Shouto Todoroki was in shock after getting the call. An old American hero had told them, on All Might´s insistence, about Izuku´s plane being shot down over Denmark, and that they had not been able to find him in the wreckage or contact him in anyway. The American hadn't mentioned Himiko Toga at all, until Uraraka interrupted the conference call "What about Himiko Toga, why was she with Deku? Why is that…that bitch galivanting free around the world?" The American had sighed heavily, and said "Lass, I´m only calling you as a favour to All Might. I have no obligation to answer any of your questions, not the least while I´m supposed to be writing condolences to four families and get my team in to rescue Midoriya. If it gives you any peace of mind, I assure you that Toga is our prisoner, and was cleared to operate. If at any point she had become a threat, we would have put her down, like a horse with a broken leg, and at this point her tracker is our best shot of getting Izuku alive." Shouto then had said "Please tell us when you get our friend. We need to know. And if we can help, we are ready." The American had thanked him for the offer, but they were already dealing with the situation.
Shouto managed to hold his composure just long enough to fall on the couch. This couldn't be happening, Midoriya was a strong hero and was even stronger as a person. The thought of him dying was impossible. And the thought of him dying in some field half a world away, alone except for a psychotic villain…it almost hurt to think that. Shouto felt tears stream down his cheeks, the sounds around him becoming muffled. He could almost distinguish Uraraka crying in Iida´s arms, and some unintelligible sounds preceded a tight, warm hug. Was that Momo? He couldn't tell. He closed his eyes and he could almost see Izuku, lifeless on the ground, killed in a cowardly attack. He was on the ground, just as Touya had been after the fight at Tartarus, but Izuku didn't move, he didn't speak. Blood flowed. Shouto opened his eyes. Izuku was more than a friend, he was a brother, and he wasn't going to let him suffer.
He wiped his eyes with determination, looking around. Momo was beside him, holding him in a soothing way. He caressed her cheek and looked into her worried eyes "Midoriya will be alright, he is the toughest person I know. He wouldn't want us breaking apart for him." Momo smiled softly. Elsewhere, Uraraka and Tsuyu still cried, while Tokoyami and Iida sobbed more quietly. Hatsume idly looked at a wrench, her eyes watery, muttering softly to herself. She looked so lost, Shouto thought. He managed to catch only a small part of the muttering "I should have told him" She then ran off the room, and they could hear the sounds of her destroying her own machines in anger. Even that quieted down, and from the workshop they could faintly hear her crying.
Shouto himself was just a second away from crying his eyes out again, but he felt the other needed someone to be strong in this moment. It would have to be him. He hugged Momo tightly, patting her back softly. They would all be alright, and he knew Midoriya could make it out of anything. Then the phone rang again.
"This is Shouto, from First Response Team, what can we help you with?" he tried to keep his voice neutral, if the person on the other side needed help, they would have to act, heroes had little time to figure out their emotions. "This is Grigori, translator for the VDV Spetsnaz, under Commander Leonid Nabokov." The voice spoke English with a heavy accent. "Our team is on exercise on Denmark, and we captured a wanted criminal from Japan. This "Himiko Toga" walked into a live fire training, and we almost shot her. The commander thought calling hero teams a good idea, can you pick her up here in Denmark?" Before Shouto could answer, Uraraka had snatched the phone from his hands "We´ll go, we´ll leave immediately." "The nearest city is Roskilde, the VDV can sort things out with your government while you come here. Dosvidanya." The soldier hung up.
Uraraka looked at Shouto with a glare that would have frightened Bakugou "I´m going to hurt her for putting Deku in danger, and we are getting him back." Iida tried to intervene, saying "Uraraka-chan, Midoriya was working with the Americans, why would the Russians call just after that? This is very suspicious!" Tsuyu added "I think this could be a trap, Ochako-chan, we don't actually know those were real soldiers…" "If they weren't how could they know Toga was there? Prank callers wouldn't be calling on a foreign military number, Tsuyu!" Behind them, the door slammed open, Hatsume entering with a determined expression, her clothes covered in machine oil and a bit of her own blood on her knuckles. "If there is the slightest chance that can help us get Izuku, we are doing it. The VTOL is ready, let´s just go. If we find the Americans, they can help too. I just want my first friend back, I need him safe, so lets just go, okay?" The other could only nod; they had never seen Hatsume so emotional about a person before. In a few moments, they were already seated inside the Mei´s passenger area, their support items packed in front of them, hero suits on.
They were getting their friend back, it didn't matter who they would have to work with.
