Ahmya walked down the mostly empty street alone, with only the occasional car going past. A misty rain flowed through the city, making an already depressed city feel even more isolated. Ever since the raid, the populace hadn't wanted to go outside at night if they could help it. She could see the occasional person, walking quickly from destination to destination.

As for herself, she wore a brown jacket, brown military slacks, and a black military cap. While not a common sight, it was far from strange so that wasn't what made her stick out. What made her stick out was the slight glow her cybernetic eye put out. Normally she didn't have her eyepatch up in public, but given that Zeus could literally warp in soldiers anywhere she wasn't taking chances. She rested her left hand on the reassuring feel of the gun strapped to her side, and the right on the military-issue bowie knife strapped to her thigh.

As she made a turn down a street, the sidewalk widened and she started passing a few family-owned stores. She passed by an alcohol store, and eventually a bakery, before stopping between it and a café. She looked down at the business card, that had once been crisp and stiff, but after having it in her wallet for so long it was utterly woebegone. The edges had softened, creases ran along the length, and several words had been rubbed off. Despite the state of the card, however, the words Invisible Glass were still perfectly legible.

She looked up at the door and she chewed on her bottom lip, warring with herself as to whether or not she should go in. She'd never actually been to where Izuku worked/lived before, she'd had the card for a while but she never visited. They didn't even keep up via phone, not that she blamed Izuku for not bothering. She hadn't exactly gone out of her way either, and they hadn't exactly left on the best of terms. Her anger and sense of betrayal had faded into sadness and regret as time had gone on, and now she found herself actually a bit scared at how Izuku might react to her suddenly turning up asking for help. She twiddled the card in her hands and shifted from foot to foot, her indecisiveness eating away at her.

Eventually, when the horrible wriggling sensation in her heart grew too much to bear, she walked forward and through the door. She forced herself down the small half staircase and finally through the oaken door at the end.

If she hadn't been so nervous and well trained to handle surprises, then she might have paused at the sight of the interior of the bar, but as it stood it barely registered.

"Welcome to the Invisible Glass, how..." came the voice of Izuku, eventually trailing off.

Ahmya stood stock still, still fiddling with the card in her hands and staring at Izuku who stared back, mouth slightly agape.

"There is a table over in the corner that you can use, feel free." Said Sasakura, smoothly cutting through the tension. He nudged Izuku and gestured to a corner table for Ahmya's benefit.

This served to galvanize them into action, Izuku putting the small book he was reading previously, down onto the counter, while Ahmya went over to the table and pulled out a chair for both Izuku and herself.

She sat down and put her hand on the table, still fiddling with the card. Izuku took the seat next to hers and put his hands on the table as well, avoiding looking at her by focusing on his hands.

The silence stretched on for an uncomfortable amount of time, neither of them really registering Sasakura putting two steaming mugs of a dark drink down in front of them. With something to occupy her hands apart from the card, she promptly took hold of the mug and took a sip which she instantly recognized as a Hot Toddy. Her mother had sent her a list of recipes, including alcoholic ones when she had first gotten her own apartment. It had quickly become one of her favorite drinks after a stressful day. She did notice though, that instead of water, Mr. Sasakura had used tea instead. Likely a Japanese variant on the drink, she'd have to get this version of the recipe before she left.

As if the drink had gotten her vocal cords working, she finally spoke. "I'm sorry, for not calling or coming sooner," she said, sighing and feeling miserable after she said it.

Deep down, a petty side of her still harbored some resentment towards Izuku for "abandoning" her, but more than anything she really had come to regret what she said following his choice to leave. She missed Izuku's company, and hopefully if nothing else, this visit would start to mend the rift between them.

"We both weren't thinking straight at the time, it's fine. I should have tried to make my reasons for leaving clearer." Said Izuku, cupping his mug with both hands.

