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Kaminari Denki comes back to the dorms exhausted.
His work study has reached all new heights, in a way that is just so very boring.
They’re investigating an underground fighting ring, which is something that should be exciting! And yet the reality of it is that it’s all just so very tedious.
The ring operates by abducting their fighters— thought to be either retired pros, actual well known fighters, or even the occasional villain— and forcing them to fight by holding someone else over their heads, usually a kidnapped family member.
Allegedly.
Turns out the amount of verified information isn’t quite enough to launch a full scale bust just yet.
Kaminari had originally thought they’d be raiding the ring within days and he’d been all psyched up for a rescue.
But the truth of their investigation right now is just a giant map with marks of every missing person's last known address so they can try to triangulate a central location to hopefully narrow down where the ring is running from.
And honestly, the number of missing people is depressingly high.
Kaminari flops onto a couch in the common room and lets the controlled chaos lull him into a doze.
It’s as his eyes are closing that he vaguely registers someone asking, “hey, has anyone seen Todoroki?”
***
Shouto ignores the blood running down his face as he leans back against his cell wall- just so, to hide himself from the cameras- as he focuses on the quirk suppressing cuffs on his wrists.
He doesn’t hold out much hope for getting them off but maybe… maybe he could break one…
Because here’s the thing about Todoroki Shouto, here’s the thing that sets him apart from most of the quirked population.
He doesn’t have two quirks. He has one that has been split in half, perfectly down the middle.
And that means that while most people would need to get both cuffs off to regain the use of their quirk, theoretically if he can remove just one… well then it stands to reason that that half of his quirk would be restored.
That’s what Midoriya had theorized anyway sometime months ago back in the dorms. They’d never been able to test it of course considering the matter of suppression cuffs being super costly to customize and also highly illegal to make.
Maybe Shouto should feel honored that these villains went to all this trouble on his behalf.
Either way he has nothing to lose by trying, and everything to gain by succeeding. The villains have claimed that Reiki will come to no harm so long as Shouto cooperates and does his best in the arena but still, what kind of uncle would he be if he just left his tiny nephew in the care of villains while waiting around to be rescued. Also Natsuo would probably kill him.
He doesn’t manage to get free by the time they come for him again but that’s okay.
It is okay because it feels like maybe he might have been making progress, like if he had just a bit more time, needed to be a bit less discreet about it, he would have figured out a way to break one of his cuffs.
And who knows, maybe he will get extraordinarily lucky, maybe if he plays his cards just right, he might be able to break one of his cuffs. Or get the other person he is supposed to be fighting to break it for him.
He follows along with his escorts, playing docile while he mulls over potential possibilities. He does not know exactly what he is walking into, but he has a vague sense, and he has always been good at thinking on his feet, maybe not Midoriya good, but close enough to it that it should work in his favor.
One of the escorts, who Shouto decides to call Shovey in his head, lives up to his name as he shoves Shouto forward into a kind of holding area. The door gets slammed shut immediately after he gets pushed inside, a heavily clunking noise letting him know it has also been locked, so there is no chance to try and push his way back out.
In front of him, there are several other people eyeing him warily.
Shouto eyes them right back, trying to size them up as potential enemies. And maybe, if he is very lucky, allies.
None of them will quite meet his eyes though, and Shouto is not sure where the cameras are in this room, he does not know where they are watching him from or what they might consider ‘uncooperative behavior’ for him in this room. None of the others are talking, so he takes his cues from them.
The silence in the room is almost overwhelming, but Shouto spends as much time as he can taking stock. Every once in a while, one of the other people in the room with him will get pulled from the room and then a muffled roar follows from the crowd that must have been drawn in by this underground ring. They never take them in twos though, so Shouto figures there is probably another room that has even more people in it and whoever he is going to fight is in that room.
He is so focused on trying to problem solve, to figure out why he is in this room, why the others might have been sorted into the other room, and how he can twist this new information to his advantage, that he almost misses the fact that he is being approached by one of the people who comes for the fighters until the person is right on top of him.
“Come on newbie, it's showtime,” they tell him, something hard in the turn of their lips.
“My name is Shouto,” he says, because at least they can give him the respect of referring to him by his name.
“Whatever, let’s go,” they say, grabbing his arm and yanking him forward.
Shouto bites his tongue as he follows, choking back a sharp retort. Reiki, he has to remember that they have Reiki. He needs to act the part until he can find his baby nephew and get them both out of here safely.
“And now! A newcomer to the ring! You all know him from his burning cold performance at his Sport’s Festival! But tonight he’ll be fighting without that freezing-hot quirk! It’s Hero Student Shouto!” Someone announces as Shouto is shoved through the door by Shovey the Second.
There are people all around, raised from the fighting ring that most people would not be able to jump up to the first level without the aid of a quirk, probably to keep the fighters from trying to escape. And he is distantly aware of them all, screaming and hollering.
