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aspenforest732 · 1 year ago

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Mortem ad Wrens Chapter 29: Kamino Ward

Summary:

tw: presence of past abusers

Notes:

‘text’ JSL text thoughts

Carefully keeping out of the heroes' line of sight, Akira padded in the shadows behind All for One as he stalked forward. Tiger gently scooped up Ragdoll, carrying her bridal style as he turned to Best Jeanist. Akira shuddered, forcing themself to keep moving. If they could just slip away…

Akira flinched as a loud boom shook the ground and threw the heroes back. Hair-like strands gleamed in the dim moonlight and pulled most of the heroes away from the main blast. With a flick of his finger, a shockwave rippled out from All for One’s finger, ripping a hole through the hero’s torso.

There! A low alley wall caught Akira’s eye, and they slowly shifted their trajectory while keeping rubble between them and the fight. Their left knee buckled with a sharp twinge, barely remaining upright as the sharp concrete ridges dug into their hands. Come on, just a little farther.

Akira’s eyes grew wide as they peeked over the rubble to find the League forming behind Katsuki out of black goop. Their breath caught at Dabi’s prone form, barely holding back from rushing to his side. They tried to catch Katsuki’s eyes, but he was solely focused on All for One, eyes wide in confusion and anger.

“Do it over as many times as you need to. That is why I am here. It’s all for you,” All for One encouraged Shigaraki, reaching out a hand to the shaking man. Shigaraki’s shaking frame relaxed slightly and took the hand with a hopeful look.

Akira slowly edged closer to the group, trying to get in Katsuki’s line of sight as a flicker of movement drew their eye to the opposite wall. Shit, whose backup is that? They finally caught his eyes as All Might landed into All for One and the concussive blast from the impact threw everyone back. Akira warped just before a piece of rubble would've hit them to land next to Katsuki, wincing at the albeit smaller impact and at the timer they were on accelerating.

“He held All Might back with his bare hands! This guy’s the villains’ boss!” Katsuki muttered, keeping himself low to the ground.

‘We need to go. Now.’ Akira signed, motioning towards the east wall. ‘We should avoid being behind either of them,’ they added as All for One blasted All Might through several buildings.

“All Mi-”

Akira slapped a hand over Katsuki’s mouth with a glare even as the dust settled. Akira leaned slightly on Katsuki as they rose with the villains' gazes. Damnit, Katsuki.

“Run away from here, Tomura, and take the children with you,” All for One said. Black and red spikes shot out of his fingertips and into Kurogiri, forcing a warp gate open.

Twice surged forward, shooting his sharpened measuring tape out as Dynamight and Mortis dodged in unison. Mortis unraveled their capture weapon from their arms, wincing as they dropped to their sides. Dynamight focused on Toga and Twice as Mortis kept Spinner and Magne occupied, blasting and pulling themselves away, respectively, from Mr. Compress when they had to. Mortis slipped under Magne’s weapon, snapping out their capture weapon to trip Spinner as he tried to slip into their reach. Mr. Compress marbled Dabi before leaping back, nearly tagging Mortis as they wrapped their capture weapon around a piece of rubble and pulled themself away from his landing.

They almost warped out of his reach before remembering the compressed clones, instead sweeping his legs and narrowly contorting out of his fall path as Dynamight let off a large enough explosion to put himself just behind and above All for One for a moment. They winced at the sharp spikes of pain but darted back towards the undamaged section of building. Mortis wrapped their capture weapon around Dynamight's ankle and pulled him harshly to the side.

Just as they dodged swipes from Toga and Dynamight landed, Midoriya, Ida, Kirishima, and Fumikage burst through the wall and up an ice ramp. Glancing at Dynamight, Mortis charged towards the squad as Dark Shadow emerged at full strength and Kirishima reached out for Dynamight. “Come!”

Mortis snapped their capture scarf around Dynamight’s waist and closed their eyes tight against the massive explosion that rocketed them into the air. Gritting through the burns sharply tingling against their skin, Mortis sling-shot Katsuki into Kirishima and warped the last ten meters into Dark Shadow’s reach, snapping out their capture scarf to dispel the clone. The ringing slowly faded as they soared through the air, Dynamight begrudgingly following Deku’s calls for trajectories. After a few minutes, they roughly landed on a side street, narrowly avoiding grinding into the asphalt. Fumikage immediately shoved a straw to Mortis, who focused on drinking the familiar smoothie from their oversized tumbler.

“Can you walk?” Midoriya asked, glancing between the two of them.

“Of course I can, nerd!” Katsuki ground out while leaning slightly against Kirishima.

‘I shouldn’t,’ Mortis wearily shook their head. ‘Technically, I shouldn’t have used my quirk back there.’

A red feather sped up to them and, after a brief moment of hesitation, darted towards Mortis’ collar. Eyes wide, they threw themself to the side. Dark Shadow ducked to support them while Fumikage rapidly shook his head at the feather. “Just show us to the First Aid station.”

