Chapter Text
Izuku hissed a string of curses while injecting himself with another needle. He didn’t feel pain; he just felt himself floating on a thin line of relief and nothing. It was kind of pathetic sitting in an alley beneath the neon lights of some shitty drugstore. But Izuku didn’t care at all; he just wanted some rest.
Rest from this shitty world.
Rest from his pathetic self.
He closed his eyes as he felt the liquid enter his system. Slowly, the reality blurred, and the boy could finally breathe.
It was fine. Everything was okay.
This wasn’t self-harm. This was the prevention of the self-harm he might inflict on himself.
He needed this.
With a deep sigh, Izuku forced himself to stand up. The boy leaned heavily against the wall and tried to pretend like his vision wasn’t blurred. “Fuck,” he breathed out, “I may have taken too much.” The green-haired boy let out a crazed laugh as his eyes had trouble focusing.
Izuku started to walk slowly. Struggling to find some sense of balance in his body while still leaning against the wall.
What a shitty way to live.
“I thought you were dead.”
“Really funny, y’know,” Izuku rolled his eyes with an annoyed expression. He already had his standard safety glasses and white coat, while the boy put on a pair of gloves. “Like I’m allowed to die.”
The man, Shun, shrugged. “You never know.”
They were standing in a lab full of needles, notebooks, and all sorts of liquids. The whole lab had a really simple design. Nothing too fancy. White walls that sucked the life from your soul. Izuku wanted nothing more than to flee from this place and burn it to the ground. Not only was this depressing, but also boring.
His partner, Shun, was usually very quiet and only made some comments. Mainly about how miserable Izuku looked. He was right, but the boy could only glare.
His hair was a mess. His pale skin, mainly from the lack of sun and vitamins, made him look sick. Not only that, but the dark circles under his eyes made him look like he hadn’t slept for ages.
“There is a corpse that you need to cut today. Wait another day, and it won’t be in a good state anymore,” shimmied Shun in his ear.
Izuku skimmed through some reports and glanced at the door.
If only he could leave.
The boy could only leave after doing nine hours of work in the lab. Shun only needed to work six.
“I’m going to do something stupid.”
Izuku already knew that there were guards outside the door, but that didn’t stop him. Izuku dropped the reports at the table and opened the door with his pass that hung around his neck. Shun glanced curiously.
Like he expected, two guards stood by the door. Izuku put his trembling hands in his pockets and took a step outside the room into the hallway. That’s one step. The boy took another, but felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.
“You still have 8 hours and 32 minutes to go.”
Izuku bit his inner cheek nervously, “I need to use the restroom.”
The guards shared a look. “Yes, the bathroom is that way,” one of them pointed to the other side of the hallway with a dead end. Izuku laughed nervously and brushed the firm hand off his shoulder. “Gentlemen, I didn’t want to say this out loud. But Shun had already used it and- Let’s say it smells.”
The two guards looked unimpressed.
Izuku knew that he was fucked.
With his last bit of strength, the boy made a run. The two guards didn’t give him a second before they started to run too.
Izuku ran through the hallway with a speed he didn’t know he possessed and opened the door with his card. When the door opened, Izuku jumped through it. He kicked the card swiper, and it made a loud ‘beep’ sound. The guards tried to open the entry, but couldn’t.
Izuku stared wide-eyed at the sight before him.
He took a sluggish, steady breath and started to walk through another hallway. They were in an underground base. Sector 32, to be precise. Good thing Izuku memorized this whole sector. He carefully traveled through his sector to Base 3.
It was only a matter of time before he would be thrown into the lab again. He probably would get some extra hours as a punishment.
Oh, well.
There was another door. Izuku opened it without problem and poked his head through it. There were many people; some faces were covered with masks. They mostly wore black, a huge contrast to what Izuku was wearing. The boy kept his head low as he walked through the mass of people.
Base 2 wasn’t anything fancy. Their underground sectors and bases were built like an ant nest. Tunnels that sometimes made no sense and had confusing turns. There were 5 bases in total, but only 3 bases were mainly used. Izuku didn’t know exactly how many sectors there were, but he knew Sector 32 by heart.
Izuku made sure to keep walking and make no eye contact.
He got so high yesterday that he blacked out three times.
Izuku still felt foggy. The boy used his energy not to tumble.
Then, he bumped into someone. The boy looked up and met yellow eyes. Something about them made Izuku’s hair stand up. They weren’t exactly natural. But so was this place. This whole place shouldn’t exist, but it does.
Izuku looked at the man up and down with curious eyes. He had never seen the man before. Many people in this business come and go, so it’s only natural. He was blond with a charming smile. The man had gorgeous, large wings. They were red, a sharp colour. He was dressed in black and had combat boots on.
“I apologize.”
The man smiled, a weird thing to do in this place, unless you are stabbing someone. “Please, it’s my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
Izuku shrugged and turned to walk away, but the man grabbed his wrist softly. “Sorry, I’m just new here and kinda lost. You seem to know your way around here.”
