Chapter Text
The Patrol was supposed to be simple and easy.
That should’ve been Izuku’s first warning.
“Simple patrol,” Shota Aizawa says, expression unreadable beneath the capture scarf wrapped around his neck. “Warehouse district. Low-level surveillance. If something feels off, you call for backup. I'll be on the other side of town of you need me.”
Aizawa studies them in silence for a long moment.
“You’re both statistically bad at avoiding danger,” he says finally.
Kaminari looks offended. “Wow. Harsh.”
“It’s documented.”
“That somehow makes it worse.”
Aizawa’s eyes shift toward Izuku specifically.
“Problem Child.”
Izuku straightens immediately. “Yes?”
“You are not allowed to fight an entire criminal organization by yourself.”
“I’ve only done that, like—”
“Do not finish that sentence.”
Kaminari snorts loudly.
Izuku looks down, muttering under his breath about “technically not entire organizations.”
Aizawa closes his eyes, rubbing his nose between his fingers as if to rid of the developing migraine.
“Call if anything seems wrong,” he says flatly. “And if either of you gets kidnapped again, I’m expelling you.”
Kaminari freezes.
“… He won’t actually expel us riiight??!!"
Izuku just gives him a small shrug
Aizawa walks away without answering.
“That was ominous,” Kaminari says quietly.
Izuku nods. “Extremely.”
The sun’s already setting by the time they reach the warehouse district.
Most of the buildings are dark, looming shadows against the evening skyline.
A few hero patrols move farther down the streets, but this section is quiet enough that their footsteps echo against the pavement.
Kaminari shoves his hands into his pockets.
“You know,” he says, “every terrible experience in our lives starts with someone calling it ‘easy.’”
“That’s probably true statistically.”
“You have statistics for suffering?” he questions
“I have statistics for everything.”
“That’s deeply concerning.”
Izuku smiles faintly. He enjoys beinh with Kaminari.
Kaminari keeps talking as they patrol.
Mostly nonsense.
Something about Sero nearly setting the dorm kitchen on fire the last time he tried cooking
Something else about Mina trying to convince Kirishima to let her cut his hair.
Izuku listens quietly, shoulders relaxing bit by bit.
At Aldera, silence had been safer.
Talking too much got attention.
Attention got him mocked.
“Seriously, does he ever shut up?”
“Just tape his mouth closed already.”
“Deku’s so annoying.”
Izuku blinks hard and forces the memories down before they can settle.
“You good?” Kaminari asks suddenly.
He noticed.
Izuku smiles automatically. “Yep.”
Kaminari eyes him suspiciously.
Then immediately gets distracted by a calico cat with a big splotch over its eye, digging through a trash bag nearby.
“Oh, My, God. I need to take a picture.”
Izuku sighs softly. “Denki… We're on patrol. We can’t get distracted by a cat, no matter how cute it is.” Answering Kaminari's unspoken question.
“It’s a cat. And doesn't that blotch on its face look like Todoroki's?” Kaminari said, “It looks emotionally small.”
“That sentence doesn’t mean anything.” Izuku scoffed with a half-amused and half-confused face. "Just leave it alone.”
Kaminari crouches down with his phone out in an attempt to take a picture and pet it at the same time, anyway.
The cat hisses violently and scratches Kaminari.
Kaminari gasps in betrayal.
“I offered friendship and a selfie.”
“You approached it loudly and with your phone flash out.” Izuku deadpanned
“Correction! I approached it enthusiastically. And the flash was an accident.” he sassed
Izuku laughs.
Then stops.
“Something's wrong with the lights.”
Kaminari straightens immediately.
The mood shifts fast.
Izuku scans the street carefully.
Half the streetlights are dark.
Not randomly.
Every third light.
A pattern.
“Someone disabled them, mabye a quirk?” he says quietly.
Kaminari’s joking expression disappears.
Izuku reaches for his communicator.
Static crackles sharply through it.
* krrzzttt *
No signal.
“Shit! ”Kaminari swears under his breath.
“That’s bad.”
Very bad.
Izuku’s stomach tightens.
“We should regroup with Aizawa-sensei. Do you thi–”
An explosion cuts him off.
