City: Unknown
Izuku stirred in his sleep in the middle of what felt like a massive cloud. Although he had yet to open his eyes and rejoin the world of the conscious, he could still make out subtle things around himself. His muscles no longer ached and the throbbing headache that plagued him during his relentless never-ending battle against the Tartarus escapees was gone. In fact, he felt particularly… good? He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt anything even close to this way. Every moment since the battle against Shigaraki was just dark, cold, and overall depressing.
But he didn't think about any of that now, or maybe it was just that he was too tired to remember, but that didn't really matter. Right now, he just wanted to bask in this feeling of bliss. Subconsciously realizing that he was covered in a giant fluffy wool blanket, he tucked himself further in to greedily consume the warmth it was providing him.
Never before in his young life had sleep ever felt so good to him. But that wasn't really saying much as most of the beds he'd ever gotten the chance to sleep in was either his modest bed back at home with his mom at their apartment, the not exactly lavish bed the U.A dorms provided, and of course the numerous hospital beds that he'd gotten the privilege of resting on throughout his injury riddled hero career.
Maybe the world was finally giving him something back for all those hospital visits? He smiled at the thought of that without even taking a second to think about how ridiculous it actually sounded. Giving in to his exhaustion, he allowed himself to drift back to sleep; failing to pick up on the sound of a door creaking open from somewhere else in the room.
When he finally woke up, he noted that there was a powerful light beaming down directly on his face, forcing him to squint his eyes shut tightly in irritation. Turning to his right side to escape the direct sunlight, he concluded that there would be no way to return to sleep under these conditions. Which meant that his heavenly rest would unfortunately have to come to an end.
Izuku let out a groan to voice his objection to the sunlight, which turned into a full-on yawn as he stretched out his arms to rid himself of some of his drowsiness. Opening his eyes finally, he noticed that he recognized nothing about the environment he was in. Examining the room, he deciphered that he was currently resting in a bed that must've been well beyond the size of a king size inside of what had to be this place's master bedroom.
At the opposite end of the room of the bed was a wall of windows, most of which were partially cracked, indicating that this building must've sustained some damage during the collapse of society. One of the windows appeared to actually be a glass sliding door that opened up to a beautiful balcony. From his laying position he could make out what appeared to be mouth wateringly comfortable white cushioned lounge chairs surrounding what he assumed to be a pool. At the edge of the balcony was a glass paneled fence with metal railing systems for support. He assumed that the glass was strong enough to lean on seeing as how it managed to remain perfectly undamaged, but it wasn't a theory he particularly wanted to test out.
Looking to the left side of the bedroom he found the door to the room, along with exact copies of the balcony lounge chairs, only the cushions were black instead of white on these ones, and they only looked more comfortable up close.
With thoughts returning to his mind, once he noticed that there was no pain from his previously attained wounds, he attempted to shoot up to examine them. When he tried to sit up however, he fell right back down into a laying position, finding that despite how much he had healed he was still lacking most of his energy.
"Huh, wonder how long I was sleeping for?"
Gingerly sitting up this time as to not fall again, Izuku lifted the shirt of his costume to inspect his stomach and torso. Much to his surprise, he found that every wound across his body had been properly treated. The smaller cuts and scrapes appeared to have been disinfected and bandaged, while the couple of larger cuts had the same care done to them, only he could also feel that they'd been stitched. Whoever had tended to his wounds had obviously done so without use of a healing quirk but had also handled him with immense care.
What was he missing? The last thing he remembered was how desperately he'd been trying to get away from his former classmates but ended up blacking out due to his exhaustion. The memory of how hard they'd fought against his wishes to continue on his mission alone to protect them annoyed him somewhat, but his confusion was the more dominant feeling in his mind at the moment.
Wouldn't they have just brought him back to U.A if they had taken him? It was obvious he wasn't there as the tall buildings beyond the room's balcony told him as much. And if even if they had taken him somewhere else, wouldn't they just call recovery girl to handle his injuries? Perhaps Hawks, Endeavor, or one of the other heroes he'd been working with had extracted him.
But the more he thought about it the more it'd seemed likely that it'd been one of the pro heroes who'd given up his location to class 1A. Izuku chuckled at the thought, realizing that he'd have to fly completely solo now if they'd really sold him out. But that'd be fine, he was worried about Endeavor and the others just like he was with his classmates. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt in his upcoming fight with Shigaraki and All for One.
Deciding it was time to find out who had been housing him, he started removing his legs from the covers of the wool blanket, when the sound of a door flying open from the right side of the room filled his ears.
"IZUKU! You're finally awake!" a feminine voice squealed, drawing his startled attention.
Quickly turning to identify the source his eyes shot open, and his mouth dropped in disbelief when he saw the voices owner. Standing in what looked to be the entrance to a walk-in closet, with unimaginable excitement and glee practically dripping off her very body, was a girl he knew as the villain Himiko Toga from the League of Villains. She had an amazingly wide toothy grin sprawled across her face, while her eyes practically glowed as they stared right at him.
"Hi-Himiko Toga!?" Izuku exclaimed in shock at her sudden appearance. Suddenly the rest of the pieces of what'd happened back with class 1A came screaming back into his mind. The foggy memory of how he'd woken up on the villains back when she'd been carrying him away played. So that's why he wasn't at U.A! It was because Toga had managed to take him!
But why didn't he sense her before now? Sure, he was extremely tired from just waking up, but Danger Sense should've alerted him of the villain's presence way before she got this close to him.
Seeing that she was about to take a step forward, Izuku groggily sprung into action and jumped off the bed, sending his blankets and pillows flying in different directions. He attempted to activate full cowling before making the leap; However, once he was in the middle of the air, he gasped when he felt nothing from One for All and proceeded to fall rather ungracefully due to the unexpected lack of power and reflex enhancements that his quirk should've given him.
Groaning in pain from the fall, Izuku rubbed that back of his head which managed to recoil against the wood floor, barely missing the soft carpet next to the bed that would've saved him from what was an already developing massive headache.
"Izuku! Are you okay? You have to be careful; you don't want to reopen your wounds!" the concerned bright voice of Himiko called from the other side of the room.
Hearing her light footsteps making her way around the bed and presumably towards him, Izuku rolled back to gain as much distance as possible until his back hit the closed door of the bedroom. Feeling it's support, he used it to help push himself back to his feet and face the approaching villain.
Seeing his defensive stance, Toga halted in her tracks, and lightly took a step back to try to convey the message that she meant him no harm. Of course, she expected him to react this way since they had been enemies for about a year now. But she had hoped at least that he wouldn't literally jump out of bed and bang his head on the ground just at the sight of her. Maybe this was going to be a tad bit more difficult than she originally thought.
She was pulled from her thoughts when she noticed how Izuku was turning away from her, with a profuse blush spreading across his face. Confused by this, Toga looked around to try to figure out what could've flustered him so much.
"…Could you… pull your shirt down…" Izuku meekly begged, refusing to look back in Toga's direction.
