"Oh star child—how long will it take for you to understand? no galaxy could ever contain you."
~ F.T.

Track 58; Enemy by Imagine Dragons
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Maruta Shiga, a "quirkless" man who runs Jaku Hospital. He idealized community based medicine in quirks and after forming the hospital put his efforts into charitable works. He's set up orphanages and nursing homes nationwide, earning a rapport that puts him in the upper echelons of society.

"How do we know it's him?" Rocklock asks at the hero gathering; they were going over the plans about the upcoming approach for a war against the Paranormal Liberation Army—the same one your husband had warned you about. The same one you were now drawn into, no thanks to the outcomes and the truths you now knew.

"We had someone go undercover based on a tip from the Safety Commission. They discovered a locked down area in the hospital and nobody knew what it was being used for. It's only accessible via the morgue. Only Shiga goes in and out. Our insider did spot him dragging somebody in there, and we haven't seen her come out." Answers Detective Tsukauchi.

A picture is revealed.

The energy in the room darkens more than it already was.

Aizawa and Present Mic stiffen in their seats.

So that was why you hadn't been answering their calls.

"I understand a comrade is in danger, but for her safety and the rest of ours we have to proceed with caution. We have reason to believe that there are up to a dozen or more Nomu's inside the morgue. These more than likely are High-Ends, similar to the one Estrella eradicated in Fukuoka. We aren't sure of the Liberations plans with holding her hostage, she may be subjected as 'bait' for us. Arresting Maruta Shiga won't be tricky, but the Paranormal Liberation Front will catch wind of it if we get ahead of ourselves."

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That television static was evolving, turning into something that was brain-rattling and caused the rest of your body to feel fuzzy as well. The monotonous white noise your head was creating did not subside the dull ache at the back. Your body pulsed with an ever increasing pain. It connected with the fact that your wings were restricted, by what you were unsure but they were clamped firmly with some sort of restraint. It was difficult to tell, but it felt like a metal net holstered to you at your lower rib cage and the back of your neck.

You were sick of being hit over the head, didn't they have a better way to take you out? Why had that turned into their best method?

There's a slight movement, though it isn't due to your own choices. It's difficult to guess what sort of predicament you are in. There is an immense pressure in your brain that makes you feel nauseous. It's all the blood in your body pooling up in your head. You don't have anything in you to throw up even if you tried; you aren't sure how long you've been here. Minutes? Hours? Days?

How long could a person be held upside down before dying? Was this some sort of slow torture? Were they expecting you to break out of this confinement? You couldn't get a read on your mana levels, so you were probably right in assuming that you were held in quirk-binding restraints. That was frustrating. It's easy to tell that you are hanging. Wiggling your legs shakes the rest of you, and you can feel a bit of tension a distance away. Without your quirk, you wouldn't be able to get enough speed to break free. You growl in frustration, which barely makes a sound from your throat.

You hear footsteps at a frantic pace over the white buzz in your head. You go limp, hoping to seem unconscious while you hone in on your other senses minus your sight. A door opens, and someone runs inside. You can sense their location in the room thanks to their haggard, panicked breathing. Outside the door again, you can hear someone else coming in at a fast speed. Your heart begins to quicken, and you hear a voice.

"I got a tough call to make! Your walk is over, Johnny! I needja to warp Shigaraki and me outta here, stat!"

Your blood runs cold. Did he just say... Shigaraki?

You know exactly who Shigaraki is. To think that you were in the same laboratory as him this entire time and you didn't have a single clue? You swallowed hard, but the doctor was paying no mind to you. You had to be extra precautious about getting out of here now. You would have a better chance if you waited until after their departure.

But what else was in this room with you?

Before you could truly begin to guess all of the options, a large crash occurs through the door, followed by what sounds like glass containers shattering on the floor.

A grin splits your face. "Took you long enough, you overgrown chicken." You whisper to yourself, but the voice you hear makes your grin falter for only a second.

"Are you the real one?!"

"Mirko?!" Your voice isn't a whisper this time.

Maruta Shiga screams.

You hear, "Oh, Estrella! We've been looking for ya!"

If she planned to continue, her voice is interrupted by more glass breaking, and what is unmistakably some sort of fluid being spilled across the floor.

"NOOOOOO!"

You can only laugh at the doctors devastation. You're slightly disappointed that it isn't Hawks here to save you to make up for things, but you're more than glad that it's Mirko rather than anybody else. You weren't sure if you could handle anyone other than those two finding you in your current predicament.

