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Himiko thinks she might actually die of boredom.
Prison, it turns out, is kind of terrible. There's nothing to do here. There's four walls and a little bed and a bathroom with a shower barely big enough to squeeze into. The most exciting way to pass the time that isn't sleeping or thinking about her friends or imagining how to get out of here is to lie on the floor and stare at the ceiling. She's not even allowed any visitors, on account of the whole able to turn into anyone she can steal blood from thing.
She's too much of a "security risk."
Early on, she'd heard that Ochako argued against that, and that she'd even tried to get permission to see her, but, well, it's hard to know for sure given that she's been in solitary confinement for months now.
Himiko likes to think it's true. The look on Ochako's face the last time she'd seen her makes her pretty sure it is.
She's lying on the floor one day, arms and legs spread out like she's a starfish and trying to find patterns on the mottled ceiling that look like blood. When the door to her cell creeps silently open, she notices it right away. It's kind of hard not to, with how small the cell is.
It gets significantly smaller when three people wearing guard uniforms slip into the room. One of them, a tall young man with glasses, very carefully and silently closes the door behind them before turning to face her.
They all look tense and coiled, like they're not sure if she's going to scream or do something drastic, like bite them. After being alone for so long, Himiko is almost distracted by the warm flush of their skin so near. She can practically hear the pumping of their hearts in their chests.
"Toga Himiko," a second boy says, and Himiko startles back to herself, because she recognizes the boy. She recognizes all three of them, though she doesn't remember their names. She's seen their faces before, in the news and during the war.
She's seen them with Ochako.
She stares up at the boy who had spoken for a long moment as they all stare down at her.
"You're Touya's brother," she finally says, and the boy she's watching blinks and then slowly nods. His bangs, white and red, flutter over his forehead. Himiko giggles, and then frowns. "Why would I be imagining you?" she asks. If she's going to start hallucinating visitors, she'd much rather imagine she was playing cards with Jin or Compress, or that Ochako was here. If Ochako was here, Himiko thinks everything would be so much more bearable.
She thinks about Ochako's pink cheeks, flushed and warm, about the look on her face when she'd told Himiko she was the cutest in the whole world, and sighs dreamily up at the ceiling.
"You're not imagining us," the boy in glasses says sternly. "And we're not here to play games."
"What Iida is trying to say," the third person, a girl with a long ponytail, cuts in, "is that we need your help, Toga." She looks at Himiko with calm, steady eyes that beseech her to listen to them.
"We want to break you out of here," Touya's brother adds much more helpfully.
Himiko blinks, and then slowly sits up, one hand pressed against the floor as she peers up at them. "Break me out?" she echoes, and then narrows her eyes, because all of these people are Ochako's friends, but— "Why isn't Ochako here to help you break me out?"
"That's the reason we need your help," Touya's brother replies. "Ochako was taken hostage by a group of villains three days ago, and we need you to help us get her back."
Himiko stares at him. For a moment, she's sure she can't be hearing right. "Ochako needs help?" she asks, frowning, and then, "Wait, what? Three days ago?"
The boy with the glasses—Iida—crosses his arms over his chest. "We need you to transform into one of her kidnappers. Deku and Bakugou have been tracking them, but their security is immaculate. We tried to infiltrate them ourselves on the first day, but it only made them more careful. We—"
"What are we waiting for?" Himiko interrupts, rising to her feet. Her heart is pounding in her throat. She clenches her fists, which just makes her own heartbeat sound faster in her ears. Ochako has been kidnapped? Her Ochako? The Ochako who had flung her arms around her and squeezed her tight and whispered I'm so sorry, I'll find a way to save you, just like you saved me before Himiko had been locked away? Himiko still remembers the way Ochako had smelled all those months ago, and the warmth of her cheek as it pressed against hers.
She can still feel the way Ochako's mouth had pressed briefly against hers.
"Get me out of here right now!"
Iida and Touya's brother exchange glances, and then Iida looks at the girl. "Yaoyorozu?" he asks, and the girl steps forward with a determined look on her face. She unbuttons her shirt, exposing her bare stomach. She's focusing hard on something, and when Himiko looks closer, she can see a shape starting to form from her body.
"Kaminari hacked into the computers so no one would notice us entering," Touya's brother explains, "but there's no way to turn the sensors off. The alarms will start the moment they sense the room is empty."
Himiko watches with interest as Yaoyorozu keeps working. Creation—that's her quirk. It had been in the dossier that Kurogiri had provided each member of the League of Villains from the very beginning, and she remembers watching Yaoyorozu on TV during the sports festival.
It takes a couple of minutes, but by the time Yaoyorozu is done, a Himiko-sized Russian nesting doll is standing between them.
"Now we can go," Yaoyorozu says.
Iida reaches into his pocket, and for a moment, Himiko tenses. But then—
"Is that blood?" Himiko gasps, her eyes brightening.
There's a frown on Iida's face, like he's not quite sure he's doing the right thing. Still, he hands the vial over, and he barely even hesitates.
Himiko takes it into her hands like a precious thing. She cradles it carefully as she looks down at it. She doesn't know whose it is, and she doesn't really care.
Whoever's it is, it's going to help her find Ochako. That's enough to make her love them at least a little.
The blood, she soon learns, belongs to a wiry young woman. Himiko doesn't have a mirror, but her hands are long and thin and her new height takes her a moment to get used to.
Himiko doesn't know how Ochako's friends got the blood of a prison guard. Knowing the goody two-shoes at UA, they'd probably done it in the most boring way possible.
It isn't the comforting familiarity of Jin's blood or the fiery passion of Tomura's. It doesn't sing to her in the way Ochako's does, like she could drift away on the loveliness of it. Still, she feels something restless settle in her chest at the scent of it in the air. It's reassuring, to know that with this blood she'll soon be seeing Ochako.
I'll find you, she promises in her mind. You saved me so many times. I'll save you every chance I get, Ochako.
Yaoyoruzo hands over a uniform she's just finished creating, and Himiko wastes no time pulling it on. She's practically vibrating with excitement and urgency as she straightens the cap on her head.
"Let's go," she says, in a voice slightly deeper than she's accustomed to.
Silently, Iida motions the rest of them to stillness and slowly opens the door. He fiddles with something in his ear, and then nods. "Jirou says we're clear and Tsu is waiting for us at the docks," he says, and then motions them forward. Touya's brother goes first, followed by Yaoyorozu, then Himiko, and finally Iida himself.
As she leaves the room, Himiko doesn't look back.
In her mind, Ochako's cheeks flush pink as she smiles.