"You okay there Midoriya?" Asui croaked.
After a few seconds of coughing up the water in his lungs, Midoriya nodded. "Thanks Asu…Tsuyu. Yeah, I'm fine…was anybody else dropped with us?"
"Wow, I'm actually surprised that I didn't have to correct you on that." Asui said. "And no, I think it's just us."
Midoriya gave the girl a curious look. "You're certainly taking this well. Aren't you scared?"
"I am." She replied. "But it's not like panicking will make the situation any better."
Midoriya raised his eyebrows in respect. "No," he agreed, "no it won't."
'She's got a really good head on her shoulders…I'll talk to Yaoyorozu about adding her to the council after this.'
"They knew our schedule." Midoriya removed his helmet and shook out his hair. "The simplest explanation is that they caused that mess with the press yesterday to get their info. It's like Todoroki said, they've been waiting for this chance and prepared well."
"What about you?" Asui asked. "They seem to think they've got a plan to kill All Might, but you don't seem scared at all either."
"I'm not." Midoriya replied, digging through his waterlogged medicine pouch. "Because I've got a surefire way out of this."
"You've got a plan?" Asui asked.
"Yeah." Midoriya unwrapped the waterproof packaging containing his cyanide tablet. "I'm going to use my quirk."
Asui eyed the tablet. "What's that? Some kind of medicine for your quirk?"
Midoriya smiled. "Something like that. Sorry in advance." He took the pill.
And the world went black.
XXX
HEROES NEVER DIE
XXX
"It is regrettable," A deep menacing voice reverberated within the darkness, "but to achieve our goals, you will all be scattered...tortured...and slain."
Midoriya opened his eyes and paled when he realized that he was plummeting towards a body of water. 'No.' He thought.
~SPLASH~
'No no no no no…it can't be.' He forced his eyes open, ignoring the stinging from the salt water. 'It can't start here!'
"Sorry kid!" The distorted voice of a fish-like man rang out underwater. The villain opened his enormous mouth and displayed rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth. "But you're chum!"
Just as before, Asui's feet slammed into the villain's head, knocking them out. Then, Midoriya was unceremoniously deposited onto the deck of the boat by Asui's powerful tongue.
"You okay there Midoriya?" She croaked. "…Midoriya?"
Coughing the water out of his lungs, Midoriya ignored Asui and staggered to the railing of the boat and began to count the villains waiting for them. 'One...two…seven…ten.' His stomach dropped. 'There are ten villains out there waiting for us. They likely all have water related quirks. Can I beat them with what we have available?' He tightened his grip on the railing, squeezing the metal bar until his knuckles popped.
"Midoriya?" Asui's concerned voice rang out behind him. "Are you okay?"
Midoriya took a deep breath. 'Okay Izuku, calm down. The loops have never put you in an inescapable situation. There is a way out. I can do this. I have to do this.'
"Yes." He replied. He turned and faced Asui with a determined smile. "Everything is going to be just fine."
'Because I am here.'
AN: Muhahahaha, and so it begins. Don't worry about too long of a wait, I've been working out the details of the next chapter as well and I'm EXTREMELY excited to put it out. For those of you who were happy about Grape Juice getting the boot, know that your joy will cause our boy quite a bit of pain. Anyways, until next time, PLUS ULTRA.
Trapped
Chapter Summary
This chapter contains recent spoilers from the manga. Anime-only readers, you have been warned!
"It is regrettable, but to achieve our goals, you will all be scattered...tortured...and slain."
~SPLASH!~
"Sorry kid, it's nothing personal! But you're chum!"
"Are you okay Midoriya?"
"I'm fine." Midoriya removed his waterlogged helmet and jacket before mentally brushing off his latest failure. "Everything is going to be all right."
'Okay,' He furrowed his brow in concentration. 'Obviously, using the boat isn't an option as long as they keep destroying it the moment the engines kick in.'
He'd never piloted a boat before, but Midoriya was confident in his ability to figure out the intricacies of the practice over the course of a couple of loops if necessary. He'd wasted a handful of loops trying to find the keys to the rescue vehicle they used as their refuge before he'd realized that they were probably in Thirteen's possession. From there, figuring out how to hotwire the boat in under four minutes been a bit more of a challenging, but it wasn't anything he couldn't overcome with his basic set of tools and some trial and error.
