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The first things to cross Momo’s mind are that she isn't in her bed, and she isn't waking up normally.
It feels like a fog has descended over all her senses. She can vaguely hear her breathing and feel a blanket over her, but she can't see well. Her self-awareness starts to kick in, as she tries to piece together what happened. She doesn’t know where she is, and she doesn't remember getting knocked out at all.
The last thing she remembers is walking from the bus stop to Uwabami’s agency, but nothing afterwards. Her vision still doesn’t seem to be up to speed with her eyes, but as she looks around, she determines that this is not the agency. There’s a rustle from across the room, followed by padding footsteps that echo in Momo’s head. A pale blur enters her vision, shifting with nervous energy.
“Miss, are you okay?”
The little gray blur sounds like a kid. What in the world is a kid doing here?
“Miss? You aren’t okay? You’re hurt?”
Momo hadn’t responded. “No, no, ‘m okay, a little confused, is all.” The effort of speaking makes her want to cry, but it seems to speed up the return of her senses, as her eyes begin to focus on the person kneeling beside her.
The kid is small, painfully small, almost engulfed by her pale hair, and she’s wearing a hospital gown. The little girl fidgets with the bandages wrapping her arms, bandages, and ducks her head as Momo pushes herself upright on the floor. Something isn’t right, other than the fact that Momo’s been kidnapped. A kid that’s supposed to be in primary school shouldn’t be covered in bandages.
“Can I help?” the girl asks. She seems shy, afraid of rejection.
“I think you can, would you mind telling me your name?”
“I’m Eri.”
“That’s a very pretty name, Eri. You can call me Yaomomo. Do you know where we are?”
Momo wants to get herself and Eri out of this situation, but she doesn't know if her captors know that she's a UA student. As young as she is, Eri might not grasp the severity of the situation and end up telling them. Until Momo knows more about Eri and her captors, it's best to play it safe.
“This is my room.”
It doesn’t look like much of a child’s room to Momo. The only thing in the room is a bed, the blanket of which someone, presumably Eri, draped over her.
“Do you know why we’re in your room, then?”
Eri fidgets again, rocking back and forth. “I’m here ‘cause of my curse, but you’re too nice for that. So I dunno why Overhaul got you.”
Overhaul, presumably the name of their captor. Momo hasn’t heard the name before, but she should still be cautious.
Momo reconsiders what Eri said.
“Could you explain what you mean by ‘your curse’?”
Eri looks away in shame. “People get hurt ‘cause of me. That’s why Overhaul keeps me here, so I don’t make people go away.”
“Do you mean your quirk? Eri, if you’re having trouble controlling your quirk, then you should be seeing a specialist, not staying locked in this room.”
“But mine can only be bad. I turn people into kids then babies and then they disappear, an— and it’s my fault," Eri sniffs, dragging her arm across her teary eyes.
Momo feels her heart breaking for this little girl she just met, while her pulse roars in her ears. Overhaul, whoever they are, made Eri think she's a bad person for something out of her control. Something that they should be helping her with, instead of shutting her in this prison.
"Eri, sweetheart, look at me. Nothing that's happened is your fault, okay? People should have helped you when you needed it. You aren't bad, or cursed," she says. Eri doesn't believe her, Momo can tell, and that's all the more heart-wrenching.
"Can I hug you?"
Momo's an only child, but from what Asui has told her, kids are tactile.
Eri shakes her head, so Momo thinks for a moment.
"Ok, I have an idea. Since you don't want us to touch, if I wrap this blanket around you, can I give you a hug?"
Eri hesitates, but eventually agrees. She inches towards Momo almost painfully slowly at first, but once she's in her arms, Eri grips Momo through the blanket like this is the last hug she'll ever get.
Momo won't fail to help Eri like everyone else has. They'll both get out of here, Overhaul be damned.
___
All of Momo's earlier reservations go out the window after that.
"I'm a hero student, you know."
Eri needs someone to cheer her up, and she's mature enough to know not to tell Overhaul unprompted.
"Really?" Eri seems interested, in her subdued, sad sort of way.
"I sure am. And some of my classmates are like you, in some ways. Would you like to hear about them?"
Eri nods.
"There's this one boy, Midoriya. At the start of the year, he kept getting injured because he couldn't control his quirk well, the same as you. But as the year went by, with the guidance of our teachers, he started gaining control. He got hurt less and less, and now he hardly ever gets hurt!"
"Really? He learned how to control it?" Eri leans forward, her forced-down excitement starting to show through.