But most of his attention is on Reiki, who is watching him from the crowd, with the person who first threatened Shouto stroking his hair.
The anger that fills him has his internal temperature adjusting in a way he’s sure would translate to frost and flame over his skin, if it weren’t for the cuffs around his wrists.
He doesn’t hear the announcer call his opponent’s name, but he watches them get shoved out into the ring, looking over them and making his judgements in the few seconds before the countdown starts.
She’s a few years older than him. Less visibly muscular, though Shouto knows better than to test that.
Most concerningly, she’s not wearing the same Quirk suppressant cuffs that all of the fighters from his side had been.
There’s no physical indicator of her Quirk. The announcer probably said something, but, of course, he missed it. So he just has to brace himself as if it’s just a hand-to-hand fight, and hope that whatever her Quirk is, it’s not too difficult to counter or avoid. Based on the fear in her eyes, he’s not too worried about anything else.
The countdown finishes, the starting bell rings, and the woman’s eyes go pitch black. Shouto moves back, to the side, out of her direct line of view. Without knowing what her Quirk is, he’s not going to take his chances with it being line-of-sight based.
Instead, a shadow falls over him from behind. Before he can react, it shoves him towards her, leaving him stumbling to keep his footing. He manages it, barely, and as her head shifts to face him, unnervingly slow, he throws his first punch.
It catches her on the jaw. She stumbles, not straightening back up, and for a second, Shouto thinks this might be genuinely easy. Then, a shadow falls over him again, except this time it’s from in front of him – even though there’s nothing there.
Before he can understand what it is, the thing-that-isn’t-there lands a punch to his gut.
He chokes on the air that gets knocked out of him. It’s a hard enough punch that he can feel bile threatening to rise in the back of his throat. He refuses to let it – and he has over a decade of training to make sure he’s able to follow through on that refusal.
The woman has her head lifted again, though she still hasn’t straightened, head held at an angle. Her hair cascades over her face, obscuring her expression, but not fully hiding her eyes, both of which are the same pitch black.
He doesn’t know what her Quirk is, beyond clearly something he can’t see. He can feel, in the lingering ache in his gut, the tables shifting.
“Shouto!” A young voice calls.
Shouto straightens, pushing himself forward. He has to figure out how to win. He can’t afford to lose.
***
“He’s not here?” Denki asks for the second time. “Or home? You guys are sure?”
Midoriya wrings his hands, biting at his lip. “He left earlier than us…” he says. “He said he was going to make a stop to say hello to his nephew. I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. Should we be worried?” His eyes widen. “That was hours ago now, I-I didn’t even—”
It could be nothing. Todoroki, though he’s come a long way from his early days, still sometimes keeps to himself. But the case they’re working on has Denki on edge, and alarm bells are ringing in his mind.
“Have you heard from him? Anyone?”
Midoriya shakes his head. A chorus of worried ‘no’s follows.
Denki glances over, meeting Sero’s gaze. Sero swallows audibly. The two of them are thinking the same thing, but like most hero cases, they can’t talk in detail.
“If they have him…”
“We can’t jump to conclusions,” Sero says firmly. “Midoriya, you call him. Can someone get in contact with, er, Endeavor or something?”
The call to Todoroki rings, and rings, and rings. Nothing.
Endeavor doesn’t pick up, but one of his sidekicks gets on call. It’s the same as Midoriya’s story. The agency hasn’t heard from Todoroki since he left earlier that day. Nothing.
Iida tells Aizawa-sensei immediately, confirming that the teachers also don’t know where Todoroki is, nor did he tell them he was planning on staying off-campus longer than permitted. Nothing.
Dread creeps in. Denki feels like he’s got a pit in his stomach. With Endeavor now Number One, and Todoroki as well-known as he is, plenty of people would pay to see Todoroki in a fight. He can’t shake the thought.
“Whassit?” Mt. Lady asks when she picks up. “Kaminari, we’re off-duty, so whatever you’re calling about can wait until tomorrow—”
“I don’t think it can,” Denki interrupts. “Sorry. Todoroki’s missing. We’ve asked around. No one’s seen him since around one in the afternoon. If it’s connected to what we’ve been working on…”
Mt. Lady snaps from civilian to hero immediately. “I’ll let the other Lurkers know. Listen, Kaminari. Tell Sero, too. You know we’re still trying to figure out where the ring is and how to approach it. I know it’s more personal now that it may involve your classmate, but do not do anything rash. And come in early tomorrow.”
“But—”
“We can’t risk this operation, and we can’t risk you. Got it?”
“Got it,” Denki says, and hangs up.
How much longer do they have to wait? How many more people will go missing before the heroes can find them?
