Before today's chapter: Got another entry for the art contest! It's by AO3 user AntiqueOwl, another person who's a great writer. She drew two covers for Neko Café Manager based on Izuku and Shinsou as cats. You can see the drawings over on my Tumblr! Be sure to check out her stories if you get a chance, too!

Chapter 101

.::Aftermath::.

Izuku sat hunched over on his bed, knees hugged to his chest as he stared blankly at the wall. The past hour had passed in a blur, with him feeling largely disconnected from reality; even the moments right after Aizawa used Erasure on him felt hazy. Right now, Aizawa should be getting his injuries treated. Everyone had assured him that he would be fine. The Alliance were no strangers to treating wounds without professional help or resources, and Kurogiri had handled far worse.

So, Aizawa should be fine.

But he shouldn't have been hurt like that in the first place.

The sight of his injuries still haunted Izuku's mind. From the first glimpse with all three villains looming over him, to the look on Aizawa's face as he used Erasure before his head just slumped to the ground. When Izuku checked on him before going for help, he'd looked so pitiful, the image one of his clearer memories from that dreamlike haze post-Erasure. Eyes barely opening at all and near-hollow from exhaustion as he looked at Izuku, facial features still scrunched up with visible pain.

It all just made Izuku think of Aizawa's injuries at USJ. It was the only other time he'd seen Aizawa injured so badly, but this time felt so much worse. Back then, even with the noumu gripping his skull and his elbow decayed, Aizawa had total defiance on his face as he used Erasure on Shigaraki. When he'd used it on Izuku this time, though, he'd just looked... Tired. Sore. Desperate. Hurt.

...The villains who tortured Aizawa were dead.

Shigaraki had been furious that they had disobeyed his orders to leave Aizawa alone. Even he had seemed taken aback at how bad Aizawa's condition was. He'd made Kurogiri warp Izuku to his bedroom after seeing the cell, but he knew what would follow. The cold look in Shigaraki's eyes as he glared at the fallen villains told Izuku everything he needed to know about what would happen after he left.

Maybe he should be horrified by that, that three men were going to die, but right now he didn't care. He just felt weirdly numb and tired.

Tesla always was a jerk anyway. The thought came unbidden, and he frowned slightly. He knew instantly that referred to the electricity villain, had thought of him with that name even when he loomed over Aizawa, but Izuku had never spoken to him. It must be another subconscious memory, another holdover from this world's Izuku. The thought had him shifting so he could glance at his arm, still void of scars unlike his own.

...He'd used a Quirk. A Quirk that wasn't One For All.

That red light, in retrospect, had actually been there. His vision hadn't just gone red with anger, everything had been actually tinted red. It vanished when Aizawa used Erasure, further solidifying its presence as a Quirk—one Izuku used. And the way Tesla's body went flying—Izuku hadn't even moved, so it wasn't like how All Might could make gusts of wind with a single punch. The light and invisible force had definitely been the result of a Quirk that wasn't One For All.

Except, when he'd punched those villains, he'd also definitely used One For All. The green sparks along his arms were the same as back home.

It didn't make sense. Did he have multiple Quirks? Did this world's Izuku already possess a different Quirk, and then One For All traveled with Izuku across worlds?

The thought instantly gave him a sense of wrong, making him frown. If that was a sign from his counterpart's subconscious, then other Izuku must have One For All too. But how? Hadn't All Might died? And even then, what about Aiko? She could see Quirk factors, couldn't she? Wouldn't she notice if he suddenly got it, or had multiple Quirks?

The thought gave him sudden pause, his conversation with her flitting to mind. She had mentioned sometimes his Quirk factor looked odd, showing different types of activity. Hadn't she said it sometimes almost looked like another Quirk entirely?

The notebook. Once again, it all came back to the notebook. If he could find that, it would surely explain what was going on. It had to, he had literally nothing else to go on at this point.

A knock on the door jarred him from his musings, and he looked over to see it opened by Shigaraki. "Hey, Izu," he greeted as he entered, but hovered in the doorway.

"Hey, Tomura-nii," Izuku said dully, and that seemed to count as permission in the villain's mind. He closed the door and started for the bed, but then paused and changed course to grab the chair from the desk instead. He rolled it over and sat down, hand starting to reach for his neck before stopping. His features briefly twisted with annoyance and frustration before jerkily lowering his hand back to his lap.