"What?" Himiko responded, looking down at what she thought was her covered top. Once she looked down however, she noticed that her cardigan sweater was only pulled onto her neck and ever so slightly covering her right shoulder; leaving the rest of her upper body to only be covered by her bra. "Oh." Pulling it back down to put it on completely, she blushed to herself remembering that she'd been getting dressed in the rooms closet when she'd heard Izuku wake up. She'd gotten so excited that she forgot about everything that she'd been doing so she could rush out to see him. It just so happened that what'd she'd been doing at the time was putting her shirt on. "Guess you got a little peak. Sorry about that, Izuku~"
Izuku felt a shiver run down his spine at the way she'd said his name, almost making him lose his composure even more so than he already had. What the hell was with this girl? Gulping down furiously, he steeled himself and mentally prepared for this confrontation.
"What the hell is going on Toga? What are you doing here? Where even is here!? And why can't I use my quirk!" Izuku demanded, reaffirming his defiant stance, taking up a defensive position. He may not be able to use One for All at the moment, but he sure could at the very least defend himself.
Toga's blush and smile faded away at the questions that was asked of her, as reality began to check back in. No matter how excited she'd been for him to finally wake up, she had also been extremely scared of it. Everything leading up to this moment was the easy part. She was in complete control over her operation against the pro heroes to take Izuku, but now things could go any direction. Her dream could either come true or die in flames, and she'd have no way of steering it to either path.
"Well to start… this is the place that I've decided to make my home for the time being. When Tomura and the big Giganto guy tore their way around the country these kinds of places got abandoned everywhere. Normally I'm not really one to go for something this nice, but… I figured I'd give it a shot and see how I like it. I mean you felt that bed, you'd do the same right? It's not like I'm hurting anyone since it was abandoned before I got here!" Toga started attempting to defend herself at the end of her explanation, afraid that she'd upset the hero by the prospect of taking someone else's home.
Izuku just stared at her, trying to avoid answering her last question. During his most recent days of hunting down the Tartarus escapees he hadn't really slept much at all, but when he did, he'd try to avoid using people's house's even if they were abandoned. Part of the reason being was because he somewhat felt that it was wrong, while most of him was just afraid of what the pro heroes he was working with would think if they found him sleeping in someone's home.
He'd be lying to himself however if he said that he never thought about the idea of finding himself a nice house somewhere to use as a temporary base of operations. So, he could understand a villain of all people deciding to do so.
"Okay, moving on… what about my quirk, why can't I use my quirk? I tried to use it when I jumped off the bed but ended up falling because nothing happened. What happened to me?" Izuku questioned again, trying to get to more pressing matters. The sooner he figured out why he couldn't use One for All the sooner he could figure out how he can fix that problem.
"Um… well just look at your wrists." Toga simply stated, lifting her own wrist, and pointing to it, with a nervous glint in her eyes.
Doing as she instructed, Izuku lifted his arms to examine them and noticed skinny but what looked to be strong metallic cuffs around each wrist. Disappointment filled his heart when he realized that these were the new prototype quirk suppressors that the scientists from I-Island had been working on for the last few years. He remembered having a conversation with Melissa Shield about the development of the cuffs, and how with her fathers help the workers hoped they could have prototypes out within the next couple of years.
Sighing in resignation for any attempt at regaining One for All anytime soon, he figured that Melissa, and her father must've had some sort of breakthrough to get the prototypes out so ahead of schedule. He knew that he wouldn't have any luck of busting the restrains, so he instead just elected to give the blonde an irritated glare instead.
"How did you even get your hands on a pair of these?" If he couldn't do anything about getting the restrains off, why not at least try to get some useful information instead?
"Oh, that was simple. When Tomura and the Nomu went and attacked Tartarus they brought back a whole bunch of supplies with them. At first, I didn't really care since it all looked just so boring. But eventually I noticed some stuff that could actually be pretty helpful. That's when I snagged those cuffs and a few other things."
"Great" Izuku thought to himself. As if All for One didn't already have enough going for him. What, was having an army of some of the most dangerous criminals in the world that he'd broken out of Tartarus not enough? He just had to be able to grab some of the most advanced technology known to man while he was at it.
"I'm really sorry for putting the suppressors on you…" Toga muttered, dragging Izuku from his thoughts.
"…what?" he questioned, baffled at what he'd heard.
"I didn't want to put them on you. But I was afraid that you'd just attack me from the moment you woke up and saw me. I mean, could you blame me? The first thing you did was try to activate your quirk for a fight! Not that I blame you… but…" Toga explained, looking a mixture of ashamed and what appeared to be… vulnerable?
What the hell is happening? Izuku had never seen Toga act anything even close to this before. Every time he had an encounter with her, she was always ecstatic and beaming with energy. She'd be chasing after him with a knife talking about how either they should get closer or how he should bleed a little for her. This was entirely uncharacteristic for her from what he'd seen. In fact, she seemed like an entirely different person. If she wanted to, she could've just had him tied down to a chair awaiting torture with how he'd been unconscious and defenseless. But instead, he woke up refreshed and unbound, aside from the suppressors on his wrists, on the coziest bed of his life.
"Hold on Toga… we need to take multiple steps back and take a timeout. Why… why on earth are you apologizing to me?"
Taking another step back, Toga bit her lip shyly, while grabbing and fidgeting with the bottom of her cardigan sweater.
"Jeez, Izuku… do you have to be so straight forward all the time? Would it kill you to just take a girls apology as is and not make her explain herself?" Toga complained through her flustered blush.
"Huh? I'd say it's a rather reasonable question! Why would a villain apologize for suppressing the quirk of their hero captive!" Izuku shouted in retort, putting emphasis on the hero part.
"Maybe because I didn't want you to feel like a captive in the first place!" Toga shouted back, accidentally losing control of her storming emotions, which only made her grip the bottom of her shirt grow even tighter.
She was so frustrated, she had these fierce storms of emotions swelling inside her chest ever since finding out that Twice had died, and it had only become worse when she found out the way that it'd happened. The only thing keeping her together was Izuku and her dream. And now that she had him, he was obviously confused and upset, and rightfully so! She understood his feelings and why he'd shout at her, but that didn't make it any easier to stay levelheaded when he did.
Izuku on the other hand was left with only more questions than answers from her explanations. Not feel like a captive? That didn't make any sense. She'd literally kidnapped him from his former classmates, and put what was borderline handcuffs on him, and taken him to the top of what was nearly a skyscraper. Everything about this situation was screaming, you're a captive. Though part of him had to admit that the emotion that she was showing made it seem like she could possibly be sincere. Possibly.
There was a long pause between the two. Neither of them knowing where to start after the brief shouting match that they'd had. Izuku felt decently uncomfortable while Toga was fighting to recompose herself.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you."
"Could you please stop apologizing, it's only confusing me more."
Toga quickly turned her gaze from the ground to angrily glare at the green haired hero, but felt the emotion subside right as she made eye contact. She just couldn't stay mad at him, even if he was being annoying when she was trying to apologize. Instead, she inhaled deeply and exhaled her deep breath to calm her nerves. This was going to take a while.
