Chapter 30

.::Planning is Everything::.

Phase one of the plan had gone almost terrifyingly well in Izuku's opinion. Kacchan had not only been released from the blocky metal restraints, but had also been given limited freedom to roam the base. Limited, because he almost always had to be accompanied by Izuku, had to be back in his cell by ten, and had also been fitted with the same anklet Shinsou had.

You know, the one that was a bomb.

It took all of Izuku's willpower to not stare at it in horror whenever they saw each other. While Bakugou's Quirk gave his body some natural protections from his own explosions, Izuku doubted that applied to actual bombs. He couldn't exactly ask either, because he hadn't told either of his friends yet about the anklets' explosive nature. He wasn't trying to hide it on purpose, he just didn't know how to tell either of his friends that they had bombs strapped to their ankles. Bad as it sounded, he kinda wanted to just... not think about it right now.

Fortunately, they had plenty of distractions right now as they all sat in Shinsou's cell, a handful of notebooks spread on the floor and open on their laps.

"Alright, so far these journals are fucking useless," Bakugou grunted as he held one up. "I'm not getting anything useful from this stupid thing except griping about playing games with that creepy hands fucker and some asshole named Mustard making people do stupid dares."

"Yeah, I'm not finding much either," Izuku sighed as he flipped through another journal. "This one is mostly about me and Toga trying on school uniforms to decide the best ones. I don't know where she got them, but I guess we spent a week doing that."

"What the fuck is the point of that?" Bakugou asked, and Izuku could only shrug. While they talked Shinsou picked up a cell phone Izuku had gotten from Kurogiri after commenting on how slow it was to have Shinsou write out his responses. It couldn't make any calls or connect to the internet, and the screen had a massive crack, but it had a text to speech app to use as a substitute for the white board. The three treated the device as the godsend it was, and Izuku made a mental note to thank Kurogiri again later.

"Does Seiko sleep?" the phone's electronic voice asked, and both Izuku and Bakugou turned to look at him incredulously.

"What the actual fuck? That creepy kid you and Deku mentioned? Where'd that come from?"

"Mido-ri-ya and To-ga spent two weeks trying to find out if she sleeps," Shinsou explained, the phone pronouncing the names with a slightly stilted delivery. "They gave up." Izuku blinked as the words sank in, and then gave a small shudder. Since that unsettling conversation with Seiko on Saturday, he'd realized she didn't actually always watch him like she claimed, since he'd called out to her while alone and gotten no response on two separate occasions. That didn't make her any less unsettling though, and the point Shinsou raised just added to his unease.

Today she'd also been absent, and so was a majority of the Alliance. He had no idea what they were doing, but it must be some major operation as the only one still hanging around was Twice. And even then, he suspected it was one of his clones rather than the original. The most Izuku knew was that Shigaraki told him he'd be home in time for dinner before he followed the others through one of Kurogiri's portals.

Whatever the reason, the trio of teenagers decided to take advantage of the villains' absences to have a meeting in Shinsou's cell. Shigaraki had given permission to bring Bakugou along on unsupervised visits to the vigilante under the guise of helping sway Shinsou to join them, so it hadn't been hard to convince Twice to allow another one.

Izuku and Bakugou had brought a total of six journals and analysis notebooks so they could review his counterpart's notes to try to develop a more solid plan. He'd only felt comfortable smuggling a few, since they had no idea when the Alliance members would return and it would be suspicious to have his entire collection in Shinsou's room. They could at least hide these on the bookshelf if someone showed up randomly.

So far they hadn't gotten any really useful information from them though. Izuku sighed as he closed the notebook on his lap, tossing it onto the pile and grabbing journal two in its place. He'd made sure to grab it specifically since it had the map of the base, and he flipped to the earmarked page with a pen in hand. At this point it'd probably be better to just go over what they did know.

He could see Shinsou and Bakugou put aside their notebooks as they recognized which one he'd grabbed, anticipating the review. "Okay, so Kacchan and I explored yesterday with Mr. Compress," he started.