'Well, I can't say this has been a total waste. I learned something new, and I can keep this as an option once we deal with our most pressing issue.' Midoriya stared over the railing of the boat at a specific villain with amphibian features and a dangerous knack for hydrokinesis.
"There's only two of them!" One of the villains surrounding the boat laughed, "Let's just get in there and tear 'em apart!"
"Don't just charge in there, you idiot!" The amphibious villain barked, "Shigaraki told us not to get cocky. Judge them by their quirks, not their age!" The water around the villain began to bubble and writhe in response to his mental command. "And clearly, our quirks have the advantage in the water."
'He's obviously in some kind of a leadership role.' Midoriya noted, 'But he's not just powerful, he's cautious too. That guy is dangerous. We're obviously going to have to take him out if we want to succeed, but it'll have to be done from inside the boat…maybe we can jury rig some kind of ranged weapon with the equipment we have available?'
As he mentally measured the distance and angle between the boat and their target, Midoriya wished that he had his notebook with him to help organize his thoughts. He had dropped it when he was caught in Kurogiri's gate, so it was presumably sitting at the top of the stairs, near the entrance. While he was busy wracking his brain for a plan, a blade of water suddenly sliced the boat in half and the craft began to rapidly sink.
"Any bright ideas, Midoriya?" Asui asked, completely deadpan, "All I can think of at the moment is to swim as hard as we can and hope for the best, so if you've got something better than that, now would be a really great time to let me know."
Midoriya shook his head with impressed disbelief. He was basically immortal, so Midoriya didn't think his nonchalant attitude towards lethal situations counted, but Asui's ability to keep her cool under pressure and crack jokes like that while staring death in the face took some serious nerves of steel.
"Start swimming." He suggested, "Without the boat, my current plan is off the table this time."
"This time?" Asui croaked.
Midoriya shook his head and called upon One for All. "Don't worry about it. I'll distract them, but you only have a moment before I have to focus on saving myself, so get ready to go on my mark." Asui nodded. "Three, two, one, go!"
…
"It is regrettable, but to achieve our goals, you will all be scattered...tortured...and slain."
~SPLASH!~
"Sorry kid, it's nothing personal! But you're chum!"
"Are you okay Midoriya?"
"I'm fine." Midoriya tersely replied, "Help me gather every bit of equipment you can find on this boat. We need to make a weapon. Hurry, I'll give us a couple of minutes at most before they come for us."
Asui nodded and immediately began to gather materials as requested. "What kind of weapon are we making?"
"Something with at least 5 meters of range." He said, "Something that can be assembled quickly, and is preferably reusable."
"What about this?" Asui asked, holding up a small anchor she scavenged off of one of the lifeboats. "It's got a rope attached, and if you threw it with your strength, anyone who gets hit with this probably isn't getting back up."
Midoriya eyed the sharp edges of the anchor and shook his head. "Tsuyu, if I hit someone with that thing, it wouldn't knock them out, it'd kill them. I can't do that."
"That's a real noble sentiment, Midoriya." Asui croaked, "But I doubt the guys down there feel the same way. I just stopped one of them from eating you a minute ago. We're outnumbered by adult villains who have demonstrated murderous intent. We're trapped in a situation where we can't reasonably expect to escape with our lives or receive authorized assistance. We're legally in the clear for any actions taken in the immediate pursuit of preserving our lives."
"I'm aware of the law." Midoriya replied. "But I won't kill them."
"But—" Asui began.
"No." Midoriya stated definitively, silencing her objections with glowing eyes and sheer force of will. "I won't do it. Not now, not ever. End of discussion." He paused. "We'll have to find another way."
He stared at the anchor speculatively, "Maybe if I wrap it in my coat and secure it with rope…no, it'd still produce way too much blunt force…if I tried it with my helmet though…that could work without necessarily being lethal."
XXX
HEROES NEVER DIE
XXX
"It is regrettable, but to achieve our goals, you will all be scattered...tortured...and slain."
~SPLASH!~
When he hit the water, Midoriya didn't open his eyes or even attempt to fight against the weight of his gear dragging him to the depths of the flood zone. As the seconds ticked by, he ignored the posturing of the villain, and the sensation of a tongue wrapping around him and dumping him onto the boat that had become his entire universe for who knows how long. Midoriya tried to ignored the person shouting his name, but ended up having no choice to respond when his nostrils were assaulted by the unmistakable smell and sensation of ammonia.