"How are your wounds? When I brought you back here, I noticed that you were hurt pretty badly, Izuku. I patched them up the best I could, but I've never known if I was any good at it. The few times I've worked on people I never ended up getting feedback. Do you feel better?" deciding to change the topic of conversation, Toga inquired about Izuku's injuries, genuinely worried if she'd done good or not.
Well, that confirmed Izuku's suspicions that she had in fact been the one to treat him. He hadn't really wanted to think about the specifics of how or why she did it, but he didn't really have a choice now that he was being questioned about it.
"Um, yeah I think they're okay. They don't really feel sore unless I move a lot, but for the most part I think they've been patched up good. So, um… thanks, for that…" Izuku shyly replied, his nervousness clearly laced in his voice, not that Toga minded.
She practically squealed in delight at being thanked and praised by Izuku. He'd actually thought that she'd done a good job at something! And not just anything, but something she did for him! Hardly anyone had ever praised her in her whole life, and when they did, she could tell that they didn't really mean it. But this was Izuku, she could just feel that he meant it. And not only that, but the fact that he was open about his wounds and was appreciative over it could possibly mean that she was making progress!
"You're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome!" Toga exclaimed gleefully, wanting to approach the hero but once again stopping at seeing his continued defensiveness.
"Okay calm down, let's get back on track Toga. Why did you take me? What is it exactly that you want from me?"
No more dancing around it huh? Ever since confronting Uraraka about the questions she'd been wanting to ask she'd wanted nothing more than this moment of asking Izuku the same things. But she had to be smarter this time around. There were definitely better ways to go about getting the answers out of Ochaco, but she was so impatient and desperate to get rid of the despair she'd been feeling at the time that she rushed the situation with the gravity quirk wielder. She wouldn't make the same mistakes this time around.
"Again, going back to the big battle, I had an encounter with Ochaco. I had a few questions that I needed to ask her, but things didn't go the way I'd hoped. Now, I want to take this opportunity to do the same with you, Izuku. Could you just answer a few questions for me?" Himiko started, dropping all playfulness from her eyes and enlacing a deadly seriousness in her tone.
Izuku wasn't sure what that could mean, or what kind of questions she could possibly have for him, but it sounded simple enough. He hadn't heard anything about an encounter between Toga and Uraraka, but then again, he hadn't really talked much to any of his friends since the incident. So, he didn't know about how many encounters most of his former classmates had with their enemies.
"I don't think you needed to go through all this trouble just to ask me a few questions, but alright go ahead, shoot." Izuku replied while he widened his defensive stance, not letting his guard down for a moment. For all he knew this was some sort of attempt to catch him off his game so Toga could swoop in and attack him when he was unprepared.
"Have you had the chance to watch Dabi's broadcast that he played for the entire world a while ago? Ya know, the one where he tried to turn everyone against the big fire guy?" Toga inquired, standing still with her arms straight at her sides, the picture of calmness.
Izuku's eyes widened in shock at the mentioning of the cremation quirk wielder's broadcast. He had watched part of it but turned it off when the villain changed the scene to the recording of Hawks. He'd heard what happened from the number two hero himself, but he didn't have the stomach to watch the actual footage. Izuku felt himself start to panic somewhat, afraid of where Toga would take her questions.
"…Only part of it… I didn't have time to watch it since I needed to prepare to go out on a mission. But I've… heard things…" Izuku mostly lied, not wanting to admit to his real reasons. Whether Toga believed it or not he couldn't tell, but he had a feeling that she'd have her ways of finding out.
"I see… did you see the part with Jin… and Hawks?"
There was so much malice when she said the name of the winged hero that Izuku practically flinched. This wasn't good, if she was going to pry him about the matter then she'd surely be able to see through his deception. The killing of Jin Bubaigawara was not a subject that he wanted to discuss, especially because of his own opinion on the matter. He was going to have to find a way to stay composed and steer the conversation in a different direction. But he already was a terrible liar; would he really be able to keep the act up?
"No… but like I said earlier… I've heard things." Izuku barely managed to scrape out his words while keeping a straight face. He attempted to uphold his defiant demeanor, but even that was starting to prove difficult under the stress he was feeling.
Toga narrowed her eyes at the wielder of One for All. She could easily tell that he was hiding something but couldn't tell if his entire answer was a lie. She was a villain with a skillset focused almost entirely on stealth and deceit, so she'd been able to pick up on when someone was lying fairly well throughout her life. It really helped when it was someone as pure as the boy standing before her; she could easily tell that lying was not his specialty and that he clearly didn't enjoy partaking in it either. She'd just have to work her way around and get to the truth in him.
"Oh, well that's fine, Izuku. We have plenty of time on our hands. I know that information is extremely valuable to heroes, so I wouldn't mind at all playing it for you. After all, I think you deserve to know just what your two mentors have been doing, wouldn't you agree?" Toga questioned in a somehow still calm voice, as she slowly walked over to a small black nightstand at the side of the bed facing their side of the room.
Izuku's nerves were going crazy, he could tell that whatever she was doing wasn't anything that would threaten him; physically at least. He watched as she opened the top drawer and pulled out a tablet with a large enough screen for him to clearly see what would be on display from the distance between the two of them. Shit, she was being serious! She was actually going to play the recording!
At this point Izuku was almost certain that Toga was onto him and his lies, but what could he do about it? Even if she didn't suspect him of anything, once she played the video there would be no way for him to play dumb any longer. She was playing her cards perfectly and leaving him no room to get out of this! If he tried to tell her she didn't need to play it that would just further solidify her advantage and write out his own plea as guilty.
"Here give me a minute and I can pull it up. While I do can I tell you something? Growing up I was taught that it was a hero's duty to protect and save people, no matter what. Even when none of them ever came to save me even once I still believed that that was true. I even believed it until recently something terrible happened to a very close friend of mine." Himiko explained as she gave her tablet multiple clicks and swipes, clearly looking for something.
Izuku just remained silent, accepting that there was nothing he could do in his position.
"Now when I first found out about what happened to my friend, I felt a piece of me break. When we lost him, I also lost a piece of me that I don't know if I can ever put back together. But knowing that it happened wasn't the worst part about it; No, because in this world we live in we all know that anything can go wrong at any time. No, what broke me even more was finding out how it happened." As she went on, Izuku could swear he heard the tiniest traces of her voice breaking, but she remained composed despite that.
"Ah, here we go. I got the video pulled up and loaded for you, Izuku! I want to hear your thoughts on it afterwards, so please pay attention." Toga proclaimed, extending her arms out with the tablet facing Izuku's direction with a video starting up.
Izuku cringed as the picture of Dabi sitting on a chair in an unknown location emerged. This was the part of the video that he had seen; the part where Dabi went on to tell the world of his true identity as Endeavors first born son, Touya Todoroki, and all the terrible things the countries number one hero had done to him throughout his childhood.
During his first playthrough, Izuku was surprised, but not shocked about the information revealed about Shoto's father. He'd already heard a good deal about the things that'd he'd done to his children and wife, so to find out that his abusive tendencies also fell upon Touya wasn't exactly shocking news. It still of course made the young hero feel sick to his stomach to hear about the terrible things Endeavor had done, but he really didn't want to think about it. The sins of the number one hero's past were unforgivable, but in Izuku's eyes he was trying to atone for them, and to be a better person for his children even if they would never accept him again. And that counted for something, even if it weren't much.
