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“I would like to thank you all for coming and keeping the world’s attention on this room so that the rescue operation could happen without warning the League we were coming. Now, if Principal Nezu will grant me permission, I am going to go out to help with the aftermath and do my job, doing everything I can for the people of this city.”
.........................
I know I got out there to collapsed buildings and heavy damage. I know I did a lot of rescue work, finding people trapped by looking for flickers. I know Thirteen was out there, and I know I saw Karasu, doing her own rescue work while broadcasting live.
It blurred together pretty fast, and I spent a lot of it only half hearing what was going on around me through the gibberish fragments of past bullshit, predictably with a lot of Oboro’s voice, although there’s also bits of my father and the muffled, distorted voice of whoever he worked for.
I don’t remember when I passed out; the next thing I remember is a dull ache in my everything, scrapes and bruises catching up, with a few blankets piled on me on the couch, head in Mic’s lap. There’s voices that aren’t just in my head - he’s talking to Karasu and Kuzunoha, and they’re all staying quiet. The dress shirt and suit jacket are in a ruined pile on the floor, but I’ve got the ragged remains of the slacks and my scarves on still. Karasu’s folded up on the loveseat, one wing draped over the back, tail and talons curled up next to her; she’s got a few scrapes and bruises but must’ve gotten a shower or something. Kuzonoha’s got spot and dust in his fur, making him look dingy greyish.
Mike’s paused, but Karasu’s the first one to comment.
“Good morning.”
I mumble something, not even trying for specific words.
“I sent you a copy of everything I recorded, including the parts I left out of the broadcast.... which, I have to say, this is the most frightening times I’ve ever had to invoke opsec on our wounded.”
“Anks.” Wait. Our wounded. Hero casualties. I make a questioning noise, feeling more awake.
“The big boss came out to play. Toshi managed to keep the damage down to a little over one city block, but he got pretty rolled... the old lady’s looking after him.” Mic’s subdued and that’s worrying - none of the frustrated sarcasm from All Might pushing himself too hard, he genuinely got his ass kicked and had to work to restrict the damage.
“Jeanist was almost gutted, I don’t know the details but Lady and Orca were down too. They found Ragdoll, but she’s in some kind of weird coma.” Karasu pulls her wings in a little closer with a ruffle. “The air currents around that fight were insane - I barely managed to swoop in to get Jeanist to the paramedics.”
“We were almost brothers.... nii-san.”
Fuck. “Need to clean out the house... find out what the old man knew.” Mic makes a worried faint little squeak and Karasu and Kuzunoha are staring at me, confused. “Skeleton Key... Shigaraki tipped his hand trying to rattle me - same boss.”
Karasu nods slowly. “So that’s how you got the house.”
“And you haven’t already searched it?” Kuzunoha’s got his head tilted, confused.
I just grumble, and Mic waves a hand for a subject change, which I’m happy to go for. “Bakugou?”
“He’s fine - minor scrapes and pretty stressed. He’s back at the school; they booked it there as soon as they had him clear.” Booking it in plural for the school implies not the heroes or cops present, who would’ve taken him to the police station.
“.... they?”
“Your students this year, man.” Mic pats my hair.
I groan. “What’d they do.”
“Well, Midoriya, Todoroki, and Kirishima decided to try to sneak out and do their own rescue mission, all stealth-like.” I could have almost called who it was, and exactly one of them MIGHT manage stealth. “And Yaorozu and Iida went along to make sure they didn’t get into any fights and got out in one piece.” Sadly, I can’t fault their logic, and I probably need to thank them for keeping their classmates in check. “Course that means they went to the Nomu warehouse and not the bar, but the big boss ported the League and Bakugou there when he showed up.”
So the whole thing was a clusterfuck. “They were smart enough to avoid the big boss, and with All Might and Gran Torino on the scene nobody was paying attention to them, so while the pros kept the big boss busy, they did a teamwork thing to grab Bakugou and run without engaging the League.”
At least they’re learning. At least they had some cooler heads with them. At least they were careful to not engage. At least they didn’t try to help All Might.
“It’s getting left out of all the press releases, ‘cuz if they hadn’t done that, he probably wouldn’t have gotten out of that one with the whole League hounding him, and Toshi would’ve been a lot worse off for trying to cover the kid.”
I bury my head in Mic’s pants leg to muffle the weak wail. I need to get these little bastards licensed, before they get themselves in deep shit trying to break Endeavor’s record.
“Gonna go check on Bakugou.”
Mic grabs my shoulder to hold me in place before I can move. “Whoa whoa whoa! You are in no shape for a debrief!”
