She rubbed at her eyes, stifling a yawn as she worked away at her computer. She could feel the full-body ache that accompanied recharging her well, and the reduced ability to perceive light. It was why she got these special glasses that assisted her eyes during these moments. More than anything she wanted to just lock her door and pass out at her desk, but long experience had taught her that at moments like this, there would always be some kind of crisis to resolve first. Fortunately, she knew what said problem would be this time around. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened after all.
Unable to stand being in the chair a moment longer, she got up stretched herself out as best she could. It helped alleviate some of the aches, but it was only a temporary solution. She would need a solid ten hours of sleep before she felt 100% again.
After a few moments of stretching and massaging of her muscles, she sat back down and went back to work. It was about a half-hour later when she heard her door open then close. She stopped typing, took off her glasses, and massaged the bridge of her nose as she spun around in her seat.
"Would it ever kill you to just knock for once? I nearly have a heart attack every time you do that, and I know for a fact you've scared several nurses half to death as well. If this keeps up, I'll not be surprised if a ghost legend starts to crop up eventually. A few are convinced you're a phantom at this point anyway." she said glaring at the figure with her tired bloodshot eyes.
The Hunter merely shrugged, "Let them think what they like, it'll just help me in the long run. Though I do apologize for scaring both them and you, I don't mean to add to their stress."
Dr. Okimi just sighed, "Well what can I help you with? No beating around the bush, I've got my hand full as is." she huffed.
The Hunter pulled out her chair from behind her desk and sat in it before speaking. "I wanted to know if the child will be okay, and where you hid my blood this time around," he said folding his arms and leaning back in the chair.
"I don't know, despite the state her body is in, she isn't in any immediate danger. Until the results for the detailed tests come back, all I can say with confidence is that she needs rest, water, food, and lots of exercise. She's horribly malnourished and has suffered severe muscle atrophy. As for your blood, I have it with me this time. I expected you to show up eventually, so I didn't bother trying to hide it this time." She said, pulling out a sealed vial of blood.
"Beats me how you only manage to stay passed out an hour or two before waking back up. Anyone else would be out for hours at least after being healed by me," she muttered.
The Hunter got up and plucked the vial out of her hands before stepping back and turning towards the door.
"When are you going to stop all this? This is the third time I've healed you, and the third time you've broken out of the hospital, if we weren't so busy, I'd have had someone guard your room this time around. In fact, if I see you here again, I'll guard the room myself, responsibilities be damned!" She snapped at him.
The Hunter paused at the door, then turned slightly to face her. "I'll be sure not come here then, but I'll only stop when I am no longer needed." and with that he left the room, closing the door silently behind him.
Dr. Okimi sat glaring at the door for another few seconds before letting out a sigh and turning back to her computer. She needed to get these reports wrapped up and sent, then she could finally pass out on the military cot she kept pressed up against one corner of her office. Just as she was settling back into her seat, a high-pitched beeping and red light started flashing. She looked over the wall by the door and she saw that Operating Room 32 was putting out an emergency summons to her.
She lurched out of her seat and ran to the door, grabbing her coat as she went. Then wrenched the door open and dashed out of the room, using a small trickle of her power to energize her muscles and move faster. She blitzed through the halls until she came to the room and pushed the doors open. Nurses and surgeons were milling about, preparing for emergency surgery by the looks of it.
Okimi pushed past a surgeon who was putting on a mask and gloves to the center, to see the white-haired child on the table, her clothes cut away and marks for an incision made all over her chest. As Okimi started putting on her operating gear she flushed her body with a ripple of energy, sanitizing her body instantly. It always stung all over when she did that, but she didn't have time to do things the slow way.
"What am I dealing with?" she called out.
"Multiple organ failure, so far the heart and lungs are managing but those could fail at any moment. Brain activity is almost nonexistent as well. We've done what we can so far, but we need your quirk for the rest." called out another surgeon.
"Shit," she muttered under her breath, and after pushing everyone out of the way she started cutting, pushing her quirk into the girl and using it to support the body's functions while she worked. As she did so, she started calling out instructions to everyone, it was going to be a long night.
___________________________________________
She could see it, deep in that darkness there was a light glowing. There should be no light though, this place was meant to be dark. She drifted through the darkness towards it, and before long the large wrought iron gates came into view. She felt fear at the sight, they were horribly warped, bent, and some of the bars had been snapped and blown outward. The large chains that bound them shut were rusted and shrunken in size. Yet they still held IT back, horribly weak though they might be.
As she stared, she saw a figure sitting cross-legged in front of a campfire, her short-cropped brown hair, glowing in the firelight. The figure looked up, right at her, and she could see the rosy cheeks and brown eyes clearly. She saw IT smile, get up, and walk up to the bars, leaning on them.