"Most annoying tour guide ever," Bakugou added under his breath, eye visibly twitching. Mr. Compress had been rather enthusiastic about his self-imposed role, speaking with all the grandeur and flair one would expect of a former professional magician. Izuku had no idea how the man got wind of the impromptu tour, but Shigaraki had promptly excused himself when Compress showed up in a puff of smoke so it worked out in the end.

"Anyways, we didn't actually see any of the exits, but we got to see some other rooms and areas I couldn't remember." He turned the map to show them as he spoke. "This room is one of three different areas that were converted to hold prisoners. Kacchan's room is in this other one here. Mr. Compress said we don't actually get prisoners that often, but we use three areas to make it harder to find prisoners if heroes find us and try to pull off a rescue. Some of the grunts also stay in the cells, but the major members mostly live here."

He pointed to another hallway, both Bakugou and Shinsou leaning forward for a better look. "The most notable members who live on base are Shigaraki, Kurogiri, Magne, Mr. Compress, Toga, and Twice. I think there's a couple others, but I don't know most of them though." Izuku had seen a few other people around the base on a regular basis, but they never spoke and he only saw them in passing. "The hall with my room has no one there besides me."

The others nodded, and Shinsou picked up the phone to type something. "What's in the room with the skull and cross-bones?" he asked, and Izuku had to pause to turn the notebook to look at the map. He quickly found the room he'd indicated, located in the far end of the hall that served as the third area for prisoners, and it took a second to remember what that room had been.

"Oh, that's... I'm, uh, not actually sure," he admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

"That's the room that had the biohazard sign, right?" Bakugou asked with a scoff. "The magician wannabe opened it, and it was a bunch of stairs leading down. He said it was too dangerous to go down and that 'Aiko' lady would kill him if we did."

"Oh yeah, that's right," Izuku said with a nod, frowning at the memory. He had told both his friends about Aiko at the initial meeting on Saturday since she posed the greatest unknown element, but right now he knew about as much about her as they did. Which was a great big nothing.

Mr. Compress had been rather dramatic about her threatening people to stay out of the basement, swooning as he mentioned the death threat and the numerous people who had ventured there anyway, never to return. He'd ended it with an implied wink (not that they could see it with his mask) to Izuku as he added, "Of course, he can tell you why the threat's unnecessary." That had bothered him more than he'd like to admit because that implied Izuku knew what was down there, but he obviously lacked the memory.

"I have no idea what's down there," he said, putting it all on the table. "I know Aiko doesn't actually live here, but that's it. My best guess it's some kind of lab since it had the biohazard sign." The way Mr. Compress talked made him think the space itself was dangerous, so a lab seemed like the best guess. He just didn't know what type of lab it could be.

The only thing he knew for sure was that it wasn't a Noumu production facility or anything like that. All For One had died in the battle with All Might, and he couldn't see them making more without him. The fact no Noumu had been reported or mentioned anywhere—whether in news reports, his journals or just plans he overheard the Alliance making—left him doubting whether any even existed in this world.

One of the few good things about this twisted world.

"There's one other point in favor of it being a lab," he said, dismissing the thought. "I looked up our location on my phone this morning." Both of the other teens perked up, sitting straighter as they looked at him expectantly. It had been Shinsou's suggestion yesterday to check the built-in map app to find where the phone was located. Izuku still felt dumb for not thinking of it himself.

Well, at least he knew it now. He pulled out his phone—thankful Twice hadn't thought to check if he had it or not before letting him visit Shinsou like Shigaraki had—and opened the browser as he talked. "We're in Nabu, in Shizuoka prefecture." The quiet scoff from Shinsou made it clear he'd already known that part, which was interesting, but Izuku ignored it for the moment. "The building we're in used to be a lab dedicated to researching Quirks."

He turned the phone to show them an article about the building with a frown. The discovery had been surprising at the time, and after looking into the building's history he'd been left more than a little uncomfortable. "It shut down around twenty years ago. A lot of the staff lived on-site, and some of the cells were used to hold patients back then."

"Patients or prisoners?" Bakugou asked, eyes narrowed.

"Patients," Izuku affirmed. "They were mostly people with Quirks they couldn't control, or people who didn't want Quirks. Most of them came here voluntarily, but a few had to be brought in against their will. It wasn't shady or anything, and shut down when they moved to a new facility." He paused, grimacing as he added, "At least, I think so." The others shot him curious looks at that but he didn't feel like expanding on it.