"I understood deep down, why you chose to leave. At the time it felt you were abandoning me though and after everything else... I guess that was the tipping point for me. I'm sorry Izuku." She said, her mind flashing back to the moment where they had started shouting at each other.

"It's okay. Looking back, the choice was a bit impulsive and abrupt. I don't blame you for being angry at me." He said, slumping a little in his seat.

Silence fell over them again and Ahmya took the lull to take another fortifying drink of her Hot Toddy. When she finished with her draft, she put the mug down and gave a content sigh, and a slight smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Well, I got to say, this is a pretty amazing place you work at," she said, finally paying close attention to her surroundings. "How'd you wind up in a private bar of all places?"

"I saved Mr. Sasakura's life. He had had a heart attack following an altercation with some villains that were part of a local gang. I couldn't just watch, not after all my training, so I went and fought them off. Then I performed CPR, got his heart going again, and carried him to the nearest medical station I could find. I didn't have anything better to do so I checked in on him while he recovered and he offered me a job and an apartment in thanks." Said Izuku, taking another sip.

"What about you though?" Asked Izuku, giving her a quizzical look.

"After you left, I got assigned a new squad and then the war broke out. The QSU was used as a sort of special ops group. We'd get sent behind enemy lines, assassinate who we could, sabotage, etc. I've had everyone in my squad since then, they're like a second family to me now. I also got a cybernetic eye during that time, I volunteered to test out new prosthetics they were developing. The first eye didn't go too well, but each new iteration got better and better. Now I can overlay different filters on it. Infrared, ultraviolet, and night vision are all built into it, it's pretty useful." She said, a hand going to her eye as if to touch it.

"Would you... like to look at it?" she said suddenly, looking over to Izuku.

Taken aback, Izuku looked at her in surprise. "Is it supposed to come out?" he asked, curious.

"Sure, I take it out when I sleep, clean it, and the techs perform periodic maintenance on it, it's perfectly fine. You'll have to use gloves, but you can borrow mine." She said, beginning to reach into a pocket.

"Will these work?" Asked Izuku, pulling out a pair of white gloves and showing them to her.

She looked them over, they faux leather gloves and quite soft and smooth to the touch. Not entirely unlike the ones she had just been reaching for. "Yes, they'll work fine, just give me a moment to detach it." She said. Reaching up to her left eye socket, she pressed down on two buttons located at the corners of her eye. Then using the glove on her right hand, simply reached in and plucked it out, passing it to Izuku.

Izuku took it with a gloved hand and held it up to the light. The front looked remarkably human, the iris upon close inspection though had a mechanical look to it and glowed softly. The backside of the cybernetic eye had electrical pins and sockets showing, likely wear they plugged into the receiver connected to the optic nerves. Even with his grounding in support tech, this was far beyond anything he had ever thought of existing. Prosthetics had come far he knew, arms and legs had reached an all-time high in development following the war, and the demand for such tech drastically increased. Still, a cybernetic eye of this caliber was simply mind-blowing, he had a hard time wrapping his head around how exactly this had been made on such a small scale

"It's incredible, I've never seen anything like it..." he said, trailing off as he brought it closer to his eye to examine the backside.

"The firm that developed it is located in America, the head researcher I heard has a quirk that lets him shrink things to almost any size. Don't tell anyone I told you, but I heard that they first built it at thirteen times the size of the human eye, then the head researcher just shrank it to human eye size. They've been experimenting with this tech for twenty years, and they started looking for testers a few months after I lost mine. They only have a small supply, since it costs so much to make them but if the 10-year trial period goes smoothly, I expect they'll become one of the biggest names in prosthetic technology." She said, lowering her voice and whispering conspiratorially to Izuku.

Izuku took one last look at it and then handed it back. Ahmya took it, pulled out a bottle of some kind of liquid, and dropped it inside of it. She shook the bottle for a few seconds and then with practiced ease, removed the eye and popped it back into the socket. She pressed the two buttons at the corners of her eyes again and then blinked several times. Izuku meanwhile had pulled out a small pocketbook and started jotting down some notes.

