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Ochako triple checked the room number on the door, then reached up and knocked.
“Come in?” Deku said.
Slowly, Ochako turned the knob and stepped into the hospital room. It was less scary than she’d imagined—there weren’t a lot of intimidating machines. Deku was sitting up on his own, and the window was open behind him. There was a second bed in here, empty.
“Oh—Uraraka!” Deku blurted, “I didn’t know you were coming!”
‘I got cleared to walk around,” Ochako said, rocking back on her heels. There was a lot she’d come here to say, and she didn’t quite know where to start.
Deku pushed his comforter back and stepped down off of the bed. “Did you see All Might anywhere on the way over?”
Ochako blinked. “No—did he get cleared to walk around too?”
“Absolutely not,” Deku said. Then he pointed back at the other, empty bed. “But I don’t think he’s letting that stop him.”
“You’re really sure we shouldn’t tell security?” Ochako asked again. They were walking right back down the hall the way she had come. In some ways, it felt like a defeat.
Deku had his arms crossed over his chest, and he was worrying his lip as he walked. “I mean—I’m not completely sure. But his slippers and his favorite blanket are gone, and his keys and wallet and phone are still back in our room. The only thing I can think is that he decided to have a walk around. Also, Tsukauchi is monitoring outside threats. I think he’d catch someone trying to sneak in—he might not have been expecting All Might to just walk off on his own.”
Ochako nodded. It was the same sort of mistake they’d made with Deku.
“And anyway,” Deku continued, “He’ll probably be fine as long as he doesn’t leave the hospital. It’s pretty safe in here.”
They reached the end of the hall, and Deku pressed the down button in front of the elevator doors. “We can just walk down every hall,” he explained, “Sooner or later we’ll run into him.”
“If we told somebody, then the rest of the staff could help us search.”
Deku shook his head. “Everyone will worry then—they’ll think it’s an emergency. We’ve had too many of those.”
After the third hallway, the two of them started to get tired. It felt a little pathetic—Ochako had spent most of April patrolling all day, walking way longer than this. But she’d already come all the way to Deku’s room, and even though she’d been improving, she still hadn’t fully recovered.
By the color of Deku’s face, it seemed he was in a similar situation.
“Hey,” Ochako said, tapping his shoulder, “Let’s take a break.”
Deku nodded. Then he sat down against the nearest wall. Ochako slid down beside him, careful to keep from bending her core the wrong way.
“Maybe there’s a better way to do this,” Deku said, tapping at his chin, “He’s been complaining about the food—maybe he snuck down to the food court to buy something he’s not supposed to have.”
“Somebody will probably notice him if he does that,” Ochako said, trying to sound cheerful.
Deku shook his head. “You’re right—he probably wouldn’t do that. But maybe—I think the nurses have extra stocks of food. Sometimes they bring snacks at night, after the kitchen closes. He could be stealing something from one of those.”
“We passed a fridge earlier,” Ochako said, pointing back down the hall, “It was in one of those side rooms on the end—not on this floor.”
Deku pushed off the wall, back to his feet. “I bet there’s one on every floor. We can just ride the elevator and step out and check each one.”
Ochako opened the door of the seventh kitchenet they’d scouted out and turned on the light. Then she nearly jumped out of her skin. All Might was sitting in a wheelchair next to the refrigerator, eating a small tub of ice cream.
“Young Uraraka!” All Might said, overcoming the shock first, “What a wonderful surprise to see you up and about!”
Deku stepped past her through the doorway and pulled the ice cream out of All Might’s hands.
“Young Midoriya, that’s sugar free,” All Might insisted, “It won’t hurt me.”
Deku threw the tub into the sink. “You are on a liquid diet.”
All Might smiled. “Well, you see young man, when liquid gets very cold—”
“You’re going back,” Deku said. Then he grabbed the handle of the hospital wheelchair, spun it around and pushed it out the door.
Ochako followed them into the hall, right around the corner and into the open elevator doors. They’d caught it at just the right time—somebody else had just stepped out. Deku keyed in the floor his room was on, and the three of them rode in terse silence.
“My boy,” All Might said, “I don’t say this to be unkind—but you should know, it's rather rude to grab someone’s wheelchair without asking first.”
The doors slid open, and Deku pushed All Might out through them. “This isn’t your wheelchair,” he said, “It’s the hospital's. You aren’t supposed to be using it for this. You’ll only need one temporarily, anyway.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” All Might said.
Deku stopped in his tracks, eyes blowing wide. “What?”
All Might turned back to look over his shoulder at Deku. Ochako couldn’t quite see his face from the angle she was at, and she had the distinct feeling that she should keep hanging back, let them have this moment.
“Young Midoriya,” All Might said, tone serious. He reached his hand up to touch Deku’s—then he pushed Deku’s hand off the handle, spun the wheel with his other hand, and took off down the hall.