The articles hadn't been too unsavory, but knowing how long All For One existed and the lab's purpose, he likely had a hand in the building's history. The fact that a building dedicated to researching Quirks became the Alliance's base felt a bit too ironic to be a coincidence, especially since it still had working power. He felt like the choice hadn't been just a random abandoned building.

The third area for prisoners was what really worried him. It wasn't located too far from this hallway, but it had been clearly separated from the rest of the building behind a high-security door. The Alliance had removed the door itself since moving in, but they'd left the frame in place and it had a keypad and card scanner. Beyond that, something about the air there just felt heavy compared to the rest of the building.

The most concerning detail though was that it had the basement stairs leading to Aiko's restricted space—the only stairs leading to the basement. It just made him more wary of what might be down there, and he really didn't want to talk about his suspicions with the others just yet.

Bakugou seemed to realize Izuku had no intentions of elaborating on the building's history or his theories, as he just sighed. "Okay, fine. Good to know. But what about the area actually around the building? Just having an address isn't gonna fucking cut it if we want to escape."

Izuku perked up, relieved at the subject change. "Right! So the area we're in is pretty shady and rundown but not abandoned. You know, the kind of place people lock their cars while driving through. It's pretty much on the edge of the city and it backs up against the mountains, so not many people really want to live here, and it just kinda got worse over time."

He switched from the browser to the map to show them. "So, the main downtown area of Nabu is most active over here," he scrolled the map to the side and pointed to the area in question for emphasis, "And as you can see it's kinda far away. I haven't gone outside the building that I can remember, but I talked to Kurogiri last night and he said it's pretty dangerous until about here." He scrolled along the map again, and pointed to an area about a kilometer away.

Shinsou picked up the phone to type. "And that's why he warps you whenever you leave, right?"

"Right," Izuku confirmed with a nod, and turned the phone to pull up the saved location left by his alternate counterpart for the area with the warehouse. "He usually drops me off around here, which is actually in the next city over. It's not super busy, but it's generally less shady and safer than the area around the base. There's an abandoned warehouse a few blocks away from the alley where he drops me off."

"So what, you think that'll be a good hiding spot?" Bakugou asked, and Izuku nodded.

"It's as good as any. There are stores nearby, so I can stock up on food and supplies to stash there before we run away. I have a lot of money saved up from birthdays and stuff, so I can use it a little bit at a time to avoid being suspicious." Bakugou nodded as Izuku outlined his rough plan, but Shinsou's eyes narrowed before he began typing.

"If you go there a lot they probably know about it," the electronic voice of the phone said. "Your phone has location tracking on. It will be the first place they look." The words made Izuku pause, and his shoulders sagged with disappointment.

"Oh," he said lamely. That had not occurred to him, but now that Shinsou had said it he felt like an idiot for not realizing that sooner. His phone had location tracking enabled so the Alliance could track him whenever he left the base alone, just in case something happened. Of course their first step would be to check his history. "Maybe I could leave the phone at the warehouse, and look for somewhere else?"

"Two problems," Bakugou said, and Izuku felt himself deflating further before he even got to the first one. "One, what if they try to contact you while you're away from your phone? Something tells me Shittyraki won't be too happy if he tries to call you and finds your phone abandoned." Izuku winced because yeah, Bakugou was definitely right about that. "And secondly, you're Quirkless. If something happens, that phone is your only way to call for help."

That got another wince, but for a completely different reason. "Um, about that," he said awkwardly. He could see the moment the two realized where this was going, both of them sitting straighter and their eyes narrowing.

"Deku, what the hell are you hiding now," Bakugou said slowly. Izuku hesitated to answer, eyes flitting around the room before settling on the bookcase. He put down his phone and the journal so he could roll onto his knees and crawl over to it, plucking off a thick, hardcover book. Turning to face them while gripping each cover, he took a deep breath and then just.

Channeled two percent of One For All into his hands and ripped it cleanly in half.

