The next few seconds were a blur to Izuku. He heard the explosion, felt it, but his brain seemed to stop functioning for a beat. When it finally caught up, Izuku realized he'd just taken an AP shot straight to the back.

Izuku looked down, seeing that Kirishima was unharmed due to his quirk, but completely bathed in blood. The hero was utterly horrified as he looked through Izuku.

"Oh, fuck," Izuku breathed as the pain finally hit him.

Bakugou had shot a hole straight through his stomach. He fell to the right, landing hard on his shoulder before rolling onto his back. Breathing became impossible as he started to choke on his own blood, convulsing on the floor.

"Deku? Deku, what the fuck?!"

"Holy shit, you just killed him."

"He was supposed to dodge it! He always fucking dodges it."

"Katsuki, you killed him."

"No, no, no. No. I didn't fucking kill him, he's fine."

Izuku couldn't see anymore, but he faintly felt someone touching his arm. Then there was even more pain from his torso, one of them trying to stop the bleeding he guessed. It wouldn't do any good, there was a softball-sized hole there.

"Don't you dare fucking die, Deku."

"We have to get him to a hospital!"

"Whatever was keeping us out of the room is gone, but so is whoever was in- Kirishima! What the hell happened? Are you okay?"

"It's not my blood."

"Oh. My. God."

"You guys killed him?!"

"He's not dead! He's still fucking breathing, idiots. We have to get him to the fucking hospital."

Izuku was getting really annoyed with all the chatter. C'mon, just hurry up, he thought to himself. His breathing was still fucked up, so he couldn't just tell them to shut up. Almost there, almost, almost, almost.

"Hey, I got called in by Aizawa, what's going on?...." The new voice trailed off, presumably after they saw the state Izuku was in.

God, not him, Izuku thought. The voice belonged to Hanta. If Izuku had it right (and he was positive he did), Aizawa had dispatched the tape hero as soon as he learned of Izuku's involvement with the deal. The old bastard was using Hanta as a Deku wrangler.

Izuku forced his eyes open just in time for Hanta to drop to his knees next to him. "L-lightning bug, hey. It's okay, we're gonna get you help, okay? Just hold on. I got you, it's gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay."

The words Izuku tried to say got caught up with all the blood, causing a painful cough to rip through him.

"Don't talk, don't talk. It's gonna be okay, don't worry. I got you," Hanta muttered, Izuku's head now cradled in his lap. It all felt too familiar, the scene from the summer camp playing through both men's heads.

Izuku had the pleasure of watching Bakugou swallow hard, looking between him and the dark-haired hero. "Sero, I-"

"Don't," Hanta snapped, not letting his eyes leave Izuku's. "Just.. don't."

Izuku's convulsions got worse as he started to gasp for air. It was no use, his lungs were utterly useless at the moment. 

"Breath, Izuku," Hanta begged, tears falling from his eyes and mixing with the blood on Izuku's face. "You can't die on me, lightning bug. Not now. I just got you back." 

Izuku wished he could talk. He wished he could say something, anything to comfort the hero. His vision was starting to go, black seeping in from the corners. Izuku was used to it, knew what it meant. He was going to die. 

A sob burst from Hanta's lips as one of his hands found Izuku's, gripping it like he could keep the villain from slipping away. "Please, Izuku. Please, just keep your eyes open. Keep breathing." 

Finally, Izuku thought as his life was ripped away. About damn time. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Izuku's eyes flew open moments later, a gasping breath finally entering his lungs. 

"Oh, thank fuck," Hanta breathed, his grip going lax from his relief. "Just keep breathing, Iz. We're gonna get you help." 

Izuku brought a shaking hand to his mouth, wiping some of the blood away. It was too hard to talk with a mouth full of the thick liquid.

"I-I told you I was hard to-to kill," Izuku croaked, a humorless smile on his lips as he looked up at Hanta.

"Don't talk, lightning bug," Hanta shushed. Despite his words, a relieved look took over his face when Izuku spoke.

"Please," Izuku mumbled, glancing over at a worried blond. "As if I'd let Kacchan kill me."

Hanta shook his head as more tears started to fill his eyes. He frantically looked around at his friends. "Help me, we gotta get him to a doctor. I don't know how long he can hang on."

When hands started to grab at his body, Izuku swatted them away. "Knock that shit off," he complained. He did not need a doctor.