He hates being told to wait. He hates knowing he can’t do anything. Picturing Todoroki, stripped of his Quirk and forced to fight, makes him sick. Shoved around in some ring, with a crowd watching him, waiting for him to stumble, to be brought down… And right now, Denki can’t do a thing.
We’ll figure it out, he promises Todoroki. We’ll find you. Just hang in there.
***
How long has this fight been going on for? It feels like hours already, but Shouto knows it can’t have been that long.
It feels like it, though. His limbs are growing heavier every time he has to dodge or block or try to hit someone, and his heart is pounding in his chest, making each breath a little harder than the last.
Shouto’s never been quite so thankful for the grueling training he’s been put through before this, both at home and at UA, but even that has his limits. His body has its limits.
Ironically, Shouto thinks that the one thing dooming him might also be helping him — he can’t use his quirk, the cuffs around his wrists are still unfortunately intact, but this way, at least his exhaustion is only physical, and not as dangerous as quirk exhaustion can get, especially for him.
Of course, if he had his quirk, he could probably get himself and everyone else free before that would kick in, but… he can’t be sure of it.
A sudden punch to the temple dizzies him, and Shouto staggers backward, only just managing to roll with it so it doesn’t knock him out. Still, for a moment, he sees double, and his opponent, that woman with the dark eyes and the weird shadow quirk, snarls at him.
“Get your head in the game!”
It’s the first time she’s ever really spoken to him. Thus far, all he’s been hearing are the jeers and insults coming from outside, but his opponent has been silent. Something in Shouto’s chest lifts, then shudders.
He circles away from her carefully, blinking rapidly.
“Your showing is pitiful, hero, ” she snaps, the word ‘hero’ coming out as a taunt.
Or rather, Shouto thinks as he tilts his head, like it’s meant to be a taunt.
Absurdly, the woman reminds him of himself, back when he’d been facing Midoriya at the Sports Festival. It makes him miss his friend fiercely — Midoriya would know what to say here. Hell, even some of the others… Although Bakugou, at least, would probably only make things worse by insulting everyone.
The thought brings a slight smile to his lips for a moment before he dismisses it, focusing on his opponent again. They’ve moved so he’s facing Reiki again, and his nephew is still crying. He looks so scared, and Shouto’s stomach lurches with the need to comfort him, and beat up the villains who’d taken him. Taken them.
“Sorry,” he says out loud, eyes drifting back down to his opponent. She’s protecting her left side, he notes — a feint, or a true weakness?
Absently, he wonders why she hadn’t attacked while he was distracted, but then he spots the way her eyes drift upward to the crowd as well, and he thinks he gets it. His stomach sinks.
“They’re holding someone over you as well, aren’t they?”
She stiffens instantly, limbs locking up in anger. Her pupils bleed black again. “Shut up.” And then, “Obviously — and if we don’t give them a good showing, then they’ll take it out on them. Can’t hurt us, we’re the breadwinners.”
Shouto’s fists creak as he clenches them, nails digging painfully into his palms for a second before he releases them.
He licks his lips, and starts circling again. He feels the eyes on his back, but angles his face so his opponent is the only one who can see his lips move.
“Your quirk…” Shouto pauses there, hesitating. He can’t see Reiki from there, and does he dare risk it — but he still remembers Midoriya, breaking his own limbs to help him, and now this woman he doesn’t know, risking much to warn him, and well, he can’t not try.
And so he says, “it’s strong — can you break the cuffs?”
She very carefully doesn’t freeze. “And why would I do that?”
Shouto lets the smile bleed onto his face, sticks his tongue onto the cut onto his lip so he can taste the blood. “You wanted to put on a good show. With these gone?” He lifts up his tired hands, ignoring how it tugs on his ribs. “Look, they took me for a reason. My quirk? It’s flashy. And it’s fast. I’ve got good control over it. I think I can stage the fight if we work together, make it entertaining and work towards freeing who we both want out of the hands of these monsters.”
He can see the want flicker in her eyes, just a tiny spark of hope before it's shoved aside. He swallows and sidesteps as she brings up her quirk, too fast to dodge, not that Todoroki is particularly agile at the moment. She steps forward as he lunges to the side, caught up in the shadow, shoved right up against her.
“You promise you can save her? She’s my sister, I–” Her voice catches as the shadow takes Shouto and shoves him down onto the ground. The cuffs clang harshly against the floor and take the air out of Todoroki’s lungs with it. “I can’t lose her. We’re told to never break the cuffs on the other side. So if this doesn’t work…I can’t take the risk if you aren’t sure.”
Shouto wheezes through a painful, dust-filled breath and shuts his eyes. “I’m sure. Break them.”
He pushes hard with one of his feet, feigning a will to keep going. The shadow comes back two-fold this time, lifting Shouto up and smashing him back down. Something in his side snaps at the same time as the cuffs and Shouto isn’t sure if the burn is from his quirk or the broken rib. He doesn’t waste time contemplating it as he holds fast to his quirk and tugs, fire alighting down one side of him as ice curls up the other.
