Crossing Fates : Special Story 7 - The Divided (BakuDeku)

10 - The Midwife

It took almost an hour for all thirteen members of the pre-birthday party to leave their various tasks and converge on the conference room, including Dr. Hagakure.

Mei had been at the hospital, monitoring Ochaco's progress, and she was one of the last to arrive.

It was all Katsuki could do to keep from snatching her up and physically plopping her into a seat.

As soon as Mei stepped inside, he said, "Play the footage and pass the photos around."

"This is probably a waste of time," Tenya muttered telepathically.

He shot a glare at the gryphon. "We've got nothing else to try."

He watched Mei intently. When the footage reached the part where one of the kidnappers slammed the butt of the gun into the back of Ochaco's head, the woman winced.

"Concentrate," he said to her. "Do you recognize that Elf?"

"I'm sorry, I don't. Do you mind if I send one of the photos of her around to some people? Maybe to my Lord, Mirio?"

Mirio was now Lord of the Elven Domain in Kuju, and while Katsuki would never be liked by the Elves, Izuku was quite popular with them. They would care about his well-being.

Katsuki told Mei, "Please do- but only to those whose discretion you can rely upon. If we go too public with these photos, we might goad them into treating Izuku and Momo with more cruelty."

"I understand." She gave him a sober look.

As she took pictures of several photos with her cell phone, he turned to the others. "The rest of you- do you see anything?"

"We're going to watch it again," Tenya said.

No one complained. Every one of them pored over the footage and the photos, Nejire too. Katsuki sent all the Nyr up to the rooftop to see if any of them got a hit off the scents. As the day plummeted to evening, he summoned Dr. Hagakure over.

"He had emergency syringes with him, but his bag isn't with him in the photo," he said in a low voice.

Hagakure didn't sugarcoat anything, which was something that Katsuki normally liked about her. She told him, "I'll assemble an emergency medical team to be on standby. If you have ever been inclined to bargain with a Djinn, now would be the time to do so."

He closed his eyes. There seemed to be no limit to the depths of this plunge.

"Understood. Tamaki?"

Instantly, the Djinn left Nejire's side and crossed the room. "Yes?"

"We need another Djinn. Your help is invaluable, but we need someone who will stay exclusively with Hagakure and her medical team."

Tamaki's physical form was that of a tall, imperious-looking man with indigo hair and indigo eyes. He frowned. "My father is away. I will find someone suitable."

"Tell them the Lord of the Nyr will owe them a favor," Katsuki said.

"No," Nejire said as she joined them. "I have so many Djinn who owe me favors, I will never be able to use them all in one lifetime. Let me do this for you."

"Thank you," Katsuki told her. "I won't forget it." Raising his voice, he spoke to everyone in the room. "I won't forget how all of you have helped."

Sometime later, as he stood at one of the large picture windows watching the sunset, Mei stood so quickly her chair toppled over behind her. Katsuki spun around.