"I was wondering if I'd see you or not. As you can see, the seal has been pretty badly damaged... and you know what that means. It won't be long now. I'll be free before long and then we'll be together again, as we once were, and always have been." IT said in a happy voice, a wistful expression on its face.
Ochako couldn't help but feel repulsed, this THING should never be allowed to be free, she'd make sure of it. As the thought flashed through her mind, the figure's face fell, and a look of pain passed over it. Apparently, the seal had weakened enough for IT to read her thoughts as well, she shivered in disgust.
"Why? Why do you hate me? I've never harmed you, never harmed your friends, never done anything you didn't really want. So why must you fight me so much?" She asked, the pain clear in her voice as IT took a step away from the gate.
"You're a monster, you can't be let free, not again, you'll do horrible things again. I can't let that happen, so you're staying here forever, I'll get Dr. Minoru to repair the seal." She spat at the THING in front of her, her anger growing by the moment.
She stood seething for a moment longer before turning and leaving the creature to the darkness. She ignored the creatures pleading for her to come back, she wouldn't be manipulated by it again.
"Never again..." she whispered to herself, the anger burning hot inside her even as she felt a solitary tear escape her.
Slowly she felt the tug of wakefulness on her and she was swept away.
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As she awoke, she felt like she might puke, she rolled out of the hospital bed and crashed to the floor. She pawed about desperately with one hand since the other was in thick wrapping, for a trash can, and when her fingers finally brushed up against one, she latched onto it and emptied what remained of her stomach into it. When she was finished a few moments later she pushed the trash can away from her and dragged herself to the bed right as the door opened and a disheveled nurse burst into the room.
The nurse's eyes flicked from her to the trash can and back to her before sighing and walking over to help her up. The nurse grabbed one arm and helped her to her feet, then helped her into the bed. Then the nurse removed the bag from the trash can, tied it shut, then left the room, turning the light on as he did.
Ochako lay on the bed and could only feel how sore her body was, and the fact that the feeling in her right arm was deadened. She tried to move it, and she could a little, but it felt heavy, and it throbbed painfully when she tried. She tried to go back to sleep, but her body just refused to calm down, she felt anxious, agitated, and extremely worried at what must have happened. The last thing she could remember was something ripping a hole through her guts, looking at The Hunter, then passing out. Frankly, she was shocked she was alive, but it must not have been as severe as she initially suspected if she wound up at a hospital. Why her arm was wrapped though was a mystery, perhaps it was injured while she was unconscious?
She felt like she was forgetting something important, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't remember anything. Then there was the matter of the damaged seal, IT must have tried to escape while she was unconscious and couldn't resist her. But for such damage to have been inflicted upon the seal, meant that IT was becoming far stronger than Ochako realized. She would have to schedule a time to go see Dr. Minoru and get his thoughts on the matter, and then repair the seal.
Her musings were interrupted by the door opening and Dr. Okimi coming in, followed by Tsuyu who looked tired and worried.
"Oh good, you didn't go back to sleep. Well, how are you feeling so far?" Dr. Okimi asked while she brought up the bedside PDA to take notes on.
"Well, I feel like I just completed one of Principal Nezu's Training Hell Regimens. Except for the fact that my right arm feels unresponsive. Apart from that, I guess I'm okay." she replied.
She saw Tsuyu relax somewhat and Dr. Okimi make a note on her PDA before looking back up at her.
"That's to be expected, your right arm was in bad shape when you came in, but your friend Yaoyorozu managed to set the bones back into place nicely and splint it. After some quick healing from myself, I don't think there will be any serious complications. The numbness is an after-effect of my quirk, and the bandages will need to stay on for a few days. As I said, it was a quick heal so I didn't have time to do anything more other than shore the bones back up and plug the holes so to speak." replied Dr. Okimi making more notes on the PDA.
"What about my stomach?" asked Ochako, keen to know if there would be issues with that injury.
Dr. Okimi looked at her and frowned, "What about it? Is something wrong?"
Ochako looked at her confused, "I had a giant gaping hole in my abdomen, who made sure I didn't bleed out?"
Dr. Okimi blinked, then frowning even deeper walked up to her and pulled the sheet off her. Then she lifted her shirt up and put a hand right over the top of the area where the hole had been. There was a pause and a golden light started to emanate from Dr. Okimi's hand and Ochako felt a very strange sensation go through her abdomen. It was sort of like the feeling one got when the booming sound waves of deep bass crashed into someone but more nebulas. Then the glow faded, and she saw the Doctor cock her head to the side as confusion came over her.
"Is everything okay?" asked Tsuyu, suddenly anxious again.
The Doctor didn't reply immediately before withdrawing her hand and letting Ochako pull her shirt down. Then she pulled the PDA back up and started typing furiously into it while speaking to them.