As the two halves of the book fell to the ground Bakugou and Shinsou just stared, Shinsou at the fallen remains of the book while Bakugou focused purely on Izuku. "Deku," he said stiffly. "What the fuck. What the actual fuck."

"I don't know," he said, and it wasn't even a total lie. He had no idea if One For All had followed him from his own world, or if the other Izuku had somehow gotten it himself despite All Might being dead. "It's not mentioned in any of the journals, or the letter, or my notebooks, or anything, and everyone else thinks I'm Quirkless. But—I have it." Bakugou just stared, clearly in shock, while Shinsou tilted his head.

"Is it a strength Quirk?" he asked, and Izuku shrugged.

"I guess, kinda? But the real problem is that it's kinda too strong for me. If I use it too much, it'll break my body instead."

"How do you know that if you can't remember it?"

"Muscle memory, I think," Izuku replied, and then paused and frowned at himself. The answer came so quick he hadn't even thought about it, but once he said it, it... made sense? "Like... I think I can kinda tell that I've broken my bones in the past, and I feel like it's connected to my Quirk." The words came out slowly and uncertain, but as he said them they felt undeniably true. It could just be experience from training with it back home, but...

Something about this felt different.

His discomfort must have shown on his face, judging by the frown Kacchan shot him. "Deku, what's going on?"

"I... don't know," Izuku said quietly, and he didn't. He could see Shinsou typing in the corner of his vision, but he didn't get a chance to finish before they heard a distant bang. Voices began sounding outside all at once, muffled by the walls and distance, but they could make out a large number of different ones. It looked like the Alliance had returned.

The trio exchanged looks before they closed the notebooks and quickly carried them to the bookcase. "We're talking about this later," Kacchan hissed, and Izuku could only nod. They hid the notebooks behind the other books there, not wanting to risk leaving them in the open in case Shigaraki or someone else decided to drop in.

As Izuku turned away he saw Shinsou holding the phone to him, and he reluctantly took it and slid it into his pocket. Kurogiri may have given it to him so Shinsou could communicate more easily, but they hadn't run it by Shigaraki just yet. Izuku had a feeling he wouldn't wait for them to explain it couldn't actually contact anyone if he dropped by and saw Shinsou holding it. Disintegrating it would only take a few seconds.

Shinsou returned to his bed and turned on the console to load up Mario Kart, giving them a ready excuse for any sudden visitors. "What do you think those guys were up to, anyway?" Bakugou grumbled as he joined Shinsou.

"No idea," Izuku responded, focused on ripping up the already torn book into smaller pieces so he could smuggle them out. "But—hey, hold on. Seiko?" They all paused and held their breaths, eyes flitting to the shadows, but when she didn't appear they relaxed. "Well, I think she went with them since she didn't respond to me this morning after they left, so it must have been a really big operation."

They could hear some voices more clearly now, the speakers clearly walking by the door. Bakugou squinted as he turned to look at the door. "Hey, Deku, what direction are those people coming?"

"Um. Sounds like the direction with the wall where Hijack's bed is." Izuku paused then, twisting his head to look at the wall as the implications of his words registered. That direction had only a few areas, none of which seemed like places the Alliance would use as a warp point when returning from a big operation.

None except for the third area for prisoners.

A chill ran down his spine, and he shoved the shreds of book he'd been holding into his pockets as he slowly got up. "Hey guys, can you do me a favor and hide the rest of this under the mattress or something?" he asked absently, gaze locked on the door. "I'm gonna check on something."

"I'm coming with you," Bakugou said as he got up, but Izuku shook his head.

"No, don't. Just stay here, if there's something up it's better I check it out alone. We don't want you to be put back in your cell." Bakugou scowled but didn't try to argue, collapsing back onto the bed with an angry huff.

"Fine. But if they get mad at me for being here alone, I'm blaming you."

"I'll take the blame," Izuku assured him, and headed out. The door locked behind him as he closed it, making him wince, but he ignored it as he started down the hall. He could see a couple more villains heading his way, nameless grunts he didn't really know. They chatted lowly as he passed, giving him a wide berth as if not wanting him to overhear. It just made the pit of unease in his stomach grow.