“Not gonna debrief!” He pauses for a minute to stare at me hard in warning after my protest before he lets me sit up, wrapping the blanket around my shoulders. “Just need to check on him for myself.”
Mic sighs. “You are getting a shower and getting dressed first, and I’m going with you.”
“Mnegh.” I get up, taking the blanket with me as I shamble toward the bathroom off the main bedroom.
...........
It’s been a long, long night. I think I dozed off leaning on Bakugou a few times, but it was pretty lousy sleep - half-there and lots of nightmares with the creepy boss bastard. I’m not sure if he slept at all. We’ve had both of the new therapist people Nezu hired pass through checking in, and nobody’s really questioned me staying out; I think he’d be out the window if I weren’t here.
He’s either dozing or just zoned out until there’s some movement in the hallway - door opening, I think I can hear Mic out there, but there’s barely any sound of footsteps before the door opens. I know he cracked an eyelid at the sound of the security door opening, and he tenses with his fingers curved when the door opens. Been going on all night, at this point I’ve got a hand on his shoulder to get him to chill before it even registers.
Aizawa looks like Hell - especially after seeing him all cleaned up for the press conference. His hair’s even more chaos than normal, he’s pale and looks half dead, eyes sunken in and he’s scraped up and bruised even with little skin visible. Bakugou tenses up more, staring at him sideways, eyes narrowed.
“Geez, Sensei, you look like Hell.”
He pauses, staring at me long-suffering for a minute, but I did probably cut off Bakugou snapping at him.
“Helped with the aftermath rescue work once I got away from the jackals. Apparently I passed out around sunrise.” He shrugs like it’s nothing; no wonder Mic’s chaperoning him. He focuses on Bakugou fast after that. “So. How’re you holding up?”
“Fine, no thanks to you.”
There’s a just barely visible deflate to Aizawa’s shoulders, and I wince.
“Would’ve been the first one in, but we needed to distract them - let them think they won so the rescue could get in. Nezu’s idea. If I hadn’t been at that conference they would’ve known something was up.”
Bakugou just does a sharp hiss through his teeth, folding his arms and looking away.
“Talked to the old lady and the shrinks on the way in - you’re clear to go home. Take whatever time you need to clear your head, we’ll debrief when you’ve recovered... cops might drop by now and then but they’ve agreed to let one of us be there for any questions. If anything looks funny, you’ve got free access to come and go from campus, lead’em into a bear trap.”
“I SAID I’m fine.” He’s bristling and I’m just edging my chair closer again in case I need to grab him. “And if I’m done here, then I’m out.” He stands up, pushing past Aizawa to storm out; I get two steps following before Aizawa raises a hand.
“I figured he wouldn’t trust me for a while - they must’ve raked him over the coals about me abandoning him... but he’s gonna need someone looking out for him.” He’s usually pretty flat on inflection, but at this point, the exhausted monotone’s starting to get creepy. “Stay as close to him as you can, alright? If you need any excuses to disappear so you can keep an eye on him, let me know and I’ll get you an alibi.”
I nod and give him a salute.
“Thanks.” He turns and starts to walk out. I’m right behind him - it won’t be hard to catch up to Bakugou, at least. Aizawa looks less with it than Bakugou has half the night, drifting down the hallway and not paying any attention to me.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s enough, Oboro. You were right. You’d been right all along.” He didn’t even turn like he was looking at anyone, and it doesn’t look like he’s got any kind of phone headset.
“Sensei?”
He starts, like he’d forgotten I was there, and stares over his shoulder at me funny.
“Uh. You okay? What was that about?”
He actually looks confused at first, then mutters. “Oh. Out loud.” He waves it off. “Forget I said anything.”
Mic is waiting outside the security door, and I barely manage to get his attention as Aizawa’s heading outside to get him to hang back; I keep my hand up until he’s probably out of earshot.
“So, uh. Do you guys know any telepaths normally?”
“No, why?” He’s already looking more concerned.
“Well, in the hallway, he kinda forgot I was there or something and was talking to someone. Told me to forget it when I asked him what was going on.”
Mic inhales, brows furrowing. “What’d he say?”
“Uh. Something about that’s enough and you were right’, to someone named Oboro?”
There’s this slow shift from listening to a full-body wince. “Listen, don’t. Ask him about that or anything or bring it up unless he does first? And don’t. Tell your classmates about that.”
No clue what’s going on, but I nod. “Not a word. .... is he okay?”
Mic starts to say something, then his whole showman thing wilts. “Not right now, no, but better than the worst I’ve seen him. Don’t worry, I’ll look after him.” He pats my shoulder.
