He wasn't entirely sure if he was dragged down the hall or if he walked of his own accord, the reality that he'd moved at all only hitting him when the walls changed color from green to a soft purple, tile to wood. The room they were shepherded into was pristine and had minimal furnishings or decorations; a glass coffee table in between a pair of purple couches, a desk with a couple of wooden chairs, and a blue flag with a symbol resembling a flower on the wall. Perhaps under different circumstances Izuku would have appreciated being in a well organized, clean space after spending so much time in a tiny cell, but his mind was fixating on the tiniest details on the floor. Not even Stain's hand wrapping around his arm was enough to fully snap him out of his current state, and he was making mental notes about how the board by his foot was a fraction of a millimeter higher than the one next to it, even when his eyes locked with his mentor's. He looked worried, Izuku believed, but he didn't want to make an assumption.
"Breathe, kid," Stain whispered, eyes narrowed. "I need you here."
Was he not breathing? Was he not right there with the rest of them? He blinked rapidly, taking in the world around him through quick snapshots. Toga was holding a trembling Morse, the latter wrapping herself tightly in her bloody cocoon, while Dabi glared at the line of masked figures on the opposite side of the room. Wait, when did that happen? Had they come in after Izuku's group or had they been waiting for them already? Had someone actually bothered taking Hara someplace safe before they moved? How had he not even noticed that?
The yakuza stood behind the couch facing Izuku and his group, the boss sitting by his lonesome while the remarkably short person settled on the arm of the couch. Izuku had to actively fight the urge to run out of the room to search for his friend.
"We can have him join the other two, if you'd like." The boss offered, giving Izuku a once over. Stain's eyes immediately flashed.
"He stays here."
"...As you wish."
Izuku bit his lip, wiping at his face to cover up his nose in a motion that was quickly becoming a habit. He probably looked as bad as he felt, which was saying a lot.
"Now that that's been dealt with," The man with yellow eyes spoke softly. "I'd like the main part of our agreement to be handed over."
Stain swiftly pulled something from his pocket and tossed it over, where the man caught it easily. There was a click, a pause, and a hum.
"Two of them are disassembled."
"We found them like that," Dabi spoke nonchalantly, sounding closer than Izuku remembered him to be.
"How can we believe you, huh? What if you messed with them?" Said the smallest yakuza.
"We don't even know what they are, you–" Dabi sounded mildly offended, but he bit back the rest of his insult when Stain raised a hand.
"I kept my end of the deal," Stain warned, his voice rumbling like distant thunder.
"I can see that. But you agreed to answer all questions upon your return." Stain's shoulders tensed, his jaw setting, but he still gave Dabi a nod.
"Let's just get this over with," The burnt man spat after a moment.
"You didn't meddle with these in any way?" One of the men standing behind the couch asked, his face completely hidden by a mask and hat that made him look like a plague doctor.
"No, we didn't." Dabi drawled.
"Where did you find them?"
"They had a few floors that looked like medical labs. They had most of them in a fridge in the corner of a room, and the two cracked ones were on a table by a machine of some kind." Dabi answered dutifully, a mask of disgust planted on his face.
"Was there anything else of note in there?"
"No."
"Hmmm," The boss hummed, taking out one of the tiny objects from the black case and examining it carefully. It was a deep red, metallic cylinder no bigger than a normal bullet would be, though it seemed to lack the rounded front. Overhaul—Izuku recalled Stain asking for that person specifically before, so this had to be him—turned it this way and that, the polished surface catching the light and threatening to blind Izuku. That was it. Those small, unassuming little things had been the whole reason for his rescue operation. The case was barely big enough to hold six of them, but Overhaul had still referred to them as the 'main part' of their agreement. Dabi had mentioned that Hara was the only reason that they'd even found him in the first place, and together that gave him a clear means and motive for the entire operation. So then the only reason why Izuku had been reunited with his mentor and friends, had seen the sun again, the only reason why Curious was dead and he was alive, was that little case? Those small, unassuming objects? Izuku had just happened to be lucky enough to end up being in a cell next to Hara?
Lucky? You call that luck?
Izuku covered his mouth, his breathing starting to pick up. He didn't want to think about it. Or did he? Was this preferable to whatever else his mind could conjure up at the moment? His eyes darted around wildly, landing on Morse's form and immediately hyper fixating on the patterns of blood and dirt decorating the curtain covering her. A spot in his bicep started flinching uncontrollably and he had to bite his lip to keep himself in check.
Piercing golden eyes landed on him without his knowledge, Overhaul's eyes attempting to dissect his expression for the one second that Stain allowed it before the Hero Killer moved to hide his pupil from sight.