He sweeps the girl off of her feet, shoving her across the ring as he stalks, building up a wall of fire. He flicks his gaze casually to where there are obvious ringmasters around the arena. With his quirk, it’s easier to see her shadow. It’s like Tokoyami and shies away from the light. Shouto can guide it naturally, obscuring any intentional maneuvers she makes.
Running around the long-side of the arena as he dodges where the shadow is, he herds her toward him with ice. When they’re close enough he feeds her his plan in between biting remarks.
The ringmasters look a little wary, clearly annoyed that his opponent broke his cuffs, but the increased attention and gambling from the crowd is enough to placate them for now.
It’s going to work, Shouto tells himself. It has to.
He makes eye contact with his adorable little nephew and then wiggles his eyebrows pointedly before glancing over at the little girl a few seats over. She's chewing on her lip anxiously as she watches the fight in a way that only this woman’s hostage would be.
Reiki frowns and looks at the girl as well but that’s all the hint Shouto can give him.
Hopefully it will be enough.
He turns back to his opponent with a grin he doesn't feel, fire flinging from his left hand as he gathers up power in his right. His head is throbbing and his ribs are screaming but he ignores it all as he gets ready to let loose.
Just like the sports festival, he thinks. Only with greater stakes and a larger target.
His wrists ache under the cuffs but he ignores the way they are sparking in their malfunction and nods at the woman across from him.
One shot.
That’s all they have.
She nods back and her shadow swirls around herself in a parody of a hug that Shouto hopes will keep her safe.
And then, with barely an exhale, he lets his ice loose.
***
Denki’s phone starts ringing right when he reaches the agency and he almost doesn’t bother checking who it is before ignoring it.
Thankfully the name flashing on screen stops him in his tracks.
Todoroki.
“Todoroki!” he yells as soon as he’s picked up. “Boy am I glad to hear from you! Where are you!”
“Kaminari,” Todoroki huffs into the phone. “I saw some missed calls from you and figured you knew I was missing.”
“Yeah! Of course I did! We all did!”
“Oh that’s good. Please alert Aizawa-sensei that I and my nephew are in Kanagawa and–”
There’s a mumbling sound that Denki can’t make out as Todoroki clearly listens to someone talk to him on his end.
“ –right and we’ll need a bus.”
“A bus???” Denki splutters, motioning for Sero to run inside without him and alert the heroes of what’s going on.
More mumbling and then, “yes, Tsukki says it’s slang for prison transport.” A pause. “Or an ambulance. Quite frankly we’ll probably need both.”
Denki is decidedly not awake enough for this. “ARE YOU FUCKING INJURED TODOROKI???”
Todoroki hums. “Not for me, for the villains. I froze the arena and we don’t have enough firepower to melt them free and also restrain them without them recapturing us. They’re almost guaranteed to be hypothermic.”
Denki blinks, for once at a loss for words. He almost wants to make a firepower joke considering who he’s talking to but thinking back on everything he knows about this crime ring he decides against it.
“The hostages?” he asks instead.
“Safe. Tsukki and I were the only ones who’s hostages were in the arena with us for leverage so since my nephew possesses a form of ice manipulation he was able to protect her sister when I froze the place. After that we freed everyone else in the cells and went snooping through their offices where I found my phone amongst all the other confiscated personal items. Since I hadn’t been taken that long ago it was still charged and–”
Todoroki’s voice is suddenly gone as a crisp no nonsense voice takes over and with no little incredulity Denki realizes someone has yoinked Todoroki’s phone.
“I notice the little hero didn’t properly answer your other shouted question. No doubt he was deflecting for the sake of the child wrapped around his legs but yes. Yes he is. You’d do well to send a ‘bus’ for him as well.”
“I, wha-?” Denki manages weakly.
“Will you be able to trace the call or shall I attempt to find an exact address of our location?” the voice continues.
“I’ll just do a Midoriya,” Todoroki’s voice adds sounding far away.
“What’s that?” the woman asks, right as the Lurkers come running outside to meet him.
With a sigh of relief Denki passes over the phone.
Don’t get him wrong, he’s glad they’ve found Todoroki, of course. But considering how utterly flabbergasted this phone call has been leaving him and how little sleep he’s currently running on, he’s never been more glad to be able to pass the responsibility onto someone else.
There’s silence before, “a bus???” Mt. Lady echoes in confusion.
Denki pats her arm in commiseration and finally heads inside.
Now that the matter isn’t as pressing he’s going to see about taking a nap.
The captured villains awaiting arrest can just chill out and cool it until then.
He can’t help but laugh at his own joke as the agency door swings shut behind him.
He mentally high-fives himself. Nice one.