Chapter Text
"If you really want to be a hero that badly, there might actually be another way." Katsuki's voice rung through his head as he made his way home. "Just pray that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the roof of the building."
That was such an idiotic thing to say. Not like Izuku even considered it for more than a moment, still, the words hurt coming from a person he considered his friend.
He was about to pass under a bridge when someone, a child based on the size and force, ran into him. He looked over and saw a little girl with long silver hair and a horn sticking out of her head. She was in some sort of hospital gown and she was shaking like crazy.
She looked up to Izuku with wide, terrified, red eyes. Tears were pouring out of them and Izuku felt he needed to comfort her somehow.
He crouched down to her level and helped her to her feet, 'she must've fallen when she bumped into me' Izuku thought to himself.
"Are you alright?" He asked gently, the girl didn't take his hand so he brought it back to his side, although he made no move to stand up straight again. "That fall you took must've hurt."
She didn't reply, but instead she sat up and launched herself toward him.
"Woah!" Izuku was a bit startled by the sudden motion, but tried to remain a gentle tone of voice as to not scare the girl any farther.
"Please." She cried. "I don't want to go back! Don't make me go back!" The girl clutched his school uniform in her hands and Izuku carefully wrapped his arms around the girl, gently hugging her.
"I won't make you go back to anywhere you don't want to be," Izuku's knees were starting to hurt, but he remained in his crouching position. "I promise."
The girl pulled back slowly and looked him in the eyes. "Promise..?"
"Yeah." Izuku smiled down at her. "I promise."
"Eri." A gruff voice suddenly spoke and the girl tensed. "What have I said about running off and wasting peoples time."
The girl in his arms, Eri, clutched his uniform even tighter and she shakily stuttered out a response. "N- Not to..."
"That's right." The man took a step forward, and Izuku had a horrible feeling about him. But he was not going to leave Eri. "So how about we get going and you stop wasting this young man's time. He probably has people waiting for him." For some reason the last part felt like a threat and Izuku had to say something.
Something, apparently meant saying the most stupid thing he could think to say in response to that. "No one's waiting for me! I don't mind walking with you to where ever you are going!" What? He panicked! He knew it was a bad idea to go and walk with a random man, but he couldn't leave Eri, he promised that she wouldn't have to go back.
"And what use would that be to me?" The man asked him.
"Uh.." Izuku was panicking again. He was a useless Deku! What use would he be to this random man?! "I-.. uh. I probably wouldn't be of use or anything..," WHY THE FUCK WOULD HE SAY THAT??? He needed to continue talking or else this would end bad, well, worse then whatever the hell would happen after he said that. BRAIN SHUT THE FUCK UP AND JUST TALK! "Uh.. Well."
"Why would you think that you wouldn't be of use?" The man raised an eyebrow.
Don't say because he was quirkless.
DON'T FUCKING SAY BECAUSE HE IS QUIRKLESS-
"Because I'm quirkless."
OH FUCK YOU MOUTH!
Izuku's eyes widened and he didn't notice the girl in his arms freeze in place. He didn't notice the small grin spread across the man's face from under his beak, mask, thing.
"I wouldn't mind if you walked with us. We were headed to the car anyway." The man told him and Izuku's eyes snapped up to look at him. "We should get going, now."
"Uh- A-alright." Izuku stuttered out.
Izuku slowly got out of his crouch and moved Eri into a position more comfortable for him to carry her. He did not have a good feeling about this, but at least he doesn't have to leave Eri with this man.
The closer they got to where the man said his car was, the more Eri shook in what Izuku suspected to be fear. He was also scared, but if he wanted any chance to calm the young girl down, then he had to act calm on the outside. He looked down at the girl and was surprised when he was the girl looking bad up at him with tears pouring down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, quiet enough that the man, hopefully, couldn't hear her.
Izuku smiled and tried to say that it was okay with his eyes. He hoped Eri saw that he didn't regret anything when she looked into his eyes for a moment before tucking her face back into his uniform.
Tears threatened to form in his eyes, but he refused them.
He wanted to be a hero.
How could he ever hope to be a hero if he couldn't put on a brave face for one girl.
They reached the car and the man asked him he could sit Eri down in the backseat for him. Izuku agreed and once the man opened the door and gently set Eri down in the seat.
"I may not be able to keep our promise." Izuku whispered into her ear, too quiet for the man to overhear what he was say. "But I'll tell you what. I'm going to make you a new promise. This one I won't break okay?" He pulled back and he saw Eri nod.
"What's the promise?" She looked at him with curious, watery, eyes.
"I promise that I will never leave your side willingly." Izuku smiled at her. "And if I ever get taken away from you, then I promise it was not my choice, and I promise that I will always work as hard as I can to get back to you. How does that sound?"
