Despite the absence of a breeze, the night is chilly. Commissioner Tsukauchi shoves his hands into his coat pockets, a cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth burning to keep him warm. The heat from the modified floodlight beside him helps a little too. But who he's waiting for couldn't ever be more cold or distant. Tsukauchi looks over his shoulder, expecting to find the vigilante hiding in the shadows, but sees Togata instead. The hero crosses his arms over the number emblazoned on his chest, shrugging the shoulders his red cape hangs off of.
They've been standing on the precinct's rooftop for over an hour now and Batman is still a no show. The vigilante's lack of function lately unnerves the two of them, especially considering the last time the caped crusader was seen in action had been during the large raid against Penguin. Tsukauchi huffs through his nose before pulling the lever on the floodlight, switching the signal off. The commissioner plucks the cigarette from his mouth, tosses it down, and stomps it out as he steps toward the roof access stairs to go back inside.
"He isn't coming?", Togata asks with a frown as Tsukauchi walks past him. The hero stares at the city through his visor, the dark empty sky casting a shadow without the bat signal's beam.
The commissioner pauses, stopping to look over his shoulder. He catches a glimpse of the same sight. Disappointed with the view, he replies, "No. I don't think he is anymore."
Izuku Midoriya stares up at that same void of sky covering the city from inside a hospital room. He hadn't expected to be returning to the medical facility so soon. Nor for the reason that he is. Midoriya turns his gaze from the room's window to the bed in front of him. Melissa Shield is asleep, covered by a blanket and wired into machines to monitor her health. She had barely made it when rushed to the hospital.
Restless even in her sleep, Eri burrows into her guardian's chest. Midoriya looks down, reminded that he's holding her in his arms. His heart aches for her. She had to witness Shield being shot and hadn't stopped clinging to him ever since. He runs his hand through her long silvery hair in an attempt to comfort her.
On the television, a news broadcast reports a major development in the hero world. Even with the audio off, Midoriya keeps track of the story. A retired hero has returned to duty after uncovering a ring of corruption in the system. The current principal of U.A no less has been exposed by the original principal of U.A, the original reclaiming his position. Intelli is shown being carted away in handcuffs as Nezu smiles and waves to the camera. Midoriya's head begins to throb. He forces himself to look away to make it stop.
When he does, he spots a fellow greenette in the doorway. Tomoko Shiretoko knocks lightly on the frame before entering, careful not to wake Eri as she asks, "Is she okay?" Shiretoko notices the haggard form of Midoriya and adds, "Are YOU okay?"
"Y- Yeah..", Midoriya nods as he glances back down to make sure the girl that he's holding truly is okay, "She'll be fine.. I think." His words are mumbled. Mainly because he's not so sure that he believes them.
Shiretoko is quiet for a moment, perhaps contemplating her response. Eventually, she comes further into the room so she's close enough to personally ask again, "..And you?"
Midoriya blinks as he processes the question, "Hm?" He shakes his head since his hands are too occupied to wave it off, "I'll be okay.", then asks in return, "Did Kurogiri send you?"
"He told me what happened.", Shiretoko looks away to hide her embarrassment but winds up looking at the blonde in the hospital bed, "I'm sorry about your.. Friend.."
Midoriya closes his eyes, unable to stand seeing Shield in such a poor state anymore. He gives Shiretoko the rundown as he mentally recalls it himself, "The medical report that the doctor gave me says she'll never walk again. Shot through the spine, severing it completely."
"But she's alive.", Shiretoko's response makes Midoriya's eyes shoot open in shock, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound insensitive."
"No, no.. You're right.", he realizes that she was simply trying to console him and sighs, "I just can't help but feel this is all my fault."
Shiretoko hums, staring down at the floor as though she'll find the right response there. The greenette instead tries cheering him up, "She's super smart, isn't she? She could probably make something to help her walk again. Or a really cool wheelchair, at least."
"Not helping.", but Midoriya's mood isn't so easily perked up.
"Sorry..", Shiretoko winces a little. Once she recovers, she redirects the conversation, "I'd like to say I only came to check up on you, but I'm mainly here for Eri's sake."
Midoriya raises a brow, "Yeah?"
Shiretoko nods before explaining, "I booked a flight a while ago. I was planning on asking this anyways, but now.. I think more than ever we need to reconsider where we stand with our shared parenting."
"What are you saying.. ?", Midoriya does his best to sit up straight without disturbing Eri's nap. He knows that whatever Shiretoko has to say deserves his full undivided attention.
And he's right. "Her staying here, you said it yourself, that it was only a temporary treatment. That you didn't want it. Maybe I should get her out of this city, this country, and take her to America with me.", the shared legal guardian of the girl voices her legitimate concerns.
Midoriya tries to reply, but his voice suddenly runs dry. He swallows some saliva to moisten his mouth and tries again, "You mean-"
"No! I want to stay!", Eri's sudden outburst startles him. She stirs in his lap before reclinging to the fabric of his shirt and crying into it, "I.. I wanna stay."
"Eri..", Midoriya mumbles in shock over the emotional interruption. He hadn't expected her to react in such a way to the news. Especially considering she had been listening in the whole time, pretending to be asleep.
He realizes the girl heard everything when she asks him, "You don't want me?"
"I..", he falters as he tries to respond but his mind won't allow him to fill in the blanks. He can't imagine a time when he wouldn't have wanted to adopt Eri as his daughter, so he answers honestly, "Of course I want you.."
Eri's bright red eyes water at the corners before she wails into his chest again, "Daddy!" Midoriya holds her close to his heart, shaken by the affectionate title she called him. He cries too.
Shiretoko watches the entire exchange, shedding her own single tear. "I guess that's what I get for not being around, huh?", she wipes it away with a finger and sniffles a little before forcing a smile, "Looks like she's your kitten now."
"I do want to keep her safe though..", Midoriya recalls the danger he had put Eri in, "Kacchan, he-" The white face. The blood red smile. That wasn't his childhood friend. "..Bakugo.. Or..", Midoriya forces himself to think of the shooter as somebody else entirely, "Joker did this all because of me."
"She's safe in your hands. You just weren't ready for that.", Shiretoko steps closer to place a consoling hand on his shoulder, "But.. Kurogiri and I talked.."
"It's time that we show you something.", Kurogiri's voice draws Midoriya's gaze up. He hadn't realized his own caretaker and guardian had arrived a while ago.
Midoriya stares at the butler. The man who raised him. There's something different about those yellow slithers for eyes. They're somber, yet accepting. Midoriya turns his gaze back to Shiretoko and sees the same sad look.
Eri shifts from Midoriya's lap to the seat beside him so that he can stand up. He does so slowly. He does so almost warily. "What is it that you want to show me.. ?", he's beginning to get just as worried as they are.
Kurogiri's response is that Midoriya see for himself, a warpgate opening in the center of the room for transport. The man suddenly feels like a boy again, afraid to enter. The dark swirling vortex shares the qualities of the shadows, like he's about to walk into a dark alley.
"What's in there.. ?", he looks to his father figure for guidance. But there's nothing Kurogiri can give him. This is something that Midoriya must do for himself.
Midoriya takes slow steps forward. And enters the black hole. On the other side, he finds himself at the top of a staircase. A dark tunnel leading down lays ahead of him. He feels afraid. Not of the dark, but of a metallic glint. Like the one from the gun Joker used. Like the gun.. In the alley. Midoriya begins his descent. Each step has him feeling closer to the answers at the bottom.
Instead of glistening light coming out from the darkness, he's met by a winged mammal. A flying creature comes at him, screeching as though calling his name. And he realizes then that it's a bat.