"We have to get you to a fucking hospital, stop being a fucking baby," Bakugou sneered, but it didn't hold its usual heat.

"I don't need a hospital."

"You're missing most of your torso," Kaminari pointed out, looking unsure of arguing with the villain.

"I'm fine," Izuku insisted, pushing their hands away again and trying to sit up.

Hanta pressed a hand to his shoulder, halting his movements. "Iz, you're going to die if you keep being stupid. Just let us help you, please, lightning bug."

Izuku ignored him, leaning his shoulders back against the hero's chest. Sitting up had caused even more blood to rush from his gaping wound. "I'm fine, tape boy. I promise."

"You are not fine!"

"He... sounds fine, though," Ashido pointed out, looking down at Izuku with a perplexed expression.

"Gold star to the pink one," Izuku grumbled. "I'm not going to die."

"Izuku," Hanta snapped. "There is a gaping fucking hole in your stomach."

Izuku waved him off, exhaustion starting to set in and making his entire body heavier than usual. "I need to get home, not a hospital."

"Toga can't fix this," Hanta hissed, getting more and more angry that Izuku was going to let himself die.

Izuku let his head go limp, smacking it back into Hanta's chest. "Resurrection quirk," he mumbled, his eyes starting to slip. "Can't die, just... just tired."

"A resurrection quirk?" Ashido echoed in confusion.

"You... you fucking bastard," Hanta said in a breathy and relieved voice. "You scared the shit out of me!"

Izuku forced a chuckle from his lips. "Told you, 'm hard to kill."

"I thought he had a fire quirk."

"What about his strength quirk?"

"Another supervillain with multiple quirks? Are you kidding me?"

"I have to get him out of here," Hanta said, ignoring all of his friend's comments on Izuku's quirk.

Ashido quickly shook her head. "I know you guys have history, but we have to arrest him. He's a wanted villain, Sero."

Izuku groaned, pushing himself to his feet with only a little help from Hanta. "It's cute," Izuku said before taking a deep breath. Standing took more effort than he thought it would. "That you think you can arrest me."

"You can barely stand right now, dude," Kirishima pointed out, his eyes trailing down to the still-present hole in Izuku's stomach. It would heal soon enough, the villain wasn't worried about it.

"Wasn't talking about me," Izuku said with a satisfied smile. "It's him you have to worry about," he explained, glancing over his shoulder at Hanta. 

The hero was clenching his jaw, glaring down each of his friends in turn. He held Izuku in a firm grip, a clear message that they'd have to pry the villain away to arrest him. He'd just watched Izuku die and come back, there was no way he'd let anyone take him away. 

Ashido looked over at Bakugou and Izuku figured he was in charge of the mission. The blond was staring straight at Hanta while working his jaw. His eyes flashed down to Izuku before he turned away to the rest of the heroes. "Deku slipped away during the fight. Sero was never here, got it?"

The only ones surprised by the order were Kaminari and Ashido.

"You can't be serious!" Ashido shouted, taking a step toward Bakugou.

Kaminari shook his head in disbelief at his friend. "Bakugou, dude. We can't just-"

"It wouldn't fucking matter if we arrested him," Bakugou snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose. "If he didn't break out himself, Aizawa would get him released."

"Shut up," Izuku commanded as soon as Aizawa was brought up. No one was supposed to know about the work he did for the teacher's agency and if that was the reasoning Bakugou provided, Izuku would reconsider killing him.

"Why would Aizawa get him out?" Kaminari asked, his nose scrunching at the idea of it.

Izuku tried to move, but Hanta just tightened his hold and the villain was in no state to fight him off. "Bakugou," he hissed in warning.

The blond spared him a single look. "He's been teaming up with him for years," Bakugou explained.

The room went dead silent. 

Izuku gritted his teeth before taking a deep breath to calm himself. He was already weak and fighting to stay in control of his flames. "How the fuck do you even know that?" 

"Being number one comes with a lot of security clearance," Bakugou said with a shrug, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't know why you tried so hard to fucking hide it in the first place." 

"Because helping a hero puts a fucking target on my back," Izuku hissed. No one was supposed to know, there weren't even supposed to be records for Bakugou to find. 

Bakugou looked him up and down, unimpressed. "Why do you care? You're apparently immortal." 

