Chapter Nineteen (Part 2)

After escaping from Yaso and the cage, Aika had been led by the hand, stumbling and disoriented, by her brother Rai on a mad dash out of the prison cell and into the villain's hideout proper. They didn't really have a plan outside of 'get as far away from Yaso as they possibly could'. Only, it had turned out that the building they were in was really big, really dark, and they had no idea where the exit was.

They'd run around for a few minutes, lost amidst a labyrinth of tall shelves full of dust-covered junk ranging from utility belts to specialized shoes to what looked like grappling hooks until the sound of voices up ahead had them stopping, terrified of being caught again.

More bad guys, just like the ones who'd stuffed them in the car. It didn't sound like they were looking for them. Whoever they were, the villains were just standing around talking, but the fear of being captured again, of being trapped in another cage or tortured, had left both kids literally shaking. They'd gotten so turned-around amidst the tall, dusty shelves that they didn't even know which way they'd come from anymore.

That was when Aika had noticed that one of the big cardboard boxes in front of her on the shelf had been ripped open and was full of old sweaters, and she had an idea. Which is how she and Rai ended up buried within a box of old clothes.

Aika shuffled around anxiously, trying not to make too much noise. Her position at the moment was awkward and uncomfortable, and her leg was starting to fall asleep. That would be really bad if they needed to abandon their hiding spot and run. Thankfully, her ears were slowly starting to work again, and she felt like her dizziness was finally dying down. Maybe having a chance to rest was helping more than she thought.

The sweaters themselves were pleasantly soft, even if they smelled kind of weird. They were also really big and had six sleeves. What was all this weird stuff doing in this building and who was it for? Maybe Uncle Shouji had a sweater like this?

What mattered wasn't the smell, though, or who wore these kinds of clothes. What mattered was that, as long as they were quiet, no one would find them here. They couldn't wait there forever, but mom would be coming to get them eventually. She had to. She was a Hero, and she was their mom. And as long as they were patient, as long as she could keep her little brother safe… everything would be ok.

Thoughts of her family, however, inevitably led to thoughts of her dad. That bad man, Yaso… he had said that Dad used to be a villain. She didn't believe him, of course. He was a bad guy, a kidnapper, and a villain. Everyone knew that bad guys were liars.

But then… Why hadn't dad ever told her about his family? How did dad go to the same Hero high school as mom and his other friends, but only he wasn't a Hero? And why would their dad's cousin… or their aunt, maybe? Why did she kidnap them?

None of it made any sense. She wanted to find her dad and ask him about it. Or, more accurately, she wanted to find her dad because if she did that would mean they were safe again and everything would be ok.

Without warning, the ground began to shake. She didn't notice at first, wrapped up in her cocoon of sweaters, but the shaking caused all of the tall shelves around them to tremble and groan, like a forest of haunted trees.

Rai reached out and grasped her hand instinctively. She couldn't see his face in the darkness, but she was sure he was terrified.

"What was that?" he whispered.

In her heart, she wanted to say, 'It's the Heroes!', but honestly, she didn't know. Before she could poke her head up out of the box to take a look, however, the sound of an explosion rent the air, and both Aika and Rai screamed reflexively.

A crashing noise sounded out in the distance, loud and metallic. It repeated, again and again, steadily getting closer and closer. Before she could figure out what it was, something struck the shelf they were on, rattling them within their box. The world began to tilt, everything shifting forward, until, with another crash, the shelf they were on slammed forward onto the next one, and everything came crashing to the ground.

For a moment, the two kids remained still in their cardboard prison, groaning and struggling to reorient themselves. After a few uncomfortable moments of awkward struggle within the sea of sweaters, Aika managed to find the open top of the box and poke her head out to take a look.

All of the shelves around them had fallen over. It was hard to see with all of the junk that had fallen on top of them, but they were essentially buried alive under a mountain of garbage. The only reason they hadn't been crushed was because of the shelves' thick metal frame. Even so, there was so much garbage on top of them, she didn't see how they were ever going to get out.

"Aika," Rai whined from inside the box, "I'm stuck! I can't… breathe…!"

"Shh!" she hissed, giving him a panicked kick that was mostly cushioned by old sweaters. "Someone's gonna hear you! And you can so breathe! If you couldn't, you wouldn't be talking!"

He whined again, wriggling his way to the top of the box so he could poke his head out beside hers. Together they examined their surroundings.

It was pointless. They could try crawling their way out, but some of the junk on the shelves had broken and looked dangerous. Broken glass, lots of sharp edges... Plus, they probably attracted a lot of attention. The bad guys were going to come running to see what had happened, and then they'd be caught...

"What's that noise?" Rai asked, giving her shoulder a shake.

"What noise?" she asked, impatient. Her ears were still ringing from Rai's Quirk.

"I dunno. It sounds like... It sounds like fighting."

"Maybe it the Heroes?" she said, feeling suddenly hopeful.