Two more feathers joined the first, and Fumikage scowled. “Hawks, that’s not what my classmate needs. Show us the station, or we’ll find it ourselves.”

After a moment, the feather zipped ahead, weaving the group through more side streets to avoid the main fight. Kirishima moved Katsuki to his back as the group trudged forward, and Midoriya stayed half a block ahead to make sure they weren’t about to run into rubble or villains. Explosions, screams, and sirens filled the air as they followed the feather, and the smell of sulfur, blood, and sweat hung thick. Soon, they arrived at a station with a number of civilians, a few heroes, and two ambulances at the ready. Fumikage quickly explained their history to the EMT and that they needed to stay out of the hospital if possible while Katsuki was checked over at the other ambulance.

“Kid, your friend needs fluids and antibiotics stat. They can’t stay around here, and we’re not going out to Musutafu.”

Akira reluctantly nodded, not wanting to waste their time. Besides, like All for One said, I’ll be found out soon enough from what that reporter said.

“Who’s riding with you? If you lot didn’t bring a guardian, I can let one of you ride,” he gestured to the rescue group.

“I’ll go,” Fumikage said with a nod from Akira.

Akira tensed as they noticed a red feather slip in right before the ambulance door closed but decided not to fight the intrusion. Not that they were in a state to do so anyway…

“Alright kid, I’m going to take your braces and scarf off so we can get a good look at what’s going on, okay? Do you have any injuries under them?”

Akira shook their head, directing their scarf to unwrap their torso and rest on Fumikage’s lap. He let out a quiet squeak before petting the material with a soft smile and wide eyes. The EMT sucked in a breath at their numerous scars and emaciated frame. What progress they’d made over the term was gone, their skin stretched over their protruding rib cage and sunken stomach.

“Damn, kid, how are you awake right now,” he muttered while hooking up an IV and monitors.

Akira smirked slightly and weakly joked, ‘Spite.’

Fumikage snorted and Dark Shadow did their odd little buzzing laugh as the EMT looked exasperated at them. The few cars on the road shimmied to make room for the ambulance, and soon, they arrived at Kamino General.

“Fat Gum is already here, I texted him on the way,” Fumikage said as they wheeled into the hospital. Akira nodded gratefully although torn on how their family might react to his presence.

The EMT passed them off to a couple nurses, who frowned at the paperwork. “There’s no Akira Mori in the system. Is there another name you go by?”

‘Wait,’ Akira weakly signed, limbs sluggish as the adrenaline started to wear off.

“Wait for Fat Gum?” Fumikage asked, head cocked slightly. At Akira’s nod, he explained, “Pro Hero Fat Gum should be with us shortly. He has their legal name if I’m not mistaken?” Akira nodded again. “They’re mildly allergic to methamphetamine and citrus. The emaciation is from their quirk’s drawback.”

Taishiro caught up to them as they were approaching an empty room, and Akira let themself relax into the gurney as they caught sight of him. “Mori! How are you feeling, kiddo?”

“Sir, we were told you know their legal name? We need it for records,” one of the nurses clipped.

With a worried glance at Akira, Taishiro said, “Daitan Inoue. Their family is the subject of an ongoing investigation, so they are not to be notified or let near their room.”

The nurses looked skeptical but nodded, one peeling off to presumably update the system. Fumikage squawked at the name and stared at Akira. “Inoue. As in the Wrens?” he whispered.

Akira nodded, eyeing the nurse as he set up an IV and explained the call buttons. He drew some blood for standard tests and said a doctor should come by eventually, but they weren’t considered a critical patient other than monitoring and getting their weight back with the IV cocktail.

“Feel free to sleep, kiddo, we’ve got you,” Taishiro murmured, settling on the floor next to the bed while Fumikage took the chair. “Shouta and Nezu are on their way, but traffic is horrific around the city right now.”

Akira shook their head and signed, ‘Sorry for not warning you.’

Taishiro chuckled, “You have no reason to apologize, but what do you mean warn?”

‘They had Murder God and Raven. Threatened them. Let myself be taken instead.’

“Akira, wasn’t that after you had a dozen clones up?” Fumikage asked, feathers ruffling as he gaped at them.

“You what?” Taishiro shot up, startling Akira halfway off the bed. “Sorry, but kid, that’s way more than we talked about. Is that why you’re so underweight?”

Shifting back, Akira nodded. ‘Had to try something. Stopped when he released.’

“Of course, right this way, sir.”

Akira tensed as the door opened, relaxing minutely when they recognized the Detective. Fumikage froze, feathers poofing as he looked between them and the cop before attempting to smooth his features.

“Tokoyami, I want to first say that what you did was incredibly reckless and nearly crossed the line into illegal,” the Detective said evenly. “That being said, since no one was hurt, none of your group will be facing vigilante charges. Mori, you and Bakugo were still acting under the permission given at the training camp as well as in self-defense, so both of you are also in the clear. If either of you have questions about those rulings, Aizawa is already planning a refresher on vigilante laws and would gladly go into more depth.”

