Work Text:
Izuku woke in a dark, cold room.
He woke alone, and he woke up suddenly. A bolt of adrenaline shooting his heart rate through the roof, and his awareness into being.
Where the hell was he?
The mattresses that was under him was very good quality, it was soft, yet didn’t let him sink to much into the springs. It seemed to be the only nice thing in the room he was in.
Well the only thing in the room he was in.
The walls were bare, and there wasn’t even a bedframe for his mattress to lay on, apart from the cold floor. A simple low table was the only thing he could see in the centre of the room. Packed with dishes, that seemed to still be steaming in the cold air.
Making his way over, his arms wrapped around his shoulders – he hadn't even been given a blanket. Izuku ignored the food, despite how hungry he was. It was the first rule of being kidnapped, scope out the area and to try and not accept any food where you do not see where it came from. The best case scenario being the food being from an air sealed container.
Aizawa was also hard on them to learn that that did not mean do not eat. If you needed to eat to survive, then that is what you had to do. Hunger strikes did not work in most situations.
As he stood up, Izuku could feel his body swaying for a few moments, as his mind suddenly came fuzzy. Landing back on the mattress black spots invaded his vision for a few moments, and it would be better to sit with his head between his knees.
The spinning had gone, luckily, and it was only the slightly dizzying black spots invading his vision. Bringing his hands to rest on the back of his neck, his hands met with a metal band that fitted snugly to his skin. Bolting upright, and standing straight – luckily he felt a little more steady on his feet now, Izuku’s hands frantically twitching around his neck.
It was nobbly, Izuku could feel, his chest heaving in what he could guess was the start of a panic. There was a larger knob on the left side of his neck. Nothing he could work out from just touching it, there was no obvious switch or reader. It was smooth, but still a bit on the side of a collar.
It could be a battery or a switch. It could power whatever this collar was doing to him.
Breathing in deeply through his nose, inhaling deeply the smell of the food that was sitting and cooling in front of him. Testing balance, Izuku made his way past the low table in the room, having spotted two doors in the far corner, on on the far wall, and the other to the side. Unconsciously trailing his fingers across the metal to try and find a seam, Izuku opened the door to the side of the wall.
A small bathroom greeted him, toilet, sink, and shower. No mirror, and no cupboards.
The sink had a bar of soap on it, and the shower had a very good brand of curly hair shampoo and conditioner. checking they all work, and to check for bugs, his quick sweep of the bathroom was complete causing even more confusion – and no small degree of panic. Izuku was trying not to circum to his panic as he backed out of the bathroom, to turn to see the table had gone.
Rushing to the spot where it had been, not even a crumb of food was left. Everything, as well as the table had vanished.
“Ok Izuku, deep breaths. Do some more searches and then allow panic.” It was a mantra he hoped he would be able to follow, no good decisions were made in panic. And it never hurt to be informed. Stumbling away from the phantom table – where did it go, and how, a warp quirk it must have been. Izuku would have either seen a person come in and take the table or heard them at least.
Unless it was a time dilation quirk.
The second door opened into a large room, at least double the size of where he had woken up. The centre piece of the room was the large vault door. Which was currently half-way ajar.
Rushing towards it, Izuku took stock of the other door, on the other side of the vault to where he was. Ignoring how that too was also ajar.
Peaking out the gap between the wall and the door, Izuku could see nothing. Hearing only a small noise from the other room. Biting his lip between his teeth, he started pushing the door, it opened easily and he slipped through.
The thought, ‘this is too easy’ slipped into his mind a second before the click. Body seizing in pain Izuku dropped to the floor, writhing as the smell of an electrical burn emanated from his neck. Managing to just about clench his teeth against a scream, Izuku pulled himself up from the floor. Leaning heavily against a wall as the shocks wore off.
A few steps later, still leaning against the wall, the collar went off again, and at this point he couldn’t hold the scream in. Thumping down to the ground again, his eye’s got dark spots again. When it wore off again, he was on his front panting into the ground. Loud footsteps from inside the vault echoing in the hallway.
Throwing himself forward, he started to crawl. The black spots in his vision getting bigger and bigger as the footsteps grew louder and louder.
Izuku woke in a dark, cold room. He could not move.
“Izuku, I am disappointed that you tried to leave today. What would you have done if the heroes had got to you again?”
Izuku couldn’t open his mouth to reply, his whole jaw felt like it had been glued shut. Waves of pain flowed down and up from his neck. A deep groan echoed out of his jaws as his breath spluttered out a reply.
“No, don’t talk. You won't be able too. I would prefer if you didn’t actually. I brought you here to be safe, I need you to stay here with you uncle, to be safe. I don’t want to have to go to extreme methods just to keep you safe.”
He gave a massive sigh, and laid a large hand on Izuku’s sweaty forehead, the pressure pushed him down further into the mattress. He could feel the springs starting to dig into his back as his ability to move was gone.
“I don’t want to put you into a tube and take you around with me. It won’t be nice for either of us, and I know you like your independence. But that is an option if you try anything again, not” he tapped the collar around his neck “that you would be able to get far. If you behave, you will get more things in here that you and your uncle will be able to use.”
He moved away from Izuku for a moment, and if he focused very carefully Izuku could hear distant screaming. It sounded like his name, but that couldn’t be right. It was pounding in his head. Turning back, All for One – for that who it was, the knowledge lodged into his brain, held out a long tube.
“I really hate doing this, but you left me no choice. You didn’t eat the food I provided, and then you tried to break out. Missing any meals is bad for a growing boy. I would say open up but you don’t have a choice.”
All for one fed the tube down his throat, wiping away the tears from Izuku’s cheek as the large object was inserted into his throat. Izuku could feel it, it felt like he was suffocating. Pushing on his windpipe and down further. The cold mush forced down through the pipe afterwards was worse. Izuku’s whole body was rebelling. He could imagine the hives coming up on his arms, the pain of his stomach being packed with food when he didn’t want it.
The worst part was when he pulled it out again, it felt like he was throwing up. Like it would never stop. There was a heaviness to his stomach now, to the stretched feeling in his throat. The collar was not helping with the tight feeling.
“There, wasn’t so bad was it.” All for One said with false cheer, and Izuku could see the remorse. It lay cold in his stomach with the food he had forced down, glaring up at him from wet lashed eyes – the man was foggy through the tears in his eyes. A large hand settled on his cheek. “I am sorry about that, I know you don’t believe me, hopefully you’ll forgive me when I introduce you to your uncle, but we can save that for later. For now, rest.”
His hand moved over his eyes and the next thing Izuku knew was dreams.