Momo nods and smiles at her. "Now he's one of the strongest members of our class. His hero name is Deku, which sounds kind of mean, right? Well, he took that and turned it into something new. You can do that too, Eri."
"I can make my curse good?"
It's progress, even if she still believes her quirk is bad. With time, Eri can heal from this place.
Before Momo can respond, the door opens and sheds a beam of light over both of their faces, making them squint. Momo looks to Eri to see her reaction. All her previous excitement has vanished.
A man stands in front of the light streaming in from outside, and Momo feels a sudden rush of anxiety. While bonding with Eri, she'd forgotten how much danger she's really in.
"Eri," the man says, "come on, we're going out for a walk. Little Miss, you're going to Overhaul."
___
The door clangs shut behind Momo, but the phantom feeling of Eri's quick hug from outside the room remains.
"Hello, hero."
Overhaul is younger than Momo had expected, younger than Aizawa-sensei, at least. And less intimidating. That makes it easier for Momo to harden her gaze and steel her voice when she speaks.
"What do you intend to do with me and Eri?"
If she's surprised him in any way, he doesn't show it. Instead, he sighs and crosses his arms on his desk.
"Let me be frank with you, Yaoyorozu, if I can call you that, of course?"
He doesn't wait for an answer.
"You disgust me. You, and the rest of your infected society, with your damned quirks, heroes, and villains. But, I want your help."
"You're—"
"Let me finish," Overhaul says. He grabs the fingers of his gloves as if to pull them off, and Momo listens.
"With Eri's curse, I've created bullets that cure people of their quirks. But she's so small, harvesting materials from her takes too long. At this rate, the production of bullets can't keep up with the breeding of you diseased rats."
There's so much wrong with what Overhaul just said. He's made bullets intended to eradicate quirks through experimentation on a child? And the nonchalant way he said it all, as if it isn't enough to make Momo's stomach churn, it's terrifying.
"And that's where you come in. With you as an endless supplier, I don't need to bother with Eri anymore. More of the product, less of the mess."
Momo's face burns. The audacity this man has, to ask Momo to create something so monstrous, is astronomical. And the way he intends to use Eri as collateral, like she isn't a living, breathing, suffering human?
"And why the hell would I do that? You've kept a child locked away and tortured her entire life, and now you want me to create an infinite supply of quirk-erasing bullets so you can, what, shoot the entire population? What about this situation makes you think that I would be willing to help you?"
Overhaul sighs, then pushes himself onto his feet. "I was afraid you'd say that."
Momo only has a second to process his nonresponse before he pulls his glove off, and her already elevated heartbeat rushes up to her ears and her brain is too big for her head and everything is pulsing and it hurts—
She's gone.
She can feel the crawling, searing sensation of her nerves restructuring themselves while bared to the world, she can see, she can't close her eyes, and she can feel, and it's excruciating, her skin layering itself back together piece by piece, hypodermis below dermis below epidermis, hair resettling into follicles, teeth back into sockets—
And she falls to the floor gasping, everything back to the way it was before. Except it isn't, everything had been touched. Overhaul just— Momo died.
"If you decide you don't want to help, you get reset again. And a little extra incentive, because I know how you hero types are, every time you get reset, Eri does twice, while you watch."
Momo can't speak. She's shocked still on the floor, as if any movement will shake free the bones exposed mere seconds ago. She was wrong to underestimate Overhaul, so incredibly wrong, and she's paying for it.
"Now, do we have a deal?"
She doesn't know what to do. There isn't a right answer. If she doesn't agree to make the bullets, then Eri gets tortured, but if she does, she's helping Overhaul hurt other innocent people. She can't think. She needs time that she doesn't have, needs Aizawa-sensei to help her. What would everyone else do?
She tries to summon any amount of Jirou's rebellion, Shouto's confidence, Midoriya's reckless determination. Any of her classmate's heroism. 'I won't do it,' she means to say.
In the end, she isn't Jirou or Shouto or Midoriya. She's just Momo, and she gives in.
___
Yaoyorozu is missing.
Izuku got the message while on patrol with Mirio— Lemillion, about an hour in. According to Kendou and Uwabami, she'd never made it to the agency.
He's worried, and scared— of course he is— and he would rather do nothing more than to drop everything and look for his missing classmate, but as Izuku was one of the squad that rescued Bakugou, Lemillion is under strict orders to not let him out of his sight.
Izuku can't get away from him. He's tried already, twice.
