurch in his posture. For the first time, he was not steady while holding the camera. "Um, Kumiko? Kumiko, come here!" The urgency in his voice that had her running to the balcony.

"What is it?" she asked. Kumiko had to stare to figure out what her boyfriend was pointing at.

"That guy is trying to climb the safety fence over there. I think he's going to jump. Get the police on the phone." He spoke out calmly, yet his nerves were betrayed in the underlining sound of his voice. He focused the camera, zooming in on the young man. "Oh god, he's a high schooler."

The camera clearly showed a dark depressed face covered in freckles and topped with an unruly mop of green hair matched by his eyes. He had made it just under a meter up the fence and showed no sign of stopping. "No kid, don't do this. Kumiko, are they coming?"

She stood next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hang on… Yes, yes, please come. There's a boy on the roof of the building across from me! He's climbing the fence. We think he's going to jump. Please…" She listened to the voice on the other end of the line. "Okay, Steve, I have to stay on the phone, but they're on the way…"

That's when everything got strange.


{0}


Inko gasped in shock as she watched the tiny screen in her hands. Behind her son, grains of sand gathered as if on the wind, and before her eyes and exclamations of amazement from cameraman Steve, a figure appeared. Objectively she was beautiful. The woman did not rise from the building or teleport in, so much as get pieced together bit by bit. A green glow suffused around her as the sand coalesced into her shape, as though soldering her together atom by atom with a million tiny sparks of power and life. Just as quickly as she was put together, the glow ceased abruptly, as though she had always been there. Sand crusted on her bare feet and spilled onto the roof around her as she strode forward into existence. A veil covered her face, which she cast away before speaking. Her lips moved, but the camera did not capture her words.

Although the cameraman and his girlfriend were both awestruck at this woman's appearance and ability to manifest from thin air, their commentary became annoying to Inko when the woman transformed before their eyes into the spitting image of Midnight, the R Rated Heroine. Even Inko had to concede that the woman was beautiful, but she frankly did not care. All she was trying to figure out was where her son was and if he was still alive and healthy.

Yet amazingly, Inko watched as this woman successfully convinced Izuku to step away from the fence. She started breathing again, not even aware that she had stopped. Only then did she feel Mistuki's hand on her back as the other woman watched over her shoulder. Together they observed in fascination and horror as the triumphant revelation that Izuku was alive was quickly replaced by the macabre sight of this older woman and what she did to him. That an older woman would physically prey on her son in his weakest moment was beyond nightmarish. This had to be some form of assault under some law somewhere. Then it got much worse. "No!" Inko caught herself screaming as the woman maneuvered Izuku to lay down on the roof with her on top of him, and then as she smothered him with her kisses and other outrages, she began to melt.

There are no words to describe the emotions a parent goes through while they watch their child smother and drown. Pain and anguish serve, but there is a deeper primal state a loving parent reaches when their senses show them that their child is in danger. Inko had to contend with these emotions and simultaneous helplessness of knowing this was filmed hours ago. She had nowhere to direct the adrenaline and suffering she was enduring. Instead, she had to watch transfixed while her son was encased in liquid, which then expanded and hardened into a brassy green conch-like shell. The ensuing explosion of material after it was complete was alarming to watch, as was the debris that erupted onto the apartment scene the two lovebirds were filming from. Yet for Inko, what mattered was knowing that her son was trapped.

Midoriya Inko suddenly knew exactly what she needed to do.