That wasn't the part of the video that he'd been afraid of, however. As Dabi's speech about his father started running on he knew that the dreaded part about Hawks was fast approaching. He looked away for a brief moment, but when his eyes caught Toga's watching him intently, he stopped. In her eyes it looked as though she was practically begging him to watch. Not out of some sick twisted enjoyment she was getting out of it, but something else. It looked as though she needed something, and that this was the only way she was going to get it.
Reluctantly, Izuku returned to watching the video. The anticipation of the transition to Hawks was getting so bad he begun to get nauseous. Every fiber of his being was begging him not to witness what he was about to see, but he had no choice.
"I present to you, No.2 Hero, Hawks!"
He almost actually threw up when the recording transitioned to a clip of Hawks back at the Paranormal Liberation Front's old base chasing after a bloody and crying Twice. He was screaming and crying about how he wanted to protect his friends, only for a feathered blade to get stabbed straight through his back. Izuku held his mouth at finally seeing what he'd heard so many people whispering about on the streets. His stomach dropped and his heart ached.
Watching Hawks kill Twice while he was running away was by far one of the most disturbing things he'd ever seen, if not the most. Izuku had managed to get around to doing research about a few of the League of Villains members backgrounds, and by a good margin was most hurt by what he'd learned about the villain Twice. He learned of how his quirk destroyed his mental state, but beyond that was a man who cared about his friends and would do anything to protect them and make them happy. Yes, he'd done bad things, but Izuku believed that with the right help he could be steered back in the direction of a better way. Because behind it all Jin Bubaigawara was a good man.
Seeing him crawling away with such a terrified expression on his face was heart wrenching in itself. But adding the fact that in his final moments where he'd been terribly injured and was faced with his imposing death fast approaching, he spent them crying out about how he wanted to protect his friends instead of calling for help for himself? That might've been the saddest part.
Izuku remembered that Hawks explained that if he had not done what he did then Twice with his ability "Sad Man's Parade" would have gone on to take down the entire country by himself. The logic made sense for the most part, but that didn't take away just how wrong it had felt to Izuku.
Once the video transitioned away from Hawks killing Twice, Toga simply turned the tablet off, and tossed it towards the bed without looking back at it. She tried to look Izuku in the eyes to decipher what he could be thinking, but he avoided all interaction by looking directly at the floor, his green bangs covering his eyes.
"Izuku?" Toga called in a quiet voice.
No response.
"Izuku, I want to know what you think about what you just saw." Toga spoke up again, clarifying what she wanted from him. She wanted so desperately to hear him say something, anything. She needed to hear him say that what had happened was wrong, that Jin didn't deserve to die. She wanted so badly for him to just tell her that what Hawks did was wrong, and that he should've saved the cloning villain. She needed him to be different than everyone else.
"Izuku, please! What… what did you think of what Hawks did!" Toga exclaimed.
Izuku felt his hands begin to shake as he clenched them into fists, desperately trying to control them, but to no avail. A storm of emotions was raging inside him. Why was this happening? He questioned himself over and over. He knew Toga wouldn't let up until he gave her an answer, but he just couldn't! In his state he wouldn't be able to lie to her, she'd just see right through it the moment he started speaking, but he couldn't afford to tell her the truth either.
"I… Hawks said that the entire country or even world would've been destroyed if he hadn't…" Izuku muttered, his voice weak as it was laced with the clear hue of a lie.
Toga's eyes narrowed in anger, as well as a multitude of other emotions as she saw right through the young heroes attempts to deceive her.
"Bullshit! I didn't ask you what Hawks told you what would happen! I asked you what you thought of it! And I know damn well that what you think isn't just the repeated words of a murderer! So, tell me Izuku!" Toga shouted fiercely, waving her arms around for emphasis on her words. Tears started forming in the corners of her eyes as she let the walls of her pent-up agony over her best friend's death come down. She didn't have the strength to control herself anymore.
Izuku's own walls started tumbling down at the fierce match of wills, only his was much weaker than hers when it came to what they were being faced with. He was many things, but a liar was not one of them, so whenever it really mattered and he really had to try to lie to someone, he always failed. Gritting his teeth so tightly in defiance that he nearly chipped them, he tried to hold his tongue. The words of his truth were coming so close to just breaking out that he could practically taste it on his lips.
"Izuku! Are you…? Are you telling me that Jin deserved to die?! Are you telling me that Hawks stabbing him through the back as he was running away was the right thing to do?! Would you have done the sam- "
"NO!" Izuku finally shouted, completely cutting Toga off as he just couldn't hold back anymore. Heaving deeply after holding his breath for what felt like hours. Izuku still didn't have the will to look the girl in the eyes.
Toga was taken completely aback. No? that's what he said, right? Was she hearing things, or did she actually hear him say no? her mind started spinning with doubts and voices telling her that she was hearing things. Things had been getting so tense between them that maybe she had just imagined him saying what she wanted to hear. Or maybe…
"No… Jin Bubaigawara did not deserve to die… he was a good man who only wanted to protect his friends, even if what he was doing was wrong… what happened to him… was wrong…" Izuku continued, unable to stop himself. He was practically begging himself internally to stop, to just shut up and that he'd said enough. How could he actually be letting himself start admitting to a villain that what the number two hero of Japan did to a villain was wrong? Faith in the hero society was practically already destroyed as it was; if word got out that he was standing before a villain and speaking out against Hawks then not only would he himself be screwed, but so would the rest of the pros. And yet… it still felt like this was the right thing to do oddly enough, and he couldn't stop himself.
"…Izuku…?" Toga practically whispered, her voice breaking as her tears finally started streaming down her face. She hadn't imagined him saying what she wanted to hear. This was really him, admitting to her what she'd longed to hear for so long now.
"Hawks killing Twice was absolutely the wrong thing to do. Though, the government and other pro heroes would likely describe it as the most logical course of action for the safety of everyone… I would have never done the same. Looking at Mr. Bubaigawara all I saw was the face of someone who needed to be saved; someone who should've been saved. If it were me… no matter what, I would've found another way…" Izuku finished, feeling as though some invisible weight had just been lifted off his shoulders. His rapid heartrate relaxed, as his breathing also started to return easier to him. Although society would likely demonize and attack him for what he'd just done; he couldn't help but feel as though it was the undeniable right thing to do.
Himiko was feeling nothing but pure happiness. Izuku's words carried so much power with them that flowed through her and felt as though they were carrying away the seeds of her despair and leaving her with a little more light in her heart. She knew it, she knew Izuku was different. She knew he was better than the endless amounts of fake heroes who'd love nothing more than to do the same thing that Hawks did. He was the true embodiment of the word hero, and his light could uplift anyone. Could this mean that her dream really was possible? That there was someone out there that'd want to save her? Someone who could possibly care about her?
Just as swiftly as her happiness had emerged, the darkness gripping her heart reappeared. No, there was no way anyone out there could ever think of her as anything more than a disgusting stain on the world. A stain that needed to be wiped and cleansed. The doubts of all her life's anxieties and fears swarmed through her mind, telling her that there was no hope for her ridiculous dream. If Izuku was so perfect, then why would someone as vile as her ever deserve to have his light anywhere around her? The answer was simple; she didn't.
