To say Izuku was exhausted was the understatement of the century. He was exhausted, in pain, and freezing. He lay on the metal table, buckles around his wrists and ankles (he'd learned not to fight back) as he tried not to cry.
It has been weeks since this started and every moment hurt like it was the first time. The wound on his stomach was healed and scared over along with his feet. A scalpel dug into his flesh and crimson drops of blood dripped down onto the metal beneath him. He didn't know why the doctor was doing this or what he was looking for but sometimes he would say out loud what he was doing.
It sounded like the doctor was preparing him for something.
His hand traced over Izuku's scarred skin as if he was feeling a masterpiece. It sent chills down his spine and he wished so desperately to swat the hand away. It traced his stomach and legs as the scalpel brushed his flesh, not hard enough to break skin yet, but hard enough to hurt.
As if looking for a good spot.
Izuku stared up into the overhead light above him and dissociated, distancing himself from reality to keep what was left of the little sanity he had.
He was vaguely aware that the doctor put an IV into his arm, allowing a strange substance to go into his veins. It started with a shiver, a cold rush down his spine, and then exploded into pain. Unfiltered and undeterred pain.
Everything in his vision went white as he tried not to pass out. The increasing urge to scream flooded his mind like a tsunami and blocked out any and all thoughts, but he kept his jaw locked shut, not wanting to give the doctor the pleasure in his agony.
He was sure screaming would only hurt his throat even more.
Soon it dialed down to a more manageable level of pain where he could begin to think again.
"Well that was quite the show, kiddo!" The doctor said.
The ringing in his ears made it harder to hear but the words still became clear to him. He turned his head to the side and saw the doctor smiling under his mustache.
"I just wanted to see if your body was ready." Ready? Ready for what? "I think that's enough for today."
The doctor moved behind the table and started carting him out of the room. To his relief, they were heading back to the cages, where he wouldn't have to be with the doctor and he could be alone with Osachi.
He was still restrained to the table, seeing as he probably couldn't walk far. He was weak and injured.
Izuku whimpered softly as the wheels screeched and the table jumped after going over a crack in the floor, jostling his wounds. The doctor looked down at him through green tinted goggles and smiled. "Don't worry, Izuku-kun. Everything will be fine." He didn't believe him.
Don't trust him.
"You're ready to see Sensei, now. All preparations I hade to make have been completed and you successfully survived each procedure. We'll just have to see if you'll survive getting a Quirk."
His blood ran cold, and without realizing, he started shaking in fear. They rolled up to Izuku's cage and the doctor moved to open it. "It will have to be tomorrow morning, though. It's getting rather late and I doubt Sensei would want to do this at this time of night."
The doctor scooped him up and put him back in the cage without another word, and after closing the door a buzzing was heard.
It caused Izuku to flinch and his eyes went to the doctor's face. He was pulling out what looked like a phone from his pocket as his brow furrowed in confusion. The doctor put the phone up to his ear after he pressed a button.
"Yes, Tomura?"
Oh, it's Shigaraki.
"Now?" The doctor spoke on the phone. There was a moment of silence where he stared off until he sighed in slight frustration. "Fine, I'll be there soon. Have Kurogiri open a portal for me."
The doctor walked off without looking back at him and Izuku was finally left alone.
"Are you okay?" He heard Osachi whisper.
He didn't think of replying, the only thing on his mind at the moment was that in the morning he would see Sensei. The thought terrified him to his core. The man had an incredibly strong presence with an aura of pure darkness that was coated with an act of nurture.
Sensei didn't care about him, all he cared about was his goal in beating All Might and ending the chain of One for All.
Izuku has been told the tale of the Quirk many times by the man in his time spent with him.
He didn't know what to think about that, though. That a Quirk could be passed on and inherited. It sounded like nonsense when he first heard it, but Sensei wasn't the type of person to speak nonsense. Sure, he lied a lot and bent the truth and manipulated but there was always a truth in his lies, no matter how small. That was what made his manipulation so strong.
So when he heard the Quirk All Might had was meant to beat him, it made him feel many different things. The analyst in him wanted to ask questions about it. Could it be given to someone without a Quirk factor? Was it an emitter type Quirk? If it was given to someone with a mutation Quirk; is the next user able to use that mutation? But then he remembered who he was talking to and kept his mouth shut.
This was something that All Might and Sensei has to deal with. It didn't involve Izuku whatsoever.
"Izuku-kun?" Osachi asked. They decided to drop formalities and had began speaking on a first name bases. They were both trapped together so it didn't matter either way. The people in the other cages were more or less quiet and just like to listen to their one sided conversations, since Izuku couldn't speak.
There was an old man a few cages down that Izuku never caught the name of. He was kind, most of the time, and have his input sometimes when he thought it was needed, but most of the time he was quiet.
A few groans of pain could be heard once in a while, or complaints to Osachi for talking while they were trying to sleep. They understood and always quit their one sided chatter after that. Charades was a game they played most of the time. Izuku thinking of weird phrases and trying to act them out while the man guessed.
It was a small piece of comfort for them.
Izuku looked up his friend and saw him with a worried expression. "What was the monster talking about? Receiving a Quirk? What did he mean?"
Cold reality set on the boy once again as he realized once more that the people here are all here because of their Quirks and how they're going to be turned into Nomu. "You probably can't answer that. Sorry," Osachi said. As if he was at fault for anything. "Are you okay?"
He didn't want to lie so he just shook his head.
"I'd bet."
