It was well into the night, and his injuries along with his mental fatigue were starting to creep up on him. Yet the night's events weren't concluded not for him anyway, the presence of the QSU guaranteed that.
Yet, as the group got closer, Momo ran to Bakugo beating the rest to them.
"Where's Shoto?!" She asked desperately.
"He went with the helicopter along with Ochako. He'll be fine." Bakugo said.
Momo visibly relaxed. "Thank god."
By this point, the rest of the group had caught up and the general was the next to walk up to Bakugo. The two started talking about the conflict with the rest of 1A keen on the information as well. Izuku was distracted by Ahmya however, who he saw was staring at him, stone-faced.
She jerked her head to one side and separated herself from the rest of the group. Izuku stepped aside from the rest of the group and made his way over to her. He wasn't looking forward to it.
When they had gotten decently far away, she turned around to face him.
"I can't believe you were stupid enough to come here on your own." She said flatly, looking him over. Her eyes saw the bruising starting to show on his neck and narrowed.
"I had to do something! I wasn't about to just sit while Ochako was being held captive!" She shot back, his anger kindled.
"That's precisely why you should have!" She shot back, equally angry.
Izuku opened his mouth to retort but she beat him to the punch. Leaning forward she poked him in the chest.
"We were both taught that when someone you care about is in a situation like this you remove yourself from the situation! Your judgment is compromised and you risk making things worse!" She snapped.
"I COULDN'T LOSE HER!" He shouted in interruption.
"BUT YOU ALMOST GOT YOURSELF AND HER KILLED!" She shouted back.
A long silence followed the outbursts, Izuku was taking shaky breaths, each one causing his chest to ache. Ahmya was the one to break the silence.
"When my sister and her family were kidnapped by Zeus, I knew I shouldn't involve myself. So I asked YOU, to go in my place. I trusted you to get the job done, I trusted you to be able to make decisions without letting emotions jeopardize the mission." She said, her voice calmer but still icy.
Izuku looked away, he knew what she was getting at, he could feel a pit in his stomach forming.
"You didn't trust the QSU, you didn't trust the heroes, you didn't trust Bakugo, and you didn't trust me."
"You coming here by yourself could have gotten you killed, and judging by the bruises around your neck it almost did. You didn't stop to think what kind of effect that would have had on her, on us. Worse, your reckless behavior could have gotten Uraraka killed instead." She said.
Izuku cringed at that last remark, his stomach was twisting itself into knots and he wanted to run from the conversation, but he felt rooted to the spot by Ahmya's glare.
"I... I had to do something... when I was alone... it felt like I was being eaten alive. I had nightmares. When I closed my eyes, I saw her lying on the ground, like my mother." He said quietly.
"But... You're right. I... shouldn't have come here. I... did make things worse. I should have trusted everyone. I'm sorry." he admitted.
Ahmya sighed. "Sorry won't be enough. The general isn't going to let you go, and I'm probably in a lot of trouble just for talking to you like this. I can't get you out of this." She said her icy and harsh stance from before gone and replaced with one of concern.
"Leave that to me." Came a new voice from above them.
They both looked up just in time to see Hawks coming in for a landing. He alighted on the ground before his wings burst into feathers and swarmed over Izuku, binding and gagging him. Izuku struggled briefly against his bindings out of reflex, but at seeing the steely look in Hawks's eyes yet casual smile he stopped.
"Trust me, I'll take care of this," Hawks said to them both before walking past Ahmya to where Bakugo and the general were now approaching them.
"Hawks." The general said, giving him a nod.
"General," Hawks responded.
"As good as it is that you came, as you can see the situation is taken care of." The general said.
"So it would appear. That being said, if the situation is under control then I guess I'll just head back. I'll take the vigilante with me, save you the trouble." Hawks said with his easy smile.
"I appreciate the gesture, but I was hoping to question him first." The general said, glancing at Izuku.
Hawks nodded and looked over his shoulder at Izuku as well.