He'll try again, of course, but until he can find an opening, he'll pretend to patrol. There isn't much going on, which is good, but not really, since he's trying to get away from Lemillion—
Oh. A little girl's run into him and fallen on the ground. Ok, perfect. He helps the girl up, gets Lemillion to help her find her parents, and he can Full Cowling out of here— could he use fifteen percent? That should be enough to get away from— he hears a sniff.
Right, the little girl first.
"Hey, hey, it's ok! Are you hurt?" Izuku reaches a hand out to help her up, but the girl scrambles backwards, still on the ground.
Izuku mentally apologizes to Yaoyorozu as he averts his attention to the girl. He scans her over, and he is not a fan of the picture this is painting. She had been running from something, which is obvious now that he isn't being an idiot, her arms are wrapped in bandages, and she's barefoot.
"Deku, is everything alright?"
If this is what Izuku thinks it is, he'll need help.
"Ah, actually, could—"
"Deku? Like Yaomomo's Deku?"
Izuku nearly gives himself whiplash with how quickly he turns to look at the girl.
"Yaoyorozu? How do you— actually, never mind, do you know where she is?"
It's not a coincidence, right? Yaoyorozu disappears, and this girl that knows her is running from something, so logically, whoever's chasing her must have Yaoyorozu.
"You've got to help, Overhaul's got her, please don't leave," the girl says, tears streaming down her face.
"It's ok, we'll help you both. Do you think you could tell us where she is?"
She opens her mouth to answer.
"Eri, come on. Let's not bother the heroes, yeah?"
Eri's mouth snaps shut, and Izuku stares down the man who appeared from the alleyway behind them. This is the person Eri was running from, the one that has Yaoyorozu.
"She's not bothering us at all, sir! I'm guessing you're Eri's guardian?" Lemillion asks. Izuku looks at him in disbelief. Is he not seeing the massive red flags here?
"No, no, I'm just her babysitter. Her dad's busy right now, so I was taking her for a walk before she ran off. You know how children are, yeah?"
And like hell is Izuku letting Eri go back to her abuser.
"Actually, I'd rather we—"
He's stopped by Lemillion's hand on his shoulder.
"Deku, let's let the man take Eri home, ok?"
Lemillion doesn't see it. The bandages, Eri's fear, none of it. He can't, or else he wouldn't make her go back with this man, right?
The man laughs and steps towards Eri.
"I'd better get her home before her dad starts causing a fuss, right, Eri?"
At this, Eri scrambles up and rushes to the man's side.
"Thank you, Deku," she mumbles, then she and the man begin to walk down the alley they came from.
Lemillion's white-knuckled grip on Izuku's shoulder is the only thing keeping him from grabbing Eri and taking her somewhere safe.
"Mirio—"
"I know, okay? I know. The best thing we can do for them right now is tell Sir and the others."
And that pisses Izuku off more than anything else Lemillion could've said. He knew, and he still let that man walk away with Eri. His teeth clench and he has to force One for All down to keep from sparking.
"So we're letting her go back to that maniac? Who knows what'll happen to Eri and Yaoyorozu if we wait that long!"
"Deku, if we go after them right now, we risk escalating the situation and putting them both in even more danger," Lemillion says. "Plus, we don't have a plan or backup. We need to trust the pros on this."
And that… makes sense. This isn't like Kamino; All Might won't show up to save the day. Izuku is too weak to save Eri and Yaoyorozu on his own, if he could even tail their kidnappers without getting caught. He's being irrational.
That doesn't mean he has to like waiting around a table while the agencies struggle to come up with a plan, though.
___
Momo is completely drained. She doesn't know how long it's been since Overhaul gave her the two blueprints for the bullets, but she's past the point of hunger. She's light-headed and out of breath, and all she can do is stumble behind the precept back towards Eri's room.
Yaoyorozu collapses once she's in the room, and Eri is by her side in an instant.
"Yaomomo, when we went out for a walk I saw Deku, and I told him you were here and needed help, and then I had to go away, but they're gonna bring help!"
Momo hums in acknowledgment, her eyes closing with her noticing.
"Yaomomo?"
Momo jerks awake, but the world sounds tinny and the edges of her vision are purple. Overhaul either didn't know that her quirk required food, or didn't care. Her guess is the latter. She has more important things to worry about, though, if the heroes are coming.
"You said you saw Deku?"
"Yeah, and he's gonna bring help," Eri nods surely.
Momo probably shouldn't feel this relieved, but she doesn't know how much longer she can take this. God, Eri had been dealing with this for years, Momo had no right to complain.
"Thank you, Eri. You did amazing."
