The first thing that registered in his mind was a migraine. His left eye and the side of his head felt as if they were about to explode and for a few seconds he didn't even dare open his eyes. He focused on breathing, trying to get the pain down to a tolerable amount before he tried doing anything else. He couldn't quite place it just yet, but he knew he couldn't just lay around as if nothing was wrong. But… What was wrong? The space around him was dark and it felt confined, his legs awkwardly bent and his arms pressed against his torso.

Just before the realization came naturally, the car he was in raced past a bump on the road, sending Izuku flying and crashing around the trunk like a marble in a glass container. The migraine, that had barely even gone down to begin with, came back with a vengeance and Izuku groaned loudly. He curled in on himself, desperately trying to ease the pain in his head by any means possible. For half a second he was glad that the trunk was pitch black; he didn't think he could handle the migraine with light shining on his face. But whatever help the darkness gave, the constant tremor of the car driving over uneven ground annihilated. It registered in his mind that the lack of stops and bumpy road placed him somewhere outside the city, probably on some rural road.

Where was he? How long had he been unconscious?

The light cuffs on his hands were gone and so was the paralysis, but neither of those facts told him much. The effects of both quirks might wear off with time, distance, and another multitude of things that he couldn't even bother considering at the time. There was no glow in the dark handle to open the trunk from the inside, and, even after punching and kicking, Izuku was unable to push out one of the taillights in the car. He thrashed around for minutes but nothing around him budged even a bit.

Izuku growled in frustration, his head pounding even more than before. He allowed his head to fall in momentary defeat and his head knocked against something metallic. The wrappings Eraser Head had tied him up with were still there, but they were loose by this point and so Izuku reached for whatever was knocking against his skull. Maybe it was a crowbar or something else he could use as a weapon. His hand clasped a cylinder, a silicone tube connected to the end, and that was enough to finally send him spiraling.

He still had Toga's gear around his neck, the canisters full of the blood he had gotten for her. She hadn't had any blood in days and now she'd be left with nothing once again. What would she say when she found out he had been taken? Would she attack one of their friends to get her fill of blood? Would she fight Stain in her crazed mindset?

Oh God, Stain. Was the man even alive? Had he been arrested again? Did he manage to call for backup or did the others not even know that something had happened? And what about Eraser Head? If he'd been killed, would his murder be pinned on the Hero Killer? Would anyone even believe Stain if he said that he hadn't killed the hero?

Izuku felt tears stinging his eyes. He felt hopeless and small, but most of all he felt impossibly angry. Everyone he cared about, his mentor and his friends, and even one of the few real heroes out there were all in terrible danger, all because of a crazy woman who wanted a stupid interview with Izuku for some reason that the teen couldn't understand. He didn't know what the woman looked like, but he knew he wanted to bash her face in. He settled for punching the side of the trunk twice, his hand aching comfortingly, before grasping the knife at his hip in one hand and a syringe in the other. They hadn't disarmed him in their haste to toss him in the car and he allowed a small smile to twist his face; whoever opened the trunk to get him was in for a nasty surprise.

Without anything else to do, Izuku waited. Time gets distorted when you wait in the dark, but he calculated that the car moved for two hours. Add to that the time Izuku was unconscious, and he knew he was very far from where he'd started. In that time Izuku allowed his headache to truly leave him, the ache now mostly superficial rather than making his whole brain hurt.

The car passed a sharp bump and then the road stabilized. Fifteen minutes later, the car slowed, turned, and stopped. Izuku tensed in anticipation, feeling how the doors of the car opened and closed. He readied himself to attack the moment the trunk opened. The lock clicked open, but no one freed him. Izuku frowned, not stupid enough to make the first move blindly.

"Come on kid, we don't have all day. Get out, hands up." A voice called out from somewhere outside and Izuku growled.

"Fuck you."

"Have it your way then. Arai, get him out."

Without warning, smoke started filling the trunk of the car. The air immediately became unbreathable and Izuku knew he'd either die or pass out if he stayed in there; they were smoking him out like a wild animal. Is that how they saw him?

Izuku kicked open the trunk, noticing that the smoke surrounding him was a soft, lavender color that reminded him of Mustrad's quirk. There was no one close enough to the car to attack directly, but Izuku still tried. He threw the syringe straight at a man's face, his knife ready to follow suit, but the sound of metal hitting glass stopped him. The projectile bounced off an invisible barrier between himself and the people watching him and it didn't take him long to realize that someone with a protection quirk had entrapped him within a transparent cube of sorts, the trunk of the car included in the see through space. Not unlike a predator in a cage, Izuku stared down everyone in the room (a parking garage, from the looks of it) with as much venom as he could muster. The purple smoke curled around his feet and Izuku could feel his heart pounding. Still, he didn't dare show his desperation on his face, not with ten strangers surrounding him.