“Right. I’m gonna go catch up to Bakugou.” I duck out and dart off; he can’t have gotten too far.
....................
.........................
I know I got out there to collapsed buildings and heavy damage. I know I did a lot of rescue work, finding people trapped by looking for flickers. I know Thirteen was out there, and I know I saw Karasu, doing her own rescue work while broadcasting live.
It blurred together pretty fast, and I spent a lot of it only half hearing what was going on around me through the gibberish fragments of past bullshit, predictably with a lot of Oboro’s voice, although there’s also bits of my father and the muffled, distorted voice of whoever he worked for.
I don’t remember when I passed out; the next thing I remember is a dull ache in my everything, scrapes and bruises catching up, with a few blankets piled on me on the couch, head in Mic’s lap. There’s voices that aren’t just in my head - he’s talking to Karasu and Kuzunoha, and they’re all staying quiet. The dress shirt and suit jacket are in a ruined pile on the floor, but I’ve got the ragged remains of the slacks and my scarves on still. Karasu’s folded up on the loveseat, one wing draped over the back, tail and talons curled up next to her; she’s got a few scrapes and bruises but must’ve gotten a shower or something. Kuzonoha’s got spot and dust in his fur, making him look dingy greyish.
Mike’s paused, but Karasu’s the first one to comment.
“Good morning.”
I mumble something, not even trying for specific words.
“I sent you a copy of everything I recorded, including the parts I left out of the broadcast.... which, I have to say, this is the most frightening times I’ve ever had to invoke opsec on our wounded.”
“Anks.” Wait. Our wounded. Hero casualties. I make a questioning noise, feeling more awake.
“The big boss came out to play. Toshi managed to keep the damage down to a little over one city block, but he got pretty rolled... the old lady’s looking after him.” Mic’s subdued and that’s worrying - none of the frustrated sarcasm from All Might pushing himself too hard, he genuinely got his ass kicked and had to work to restrict the damage.
“Jeanist was almost gutted, I don’t know the details but Lady and Orca were down too. They found Ragdoll, but she’s in some kind of weird coma.” Karasu pulls her wings in a little closer with a ruffle. “The air currents around that fight were insane - I barely managed to swoop in to get Jeanist to the paramedics.”
“We were almost brothers.... nii-san.”
Fuck. “Need to clean out the house... find out what the old man knew.” Mic makes a worried faint little squeak and Karasu and Kuzunoha are staring at me, confused. “Skeleton Key... Shigaraki tipped his hand trying to rattle me - same boss.”
Karasu nods slowly. “So that’s how you got the house.”
“And you haven’t already searched it?” Kuzunoha’s got his head tilted, confused.
I just grumble, and Mic waves a hand for a subject change, which I’m happy to go for. “Bakugou?”
“He’s fine - minor scrapes and pretty stressed. He’s back at the school; they booked it there as soon as they had him clear.” Booking it in plural for the school implies not the heroes or cops present, who would’ve taken him to the police station.
“.... they?”
“Your students this year, man.” Mic pats my hair.
I groan. “What’d they do.”
“Well, Midoriya, Todoroki, and Kirishima decided to try to sneak out and do their own rescue mission, all stealth-like.” I could have almost called who it was, and exactly one of them MIGHT manage stealth. “And Yaorozu and Iida went along to make sure they didn’t get into any fights and got out in one piece.” Sadly, I can’t fault their logic, and I probably need to thank them for keeping their classmates in check. “Course that means they went to the Nomu warehouse and not the bar, but the big boss ported the League and Bakugou there when he showed up.”
So the whole thing was a clusterfuck. “They were smart enough to avoid the big boss, and with All Might and Gran Torino on the scene nobody was paying attention to them, so while the pros kept the big boss busy, they did a teamwork thing to grab Bakugou and run without engaging the League.”
At least they’re learning. At least they had some cooler heads with them. At least they were careful to not engage. At least they didn’t try to help All Might.
“It’s getting left out of all the press releases, ‘cuz if they hadn’t done that, he probably wouldn’t have gotten out of that one with the whole League hounding him, and Toshi would’ve been a lot worse off for trying to cover the kid.”
I bury my head in Mic’s pants leg to muffle the weak wail. I need to get these little bastards licensed, before they get themselves in deep shit trying to break Endeavor’s record.
“Gonna go check on Bakugou.”
Mic grabs my shoulder to hold me in place before I can move. “Whoa whoa whoa! You are in no shape for a debrief!”
“Not gonna debrief!” He pauses for a minute to stare at me hard in warning after my protest before he lets me sit up, wrapping the blanket around my shoulders. “Just need to check on him for myself.”