Momo hopes they can find her a nice family once they get out of here. She deserves it. Momo doesn't know when her eyes closed again, but she can hear Eri shifting to lie down beside her.
Momo's almost asleep by the time Eri speaks again.
"Overhaul got you?"
"Yeah, but don't worry. I'm okay."
Eri pulls a blanket over them, and Momo feels tears welling up in her closed eyes before she drifts off.
All they can do now is wait.
___
Eijirou wonders if he'll ever stop feeling so useless. He doubts it. First Mina, back in middle school, then Bakugou, and now Yaoyorozu. He always seems to be failing the people he cares about.
So of course, after Midoriya and Mirio tell the agencies about Overhaul, Eijirou is the first to volunteer for the rescue team.
He has to help get Yaoyorozu back. She had helped him and the others when Bakugou got kidnapped, so what kind of friend would he be if he doesn't help her out when she needs it?
This is what he tells himself as he walks, terrified, through the halls of the Yakuza headquarters. He had been walking with Fatgum, but they got separated once the walls started to warp.
He's a sitting duck right now. All he can do is take a few more punches than the average guy, which is useless. If he runs into any yakuza, it's over.
And of course, he can hear voices coming from around the corner. Just his luck. There happens to be a door to his left that locks from the outside, which is suspicious, but convenient.
Eijirou opens the door, rushes into the room, and waits for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. When they do, he thinks his heart stops for a moment. Then Momo sits up and looks around, albeit blearily, but at least she's alive. He thought, for a second, that he'd been too late.
There's a girl curled up beside her, too. She must be Eri, the kid Midoriya and Mirio are beating themselves up about. They're right, though. Even in her sleep, there's something sad about her.
Eijirou hates to disturb them, but they need to leave, like, yesterday.
"Yaoyorozu! I'm glad we found you, man, we were all worried sick," he looks at Momo's pale face, ''is there anything I can do for you right now?"
Momo squeezes her eyes shut for a second, then answers.
"I'm fine, but Eri, you have to get her out of here, they hurt her."
Eijirou has a hard time believing her. Not about Eri— he can see her bandages from here, and he has to stop himself from clenching his teeth before he hurts himself— but Momo really doesn't look fine. She's almost translucent, the bags under her eyes look worse than Aizawa-sensei's, and her face looks hollow. But there's nothing he can do about that, not while they're still in this place.
"We'll get both of you safe, then. Do you wanna wake her up, or should I carry her?"
Momo shakes her head and turns to gently wake Eri, so Eijirou guesses the former. Eri sits up and rubs her eyes, and god, she's an adorable kid.
"Who's he?" She asks between yawns.
"This is Kirishima, he's mine and Midoriya's classmate. He's going to help save us, okay?"
Eri looks between him and Yaoyorozu, like she's deciding whether to trust him, then nods.
Eijirou offers to help Momo walk, but she declines. When she sways after standing up, Eijirou wraps one of her arms around his shoulders anyways.
After peeking out into the hallway, they start making their way out of the compound with Eri as their guide.
Despite Eijirou's wishes to lead Yaoyorozu and Eri away from danger, the way towards the exit leads them right in the middle of the fight.
Mirio, Overhaul, and Chronostasis are facing off in the middle of a clearing that was definitely not there before.
Three of the precepts are on the ground and, Eijirou realizes with growing horror, so is Nighteye.
His shock makes him stand still for too long. Mirio is facing them, and the second he notices them, Overhaul turns around. Eijirou can't see his eyes well from here, but he's sure they glint at the opportunity to torment Eri.
"Eri, come here. You're cursed, remember? I'm keeping you from hurting people. If you escape, you'll break them," he says. Eijirou doesn't know how Overhaul can live with himself. Eri clings to Momo's leg and hides her face.
"How can you be so cruel to her?" Mirio says.
"All she is is a tool. And I've got a replacement, now. She doesn't deserve kindness," Overhaul says, as if it's a fact. He looks at Eri, sees her refusal to come near, and shakes his head. He takes off his glove and touches the ground.
The earth shakes apart, and Eijirou, Momo, and Eri are forced away from each other.
"Besides, I can always reset Eri. Both her and Yaoyorozu know that."
Overhaul kneels to the ground again, and the spikes disappear. One of the precepts is standing, now, and they're holding a gun.
The gun is aimed at Eri.
A shot rings out, and the bullet seems to move in slow motion, but Eijirou, useless, is moving even slower, and the bullet is heading towards a literal child and—
Eijirou doesn't make it in time.
