Work Text:
He has been a Pro Hero for five years now, and Izuku has basically seen anything. Every time he and the other Heroes at his agency are dispatched to deal with villains, that same feeling of dread creeps up inside of him. Will he get hurt? How many people will be dead? Will Ochako worry about him?
Still, Izuku has to push all of this out of his mind as he and his colleagues get the message: there is a huge bank robbery going on, and villains have taken the staff and customers hostage. Getting into his Hero costume, Izuku takes a moment to text Ochako, before heading out to solve this problem.
Me: just going to stop some villains. Text when we get back. Love you. xx
---
Using the power of One For All, Izuku zips up the side of the building, using the chaos of his colleagues storming the front of the bank below to climb the back of the building unseen. Their boss said the villains also have hostages in the offices upstairs, and suggested Pro Hero Deku take them on. Which explains why he climbs the walls of this building like a spirder, trying to ignore the sounds of violence from below.
Izuku races the right window and slides it over, wincing when it creaks. He slips into the room, searching for villains or hostages between the desks, and—
“Hello there, Deku.”
He spins around to find a villain stood a few feet away. He grins at Izuku and pulls off his left glove.
“Nice to see you here,” he says, some sort of liquid coating his palm like sweat.
Izuku clenches his fists, expecting some kind of explosive Quirk like Kacchan’s. “What do you want from us?”
The villain’s palm starts to steam, the liquid evaporating into the air. He chuckles as the evaporated liquid starts to go cloudy, hovering in their air like steam. “From you? Nothing. Have a good sleep, Deku.”
The steam clouds the room, drifting towards Izuku. He stumbles backwards, realising this gas must be some kind of poison or sedative, and splutters when he inhales it. The gas bitter on his tongue and his head pounds, and Izuku clamps a hand over his mouth.
But it’s too late. The poison fills his lungs and Izuku gasps for breath. His lungs burn and his vision flickers and…
The world goes black and he slumps to the floor, unconscious.
---
“They need backup.”
“They were overpowered and need reinforcements.”
“Pro Hero Deku has been captured.”
As her colleagues talk to each other about the news they just received (a group of Heroes from a nearby agency need backup), Ochako wants to faint. Pro Hero Deku has been captured?
Her Deku has been captured.
She needs to help him.
And even though she wants to cry, Ochako is the first one out of the agency door, focused fully on saving her wonderful Deku.
---
“So, let’s go over the plan one more time,” Komaru says, clasping her hands together.
Ochako looks at her colleague and friend (Mutsumi Komaru; Quirk: Antidote), wishing her heart would stop drumming so fast. She nods, trying to collect her thoughts. “Okay. Uh… I float us up to the window, we slip inside and you disable his Quirk, right?”
“Right,” Komaru says, smiling.
“And then we’ll save Deku?”
Komaru’s smile fades, but she nods. “Yeah, we’ll save him.”
Following their plan, they approach the side of the building and Komaru wraps her arms around Ochako. Tapping them both, Ochako makes the pair float, and they start to drift up into the air. She aids the movement by grabbing the windowsills of the windows the pass, starting to feel sick from levitating two people at once.
When they reach the right window, finding it open, Ochako eases them both over the ledge and then stops levitating them both. She feels oddly heavy and still sick, but Ochako tries not to stumble. Keeping close to Komaru, she tiptoes through the oddly-deserted office, trying to search for any of the hostages (but especially Deku).
They turn a corner – and that’s when they see him.
Deku, slumped on the floor with his hands bound behind his back and his skin a horrible shade of grey. He’s unconscious. What did they do to him?
And a villain stands over him, grinning at the two Heroes. “Hey, I was waiting for his backup. Sorry, but…” He takes off his glove, and liquid shines on the palm of his hand. “It’s time for you to sleep.”
So the boss was right. One of the villains sighted when they raided the bank has a poison gas Quirk. And that’s why she sent Komaru with Ochako! It all makes sense now.
“No it’s not,” Komaru says, and she claps her hands together.
And, to the villain’s horror, the liquid on his hand disappears.
“What… did you do?” he says.
Komaru grins. “It’s my Quirk. Poison gas Quirks don’t work around me. Nice try.”
Ochako finds herself smiling too. It’s two against one and he can’t use his Quirk. This villain doesn’t stand a chance.
And it makes sense that the villain looks terrified when the two women approach him, grabbing him before he has a chance to run away.
Ochako looks down at her unconscious Deku and glares at the villain. Her voice comes out as a growl as she says, “Nobody hurts my Deku and gets away with it.”
And as they tie the villain up and call for backup, Ochako may or may not punch him around the face. He deserved it.
---
When Izuku awakes, it is to pain in his head and lungs and a heavy fatigue that makes him want to sleep again. His eyelids heavy, he opens his eyes and finds himself staring at a white, fuzzy ceiling. Where is he?
“Deku?”
But he knows that voice. Turning his head, Izuku sees Ochako sat beside his bed.
“Deku, you’re awake!” she says, smiling. “You’re in the hospital. How do you feel?”
“Uh… groggy and my lungs hurt,” he mumbles, smiling when Ochako clasps his hand between both of her own.
“Well, that makes sense. You did get poisoned.”
Of course. As she says those words, the memories start flooding back. The hostage situation. The poison gas. Fainting…
“Oh yeah,” Izuku says. “Is…?”
“Everything was sorted out, don’t worry. We got the villains and rescued the hostages. And… I might have punched the villain who hurt you.”
Izuku smirks. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Ochako says, blushing. “I mean, he hurt you. But it’s okay now. You’re safe.”
“Thank you,” Izuku says, and Ochako gives his forehead a gentle kiss.