More tears made their way down the girl's cheeks, but she nodded and confidently replied. "I like that promise."
Izuku looked at her with what he hoped was a kind smile, before something touched his arm and the world went black.
A moment later he was back, but his whole body felt like it was being poked by needles.
His breathing quickened.
What was that? What just happened to him?
He turned around with wide eyes and saw the man standing behind him, pulling gloves back over his hands.
"Wha- what did you do?" He asked, terrified.
"That was my quirk." The man replied. "Disobey me and I'll do it again, but slower so you can feel your whole body disassemble."
Izuku felt a shiver go up his spine. Who was this man?
"Now, get in the car." The man ordered. "We're leaving."
--
Izuku was terrified.
They had arrived to wherever they we going and the man, Izuku now knows is called Overhaul, dragged him into a separate room, away from Eri. He was itching to get back to her, but there was nothing he could do at the moment.
Overhaul locked him in a plain room with the only things in it being a bed, not really a bed because it was morally just a mattress, and a toilet behind a wall. There was nothing sharp and they had taken all his belongings.
He was stuck.
Without a clock Izuku didn't know how long it had been before Overhaul opened the door and told him to follow him.
Izuku didn't want to be 'disassembled' again, so he followed Overhaul out of the room.
He was guided out of the room and he followed Overhaul through the confusing halls and eventually they made it to another door and Overhaul opened it and told him to get inside. Izuku obeyed and walking into the room, he looked around the room and almost froze when he saw a wall with medical restrains on it. What the fuck was that? A torture devise or something?
Wait..
Why would he need to come to the room unless..-
"Walk over to that wall for me." Overhaul ordered.
Izuku tensed up, but still obeyed.
He only now realized the other people with bird masks standing in the room. What the fuck.
"Nemoto, straps." Overhaul turned to one of the other people in the room.
A man, most likely 'Nemoto', steps toward him and Izuku tried to back away, but ended up with his back against the wall.
"Do not try to struggle unless you would like to be disassembled again. I don't want to hurt you, but if you don't listen I'll have no choice." Overhaul spoke to him and Izuku shivered at the thought of being dissembled, so he let 'Nemoto' use the medical restraints to hold him against the wall.
Izuku didn't like where this was going.
"Don't worry." Overhaul 'assured' him. "We just need to do some tests, but sense it is your first time, we need you to stay still, and we find that this will hold you still best."
This man is a psychopath.
"Nemoto," Overhaul addressed the man still in front of Izuku. "Could you finish?"
The man nodded and he walk over to the side of the room and grabbed a strap from the top corner of the room before he walked back over and tied it around Izuku's wrist, forcing his arm upwards.
Izuku looked back and forth in panic as the man walked over to the other side of the room and grabbed another strap. They couldn't do this! Izuku's other wrist was grabbed and tied to the strap on the other side of the room, forcing both his arms up and when Izuku tried to pull his arm away he couldn't. He was stuck to the wall and there was o escaping it.
Suddenly the left strap tightened even further and he was pulled to the side upwards. Nemoto walked to the other side of the room again and did the same thing to the other side. Izuku was forced upwards and only his toes could touch the ground. He was suddenly yanked again and brought even higher from the right, it felt like they were trying to spilt him from the center, tear both his arms off from stretching him. Nemoto walked to the other side again and he was yanked off the ground, his feet now dangling, unable to touch the ground.
Izuku kicked his feet around for a moment but Overhaul stepped forward, hand ungloved. "I would suggest not doing that." He spoke sternly.
He forgot to watch Nemoto and suddenly his left leg was being pulled to the side of the room as well.
Izuku's eyes widened and he opened his mouth. "Why are you doing this-" He was cut off by Overhauls hand wrapping around his leg.
Only his leg was disassembled and he screamed out of pain. His leg was just disassembled and he could feel it being torn apart piece by piece. He was screaming and sobbing and suddenly his leg was back. That didn't stop his sobs and he couldn't even reach a hand down to feel and make sure his right leg was back. The only conformation he got that it was back, was when Nemoto grabbed his right leg to tie it to the bottom right side of the room.
He was still crying when Overhaul looked at the medical restraints being used to pin him to the wall. Overhaul nodded to Nemoto in approval and told him the wash his hands. Nemoto nodded and left the room. Overhaul looked at his sobbing, pain filled, face and smiled.
"We'll be back later." Was all the man said before leaving the room.
Izuku was pinned to a wall by fucking medical restraints and all he wanted to do was first, know that his leg was okay, and second, find Eri, hug the girl, and never leave her side ever again.
But he couldn't. Not now, not for a while.