Ahmya just watched him jot down notes for a bit before saying, "So, how does it feel to take part in corporate espionage?" she said, smiling widely at Izuku who was now muttering under his breath as he continued to jot down his thoughts.

Izuku stopped suddenly, and felt himself go red, then put the pocketbook back into his back pocket and smiled sheepishly at her.

"Jokes aside, I have to apologize again. Coming here to make up wasn't my initial intention." She said, her smile slipping from her face as she finally started to come round to her purpose in coming here.

Izuku's smile faded as well as a slight frown took its place. "What's wrong?" he asked, picking up on her suddenly dour mood.

"I came here to ask for your help. My sister, her husband, and her son were taken captive by Zeus. I was taken off the mission to rescue them obviously, and by extension so was my team. But Sōchō Arinobu said they could go if I allowed someone else to lead them. It was my idea, and I..." she paused, swallowed, and continued. "I wanted to ask you if you'd be willing to lead them in my stead. It would be a temporary reinstatement, you wouldn't have to commit to anything more," she said, not able to meet Izuku's eye or even his face.

There was a pause, where the only that could be heard was Mr. Sasakura humming something as he went about his business. Then she heard the chair scrape against the floor and she looked up. Izuku had stood up, and had started to drain his drink. Then he set the mug down with a clunk. He didn't say anything, just started at the mug as if it had the answer. He took a deep breath through his nose, then turned to face her.

"I... left the QSU because I lost my reason to be there. I won't rejoin, ever, but... I will never abandon a friend when they need me. I'll need a suit and helmet, but I still have my MRAD M33 and equipment. Truth be told, I've been practicing with them again at the range. When I heard Zeus was back, I got them out of storage. I didn't really have any intention of using them, but I wanted to be ready. When can I meet your team?" he finished.

Ahmya felt a weight lift from her shoulders and she smiled, which prompted Izuku to smile as well. "I'll call them up and have them ready by tomorrow."

She got up from her seat and pushed it in, Izuku reaching over and passing her, her jacket. She grabbed hold of it and then hesitated. Then she took a step forward and hugged Izuku. It took him a second to respond and eventually he hugged her back.

"Thanks, Izuku, it feels better knowing you'll be there and you know if you need anything I'll always be there for you as well," she said.

"Don't worry, I won't return without them, I promise." He said, a sense of righteous purpose starting to stir within him.


She couldn't really explain it, but she actually felt happy, elated even. This was strange considering the fact that Tsu had almost died, the city had taken a beating, and quite a few people had died. Despite that though, she was happy. So happy that she had actually started to question her sanity because somehow, she had actually let Mina talk her into asking Izuku out to dinner.

Which was the reason why she was standing outside the bar, a nervous wreck as she worked up the nerve to go in. As she debated whether to turn back or not, the door opened and to her absolute shock, Ahmya walked out. Ahmya started when she looked up and saw Ochako standing just in front of her.

"Well, I definitely wasn't expecting to run into you here. Ochako right?" she said while affixing her hat to her head.

"Oh, uh, yeah I am, I didn't expect to see you here either," she said, trying to wrap her head around the fact that Ahmya knew about the bar.

"I've known about this place for a while, I was either not in the city or too busy to come though. I don't drink a lot, mostly only when company is around or if I need to relax after a rough day. What about you though? How'd you find out about this place?" She said, leaning up against the wall to the right.

"I saved the owner from a group of muggers while out on patrol, he gave me his business card as thanks. I've been here a couple of times already, it's a great establishment," she said brightly.

"Yeah... I really should have come sooner." Said Ahmya and Ochako could see Ahmya's mood take a nose-dive.

"We'll get them back, I promise, they'll be safe and sound in no time." She said, forcing a smile to her face. Tsu had been right, even if it wasn't genuine, Ochako had to at least try to smile. If not for her own sake, then for others.