"Maybe it's mom!" Rai exclaimed loudly, prompting Aika to slap her hand over his mouth.

"Shh! What if someone hears us?!"

"Don't we want the Heroes to hear us?"

"Yeah, but we don't know if it's them yet. Let's keep quiet until we know for sure."

It was the best plan she could come up with. If they were wrong, they'd give their location away to the bad guys. That being said, trapped under the mountain of shelves, she had no idea how they were going to find out if the noise Rai was hearing was the Heroes or not. They couldn't see anything.

Worrying about it now wasn't going to help. She just needed to stick it out and keep Rai quiet. Mom would be able to hear them once she got there. Everything was going to be ok.

Then the ground beneath them shuddered and everything started to fall.

It was gradual, at first. There was a roar of breaking stone followed by a distant crash. The shelf they were trapped in began slowly tilting downward. Another crash followed, then another, and then the shelf that had been underneath them suddenly tore itself free as the ground opened up, plummeting down to the story below, smashing against the floor in a heap of twisted, rusty metal, spewing out shrapnel and sending the merchandise that had been resting on it flying in every direction.

Without the support beneath them, their shelf began to fall as well, but was miraculously halted halfway by the weight of the shelves pressing down on top of it. That didn't stop gravity from pulling all of the loose merchandise that had been knocked free from tumbling through the open air and smashing on top of the broken shelves down below, the boxes bursting open like rotted melons, strewing their contents everywhere.

The box of sweaters Aika and Rai had taken refuge in was one of said pieces of loose merchandise, but Aika had managed to wrap an arm around one of the vertical bars of the shelf just in time, and, as the box fell away, sweaters flipping through the air like streamers, she was left hanging, one hand on the shelf, the other desperately trying to hold on to her brother.

For a moment, dangling into the open air over the chaos of a battle down below, both kids could do nothing more than scream.

Even for an eight-year-old, Aika wasn't very strong. Fear and their cocoon of sweaters had left both kids a little sweaty, and not only was Rai slowly slipping through her fingers, but so was the shelf she was trying to keep a hold on. To make matters worse, the shelf itself was still trembling, still threatening to give in to the pull of gravity and take the dive down to the floor below. If it did, it would crash right on top of them, and they would both surely die.

Over the sound of her frantic screaming, she noticed a sudden chill gust of air. Then, like a miracle, she noticed ice beginning to accumulate around the edge of the hole, enveloping the shelf, cementing it in place to prevent it from falling. At the same time, a familiar figure slid down from the floor above, creating a pathway of ice along the edge of the shelf, quickly making his way down to them.

It was Uncle Todoroki.

He managed to suspend his ice bridge over the gap, angling down below the shelf, till it extended to just underneath them. She waited until he arrived, her fingers aching from both the cold and their combined weight, and had grabbed ahold of Rai before she let go of her brother's hand. One arm around her brother, holding him to his chest, he reached out with his other hand and wrapped it around Aika, pulling her free of the shelf.

"You two ok?" he asked, sounding calm and professional and not at all like they had both nearly just died.

For the first time in her life, Aika understood why so many of her friends thought that Rei's dad was attractive.

Before either sibling could respond, something roared nearby.

There, smashing its way through the pile of broken shelves, stomping furiously towards them, was a massive stone golem. Just like you'd see in a video game.

Rai screamed again, Aika squeezing Todoroki as tightly as she could. Todoroki was one of the best Heroes around, but… could he fight a big scary monster like that while protecting both of them? While they hung in the open air on a tiny pathway made of ice?

From the look on Todoroki's face, he was certainly willing to try. But it became a moot question when, a split second later, with a staccato of explosions, a familiar figure flew past them at high speed.

She only had time to hear him begin to yell "Howitzer-!" before Uncle Bakugou's open palm collided with the stone golem's face and an enormous explosion filled the room, searing her cheeks with a wave of heat.

The golem was blasted backward, his face fractured, legs stumbling over the twisted metal wreckage below him, and he fell to the ground with an almighty crash, rocky carapace cracking open like an egg, revealing a man buried inside.

Before Aika or Rai could do much more than gape in shock, Todoroki had already extended his ice bridge to the nearest still-standing set of shelves on the floor below them, and, angling down at a gentle slope, the three slid safely away from the center of the battle and the hole in the ceiling and back towards a relatively quieter section of the warehouse.

From atop the shelf, he made yet another slide, and a moment later, the three were safely back on the ground.

"Are either of you hurt?" her best friend's dad asked, crouching down to look at them both in the eye. His familiar monotone was almost as comforting as his presence in how normal it was.

"No," Aika answered, and Rai reached out to take her hand again, shaking his head in response when Todoroki glanced his way, apparently still too scared to speak.

"Good," he replied, standing up straight again. "I'm going to guide you both to the ground floor where I'll leave you with the police. Your mother is-"

"Todoroki!"

