"What do you mean civil war?" Gang Orca strode past with the somehow-not-dead Best Jeanist attempting, ineffectually, to squirm out of his arms like some kind of freshly caught wild eel.
"Is it not obvious?" Shouta asked, exhaustion the likes of which even he had never before experienced turning the words into an insect drone.
The... well, he would be the current number one pro hero if hero ranks were still a thing, turned his mud and blood-caked face to yell, "no! No it is not obvious. Everything was fine when I left it, mostly at least! What the hell happened?" He sounded about as hysterical as Shouta would after this insane day... if only he had the energy.
"Part of it was you, actually," Shouta replied even as Gang Orca made good time towards UA's on-site hospital.
"How can this be my fault? I was dead. Was it because of Hawks' betrayal? What happened to him?"
In a better world, Shouta might have let the conversation trail off into the distance, but on this occasion he felt it necessary to answer. "One of my students shot Hawks to death, shortly before the HPSC arrested said student and shipped him to a black site where he was later executed by a PLF death squad, something for which I will have bloody revenge, mark my words."
Best Jeanist stared over Gang Orca's shoulder, the larger hero huffing at his passenger, demanding he cease the escape attempts. "What even is this? I have never heard of the PLF. What does that even stand for? I cannot have been gone longer than a few months. How could this happen so quickly? I don't understand!"
"Me neither," Aizawa sighed as the two heroes passed out of conversation distance.
In the darkness, even darkness illuminated by searchlights and fires, it was hard to really take in the devastation. This was home. UA was home. The city surrounding UA was home and now... It was like someone reaching through time and space to stab him in the heart without breaking the skin. How could he ever feel... forget safe or secure, ever feel vaguely at ease here again? And his poor kids. This had to be so much worse for them. How were they ever going to grow up to live normal lives after this? If they even got the chance to grow up...
He hadn't heard from everyone, teachers or students, and the streets were literally running with blood. What was he supposed to do? Conventional wisdom was to buy real estate, but, as it turned out, that really wasn't very practical advice for handling a soul-crushing civil war especially when it was accompanied by a banking crisis that made any kind of large purchase more or less impossible.
Having nothing more than a large collection of of cuts, bruises, and maybe a broken wrist which could be easily ignored, Shouta made his way to Nedzu's war room rather than the hospital's triage tents. Eraserhead could still fight, still work search and rescue... the night wasn't over for him.
Hizashi opened the door to welcome him in when Shouta finally reached Nedzu's inner sanctum and passed the biometric security. "Hey," the blonde gave him a wan smile. Shouta's oldest friend looked like a golden retriever that had been sent through a car wash then left to dry in a junk yard.
"Hey," Shouta sighed. "How--"
"There are scattered pockets of fighting in the city, but much of that seems to be opportunistic looting rather than attacks by remaining PLF forces," Nedzu told them from behind endless stacks of paper, his paws flying over a custom made keyboard. All Might, thin as a twig and every bit as wan as the rest of them, stood behind the mammal, a comforting hand on the principal's bare shoulder. "We are certain at this point that the PLF's mass teleportation device has been destroyed. I'm coordinating with other commanders to make sure we are not caught unawares if another attack is carried out using this one as a distraction." Nedzu continued to type furiously. "Kayama is dead."
"I know," Shouta sighed. "I think everybody does." Stain... another name to wipe off the face of the planet.
Nedzu was good at compartmentalizing, putting up the strong front everyone needed to see, but Shouta had caught All Might hugging the mammal like a teddy bear while the principal attempted to burrow into the former number one hero's shoulder a few days ago. No doubt a similar scene would play out again once the cleanup from the Battle of UA concluded. "Unfortunately, Kayama is not our only loss tonight," the principal did not look up as he spoke, although his voice wavered.
There were only a handful of people in the room, so few to rule out--
"Inui is dead as well." Hound Dog and Uraraka had been together. No, please not another one of his kids, he couldn't take it--"With the exception of Uraraka Ochaco, everyone accompanying him has been killed. A significant number of students are missing. They are dwarfed, of course, by the number of total persons missing. If anyone knows what may have become of Monoma or Suneater, I would greatly appreciate the information and if any of you have the energy tonight, there are a myriad of tasks to attend to."
"We all need to sleep, Nedzu," All Might said to the mammal, "including you."
"I slept yesterday," Nedzu flicked his ears derisively. "If my performance begins to suffer due to fatigue, I will rest. In the meantime, there is much to do."
"Uraraka," Aizawa choked out, "she's...?" Alive? Expected to stay that way? How selfish was it that all he could feel was relief at his student's survival when so many others had died? When so many others were missing?
Nedzu nodded. "She has a concussion and many minor injuries, nothing more."
"I... Can I talk to her before I head back out there?" He had to see for himself to really believe it.
"Of course," Nedzu nodded. "Come back here when you are ready to join a search team..." Nedzu glanced up and took in Shouta's appearance, "on second thought, do not return. You look worse than Yamada. Both of you should get some sleep."
"Hey," Hizashi tried to grouse but he didn't quite have the energy for it.
"She's in room 3-89A," Nedzu relayed after searching the database. "If you see him, inform Gang Orca that I would like to speak to his extremely unexpected companion at the first possible opportunity. We need to find out what happened there."
