Chapter 14: Simmering Embers
By the time Katsuki realized he was being kidnapped, it was too late to fight back. One second he'd been walking alongside Izuku, the next some villain's hand was on the back of his neck and a warp gate was closing around him and cutting off Icyhot's yelling.
He'd blinked and missed his own kidnapping. He wanted a fucking do-over.
When the black void pulled back, he stood in some rundown bar. To his dismay, the hand-obsessed freak from the USJ was in front of him, looking entirely too pleased.
The shock was still wearing off when Izuku exploded beside him and went feral. The villain holding the back of his neck was also holding Izuku, apparently, and Izuku viciously grabbed hold of the guy's arm and judo flipped him. Blue flames raced up the villain's arm, which made Katsuki grin.
Izuku stole the fire for himself and held it like a shield, stepping in front of Katsuki.
"Hey now, we went through a lot of trouble to get you here," Shigaraki said.
"That sounds like a 'you' problem," Izuku spat.
Katsuki glanced down at him. He wasn't used to this side of Izuku. He was used to the guy who cried at pictures of cute puppies, not the kid who'd survived on his own for two years as a vigilante.
He shook himself out of his daze and forced his mind to focus on the crisis at hand. There was a door on the wall behind them, but a masked villain stood in front of it. Katsuki could probably take him out with an explosion, and then they'd have to play cat and mouse with all of these losers until they escaped or help came.
"Damn brat," the patchwork villain on the floor said, slowly getting to his feet. The arm Izuku had grabbed to flip him was bleeding, torn at the seams along his wrist and hand. "This is why I hate fighting, do you know how much it hurts to fix this all the time?"
"Again, your problem, not ours," Izuku said. "You're going to let us go, or I'm going to burn this whole place to the ground."
"You really do sound like your father," Shigaraki said.
Izuku stiffened.
Katsuki growled. "Is that bastard here? I've got something I want to say to him."
"He's not at the moment, but he'll be here tomorrow," Shigaraki said. "I'll make sure he says hello to you."
Katsuki narrowed his eyes.
"Is he part of the League?" Izuku demanded. His back was still too tense for a fight, but at least he still had fire in front of him.
Shigaraki waved his hand. "Please. All he cares about is money. The League is so much more than that. No, he just hired us to grab you. We were already going to take Bakugou, so it wasn't really any extra effort."
"Speak for yourself," Patches muttered. Another villain in a full jumpsuit pulled him over to the bar where a medkit waited and helped him clean up his arm.
"What the hell do you losers want with me?" Katsuki snarled. He'd assumed Hisashi wanted him for some reason, maybe as a hostage to make Izuku cooperate. He couldn't fathom any possible reason the League would want him.
"We want to offer you an exclusive membership," Shigaraki stated, hands thrown wide to either side for full effect.
Katsuki blinked. Shared a look with Izuku. They both burst out laughing. "You've gotta be shitting me. You think I want to be a damn villain like you losers?"
"We're not losers!" the creepy knife chick pouted. "We're going to finish what Stain started!"
Izuku sobered up before Katsuki did. "Kacchan, could you get the door?"
Katsuki grinned, eyes sliding to Mask guy. "It would be my pleasure." Explosions popped in his hand.
"None of that now," Kurogiri said.
The next thing he knew, the black void was back. When it cleared he was on the other side of the room and getting pinned down by the creepy chick.
"Get the cuffs!" someone yelled.
"Let go of him!" Izuku yelled, followed by a grunt.
Katsuki pushed himself up with some explosions on the floor, looking for his best friend.
Izuku was similarly pinned on the other side of the room, his flames gone, and blood trickling from his nose.
The tip of a knife dug into his back. "Better behave," the chick taunted.
Katsuki lowered his hands, making her relax her hold a little, and then he blasted her.
"That's quite enough," Mask guy said. He stepped over to Izuku and put a hand on his head. "Hold still, Mr. Bakugou, just for a moment."
He didn't know what Mask guy's quirk was, so he had no choice but to let the villains maneuver him into a chair with quirk suppressing cuffs over his hands. They were the same cuffs from the sports festival, and the realization made him itch.
Once Katsuki was restrained, Izuku was like putty to them.
Katsuki gnashed his teeth. "Idiot, forget about me! Get out of here before your lousy excuse of a father shows up."