Rounding the corner at the end of the aisle of still-standing shelving came Aunt Mina as well as Gizmo, the former of which fell to her knees just before reaching them so she could scoop both kids into a tight hug.

"Oh!" she squealed, squeezing them both so tightly Aika thought her head was going to pop off. "You're both ok! I'm so relieved!"

"Where are Jirou and Kaminari?" Todoroki asked.

"We got separated in the commotion," Gizmo explained, since Mina was clearly too busy fussing over her and Rai. "We knocked out most of the PLF members, but one of them turned into a big stone monster and went wild-"

"Dad is here?" Aika cut in once Mina let her go and she could breathe freely again.

"Well yeah, we came to save him, too!"

Before she could ask Mina what she was talking about, two figures rounded the corner at the end of the aisle, rushing straight towards them. One of them had an enormous blond pompadour that hung forward comically over the front of his head; the other was a skinny dark-haired woman with sunken eyes.

Todoroki immediately threw up a wall of ice.

"No time to chat," he reprimanded, turning and leading the way down the aisle. "We need to get to the staircase, now!"

As they raced along, Gizmo carrying Rai, Aika struggling to keep up on her shorter legs, the sound of the battle around them raged on. With all of the shelves around them, however, it was difficult to say where it was coming from. There were still echoes from the upper floor, and what sounded like maybe some fighting on the ground floor too, but Aika had a feeling the maze of shelves wasn't helping anybody. Though Todoroki seemed to know where he was going, more or less, so many shelves and pallets had been knocked around in the fighting that the place had become a maze in truth. It was enough to make anybody dizzy.

As they rounded another corner, forced to diverge paths once again due to the way forward being blocked by an avalanche of old skirts and what looked like specialty thermoses, they found their path barred by a sinister-looking middle-aged woman with red hair done up in a tight bun and a fox-like face.

Todoroki acted instinctively, releasing a wall of flame to drive the woman back, only the weirdest thing happened.

The flames rippled and undulated in the air for a moment, before suddenly twisting around, coiling like a snake until they came to a rest behind the fox-faced woman, glowing behind her shoulders like a red-hot wreath.

She smiled, the act not at all pleasant.

"My thanks for the support, Hero."

She lifted her hand and the flames struck, lashing out like a whip straight towards Gizmo and Rai.

Todoroki's ice wall barely made it in time, but it exploded in a blast of water and steam from the force of the flames now under the villain's control.

"Take the kids and run!" Todoroki shouted, freezing the ground beneath him, creating spears of ice that lanced upwards toward the woman only for them to be instantly destroyed by her serpentine flames, which seemed to only be growing larger and stronger as the seconds ticked by.

Mina seized Aika by the hand and jerked her backward, and together, the two along with Gizmo and Rai raced away, taking another path around the piles of broken merchandise, searching for a new path to the impossibly-distant staircase.

The comfort that had come from having her parents' friends there to save them was swiftly beginning to disappear, leaving behind it that same raw terror that had been accompanying her for the last couple of hours.

As they rounded the debris, heading once more towards the far wall and the hope of freedom, the villains from earlier with the weird hair and the sunken eyes finally caught up with them.

The woman jerked her arm forward in an upward motion like she was throwing a baseball underhanded, and a glob of black gunk spewed towards them.

Mina managed to throw up an acid veil, catching and dissolving the liquid before it reached them, though it temporarily obscured her vision as it diluted throughout the shield like ink in a bowl of water.

The one with the pompadour, which Aika could now see was composed completely of thin yellow needles, lowered his head and fired off a burst of spikes from his hair. Mina managed to catch these in her veil as well, but though most of them dissolved harmlessly, a few managed to stay whole long enough to pierce the veil, stabbing into her arms and thighs.

"Giz, I've got this," Mina muttered poisonously, taking a moment to size her opponents up as she yanked the needles out of her skin. "Get the kids to the stairs."

"But-!" the sidekick tried to argue, but another salvo of needles shut him up.

"I can't beat them and protect you!" she shouted angrily over her shoulder. "Take them and get out of here!"

With a frustrated groan, Giz caught Aika by the hand and began towing her once more backward in the direction of that ever-distant wall.

Aika ran to keep up, but couldn't help from glancing back over her shoulder to watch Mina fight, concerned for her aunt as well as the fact that their number of protectors seemed to be dropping.

She watched as Mina caught another blast of ink on an acid shield, then ducked under the needles and, skating on the acid she shot from her shoes, managed to close the distance between her and the attacker and caught him with an uppercut so hard that he was literally lifted off of his feet. The woman with the sunken eyes tried to get her from behind, only for Uncle Sero of all people to come swinging down from the rafters and catch her in a double-booted kick.

A moment later, they were rounding another corner, and her parents' friends were out of sight.

"H-how much farther?" Aika asked, gasping for breath. This warehouse was so big it was stupid.

"We're almost there," Gizmo replied, trying to smile reassuringly, only to let out a shout of alarm as a figure burst out of one of the boxes on a pallet and tackled Aika to the floor.