And not only that; there was no way that someone as good as Izuku would ever waste their time on a villain that everyone had simply labeled as "psychotic", and downright crazy. No, he'd probably even be happy if it were her being stabbed through the back just like Twice had been. It'd get rid of a whole headache of problems for the heroes, so why not?
Izuku, hearing Himiko's tears of joy turn into sniffles of unmistakable grief, finally lifted his gaze from the ground to look at the villain that'd taken him. What he saw was the face of a girl so terrified and in pain it looked as though she could be blown away just as easily as a leaf in the wind would. Something about her pained red tear-stained eyes caused an ache in his chest. What happened? He could've sworn his confession had left her ecstatic just a few seconds ago?
Did she look… scared of him?
"…Toga? Um… I don't know if I'm misreading the room here but… are you alright?" Izuku meekly questioned, completely unsure of himself in this bizarre situation he found himself in. Although he had dropped his defensive stance when she started playing the video earlier, he remained mentally prepared for anything. But seeing her the way she was now somehow made him lower his guard even further, as genuine concern filled his chest.
"Ever since I was little my parents called me a demon child. Everyone I ever met rejected me when they found out what I'm really like. When the heroes and police found out about me all they ever tried to do was catch me so they could lock me away for the rest of time so the world could forget that I ever existed… that's all heroes really want to do with people like me, like Jin… they look at us as stains on societies perfect image and we need to be wiped away." Toga spoke through hiccups and sniffles.
Izuku felt his empathetic side start to shine through his recently damaged spirit. Toga was one of the few league members that he hadn't found much out about her past, only that she ran away from school and family one day. He wanted to learn more about her so that he could better understand why she did the things that she did, but damn was it painful to listen to her like this.
"Izuku… do you wish… that I would've died… like Jin did?"
Izuku's eyes widened in shock at what she had asked him. Was that seriously what she was thinking to herself?
"Would you… kill me the same way Hawks killed him? Do you want to get rid of me…?"
"No! Toga, what are you talking about?! Where is this coming from!" Izuku fervently denied, actually taking a step towards the girl without even thinking about it, while holding one hand to his heart and the other outstretched in her direction as if to symbolize that he was speaking from the heart. "I would never kill, Toga. If there's one thing that I want more than anything in this world it's to save people, not kill. When I see someone who's in need of a helping hand then I'll always gladly extend my own out to them to help in any way I can!" Izuku proclaimed proudly, taking another step forward, still without realizing.
"Civilian, hero, or even a villain, if someone's in need of saving then I'll always find a way to pull them out of the darkness. Even Shigaraki! When I looked at him all I could see was a crying child begging for someone to help him. And right now, looking at you, I can see another person who wants nothing more than for someone to save them. So, Toga, please stop worrying. Because I would never kill you." Izuku finished, now standing directly in front of the crying villain before him, clenching his right fist in a display of determination while the green of his eyes appeared almost as if they were glowing.
Toga looked up into his eyes in absolute wonder and pure shock unlike anything any word could ever describe. She'd felt like she'd been crying forever at this point, and that she'd surely dry out her eyes entirely by the time she was finished. He actually said it. He said it himself that… he would save her! Was she dreaming, was this all just some amazing fantasy? No, this was way beyond anything she'd ever dreamt of before.
For the first time in what could've quite possibly been ever, she felt an unbridled beam of light shine through her heart, as the hope that Izuku ignited burned away the doubting voices and darkness that had been plaguing her for so long now. Not even they could convince her otherwise of this hero's conviction behind his words. The way he smiled at her and the way his eyes glowed with care was such an overpowering force that she felt she could just pass out from the joy it brought her.
With quivering lips, her mouth slowly turned upwards while never breaking eye contact with Izuku. She didn't even want to blink, as to not miss a single moment of his wonder. Her dream was really coming true, right before her eyes. She wanted to reach out and grab onto him so tightly and never let go, but even in her lightheaded bliss she knew that that would be too much… for now, at least. But for the time being, looking into his eyes with unimaginable adoration would have to do.
"Oh… Izuku… you really are a hero… aren't you?" Himiko whispered so softly that Izuku almost missed it.
Her words finally made the young hero realize just how close to the girl he'd gotten. He had a clear cut perfect close up of her brightly flushed face, as she continued to stare up at him in wonder, causing him to fall into a flustered mess as he scrambled back to put some distance between the two of them.
His back slamming against the wall was a big enough indicator that he'd moved far enough away to create a healthy amount of space between the two. Taking deep breathes, he tried to calm his racing heart. How the hell did they end up so close together? Those were the kinds of thoughts racing through his mind. A quick glance back and seeing that Toga had been in the same spot for the entire duration of their conversation was enough to make him realize that he had been the one to move closer.
"What the hell am I doing?!" Izuku berated himself for his reckless behavior. Still though, seeing how happy and relieved his words had made her brought a warmth to his heart, as he calmed his nerves and made eye contact with the girl again. Even without Danger Sense, he could just feel in the aura around her that there was not a trace of malice or ill intent within her when they'd been so close, and she'd had every opportunity to try something with him.
Maybe what he said… really was possible. As Izuku continued to look at Toga, the more he found himself believing that there may really be a chance to save her from this life she'd been walking the path of for so long. He'd been searching her eyes for any trace of deceit, for any sign of pure evil like he'd seen from villains like Muscular and All for One, but he'd found no such thing. In her eyes all he could see was someone who genuinely wanted someone to save her.
He'd been trying to find a villain that he could steer away from their lifestyle of crime ever since he decided that he was going to try to save Shigaraki from All for One. He'd attempted to help multiple villains like even Muscular who was as bloodthirsty as they come but was never successful. He had some luck with one person, but it was Lady Nagant, and he didn't even actually consider her a villain.
As more and more assassins came after him and the more he failed at getting through to any of them, his spirit began to become somewhat damaged, as his hope faltered at times. But now, looking at Toga caused his hope to reemerge that maybe it was possible. How weird was that? He should be trying to figure out a way to escape right now; some way to get out of his quirk suppressors so he could defeat the villain before him and take her into custody. But instead, he couldn't help but find himself smiling at her, as she smiled back at him.
"Alright!" Toga exclaimed suddenly, slightly catching Izuku by surprise. "If you wouldn't mind, Izuku~, could you follow me right this way?" Toga questioned innocently, as she skipped towards the bedrooms door that the wielder of One for All had been standing next to. Seeing that he'd completely dropped his defenses around her in his dumbstruck expression, she playfully poked him on the nose with a "boop" as she opened the door to walk through.
Izuku just continued to stand there with his mouth slightly opened, looking as if his brain had ceased all functionality. "Wait, what?" with his thoughts suddenly returning to him and realizing how close he'd once again allowed himself to become to the villain, he regrew his flustered expression as he walked through the door to follow her.