"You're not hurt, right?" he asked, fingers twitching.

"I told you, I'm fine," Izuku sighed. That had been the villain's first question when he burst into the bar in a panic. "And like I said back then, they were already down when I arrived. So... it was already over." He'd babbled a long-winded and jumbled stream of near-nonsense about finding Eraserhead beaten up and the villains already unconscious before running out. A story that would fall apart easily if they asked the villains themselves about what happened.

As awful as it was, he probably benefited from the fact that Tomura was the type to kill first and ask questions later.

"I'm more worried about Eraserhead," he added with a frown, pulling his knees a little closer to his chest. "Is he really okay? He looked like he'd lost a lot of blood, and Tesla has an electricity Quirk, right?"

"...Hah, I won't lie, it wasn't pretty," Tomura sighed, shoulders slumping. His fingers twitched as he reached for his neck again, stopping at the last second and clenching into a fist on his lap. "One of the mooks in the bar has an X-ray Quirk. He said Eraserhead's leg had two new fractures."

That had Izuku wincing. He'd feared as much after seeing Minotaurus (again, yet another name he shouldn't know) with his foot on Aizawa's leg. "D-did he break any other bones?"

"No, seems like they were more interested in doing other stuff. Kurogiri had to give him a lot of stitches because of all the cuts. Said they were mostly shallow but long. Tch, cutting people up was pretty much the only thing that mob NPC was good at," Tomura added in a grumble. The fact he used past tense pretty much confirmed Izuku's suspicions. "But as for the shocks... We're not sure how to handle that."

"Oh," Izuku said faintly. He'd studied a bit about electrocution thanks to having Kaminari as a classmate. Symptoms could take a while to manifest and show up, even if there wasn't any obvious physical damage at first. Things like torn muscles and ligaments, or problems with vision. Nerve damage in particular could take a long time to show up. "Tesla... had a pretty strong Quirk, didn't he?"

"Was that his name?" Tomura muttered. "Never bothered learning all the disposable mobs' names. But yeah, it was. I remember that much. But even if he does develop problems, does it really matter?" he added, side-eying Izuku. "I get you like him, but it's not like he's ever leaving. We don't need to worry about the long term."

The casualness of the statement had Izuku's stomach flipping. He didn't say it outright, but he knew what Tomura meant: Aizawa would die here. He was alive for now, but Tomura didn't really expect him to stay alive for an extended period of time.

He inhaled sharply, hands balling into fists as he looked away from his adopted brother. "He still doesn't deserve it," he said lowly. "I know you don't really like heroes, but Eraserhead is a good one. He never went after the spotlight, he avoided it so he could focus on just helping and saving people. And even though he's been under a lot of stress since coming here, a-and even before then, he always tries to act strong, especially in front of Kacchan and Hijack."

Aizawa didn't deserve any of this. He didn't deserve to have been captured and tortured by that last group for who knows how long. He didn't deserve to be tortured here. He sure as hell didn't deserve whatever happened to make him so terrified around Aiko. Aizawa-sensei was one of the most noble men Izuku knew, the kind of person who would die to protect the weak and innocent. And he couldn't see this world's version being any different.

"I just wanted to protect him," Izuku said softly. And he frowned, shoulders slumping as he added bitterly, "But I guess I failed."

Tomura was quiet, just eying him thoughtfully. "You really think he's cool, huh?" he mused.

"You're so cool, Eraserhead."

The memory came unbidden, and Izuku swallowed back the old terror and fear as he nodded. "Don't you?" he countered.

"Yeah, I guess a little," Tomura relented with a huff before getting up. "Anyways, this talk has been nice, but I need to go take care of cleanup. Unlike games, real-life cutscenes don't end with everything instantly fixed," he grumbled. "If you want to check on Eraserhead, we moved him to the hall with that vigilante. Ask Kurogiri which one it is, I don't remember. Though you should probably wait a while, I don't think he's gonna wake up anytime soon."

Izuku perked up. "You moved him to a different room?"

"Yeah, Kurogiri said it'd be better for him to rest in a bed." A bed. An actual bed. Why did the thought of Aizawa getting a bed make Izuku want to cry? A glance from Tomura ended with the villain scoffing and shaking his head. "Hah, seriously? That's enough to make you tear up?"