Izuku pushed Hanta off of him, taking a step toward the blond as rage filled him. His stomach was already starting to stitch itself together, making his movements easier. "I'm not fucking invincible! I need to have a body for the quirk to heal." 

"Good thing I used an AP shot then." 

"This isn't a fucking joke!" Izuku yelled, pushing the hero back. "If Shigaraki or Chisaki find out that I've been working with heroes, they'll turn on me before asking questions. If either of them touches me, I'm dead. Both their quirks will destroy my body and there'll be nothing to bring me back to. If I'm dead-" He cut himself off, shaking his head as the flames roared in his head. His face was starting to tingle and he knew his eyes were glowing again. 

"If I'm dead," he said again, taking slow and deliberate breaths. "They won't need Hanta's family alive." 

"He's the reason they got kidnapped?" Ashido exclaimed, looking between Hanta and Izuku in shock. 

"You didn't figure that out?" Kirishima asked, looking genuinely confused. "Isn't it a little weird that Deku went quiet for seven years, just to show up randomly one day after Sero's family went missing?" 

Izuku reeled back, looking the redhead up and down, a fraction impressed with him. "Wasn't expecting you to put that together." 

Kirishima frowned at his words. "I'm not an idiot." 

"Are you calling me an idiot?!" 

"You're all idiots," Izuku said with a sigh before turning back to Bakugou with a hard look. "If you tell anyone-"

"Didn't say shit for years, what makes you think I'll start screaming about it now?" the blond asked. 

"You've worked with my agency... for years." 

Izuku stiffed at the statement, slowly turning to face Hanta. This was another reason he hadn't wanted anyone to find out. He knew Hanta would be fighting mad about it. 

Hanta's face was completely blank, staring at Izuku with no emotion whatsoever. "For years?" he asked quietly. 

"I owed Eraserhead," Izuku said, swallowing hard. "Couldn't have taken down my dad without him." 

Realization took over the hero's face as his shoulders sagged. "That's how you know Shinsou." 

"Yeah," Izuku confirmed, sounding unsure of himself. It threw off the heroes who had never seen him be anything but confident and in control. 

Hanta dragged a hand down his face, letting it rest over his mouth for a moment before it ended up in his hair. "You were that close and... I had no idea." 

Dread was clawing at Izuku's stomach (at least what had regenerated already), a violating feeling he wanted to separate from immediately. 

So, he did. 

"I have to get back," he said suddenly, throwing a glance at the door to the meeting room. He knew that Shigaraki and Chisaki had gotten away, which meant he needed to get back to the compound as soon as possible. 

"Iz," Hanta said, grabbing his wrist and holding him in place. 

Izuku quickly slipped from his hold, taking two steps back. "If I take too long they won't throw me a bone," he said quickly, using Shigaraki's own words. "I'll call you once I have Emiko." 

Hanta looked utterly defeated when he heard those words. "You know who you're getting?" 

"An educated guess," Izuku said, taking another step back. "They've been going oldest to youngest, probably to make it hurt more. Humans are wired to care more the younger a victim is, so they'll save Hina for last. When I got Akira back first, I wasn't sure if there'd be a pattern, but then Haru was next. What threw me off was the fact that they didn't start with Aya, but I think I figured that one out now-" 

"Deku," Bakugou snapped, cutting off the villain's mumbling. 

Izuku blinked as he snapped out of his own thoughts. "He asked," he said with a shrug, as if the mumbling had been intentional. 

Hanta stepped toward Izuku, causing him to take another step back. The hero looked like he was ready to lunge and Izuku did not have the strength to wrestle out of his hold. "You think you figured out what, Iz?" 

Izuku took a deep breath, deciding if he should tell him or not. What if it does more harm than good? "I think they didn't start with Aya... because they don't intend on giving her back." 

"What?" The word was sharp and piercing, making Izuku flinch back as if he'd been physically struck. 

He glanced back at the door, feeling time tick by. "I won't let them hurt her, you know that." 

"Iz-" 

The villain finally cut him off, out of time to waste. "I'll call you," he said before powering up One For All and shooting into the meeting room. 

Just as he thought, the three people he'd left in the room were gone. One corner of the window was shattered, exactly where he'd left a gap in Air Control for them to escape. He'd worried that they wouldn't be smart enough to figure it out, but they'd proved him wrong. 

With a flash of green light, he slipped through the broken window and took off through the city. 

I scared you a little bit, didn't I? :)