Lifeless

Chapter 19 - Ghodar-dim (ঘোড়ার ডিম)

(Tw!) This chapter contains fighting, and mentions of guns! If there's anything else, please tell me! Also, I didn't know this until I started writing, but I can absolutely not tell when a scene could give someone second hand embarrassment. Like, usually I get the worst second had embarrassment, I'd have to put down a book for like a week until I could start reading again, but I seriously can't tell when I write something like that! Its kind frustrating tbh. Also, I'm sorry for updating this so late in the day, band camp started at 9 and ended at 9 so my day was pretty loaded and I didn't have a chance until now.

Ghodar-dim (ঘোড়ার ডিম) – Pronounced [gho-rar-deem], this Bengali word is a sarcastic term for 'nothing' or false hope. It literally means 'horse's egg', therefore representing something that doesn't exist.

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Izuku didn't know what was happening. One second he was standing over top of a dead nomu, the next a fully armed group of people burst through the door. It triggered an immediate reaction from Izuku, who jumped backwards, away from the door flying off its hinges.

He didn't know who they were, nor what they were there for, only that they all had guns, and all of them looked completely ready to kill him.

Izuku took a defensive stance, willing and ready to protect himself, while the group moved around him. None of them spoke, only walking around him instead. The action reminded Izuku of a nature documentary he had seen a few years back, a predator stalking its prey, and Izuku knew that it never ended well for the prey.

Slowly lowering himself lowering to the ground, Izuku tried to get a better vantage point of the intruders. It was obvious that they weren't associated with whatever group tortured him, based off of their entrance, and they didn't seem to be here to make friends either. Izuku scowled at his predicament, these people were likely here to kill him, even if he didn't know why, and he didn't want to die by their hands.

Izuku observed the room once more, it was incredibly tense, no one talking, only watching the other party. Izuku growled, voicing his displeasure in the predicament in one of the only ways his voice would allow, after all, screaming at the top of your lungs as you almost die ten times a day would do that to anybody's voice.

The group didn't take to the growl well, taking it as a challenge and confirmation that the boy was no longer human. They started advancing at that, caging in Izuku like a dangerous animal.

One of the men decided to talk, holding out his weapon at the same time, maybe a decoy for the rest of the team to attack. "C'mere boy, shhh, it's ok, c'mere." The man lowered his arms in what was supposed to be false security, trying to appeal to the animalistic instincts of the 'boy'.

A grimace grew on Izuku's face at the blatant babying, hating that the group that was surrounding him was trying to lure him in as if he was dumb, he could obviously see through their plan, so what was the point of acting like he was a dog? "I'm not a fucking animal." His voice was raspy, misused after the months Izuku had been here.

The group paused in their advancement, watching Izuku cough into his fist and expel blood at the same time. They had thought that every human here had been turned into mindless beasts, that was how they acted, after all, and their information told of this subject acting particularly animalistic when faced when others.

The leader of the small group decided quickly on a solution, pulling out a tranquilizer gun she kept in her pocket. It would be easiest if they could make the boy sleep to transport him, as they didn't know if he was completely in control of himself or not. She only hoped that the dart would work, as the heroes had found quickly that most of the other 'turned humans' would fight the sedative, and most ended up hurting themselves in the process. The tranquilizer was deemed as a last choice quickly, as it caused much more damage than help.

Spotting the sliver of the gun, Izuku quickly ran over and knocked it out of the woman's hold. He knew what guns looked like, of course he did, the one his mother used to attack him had shone the same way this one did.

His motion was too quick for the group to track, but the aftermath was anything but. Everyone watched as the gun skid across the ground, spinning to a stop far away from anyone else's hands. Izuku landed in front of it, determined to not let anyone else grab it and attempt to shoot him. Izuku knew that if there were intruders, he might have another chance to escape.

Izuku started to brace himself again, waiting for the group to make their own move first. Neither moved, both waiting for the other. Suddenly a short static sounded through the room, stemming from one man's radio. A tired voice rang through the otherwise silent room. "Team C, progress?"

Izuku recognized that voice, he had made it a goal to remember the voices of everyone he could, just so that the times he was unable to see, he would be better prepared, but that man's voice, he was sure that it was the person defending him after his first escape.

"At a standoff, Eraser, backup please." The sentence from the officer was short, but it told Midoriya a lot. Erasure was the man's name, probably the hero Eraserhead. And if the group was with him, but still attacking and trying to kill him, Eraser probably had some spies or something of that nature. The man was headed to the room at the moment, but he wouldn't defend Izuku, he didn't know that Izuku was being attacked and would side with the group. Izuku solidified his plan in his mind, escape, then find Eraser by himself. The man was trustworthy if he had defended Midoriya before, but it was the group that was the problem, if he simply bypassed them and waited, Izuku would finally be free.

With one last glance around the room, Izuku bolted to the door. He wasn't quite as quick as he was kicking the gun out of the leader's hands, but he still surpassed all of the group's abilities.

He was halfway to the door when a gray blur stopped all of his progress. Eraser stood in the doorway, holding his scarf out as a weapon. Izuku cursed lightly under his breath, he had hoped that Eraser would be slower, but now he would be forced to fight his way out of the group's and Eraser's hold, just so that he could return to the man.

Izuku dodged an incoming hand, ducking under and uppercutting the person. He didn't have any more time before another person was running at him, casting out a net around him with their quirk. Izuku dodged again and started sprinting towards the entrance.

Aizawa watched as the child he had tried to save jumped over the task force's arms, evading all attempts to catch him. He would even say it was impressive if they weren't trying to rescue the boy. Aizawa didn't want to admit it, but the ferocity the boy fought with combined with their prior information, it was quite possible that the boy had turned into one of the beasts the lab had been manufacturing.

Aizawa activated his quirk on the boy, hoping that he would at least be using some kind of quirk that helped him against the team so that it would be easier for them, but the result was more than Aizawa thought.

Izuku fell to the ground, clutching his stomach and repressing a scream as his head started ringing. He couldn't hear or see anything, his vision starting to blur and his knees swaying under his slight weight. 

Aizawa immediately deactivated his quirk as Izuku fell, rushing forward in an attempt to cushion the boy's fall. Immediately, Aizawa started checking Izuku's vitals, completely confused as to why that had happened. He had used his quirk on other subjects, turned or not, and none of them had reacted the way Izuku had.

In the midst of his pondering, most of the group almost missed the rushing steps coming towards the room, and the ones who had heard, mistook them for the steps of their fellow task forces.

It was neither, and that was proven as purple wisp enveloped the room.

"Master is not pleased, please, place the ch-subject back onto the ground."