Girolamo Nazzaro put the sat phone down, a smile on his lips as he looked at his captive. "Faking accents is such a waste of talent, wouldn't you say, as a fellow student of language?" Himiko Toga glared daggers at him but couldn't answer with duct tape on her mouth. "Of course, we can´t just let you speak too much, can we? You can answer yes or no questions by nodding and shaking your head, anyway. So…why was that second person on the phone that angry at you? Did you kill any of her friends?" He smiled at his own cleverness "You stole her boyfriend?" he let out a loud laugh as she actually nodded. "Well congratulations on that. The lucky lad is the one on the other room? Lights please, Daletski."
The glass wall of the holding area turned from brightly lit white light into clear glass. Beyond, the green haired boy, Midoriya, was slumped on his chair, bound by completely average handcuffs and chains. The bluff had been for laughs, the actual safeguard for Nazzaro´s safety was the quick aim of the soldier with him, Giacomo Genaro, one of his own men from the Mafia. His Quirk increased his reflexes by 20% while focused, and in stressful situations, like a super-strong teenager trying to beat you to death, he was probably the most cool-headed man Nazzaro knew. A well placed tranq shot would be enough.
Toga gasped through the duct tape as she saw the boy, squirming in the chair she was bound to. "He´s speaking with the boss, that bring any memories? You at least remember me, little one? Did I get old? Please tell me I don't look old…Nod if I look old." She nodded mockingly. "I´m only thirty-five! And you are still the same little brat. But no memories?" She shook her head. "Well, that was a bluff, actually. I never met you, the boss had to tell me your story with pictures and everything." She looked confused. "But let's change subjects again. Those heroes are coming to Denmark to get you to Japan, to live in a dark hole till the end of time. And that is if we don't play up their well-known grudge against you. Their psych profiles are filled to the brim with little things, some pretty hard to dig. Our hackers deserve a medal, some of that gossip is rather spicy."
He took out his phone and showed him some detailed files on Midoriya´s teammates, "This one, Urara-whatever, will kill you in a ditch the moment the others turn around. This other one, May something, will probably torture you with her gadgets first. The guys are just as likely to turn you over as they are to off you themselves, this Lida one is kind of emotional. Oh wait, that is two "I"´s, how quaint. How do we play this, Toga? We just give you over in some twelve hours? We release you, smear ourselves in fake blood and give them a hunting target? I´m partial to the second one, the Spetsnaz uniform got quite bloody when I acquired it. And full-face helmets are always in season."
The guard in the room, Daletski, approached to whisper "Sir, one of the observation posts went quiet, recon suggests going dark mode." "The Mountain Brigade found no survivors, the Americans can´t be that fast, and these heroes are leaving Japan as we speak, who the fuck is it?"
Anna Dobinek, Holy Diver, cleaned the blood from her knife on a guerrilla´s combat shirt. Just before the plane crashed, she had managed to get between two seats, which saved her from immediately dying, and getting the hell out had let her leave with her life. She watched from a distance as the enemy commandos landed, and a few seconds later Toga, how they captured the two children, how they finished Anderson off. The rest had died in the fight, or in the crash. Holy Diver felt her heart go cold as she closed Anderson´s eyes, praying that she would have peace in the afterlife.
The four surviving enemies had taken Izuku and Toga, and the only person who could help them now, was her. Holy Diver heard the vehicles of a clean-up crew approaching, ready to erase the crash and its evidence. She managed to retrieve some of her gear and was grieved by having to leave her fallen comrades behind. It didn't matter now. She would avenge them.
She contacted command and gave her report, as well as instructions for the reinforcements to get to her. They were at least two hours away. She followed the tracks of the heavily armoured infantry, clear as day, running fast in the direction of even more fields. The distance the enemy was covering was impressive, and there were no signs of vehicles being used. The sat phone startled her as she ran along the tracks, announcing a delay on the reinforcements. Another three hours. Plenty of time to find the enemy base.
Going over a hill she found the outskirts of a military base, unmarked, ran by men in a motley of surplus military uniforms, civilian clothes, and work jumpsuits. The tracker placed on Toga, an injection in her arm, started giving feedback again. She was in there.
After that, it had been an exercise on stealth. One sentry post after the other, reaching deeper into the enemy defences. She was moving too fast for them to send reinforcements. She hadn't come across any particularly difficult foes, they seemed barely trained militias, who by no accounts should be in the middle of Denmark. When they were done, a lot of paperwork better explain all this mess.