They sat in silence for a while. The man probably didn't know what to say at all. When he looked up at Izuku again his eyes paused and a look of confusion painted it. His gaze was cast at the lock to Izuku's cage door.
Osachi's eyes widened in shock. "Izuku! Izuku, your cage! Your cage! It's still open!"
He whipped his eyes to the latch to his cage and found it still hanging cracked open lazily. The doctor had forgotten to lock it when he'd stormed off.
It could be a trap. A test, like the USJ.
But the thought was so tempting. Knowing that there was a chance he could get out and escape. The doctor was off dealing with Shigaraki, but what if someone else finds him while he's trying to escape?
Is it worth it?
"Get out! Come on!" Osachi whispered in a haste.
Osachi was an adult, someone good who had a semi-stable life before all of this. He wasn't golden but surely he knew what was best.
Right?
Shifting in his cage he pushed the door open. It felt strange to have it open without the doctor being there to drag him away to his lab of Hell. He stuck his legs out first, feeling the cold draft of the air conditioning hitting his scarred bare feet.
After pushing himself out he fell onto the ground unceremoniously. "Are you okay, Izuku-kun?"
He looked up and nodded.
Izuku got up and brushed off the hospital gown he was wearing from the dirt that had gotten on it. He saw his arms, covered from shoulders to wrists in bandages. His legs in the same condition from upper thigh to ankles. The bandages were dirty and already bleeding through as he could see the slight dark red from under them. His limbs stung and were so soar that he contemplated getting back in the cage just to rest.
But he had a mission to do.
Osachi's cage was still locked tightly and no matter how much he pulled at it, it wouldn't open.
"Just go! I'll be fine, but you have to go! You have a chance to get help! Don't forget about me okay? Just bring help and get me out of here later!" The man whispered urgently.
He really didn't want to leave him. What kind of person, let alone friend, would he be if he left him here to suffer at the hands of that monster? What was the right thing to do? Osachi's fingers curled around his in the dark. He tried not to flinch at the contact. His fingers were cold and bony from lack of warmth and meals, and his eyes met his gaze desperately. The man's face held hope and determination. "Go."
Biting his quivering lip in frustration, he started running as fast as he could towards the door on the opposite side of the hallway. It was large and made of metal that stank of rust and old age. With all his strength, he pulled it open and was met with another hallway, except this one was more normal.
It smelled like an office building, contradicting to sterol and dirt smell from the lab and caged hallway. The floor was made of white tiles instead of concrete and the walls were made of drywall.
Izuku thought he looked out of place here as he closed the door and started running. His feet made a soft patting sound as they hit the tiles continually, his heart was hammering in his throat and his breaths came out as quick panting. Izuku's hair flew behind him and out of his face as he went, it had grown quite long after all these years and went down to his shoulder blades.
The hospital gown stuck to his back as sweat rolled down his nape, he was losing his stamina quickly.
He had to find a way out.
The halls were desolate and empty of other life and he more than once got scared that someone would come and take him from behind.
Finally, he found a door with a staircase sign on the front and hoped this would take him to an exit out. They were easy to climb and soon enough he found himself in a new hallway.
Chatter was heard from down the corridor and Izuku ducked behind a turn and waited for whoever it was to pass. Sighing a breath of relief, he started looking for a way out once more. It went on for minutes but it felt like an eternity with the thrum of his heart in his ears.
And then he found another door.
Cold night air and rain hit his face.
___________________________________
Tenya Iida felt numb.
His bed, which was usually comfortable enough to sleep upon laying down, felt like rock as he stared at his ceiling. He couldn't feel his legs, but that was just because he'd been laying down for too long without moving.
The sheets felt too hot but when he tried laying without them he was too cold.
His mind was swarming with thoughts. Internships were coming up and he'd already chosen his name and the hero he wanted to intern with.
It didn't matter anyway.
With his thoughts steadily darkening, he sat up in his bed and decided to go for a walk to clear his brain. Ururaka-san had been worrying over him, and while he appreciated the gesture, it was starting to get irritating how much she asked if he was okay. She'd started asking everyday ever since after the Sports Festival.
He didn't see the ending fight but he thinks he remembers Bakugo-kun being the one who took first place.
Arms as numb as his legs, he pulled on a proper shirt and a pair of pants and walked out the door. His body moved on autopilot down the street in the quiet of the neighborhood.
Crickets were in the grass in front of his lawn making a racket of noise, but he found it calming. The air smelled like dew and rain water, puddles sat in the sewer drains at the curb that reflected the light of the street lamp.
It must have rained earlier that night.
His thoughts filled with Stain, how he'd attacked Tensei without a second thought and left him crippled and unable to continue hero work.
How could he have done that? Tensei was an amazing hero who saved hundreds of lives. Internships were starting tomorrow and he'd be in Hosu. He could track down the hero killer and make him pay for what he'd done.
There was no other way, he had to regain Tensei's honor and make sure that Stain knew he'd made a mistake.
Tenya walked around for an hour, still plagued with his thoughts and his legs still on autopilot, before he made his way back home and went back to his room. The sun would come up in about three hours so at least he'd get a little sleep before being whisked away to Hosu.
What a horrible idea that had been.
___________________________________
Hello my friends!
How're you all doing this week?
I hope good!
So this chapter took a while for me to write, admittedly. I hope it turned out good cuz I had to reread it a lot.
But if there were any spelling mistakes that I somehow missed I'm sorry, please correct me.
Ima go work on my other stories now!
Thanks for reading!
Bye!
~Ace-chan
(2490 words)