Izuku smiled while he let Jumpsuit guy restrain him. He didn't have the same heavy duty cuffs, and Katsuki didn't know how to feel about that. Did they trust Izuku more, somehow? Or did they fear Katsuki more? He did have the more volatile quirk; Izuku needed a source for his to work, so that was probably all it was. Katsuki was by far the more dangerous of the two on their own.
"There. Now we can have a proper conversation," Shigaraki said.
"Fuck off," Katsuki spat. The second he was free, he was exploding this guy's face off.
"What do you want to talk about?" Izuku asked, still sporting a sunny smile on his face. It was more strained than usual, and he was holding his arms weird. They were cuffed behind his back, but he had his arms twisted so there was less pull on his left arm.
His broken arm, Katsuki realized. These fuckers didn't even know it was broken, and Izuku was just letting them manhandle him like they wouldn't make it worse.
He might actually kill one of these bastards, holy hell.
"Our offer is mainly to Bakugou," Kurogiri said, stepping around the bar.
"I'm not joining your stupid club," Katsuki stated.
Kurogiri ignored him. "But we were scouting you, at one point. You could be of great use to us. If you decide to join us instead, we won't tell your father where you are."
"Oh, tell us you'll join!" Creepy Chick said, holding her hands under her chin and blushing. "We could be best friends!"
"Quiet, Toga," Patches said.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
Katsuki couldn't believe they'd been kidnapped by these losers. They didn't have a single brain cell among them.
Although, offering Izuku a chance not to see his father if he cooperated with them was a good move. Maybe there was one brain cell.
"Did my father tell you why he wanted me back?" Izuku asked.
Shigaraki waved his hand again. "Don't know, don't care. You're not really worth it, to me."
"We lost half the squad for these punks, they better have been worth it," Patches stated.
"Yeah!" Jumpsuit guy said. "Who cares let's just kill them."
Jumpsuit argued with himself, and Katsuki seriously wanted to know how they'd managed to kidnap them.
Kurogiri sighed. "He gave us a tempting offer, and as we mentioned before, we were already making plans for Bakugou. It wasn't out of way to take you, as well."
Izuku hummed. "I'm still not sure why you were targeting Katsuki. What makes you think he'd be a villain?"
"Oh, can I tell them?" Toga begged. She reached into her pockets and pulled out a phone. "We have the cutest picture of you from that festival thing. I wish you'd been painted in pretty red blood, do you think we could recreate it?"
She shoved the picture in Katsuki's face, and he almost bit her hand off.
The picture was worse than a sucker punch. It was from the awards ceremony at the end, before All Might had taken the muzzle off.
After a few seconds, she bounced over to show Izuku, and fury twisted his face. "I told Nedzu people would think of you like this! Damn it, this is why I wanted to punch whoever was responsible!"
"Oh, look, he's got a temper, too!" Jumpsuit said.
That fake sunny smile was back on his face a second later. "You can thank my dad for that. And it will be this temper that kicks all of your asses straight into jail cells."
"He's creeping me out!" Jumpsuit said. "That's not threatening at all."
"Why don't you losers go fuck yourselves?" Katsuki finally snapped. "Neither of us are joining your stupid club, so let us go!"
Shigaraki frowned at him. "You'll change your mind when you've had some time to think about it. We did spring this on you out of nowhere. Kurogiri, send them to their room."
"Don't you fucking dare, you fucking-" The mist swallowed his words.
Once it was gone, he was left alone in a dark room, still bound to the chair.
He sighed and leaned his head back. This was already old. "Izuku?"
"I'm here," he responded.
At least they were in the same room. Katsuki's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, and he could make out Izuku's form a few feet away.
"Are you okay?"
"My arm hurts," Izuku admitted.
"Sorry."
"Was that an actual apology?" Izuku joked. "What are you even apologizing for?"
Katsuki turned his head away from Izuku. "This is my fault. They were coming after me, and only agreed to help your dad because of that."
Izuku sighed. "What my father does is out of our control. Don't be sorry for me getting caught up in this with you. I'm just glad you're not alone right now."
It did make him feel better to have Izuku here with him. He would never admit he was scared, but the idea of dealing with all of this alone didn't please him.
"What are you going to do about your dad?" he asked.
Izuku laughed, dry and humorless. "I have no idea. Depends what kind of mood he's in, I guess, and if I have the chance to fight."
"You'll have a chance," Katsuki stated. "You'll make one."
It was silent for a moment. "Thanks, Kacchan."
It wasn't much, but bound as they were, it was all he could do right now to make Izuku feel better.
The next thing he said was to make himself feel better. "I want you to promise me something."