Unsurprisingly, the hallway was just about as luxurious as the master bedroom had been. He couldn't tell what the floor was made of, but it looked to be marble and extremely shiny. Even though there wasn't any at the moment, he could tell that the walls under normal circumstances would have water running down them. At the edges of the floor where it intersected with the wall, was a hedged drop off that took up about a few inches in width with rocks at the bottom that the water would flow into.
The hallway was long, and every dozen feet they'd traveled they'd pass by a door identical in design to that of the master bedrooms, that presumably led to other bedrooms for more occupants. Toga had no interest in any of them, and from what Izuku gathered, she looked to be heading towards the door at the very end of the hallway. It appeared to be a smoked oak door with a flat leather door handle, which happened to be the most modest thing he'd seen in the penthouse so far.
He would've asked Toga about where she was leading him, but his will to keep asking questions was running low, as was his energy in general. Plus, he figured that she'd explain it anyways once they got to their destination, and that was enough for his tired mind for now.
Opening the door to the unknown room, Izuku saw that it was significantly darker than the master bedroom he'd been in before. Granted that that was because one of the bedrooms walls was composed entirely of windows and that allowed the relentless sunlight to shine through, but that was besides the point.
"You're not leading me to an ominous dark room to finally kill me, are you?" Izuku questioned, half nervously joking and half serious, rubbing the back of his neck.
Toga just gave him a side glance and giggled at his concern.
"Oh please, Izuku. If you're that scared of the dark, I'll just open the blinds inside." Toga responded as she entered and walked to the back of the room and started fiddling with the window blinds. "Besides, you know I don't want to kill you. You were literally sleeping in my bed for four days. I've had my chances."
"Four days?!" Izuku exclaimed in complete disbelief as the daytimes light shined through the cracked open blinds of the singular window in the room. He'd been asleep for four whole days? That would add up with how his wounds had seemed as though they'd been healing for a while, but still it was hard to believe.
"Yup! You seemed really sleep deprived and as if you were more than out of energy. Honestly, it was pretty cute." Toga explained, while gesturing for him to enter the room as he'd just been standing hesitantly outside the door.
Izuku chose to ignore the last part of what she'd said and took a step inside. The room was significantly skinnier than the master bedroom and looked to be the penthouse's office room. At the end of the room was a black desk that covered the width between the walls and was set up to be facing the singular window giving whoever'd been sitting at its leather chair a nice view of the city. On one of the walls was a wide whiteboard that almost took up the entire space between the door and window and had nothing written on it. On the opposite side was a pinboard with a bunch of random paper documents containing information that he couldn't read without a closer look, all strangely stabbed onto the pinboard with numerous knives, rather than the smaller pins that the board was intended for.
Upon seeing the rather chaotic display of knives, Izuku gave Toga a rather dry expression as if he were saying "really?"
"What? I couldn't find any pins. Besides, I thought this way was much more fun." Toga defended herself and her unusual methods.
"Yeah, we can go with that. Anyways, what are all these papers? Obviously, you put them up here, and there's a whole lot of it. So, what's the deal?" Izuku questioned, curious about what purpose the villain could have with so many documents.
"Oh well that's actually why I brought you here! Go ahead and take a closer look at them! I think you'll find them particularly interesting." Toga answered while folding her arms, smiling to herself proudly as if she were presenting some middle school science fair project that she put a lot of time into.
Simply nodding to the girl, Izuku approached the pinboard and pulled one of the knives out of a random paper so he could inspect its contents. Izuku's eyes almost immediately caught the big "CLASSIFIED" red label slapped on the top of the page. He briefly looked back to Toga in confusion, but she just gave him an approving nod to continue reading.
As he made his way reading through the paper, he realized that what he was holding was a Tartarus file dedicated to one of its prisoners. The exact prisoner of the file he was reading was of someone named Chojuro Kon, who's villain name was "Chimera". He didn't recognize who's name it was at first, but once he found a picture on the lower parts of the page, he remembered it as one of the villains that had attacked him and the rest of his class back on Naboo island. The one that Shoto and Kirishima had fought while he and Bakugo battled Nine.
This paper also held all the information about the crimes he'd committed, the connections he'd had with other villains, as well as the way his quirk worked. Lowering the paper and looking back to the pinboard, he found that almost every single document that he was looking at were more Tartarus files, all with invaluable information about the villains that had potentially escaped with All for One!
"Toga! Why do you have all of this? And why are you showing this to me?!" Izuku questioned, wanting to get to the bottom of why an ally of Shigaraki would possibly be throwing such important intel that could damage the villain's efforts.
"Well, Izuku~, what you're looking at are the files of a good amount of the villains that Tomura and the big scary face guy have recruited to their ranks. There were a lot more files I could've grabbed, but they wouldn't have been very helpful to you, so I left them behind. These are what I consider to be a priority list of the baddies that you should focus on." Toga stated happily, holding her hands behind her back, and smiling widely at the hero, who just looked back at her with an incredulous expression.
"But why? Giving this to me would be basically betraying All for One and his followers! Toga, they'll kill you if they find out about this." Izuku retorted, trying to get the girl to take this situation seriously.
"Oh, Izuku… when I took you and didn't immediately bring you back to Tomura and the others, they probably already thought of that as a betrayal. I've cut off communications with them ever since I came to this place, so they don't know where I am." Toga started, looking at the ground sadly as if she were recalling something. "Look to put it simply, I'm no longer a member of the League. I'll tell you why but… just not right now… if you wouldn't mind… I'd rather not talk about it for now."
For the thousandth time of the day, Izuku was left totally confused. He was shocked to hear that she wasn't with the League of Villains anymore, but it was clear on her face that there must've been a good reason why. He really wanted to ask for an explanation, but the sad expression mixed with slight unmistakable anger at whatever she was thinking about was more than enough to make him back off the topic for the time being. Sighing deeply to himself, he decided to take another route.
"Alright, well… you still haven't explained why you're giving this information to me. Not being with the league anymore is one thing, but giving intel to your enemy? Why the change of heart?" Izuku questioned, hoping to finally pry out the answer from her while also repining the file he'd been holding to the board with its original knife.
"What? I'm not giving it to you for free Izuku!" Toga suddenly rose from her saddened gaze at the ground and looked him right in the eyes, regaining her usual excited energy. "It's gonna cost ya!"
"Huh?! What could you possibly want from me?" Izuku retorted back without hesitation, raising his voice at the absurdity of having some sort of transaction with the villain, while Toga just grinned madly at his sudden defensiveness.
"I have a deal for you Izuku~" Toga practically sung his name, once again not failing to send a shiver down the boy's spine, compromising his composure. Seeing that he was waiting for her to elaborate and get on with it, Toga's smile strengthened as her conviction burned unwavering. "I'll give you full access to all the information in this room, as well as other things that I've gathered on Tomura and his army, in exchange for a very simple condition."
Izuku practically gulped in anticipation at what she could be leading up to. He truly had no idea what she could possibly want from him. She definitely wasn't the type to want money, especially seeing that money was practically worthless with the state society was currently in. And thinking beyond that… well he just couldn't come up with anything of value that he could offer!
"Alright… what's your condition…?" Izuku nervously and slowly questioned, earning a delighted giggle from the girl.