"There he is," a woman said, her tone cold and mocking.

"He's so much shorter than I expected." Another person asked, yellow eyes looking at Izuku as if he were a tropical fish in a display tank.

"You sure you got the right kid? He looks helpless."

"Why don't you drop the shield and find out, asshole." Izuku hissed, eyes narrowed and teeth bared. He clenched his fist around his knife and, to his credit, the mocking looks disappeared.

"Big words for quirkless trash," Someone else spat at him and sure enough everyone around him looked displeased with the fact that Izuku had spoken at all. Izuku inhaled, ready to fight them all at once if necessary, but a door opened behind them and a new figure walked in.

"Now now, everyone. No fighting with our guest until I've spoken to him."

Izuku froze, his blood boiling. He recognized that voice. He'd only heard Curious through a phone speaker, but the tone and pitch were perfectly identifiable. The small crowd parted and Izuku came face to face with the cause of all his problems.

She was wearing heels, but Izuku suspected that she'd still be taller than him without them. She wore a long evening gown, her lilac hair cascading down her blue shoulders like silk. Black and green eyes looked at Izuku as if he was some expensive purse on a storefront and the teen felt an undeniable sense of dread. This woman wasn't dressed for battle, but her aura felt poisonous and powerful. This wasn't a target Izuku would be able to take down easily.

"There you are, Midoriya Izuku." Curious said happily. Izuku wanted to kill her right then and there, or at the very least insult her, but he kept his composure.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Disciple. My name is Kizuki Chitose, but you can call me Curious. You've given us plenty of problems, but I'm willing to look past those." She added.

Izuku's eyes glinted with malice, but the woman simply giggled excitedly at the site.

"You're gonna give me an article that's worth all of the hassle, I'm just sure. Shall we get to it?" She asked him.

"What makes you think I'll cooperate?" Izuku asked carefully.

Curious' smile widened.

"You're surrounded by people with very powerful quirks. You stand no chance."

"I've dealt with people with quirks before." Izuku defied and the woman giggled even more. Her laughter was definitely getting on his nerves.

"Yes, that's part of the reason you're here." Before Izuku could ask, Curious snapped her fingers. Someone handed her a tablet and she unlocked it quickly.

"To be honest, it was rather hard to convince Re-Destro of not killing you from the beginning once you started getting popular. But I managed, eventually, and so you get to live thanks to me."

"Aren't you generous," Izuku mocked, disliking the bragging tone the woman used on him. As if he had any reason to thank her for anything.

She either didn't notice his sarcasm or just didn't care (probably the latter) as she kept on pressing the tablet's surface with a smile. Someone opened the door that Curious had walked out of, giving a respectful bow.

"Curious-san, everything you asked for has been gathered. The room is ready for you."

"Perfect," The woman responded, already looking pleased. Someone handed her a pair of cuffs and she turned to Izuku.

"I require that you put these on before we move you, Midoriya. Commander's orders."

He looked at her in something akin to confusion. He looked at the cuffs, at the people around him, at the normal-looking parking space he was trapped in; there was a ramp going up to his right and a few cars parked here and there. Then he laughed. Well, it was more a scoff than a laugh, but the sound was enough to make Curious raise a brow.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. I'm not telling you anything." Izuku deadpanned, his knife held tightly in his hand. One of the women behind Curious rolled her eyes, but Curious only smiled in understanding.

"You plan on resisting even when surrounded?"

Izuku said nothing.

"If you don't agree to my terms, then I'll have no reason to let you live. You'll be killed on the spot."

"And I'll gladly take a few of you to hell with me." Izuku retorted, finality in his tone. He planned on saying nothing more. Curious walked closer to the barrier separating them, her eyes narrowed. The smoke inside the cube started thickening, but Curious made a movement with her hand and immediately the air cleared. Izuku glared at her.

"I must say, you don't disappoint, Disciple." She said, her eyes back on her tablet. "But I've never given up on a story before. So," She continued, turning the tablet to show something to Izuku. "I beg that you reconsider."

At first, Izuku didn't even bother looking at the device. He kept his eyes locked with Curious' own, a silent battle of wills taking place. She looked confident, mockingly so, and Izuku wanted to stab her right in the face. A few seconds went by, Curious turned the tablet back towards her and upped the brightness and this time when she turned it towards Izuku, curiosity got the better of him.

The photo he was shown was of Stain, Dabi and Spinner next to him. They were on the roof where Izuku had been taken, and the slight blurriness of the picture told him that it had been taken from very far. There were other people close by, a body on the ground that Izuku was thrilled to identify as Medusa. Curious swiped to the left, and the next picture showed a sniper's rifle pointed at his friends' general direction. The teen didn't flinch, a small smirk on his lips.

"Oh? Do you not worry for your comrades?"

