"I'll talk!" the boy screamed desperately, watching the black vials plummet towards the ground.
As quick as a flash, Aizawa's bandages shot out, wrapping around the vials mere centimeters away from the ground. The vials flew into the air as Aizawa grabbed them, leaning in close to the boy.
"That's better. Ready to talk?"
"Goddamn motherfuckers…" the boy muttered.
Aizawa held out the vials again, as the boy nodded.
"I'll talk, I'll talk. I promise."
"Good. See, Yagi? My ways always work," Aizawa smiled. "Now, kid, let's start with your name."
"James Bon…" the boy paused, noticing the cold, emotionless look in Aizawa's eyes. "My name is Makoto."
"Last name?"
"I don't have one," the boy replied.
"Wrong answer," Aizawa said, getting ready to hurl another vial against the ground.
"No, no! I'm not lying, I swear! Hook me up to a lie detector, get some truth-telling freak, please, I'm telling the truth!"
"I believe him, Shota," All Might responded.
"Alright," Aizawa shrugged, almost seeming disinterested. "Why don't you have a last name, Makoto?"
"I'm an orphan. I was in Fukushima Aiikuen Orphanage, you can search for me through their files."
"One moment," Aizawa said, pulling out his phone. "Normally, I'd have to fill out far too much paperwork for something like this, but I have my ways… and we're in! Let me see. You've a storied history, don't you, Makoto? Abandoned by both parents, raised by the state until the age of ten… and it seems from reading this, that you weren't exactly a model kid in school. You put a lot of kids in hospital, didn't you?"
Makoto smiles, teeth sharpened into points again.
"Oh, please. Every single one of those fuckers deserved what I did to them. Trust me."
"Seems you ran away at the age of eleven, took to the streets as an amateur villain… with a very, very impressive track record. Burglary, arson, assault, torture, kidnapping, murder… you've done a lot of awful things, haven't you?"
"Oh, please!" Makoto says, rolling his eyes. "Half that shit is bullshit! As soon as everyone hears a shapeshifting quirk is going about, they pin all that shit on you! Everyone's so eager to blame all their crimes on me. 'That's not me in the security camera footage, it must be that shapeshifter!' 'I didn't beat up my wife, that was the shapeshifter!' I didn't do anything!"
"Sure about that?" Aizawa asked, playing with the vials in his hands.
"You're some sick fuck, you know that? I'm being fucking hyperbolic! I ain't saying I'm completely innocent, mate. I've robbed a few stores, burned a couple places down, killed a few people! Is that what you wanted to hear? It happens! Big fucking deal! Those places I robbed had insurance! I guaran-fuckng-tee both of you have destroyed more buildings than I ever could, and every fucker I hurt deserved it!"
"They say you called yourself the Thing, huh? Interesting villain name."
"I liked it," Makoto shrugged. "It describes me well, since I can by any little thing under the sun with enough time to shift my old bones into place, and to be completely honest, John Carpenter was an inspiration. I've been trying to make a chest mouth for a while, but it just doesn't really work as well as I'd like."
"We need to find Midoriya, Aizawa," Yagi said.
"Fuck that, I ain't answering any more questions until you give me a vial!"
"That's not how this game works, I'm afraid," Aizawa answered. "Now, where is Midoriya?"
"I don't fucking know! I'm not lying, I swear, I just don't know," Makoto answered. "Probably in the Facility, if I had to guess, but you'd sooner see him dead than there. Trust me."
"What's the Facility, Makoto?"
"When I was… maybe fourteen, I disappeared. No one fucking noticed because people kept blaming me for shit I didn't do, but I did. Some creepy guy with glasses offered to take me back to his, give me a big meal and a packet of smokes. I was all skinned up as a little ten-year-old girl, so I thought he must've been some paedophile fuck. I went with him, of course. I was planning to cut him up when he tried anything. The bastard would've deserved it, so no harm done, you know?"
Makoto chuckled darkly, fear entering his eyes.
"That's when hell really started."
Over the next hour or so, Makoto told the teachers what he'd been through. He'd been imprisoned in an unknown facility and tested on for over two years. The kid had been force-fed a mixture of pills and drugs, although he wasn't sure why. There were others imprisoned there, although Makoto had no idea how many. For two years, he was starved and tortured both chemically and physically when he resisted, explaining the scars that cover his frail body. Aizawa listened patiently as the boy told his story, although the entire time, although he wondered if he'd get any real, valuable information. Makoto's story painted a horrifying view of what Makoto must be going through, but he didn't know any names, he didn't know any reasons, he didn't know any locations… it was clear his masters had known he might be caught, and ensured he didn't know anything of real value.
"Eventually, two of the guards came to me. Made me an offer: Use my powers to replicate some UA wanker so they could kidnap him, and I'd get freedom alongside one of the other prisoners, and a lifetime supply of vials. I didn't have any other options, so what could I fucking do? They wanted me to sneak in, pretend to be some prat and do some other shit."
"Do what, Makoto?" Yagi asked.
"Oh, just classic shit. Gather evidence, poison a few students, maybe kill a teacher or two. Before you ask, I didn't get around to any of it. They set me up with some magic darkness bastard to sneak me in."
"Some magic darkness bastard? Do you know anything about him?"
"Him? Dude wore a suit, and a metal neck brace thingy. Went by the name of Kurogiri, though I didn't catch a first name. Or surname, I'm not sure which was which. He wasn't one of the regulars, I think, probably outside help."
