Crack
It sounded way louder than it probably was, seeing as nobody reacted to it, but to Izuku it didn't matter. It was the sound of relief, of progress. He was finally breaking free! The pain would finally stop! After banging onto the glass for so long, after trying to activate a quirk, any quirk, after failing to power up every single time-
CRACK
He could finally feel his quirk spark up inside him, throwing himself against the glass as it slowly but surely started to weaken. Small cracks started to appear, small gaps that allowed a few droplets of this damn liquid to escape. A liquid that seemingly suppressed his quirk factor in one way or another, that made him feel dizzy and weak. Yet it didn't numb the pain. So much pain-
CRACK!
The glass finally burst, causing the liquid to flood out, taking Izuku with it. All the wires and tubes started to break loose, disconnecting as he fell onto the ground, straight into the mess of sticky fluid and broken glass. He gasped and shuddered, ignoring the alarms that were going off around him. The doctor wasn't here right now... This was his chance to escape! To get away from this facility and get back home! Oh how he longed to just go home...
A loud screech reached his ears as he slowly crawled up, still feeling weak from being inside the vat for so long. How long had he been in there..? He didn't know... Izuku knew he slipped in and out of consciousness from time to time, so he couldn't really recall how long it'd been. But it had been long, too long. His body seemingly forgot how to walk now that gravity hit him full force again and he was barely able to dodge the Nomu that attacked him in order to restrain him again.
Must be a security measure the doctor put in place... Izuku didn't have the strength to fight the thing right now, still struggling to keep standing as his blurry vision was trying to gain more accuracy. But as disoriented as he was, his quirk was now fully active and acting on its own. Lashing out at the Nomu on instinct in order to protect himself in this fragile state. All For One's black tendrils quickly found their way towards the Nomu, reflexively doing the one thing it's meant to do: Absorbing quirks.
Izuku felt some of his strength return as he took the quirks this Nomu had to offer, reducing the beast to a mere man. It was a strange sight, seeing such a deformed creature morph into a plain looking human man. Izuku didn't know what to think about it. He knew the Nomu were artificial mutated humans, but he hadn't realised that they could be turned back if their quirks were taken away... Well, that's why they were mutated in the first place, right? In order to hold multiple quirks...
He carefully kneeled down next to the man, checking for a heartbeat, for a pulse, any sign that he was still alive. Nothing. Izuku's breath hitched as he backed off. No... No, no, no, no! He didn't- Tell him he didn't- This was his fault-! He-! Panic washed over him as his breathing picked up, his senses dull and sharp at the same time as the only thing he could focus on was the dead body in front of him. He did that... He killed him by taking away his quirks...
Before he could comprehend what he did, another Nomu ran up to him, All For One lashing out on instinct and neutralizing the thing in an instant. Izuku froze up when he heard the body hit the floor, not looking at it because he knew he'd puke. 'All Nomu are human... Which means that at training camp-'. He shuddered, pulling his knees up to his chest as he tried to control his breathing. He killed them... He murdered all those people!
All For One lashed out again, tuning into his emotional state and reflecting the panic he felt as pure chaos as the facility was destroyed. Glass was broken, spilling all kinds of liquids onto the ground as the alarms kept on blaring through the air, the red flashing lights only adding to the madness. He heard several Nomu screeching and screaming, but they never lasted long and none of those monsters ever reached his trembling body. No, not monsters, humans.
He groaned, clutching his head as he crawled in on himself, trying to block out the screams and the chaos around him. It wasn't working... He needed to get out of here... He wanted to get back home... Yeah, home, he'll just go back home. His family will be able to help him, support him, and make sure he is okay. They'll tell him comforting lies and calm him down... Yeah, he'll do that.
With his mind made up, he crawled back onto his feet, wobbling a bit as he made his way through the mess around him. It was the first time he got a good look at where he was. Seemed like he was on some kind of hill, since he was looking out upon a small city. A part of the building he was in collapsed, but it was only a small wing of the bigger whole. He could smell different kinds of chemicals in the air, but also the distinct scent of blood. It kind of reminded him of a hospital...
And then he saw them. Other people. Humans. Men, women, children... Dressed in white and soft greens and blues. They were all terrified, screaming and running. Panic rose within his chest. What were they so afraid of? Had a Nomu escaped? Was there a villain running rampant? It took him a moment to realise that it was him they were afraid of. That he was the villain in their eyes, the monster...
"Evacuate the site! Make sure the civilians are safe!"
Izuku froze up, turning towards the voice. It was a hero...
"It's just a kid! He's probably lost control over his quirk, so be careful! We need to calm him down, not hurt him!"
There was a hero so close by... Had he been here all this time..? Had he been patrolling this area? All while Izuku was locked away? While he suffered right underneath their noses?! He could've saved him! He could've done something! Izuku didn't have to go through all that pain if he'd just-! His breath hitched. But he didn't... The hero left him be, allowed him to be tortured... A previous thought entered his mind, blaming All Might for simply handing him over to the doctor, sentencing him to death instead of protecting him.
Why would he protect him? Why would any hero want to protect him? To save him? He's the son of a villain, after all... He had a villainous quirk... A quirk that could do more harm than good... It shouldn't surprise him that people were scared of him. Izuku was a monster...