Uraraka had been dozing but jolted awake as Shouta entered 3-89A. The room had three beds, and they would soon all be occupied, but for the moment Uraraka was alone. Alone. And alive. Bandaged, exhausted, alive. He finally allowed himself to sigh in relief. "Mr. Aizawa," Uraraka said groggily. "I need to... I mean something really weird happened..."
"We can talk about it in the morning," Shouta told her, kneeling by her bedside. "For now you need to rest."
"No," she shook her head, wincing as she jostled it. "No... the... here." She shoved something into his hands. A glass orb with... a tiny plant in it?
"What is this?" Aizawa raised an eyebrow.
"There was... they were going to shoot me," she shivered, "but one of the PLF soldiers convinced them that they shouldn't... don't know how, and then he tied me up or... something..." she rubbed a wrist self-consciously, "but he slipped this into my fingers and he said to tell you about him. It was... why would he do that?"
That was more than a little bizarre. "Did this soldier say anything else? Just... gave you a piece of glass?"
"I think he winked?" she mumbled. "Mihara... that was his name. I thought, I can't believe I thought it, but I thought he was Midoriya for a moment." Shouta barely managed to keep himself from wincing at the stab of pain through his chest. Long as he might live, no matter how many times someone told him it wasn't his fault, he would never forgive himself for Midoriya's fate. "Their voices... sounded real similar and Mihara had green hair too, but long, in braids I think? That's all I remember but it was like... I guess I was wondering if he might have been a spy or something? I don't know what that thing is but I'm sure he winked when he gave it to me."
Shouta shook away the distraction. "Yeah, okay, that does sound suspicious. I'll look into it. You're alright?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. The others...? Hound Dog?"
Shouta winced. There was no point in hiding the truth from her. He could lie, tell her they were fine to give her one decent night of sleep, but she'd be furious with him afterwards and rightly so. He could say nothing, but she would fill in the empty spaces with the worst. "You were the only one who made it, Uraraka."
She took a deep breath, sighed, and closed her eyes. "I already knew, really. Can you... if you see Tsu, or Yaoyorozu or... I just want someone to talk to," she whispered hoarsely. "And the school counselor isn't exactly an option anymore now is he?" she sniffled on budding tears. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
"It's alright," Shouta gave her hand a quick squeeze, for what little it was worth. "If I see either of them I'll send them your way."
"Thanks. I'm sorry."
"It's alright," he didn't know what she was apologizing for and it didn't matter. "I should talk to Nedzu about this. Try to rest."
"Sure," she lied.
"I thought I told you to go to sleep, Aizawa?" Nedzu sighed as Eraserhead stepped back into the war room. All Might was still there, but all the other players had left. Nighteye and False Flag in her most common form, that of a scarred woman with a long braid, crowded around Nedzu's screen.
"Something unusual happened with Uraraka. She may have run into a double agent," he explained.
"Oh?" Nedzu cocked his head.
"One of the soldiers saved her from being shot and then handed her this, whatever it is," Shouta pulled the small orb out of his pocket. "The scanners and one of the techs in the hospital told me it wasn't toxic or explosive... The soldier who gave it to her said his name was Mihara and--"
"No way," False Flag hissed through her teeth. "No," she shook her head, "no way."
Nedzu's eyes had fixed on the glass orb as if guided by laser sights. "No... the odds," the principal whispered, "how could this have... well of course he would..."
"What's going on?" Shouta demanded. He must be more tired than he thought, snapping like this.
"Mihara Izuho. That's Midoriya Izuku's alias," Nighteye broke in abruptly. Oh my god it was, wasn't it? "But it can't--"
"Oh it can," Nedzu's flat ears and whiskers perked up with excitement, "break the glass, Eraserhead."
"Sure? Why?"
"Just do it," False Flag waved her hand.
Fine. A burst of white light and a dead plant lay on the desk, right next to the latest PLF codebook. Oh... oh. If he'd been a bit less tired, he would have figured it out instantly. This was Midoriya's inherited quirk in action. How could... any of this be? "Oh that brilliant little bastard!" False Flag cackled, leaping into the air like a baby deer. "Wooh!"
"So," Nedzu said, staring at the book with a broad grin breaking across his face, "Midoriya Izuku survived after all. We were just looking for him on the wrong side of the lines. I have never been so happy to be wrong."
"No," Shouta spluttered, "yes, I mean, how?"
"Who cares?" False Flag crowed. "We've got a name. I'll find him now. I can just ask him!"
"I suppose something did go right today," All Might added quietly.
"I can't believe it, not after... he's a double agent? On his own?" Shouta spluttered. That was the only logical explanation, wasn't it? That Midoriya had slipped into the PLF ranks when the Angband raid took place, waiting for an opportunity to exploit his position to pass them information.
"So it seems," Nedzu grinned. "We shall have to fix that."
A kind of hope and elation he had never before felt dawned on him. The darkest day of the war, and a here a diamond shining at its heart... What was this feeling? Hope? No, it was far too strong for that. There might not be a word in any language to describe the transcendent power of experiencing a miracle, especially a miracle when nobody considered one possible.