"Yeah, he's been pretty hard to catch, especially after he went underground. I imagine he knows a lot we could benefit from. A skilled vigilante can have all sorts of connections. Though, I can't help but think an interrogation would be better suited at a more secure location." Hawks said, looking back at the general.
"You think we can't keep him from escaping?" The general asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, no, of course not," Hawks said with a laugh.
"It's just that this vigilante has a habit of being slippery. His track record for escaping is impressive." Hawks explained.
The general looked at Izuku again, looking him over, assessing him.
"Hmmmm... fine. I trust you to keep a hold of him. We'll deal with him later." The general said.
Hawks gave the general a quick casual salute, a nod to everyone else then took off with Izuku in tow. Albeit slower than he arrived owing to having fewer feathers to fly with. Hawks waited until they had been flying for a minute before removing the feather gag from Izuku's mouth.
"Sorry about that," Hawks said.
"I'm just happy to be able to get out of there without incident," Izuku said.
Hawk's easy smile faded at that and turned a critical eye to Izuku.
"Just don't do this again. I only talked you out of that because he trusts me and doesn't know anything about you other than you are a vigilante. When he hears that you "escaped", this won't work a second time." Hawks warned.
"Yeah, I know," Izuku said with a sigh.
Hawks turned his head back to look at where they were going and scratched his goatee.
"Don't get too morose about all this. Even if things didn't go as well as we'd hoped, everything was resolved for the positive." Hawks said, his smile returning.
It made him feel a little better, but only a little.
"So where are we going?" Izuku asked after a few minutes.
"Nezu, he's going to want to talk to you about everything. After that though, he'll probably turn you loose. I imagine you are going to want to see Ochako as soon as possible."
"Thanks again for the lift," Izuku said.
"No problem" Hawks replied, before speeding up.
The trip to U.A. was uneventful; Hawks flew them over the city to the U.A. gates where he lowered Izuku to the ground, removed the feathers from him, and drew them back into his wings. He waved to Izuku as flew back into the sky, where he was quickly swallowed by the gloom.
The gates to U.A. at roughly the same time and Izuku entered the grounds. He didn't run into anyone patrolling the grounds as he made his way home, much to his relief. When he was inside he quickly removed all his gear, and his contacts, but kept the dye. His green hair looked black at night even without it, and he doubted anyone would be examining his hair that closely anyway.
On his way to Nezu's office, he ran into one of Ectoplasm's clones during one of his rounds. They nodded to each other and went about their business. It wasn't uncommon for Izuku to be out and about late at night. As Ochako rightly pointed out, he spent too much time in the lab with David Shield.
fifteen minutes later, Izuku was sitting on one of the sofas in Nezu's office, a cup of tea in his hand with Nezu sitting on the opposite sofa. Having just finished recounting the events of the "rescue" to Nezu.
Nezu was silent for a couple of minutes, staring off into space idly sipping his tea.
"This Demon Masked individual, he was killed by Ms. Uraraka?" he asked eventually, focusing his attention on Izuku.
"Yes." Izuku confirmed.
"Hmmmm... you say he spoke of reviving imperial Japan, did he say anything else? Anything more specific?" Nezu asked.
"Not much I'm afraid. Others are working with him at the very least, but I don't know anything beyond that." Izuku said.
"Such factions exist in every country, they become problems during unrest, and the war and the resulting after-effects have given rise to a great deal of unrest. This faction alone is troubling but combined with other factors and growing discontent, I fear this faction may be able to gain a great deal of traction." Nezu said placing his teacup down and putting his paws together in thought.
"Regardless, knowing about his aims alone gives us something to go on, and inquiries can be made into identifying any pro-imperial movements. In the immediate, I am more concerned with his quirk. From everything you've said, he possesses a mind manipulation-type quirk. The only question is how it functions in specifics. We know too little about it and don't have enough information to infer more. Our only hope lies in Ms. Uraraka's recovery and her telling us anything about her experience." Nezu said brow leaning back into the sofa and staring into space.