"They look alive to me."

"Only until I command it."

"They can take care of themselves."

Curious chuckled. She clicked on the tablet a few times before turning it again, a more cruel expression on her face.

"What about her?"

It had been such a long time since he'd seen the door to his apartment that at first he didn't recognize it. It wasn't until he caught sight of green hair in the corner of the picture that panic and rage really started to set in. When emotion flashed behind his eyes, Curious swiped her finger to show Izuku another photo from a different angle, and then another and another. He crashed against the invisible wall with all his might, knife pointed straight at Curious' chest. She didn't even flinch, an arrogant smile on her face.

"Well, that got a definite reaction." She mocked.

Izuku growled like a wounded animal, the sound ending more like a scream than he liked. Izuku wanted to ask why, how, but he knew the answers didn't really matter. He stabbed the wall again for good measure, but the glassy surface didn't budge. Curious watched him for a second before she dangled the cuffs in front of Izuku's face.

"Can I expect your full cooperation now, Midoriya?"

He glared at her with all his anger clear on his face. He breathed heavily, as if he'd run a marathon, and his limbs trembled with fury. His eyes promised nothing but pain and chaos, but Curious held his gaze without an issue. She made it clear that, in her mind, she'd already won. She felt so in control that she allowed Izuku a good minute to come to terms with his situation. She waited until the teen's breathing regulated, until his muscles relaxed and his emotions settled. She nodded at him and he silently removed Toga's gear off his shoulders, placing it at his feet along with his knife and Eraser Head's capture tool. She raised a brow and Izuku kicked all things away from himself, his eyes betraying how much he wanted to just attack already. But he didn't. He didn't make a move when the barrier fell, only limiting himself to catching the cuffs thrown at him before securing them around his own wrists.

Some among the crown snickered at his submission, but Curious simply turned to lead him inside. He followed silently.

They went through a dimly lit hallway, pipes along the roof. Two people from before trailed behind them as they turned corners silently, steps echoing along the empty space. They reached an elevator and Curious stepped in, followed by Izuku. At her signal, the two people following them left and the elevator door closed with only the two of them inside. Izuku's eyes widened.

Curious had proven to be one step ahead of them time and time again. She had resources, followers and influence and that's rarely obntained by someone that's stupid. But here they were, in a tiny box that was slowly making its way up to floor 37, Curious looking for something in her tablet and Izuku only wearing cuffs around his wrists. Was she honestly so arrogant to just stand next to him when he might attack her?

He felt the sudden urge to strike, if only to prove to this woman that she was not as powerful and mighty as she believed. But he remembered the photos he'd seen, and he knew he couldn't do anything rash just yet. He bit the inside of his cheek as Curious started recording audio with her tablet, her notes on the screen.

"Could you state your name and age for the record?" She asked professionally and Izuku blinked. Was she for real?

She cleared her throat and Izuku sighed bitterly.

"Midoriya Izuku, 16."

"Time and date of interview, August 22, 21:56," She added, a smile on her face. Izuku paled for a moment. It was almost 10 pm; just how far had they taken him?

"Midoriya Izuku, how and when did you meet the Hero Killer?" Izuku gave Curious an odd look. He hesitated just enough for the levator to reach their destination, and Curious motioned for him to walk ahead.

"Is there a problem, Midoriya?" she asked, her tone carrying the not-so hidden weight of a threat. Izuku shook his head, looking around. There was a hallway on his left lined with doors, and to his right there was an open space with huge windows; he could see that he hadn't been deceived so far when it came to the time of day and height of the building.

"I just," he mumbled, taken aback by the professional office place he was in. "Is this really it?"

"What do you mean?" She led him past some couches, turned a corner and opened a door for him. Inside was a table with two chairs, food placed at the center, and a giant TV on the wall. Izuku hesitated as Curious took a seat.

"Please, take a seat," she invited casually, and Izuku walked to the opposite end of the table. He didn't sit right away, instead fidgeting in place.

"Do you want anything to eat?" The woman asked.

"I… what?"

"What did you mean 'is this really it?'" She asked, taking the TV remote in one hand. Izuku was about to lash out at the absurdity of it all when the TV switched on. The live feed of the security camera from a waiting room greeted him. It was silent, but it had color, and it showed the front lobby of what seemed like a police station, people walking around. It didn't take him long to locate his mother sitting in one of the chairs, a thick stack of papers in her arms. Izuku exhaled painfully, closing his eyes and finally taking a seat. Curious repeated her question.

"Is this all really just for an interview? That's all you want?" The teen asked, trying his best to control his emotions.

"Yes." The cold response hit Izuku like a ton of bricks. Somehow, that fact made everything worse.

"You wasted and lost so much just so we can talk?"

"Wasted? Lost? What do you mean?" She asked, chuckling. She reached for a donut from the pile of food and Izuku stared at her in confused awe.