"What is it?"
Katsuki swallowed. "If you have a chance to run, take it. Forget about me, and just go."
"Kacchan, I could never-"
"Shut up and listen to me. These fuckers want me to join them or whatever, so they're not going to kill me. Probably won't even hurt me that much. But your dad? Different story. So fucking save yourself if you can, alright?"
"Kacchan…"
"Please, Izucchan. Don't make me mourn you again." He couldn't handle grieving Izuku a second time. Once was bad enough.
That shut Izuku up.
"Okay. I promise. If I get a chance…I'll go. But only so I can come back with help."
Katsuki laughed, eyes dangerously close to tears. "Obviously, you nerd."
He couldn't see Izuku's smile, but he knew it was there.
Xx
There had been a lot of times Aizawa wanted to murder somebody, but he'd never felt so sure he could actually go through with it before.
Over a dozen kids were unconscious from some poison gas, Yaoyorozu and Pixie Bob had nasty head wounds, they hadn't heard from Ragdoll since this started, and two of his students were missing. And one of those kids was practically in witness protection to save him from the very same guy who had most likely organized this attack.
Heads were going to roll. He didn't know how their location got out, didn't want to think about the possibility of a traitor among his colleagues, but god help the poor soul that leaked their location when Aizawa found him.
The next day was a blur of phone calls and hospitals and meetings and trying to fend off the media. It didn't take long for word to get out that their camp had been attacked, and the reporters were crawling all over like rats. The school was trying to keep the fact that two kids had been kidnapped a secret, because if the media found out it wouldn't be long before they figured out which students it was.
And once they knew which students, he doubted it would be long before the connection was made between Ryu Sasaki and Izuku Midoriya. There was no photo in his school file, and there would be questions about where he'd been during the sports festival, and the lack of answers would only make them dig deeper.
It was a headache he and the others had agreed they wanted to avoid. More importantly, it would take time to deal with the media, time that was better spent looking for his kids.
Since the League of Villains was involved, Detective Tsukauchi was leading the case. Aizawa told him in private about Midoriya's situation, since there really was no hiding anything from that man, and the detective promised to be discreet.
So when he saw Izuku's face on TV as he passed through the hospital, a screenshot from him sitting in the audience at the sports festival, sunglasses hanging from his collar instead of hiding his face like they were supposed to, next to Bakugou's school photo, he spat out the cheap hospital coffee he'd been drinking.
This was not going to end well.
Xx
Hizashi was unfortunate enough to be a good husband. While Aizawa ran around from meeting to meeting and checked in on his students still in the hospital, Hizashi promised to visit the Bakugou residence and talk with the parents.
Their kid getting kidnapped kind of required a face to face conversation.
The Bakugou's had been told over the phone already, of course, but that had been in the middle of the night when they didn't have any other information besides "Sorry we lost your kid."
Hizashi would never admit he'd stalled all day, volunteering to help out the investigation in whatever ways he could. He'd been hoping more info would pop up so he could tell them something substantial, and something had thanks to Yaoyorozu's quick thinking, but Hizashi didn't know any details. It didn't matter once Aizawa texted him that the names had been leaked, he couldn't put it off any longer.
He walked up to the door empty handed, and when he rang the doorbell he felt like he should be offering a fruit basket or something. Chocolates? Flowers? Was there a customary gift to give parents after their kids were kidnapped?
The woman who answered the door was the spitting image of Bakugou, scowl and all. "Can I help you?"
"Hey there! I'm Present Mic, one of the teachers at UA."
Her scowl dropped and she opened the door wider. "Come in. Do you have leads? Do you know where he is?"
He stepped inside and shut the door behind him. "We do actually have a pretty good lead. Can't discuss the details, but we're working as fast as we can."
He was so proud of these students. He still couldn't believe that Yaoyorozu, injured and barely conscious, had placed a tracker on a Noumu. It wasn't a guarantee they'd find Bakugou and Izuku there, but it was something. Something that would have taken a proper team weeks to find on their own.
Mitsuki led him into a living room, shouting for someone to make tea.
Another woman was already on the couch, a pile of crumpled tissues beside her. She held her phone in a shaking hand and didn't even look up when they came in.
Hizashi drew up short when he saw her, because he knew exactly who this woman was. Her son was the spitting image of her. Izuku had even mentioned his mom was staying at Katsuki's now back when they reunited before the school year. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten.