She hit the concrete with a gasp, feeling pain radiate throughout her body as her skull bounced off of the floor. Someone was on top of her, heavy and kind of slimy. When she opened her eyes, she was terrified and disgusted to find that it was a man with the head and skin of an earthworm. The only human things about him, other than his humanoid body shape, were his eyes, his mouth, and the fact that he had hair - although it was bright green.

"Sorry," he said, arms pinning hers to the ground beneath them. "I don't like messing with kids, but at this point, you might be my only ticket outta here-"

Something thick and heavy collided with his head, knocking him off of her with a pained grunt.

"Ha!" a voice crowed triumphantly. "Didn't miss ya that time, did I?"

Aika slowly pushed herself upwards, disoriented, to find a woman she didn't know rushing towards her. She had short dark hair that she had colorful feathers sticking out of, red and white face paint, brown shorts and a leather vest, and a bunch of small axes strapped to her waist and back.

"Hey there!" the woman greeted with entirely too much enthusiasm considering the situation Aika had been through. "Remember me? I'm Tomahawk! We met in an elevator once?"

The honest answer was 'No, I have no idea who you are', but that seemed like a rude thing to say to the woman who had just saved her, so instead Aika just nodded.

"Geez, Tetsuo," the woman continued, casting Gizmo an exasperated look as she helped Aika back to her feet. "Try to pay a bit more attention to your surroundings, yeah?"

Gizmo rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Hayase. Help me get these kids out of here."

There was a certain familiarity in his tone that suggested he not only knew this overly-loud Hero, but that he knew her pretty well, which helped alleviate some of Aika's unease being around a stranger.

"Should I tie him up?" Tomahawk asked before they headed off again, nodding down towards the human earthworm.

"We don't really have time," Giz replied, already heading off with Rai still in his arms. "Besides, he'd probably just slip out. He's the same guy that escaped from Red Riot the other week."

"I know who he is," she muttered sullenly, taking Aika's hand and hurrying along behind Gizmo. "He's the jerk who got away during that convenience store attack-"

"Oh, the one where you attacked Kaminari by mistake?"

Not following the conversation at all but perking up at the sound of her father's name, Aika glanced up at Tomahawk and was surprised to find the older woman's face was completely red.

"S-shut up!" she spluttered, indignant, not sounding like a Pro at all. "Don't say that in front of his kids!"

This lady was weird, Aika decided. She wished Mina or Todoroki would come back. Or her mom, wherever she was.

Finally, after a bit more running and thankfully no more interruptions, they made it to the exit.

The battle behind them seemed to be dying down, but it was still a relief to get away. The stairwell was dark and creepy, but thankfully empty. It seemed like most of the villains were either currently fighting a Hero or were already taken down. With any luck, they'd be able to get out of here without any more interruptions.

The ground floor was as dark and grimy as the second and third floors had been, but the commotion seemed to be contained here. Whatever fighting had been happening was already over, and though some of the shelves had been destroyed, and though the ceiling was cracked and damaged, it was mostly quiet now.

"Mina burned a hole into the outer wall, not far away," Gizmo explained as the four took a left and began running along the perimeter of the warehouse. "It's in a bathroom. We'll be able to get out there."

Freedom. It was so close! They'd done it! The Heroes had come to save them after all and Rai was safe and everything was ok!

She didn't see the man stepping out from behind the row of boxes until it was too late.

His hand closed around Tomahawk's shoulder, catching her. Aika, who had kept running, felt her hand tug out of the Pro's. Before she could do more than turn her head in surprise, a sharp electric zap sounded out.

Tomahawk's body fell to the floor, unconscious, as the man stepped over her body, staring down at Aika with cold, manic eyes.

Whoever he was, he was tall and thin and frightening. He was older, with long white hair that ran past his shoulders, though his facial hair was close-cut and neatly trimmed, accentuating a strong jawline. He was wearing an overly-large dark coat, left open at the front, under which Aika could see multiple bundles strapped to his torso almost like body armor.

It was his eyes that held her attention the most, however. They were a bright, electric blue, and though they gazed down at her dispassionately, there was something about them that seemed to glow with a hint of madness.

"Hayase?" Gizmo called out, and it was only then that Aika realized he hadn't noticed Tomahawk go down. He'd kept running, and was now several paces away from her.

"Hello, little one," the man said, in a voice that was deceptively soft and gentle. "I've been looking forward to meeting you."

And then he grabbed her.

After the stereo, after his and his wife's once-in-a-lifetime team attack, after taking down a majority of the PLF in one fell swoop, Denki had expected things to get a little crazy.

He hadn't expected literally everything to devolve into absolute chaos.