"Well, Miss Ochako is right in saying that something happened to her abdomen. I can feel the remnants of healing having taken place, and a strong one at that, but it's mostly faded out at this point. It's roughly like the same kind of trace my quirk leaves on someone after being healed by me. I didn't notice it previously because I didn't think to check for something like it, but it's clear you received strong healing within the past few days." she said.
While Ochako was burning with curiosity at who could have performed such healing on her especially when she had been trapped within the basement of a villain base, another question came to mind.
"What about the raid? The Hunter?" she asked anxiously.
Dr. Okimi glanced up briefly before putting the PDA down and starting to make her way to the door. "I'll leave that discussion to Miss Tsuyu, I'm afraid I'm quite busy," she said as she left the room.
When Dr. Okimi left, Tsuyu took a seat next to Ochako's bed. "I don't know the whole story, but from what I've heard so far, it appears that The Hunter was here two days ago but broke out of the hospital after erasing himself being here from the hospital records and destroying or taking any evidence that might tell us who he is. As for the mission, it was completed successfully but Momo, Ashido, Kirishima, and Shinso all suffered severe injuries. Todoroki suffered some major cuts but nothing life-threatening. While Bakugo turned out to be mostly uninjured. The child though had to go through some intense surgery once the X-rays and MRIs came back along with constant healing by Dr. Okimi during the operation, otherwise, she might have died, ribbit" said Tsuyu.
"Child? What child?" asked Ochako now completely bewildered.
"Apparently when The Hunter was teleported onto the roof of the hospital, he had a child with him." answered Tsuyu
"I must have been out for almost three days..." thought Ochako, head-spinning at all stuff she had apparently missed.
Ochako put her head in her hands and let out a long-suffering sigh. "It's going to be a long debriefing..." she groaned.
Tsuyu just patted her back sympathetically.
_______________________
One day later, she had been cleared to leave the hospital. Her arm was still bandaged and felt weak, but strength and feeling were returning to it and the staff felt she could be allowed to leave so long as she took things slow and got plenty of rest. She would have stayed and visited everyone else in the hospital but apparently, they'd been released too. Dr. Okimi and her healing quirk were truly one of a kind, even partial healing was enough to simulate months of recovery crammed into a few seconds. The result was that almost everyone wound up in bandages for surface-level injuries but with their bones and organs in good enough shape to be allowed to be discharged. They'd all have to get the bandages changed eventually, but they could get that done at U.A. or any other medical institution.
So it was that she found herself gliding through the air to Todoroki's and Momo's apartment where everyone else was. When Ochako had sent a group message that she'd been released, Momo had quickly organized a meet-up with everyone at their apartment for their own personal debrief apparently.
When she finally arrived and was ushered into the room, Ochako found that everyone else was already there. Bakugo, as Tsuyu had said was the only one who sported no injuries. Todoroki had a few small bandages here and there but was otherwise fine. Everyone else though had numerous bandages all over. They looked like they were fine though, which made Ochako relax some. Despite being reassured by Tsu, Ochako couldn't help but imagine several of her friends being horribly maimed or dying. Seeing them awake and in relatively good health eased her heart.
"Ochako!" she heard Ashido exclaim. Then she felt Ashido crash into her as she hugged her. Not too tightly though, for which Ochako was grateful. She hugged Ashido back and then had to break free from her grasp as the others came up to her.
After she deflected questions and assured them all that she was fine, they all sat down where they could. Then Momo cleared her throat, and they turned their attention to her.
"Thanks for coming everyone, I figured it would be best if we had our own personal debrief before any of us filed our own reports and before the official debrief. I wanted to make sure we were all clear on details and that we don't have any questions someone else might not have an answer to." She said.
"We all know what happened up to the point where we were teleported, I want to start by asking everyone where they ended up. We know very little about how the teleporter works and the more we can understand it the better position we will be in when the time comes to hunt down Zeus. It's very likely that he has one at his primary base, wherever that is." added Todoroki.
"Well, I ended up about two miles away from the base. I managed to find my way back thanks to your flares." Pipped up Kirishima grinning.
As they went down the line, it was clear that Bakugo was teleported the farthest, by about ten kilometers from the teleporter in a straight line. Factor in the fact that he had to maneuver around a mountain and the total distance was significantly greater than that.
"What about you Ochako?" asked Momo.
"I was actually teleported into the basement. The whole lower levels were abandoned due to some creature breaking free and slaughtering everyone. I ended up running into The Hunter down there actually, he had been teleported down there the previous night and it took him most of that time to scale from the lowest floor to the next. The creature had destroyed the stairs and the elevator obviously didn't work. After meeting up with him I flew us up to the next level where we ran into some kind of energy barrier preventing us from leaving. Then we explored the floor, found dozens of skeletons of multiple monsters I've never seen before, not even from Nomu. Then we fought the thing, all our weapons were useless against it, so we had to sever one of its claws and then impale it with it." she told them all, but then she hesitated, the memory of what happening next causing her stomach to churn.