"Midoriya!" Asui's eyes were wide with concern and she let out a sigh of relief when he gasped and opened his eyes. "Thank goodness, you weren't responding at all…are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Midoriya stared at Asui for a second before he snatched his waist pouch out of her hands and tossed it overboard. 'No more smelling salts for you.'
"What are you doing?" Asui asked, "Why did you just toss all of your gear? Have you gone nuts?"
"Shut up." He shut his eyes and dropped his head back onto the deck of the boat. "I…I'm so tired…I can't think…I just…I just need some time to rest."
Asui made a choking sound, "What are you saying? Midoriya!"
Midoriya desperately needed mental respite—his body wasn't physically fatigued, but he had been in a constant fight-or-flight state for what seemed like months. To make matters worse, the frequent resets meant that the chemical receptors in his brain wouldn't become desensitized to the stress hormones surging through his body. He felt as if his mind was coming apart at the seams.
By using several of his colored smoke dispensers for cover, and his helmet—stuffed with filler and secured with copious amounts of rope—as a projectile, Midoriya could reliably take out up to four of the ten villains surrounding them before they caught on and cut the rope allowing them to retrieve the improvised weapon.
Unfortunately, the amphibious villain was far from the only enemy capable of destroying their refuge, and after robbing Midoriya and Asui of their ranged options, it was never long before the villains scuttled the boat in one fashion or another. Then, it was only a matter of time before the two teens were overwhelmed by their enemy's sheer numerical and environmental advantage.
On a handful of occasions, he'd actually managed to make it to the shore—usually at the expense of Asui or some grave injury to himself. However, once there, he was either cut down by the pursuing aquatic villains, disintegrated by Shigaraki Tomura—the pale man leading the League of Villains—or pummeled into paste by the blindingly fast and powerful creature called 'Noumu.'
'What was I even doing before this started?' Midoriya wondered. 'Some kind of training? How long have I been stuck here? I lost count a while ago, but I don't think I've been in a loop this long since...no. Don't think about that. Just breathe.'
Overwhelmed by the combination of Midoriya's inexplicable mental breakdown and the seemingly inescapable death awaiting them, Asui finally lost her cool and began to cry when a blade of water sliced the boat in half, robbing them of their sanctuary. Given her steely composure, Midoriya had been surprised the first time she cried, but he supposed that his presence must have been more reassuring than he gave himself credit for. He had felt guilty the first couple dozen times his lack of mental energy prevented him from giving her any kind of moral support, but now he just found her crying annoying.
'Ugh…and now here comes the crying…' He thought as his consciousness slipped in and out of the present moment, 'It's so distracting, I really wish that she would just—'
XXX
(10 Years Ago)
XXX
"—cut it out, Kacchan." Five-year-old Midoriya's voice was devoid of emotion. "He's crying already. Let him go." His gazed was fixed upon the ground, hiding sunken, haunted eyes that were chillingly out of place on such a young child.
Bakugo let out a laugh. "Hey look guys!" He said to the two cronies at his back, "It's Deku, the quirkless wonder! Still trying to play hero, Deku? Sorry, but the Bakugo Hero Agency doesn't have any room for quirkless weaklings!"
"I don't want play with you." Midoriya said quietly. "I want you to stop…and I'm not quirkless, the doctor said so."
"If you aren't quirkless, then why don't you show us your quirk, Deku?" Bakugo jeered.
"…I can't." Midoriya clenched his tiny fists. "My quirk…doesn't work like that."
"Then you might as well be quirkless." Bakugo let out a laugh, "Actually, it sounds like your quirk is a perfect fit. It's good for nothing, just like you!"
The rest of his cadre began to laugh along with him. "Deku, Deku!" They chanted rhythmically, "He's good as quirkless! Deku, Deku, he's totally worthless!"
"Stop it." Midoriya quietly pled, desperation leaking into his tired voice. "Kacchan please…please just stop…why do you keep doing this?"
"Get out of my way, Deku!" Bakugo demanded, ignoring Midoriya's words. He eyed the crying boy behind Midoriya menacingly and began to march forward. "I've got a bad guy to kill."
On instinct, Midoriya stuck out his arm to halt Bakugo's forward progress. "I said n—"
The sound of firecrackers was Midoriya's only warning before he was sent tumbling to the ground, leaving him with a split lip and the side of his face covered with minor burns.
"I told you to get out of my way, Deku." Bakugo growled.
"Ah! Kacchan!" The two other members of the "Bakugo Hero Agency" pointed at the fleeing back of Bakugo's original choice of victim. "The villain is getting away!"