Mic sighs. “You are getting a shower and getting dressed first, and I’m going with you.”
“Mnegh.” I get up, taking the blanket with me as I shamble toward the bathroom off the main bedroom.
...........
It’s been a long, long night. I think I dozed off leaning on Bakugou a few times, but it was pretty lousy sleep - half-there and lots of nightmares with the creepy boss bastard. I’m not sure if he slept at all. We’ve had both of the new therapist people Nezu hired pass through checking in, and nobody’s really questioned me staying out; I think he’d be out the window if I weren’t here.
He’s either dozing or just zoned out until there’s some movement in the hallway - door opening, I think I can hear Mic out there, but there’s barely any sound of footsteps before the door opens. I know he cracked an eyelid at the sound of the security door opening, and he tenses with his fingers curved when the door opens. Been going on all night, at this point I’ve got a hand on his shoulder to get him to chill before it even registers.
Aizawa looks like Hell - especially after seeing him all cleaned up for the press conference. His hair’s even more chaos than normal, he’s pale and looks half dead, eyes sunken in and he’s scraped up and bruised even with little skin visible. Bakugou tenses up more, staring at him sideways, eyes narrowed.
“Geez, Sensei, you look like Hell.”
He pauses, staring at me long-suffering for a minute, but I did probably cut off Bakugou snapping at him.
“Helped with the aftermath rescue work once I got away from the jackals. Apparently I passed out around sunrise.” He shrugs like it’s nothing; no wonder Mic’s chaperoning him. He focuses on Bakugou fast after that. “So. How’re you holding up?”
“Fine, no thanks to you.”
There’s a just barely visible deflate to Aizawa’s shoulders, and I wince.
“Would’ve been the first one in, but we needed to distract them - let them think they won so the rescue could get in. Nezu’s idea. If I hadn’t been at that conference they would’ve known something was up.”
Bakugou just does a sharp hiss through his teeth, folding his arms and looking away.
“Talked to the old lady and the shrinks on the way in - you’re clear to go home. Take whatever time you need to clear your head, we’ll debrief when you’ve recovered... cops might drop by now and then but they’ve agreed to let one of us be there for any questions. If anything looks funny, you’ve got free access to come and go from campus, lead’em into a bear trap.”
“I SAID I’m fine.” He’s bristling and I’m just edging my chair closer again in case I need to grab him. “And if I’m done here, then I’m out.” He stands up, pushing past Aizawa to storm out; I get two steps following before Aizawa raises a hand.
“I figured he wouldn’t trust me for a while - they must’ve raked him over the coals about me abandoning him... but he’s gonna need someone looking out for him.” He’s usually pretty flat on inflection, but at this point, the exhausted monotone’s starting to get creepy. “Stay as close to him as you can, alright? If you need any excuses to disappear so you can keep an eye on him, let me know and I’ll get you an alibi.”
I nod and give him a salute.
“Thanks.” He turns and starts to walk out. I’m right behind him - it won’t be hard to catch up to Bakugou, at least. Aizawa looks less with it than Bakugou has half the night, drifting down the hallway and not paying any attention to me.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s enough, Oboro. You were right. You’d been right all along.” He didn’t even turn like he was looking at anyone, and it doesn’t look like he’s got any kind of phone headset.
“Sensei?”
He starts, like he’d forgotten I was there, and stares over his shoulder at me funny.
“Uh. You okay? What was that about?”
He actually looks confused at first, then mutters. “Oh. Out loud.” He waves it off. “Forget I said anything.”
Mic is waiting outside the security door, and I barely manage to get his attention as Aizawa’s heading outside to get him to hang back; I keep my hand up until he’s probably out of earshot.
“So, uh. Do you guys know any telepaths normally?”
“No, why?” He’s already looking more concerned.
“Well, in the hallway, he kinda forgot I was there or something and was talking to someone. Told me to forget it when I asked him what was going on.”
Mic inhales, brows furrowing. “What’d he say?”
“Uh. Something about that’s enough and you were right’, to someone named Oboro?”
There’s this slow shift from listening to a full-body wince. “Listen, don’t. Ask him about that or anything or bring it up unless he does first? And don’t. Tell your classmates about that.”
No clue what’s going on, but I nod. “Not a word. .... is he okay?”
Mic starts to say something, then his whole showman thing wilts. “Not right now, no, but better than the worst I’ve seen him. Don’t worry, I’ll look after him.” He pats my shoulder.
“Right. I’m gonna go catch up to Bakugou.” I duck out and dart off; he can’t have gotten too far.
....................