"Oi, I've got a question about that Sasaki kid, too," Mitsuki said, crossing her arms.
Inko looked up, eyes watering.
He had to try very hard not to let his panic show. He did not do well with crying women. Or men. He wasn't good with anyone crying, really. Kids were fifty/fifty depending on why they were crying.
A mother whose son had been missing for almost three years finding him only because he'd been kidnapped more publicly?
He was so far out of his depth.
A man, presumably Masaru Bakugou, walked in with a tea tray and set it on the table. "We're very eager to hear whatever news you have about both boys."
Hizashi allowed himself to sink into an arm chair. "We've already got a lead on where we think they were taken, and we're getting the rescue teams ready right now. Once we know for sure who's going, we'll figure out strategy."
"How long do you think it will take?" Masaru asked. He poured the tea with shaking hands, the only sign he wasn't as composed as he pretended. Mitsuki still stood next to the couch, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently.
"Assuming nothing unexpected comes up, we're hoping to go in tomorrow night."
Inko made a keening sound. "Can't you do it any sooner?"
Hizashi shook his head. "Not with the group we're up against. We can't take the League of Villains lightly. But don't worry, your son and Sasaki are pretty tough."
"Ha, I know Katsuki will give as good as he gets," Mitsuki stated proudly. "He's never taken anything lying down a day in his life."
Inko and Masaru cracked small smiles at that, and Hizashi had to chuckle. So Bakugou had always been as stubborn and determined as he was now?
Inko's smile disappeared as fast as it came. She looked back down at her phone. "Ryu Sasaki…do you…I mean…"
Mitsuki sighed and took the phone out of Inko's hands. She grabbed a picture from the hallway and thrust both into Hizashi's hands. "We know Sasaki is really Izuku Midoriya."
The photo must have been taken shortly before Izuku had run away. He looked about twelve in it, standing with Katsuki at a park. Both of them were covered in grass stains and had various bandages everywhere, along with smiles stretching from ear to ear. On the phone was the picture of Sasaki grabbed from the sports festival.
Hizashi sighed. He could puzzle out all the different options he had here, but he knew he didn't have it in him to lie to these people. "You're right. Midoriya has been under our protection for almost a year now. He's using a fake name to stay under the radar."
Inko sobbed again, pressing tissues against her face. "He's alive, he's really alive."
Mitsuki plopped down on the couch next to her and put an arm around her. "What are you surprised for? You've been telling us for years he was fine!"
Inko laughed. "It's different to know. My little boy's alive…" The realization seemed to hit her. "And he's been kidnapped by villains."
"Hey, he's with Katsuki, remember?" Mitsuki said. "With those two together, that damn League won't know what hit them!"
Hizashi smiled. For now, he kept Dragon's possible involvement to himself. They didn't need the extra stress. It wasn't confirmed anyway, only conjecture.
"I wonder if Katsuki knew Izuku was in his class this whole time," Masaru mused.
"Oh, if that boy knew this whole time and didn't tell us, I'm going to kick his ass," Mitsuki promised.
"Ah, he did know," Hizashi said, scratching his cheek. Then he had to go into why Izuku had felt it safer to stay separated from his mother, which made her cry again and promise to ground him until the end of time all at once.
He didn't stay much longer. Inko demanded to see her son the second they had him back, and Hizashi had no room to wiggle out of that promise even if he'd wanted to. Whatever consequences reuniting them might bring, they'd just have to deal with it.
Leaving the Bakugou residence, he texted Aizawa.
Hizashi
I'd say you owe me for this home visit, but uh.
Mama Midoriya knows
So we'll call it even?
The answering text was nothing but swears that made Hizashi cringe.
Xx
Izuku refused to sleep. They were quite literally in enemy territory, and he would not drop his guard. He couldn't see Katsuki in the darkness, but it didn't sound like he slept either, and they were quiet for most of the night.
Even if Izuku wanted to sleep, he wouldn't get much of it, and it wouldn't be restful. With the threat of seeing his father the next day, not to mention his broken and untended arm, his mind wasn't the happiest place to be right now. His arm had settled into a dull numbness a while ago, but the slightest shift sent sharp pain racing through the limb.
This was quite possibly the worst possible scenario for him to finally run into his father. Injured, tied up by villains, and sleep deprived. And he couldn't forget he had only one lighter on him, which was probably half used up.
Oh, and Katsuki was stuck in this mess with him, too.
Yeah, this was definitely the worst possible scenario.