The problem was, one of the PLF members who'd been in the group they'd attacked wound up being that same guy with the Quirk that turned him into a large rock golem. He'd somehow managed to avoid being completely incapacitated by the explosion of sound, turning himself into his large monstrous form almost as soon as the attack had started. The problem was, he'd clearly been robbed of his equilibrium by the attack, so instead of charging at like he'd probably wanted to, he had instead stumbled around drunkenly, smashing things, knocking over shelves, and causing absolute mayhem.

It was due to the aforementioned mayhem that Denki suddenly found himself alone. A falling pile of crates had wound up separating him from his wife, Mina, and Gizmo. Now, alone on the floor, he was desperately trying to make his way to the staircase, remembering that Kyouka had said she thought she'd heard their kids' heartbeats upstairs.

Getting to the stairs alive was proving to be a bit of a problem, however.

An explosion shook the building, what had to have been the twentieth he'd felt so far. He had no idea what had caused it; defective merchandise, a thug recklessly using his Quirk, Bakugou being... Bakugou. Overhead, the ceiling caved in, heralded by a cascade of falling shelves that rained down on the central part of the warehouse, drowning all other noise out in a cacophony of shrieking metal and smashed merchandise.

Denki didn't have time to pay attention to that now, however. The golem was right in front of him, blocking most of his vision, and though he hadn't seemed to have noticed Denki, he kept getting in his way, usually by accident, constantly blocking his path.

Luckily for him, just as Denki was beginning to lose his patience, Bakugou, the king of losing patience, rocketed up from out of nowhere and took the golem down with a singular, powerful explosion.

Unluckily for him, the golem came crashing down almost right on top of him.

He had to throw himself sideways, literally, landing heavily on his side and scratching up his arm pretty bad on the dirty cement floor, to prevent being squashed by the titanic rock.

Bits of stone fragments peppered Denki's body, most of them too small to hurt, and once the dust had settled and he'd gotten back to his feet, he could see that Bakugou had managed to blast through the thick stone body, revealing an unconscious middle-aged man lying amidst the debris.

Bakugou was standing over him, looking smug. At least, until he caught sight of Denki.

"Uh, hey…" Denki began, forcing a smile, only to blanch when Bakugou began stomping towards him.

"This fucking bastard…"

Denki began rapidly backing up, suddenly more terrified of Bakugou than he was of the PLF members who had originally locked him up.

"W-whoa, ok, hold on," he tried, scrambling for something to say in his defense, only to feel his back press up against a shelf. Nowhere left to run. "Let's talk this out!"

But Bakugou came to a halt a few steps away, glowering.

"I'm going to kick your ass once we get out of here," he growled, his voice thick with promised retribution. "For being an idiot, and for disobeying your orders. But for now, civilians take priority. Get out of here and let me clean this up."

"W-wait-!" Denki tried to say, but Bakugou cut him off.

"If you're looking for your brats, I just saw them with Icy-Hot. They're probably heading to the south exit."

With a quick thanks, both for the information and for not killing him, Denki took off across the warehouse at a dead run. It was still dangerous, even with the rock guy down for the count, but if Todoroki had his kids, then things were going to be fine. He just needed to catch up to them as fast as he could.

He spotted glimpses of his friends as he crossed the room. Momo was busy rounding up and confining all of the PLF members he and Kyouka had knocked out earlier, though it looked like more than one needed medical attention, probably because of the idiot who'd turned himself into a giant rock. Kirishima emerged from the other side of the room, leading another gaggle of restrained would-be villains. It seemed their impromptu surprise attack had worked out after all. The battle was drawing to a close already, at least on this half of the building. The other half, the part in the direction he was running, still showed signs of an ongoing conflict.

It was the spout of flame he saw extending over the wall of shelves to his left that had him changing course at top-speed. Flames almost certainly meant Todoroki, and if he was letting them out, that meant trouble. His kids could be in danger.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long to find them, even amidst the ruined warehouse. The flames were sort of hard to miss, especially in a building as dark as this one.

Todoroki wasn't alone, but he also wasn't with his kids. Denki noticed that almost immediately.

However, that concern took a momentary backseat the second he recognized the person Todoroki was facing.

It was that fox-faced woman from the alleyway. The one who manipulated fire.

The one who had burned his in-laws' house down and had nearly killed his son.

"You know, you're not as skilled with your flames as I thought you'd be," the arsonist tittered smugly. "Considering who your father was, I would have thought you'd have more talent."

"You knew my father?" Todoroki asked, voice deadpan, though Denki knew him well enough to recognize the note of surprise and curiosity.

"Oh, no, not personally. But I did admire his talents. We were… of the same mind, you could say. He and I can do things with a flame that you couldn't even imagine."

Something about the way she said that, the smugness, her punchable face… it set Denki's blood boiling. If 'burning down houses with children inside' is what she meant by that, then Todoroki was better off, as far as he was concerned.

That being said, his kids were somewhere in this chaos and he needed to talk to Todoroki to figure out where. She was just getting in his way.

Denki stepped out from behind the shelf, not bothering to hide. The woman had her back to him and thus didn't see him, but Todoroki did, and in his surprise, he neglected to respond to the woman's inane statement.