As he turned around the corner leading to the hallway with the doorway to the prisoner area the voices became even louder, eliminating any doubts as to their source. His heart pounded as he began walking towards it, unable to make out any words but recognizing several of the voices. Among them was Shigaraki's, too low to hear but clearly full of irritation.

A flicker of black appeared in the corner of his eye, and he turned his head to see Seiko standing in an open doorway. For a moment they just looked at each other, saying nothing. Then she inclined her head and disappeared, melting into the shadows. A shudder ran down his spine, and Izuku swallowed thickly before steeling his nerves and marching onward. As he reached the empty frame of the high-security door he paused and took a deep breath before taking the final step forward, turning to look down the hall.

The first thing he noticed was Shigaraki, decked out in a black trench coat with the disembodied hands gripping his arms. Izuku shuddered at the sight and tore his gaze away to look at the rest of the Alliance members there, most of them nameless grunts he only vaguely recognized. They crowded around the entrance to one of the cells, clearly struggling to force someone inside based on all the grunting and movement.

"Seriously, just give it a rest already," Shigaraki said impatiently. "You're getting way too annoying for a bonus drop." As if on cue one of the villains gave a pained grunt as their prisoner slammed into him, stumbling back from the impact. As he moved to the side Izuku caught a brief glimpse of the prisoner, trying to break through the thin gap he'd created.

Before Izuku could get a good look the other villains surged forward, the nearest one slamming the man to the ground. A pained shout rang out as he fell, muffled by what must be a gag, but something about it made Izuku's blood suddenly chill. Two of the villains pinned the struggling man to the floor, one laying his elbow and forearm on his back while the other kept a firm grip on his shoulders.

The other villains stepped back as Shigaraki approached to bend down next to his head sigh. He grabbed the man's hair and lifted his head, and Izuku's blood turned to absolute ice as he finally saw the face of the prisoner they'd brought.

"I mean it," Shigaraki said firmly. "You're starting to be more trouble than you're worth, Eraserhead."

Aizawa-sensei.

Aizawa-sensei was on the ground in front of Shigaraki, pinned by villains with arms bound behind his back. A white blindfold had been wrapped tight around his eyes and another piece of cloth tied around his mouth, but Izuku would recognize his teacher's shaggy black hair anywhere. The man looked awful even beyond that, his cheeks more sunken than they should be and his stubble slightly thicker than he usually sported it.

A guttural growl escaped, clearly challenging Shigaraki even in his current position, and the villain scoffed. "I said stop," he snapped, and slammed Aizawa's face to the floor eliciting a pained noise. Izuku felt his breathing stop, memories of a sickening crack and an inhuman screech flashing through his head. Suddenly he wasn't in the hallway but instead back in USJ, watching helplessly as his teacher was relentlessly slammed to the cement by the Noumu.

As Aizawa's struggles momentarily ceased Shigaraki paused, looking up at the grunts, and then he suddenly turned to look back at Izuku.

Time resumed and Izuku snapped back to reality as their gazes met, Shigaraki's face free of the hand which haunted his dream and allowing a clear view of those eerie red eyes. The villain looked at him for a moment before he slowly rose to his full height, his eyes narrowing. "You're not supposed to be here," he muttered testily, and sharply turned around to face the other villains as they pulled Aizawa to his feet.

The hero sagged almost limply in their grip, head lolling forward as he groaned in pain. Izuku could only stare in horror as he absorbed the rest of his teacher's state—no boots or capture weapon, not even his costume. He wore dark clothes that didn't look like they fit properly, and he wore cold-looking metal shackles around his ankles. He even had a bulky metal collar with several chain links attached to it, making his throat tighten.

"Kurogiri."

The sharply spoken name startled Izuku from his stunned stupor, and he snapped back to reality as he felt a familiar presence appear behind him. "Wait—" He couldn't finish the sentence before Kurogiri's portal consumed him and pulled him away from the hallway.

Everyone: "I hope Izuku/Todoroki/Uraraka/Jirou & Kaminari rescues Aizawa!"

Aizawa: *gets "rescued" by Shigaraki instead*

I am looking forward WAY too much to everyone's reactions.

Question for next time: I don't think I need one. Just predictions and thoughts on Aizawa's latest predicament will do for now.