"Then... uh... I got my entire abdomen ripped open by a giant spike spat out by something in the darkness. Then I woke up in the hospital." she finished with a bit of a shudder.
There were a few moments of shocked silence, then Shinso spoke up.
"If you don't remember anything after that point, then how is it we found you unconscious in a crater deep inside the enemy base?" he asked, his eyes narrowed slightly as he thought.
"I really don't know, apparently my arm was also in bad shape as well?" she asked the group in general.
Momo nodded, "We found you in the crater, and your arm was broken in several different places and the flesh was torn up very badly. I made some splints, set the bones, bandaged the arm, then restrained it. After that, we just carried you out of the base."
"How did the breach go? From the lack of talking about it, it must not have been a very difficult incursion." Said Ochako.
"That's because there was no incursion. By the time we all regrouped and went into the base, Aria had wiped out almost all opposition. We had to fight a couple of those Hounds of Zeus, those new Nomu type creatures that Zeus was making, but Aria had already mostly killed them for us." Said Kirishima.
"What happened to her anyway? Did we find her husband and child?" asked Ochako. She knew the answer was probably no, but she couldn't help but hope things turned out all right.
There was a brief silence as everyone's face fell, and Ochako knew that they hadn't found them. At least not alive anyway.
"Aria's dead, by the time everyone, minus Bakugo, caught up to her, she had been driven into a frenzy by someone in red armor. We forced her to the surface, but she killed several QSU members by surprise before we caught up to her. She's the reason why we're all injured, she nearly killed a few of us. It wasn't until Bakugo hit her in the back with an ambush that we were able to subdue her with the flash freeze and twin howitzer combo." explained Todoroki.
"All things considered; it shouldn't have killed her. I found her in the aftermath of the attack, and she had been reasonably well protected by a giant ball of muscle. But she had gone blind, and between her breath and weak movements, it was easy to see she was dying. We probably won't know the full reason why she died until an autopsy is completed." Added Bakugo, speaking for the first time from his position in the corner.
The news of Aria's death saddened Ochako, she hadn't been a bad person, just another victim of Shigaraki and his pet doctor's mad pursuit for power. It had been a tragically common occurrence during the war, though Aria had suffered more pain than quite possibly anyone else during the war.
"The QSU is currently combing through the base for information. Once they're done, we should have a better idea of what sort of stuff happened at that base," said Momo.
There was a bit more discussion, but no real new information came to light. "Anything else anyone can think to share?" asked Momo looking about at everyone.
"Well, I don't think she intended to say this, but when I was talking to Dr. Okimi yesterday, she mentioned that this wasn't the first time she's had to heal The Hunter. Apparently, he's broken out of the hospital before," said Tsu.
"It's something to look into, anyone The Hunter has any sort of regular contact with needs to be investigated. Though I don't think it likely that the Doctor is helping him outside of her job." Said Momo, a thoughtful expression coming over.
There was a bit more back and forth, but when it became clear that there was no more new information forthcoming they decided to break up and go to their respective apartments. Everyone's apartments were all located in the same complex, so they didn't have to go far. As people were starting to file out though, Ashido pulled aside all the girls into a corner of the room.
"So, the party didn't go as planned, and it's going to be a while before we can plan out something like that again. In the meantime, I suggest we girls have a night out and go hit up some bars!" Suggested Ashido excitedly. "You two know of any good bars in the city?" she asked looking between Ochako and Ashido.
Ochako's immediate thought went to Sasakura's private bar and Izuku, though she wasn't sure if she was ready to introduce them all to him yet.
"A bar that's out of the way... with a cute bartender perhaps..." said Ashido off-handily.
Ashido's voice brought Ochako's brain to a halt and she could only stare at the innocent face of Ashido as she went a bit pink.
"Mina, it's a private bar, they might not allow large groups," said Tsu
"Well, you can always ask Izuku, right? He would probably know." Said Ashido, with a faint hint of a smirk.
"Actually, I don't have his number so I couldn't even if I wanted to. Nezu knows the owner though, so he might know." Said Ochako, deflecting the question away from her.
She saw Ashido pout a little but accepted her answer. Then she turned her attention to everyone else.
"So, what about you two?" Ashido asked Jirou and Momo with a gleam in her eyes.
"Uhm... I guess Kaminari will be fine for a night," said Jirou with a nervous smile.
"It sounds like a wonderful idea," said Momo happily.
"All right! Once Ochako gets the info on whether we can go to the private bar, we'll set up a date!" Said Ashido giddy with excitement.
Ochako just sighed, she had a bad feeling about this...