It didn't matter. She opened her mouth to goad him again, but by that point, Denki had already reached her.

This was the point where real Heroes, like All Might, would bust out their cool one-liners. But Denki wasn't a Hero, and he certainly wasn't in the mood.

Instead, he grabbed her by the back of the neck and let his Quirk surge.

Her muscles locked up, her whole body spasming, before she fell to the ground in an unintelligible lump, her flames winking out harmlessly.

Damn, he hoped that had burned her.

He met Todoroki's surprised gaze and winced. Oh, right… He wasn't supposed to use his Quirk like that. He didn't have a license.

"Uh… Sorry, I just-"

"It's fine," Todoroki said, relaxing. "I'll look the other way. If you're looking for your kids, they're safe. Mina and Jirou's sidekick took them to the exit. They should be outside by now. You should join them."

"Perfect," Denki said, letting his relief show on his face. "Thanks, Todoroki. Uh, would you mind telling Kyouka? I don't have a headset, and I have no idea where she is."

He nodded wordlessly, dismissing Denki without a second thought as he turned his attention to the downed villain, and Denki rushed off in the direction he was pretty sure the stairs were located.

He was honestly surprised at how well everything had gone. Too well, if he were being honest. An hour ago, he had been prepared to die in the hopes that his kids would be spared. Instead, his friends had come to his rescue yet again. For all the terrible things he'd done in his life, he definitely didn't deserve to have friends as amazing as they were. Or a wife and incredible as Kyouka.

That being said, he did have an uncomfortable conversation to have with Kyouka when this was all over… He had no idea how he was ever going to gain her trust back, not after what had happened, but he could focus on that later. His kids came first. Then Kyouka. Then, if he survived that… well, Bakugou was apparently going to kill him. He deserved that, he supposed. One step at a time. The end of this eternal night was finally in sight.

He managed to work his way to the end of the warehouse within a couple of minutes with only a handful of detours around piles of discarded merchandise or broken shelving units. The stairwell was dark and cool, perfect considering how sweaty he was after all this running around.

He hit the bottom step and sprang toward the door, throwing it open, only realizing afterward that there had been PLF members down here too and announcing his presence like that may have been a terrible idea.

Almost immediately, his eyes landed on the group of people standing just a little way to his left between the outer wall and yet another shelf, and he came to an abrupt halt as he recognized the tall man in the center.

It was strange to consider that this was only his second time seeing the man, when it had felt like his entire life over the past few weeks had revolved around him. To be honest, from the moment Kyouka had come for him, all throughout this mad search for his kids... he'd actually forgotten all about him. He certainly hadn't expected to run into him here, at the finish line, just when everything was going so well.

"Dad…" he breathed, not willing to believe his eyes.

"Hello again, Denki," his father replied, turning his wide blue gaze on his son, and Denki felt his stomach drop out.

He had Aika in his arms. Her back was pressed against his chest, one arm wrapped around her torso, pinning her in place, the other hand secured around her mouth, his fingers digging into her cheeks. She squeaked in pain, struggling fitfully, unable to speak as frantic, fearful tears spilled down her cheeks and over Renjirou's fingers.

Denki could see the battery packs under his coat.

One zap is all it would take. Less than a second. He could pour all of the electricity he had into Aika's tiny body faster than Denki could do more than shout.

He was at a loss.

If he tried to charge his dad physically, he'd kill her. He couldn't let out an Indiscriminate Shock with his Quirk because not only would Renjirou just absorb it, but it would hurt Aika. The only other people around were Tomahawk, who was down, presumably unconscious, and Gizmo, who was a couple meters away on Renjirou's other side, holding Rai. But unless Giz had some secret tool in his belt that could knock Renjirou out faster than it took for him to electrocute Aika, he wasn't going to be of much help here.

Denki had only one option.

Stall.

Stall until an actual Hero could show up to save his little girl.

"Dad," he said again, struggling to keep his voice level. "Please… Don't do this."

A slow smile wormed its way onto Renjirou's face.

"Why?" he asked, voice soft and composed.

Denki swallowed, desperately struggling to find some way to reason with the man. All at once, he was back on top of the dam, staring down his mother. That madness in his eyes…

He'd wondered on more than one occasion, since the night Kyouka had come home and told im his father had broken out of prison, what a confrontation with his father would be like. Would it be violent? Would they scream at one another, level accusations, lay their grief bare?

It was only now that Denki realized that there would never truly be a confrontation with his father. The man he used to know was dead. He'd died the day that Denki had killed his mother. This… This person, this ghost in front of him, kept alive only through the sheer force of his own hate, was not Denki's father.

"She's just a little kid," he tried, taking a small step forward. "She… She has nothing to do with this."

"Oh, Denki…" his father replied, slowly shaking his head. "You don't seem to understand. This isn't about her. This is about you."