Bakugo narrowed his eyes and stormed over to Midoriya, who continued to lie on the ground. Bakugo sneered at the sight of his former friend's quivering shoulders. "Deku, you idiot! Look at what you did!"
'What do I do?' Midoriya's tears stung as they ran down his burned cheek. 'Why won't it stop…why is this happening to me…why won't he just listen?! I don't know what to do!'
Midoriya had lost count of how many times he'd replayed this afternoon. No matter what he said, no matter what he did, the result remained the same—within a few minutes of this encounter, something would inevitably kill him and send him right back to his room, a few hours before Bakugo decided to "play hero." Talking didn't work, avoiding the park didn't work, telling an adult didn't work, preemptively attracting Bakugo's ire in the place of Bakugo's victim didn't work, getting the other boy to leave before the confrontation didn't work, the only thing he hadn't tried was fighting Bakugo directly.
'I can't fight Kacchan. I can't win…he's too strong. He always wins…he even beat up a middle schooler!'
"Look Kacchan!" One of Bakugo's cronies crowed, "He's crying!"
Bakugo sneered. "You useless little crybaby! Don't think that crying will get you out of your punishment! You helped the villain escape! That makes you a villain," a cruel smile appeared on his face, "and I am here to dispense justice!"
Midoriya inhaled sharply. "Fear not, citizens!" All Might's deep voice boomed in his mind. He had watched the video that particular line originated from so many times that the image of All Might's smiling face at that exact moment had been etched into his soul. "Help has arrived, because I am here!"
That simple statement had become a lifeline to Midoriya after his quirk emerged. It was something to hold onto when he felt as if he were about to drown in despair at his helplessness. Hearing Bakugo take that precious bit of hope and warmth, twisting and warping it with his childish cruelty into the plaything of a bully was too much for him to bear.
"Shut up." Midoriya whispered, barely noticing the sensation of his fingers wrapping around a nearby rock.
Bakugo's eyes narrowed. "What was that, Deku?"
Trembling with anger, Midoriya rose to his feet and hid the egg-sized rock behind his back. "I told you to shut your mouth, Kacchan." He said, louder this time. "You're nothing like All Might, so don't you dare use his catchphrase."
Bakugo bristled. "What does a useless loser like you know about All Might? I'm gonna be a hero just like him—one who never loses, no matter what!"
"No, you aren't!" Midoriya tightened his grip on the stone. "You aren't a hero, you're just a mean, stupid bully, and I won't let you use his catchphrase! Now shut up!"
"Don't tell me what to do, Deku!" Bakugo growled. "I am here! I am here! I am—"
"SHUT UP!" Midoriya shrieked. He lashed out with the rock and smashed it into the side of Bakugo's head with a loud ~Crack~. Bakugo's eyes glazed over and Midoriya pounced on him like a rabid animal, howling with rage.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Stone in hand, he rained down wild, blows upon his helpless opponent while tears poured down his face. Each blow landed with a sickening thud, opening grisly wounds which splattered Midoriya with alarming amounts of blood. "I hate you! I hate you! I HATE YOU!"
The two other boys were frozen in shock at the sight of Midoriya doing his utmost to smash in Bakugo's skull, their faces ashen at the sheer volume of blood pouring out of their motionless friend.
"H-Hey!" The chubby, winged boy finally cried. He darted forward and grabbed Midoriya by the arms to pull him off the unresponsive Bakugo. "Cut it out, Deku! Kacchan is bleeding a lot! I think he's really hurt!"
"Crap!" The taller boy was falling into a panic and had tears in his eyes. "Tsubasa, this is really bad! We need to get an adult! I…I don't think Kacchan is breathing!"
"Let me go!" Midoriya snarled, "It's all his fault! Everything is his fault!"
He tried to renew his assault on Bakugo, but Tsubasa's hold on him was stronger than his flailing attempts to break free. Gradually, the animalistic rage that had overtaken him faded away and his senses returned to him. It was only then that he noticed the blood that covered his hands and dyed Bakugo's ash-blond hair a dark red. He let out a horrified shriek of anguish and he fell to his knees, collapsing into hysterical tears.
"Why won't it stop?" He screamed over and over at the motionless, glassy-eyed form of Bakugo. "Why won't it stop? Why won't it stop? Why won't it—"
XXX
HEROES NEVER DIE
XXX
"—stop!" Midoriya shouted before immediately breaking out into a coughing fit from the excess water in his lungs.