Mirko lifts her hand to the radio next to her ear. "Guys! I found the old fart, a bunch of tough looking Nomu, and Estrella! I dunno if the old guy's the real one, but a good kick should tell me!"

Mirko springs forward. "You the real one?! Let's find out!"

"AHHHH! I AM! I'M THE REAL ONE!"

"Better give ya a good kick to be sure!"

A weird, tiny Nomu with a big head, a tail, and two legs jumps up and headbutts Mirkos hip, straying her off course. Fortunately, it sends her your way and she makes quick work to spring up and break the chain's attachment to the ceiling. "Heads up, girly!" You hit the ground unceremoniously, but the impact breaks the restraint since you rotated around to land on your back.

It wipes the wind from your lungs and you bite your tongue upon doing so, but the payoff is worth the pain when Mirko goes back to apprehending Maruta while you regain your senses.

You mentally thank her for her help, and slowly roll over onto your hands and knees. You press your head against the ground for a split second, begging the ebbing sensation in your head to lessen when you hear Maruta Shiga cry out again.

"Go slaughter those meddlesome heros! My precious High-Ends!"

All of the hair on your body stands up, and you scramble to your feet when you sense an ominously large hand coming for you. You feel a visceral shriek of fear leave your lungs and you launch upward, avoiding it's ensnaring grasp by the skin of your teeth. You return it's hostility with a swift downward stomp to the back of its neck, causing the flooring underneath it to crumple.

You look up, vision returning at just the perfect moment to see Mirko be tossed through a wall above the door she broke through. Before you can call out to her, one of the Nomu's jumps up from below and grabs you out of the air like a shark aiming for a bird out of the ocean. It launches you towards the same wall she went through.

Your senses slowly begin to return to you, one by one. The final one is your sight, and you can hear your ally before you see her next to you. In your blackened peripheral you can spot the blur that can only be Maruta fleeing behind the High-Ends. You scoff. What a coward.

"You think you're getting away, you old fart?!" Mirko shouts. You can practically hear the adrenaline coursing through her veins. "Estrella! Get out of here, I can handle these freaks."

"Are you sure?" You disentangle yourself from the rubble, holding onto a broken pipe to remain up out of the enemies reach. "I can always take a few out for you."

"And let you take some of my stardom? I don't think so, honey." She chuckles. "You go kick some ass somewhere else—you'll probably have more use on the front lines." Before you can argue anymore, she adds one last thing. "Oh, your hubby's there, too. Head 80 kilometers to the west and you'll find him."

You don't have much of a choice. The laboratory is too tight of an area for you to get the proper angle on any of these Nomu's for an attack. She has a much better chance in these close quarters. Not to mention the fact that you're more than likely to make the ceiling cave in. All you're doing by hanging around now is slowing her down.

"Right. Show 'em who's boss." Your final words of encouragement is what boosts her enough to launch off of the wall and back into the fray. You use her distraction as an opportunity to slip down and through the opening in the wall.

You're only able to fly for about two minutes before you're forced to stop. Running at you is Crust. The last time you saw him was the opening night of your bar. He says your name, surprised to see you before a wide grin splits his face. "You should evacuate! You may come across Nomus on your way out!"

"Thanks for the heads up!" You wish you had the time to stop and chat with him. "Be careful!"

"You as well!" He gives you a two finger salute, before directing his comrades to advance on the Nomu that had suddenly appeared behind you.

Your breath is echoing in your ears as you attempt to find a way out. It feels like the walls are closing in on you, but you brush off the feeling. It's your anxiety getting to you—you must stop it from going any further otherwise it is going to be your downfall.

A Nomu is in your path. With a war cry, you stomp its head into the wall before giving yourself time to think. You bounce off of the cracked plaster and continue on.

If you were correct, you were now in the middle of the war. You wished you could have been more assistance to your comrades sooner; it isn't the time to dwell on that either. You need to get out of here.

"(Y—Estrella!"

You're going fast enough that you nearly blitz past. Behind you stands Aizawa, Present Mic, Endeavour, and more.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Aizawa is stern, you already know what he's wanting. Now that he's got you in his sights, he isn't interested in letting you go.

"I have to get to the hideout." You answer him plainly, casting a glance in the direction you were heading. The clock is ticking.

"We could use your help here." He replies back. "Why didn't you stay with Mirko?"

"Because I was more of an obstacle than anything else. I'll just be the same here. You know I have a better chance outside."

