Chapter Text
All Might promised Izuku that he be freed on Sunday morning. He could practically hear All Might sad smile through the phone, while Izuku was tied up to a chair in a Tartarus cell, where he had been ever since the accusations of him being a traitor started.
He explained with an embarrassed tone, that everything had been sorted out. Which even a fool would understand that the secret of One for All was known; possible to the whole of hero society. Izuku couldn't ignore the bitter feeling that coiled in his chest. While a part of him reminded himself that he had chosen this, on some level; because being in Tartarus was what made everyone else feel safe. His teacher swore, that even if things won’t be the same, he still be able to go back to U.A. That he would see his mum, his friends, and teachers. He smiled while recounting how they all grinned and said they accept Izuku as he was.
All Might had promised Izuku that he be freed on Sunday morning, leaving with a hopeful smile and more apologies, that Izuku had mirror with his own, even though his teacher couldn’t actually see him.
Then one night, the lights went out. And never came back on.
Izuku had been feeling odd for hours, his heart rate kept spiking up and a pain kept tumbling around his stomach. The guards even noticed and had repeatedly asked him to calm down, but they stopped when it was clear that he was suffering from some type of panic attack. Granted no one had come in to comfort him, just left him to deal with whatever was going on.
Izuku wasn’t sure what it was exactly, all he knew was that something terrible had happened. But the gravity of the situation finally came to fruition when everything went dark for the first time since he arrived.
At first, Izuku was surprised by the events, his law-abiding and kind side hoped it was just a glitch in the system. Everything would soon be back to normal when the emergency power would kick in. Izuku felt the hairs on his body stand on end as a small red beacon bathed the area like blood, the sound of static filling the air, making the hair on his neck bristle. Izuku felt his heart skip a beat when the sound of vault doors opening sung all around; quickly followed by the chorus of prisons howls of joy, as they fled their cage, like rats on a sinking ship.
He couldn’t help the thrill of joy that raced up his spine when his own vault door, locking him in; quietly clicked open. Some darker, more feral side of himself; that had been hurt, betrayed, and livid when the Hero commission had thrown him into society dark little secret, like a villain. That side of him screamed to join the riot brewing outside, to tear off his restraints and take freedom by force.
One For All lit up his veins, his muscle slightly burning after not being able to use the quirk for just a little over a month. But soon, Izuku found a problem, even with One for All, he couldn’t move. Instead, he was forced to hear the riot grow louder and louder outside his door. He vaguely remembered the warden saying, that his restraints had been built to withstands All Might strength during his prime.
But that didn’t stop Izuku from at least trying.
He kept pushing forward, building up his power more and more, feeling the metal creek under the pressure. Against any better judgement, he let out a frustrated scream as he maxed out his limit, feeling his muscle tissue start to tear under his skin.
He switched One for All off, slumping back in his chair as he breathed deeply, already feeling the strain. But Izuku only took a minute for a breather, before slamming himself against his restraints again, outside the distant sound of gunfire made him unknowingly increase his output. Black whip answered his call shooting out from his shirt, the tendrils latched on to the locks, also pulling with all their might.
‘Come on! you can do this! Don’t just sit here and be a worthless old Deku.’ He screamed again, feeling his restraints slowly start to give way, but most still stubbornly refusing to move.
“Hey, kid?” A female voice snapped.
Izuku looked up and felt his mouth slightly drop. He stared up in disbelief, at a face that every devoted Hero fan knew off, if only because of the incident that had happened almost a decade and half ago involving her and the death of a fellow hero.
“Need some help?” The traitorous hero, Lady Nagant asked.
Izuku blinked in shock, before giving a quick nod, deciding that once she broke him out, he bolt. Given the fact that Tartarus had a strict code against new information being spread to its prisoners, Lady Nagant likely didn’t know that he was a hero student, and she didn’t have to.
“Aren’t you Ex hero student?” The En pointed out, and somehow Izuku felt the mental equivalent of him being slapped over the head.
Lady Nagant gave a tight nod back, before activating her right arm. But she didn’t pull her legendary rifle out of her arm. Instead, she just used it to begin pulling at the restraints, while sparks of energy flickered off.
Izuku got the hint, activating One for All and Blackwhip, he lunged at his restraints while maxing at his quirk. With the combined strength of their quirks, the lock screeched at an alarming rate before the pressure was too much to bear. In a blink of an eye the restraints snapped off, flying all around the room, the momentum that was confined behind the metal shot Izuku forward. Nagant gasped as he flew directly at her, but it seemed old habits die hard; because she also caught him with well practice, but rusty reflexes.
“Oh my God, how old are you?” She growled with unsaturated anger, but not at him, that much was clear by the way she gripped his arms. “You know what, doesn’t matter” she added, picking him up off the floor by his arm like one would pick up a toddler, and dragging him out of the room.
Izuku stumbled after her, his legs running into each other as he struggled to run after his month-long inactivity. The hallways were filled with prisoners running and screaming, the red emergency light illuminating their blood-crazed smiles as they relished in the taste of freedom.
Izuku stumbled to a stop when he heard a loud cry echo around the halls, followed by gunshots. Lady Nagant pulled harshly on his arm, telling him that they had to keep moving, “but people are in trouble!” Izuku insisted, using the wall for support.
Lady Nagant gave Izuku a look, her eyes squinting knowingly before she placed her emotional mask back on. “Do you think they will save you?” she replied simply, pulling him along again.
Izuku opened his mouth to object, except a sharp pain ripped through his head.
“Izuku, listen to me very carefully” Nana's voice echoed around his mind. “Your very weak at the moment, and I know in your heart you want to help people. But you need to keep running” She explained with a tight edge, like how his mum would when she trying to get her point across.
“BUT-” Izuku began.