"What are you talking about?" Asui asked as she hopped into the boat. "Stop what?"
Midoriya blinked and stared at his shaking hands, inspecting them for blood. 'Crap…I'm having flashbacks of the park. This is really bad. I haven't had one of those in a really long time. I need to get out of here.' He took a shuddering breath and tightly grabbed one of his wrists, cradling it to his chest in a desperate attempt to stop his trembling. 'Remember, Izuku. Remember who you are. You aren't that person anymore.'
'Who do you think you're fooling, Deku?' A voice whispered in the back of his mind. 'You know what you need to do to escape. Stop holding back and do what needs to be done. It'll be easy…just like riding a bike.'
Midoriya shook his head. "Shut up." He whispered. "I didn't know anything. I didn't understand what I was doing. I didn't know who I was."
'Start with the hydrokinetic one.' The little voice said, 'Use the anchor, like Tsuyu said. Just think about how satisfying it'll be to see that bastard bleed out through his crushed skull!'
"No." Midoriya muttered. "I can't do that. Have to find another way."
"Midoriya?" Asui stared at her class rep in disbelief. It was hard for her to reconcile her image of the powerful, charismatic, and fiercely competent boy who'd taken out Todoroki with the muttering shell of a person in the midst of a nervous breakdown.
"Can't give up." He muttered, practically hyperventilating in his attempt to calm down. "Have to keep trying…remember who you are…you're a hero."
"Midoriya, what's wrong?" Asui glanced over the edge of the railing and let out a nervous croak when she saw the gathered villains beginning to grow restless. She walked back over to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Midoriya, you need to pull yourself together. I can't do this without your—"
XXX
HEROES NEVER DIE
XXX
"Help!" The other children screamed as they fled the playground in terror. "Deku killed Kacchan! Someone please help!"
Bloodied kitchen knife still in his hand, Midoriya tilted his head and stared down at Bakugo with the detached, malicious curiosity of a child pulling the wings off of an insect to watch it squirm.
"D-Deku…" Bakugo moaned. He lay on the ground in the fetal position, shivering as he clutched his torn stomach in a desperate and futile attempt to staunch the flow of blood. "…w-why?"
"Why?" Midoriya echoed with a frown, seemingly stumped by the question. He set down the knife and knelt next to the dying boy. "Why do you do the things you do, Kacchan?"
"I…I d-d-don't..." Bakugo weakly replied, "w-w-what a-are you…?"
"You know what I think?" Midoriya asked, "I think you like to hurt people. You're always so happy when you play hero and beat me up, so I thought I'd play the hero this time." Midoriya smiled. "What's wrong? Aren't you having fun?"
"I…I'm s-scared." Tears slipped down Bakugo's face, washing away the dust of the playground and leaving tracks his pale, bloodless cheeks. "I d-don't wanna die."
"Don't worry Kacchan." Midoriya said. "This isn't real. Nothing is. You won't remember a thing when you come back. You'll be the villain again, and I'll stop you again. Don't worry." He repeated softly. "We'll play hero again."
As the sound of sirens approached them and the light faded from Bakugo's red eyes, an eerie grin stretched across Midoriya's round, childish face. He stood up, dusted off his pants and picked up the knife. "But for now,"
XXX
HEROES NEVER DIE
XXX
"Let's go kill some bad guys." Midoriya muttered.
"Huh?" Asui laid a hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. "Are you okay?"
When Midoriya looked up and met Asui's gaze, she recoiled in surprise. Instead of his calm, kind, and genuine smile, the expression on Midoriya's face had an uncanny, mask-like quality; his eyes, normally vibrant and full of warmth, were cold and lifeless. Asui was uncomfortably reminded of a childhood visit to a wax museum—she found the incredibly lifelike sculptures so unsettling that she had been plagued by nightmares for months afterwards.
"M-Midoriya?" Asui's voice quivered.
Midoriya blinked and the dead look in his eyes disappeared, replaced by horror at what he had just said. "S-Sorry about that. I was somewhere else for a moment there."
"Don't worry about it. I think we have more important problems on our hands…like what are we going to do about these villains?" She looked over the railing. "It seems like they're not going to attack right now, but I don't know how long that will last." She glanced back his way. "Any chance you've got an idea on how to handle them like you did with Todoroki?"
"No." Midoriya replied. "But I'm going to keep thinking. Just give me a minute."