Ochako expected Deku to step after him and catch him—but Deku stood frozen, mouth slightly ajar, paralyzed by the whiplash of the moment. By the time she realized and started running herself, All Might was already halfway down the hall.
A nurse stepped around the corner, then shrieked and jumped back as All Might barreled past her.
“HAHAHAHAHA!” All Might laughed, and even now there was something reassuring about it. Then he skidded into the open elevator at the other end of the hall, reached over and pressed the button to close the doors.
Ochako put on a burst of speed, but she was too late. She slammed into the doors just as they closed. It jostled her side, sending spikes of pain through her torso. The next thing she knew, she was down on the ground, trying to steady her breath.
"Uraraka?" Deku said. He had crouched down beside her, his face was open with concern. "What happened? Should I call somebody?"
Carefully, Ochako sat up. She shook her head.
"Do you want to tell the nurses to catch All Might?" Deku asked.
Ochako shook her head again. Deku had been right—All Might definitely wasn't in an emergency level of trouble. And she had a funny feeling that if they left this to the nurses, if they didn't try to talk some sense into him, he would just turn around and escape again the next chance he got.
And talking sense—that gave her an idea.
"Help me up," Ochako said, holding out her arm, "I think we need to go consult an expert."
"I really don't know if this is a good idea," Deku said, wringing his hands again.
"Trust me," Ochako said, patting his shoulder, "He was really helpful when we were trying to track you down." Then, before Deku could keep protesting, she opened the door.
Bakugou was asleep. Ochako suddenly realized she'd been so determined to get Deku in here that she hadn't knocked.
"We should go," Deku whispered, trying to reach over her and grab the door.
"What," Bakugou said, blinking. Then he looked up at them. "Huh? Why are you guys here?"
"All Might escaped containment," Ochako said, walking up to his bedside before she could second guess herself, "He's wandering around the hospital all willy-nilly. We need advice on how to find him and make him go back to rest in his room."
Bakugou blinked at her again. Then, slowly, he started to push himself up in bed.
"There's a button," Deku said, finally stepping into the room, "Kacchan—you can just make the bed tilt steeper."
Bakugou sat all the way up. Then he threw off his blanket.
Deku sighed. "I knew you would do this."
"What are you doing?" Ochako asked.
"Catching All Might," Bakugou said, sliding his legs down off of the mattress. "Duh."
It took both of them to move Bakugou through the halls—Deku to push the wheelchair, and Ochako to push the pole of hanging fluids that was attached to him.
Honestly, Ochako was starting to question her plan. Bakugou definitely wasn't supposed to be wandering around either—but he'd threatened to try and walk if they didn't help him, and that would have been worse. They just needed to catch All Might. Once he won, Bakugou might be satisfied.
"He's probably helping somebody," Bakugou said, "We gotta find people in trouble."
"This is a hospital, Kacchan," Deku said.
Bakugou pointed forward with his good arm. "Go faster!"
Deku distinctly slowed down.
"Should we check the tiny kitchens again?" Ochako said. Somebody had to keep this mission on track.
Deku shrugged. "Who knows if he ate all the junk food he wanted or not."
"There!" Bakugou said.
At the other end of the hall, All Might was rounding the corner—he must have just come out of the elevator. When he looked up and saw them, he stopped in his tracks. "Ah—we meet again, young heroes," he said. His gaze was intense, but Ochako could feel rather than see the twinkle in his eye.
In response, Bakugou grabbed the left wheel of his chair with his good arm and rolled it forward, hard. At the same time, Deku jumped forward and stuck his foot in front of the right wheel to keep it from moving. So instead of shooting forward down the hall, Bakugou's wheelchair swung sideways and overbalanced. It tipped over.
Ochako slapped Bakugou's shoulder. When the chair hit the ground, he kept hanging in the air.
"Oh," Deku said. His face was white. For a second it looked like he was going to say something else—then he crouched to pick up the chair.
While she waited for the chair to be righted, Ochako grabbed Bakugou's shirt to keep him from floating away. Then she realized she'd accidentally floated the fluids pole in her haste, and she grabbed that too.
"Is everything alright?" All Might asked. He'd approached during the commotion.
"Yeah," Bakugou said.
Deku got the chair sitting back the right way, and All Might helped Ochako maneuver Bakugou back into it. When she was sure everything was in order again, Ochako released her quirk.
"I win," Bakugou said.
Ochako looked down. While everyone was distracted, Bakugou had grabbed All Might's wrist.
"Young man," All Might said, "You're quite safe. You can let go now."
Bakugou grinned. "Make me."
It was a perfect sort of check-mate. All Might could definitely get free, but not without a struggle. And nobody wanted to risk that.
"You have to go back to bed," Deku said, "It's the only way we're going to get Kacchan to stop hunting you."
All Might sighed. "Alright then. I know when I've been beaten. You can let go now."
Bakugou narrowed his eyes. "Do you think we're stupid?"
"It was worth a shot," All Might said. He was smiling too.