"We killed everyone you sent."

"Oh, them," She took a bite out of her treat and then shrugged. "Nothing important, really."

Izuku's stomach sank and, for a long moment, he stayed quiet. This woman was so much worse that he could have expected, and yet he had a horrible feeling that he'd barely scratched the surface of how heartless she could be. The gravity of his own situation suddenly weighed heavy on his shoulders and, to be completely honest, he kinda just wanted to crawl under the table and stay there. But that was childish, so he did the next best thing: ask questions of his own before Curious got the upper hand.

"Are you going to kill me once we're done?" He asked bluntly and the woman smiled.

"No. All I'm going to do is get your story. Re-Destro is the one that's gonna kill you, if he so wishes."

"You mentioned him before. Who is he?"

"Our Grand Commander and fellow leader."

"Of what?"

"Aren't you a curious little thing~" She teased, her nose wrinkling playfully. Izuku gave her a flat look and she chuckled, taking another nibble of her donut.

"You'll have more than enough time to talk politics with Re-Destro once I'm done with you, so don't worry about that just yet. Let's talk about you, Midoriya."

Izuku tensed as the tablet was pushed towards the center of the table. He'd gotten no information out of her -not that it would matter, since he was trapped- and now she was in full control. The live feed of the camera was suddenly too bright, too close, and Izuku wanted to throw up. He refused to look at his mother, even through a screen.

"What do you want to know?" He asked.

"Everything."

"Yeah, you're gonna have to be a little more specific, lady." He said, one eyebrow raised. The most infantile and determined feeling started filling his chest; he doubted that Stain would just give in easily, and so he refused to do it himself. Stain probably wouldn't even be sitting in the chair, but the least Izuku could do was be as difficult as possible.

"When did you meet the Hero Killer?"

"A while back."

"Before or after your little TV debut?"

Izuku's jaw clenched slightly and Curious batted her eyelashes at him.

"After."

"And how did you two meet?"

"He was after a target. I tried to stop him."

"And how is it that you didn't die?"

"I got lucky." Izuku shrugged. Had this been someone else, under a different circumstance, he would have loved to share his story. But right now, bruised and trapped, he didn't really want to say anything at all. Was this insane woman really going to be the last person to hear him speak? The very thought made him want to scream. Every question, every word that he had to formulate made him feel sick to his stomach. He didn't want any of this to be recorded, he didn't want his voice on a mp3 file to be the only thing left of him.

"Why would such a strong man decide to take a kid like you with him?"

"Who knows."

Curious clicked her tongue. She leaned back in her seat and carefully watched Izuku as if he were a difficult riddle. She didn't seem satisfied, which in turn made Izuku feel proud, but she also didn't seem particularly angry. After a long moment, she reached for her phone. She placed the device on the table, the speaker crackling slightly as the sound of a call rang out. The phone on the other end answered before the second ring was done.

"Yes?"

"Tanaka-san, I require a favour," Curious said tersely, the TV remote still in her hand.

"Should I take out the trash?" The man on the other end of the line asked, and Izuku tensed involuntarily. Curious noticed and immediately grinned.

"Not yet. Just be a dear and offer Mrs. Midoriya some coffee, will you?"

With that, she hung up the phone and turned towards the TV. Izuku turned towards the screen much faster than he wished, and he didn't miss the Cheshire cat grin that spread over Curious' face.

Izuku watched in disgusting terror as an officer came out of their office, walked towards his mother, and leaned over to speak to her. His mother seemed tense, but she still nodded as the officer talked to her. The man walked away and, after a minute, returned with a cardboard cup and handed it to Inko. Then the man went back to his office and, not thirty seconds later, the phone on the table buzzed. Curious picked up the phone and read the message she'd gotten.

"Not a big coffee fan, your mother. She asked for chamomile tea."

Izuku had to focus all of his willpower in not throwing himself over the table to attack his captor. He wanted to pull out her hair and poke out her eyes, cut her tongue off, but he knew two things. The first, that nothing he did to her would satisfy him at this point. The second, and perhaps most painful realization, was that he didn't have it in him to defy this woman so openly anymore. Would Stain be disappointed in him? He was basically giving up for his mother's sake, a piece of his past that wasn't a part of his new life. He could already hear Stain's disapproving tone, but his heart just wouldn't let him put up a fight anymore. We swallowed thickly, the urge to cry making his cheeks contract slightly.

"Let us try this again, okay?" Curious asked cheerfully and Izuku nodded.

She saved the recording on the tablet and started a new she placed the device between them once more, taking a sip of water before talking.

"Time and date of interview, August 22, 22:26. Please state your name and age for the record."

"...Midoriya Izuku, age 16."

"Now Midoriya, tell me how you and the Hero Killer met."