Ahmya gave a half-smile, "Yeah, I know they will. We got some of the best on the job and a close friend of mine said he'd help too. Goodnight." pushing off from the wall as she said it and starting to make her way back to her current place of residence.

"Night." Said Ochako, watching her go for a few moments. Then she turned and headed into the bar herself. Ahmya was definitely more worried than she let on, especially if she was drinking alone at a bar.

The door swung open and the first thing she saw was Mr. Sasakura alone behind the bar. Then she caught some movement out of the corner of her eye and she saw Izuku standing next to a table, carrying two mugs in his hands.

"Miss Uraraka, a pleasure to see you. What can I do for you?" Said Mr. Sasakura a smile on his face.

"Uh, nothing actually. I wanted to ask Izuku something actually." She said, noting that Izuku had stopped what he was doing and had just frozen in place upon seeing her.

Hearing her say his name however seemed to jolt him in motion. "Me?" he said in a strange voice.

Ochako had never heard him sound like this, it wasn't concerning but she knew something had happened. Whatever it was, Izuku was clearly disturbed. She had come too far however to turn back, so she steeled herself and made her way over to where Izuku was standing.

"Yeah... I wanted to see you and ask you if you uh..." she started to say, feeling herself go a bit red, and start to stutter. "If you wanted to... go... gooutfordinnersometimenextweek?" she said, finishing her statement in a rush.

Izuku blinked once, twice, and then a third time before the corner of his mouth twitched as if he was about to smile. He inhaled to say something, but nothing came out. He opened and closed his mouth a few more times before she heard Mr. Sasakura cough behind her.

"I think Izuku would love to go to dinner with you, as it turns out he won't be in town this week either. He has some business to attend to so it works out that you mentioned going next week as I assume you are also busy." Said Mr. Sasakura, his smile not faltering for a minute and a twinkle in his eye.

She turned back to Izuku who she saw had a clear expression of relief on his face.

He turned to face her and he nodded "He's right, I'll be out of town this week. I'm not entirely sure when I'll be back next week though. If you're not still busy by then, you can come here and ask Mr. Sasakura about when to expect me." he said, speaking quickly, likely as an attempt to ensure he didn't stutter.

Ochako felt most of her tension leave her and she smiled a genuine smile. She liked Izuku, and getting to know him more did appeal to her, but she stubbornly told herself that it wasn't a date.


"Do you think it was the right thing to do?" said Mina, twisting a bit of her hair in one hand in agitation.

"We discussed it beforehand, we had to do something. She needs more help than we or any specialist can provide. Though I admit our solution is a bit cliche." Said Momo, taking a sip of wine, a small smile on her face.

Mina, Momo, and Tsuyu were all seated in Tsuyu's apartment. It had been two hours since Mina had miraculously convinced Ochako to ask Izuku out to "dinner". They really had just intended to plant the idea in her head, but Ochako must have been a bit lightheaded from the emotional whiplash of recent days events. She had actually agreed, perhaps a bit absent-mindedly, and had actually set off towards the bar shortly thereafter.

"I know but..." trailed off Mina, a worried look on her face.

"It was my idea, and Momo is right. She needs an emotional anchor outside of 1A. While I am still a bit skeptical about Izuku's past, I don't think it's anything serious. They get along remarkably well and their similar experiences help as well." Said Tsuyu, swirling her own wine in her glass.

Mina sighed and slouched into her chair, a resigned expression on her face.

"You're right, I'm just worried about what might happen if things don't work out or if something bad happens." Said Mina, drinking from her own glass.

It was obvious to all three of them that Ochako had a deeper interest in Izuku than she let on, both to them and to herself. Breaking down those walls would take time, but if they get Ochako to socialize outside of her job then it would be a big weight off of the entire class's shoulders. She needed friends outside of her job, and Izuku had already made an impression on Ochako. If Izuku became something more than a friend to Ochako along the way then even better.