A cold sweat started covering Izuku from head to toe. He was starting to have a hard time telling who was speaking and what they were saying, the imaginary buzzing of the light above him filling his head slowly. His head was stuck on things that didn't quite make sense, people and places jumping to the forefront of his mind without rhyme or reason; Curious smiling, her phone getting splintered into nothing beneath Stain's boot, the twisted corpse on the last cell, his mother leaving their apartment, the forest, a car, an empty grave. His mouth watered as if he was going to be sick, but he knew perfectly well that there was absolutely nothing left inside him to hurl out. Maybe some of his discomfort and unease were just the result of him being dehydrated, starved and badly injured. He wondered if his damaged eardrum would ever get back to normal or if he'd be condemned to the cycle of silence and static that he'd been stuck in since his escape from the cells. That last part had him reaching for Stain's shirt like a frightened child, fingers tapping his mentor's back to make sure that the man was actually there and not just made of smoke. He felt exhausted and alert at the same time, safe and vulnerable, ecstatic and numb, and a thousand other inconsistent emotions that he just didn't want to explore at the time.
"And be in your debt?" Stain suddenly hissed, his back tensing so suddenly that Izuku let out the softest little whine. No one other than Stain heard and the man gritted his teeth. "Absolutely not."
"I would simply be paying you back for the two extra people you took care of," Overhaul explained evenly. "You might have done enough to lead the group to its disbanding, after all, and we appreciate that, since they'd been meddling in our affairs."
"We didn't do it for you," Dabi scoffed. Izuku took a step to the side, suddenly not enjoying the fact that he couldn't see the person talking to them.
"Of course, you didn't. You certainly had your own things to recuperate," Overhaul's eyes traveled from Izuku to Morse's covered form, the sharp gaze making all types of alarms go off in his brain. "But my point still stands. Going out with them in this state would be suicide."
Izuku blinked, his upper back cracking as he straightened his posture. Everyone was looking his way, expressions ranging from supportive to completely devoid of emotion, and a shiver ran up his spine violently. He wanted to ask what was happening, just how much he'd missed while panicking, but thankfully his throat closed before he could make such a fool of himself, so he just stayed quiet. Stain looked upset, eyes a little wider than usual, and Izuku forced himself to pay attention.
"Broken bones take time to heal, not to mention that the vest around your newest acquisition will run out of power on the road."
Izuku's hands flew from Stain's shirt to his own, a vague attempt at holding himself as his eyes landed on Morse. She was pulling on the fabric around her, tiny trembles shaking her form. The vest had been connected to the wall of her cell 24/7 before they'd left, so the battery had to be pretty much fried already. Stain knew how destructive Morse's quirk could be and the possible solutions the Hero Killer could come up with to solve their problem made Izuku shiver. Morse was nothing to the man, after all.
"You could always abandon the ones that can't keep up, and your student might bounce back quicker than the common teenager, but that doesn't take away the reward on his head, nor does it lower your ranking in the most wanted list."
"I said no," Stain spat, his whole frame already turning to make his way to the door. But then he saw Izuku, actually looked at him, and stopped. Izuku bit his tongue, fully aware that he had already troubled the people around him more than enough, but he couldn't keep himself from looking at Morse with almost panicked eyes. What was he supposed to do? How was he even supposed to begin to explain the responsibility he felt towards his fellow captive? Would saying anything at the moment only put her in more danger?
Stain's jaw tightened, the vein by his forehead pulsating under his skin. Izuku had learnt to fear the Hero Killer's anger, and had witnessed plenty of times what that emotion was capable of even though it had very rarely been aimed at him. No, it was more the fact that it was impossible to predict who would end up on the other side of said fury. Izuku had the sudden urge to jump to the side, to grab Toga's hand and get her, Morse and Dabi out of there, but he was rooted to the spot. Stain's eyes locked with his, that unsteady look clashing with Izuku's lost one, and the older man eventually exhaled.
"Upholding your word thus far means nothing, Overhaul. You have none of my trust." Stain spoke carefully, like a man fully aware of how close they are to the edge. To most sensible people—and even the completely unhinged members of the audience—it sounded just like a massive crack on a concrete dam, a faint warning before a fatal cataclysm, but the yakuza members remained immovable. Unsurprised. Unfazed.
Unafraid.
"I'm not asking for your trust, Hero Killer. I'm simply putting forth a new deal, since our previous one worked out for both parties involved."
"...Name your price, then."
"You'll have to lower your normal activity. Three amongst you have your faces all over the media and we don't need to attract unwanted attention to one of our hideouts. The girl," Overhaul pointed at Morse as he spoke, "gets a more permanent quirk control; something she can't take off so easily."
As if she'd want to do that, Izuku thought bitterly.
"You'll have to surrender most of your weapons, but you can keep a few. Take it as a sign of trust on my end."