His leg fell asleep, pins and needles prickling the skin. He tried to shift in the chair to get more blood flow to his leg, but that pulled on his arm and he hissed.
"What are you doing?" Katsuki asked, voice quiet and tired.
"Trying to wake my leg up."
He grunted. "Was kind of hoping you had an escape plan."
Izuku almost laughed. "If I had some kind of flame, maybe." He'd cut through chains before, and he could probably wreck the lock on the door. Once he and Katsuki were free, Katsuki could blast a way out for them.
Swearing, Katsuki's chair creaked as he shifted. "These guys could at least give us some water or something."
"What do you think they're doing right now?"
"Getting drunk? Sleeping? Who knows? They just successfully kidnapped two UA students from a top secret training camp, they're probably celebrating."
"I wish I knew how they found us," Izuku muttered. "Eraser didn't even tell Present Mic where we were going." It was a very short list of people who had known where they were. The students hadn't even known where they were going until they were there. That didn't mean they were clear from suspicion, since they'd all had their phones and could have texted after they arrived, but even then, if there was a traitor from UA, it was already narrowed down to forty-three suspects.
Well, forty-one. Izuku was pretty sure he and Katsuki weren't the traitors. And he knew Aizawa, he knew his teacher wouldn't have sold them out. So, forty.
"They've either got a spy on the inside or some genius hacker," Katsuki stated.
Izuku would much rather believe someone was just that good at hacking than start second-guessing all of his classmates.
The two fell into silence again for a while, until they fell through the ground. By now, Izuku recognized what the warp gate felt like, but he did not appreciate the lack of warning. His arm didn't appreciate being dropped from the ceiling, either. He bit his lip to keep his crying to a minimum.
"Oi, you fuckers think you can just jerk us around whenever the fuck you want?" Katsuki spat.
"You're our prisoners, so yes," Dabi said.
Toga pushed herself in Izuku's face. "Oooh, you're making such a pretty face! I just want to cover you in blood!"
"It's too early for this," Dabi groaned, dropping his head onto the bar.
"Leave him alone," the mutant from the attack said. He and the other magnetic villain were here now, a little roughed up but no worse for wear.
Izuku frowned. They'd been fighting two of the Wild Wild Pussy Cats, so it didn't bode well if both of them were here now. Were the others alright?
"Aw, you're no fun, Spinner," Toga said, dancing away from Izuku.
A water bottle with a straw replaced her, held by the jumpsuit villain. Across the room, the magnetic villain was holding a water bottle for Katsuki.
He and Katsuki made eye contact. It was a bad idea to eat or drink anything the villains offered them, but considering how long they'd already been here, it didn't seem smart to refuse water, either. The last thing they needed was to be dehydrated on top of everything else.
"It's not poisoned," the jumpsuit villain said. "It's totally poisoned."
Izuku pressed his lips closed.
Toga giggled. "Twice is always saying funny stuff like that. But the water really isn't poisoned."
"There's no reason to poison you," Dabi stated.
Right. Based off their reasons for kidnapping the two of them, they wouldn't have a reason to poison either of them. Izuku sipped at the water, downing the whole bottle. He even drank the protein shake they offered him, but only because it was store bought and he watched them open the bottle.
Katsuki looked like he wanted to murder the villain holding up his drinks, but he sipped at them all the same. Not doing so would only weaken them later, and they might miss a chance to escape.
"So, when is Dragon coming?" Izuku asked. Hopefully he didn't sound as scared as he felt.
"He won't be here for hours," Toga drawled. "It gives us so much time to play together!" She twisted a knife in her hands.
Spinner held her back and glanced at Kurogiri. "You can probably send him back to their room."
Izuku glanced at Katsuki again. He preferred them to stay together, but he didn't know how to convince them to let him stay up here.
"Oi, before you assholes send him anywhere," Katsuki growled. "How the fuck are we expected to go to the bathroom like this?"
The League glanced at each other uncomfortably.
Xx
It was an experience all of them agreed to never speak of again.
Izuku's broken arm was discovered, but all that really changed was them being slightly more considerate when yanking him around. Dabi tied an ice pack to the worst of the swelling, and the League called it good enough.
After that, Izuku was sent back to the dark room alone. It might have been some kind of storage closet, but he couldn't be sure.
Katsuki stayed in the main bar for a few more hours until he crashed down from a warp gate with a lot of swearing. He'd pissed them off again while refusing to join. They'd apparently tried to play a board game with him, Toga moving his piece for him.