"Hey, are you alright?"
Izuku hadn't noticed All For One had gone silent at his thoughts, nor that the hero had come closer to him.
He was standing right in front of him, giving him a bright smile. It was all just a facade though... Izuku recognized a fake smile from a mile away, this was just part of the persona this guy wanted the world to see... Izuku tilted his head, subconsciously analysing the hero's quirk. A summoning quirk, a protection type. He could probably form a shield of some sort, maybe a barrier? Maybe multiple layers or shields? It didn't really matter in the end.
"You scared us for a moment" the hero continued, his fake smile still present on his face.
"Are you okay? You didn't hurt yourself, right?"
Was he okay..? No, not really... Izuku was in pain, he was hurt. He didn't want to be here, didn't want to talk to this hero. No, the hero was just standing in the way, he needed to move so he could pass and go home.
"I'm here to help, I'm a hero, see?" the man said with a smile.
"Can you tell me your name?"
Izuku didn't react, simply glancing aside, seeing other heroes evacuate the site and do damage control. Why were they even here? This was a bad place, wasn't it? Why were they protecting these people? Weren't they villains?
"It's rude to ask for someone's name without introducing yourself first, hero" Izuku mumbled. He could use this man to get back home. He'll just testify about his kidnapping and he'd be able to go home, right?
"Oh, I'm the protection hero Shirudo! No one will be able to hurt you when I'm around, I promise!"
Hm, so they sent in the person who was able to tank a hard hit. A good strategy when dealing with rampant quirks. That didn't mean he believed a word this man was saying though...
"I'm Midoriya Izuku, I was kidnapped and I'd like to go home now" Izuku said, straight to the point. He didn't care about dressing up his words or trying to act all weak and shy. He just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.
The hero blinked, not expecting that answer, trying to come up with an answer before one of his teammates screamed, earning the attention of everyone who was still within the destruction zone. She'd found the mutilated bodies of the former Nomus... Which caused people to talk and speculate, triggering Izuku in the worst possible way.
"Hey, it's alright. I'll get you out of here and then we can-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Izuku grabbed his arm, All For One activating on its own as it took away his shielding quirk in order to make its holder feel safe. It only caused more panic though. The hero freaked out on him and Izuku's panic took over again. He'd never taken this many different quirks at once before! He'd never even taken a quirk before Stain came along! And now there were greenish see-through energy circles forming around him as his breathing picked up pace.
Nothing was going according to plan! He didn't even have a plan to begin with, but that's besides the point. Izuku hadn't imagined his escape would go this way, with people screaming and heroes attacking him. He screwed his eyes shut, trying to block out the sound, trying to ignore the chaos around him. Home. He just needed to get home. Everything would be okay once he got to his house. And if it wasn't... Well, he'll just have to wait and see.
...
Katsuki was frustrated. It was the only word close enough to the immense emotions he was feeling right now. Restlessness was a close second though, seeing as he constantly paced around and exploded random things without a wink of sleep in the past week. A week! It had been a week since Deku was taken! And even though uncle Hisashi had pinned down the city where he was supposedly taken, nobody had found even a trace of him or those Nomu!
Not until Hitoshi cornered him in the hall one afternoon, looking as serious as ever.
"Izuku is on the news" was all he had to say to get the blonde to come with him and watch the news. And there he was, his childhood friend, going on a rampage in Jaku City... It was filmed through a helicopter, but even from that distance it was very clear this wasn't the Izuku he knew.
No, the green head's eyes had turned white and his body seemed to move on instinct alone, his quirk leading him as his mind stayed blank. What the hell did that doctor do to him?!
"Several heroes have been dispatched to the scene, but none have been able to defeat him so far! The details about his quirk are still unknown! But one thing is certain, this is no ordinary quirk!" the reporter stated as they flew over the scene.
"We know he emerged from the Jaku hospital about an hour ago and has since made his way through the city following a straight path and destroying everything in his way! We don't know where he is headed, but we advise citizens who live on his current course to evacuate immediately!"
After that the screen changed to a map of the region, a solid red line indicating how Deku had moved so far and a dotted red line indicating his predicted route. Katsuki's breathing stopped for a moment as he realised where he was headed.
"Izuku is on his way here" Tenko whispered, voicing their thoughts out loud.
"He completely lost it, he's not even in the same prefecture right now" Dabi muttered.
"Yeah no shit flamebrain!" Katsuki hissed.
"We need to do something to help him" Hitoshi stated.
"There isn't much we can do from here and without Kurogiri, there is no way to teleport us there" Tenko reminded him, clenching his fists by his side. It's not like he didn't want to help his little brother, no, quite the opposite. But there was nothing they could do right now...
"Well I'm not leaving Deku like that! Fuck you!" Katsuki yelled, small explosions popping off.
"You need to calm down! You're no help to anyone in this state!" Dabi told him, trying to be the reasonable one and support his boyfriend's argument. Tenko was right, they were useless right now. And even if they were at the scene, what the hell could they do? Izuku's quirk was all powerful! There was no way any of them were able to stop him! The only one who might have a chance against him in this state is-
"Uhm, guys? You're not gonna like this" Himiko frowned, calling their attention again.
"I think All Might just arrived in Jaku City"