"How generous," Dabi scoffed. The smallest member of the yakuza started saying something, an insult or a quip of some kind, but Overhaul silenced him with a wave of his hand.
"Cut to the chase," Stain groaned, his face the very definition of disgust.
"...I'd like to employ the two that went with you to get Midoriya back."
"I don't wanna work for you," Toga said, brow raised. She glanced at Stain, but the man was too busy glaring at Overhaul.
"I should've expected no less of someone like you." Stain spat.
"This nullifies the idea of 'debt', just like you said. We both need something, and we can… assist the other with it."
"You have more than enough pawns at your disposal already," Stain also glared at the people standing behind the couch for good measure.
"Most of the people we send out on the field are not as capable as your group. Why, if they were, you wouldn't have had to help me get my property back in the first place."
That seemed to knock all the air out of Izuku's chest, something akin to shame enveloping him like wet cloth. Overhaul gave him a passing glance, golden orbs seemingly looking at his very soul.
"So you want us to be your delivery guys?" Dabi asked.
"Amongst other things."
"Like what?"
"There's no need for you to know that just yet."
A small spark came to life at Dabi's finger tips, but a movement from Stain kept him in place.
"We will not aid you in poisoning this world any further, nor will we corrupt our morals for something as insignificant as shelter. We'd much rather die." Stain spoke evenly. There was conviction behind the words, as there always had been, but there was also something oddly restrained about the tone of voice that made Izuku nervous.
"Would escorting deliveries work as a compromise?" Overhaul intertwined his fingers, his relaxed posture not betraying a single worry.
Stain stayed silent for a long moment, his eyes sliding from person to person with predatory intent. It was even worse when they landed on Izuku, the poor teen completely drained of bravado or decisiveness. He just stared at his mentor, unsure and afraid, but willing to go right back to the streets if needed. He hoped that at least the older man would be able to understand that Izuku still trusted him blindly.
Stain did. And that was the Hero Killer's undoing.
"You don't need to worry about medical attention when it comes to your wounded, either." Overhaul added.
"...You will not keep us here for a second longer than needed. You'll let us go when we please if you know what's good for your little business." It was an order, spoken through gritted teeth.
"Naturally."
Stain gave Toga and Dabi a glance, waiting until the both shrugged before giving Overhaul a nod. Izuku swallowed, hating this dynamic that he'd basically forced upon his group. Him being taken and him bringing Morse back with him were probably the two biggest reasons why they needed the yakuza's help so urgently and, even though the rational part of his brian knew that he needed time to rest and recover, most of his mind just clouded with embarrassment. He was usually so proud of the times when he got Stain to soften up, to accept help and take his time, but this all felt wrong. This wasn't Stain letting go of his almost masochistic tendencies; it was the Hero Killer getting forced to surrender. Their eyes met briefly and Izuku looked down, his voice still lost.
"Just one more thing before you go."
Stain looked about ready to murder everyone in the room, his back tensing as he inhaled. He gave Izuku a look before turning to glare at Overhaul.
"What?"
"I'd like to ask Midoriya two things. It won't take long."
An imaginary spotlight fell upon him, the attention almost too much to bear, and he shivered involuntarily. Maybe it was Stain's sneer, or Overhaul's calm eyes, or just the fact that someone questioning him made him remember unwanted, terrible things, but his mind couldn't help but produce an anxious, defensive response. He didn't want this. None of it.
"What for?" Stain asked, his voice raspy.
"The man you helped bring back is too injured to talk, probably will be for a while. But there's something I need to know now."
"No." Stain raised his chin, defiant as ever.
"It's vital that I know these things."
"That's not our problem."
Overhaul blinked, eyes landing on Izuku. There was nothing about this man that was even remotely similar to Curious, but Izuku still couldn't help but feel that same primal fear that had governed him for so long. But then that gave way to something else that was just as horribly familiar; compliance. Things were always over sooner when he said what people wanted to know, right?
"He doesn't know anything," Toga all but growled.
Izuku cleared his throat, hating the way everyone looked at him. He just wanted out of there, wanted to take at least one gram of stress off Stain's shoulders, so he pushed past every alarm in his body and stepped forward. He tried to speak but his throat closed, words still evading him. Stain looked at him with hard eyes for a moment, silent as a tomb.
"Thank you, Midoriya. I know you must be exhausted, so I'll be quick." Overhaul said neutrally. Izuku nodded. He expected the mob boss to ask him directly, but it was the man that had questioned Dabi that spoke up next.
"The girl you brought with you, what does her quirk do and how does it work?"
"Her voice causes the people that hear her to start having seizures. It might have an effect on the nervous system or the brain directly, though I'm not entirely sure. The effects are immediate and violent, and her quirk works even through a speaker. There's a chance that pain might make the quirk more powerful, but I've only seen her using it once so I'm not sure about that. It doesn't seem like she can deactivate her quirk at will either, that's why she needs the vest."
