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Izuku was used to waking up not knowing where he was. He'd lived on the streets most of his life and decided becoming a vigilante would be a great idea. It was more than once when he woke up in an alleyway bleeding and bruised. But then he started waking up in Eraserhead's apartment. To this day that was still an unreal feeling to him.
It was nice waking up every morning to his door being open and food being made in the kitchen. He felt safer there than he did at his mom's house.
This time when Izuku woke up he was expecting to find a cat lying on his chest, but instead of a pressure on his chest he found it on his ankle.
He forced his eyes open only to close them when a swinging light blinded him. Izuku groans and shifts trying to loosen the tension in his body. His shoulder slams into a bar next to him and his eyes snap open again.
I'm in a cage.
His breath catches. The last thing he remembered was walking home from the park. Aizawa was making katsudon for dinner, and zuku was not about to miss that for the life of him.
Izuku reaches down for his ankle while trying to remember anything about how he got here. The light above him is still swinging and each swing sends a stabbing pain through his head. The air seems to get thicker around him and Izuku can't stop his muttering, "Okay, Izuku. Focus. You're in a cage, you don't remember what happened. Aizawa… he doesn't know where you are. But that's fine, the heroes will figure it out soon."
A door that Izuku missed in his initial scan of the room clicks open. A woman strides in and crouches in front of the cage. "Ah, little hero! You're finally awake! I was hoping I didn't hit you too hard."
Izuku shrinks back from her, "Why did you take me?"
Aizawa has always been paranoid, for good reasons, but that paranoia rubbed off on Izuku. Aizawa had prepared Izuku for so many different situations, such as what to stay and what not to say if you've been kidnapped. Izuku never thought he'd have to use this skill but he was glad he knew it now.
The woman tilts her head and grins, "Oh little hero, you don't understand how important you are."
"Important? Why am I important to y-you?" Izuku can't stop his stammer.
The woman stands up and walks around the cage, "Legacy kids are always important. You more than the others, little hero. I know your father very well."
Izuku tenses and stares at the woman with wide eyes. "You… you took me because of my guardian?"
The woman squeals and claps her hands, "Oh you're so smart, little hero!" She reaches through the bars and towards Izuku. He can't move enough to stop her hand from brushing his cheek, "Eraserhead needs to meet his judgement. He's gone long enough without it."
Izuku watches her get to her feet, "What do you think he needs judgement for?"
The woman pauses her walk to the door and cackles. She turns back to Izuku, "He stole my child away from me. So I'll steal his."
The woman walks out of the room but leaves the door open. Izuku doesn't know if he should be grateful that he only had to sit anxiously for a few minutes. But that little part that was grateful dies the moment he sees the cart she pushes into the room. And the camera in her hand.
-.-
Izuku never came home. He never answered his phone. Nothing.
Shouta was panicking. He knew Izuku still went out sometimes to do god knows what, but he always answered the phone. That was always the most important rule here. And Izuku knew that.
"No, Tsukauchi. I'm telling you he would have called! He's a fucking legacy kid now! Is it that hard to believe that he's been taken?"
"Calm down. I'm looking into it already, okay? Have you gotten any letters or anything from them?"
"No, no. Damnit, I don't even know who would have taken him!" Shouta paces his floor in the apartment.
Tsukauchi sighs heavily from the other end of the line, "Anyone who just got out that you put behind bars?"
"No. Nothing!" Shouta is about ready to rip his own hair out. He'd been thinking of anyone who vould have been pissed off enough to do this. And he came up with nothing. He snaps his head to the side when his laptop dings. He walks over and opens it, "There's always the chance that it was someone he pissed off. He made a lot of enemies during his time as a vigilante."
Shouta opens the email that came through and stares at the link sitting in front of him, "Hold on. I got a live video link. Shit."
"Send it to me now. I'll trace it from the office."
Shouta's hands shake as he forwards it to Tsukauchi. He knows what this means and he takes a moment to force his breath to even out before opening the link.
It's dark wherever the video is being taken, there's only a single light filling the room. The camera shakes and then evens out. Shouta covers his mouth when he sees Izuku sitting in front of the camera. In a cage. They put my fucking kid in a cage.
"Hello, hero!" A woman's voice. Shouta can't see her at all. "You know, I'm happy you joined before I started! Our little hero and I are going to have so much fun."
"Who are you?" Shouta can barely hear his kid whisper.
The woman cackles, "Trying to tell Shouta what you know? That's alright, he would have figured this part out soon enough! My name is Fukidashi Azuha. My son was Fukidashi Naoya. I'm sure our dear hero can put the rest together."
Shit. Shit. Naoya was a case he had two years ago. It was a teenager who liked committing arson on buildings full of people. Shouta had been the one to corner him but the kid blew the building up with both himself and Shouta in there. Shouta got out alive, Naoya didn't.
"We're in a boat! Unknown location. She thinks you need judgement and this isn't a ransom video. S-she has tools behind her. I'm so sorry." Izuku scrambles to get all the information out.
The woman strides forward and slams into the cage, "Shut up!" She hisses, "Shut the fuck up, you little bitch. This is his judgement to endure. You don't get to help him suffer through it!"
"Shouta. I almost have an exact location. I'm sending officers in the direction. They'll get him." Tsukauchi says quietly.
Azuha regains her composure before turning back off camera. She comes back a second later and crouches in front of the cage. She sets something down next to her and opens the door to the cage. "Judgement day is here."
She grabs the chain hooked to Izuku's ankle and yanks it towards her. "No! Stop!" Izuku gasps when his head slams against the bars.
"Purity is purged." Azuha steps on the chain holding the boy in place. Izuku sobs as he tries to pull away.
Shouta watches with wide eyes, completely unable to look away. "Evil is punished."
Azuha picks up what she set down. It's a fucking knife. "Purity is the price of evil. Purity dies from evil. So evil kills the pure. Judgement is served."
-.-
No matter what Tsukauchi thought was going to happen. His officers found a dead boy. They had been too late. They found a dead woman. They never arrested her. Shouta was left with an empty house and a gravestone to visit every night.