The bullet lands home, but not in Eri. Mirio had phased in front of her and wrapped her in his cape, like a hug. Eijirou's panicking, and he curses his inability to take action.
Mirio just got shot, actually shot, but he stands, and he helps Eri up, blood spreading from the wound in his shoulder. If that isn't manly, Eijirou doesn't know what is.
Overhaul is mad, though. Mad as in rushing towards Mirio and Eri, mad.
Eijirou finds a crumb of courage in himself, somehow, and runs in front of them. He hardens his skin, but he knows it won't help. Overhaul is about to kill him. Eijirou will die, then Mirio, then Eri, Momo, Midoriya, Ochabro, Tsu, Aizawa-sensei—
There's a gunshot somewhere in the background. Overhaul's hand makes contact, and Eijirou waits for death.
He waits, but nothing happens. He opens his eyes.
Overhaul's hand is on Eijirou's arm, and he isn't being torn apart.
Overhaul's eyes are wide with shock, and he takes a deep, rattling breath before falling to his knees.
Eijirou looks up, and Momo stands, arm shaking from the weight of the gun in her hand.
"You overplayed your hand," she says to Overhaul, "now you'll never be able to hurt anyone else." Then her eyes roll back and her legs give out.
So fucking manly, Eijirou thinks as he runs to catch her.
It's a shame she doesn't get to hear Overhaul's scream when he realizes he's quirkless.
___
Momo wakes up, and she doesn't know where she is. She wishes this would stop happening so often.
"Yaomomo?" A timid voice calls out.
Momo sits up as quickly as she can, the IV drips in her arms restricting her movement. She's in a hospital, she realizes, which means that her and Eri made it out alive.
Well, technically—
Momo's going to stop that train of thought before it spirals out of control.
"Hey, Eri. Do you know where the others are?"
Eri nods enthusiastically.
"Yeah! I'll go get them," she says, then leaves the room. Momo notices that she's wearing jeans and a long-sleeve shirt, now. It suits her much more than the hospital gown.
Not ten seconds later, Kirishima, Midoriya, Mirio, and Eri crowd around her bed.
"I'm glad to see you're alright, Yaoyorozu!" Mirio says.
"What you did was really brave, not to mention that you went past your previous limitations and... " Midoriya adds on, before starting to mumble. Momo can't hear the rest, but she'll make sure to ask him later.
Kirishima laughs and sits backwards in one of the guest chairs. "Yeah, and it super cool. Remind me not to cross you, man."
Momo's face flushes at the praise. She didn't do much, really, anyone would've stopped Overhaul given the chance.
"Oh, it was nothing," she says. "Did everyone make it out alright? What about Sir Nighteye?"
Momo had seen him before she passed out, and, to put it nicely, he wasn't looking too good.
"Sir ended up needing surgery, but he'll make it. Thanks to you, the paramedics could reach him in time," Mirio says with his usual smile.
"All the others are still being checked out, which is why they aren't here right now. But from what I've heard, there's nothing major to worry about," Kirishima says.
Momo doesn't know who all was on the mission, but it's relieving to hear that everyone is okay, more or less.
But Eri doesn't look so happy.
"What's wrong, Eri?" Momo asks. Eri has every right to be upset, really. But she was happy enough just a minute ago.
"Mirio lost his quirk," she says after a moment, head tilted down.
Midoriya turns and looks at her sadly. "And we told you it isn't your fault, Eri."
"I agree, full stop," Kirishima says, "if anything, I could've—"
Reproachful looks from Midoriya, Mirio, and Momo stop him from continuing his self-criticism.
"Eri, look at us," Mirio says. "Do any of us look mad at you?"
"...no."
"That's because we aren't. We're all just glad that you're safe." Mirio pats Eri's shoulder, and she looks near tears as everyone in the room agrees.
That's when Momo realizes something and mentally facepalms at the fact that she didn't remember sooner.
"Mirio, when Overhaul asked me to make bullets, he gave me blueprints for both types: permanent and temporary. But I made them all temporary. I just switched the color of the casings, so he'd think some were permanent. The only real permanent bullet I've made is the one I used on him."
Mirio's eyes seem to sparkle even more than usual as he waits for Momo to finish. They all know what she's going to say, but it feels like the room is holding its breath anyways.
"Mirio," she says, "you still have your quirk."
The thanks from Mirio, tackle hugs from Kirishima, tears from Midoriya, and sniffles from Eri are a little overwhelming. But once everyone calms down and Eri snuggles up beside her in the hospital bed, Momo decides that she wouldn't trade this outcome for anything in the world.