"Hand-guy never showed up," he revealed.
"Shigaraki?"
"Yeah. I can't stand it when he's around, but him not being there has me more on edge," Katsuki admitted.
It was weird. Shigaraki was the one in charge, wasn't he? So why wasn't he there? What else was he planning right now?
"Did you ask about him?"
"Of course. Didn't get a solid answer."
So Shigaraki was definitely working on another plan. That wasn't good. Izuku couldn't even properly worry about it right now, either. He had to worry about saving himself and Katsuki before thwarting any villainous plans.
"I hate all this waiting around," Katsuki said. "I wish they'd just get on with it already. I never imagined being kidnapped would be this boring."
Izuku laughed. Only Katsuki would complain that being kidnapped was boring. "I could quiz you on English?"
"Fuck no. I'm not that desperate."
"Then what do you want to do?" Izuku asked.
"I want to fucking fight." His restraints rattled.
Izuku sighed. He understood, he did. He wanted out of these restraints, and he desperately wanted to shove his fist in a few faces. But if they had a way to do that, they would have done it by now. Neither of them could escape the heavy duty restraints, and since they were bound to chairs, they couldn't even try and escape with the restraints on.
"Are you sure you can't create fire like your old man?" Katsuki demanded.
"I think I'd know by now if I could do that," Izuku stated.
"When's the last time you tried?"
Izuku rolled his eyes. "I don't know, a year or two?" He'd given it another shot while training as Alley Cat. It was super inconvenient to have to rely on cheap lighters all the time, and cashiers gave him weird looks when he bought more than two or three at a time. They probably all thought he was a delinquent smoker…
Well, he had technically been a middle school drop-out at the time, so maybe he had been a delinquent.
"Try now," Katsuki insisted.
"Why are you so sure I even can?"
"I'm not, but we literally have nothing better to do right now."
Fair point.
"Alright, fine. But you have to try and make explosions with something besides your hands."
Katsuki growled. "You know it's only my hands that sweat nitroglycerin."
"Like you said, we have nothing better to do."
He agreed with a heavy sigh.
It only entertained them for an hour. Neither of them made any progress, which didn't surprise either of them. They knew what their quirks were capable, and more so, they knew what they weren't capable of.
Still. Izuku wished he could create his own fire. It would really help his confidence with seeing his father again.
They were warped up to the main bar for dinner and another bathroom break. Dabi checked on Izuku's broken arm again, frowning to himself, but he didn't say anything, only tied another ice pack to the swelling.
His behavior was bizarre. Izuku didn't like it.
Shigaraki was back, watching the two of them quietly. He asked Katsuki again about joining him, but all he got was Katsuki's vicious swearing.
"Soooo," Izuku started. His hands were sweaty with nerves. "Dragon will be here soon, right?"
"Yep. He's on his way right now," Magne said. "If you agree to work with us, though, we can keep him away from you."
Katsuki scoffed and rolled his eyes.
Both options were equally terrible. His father was probably going to shoot him on sight, and he really didn't want to make Katsuki watch that. If he stayed with the League, he'd have to watch his every move. They wouldn't trust him just because he said he was working for them, and they wouldn't share the kind of information he could send off to the police to bring them down. In the end, they'd probably end up killing him, too.
Working for the League would give him a few extra days to live, though, and possibly create a better chance for him to escape.
And he wouldn't have to make Katsuki watch his death.
He looked at each League member, debating. A few watched him curiously. Toga had that creepy grin again, and she fiddled with another knife. Dabi shook his head when he made eye contact.
Katsuki glared at him. Didn't he understand that if Izuku did this, he could protect Katsuki, too? It wasn't like Izuku would actually switch sides. He'd be a double agent for a few days, until he could escape. It wasn't any worse than being a vigilante.
There was a knock on the door.
"That must be him," Compress said. "What's your answer, Midoriya?"
His heart rate picked up exponentially. His father was on the other side of that door.
A gunshot echoed in his memories, and his father's voice yelling "If I ever see you again, I'll kill you, do you hear me?!"
"He's going to kill me," Izuku whispered, eyes wide and staring at the floor, but not really seeing the floorboards.
Dabi cocked his head.
Dragon knocked again, harder.
"We'll take your silence as your answer. Open the door," Shigaraki ordered.
Compress complied.
Hisashi Midoriya stepped through, eyes scanning over the League. They landed briefly on Katsuki before settling on Izuku.
He smiled. "Hey, kiddo. It's been a while."