Oh, he actually was crying. "S-sorry," he mumbled, quickly wiping away the tears. "It's... been a rough couple hours, I guess."

"Yeah, yeah. I know the drill." Tomura's expression softened at that, not quite smiling but losing its usual bitter edge as he gazed at Izuku. He turned towards the door and shook his head. "Seriously, how is a crybaby strong enough to..." The last part was muttered under his breath too quietly for Izuku to hear, opening the door. "See you at dinner, Zuku."

With that he departed, leaving Izuku alone once more. He exhaled a shaky breath and squeezed his eyes shut. Part of him wanted to go straight to Aizawa's room to check on him, but right now he wasn't in the best state of mind. He'd probably just burst into tears upon seeing him, which was the last thing Aizawa needed, conscious or unconscious.

He frowned, wiping away the lingering tears with his arm as he pulled out his phone. As expected he had several private messages from Uraraka asking about Aizawa, and a final message saying, 'Don't check the group chat right away. Nothing bad happened but it's kind of a lot to take in.' That felt ominous, but he decided to trust her and replied with an update.

'He was being attacked when I arrived, but I saved him. He's in bad shape though. His leg's even more broken and he needed stitches. I think the guys behind it are dead.'

He stared at the last sentence, wondering why he wrote it, but hit send anyway. Within seconds he saw the three dots indicating Uraraka was typing, and he frowned. After a moment's hesitation he began typing once more. 'I used my Quirk in front of him though. And... I think I used a second Quirk, too.'

The three dots vanished, and nearly a full minute passed before they reappeared. 'This is Yuki. Space saw your message and started screaming. I think she's really frustrated for some reason?'

Izuku just stared at the message. That... was not a good sign, was it?

1-A_Chargebolt: Oh, so THAT'S where he got the name Spinner!

1-A_Dancing_Queen: Yeah, I never would've guessed!

powerofmusic: Why. Why do you guys always talk about the weirdest stuff when I'm not online

1-A_Dancing_Queen: i dunno, it just happens

deku_breaks_bones: Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I just read everything and you have a key?

1-A_Chargebolt: Yeah! You just need to find the original and check the number so you can tune the new one!

1-A_Dancing_Queen: About that, can't he just change the number on the new one until he finds one that works?

1-A_Chargebolt: Oh yeah, good idea! Why didn't I think of that?

powerofmusic: Actually, Vice Rep texted me about that after Taser Brain left

powerofmusic: She said if you get the wrong frequency three times, the clasp will lock up for an hour, and the key will start beeping super loud for ten minutes

powerofmusic: And I mean SUPER loud. She called me so I could hear it, and it hurt my ears even before she put the phone on speaker

1-A_Dancing_Queen: oh dang

1-A_Dancing_Queen: that sounds annoying

deku_breaks_bones: I think that beeping might be kinda hard to hide

powerofmusic: Yeah.

powerofmusic: And then if you have the key lock up like that three times, it stops working forever. Security thing

powerofmusic: They also figure that those guys might ALSO set it up to trigger the bomb if it locks up

1-A_Dancing_Queen: O_O

1-A_SpaceRescueHero: That sounds very not good.

powerofmusic: So brute forcing won't work

1-A_Chargebolt: Huh. She didn't mention any of that to me

powerofmusic: Yeah well, she said you left pretty fast so she didn't get a chance to tell you

1-A_Chargebolt: If you saw those two together, you'd want to get out ASAP too

1-A_Chargebolt: We screwed up really bad letting them meet

1-A_Chargebolt: I don't think we'll ever be able to make up for this

1A_Dancing_Queen: How bad could it be?

1-A_Chargebolt: Vice Rep called the stuff they worked on babies

powerofmusic: ...fuck

deku_breaks_bones: I think I just had a flashback to the support lab

1-A_Chargebolt: I think she is worse than back home

powerofmusic: We introduced a 3d printer to the crazy inventor

powerofmusic: We screwed over this world so bad

1A_DancingQueen: I'll take your word for it I guess

deku_breaks_bones: But guys, I have something big to tell you guys right now

deku_breaks_bones: About sensei

Shouta returned to consciousness with a start. The first thing he noticed was that he wasn't on hard cement floor, but instead something soft and warm. That alone was enough to alarm him, bolting upright only to feel his wrists catch in the process. His gaze snapped downwards as he took in his new circumstances, breath fast and panicked.