"I know," he said quickly, raising a hand to his chest in supplication. "And… And I'm right here. Just… let her go, and you can take me instead. Just like you wanted."

"What I wanted…" he mused, his wide, unblinking eyes fixated firmly on Denki as though the entire world revolved around only the two of them. "I doubt you could ever fully comprehend what it is I want, Denki."

Though the sounds of battle still continued on overhead, the floor around them seemed to be quiet. Where was everyone?! There had been PLF members stationed down here, too! Had they all been captured, the Pros having moved on to other parts of the building?! Was there really no one around who could help?!

"For the past ten years, I have dreamed of this moment," Renjirou continued, apparently unconcerned about the possibility of reinforcements. "I considered so many possibilities. Did you know I considered taking one of your children away, just like how the Pros took you away, filling your head with nonsense… They would come back to you, and betray you, just like how you did to us so many years ago…"

"Bullshit," Denki spat, desperate to buy more time. "This isn't about me betraying the PLF. This is about us. About… About mom."

The light in his eyes… His gaze looked so much like hers it was scary. He hadn't been able to get through to her that night on the dam. What on earth made him think he was going to be able to get through to his father now?

"I learned a great deal from Emiko, you know," his father said, abruptly changing the topic. "She told me all about your kids, about their Quirks, their temperaments… They seem to love you a great deal. It's truly a blessing to have children who love and respect you. But I wonder… Would they still love you if they knew the truth? Could they still look you in the eyes if they knew what you were?"

He shook his head, eager to change the topic.

"Dad-"

"Say it, Denki."

"I-"

"Admit what you did to her!"

He hesitated, licking his lips, uncertain how to proceed. His father, the lunatic, held his daughter's life in his hands… If he didn't go along with him, he might just snap and kill her. But this… This was the last place he wanted Aika to learn the truth.

Still. He couldn't risk her life, not when his father was clearly out of his mind.

"I…" He had to stop to swallow, to work up the nerve. He struggled to keep his eyes fixated on his father's.

"I killed mom."

Denki couldn't keep his eyes from darting back down to Aika. She was still terrified, still sobbing… But her eyes had grown wide, the hysterical fear now tinged with disbelief and horror. He should have told her. He should have told her months ago.

He'd been so worried that she'd learn the truth from someone else, how awful his inevitable confession would be… He'd never paused to consider how much worse it could get.

The door to the stairwell behind him burst open, and out came Kyouka.

"Denki-!" she started, only to come to a stop a few paces behind him as her eyes took in the scene before her.

He wanted to curse. She'd clearly been in a rush, desperate to finally get to her kids who she'd been, likely by Todoroki, told were already outside. She hadn't used her ears to sense for trouble before exiting the stairwell. She must have thought the ground floor was cleared already.

Kyouka's earphone jacks jerked instinctively down towards the speakers on her wrists, but Renjirou jerked Aika's head around threateningly.

"Keep your ears up," he spat. "Up, where I can see them. Do it, now."

Kyouka did as she was told, slowly stepping up beside her husband. The look on her face was pure murder.

"It's nice to finally meet my daughter-in-law," his father continued with a fake smile.

"Let her go, you sick bastard."

"No, I don't think I will," Renjirou replied, taking a small step away from them. "Not yet, at least. I still haven't done what I came here to do."

"You had me already!" Denki cried out, exasperated. "You don't need them! Let them go and you can have me!"

"But you still don't understand, do you, Denki?" his father explained, his entire face lighting up with his manic, deranged smile. "I don't just want to kill you for what you did. I want you to suffer in the same way that you made me suffer. I want to take away the things you love. Your wife, your son, your daughter… I want to watch as you lose them all at the hands of someone you once called family. Only then will I kill you. Because only then will you have paid the price for what you did to us."

Kyouka stepped forward, desperation thick on her voice as she said, "Take me, then! You lost your wife - if you take me, that makes you even! Aika has nothing to do with this!"

But the madness in Renjirou's eyes had confirmed even before the conversation had started that there was no negotiating with him. Losing Sora had broken him. He had filled the hole in his heart with his hatred for Denki and his drive for revenge. His obsession with that goal had driven him to this, just like his mother's obsession with the MLA had eventually led her to that moment on the dam.

And it was only now, Denki was realizing, that his own obsessions had led him here, too. He'd been so blinded by his desire to pretend to be the Hero he'd always wanted to be that, when he was offered the chance to play the part of bait, he took it without a second thought. His desire to make up for his past mistakes and somehow win Emiko back had led him to risk his children's lives by taking them out on the street when it was dangerous and trusting her when he knew he shouldn't have.

Madness had damned his mother and his father… and it would seem it had damned him just as surely. His selfishness and self-interest would cost him everything.

He wasn't a Hero. He never had been, not really. He could see that now.

But a Hero was what he needed, desperately.

Someone, anyone. Please. Most of his friends were here, in the building. One of them had to notice. Momo, Mina, Sero, Kirishima - anyone! He knew he shouldn't be asking them to clean up his messes, not anymore, not after they'd already forgiven so much… But Aika was going to die. Somebody needed to save her.