“All for One is here, he can’t find you” the First stated softly, but with a great weight behind that sentence.
Izuku bowed his head, gritting his teeth together, deciding not to reply to Lady Nagant question.
“Crap, how are we going to get out of here?” Lady Nagant muttered under her breath, pinning Izuku to the wall to avoid the prisoners who had no problem running them over. Izuku was breathing heavily against the wall, even after such a short run, he felt like his limps were burning.
‘Is this what every prisoner goes through?’ Izuku thought with a flare of anger. “No that can’t be right, Lady Nagant doesn’t even seem fazed’ he corrected himself, looking over at the ex-hero.
“I can use Blackwhip to hoist us up the elevator shaft?” Izuku suggested, pointing to the elevator door. Someone had already gone to the trouble of blowing off the doors, while other prisoners were climbing up the sides or flying up depending on who they were.
Lady Nagant looked him up and down, “you sure you can handle that?” she asked with a slightly concerned tone.
“You have a better idea, I’m all ears” Izuku replied, stretching his hands out to loosen the muscles. “As long as no one hitches a ride, we should be ok” Izuku added, with a nod, firing up One for All.
Lady Nagant smiled slightly, “I can arrange that” she replied.
She bent her right arm, using her left to pull off a strand of her duel-coloured hair, her infamous rifle short out of her elbow, almost with a sense of glee. Izuku couldn’t help but marvel at the quirk, he had heard stories of Lady Nagant hero career, before she had committed treason. Her right hand and her aim was nothing to sneeze about. It was hard for him to find the full information, but Izuku just knew by standing next to her, she was not someone to be trifled with.
She fired off several shots, wounding several prisoners and making a path for them. “Come on!” she yelled pulling him to the open elevator shaft.
Izuku powered up blackwhip, feeling the burn on his muscles, as he shot a long thick black ribbon up to the very top, hooking it onto something stable. “Ok, hold on!” Izuku called, holding out his hand.
Lady Nagant eyes flashed with another look of recognition, before grabbing his hand and pulling him close. After another shot fired at a prisoner who got a little too close, Izuku pulled on Blackwhip letting it pull the two ex-heroes up towards freedom.
And attaining freedom hurt.
Izuku grunted in pain as he shot up the shaft at record speed, landing on the top floor by an inch of his life. He laid on the ground, his arm turning red and swelling; Izuku suppressed a scream as blackwhip dissipated along side One for All.
Lady Nagant signed, retracting her rifle. “I was expecting that was going to happen” she stated. Not waiting for Izuku's reply, she hoisted him up bridal style and carried him out onto the courtyard. They escaped to the outside, where harsh rain hit their faces, It was the middle of the night however the sky was illuminated with and orange glow. All the while loud howling rang all around, melding with the sound of sirens and explosions. Pure chaos engulfed them as villains streamed out, destroying everything in their path, Izuku couldn't see any guards, just waves upon waves of orange and white prison uniforms.
“So, since we're out, mind telling me what a hero student is doing in Tartarus?” she asked with an edge to her voice, making Izuku freeze.
“I…I’m not a hero student” Izuku settled on, deciding to hide the truth, Lady Nagant snorted at the lie.
“I’m not going to do anything to you, I just want to know how the hero commission screwed you over” she explained, running around for the exit. “Trust me, kid, I’m the one person here who gets it” she added with a sadder tone.
Izuku blinked, biting his lip in thought as the prisoners around him started to fall quiet. “It’s because they thought I was working for…” Izuku stopped as his eyes caught sight of someone he had not seen in several months, he felt his heart jump into his throat, the noise pounding in his ears.
“… Him ” Izuku finished quietly as he started up at almost a divine looking Shigaraki, standing on top of a flyover bridge, looking like he had been through hell and claimed the crown.
But In front of Shigaraki was someone much worse. Standing in his tattered prison uniform, life support system floating in the air with his hands outstretched, was All for One.
“Izuku, RUN!” several voices yelled out at once in his head.
“We got to go!” Izuku rushed out, practically falling out of Lady Nagant arms, and trying to sprint to the nearest exit. But his body was at its limit, so he just face planted into the concrete, tripping over dead legs. Nagant tried to slow him down, picking him up as he struggled to run away, but One for All just kept hurting him more than it was helping him.
'I just got to get to the exit' Izuku thought, a horrid feeling creeping up his chest as the realisation finally hit him. Tartarus had fallen, the place where no one ever escaped had now become nothing but flaming pile of dust. And if Shigaraki was here, something world shattering must have happened; an event that made the villains feel safe enough to free all the inmates in Tartarus, and the power to actually do it.
Izuku looked around, expecting the heroes to come flying across the sky and take control of the chaos, but the sky just continued to rain, not a single hero around.
'Where are the heroes?' Izuku couldn't help but think, looking around frantically for someone, anyone.
“It’s you!” A voice rang out, making Izuku pause, he looked over his shoulder from his place on the ground.
‘ NO’ Izuku remembered in terror as a familiar face looked back, which made the scar on his arms tingle.
“Get out, IT CAN’T BE YOU!!!” muscular cheered out, making a few people look at the man in curiosity. “ IS THAT YOU DEKU !!!! THEY REALLY LOCKED A UA STUDENT IN HERE!!!! ” he cried in joy out.
If people hadn’t been paying attention before, they were now. Thousands of eyes snapped over to Izuku, staring at him with various degrees of hostility. Izuku tried getting up but quickly fell back down, partly because of his weak body, but mainly because of the sheer villainess intent that washed over him.
“It is him,” another familiar voice softly confirmed from the crowd.
Izuku felt a cold fear hit wash over him as Tartarus burned; A fear he had felt before, but never to this amount. The fear of death, and the knowledge that he was powerless to stop it.