Huh? His face was stuck in a sad mockery of a smile, a mask that had become familiar after the time he quoted the MLA's book to no avail. It was like the answers were tumbling out of him without permission, a string of silk being pulled from his brain without opposition, and he was just back in the chair, talking mechanically. He was so out of it that he didn't even stop to consider that a quirk was being used on him.
"What did Hara tell you about his work?"
"He said he was a yakuza, and that he got captured by the Liberation Army while delivering something. He said he didn't regret anything, that he'd still allow all the bad things to be done if it meant he could stay safe in the yakuza."
As soon as the sentence ended, he bit his tongue so hard that he flinched. Stain pulled him back by the arm and Izuku almost tripped over his own feet.
"You have what you want." Stain hissed, holding Izuku behind him. Izuku couldn't see it, but Overhaul nodded slowly.
"Thank you. Now, if you'd follow my men."
The door behind them opened, the sudden apparition of more men making Izuku feel like he was about to get in a fight. He braced for it, braced for something unfathomable to strike once he blinked, but Stain only stepped back and started walking on stiff legs, Izuku following blindly like a lost child. He tapped the back of Morse's hand rhythmically when she grasped his, trying to calm himself despite the fact that his sense of reality was spiraling straight into hell. He hadn't meant to speak so freely, but the words had just cascaded out of his mouth like oil. Had he grown so accustomed to Curious' interrogations that he was simply unable to lie anymore? A tiny whimper escaped his mouth. Perhaps later, his pride would feel hurt at the fact that he was showing so much weakness in front of a possible enemy, but his shattered psyche was pushing away such trifling matters. Right now what he wanted was a sign that the world around him wasn't about to wash away like fog. Stain's form looked sturdy and familiar, just like Toga's hand felt as she rubbed his back for comfort, or Morse's tapping on his wrist, but they had felt just as reliable in other visions. Granted, this would be the longest time Curious had forced him to stay under the effect of a quirk like this one, but Hara had felt an entire year pass sitting in a chair, so there was that. Oh God, Hara. The image of what Overhaul had done to him made him recoil. What if the poor man got in trouble, or died because of what he'd said? Had Izuku known more about Hara, would he have revealed everything without a moment's hesitation? Was he that broken? Had Curious truly reduced him to a person who would please the strangers around him by handing over every piece of information in his mind?
You used to do the same for Kaachan. Maybe she just brought you back to your true self, Deku. No. No, that couldn't be it. Stain would have never taken in someone that couldn't make a single choice, right? Stain would have told him if that was a problem, right? Right?
"Stain! You're all back!" Spinner greeted cheerfully.
Izuku's head shot up, eyes wide. They were somewhere else, entering a room with a bunch of beds and a door in the back even though Izuku didn't even remember leaving the last room in the first place. Spinner looked at him with unconcealed excitement, wobbling towards them with the help of a crutch. Shoto was making his way around a bed, and his relief was obvious as his eyes landed on Dabi.
They were real. Their absence hadn't been a fluke or a mistake made by whoever was testing their quirk on Izuku. They were really there and Izuku's lungs managed to absorb oxygen properly, his defenses crumbling.
Oh, thank God, he thought, diving in to take Spinner's extended hand.
"Midoriya, are you okay?" Shoto approached, his brow furrowed with worry. Izuku didn't know if he was asking because of all the blood on his clothes, or just because he looked like shit, but he didn't care.
He chuckled, unable to speak once more and pulling both his friends in. Spinner had offered his hand, so he was easy to catch, but he'd had to reach for Shoto and actively avoid the arm that was in a sling. The mutant's confident smile slipped from his face as he was pulled into a crushing hug, a rather undignified noise his only response to the sudden affection. Shoto tensed, but awkwardly placed a hand on Izuku's back.
"M-M-Midoriya?!" Spinner stammered.
Izuku let out a strained laugh, the sound catching in his windpipe and cracking into a weird sob. He tried to tell them that he was alright, that everything was fine, but the only thing he could produce was a choked groan, followed by a proper cry of distress. Just a second later he'd been reduced to a whining mess, his chest constricting painfully as he pulled his injured friends down with him.
"What's wrong?" Shoto asked, letting Izuku drag him along as the teen desperately tried to curl in on himself. His face was buried in Spinne's chest, the poor mutant's heartbeat racing at the sudden chaos. Izuku's only response was a long wail followed by a string of meaningless noises as his mind finally caved in under the weight of shock. Eyes completely dry, Izuku held on to his friends with all his might, relishing the moment when Toga kneeled by their side and joined the hug.
Watching the whole thing with a look of utter defeat, was Stain.