"Easy! I want you to team up with me!"
…
Dead silence filled the room after Himiko laid out her stipulation. She never broke eye contact with Izuku, but her strong determined smile started to wiggle under her immense anxiety for how he'd take it. She'd already gotten past the hardest part of the day, and he'd told her that he'd be willing to save her. Surely this wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility if he'd be willing to do that for her. Yes, she realized that she was asking for so much from him, but it's not like she wasn't trying to do anything in return! She gathered all this information about the villains Tomura and All for One had gathered just for him!
"Toga… you can't be serious…" Izuku stated flatly. His shocked expression died down somewhat into the more serious expression that he'd been carrying ever since he set out to work on his own. For the last hour or so he'd been letting himself get caught up in the moment and had been forgetting about his responsibilities and the things that'd been troubling him.
He had way too many duties he had to take care of already, he couldn't let himself even start thinking about something like this. Yes, he said that he would save her, and he meant every word of it. But that didn't change the fact that he couldn't trust Himiko just like that. He'd already been acting too carelessly today as it was. Sure, he could sense sincerity from her that she truly wanted him to save her from this life, but who's to say that she couldn't just as easily decide to go back to her old ways and stab him in the back? He just couldn't do it.
So then why did part of him hesitate though? Why didn't he immediately decline her offer, or why didn't he flat out say no?
"Just look at her" A voice in the back of his mind told him, causing his eyes to widen somewhat. What would he be subjecting her to if he declined her now? If he really meant that he wanted to save her then how would turning his back on her now be doing that? He couldn't just push her off for another day, that wouldn't work. Wasn't it his duty as a hero to reach out a helping hand to those who were suffering and in need of someone?
Gritting his teeth in frustration at his internal battle, he couldn't come up with a final decision on what he should do in this moment.
"I am serious, Izuku, just think about it! I know you probably can't trust me right away, but just think about what I'm offering you! All this information could make the difference between beating Tomura or losing to him. I heard what you said about how you can't work with your old classmates because you don't want to put them in danger, but you also have to know that you can't do this alone. I can give you more help than the heroes could, and you also wouldn't have to worry about me the way that you would with them!" Toga desperately countered, pointing out some of the benefits working with her would have. It hurt to say that he wouldn't have to worry about her because she did want him to care about her, but right now she just wanted him to stay.
"You pointed out trust Toga, and that's my biggest problem. I believe you when you say that you want to help me, I really do. But how am I supposed to know that you won't one day change your mind again and betray me?" Izuku countered back, but still was unable to find a definitive answer within himself as for what he needed to do.
The internal battle within him was torn between what the right thing to do was, and what his duty as the wielder of One for All should have him do. The thought of One for All coursing through his mind suddenly sparked an idea however, one that could possibly lead him to be certain about Toga's words and conviction.
One of the quirks from the previous wielders could help him. If he removed these quirk suppressors and regained his access to Danger Sense, then he could potentially use it on Toga. One of the many uses of the fourth's quirk was that he was able to sense the very existence of "evil thoughts". Through a few conversations that he had with Hikage Shinomori, Izuku had been able to gain a better understanding and control of the quirk to the point that he could even use to sense if someone were lying or not.
"That's how I can be sure." Izuku thought to himself as he found his resolve. Clenching a fist in determination and returning his gaze to the blonde, he saw that she was trying to come up with some sort of response for him as for how he could trust that she wouldn't betray him. Luckily enough for her he had already thought of something.
"Toga, if you really want me to consider your offer, then I need you to remove my restraints." Izuku stated firmly, raising his wrists towards the girl. Seeing that she looked a bit nervous about the prospect of giving him his quirks back, he sighed figuring that he needed to reassure her. "Relax, I'm not going to attack you or run-away Toga. It's just that one of my quirks can help me determine whether or not someone's lying, and I'd like to use it to see if I could potentially trust you."
Hesitant would be an understatement for how long it took Toga to reach down to her thigh and grab a key that had been placed in one of her strapped pockets. Looking down momentarily at the key in her hand, she thought about everything that could go wrong. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she realized she needed to do this as she looked back up to Izuku.
"…I trust you…"
Reaching out for one of his hands, she gently gripped it as she inserted the key to the restraint on his right wrist, dropping it to the floor after a few mechanical clicks. Doing the same process with the other, Toga held onto his left hand for an extra few seconds before releasing him and returning to her original position, where she nervously looked back at him.
Small cackles of lightning erupted from Izuku's body, as he flexed his muscles at the powerful returning sensation One for All gave him as it coursed through his veins. His senses were sharpened, and the world around him just seemed clearer when he had it. Oh, how he missed this feeling for the brief time that it had been suppressed.
Toga just watched with wide eyes at the spectacle that was displaying before her. She always loved to watch Izuku use his quirk. During multiple missions she'd abandon her post just so she could catch a glimpse of seeing Izuku overflow with his awesome power. She felt a blush gloss over her cheeks as she continued watching, admiring how amazing he looked. It made her forget her any trace of fear of him possibly using it against her so he could either defeat her or escape.
Stretching his arms out widely as if he had just woken up from a long nap, Izuku returned his gaze to the villain before him, prepared to use Danger Sense to help determine his decision.
"Thanks for that, Toga. I appreciate you giving me access to my quirks back." Izuku stated with a smile, again trying to reassure her that she didn't have to be afraid of him. "Now then, since I have my power back, could you tell me why I should trust you? And why I should consider teaming up with you?"
Toga bit her lip nervously. She could tell that this had to be her final argument. She didn't know exactly how the quirk he was talking about worked, but if he could tell if she'd be lying or not then it shouldn't really be a problem. She hadn't been lying to him at all about their team up, and she truly didn't have any intentions of betraying him in any way either, so if anything, this quirk of his should only help her case.
Thinking of the turn of events working out in her favor put a smile on her face and gave her the extra strength that she needed to try to reach him with her plea again. She could do this. She had to do this. She begun mentally bracing herself and gathering the words that she wanted to say, inhaling a deep breath in preparation.
Looking at the smiling girl, Izuku didn't feel a single trace of Danger Sense activating. Which meant that whatever she was thinking or feeling had no evil seeds behind them whatsoever. Whatever she was about to say, it was going to be the truth; and the thought of that gave some comfort to his tired heart.
"Izuku… I promise you that I have no intention of betraying you in any way. Ever since Jin died, I've been stuck in a cycle of despair with absolutely no direction as for what to do. I thought that there wasn't a hero out there that would ever even consider trying to save people like Jin… like me… I thought that they'd rather just erase us from the face of the earth so we could be forgotten. But then I remembered you Izuku."
Toga's words struck Izuku's heart strings when she mentioned him in her talks about how she'd lost hope in the heroes of the world. He never understood why she had such an infatuation with him, or why she thought so highly of him when he could've sworn he hadn't done anything to deserve it. But hearing how much he meant to someone never failed to bring a warmth to his heart.
"I remembered how brave you'd always been. I don't know why but from the moment I first saw you, I noticed a certain light in your eyes that just screamed hero in its purest form. You gave me hope again that there could be a hero out there who would be willing to save even someone like me. So, believe me when I tell you, there isn't a fiber of my being that would ever think about betraying you. Because you're my hero, Izuku."