A bed. He was on a bed, with a blanket draped over him and his bad leg propped up on a pillow. Leather cuffs had been wrapped around his wrists, the type with padded interiors he'd seen in hospitals. These had locks, and the straps were pulled short enough that he couldn't lift his arms very far. He could feel a pressure around his good ankle, and assumed he had another cuff there under the blankets.

The next thing he noticed was that his clothes had been changed while he was unconscious. Yet another different set of clothes, a pale green button up pajama shirt this time made of the softest fabric he'd worn in months, just adding to his confusion. Judging by the tightness around his chest and torso, he assumed he'd been bandaged there, though he couldn't see it under the fabric.

Ah, he suddenly realized. The shirt was to make it easier to access his injuries.

He released a shaky breath as he slowly sank back on the mattress, body trembling. Everything still ached, but much more dully than before, so it seemed he'd been treated. His mind felt relatively clear, so he suspected they had just numbed the areas rather than drug him with painkillers. He was grateful, because it let him remember how he'd probably ended up here now that he'd cleared his initial confusion.

The last thing he remembered was being tortured before Midoriya showed up. The exact events were hazy, since he'd been blindfolded and in a good deal of pain at the time, but... The sudden pressure that almost felt like a gust of air. The red light when he managed to loosen the blindfold. The heaviness that weighed down his body.

A Quirk. It had to be a Quirk. The fact that using Erasure on Midoriya had made that red light vanish made it quite clear. Yet, what sort of Quirk was it? And... wasn't Midoriya Quirkless?

Then again, in this place, "Quirkless" could very well just be a temporary state.

He shook off the thought and glanced around the room. It was... plain. Two doors with one open to reveal a bathroom, and lacking a good deal of furniture besides the bed, a side table and a chair. No windows, and a railing on the ceiling suggesting a privacy curtain once hung there. Shouta recognized it as telltale signs of a private hospital room. Spiderwebs in the corner suggested it hadn't been used in a long time.

He'd already suspected the Alliance used some sort of abandoned medical facility as their base of operations, but this confirmed it. He let his eyes fall shut, just breathing for a while. Sleep sounded nice, but he didn't feel comfortable enough to fall asleep just yet. Not when he had so many questions and had just endured torture.

Eventually, he heard a door open, and he peeked open his eyes.

A dark blob entered, and it took a moment to realize that it was actually Kurogiri rather than his eyes failing him. Shouta felt some of his tension fade at that, a tired sigh slipping out as the misty man walked over to sit in the chair beside the bed. "I see you are awake, Eraserhead," he said in lieu of a greeting.

Shouta just grunted softly. "So am I just going to be kept in here now?" he asked blandly as he stared at the ceiling.

"For now, yes. You were in bad shape, so I elected to have you moved to a different room to recover. Both for the bed, and also hygiene reasons."

Yes, bloody cement floors would certainly be bad for recovery, he reflected wryly. "What happened to those three?"

"They're dead." Blunt and to the point. Shouta was too sore and tired to even flinch. "Tomura was rather... displeased they disobeyed his orders. He had made it quite clear you were off-limits and the consequences should people disobey, so I assume they had a powerful grudge."

"They talked about expecting to die," Shouta recalled almost absently. It had fueled them to be even more sadistic, wanting to savor his pain. Not that they had much time to torture him before Midoriya's arrival. Looking back, he suspected it had been ten minutes at the most. Ten long, hellish minutes. "What's my condition like, then?"

"Several wounds had to be stitched on your chest and back, as well as one on your right elbow. That cut was deeper than the rest, so I would recommend not using your right hand for a while so it can heal." Right, they'd forced pried Shouta's arm away from his stomach at one point so the claw guy could give him another cut there. He had then sliced along the crook of Shouta's elbow, to make bending it to clutch his stomach even more painful. Strapping his arms down might be a mercy in that regard.

"Aside from that, we do not know the extent of the damage from Tesla's electricity, but we confirmed you have two additional fractures in your leg."

The last bit had Shouta huffing to himself, a bitter feeling twisting in his chest. "How convenient. I guess this saves you the trouble of having to break it again when it heals."

Kurogiri was silent at that. His face was impossible to read with only his wispy golden eyes visible through the mist, so Shouta didn't even try to guess what he was thinking. "Do you have any lingering soreness?" he finally asked. "As I stated, we do not know the exact specifics of what Tesla did, so we do not know if there is any potential internal damage."