‘Thank you, Detective,’ Akira signed before letting out a resigned sigh. ‘I take it you’re not just here for my statement on being kidnapped.’

“I’m afraid not. Your previous statements about your home life were lies, correct?”

‘About half were, the other half were half-truths or lies by omission,’ Akira shrugged.

“And why was that?” the Detective asked gently.

Akira scowled and drew themself up the small amount they could in their weakened state. ‘What’s your relation to the Wrens?’

He blinked, looking to Taishiro who simply motioned for him to go on. “I occasionally work on cases with them, but they don’t often come to my jurisdiction. Why?”

‘Once they arrive in the next 24 to 48 hours, I’ll assess and then decide whether to give a statement,’ Akira decided.

“If they hurt you, we can-”

‘Protect me?’ Akira scoffed. ‘I don’t trust heroes, cops, or the Hero Commission. Good luck finding someone who can work with that, can’t be bought out or blackmailed, and is still capable of holding off the Wrens.’

The Detective looked to Taishiro, who simply added, “Mori has their reasons. You up for a statement on the kidnapping while he’s here, kiddo? I can interpret for you for the record.”

At their nod, the Detective set up the recording. Akira described the night of their capture, excluding the tip from Dabi. They kept their discussion with the League vague but included that the League was one of the bidders during the sting. As they got to All for One, Akira started slowing down, more hesitant.

“Preliminary reports say you weren’t at the bar with Bakugo. Were you kept at a secondary location?” the Detective gently asked.

Akira nodded, ‘The Kamino warehouse.’ They took a steadying breath before adding, ‘All for One wanted to meet me.’

“Did he tell you why?”

Akira hesitated, glancing at the red feather tucked between Fumikage’s chair and the wall. ‘They wanted to recruit us, but I was nearing the point of organ failure because of my quirk. All for One gave me enough for my baseline, but…’

“It’s enough for them to gain a few pounds on a normal day without actively using their quirk,” Taishiro supplied. “I helped Mori refine a nutrition plan during their internship, so I’m well-versed on the side effects.”

After a few more questions, the Detective left to take other statements. Fumikage spoke up after a moment, “He offered something, didn’t he?”

Akira nodded, not bothering to contest his intuition. ‘Not now. Hawks listening.’

“What?” he squawked. Akira motioned behind his chair, and he grabbed the feather. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

‘I would’ve stopped you if there was going to be an issue. We’ll find out soon enough if he’s still with the family.’

“So, biggest hero family in Japan,” Fumikage said after a while. Akira chuckled and motioned for him to continue. “Do you have any siblings?”

Akira was caught between a shudder and smile at the flashes of their siblings. ‘Unfortunately, yes.’

Taking the hint, Fumikage shifted to catching them up on what had happened over the past two days. Hitoshi had been held hostage by Yamada and Aizawa at their house, only letting him video call those in the hospital. The rescue team also included Ida and Shota making sure they didn’t fight and running support, respectively. Koji thought it was a terrible idea, especially without a plan, since surely the heroes already had a plan in place.

Akira glanced to Taishiro at that, whose expression was dark but slightly amused. ‘Were you part of the bar team? I didn’t see you at the warehouse, but we were a little busy.’

That drew a small laugh out of the hero, albeit less enthusiastically than normal. “Yeah, kiddo, I was a little too recognizable to be with the warehouse team. Tamaki offered to do the paperwork once Tokoyami messaged me you were on your way here. He might stop by later depending on when you get discharged.”

A few hours and several micronaps later, Akira shot up in bed, hairs on the back of their neck rising. Dread pooled in their gut, although nothing in the room itself seemed different. They quickly made a shushing motion to Taishiro and Fumikage and slipped off the bed, bringing the IV with them towards the door. Ear to the wall next to it, Akira just barely made out a few voices.

“…really, sir, I’m afraid you can’t go back there right now. We’re limiting visitors per the…” the voice trailed off, and Akira froze. “Of course, right this way. My apologies for the confusion.”

“It’s no trouble at all, thank you.”

Akira stumbled back and quickly signed to the pair, ‘Don’t let them touch you!’ They hobbled back to the bed with Dark Shadow steadying them and settled just as the door opened. Beyond was a slightly dazed nurse, a tall man with dark, gravity-defying hair in a suit with the mandatory Legacy Holder red gloves and ring, and…

Asami?

Notes:

normally with starvation, you don’t want the person to eat too much too quickly, especially since their stomach will have shrunk. Akira’s starvation mode from their quirk works a little differently since it’s a lot faster and their body is designed to recoup faster. Akira wasn’t this bad during USJ because they were pretty quickly dispelling their clones, only leaving at most one or two active when they needed invisibility. They also had time to chug jelly pouches and assess the situation before acting.

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