There was a beat and when it became clear Nezu was going to say nothing more, Izuku spoke up.
"Sir, if I may, I would like to leave so I can check on Ochako," Izuku said, putting his teacup down on the table.
"Ah yes, of course, my apologies for keeping you as long as I have. We can discuss things more at length at another time." Nezu said, coming out of his thoughts.
"Thank you, sir," Izuku said, standing, giving him a bow, and exiting the room.
"Midoriya," Nezu called as he turned to leave.
"It's far too late at night to see Miss Uraraka, I know you'll want to see her as soon as possible, but might I suggest you go and rest first?" Nezu suggested mildly.
Nezu merely suggesting rest seemed to cause exhaustion to hit Izuku. Thinking on it, he hadn't gotten any decent sleep since Ochako was taken, but with Ochako safe, it came crashing down on him at once.
"I..." Izuku started to say, then sighed. "Yes sir, I'll go do that." Then Izuku turned and left the office.
As Izuku left the U.A. main building, he wanted to go straight back to his apartment, but there was one last place he had to go before he resolved to turn in for the night. When he left the grounds however he was struck by a wave of exhaustion once more, but he would just have to push through for a little while longer.
He made his way to the small apartment complex that he and Ochako lived in, but instead of heading up to the top floor, he went to the second floor. there were only three floors, with three apartments on each floor. They were quite spacious accommodations for apartments, but only five others were currently occupied. Most of the teachers lived off-campus, with Tsuyu, Aizawa, Cementoss, Ectoplasm, and Vlad King opting to move to the complex after its construction.
In this case, he made his way to Tsuyu's apartment.
He knocked on her door and waited. He didn't have to wait long as Tsu answered the door quickly. Despite the time, she was still dressed in her day clothes and was visibly anxious. Upon seeing Izuku she was visibly taken aback.
"Izuku?" Tsu said, blinking in surprise to see him at her door, then she noticed how beat up he looked. "Wh- What happened?!" She asked.
"Can I come in? It's a bit of a story." He asked.
"Sure..." Tsu said, now wary of why he had come. She opened the door and let him in, pulling out a chair for him at her dining table.
Izuku retelling the events of that night took a bit of time, and by the time he was done, his legs felt like lead. Tsu was silent for a long time after he had finished, staring at the table while she processed everything.
She looked up at him, opened her mouth to say something, let out a choking noise then closed it. For a moment she looked confused, then there was a moment of realization, and a look of frustration came over her. She took a deep breath, sighed, shook her head then opened her mouth to speak again.
"Thank you, for telling me. I'll be sure to see Ochako tomorrow, but Izuku, when you visit her tomorrow. You... it might not go the way you hope." Tsu said cryptically.
Izuku frowned at her, "What do you mean?"
Tsu just shook her head again. "I wish I could say, but trust me Izuku. Don't go to see her tomorrow expecting everything to be ok." She reiterated.
It was like a great weight had settled in his stomach, her warning giving him a very bad feeling.
"Has... this happened before?" He asked, nervously.
Tsu said nothing, just gave him a sad look.
"Tsu?" He asked, her silence disturbing.
"I'm sorry," she said with a sigh. "You should get some sleep Midoriya. You need it." She said, standing from her chair.
Izuku managed to stand and make his way to her door.
"Goodnight," Izuku said.
"Goodnight Izuku," Tsu said, a sad look crossing her face before closing the door.
Izuku made his way to his apartment, removed his gear, and walked into the bedroom. The moment he did, however, it was like a darkness shrouded him. A horrible chill ran across his body and the darkness seemed to press in closer, like some specter looming over his shoulder.
He flashed back to his mother's apartment. In the days following her death, the void that had formed within him, and the feeling that his once childhood home had become a tomb.
He gasped as the vision vanished and he was standing at the door to his bedroom.
He was afraid.
He turned around and decided to sleep on the sofa instead.