As though in answer to his prayer, two more people suddenly emerged from the stairwell behind them, and for a moment, he felt his heart begin to inflate with hope.

And then his eyes landed on Emiko, and he felt all of that hope die.

She wasn't alone. There was someone else, a teenage boy with messy dark hair. Denki ignored him though. His eyes were locked on Emiko's, who was taking in the scene in front of her with a mixture of alarm and dread.

"Emiko!" Renjirou shouted, suddenly elated. "Finally, our family reunion is complete! Come to me, my dear! Our long-awaited moment has finally arrived!"

But Emi hesitated, her eyes bouncing around from Denki to Kyouka to Giz and Rai and Tomahawk down on the ground before finally settling on Aika.

Slowly, she stepped forward until she'd passed Denki and Kyouka, joining her father's side.

"Dad," she said softly, "what… What are you doing?"

"I am achieving our long-held desire," he replied, satisfaction dripping from his every word.

But Emi shook her head slowly as though she didn't understand him.

"You…? Look around you. We lost. It's over. The other Heroes will be here any second now. I... Listen, I got Yuu! There's still time if we hurry! We need to get out of here before they arrest you again!"

"Then let them arrest me!" he said, proud and defiant. "We have lived the last ten years of our lives for this moment! I will not be made to falter now!"

His words… They were grandiose and absurd, like a child reading from a fairytale. Just how far gone was he?

Emi, however, was getting desperate.

"Dad, this… This isn't what I wanted. I didn't break you out of prison to take revenge on Denki, I broke you out to give you your life back! So we could be together again! You and me! A family!"

"Plans change, Emiko," he said dismissively. "Isn't that right, Denki? Sometimes, things don't go the way you think they will, and people die. That's just the way of the world. There's no sense in fighting it."

Denki's fists were clenched, shaking with fury, electricity sparking off of his knuckles. But Emi wasn't done talking yet.

"You promised me," she said, stepping closer to her father, desperation thick on her voice. "You said they wouldn't get hurt. That was the only reason I-!"

"Enough, Emiko!" their father shouted, shaking her off. "You didn't hesitate to go through with it before but now you have cold feet?! This has to be done! For your mother! For justice!"

"Mom wouldn't have wanted this!" Emiko shouted back, beside herself. "She may have been zealous, and… and misguided, but she never tried to hurt her family intentionally! That girl is your granddaughter!"

"I do not have a granddaughter because I do not have a son!" Renjirou roared, spittle flying out of his mouth, his wide-eyes bugged out with insanity and grief. "Not anymore!"

Emiko stepped back, surprised, and a little scared, as though seeing him for the madman he was for the very first time.

"But perhaps you don't feel the same," Renjirou continued, turning back to face Denki and Kyouka, Aika still struggling and crying in his arms. "Perhaps neither of you really loved your mother after all."

Emiko flinched as though she'd been slapped, but though his father's callous comment had seemingly cowed her, it had the opposite effect on Denki.

"I did love mom," he said, his eyes boring into his father's. "We all did. But a parent shouldn't prioritise their own dreams over the safety and well-being of their children."

It hurt to say out loud because it was as much an indictment of both of his parents as it was of himself. He of all people should have known better.

Renjirou was glowering at Denki now, a twisted smile on his face, delighting in his moment, but Denki's eyes had shifted seemingly of their own volition to his sister's. She was staring at him now with an unreadable look on her face. He had no idea what she was thinking, what was going on behind those golden eyes of hers.

She, however, apparently understood what was going on with Denki, because after a moment, her expression changed to one of grim determination.

Denki's stomach tightened painfully as she stepped up beside their father.

"Alright, dad," she said softly, turning her gaze away from Denki and up to their father. "You win."

Renjirou smiled, pride and satisfaction shining on his face.

Slowly, Emiko reached out with her left hand and gently touched his shoulder.

There were tears in her eyes as she looked up at him, her familiar lopsided smile trying to work its way onto her face.

"I… I love you, dad."

He didn't respond. He simply stared down at her in confusion like he didn't understand what the words meant.

The only warning was the brief flicker of lightning on her right arm. Faster than the eye could see, she jerked her fist up, catching her father just under the chin with the strongest punch she could manage.

He stumbled back, stunned, Aika dropping from his arms as his eyes, wide with shock, rolled into the back of his head. He crumpled to the ground, boneless.

The world seemed to erupt into motion.

Kyouka darted forward, seizing Aika, pulling her into the safety of her arms. Yaoyorozu and Kirishima appeared around the distant corner, catching up to them too late. Gizmo moved to check on the still unconscious Tomahawk, still holding protectively onto Rai.

But Denki stayed where he was, his disbelieving eyes locked on his little sister, watching as she sank to her knees beside her unconscious father, who she had just betrayed, hugging herself and crying.