Not fire.
Electrical.
The streetlight above them bursts apart in a shower of sparks.
Kaminari jerks backward instinctively. “What the hell—”
Izuku notices movement across the rooftops in the corner of his eye.
Izuku reacts immediately.
“Above us!”
Three figures drop from the buildings simultaneously.
Villains.
Coordinated.
The first lunges for Kaminari with insulated restraints already in hand.
“Oh COME ON,” Kaminari yells, electricity exploding across the alley.
The second charges Izuku directly.
Fast.
Too fast.
Izuku dodges the first strike and drives a kick into the villain’s ribs hard enough to send him skidding backward.
“One For All: Full Cow—”
Pain detonates across his spine.
Izuku chokes on the words.
A stun baton crackles against his shoulder from behind.
Another villain.
Crap.
His knees slam into the pavement hard enough to bruise.
“Midoriya!” Kaminari calls out
Kaminari blasts electricity wildly down the alley, forcing two villains backward.
One drops instantly.
The other barely reacts.
Insulated gear.
“They planned for us,” Izuku realizes aloud.
A metal collar suddenly slams against Kaminari’s neck.
His electricity cuts out instantly.
Kaminari stares at it in horror.
“…did they just anti-electricity me?”
“Quirk suppressor,” Izuku yells back.
“That feels SUPER illegal.” he says while struggling to get the collar off
"No shit, Sherlock," one of the villains quips.
As Izuku struggles to his feet
Another strike catches Izuku across the ribs.
Pain flashes white-hot through his side.
The villains move with terrifying coordination.
This isn’t random.
They knew who they were targeting.
Static crackles uselessly through his communicator again as he tries to
Nope. Still jammed.
No backup.
One villain laughs beneath his mask.
“No one’s coming, heroes.”
Izuku’s stomach drops.
Kaminari manages to break one restraint before two villains slam him into the concrete simultaneously.
“Oh, this is SUCH fucking bull—”
Izuku lunges instinctively toward him.
Copper wire wraps violently around his arms mid-motion.
The restraint tightens hard enough to force the air from his lungs.
He hits the pavement hard.
Metal cuffs snap around his wrists immediately after.
Quirk suppression cuffs.
Professional-grade.
Panic spikes sharply through his chest.
“They researched us,” Izuku says.
The villain above him grins.
“Congratulations. You figured it out.”
A boot slams into Izuku’s ribs before he can move again.
Pain bursts through his side.
Somewhere nearby, Kaminari’s still fighting despite the restraints locking around his arms.
“Midoriya!” he calls out
“I’m okay!” Izuku chokes out
“That sounded EXTREMELY not okay!”
Izuku forces himself upright against the restraints, digging into his wrists.
Think.
Think.
Think!
There has to be a way out.
Three known villains, and who knows how many more there could be?
Jammed communications.
Prepared equipment.
Planned blackout zones.
Not random.
Definitely not random.
One of the villains crouches in front of him slowly.
“You know,” he says conversationally, “you’re smaller than I expected.”
Izuku glares at him.
The villain laughs.
Then reaches into his belt and pulls out a muzzle.
Izuku’s blood runs cold instantly.
“No.”
The response comes too fast.
Too sharp.
The villain pauses. “Oh,” he says softly.
Izuku jerks backward instinctively.
His pulse spikes violently.
Kaminari freezes across the alley.
“…Midoriya?”
The villain notices everything immediately.
The panic.
The breathing.
The instinctive recoil.
And he smiles.
Not playful anymore.
Interested.
“Well,” he murmurs. “That’s useful.”
“No talking,” he says, grabbing Izuku’s jaw roughly before he can twist away. “Wouldn’t want the strategist causing problems.”
The straps tighten behind Izuku’s head.
Too tight.
Too familiar.
Suddenly—
Hands over his mouth.
Tape pulling painfully against skin.
Laughter echoing through a classroom.
“Shut him up already.”
Izuku’s breathing stutters sharply.
“Get OFF him!”
Electricity explodes across the alley.
Kaminari surges violently against his restraints despite the suppressor clamped to his neck.