Danger Sense didn't alert him of anything. The fourth users quirk remained silent throughout her entire explanation. But to be honest, he didn't truly need it to see the honesty behind her words. She was being for real, she wholeheartedly intended to join Izuku's side and fight against Shigaraki and All for One. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to give this a try after all…"
"Now as for why you should consider teaming up with me, well that's the easy part. I'll give you access to all the information you could ask for on the Tartarus escapees, as well as other valuable pieces of intel and equipment that I'd stolen before leaving their side! I'll make sure you're more than prepared for any idiot who thinks they can touch you! Also, this nice place I've been calling home can be our base of operations. How does that sound? I know that when you were out working on your own you didn't have a set base that you could return to, so talk about an upgrade!" Toga proudly exclaimed, feeling nothing but confidence in her offer. Just looking at Izuku and seeing a somewhat amused look in his gaze increased her optimism about her chances.
Izuku seriously couldn't believe that he was leaning towards accepting her offer. Toga's beaming energy used to scare him due to how it was usually being used to wave a knife in his direction, but he had to admit how seeing it now get used in such a non-violent way was rather amusing. He knew that if any of the predecessors of One for All were to talk to him now, they'd be berating him for just how he was casually standing in this villain's presence, let alone for how he was negotiating with her about a potential partnership.
Actually, he was fairly certain that they were attempting to talk to him, but couldn't due to his power blocking their presence in accordance to his subconscious will. He wanted to make this decision on his own, without a bunch of ghosts shouting at him.
"Well… I gotta admit that it does sound nice to have a big bed and a safe base to return to after a long day of fighting the worlds most dangerous criminals…" Izuku stated as he sighed at his own conclusion. He was really going through with this. How did things get this point? The situation he found himself in was almost comical. Oh, if his former classmates could see him now.
"I'll give you any room of your choosing! There's also a big living room, a super cool kitchen, an amazing balcony that I'm sure you saw when you woke up, and more!" Toga happily added on.
"You should've looked into being a real estate salesperson with how you're pitching this to me." Izuku retorted, stifling a slight fit of laughter at the image that popped into his mind of Toga trying to advertise homes to people.
"Eh, I don't know, doesn't really seem like my style."
They both shared a laugh at that, before dying down to a temporary silence, both of them awaiting the climax of their heavy conversation.
Taking one last deep breath, Izuku braced himself. "Toga, If I agree to this… you're gonna have to know that everything about your life is going to change. I won't allow any killing for any reason or hurting innocent people." The wielder of One for All started, looking at his potential partner dead in the eye with a green glow to show the ferocity behind his words.
Toga just nodded eagerly, motioning for him to continue.
"I understand that it'll be easier said than done for you to abandon your old ways, but I'll be here every step of the way to help and make sure you stay in line. However, the moment I sense that you're about to do something bad to someone… the deals off. Understand?" Izuku finished, nervously eyeing Toga for her response, preparing to use Danger Sense one last time.
Himiko gulped at the prospect of the conditions that Izuku had laid out for her. They were actually more than reasonable, and less than what she'd been expecting. But that didn't make it any easier to handle. Truth be told the very idea of never killing someone again sounded nearly impossible for someone like her. Especially because there was still a certain hero out there that she wanted to exact her revenge on, and ultimately kill for what he'd done.
She had her opportunity to do so back when she was taking Izuku from the heroes. The only reason that she didn't was because Izuku took top priority that day, and so she couldn't distract herself with things like revenge. If she were going to kill Hawks then it was going to be face to face, not in some simple building explosion, that'd be too easy for him. that's why she allowed him the time he needed to escape the blast radius so he could survive.
But… as much as she wanted to kill Hawks… she wanted Izuku, and for her dream to come true even more. Clenching her fists tightly to strengthen her resolve to swear off killing, she returned Izuku's gaze and steeled herself.
"I accept your terms!" Toga shouted, holding her fists tightly to her chest.
"Well then… I can't believe I'm about to say this…" Izuku muttered the last part, breaking eye contact and rubbing his forehead with his right hand for a moment, as if he were trying to assuage his anxieties of what he was about to do away, while Toga just bit her lip in anticipation. "Not only will I do my best to save you, Toga… but I also accept your deal… I'll team up with you!" Izuku proclaimed, cementing his resolve with lightning cackling and resounding around the room, as he extended his tattered gloved right hand out for a handshake.
Himiko was only dumbstruck at his agreement for a brief moment, before breaking out of her stupor and releasing a near ear piercing squeal of excitement. She couldn't hold back any longer, not only did she lunge forward and fervently grab his hand in a fierce grip to finish their agreement upon her deal, but she also took an extra step forward and wrapped herself around the unprepared Izuku's neck tightly with so much force that she begun to knock the poor boy over.
"To-GAH!" Izuku yelped in shock at the sudden display of impossible speed from the girl, as the momentum from her move brought them both toppling over to the ground. Izuku just groaned in pain as for the second time today he banged his head against the hardwood floor. Only this time with the added weight of another person. That person did not share any of the pain from the fall however, as she was just senselessly giggling to herself while staying strapped around the dazed Izuku.
"Would you… get… off me…" Izuku managed to mutter through his fogged brain, trying to recollect his bearings and return to rational thought.
"Nope!" Toga happily declined, still giggling to herself with indescribable joy at the formation of their pact. "I'm simply celebrating our newfound partnership, Izuku~!"
A/N: Well, I gotta be honest I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It was originally around 20,000 words, but I felt that that'd be diving in way too much, so I cut it down a bit. And with the way I'm moving with the story, I may end up needing to change the rating from T to M sooner than I'd thought.
If you guys are worried that I'm making Toga too pure so far in this story… well then, I don't know what to tell you, lol. Don't worry I'm not just making her turn into a saint out of nowhere. This is going to be a very long story, with a lot of conflict. That, I can assure you.
The most difficult part to write was definitely the ending conflict of whether Izuku should join Toga or not. I debated if I should if I should hold off on his decision until next chapter, but I figured I'd just keep it all in this one.
Believe me I'm not the type to want to rush things. I feel like when you rush an aspect of a story it just takes away from everything else and kills the quality. I'm going to take my time building the dynamic between Izuku and Himiko, trust me on that.
But... this is the start of a beautiful partnership.
Also, I'm pretty sure I mentioned in chapter 1 that I was debating whether or not I wanted to make the MHA movie Heroes Rising relevant in this story or not. Well, I think I subtly put my answer for that debate in this chapter. So hopefully y'all caught it.
Anyways, I know I said something like this last chapter, but damn guys you got this story up from 51 followers to 74 just over the weekend. I can't thank y'all enough for the follows and especially for the reviews! they just make writing this story that much more worth it. Love y'all, and I hope you continue to enjoy my story!
(Also, here's a fair warning for my author's notes on future chapters. I may or may not end up talking about the latest chapter of the manga and share my thoughts on them, but I'll always give a spoiler warning before doing so. So just keep that in mind if you don't want to be spoiled!)