"Kurogiri," All Might muttered. "That means…"
"The League of Villains. They're either behind this, or allied with whoever is," Aizawa responded.
"Look, I've told you everything you want to fucking know. Am I getting out of here, or you going to let me writhe into dust anyway?"
The two teachers looked at Makoto for a moment.
"We can't let you leave. Not because I want to keep you trapped here, but because it's not safe. For you, for others, for anyone. You're on a dark path, Makoto. I want to help you turn it around."
Makoto muttered a swearword, scratching at his skin. His veins were noticeably a darker shade now, and he seemed to spasm and wince in pain every few seconds.
"Oh, come on now," Makato smiled, leaning back. "I won't cause any trouble. I pinky swear."
Makoto raised his left hand, wiggling the nub where his pinky finger once was, before chuckling darkly.
"We're going to do our best to find Midoriya. But I'm not going to forget about you. You need help, and I will be there for you, Makoto."
"Can the fucking shtick, asshole. I got less than a day's left with my remaining vials because of you pricks. Speaking of, where's my fucking syringe?"
"Aizawa," Yagi asked. "What are we planning to do about young Makoto's… illness?"
"Long term, we're going to need to find a cure to it. No doubt we'll find one when we find Midoriya. I'm sure they've injected him with the same stuff. As for short term, Makoto's current medicine should last him the next five days."
"It's twelve hours per vial, dickhead," Makoto growled.
Aizawa shook his head, throwing the last two remaining vials on the ground, where they smashed open.
"YOU FUCKING SCUM!" Makoto howled, tearing at his bindings as his teeth sharpened, his nails grew to claws and his body began contorting against his bindings. "I'll kill you!"
"I am still a hero, you know," Aizawa said, stepping out of the room for a moment.
Seconds later, he appeared carrying an identical metal box, flipping it open. Inside, eleven identical syringes sat.
"Did you really think I'd let a teenager die like that?"
"Fucking bastard," Makoto chuckled. "You're smarter than I thought. And a hell lot more prone to lying than I expected of a hero."
"It wasn't a lie. I prefer the term 'rational deception'," Aizawa smirks.
"I knew you had a plan, Aizawa," All Might replied, feeling relief as he saw the eleven syringes.
"Always do," Aizawa answered, as Makoto snatched a syringe, quickly injecting himself with the dark liquid as he let out a deep sigh.
"Sweet relief…" Makoto muttered. "Oh, that cools the blood."
"We need to get to work tracking down Kurogiri," Aizawa said.
"It ain't going to work, folks. The boys at the Facility even slightly figure out you're onto them, they'll burn the place to the ground, move the prisoners, kill that ain't worth moving and destroy any possibility of a trail. They've done it before. These aren't everyday lunatics who put on a costume and decided to blow up Japan. These are professionals. Cold, methodical, effective."
"We'll see about that," Aizawa replied. "Come on, Toshinori."
"You're just going to leave me here, huh?" Makoto asked. "Can you at least get me some more food? I'm fucking starving."
"We'll ensure you don't go hungry. I'll have someone bring by food for you soon, kid," Yagi responded.
"Sweet! I reckon asking for a pack of smokes is going to be too much, huh? The cravings are really hitting me. Maybe some porn mags…?"
The pair of teachers were out the door before Makoto had finished his sentence. As he was left alone in the empty room, he chuckled to himself.
"Fucking dickheads," he muttered. "Alright, let's see if this worked."
Makoto took a deep breath, before focusing all of his energy on bending his left pinky. For the briefest of moments, miles upon miles away, it twitched. Makoto gave a brief smile, feeling the slightest bit of sensation in his missing digit.
"Perfect," he chuckled. "Now I just need to find a way out of here."
For the next couple of minutes, Makoto attempted to use his powers to shift out of his bindings, but they constricted whenever he shrunk and were flexible enough to prevent him bursting out. He struggled against them, attempting to gnaw his way through. Eventually, through a strenuous and painful morphing of his body, he managed to slip through Aizawa's bindings, rolling to the floor with a heavy sigh of relief. He hurried over to the door, noting with a grin the security measures.
"Oh, this is too fucking easy. Finger scanner, eye-scanner and…" Makoto frowned noticing the key required to open the door. "They must've thought that would stop me, huh? Arrogant pricks."
Makoto quickly took on Aizawa's eyes and finger, staring into the scanner as he pressed his finger down. A cheerful beep confirmed his success, as he stared at the lock nervously.
"Just like pulling off a band-aid. Just like pulling off a band-aid," he muttered again and again to himself.
Makoto pressed his thumb against the keyhole, yelping as he forced his thumb bone to burst through his skin, releasing a trickle of blood. Makoto yelped in pain as his thumb bone continued growing, entering the lock and quickly readjusting itself to fit. With another growl of pain, Makoto twisted his hand, unlocking the door. He grinned as it swung open, stepping out into freedom.
"Bet those arrogant pricks didn't know I could do that," he smiled.
Quickly, Makoto shifted his ragged body back into Midoriya's form, feeling hunger pains shoot through his stomach.
"God, I need to find something to eat. And figure out a better skin disguise than this. Now that they know something's up with Midoriya, I'm going to have to knock someone ou…!"
"Deku!" a voice cried.
Makoto turned around to see Uraraka running towards him, quickly embracing him in a hug.
"I'm so glad to see you're OK!"
"Oh, this is way too easy," Makoto muttered, closing his lips to hide the shark-faced grin he had behind them.