He can't argue with you on that. He is the one who trained you. He's the one who brought you back into the rankings.

"The door back into the morgue is at the end of this hallway." Eraserhead, your longtime mentor, tells you sharply. His tone says he isn't happy about this; he knows he can't stop you. "The ground floor is the one above us."

You give him a soft smile, feeling some of the tension vanish from your shoulders. Your anxiety lessened as well. "Thank you."

You're out of the hospital in five minutes, but you don't feel out of breath. If anything, you feel like you're about to explode. There is so much heat radiating through your body that you feel like you walked straight into a burning building just to feel the burn. It causes a sharp sting in your chest, and the feathers in your wings go numb. You stretch them out, and they shake enough to make your bones hurt.

You aren't sure what you're feeling, but your mana levels are through the roof. If it is by chance your body telling you that you're overloaded already, you ignore it. It's easy to do that when there is a strange pull eastward—the direction Mirko had told you to go once you were outside. A mild breeze buffets your skin, and you follow the instinct. You leave a streak of blue in the sky behind you.

You only hope you can make it before it's too late.

You have to find him.

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In the hideout, a door is thrown open. Razor sharp vermillion feathers flit through the room, destroying every piece of furniture including the ceiling.

"What the heck is going on here?" Twice dives for the floor, laying on his head and shoulders with his legs up above him when he turns his head. His eyes go wide when he finds Hawks standing in the doorway. The ashy blonds face is primarily concealed by shadows except for his dangerously narrowed eyes. In his hands are the largest feathers he could use as swords.

"I sent out the date and time of the attack via code. And if I make it sound easy, believe me, it wasn't." Feathers fall on either side of him, smaller chunks fraying off as he spoke. "The real threat here was the numbers on your side..."

"Hey." Twice tries to interrupt, but it's no use.

Hawks continues, "...I had to keep an especially sharp eye on you and your double. Certainly couldn't leave you to your own devices. "Let's go over Liberation ideology before the big conference."" He quotes himself from a few days prior. "You didn't suspect a thing, right?"

Twice tries again. "Haw-"

A feather stops millimeters from his face, and he falls silent again.

"Please don't resist. I'm going to capture you and hand you over to the authorities. That's how this works."

Twice begins to hyperventilate. "But, but...hold on..." Your husbands face is unchanging as he watches Twice begin to unravel.

"It's always...like this." Tears erupt at his waterline. "NOT AGAAAIN! I had to...I had to trust you...because I felt...bad for you. A-and...that pretty lady of yours." He sobs, oblivious to the way the minuscule feathers remaining behind Keigo's shoulders twitch. "How sad is it if nobody trusts you?!"

The feathered hero lets out a calm, yet slightly shaky breath. "Well, thanks. You've just been unlucky, but you can make a fresh start once you pay for your crimes. I'll even help you start over. You'll even tell me where my wife is, right? Because...you're a good person."

A brief moment of silence passes before Twice speaks again. His hands are covering his face, obviously distraught.

"Shaddup. You call yourself a hero? Fresh start? That's a load of crap."

"Stop that." Hawks tries to shoot him down.

"C'mon!"

"Bubaigawara!"

"As for me," Jin sits up, dodging a feather yet letting it pierce the mask over his face. "I stopped giving a damn wayyy, way back!"

The room turns into a hazard of knives when Hawks recalls his feathers in order to make another attack.

"I don't want to fight you...Bubaigawara! Tell me where she is and we can work something out!"

Twice is too far gone to reason with now, he feels betrayed. "Well good for freakin' you! I don't know where your wifey is, not like I should care anymore!" 

Hawks grits his teeth. He can't waste his time subduing Twice when he has more important things at hand, finding you.

"I'D TRADE MY SOUL..." A wave of doubles forms underneath the duplicating man, lifting him into the air, Sad Mans Parade. "...FOR THE LEAGUE'S HAPPINESS!"

'Twice,'

Despite the turmoil in his heart, Keigo feels calm when the pristine image of you flashes through his head.

'This isn't your fault.'

In the distance, a dark pair of boots stomps up a stairway.

'As always, scummy heros are to blame.'

Dabi knows he doesn't have much time now, a wicked smile nearly splitting the stitches in his face.

It isn't long before Estrella, the Phoenix Hero makes a grand entrance.

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words; 2,861

oop—three chapters left y'all.

thanks for reading! please remember to vote!
~ evixtus