"There shouldn't be any severe damage," Shouta said, once again feeling tired. "He never used it on my abdomen, mainly kept it to my limbs and back by my shoulder blades." And also his head briefly when he grabbed Shouta's hair, but... "I've been electrocuted by him before. I got a full rundown of those sorts of injuries from the doctors back then. He didn't use as much force this time, probably to draw out the pain."

He'd gotten a much harsher shock to the head back then. The man had been called in to help interrogate him, torturing him for hours for information on the whereabouts of a witness to an important investigation. It was just a shame Tesla had gotten away back then, having left a few hours before rescue arrived. Still, Shouta had come out of it largely fine, even with that nasty shock to the head. He didn't think he'd have any serious problems from it this time.

"I see," Kurogiri hummed thoughtfully. "I will take your word for it, then. However, you should inform someone if you start to feel any pain."

"Do you people really care?" Shouta challenged dully, and once again, the misty man lapsed into silence. After a few moments he rose from the chair.

"Now that I have confirmed you are well, I will take my leave so you can rest. I'll return with dinner shortly."

"Not Midoriya?" Shouta asked, eyes darting over to him.

"He was rather shaken, so it is best for both of you to take some time to rest. He also does not have a key for the restraints, and I do not intend to adjust them yet." That had Shouta frowning. Damn, so he'd have to be hand-fed dinner, huh...

"Are you just going to leave them, then?"

"Only for a short while. The primary reason I restrained you was due to concern of muscle spasms from the electrocution, or having night terrors and trying to tear out your stitches." An unfortunately valid point. Torture tended to lead to violent night terrors and ultimately self harm, a fact he could attest to all too well. There was a reason he'd recognized the restraints as the same kind used in hospitals. "If you have no other questions, I will take my leave and allow you to rest."

Kurogiri headed for the door while Shouta frowned. "How's the kid?" he asked, and the villain paused.

"He was quite distressed when I last saw him, though that is to be expected. I suspect this marks the first time he's used his training to actually attack someone, not that he admitted it."

"Training?" Shouta repeated, fishing for information.

"He may be Quirkless, but he has received self-defense training for a few years now. He is quite strong, I don't think he realized the extent of his strength until today." Shouta's mouth pressed into a thin line, biting back the follow up questions that instantly flooded his mind. Quirkless. Kurogiri called him Quirkless, so then... did he not know? Or did he think Shouta remained unaware and wanted to keep up the illusion?

Whichever the case, he didn't want to deal with it. If the kid was hiding it, he wouldn't be the one to break that bombshell. "That's one way to put it," he muttered, and Kurogiri glanced back.

"You should rest now, Eraserhead. Just... rest." His voice took on a gentler note at the end, and he opened the door and left before Shouta could respond. He sagged against the pillows with a deep sigh, eyes fluttering shut.

Horrible as today was, at least the bed felt nice and soft. It'd been a while since he last got to sleep in one, and he had to admit, it was even better than he'd remembered. It didn't take long for sleep to stake its claim.

Meanwhile in his cell not too far away, Hitoshi sat on his own bed frowning at the notebook Midoriya had brought. It hadn't been hard to convince him to leave them behind so he and Bakugou could look over them after he left. They'd hid it after hearing a lot of movement and voices in the hall earlier, signaling some sort of weird commotion, but the noise had now died down to the usual silence. Magne had stopped by only minutes ago to retrieve Bakugou, saying something about Midoriya being busy. He could only assume it was connected to whatever happened in the hall, and they'd have to wait for him to find out what exactly that was.

But for now, that wasn't on his mind as he looked at the notebook. As oddly interesting as the other entries were, Hitoshi found himself drawn back to the Eraserhead, attention focused on the drawing. The scarf-like weapon around his neck, the dark hair, the goggles sketched next to his face...

Why did he look like the teacher from his first dream here?

And Izuku's secret is somehow still safe! Also, Uraraka is totally throwing a tantrum because of COURSE Izuku has multiple Quirks too. xD On that note, Todoroki was the one who sent that message on the group chat because she was still sulking.

Also, if the last part confuses you, I suggest checking Chapter 96 again. Particularly the part where Shinsou reminisces about his dream. ;D

Question for next time: What names do you think the villains would use if they were heroes?