The boy frowned at that. He was clearly new, because nobody did things here like this. You don’t simply say that you’re new. That’s a dead giveaway. That man clearly didn’t know his way around. So Izuku can lure him into a trap and then kill him off guard.
When Izuku didn’t respond, the stranger just continued smiling. “My name is Viperfang. You look like a person who would give me a helping hand.”
Did he really? Izuku found himself looking more like a walking corpse.
“Name’s Izuku.”
Viperfang frowned in confusion, “That doesn’t really sound like a codename. I thought we weren’t allowed to use our real names here.” The boy only shrugged as he glanced around, searching for guards who would drag his ass back to the lab. “Rules don’t really apply to me that much.”
“What?” The winged seemed a bit lost, “Why?”
Izuku threw a hardened look at him.
Because he was stuck here.
He couldn’t leave, hadn’t the privilege to. In reality, the green-haired didn’t know how long he had been stuck here. His first days in Base 2 were horrible and turned into weeks quickly.
Weeks became months, and months blurred into years.
Izuku moved from one base to another. The same goes for sectors.
The boy spent here in this shitty underground nearly his whole life. Why should he need a codename?
He wasn’t leaving this place any time soon.
What he had were three hours of freedom. Every Sunday, Izuku could wish to go wherever he wanted for three precious hours. On one condition. He would be pumped with drugs.
It was no secret that Izuku was an addict.
It was more of a power thing. They pumped him with drugs so that the boy would come back to them without any issues. And Izuku wasn’t strong enough to protest.
Viperfang saw that he wouldn’t answer the question and shifted on his feet uncomfortably.
“You’re in Base 3 right now. There are two other bases: Base 1 and Base 2. You probably need to be mainly in Base 2 if there are any meetings. There are too many sectors to explain, so don’t get lost. The orientation here is tricky,” explained Izuku in a monotone voice.
The man nodded. Taking the information greedily. “So there are three bases in total?”
“No. There are two other bases, but you need to have private access. Don’t go there.”
The man’s eyes widen, “How big is this place exactly?”
Izuku shrugged with a tired look on his face. “Don’t know, don’t care.”
The man nodded slowly and opened his mouth to ask another useless question, but Izuku felt himself being pushed to the ground. A guard held his wrist tightly while another guard was talking on his comm, “Yeah, he was here in Base 3.”
Viperfang looked like he might jump on the guards, but held himself in. Instead, he asked in an impatient voice what exactly was happening, but the guards ignored him.
Izuku gritted his teeth, debating if he needed to bite someone.
He was violently hauled up to his feet and led to the lab again.
The boy’s head spun too much to see the stranger’s face again.
The guards threw Izuku violently into the lab. He fell on the ground and took a sharp breath. “Pull a stunt like that again, and I will personally slaughter you,” spat the guard angrily, “We needed to fix the doors because of you.”
After that, the guard closed the door and left Izuku on the ground.
“Was your fifteen-minute trip worth it?”
The boy glanced at Shun, who was mixing potions with a concentrated face. Izuku only groaned in response. He expected to be caught again so fast, but it was still annoying.
The boy tried to escape multiple times, but where would he go? He didn’t have any money on him. Izuku barely understood what was happening in the outside world.
He spends every week- and only if he ‘behaves’ well- three hours in the outside world. Izuku would be drugged and thrown in a random alley with another needle.
It was a sick tactic to keep him at bay. But it worked.
He wasn’t strong enough to restrain himself from drugging himself. Most of the time, he just lay there drugged out of his mind. Izuku tried so many times to say no to the drug, but it felt just too good.
He would sit there and look at the blue sky. Breathe the fresh or not-so-fresh air. Feel the wind in his wind, and that was enough for his sanity.
“Izuku. Start working.”
The boy was still lying on the ground. Letting his warm body feel the cold concrete. It felt nice.
The things he would do just to lie on the grass and watch the sky.
Grass. Izuku knew what it was and how it looked. But how did grass exactly? When the boy read novels, they described it as something soft. Was it so comfortable that many people would lie on it?
“Izuku. I swear, you already lost your lunch privileges. Don’t lose your dinner. You’re already skinny.”
Food. Right.
He already lost his dinner with his stunt. Maybe if he worked really hard, would be useful, they would grand him dinner. Shun was right. He needed to get up.
But his body wasn’t working with him.
Izuku felt all the energy drain from him.
He was suffocating in this lab.
“I heard you like to make the guard's job harder than it already is.”
“Yes, because standing in one place and making it look like you’re focused is so hard,” bit Izuku with a snark.
“Don’t be such a brat.”
Izuku bit his tongue before he blurted something unfiltered. He wanted to be in bed. Not in this room, where it smelled of cigars and cheap alcohol. The man before him was lying lazily on the couch with a cigar. “Do you want one?”
Before the green-haired boy could answer the question, the man stood up and gave him one anyway. Izuku bit his inner cheek nervously, a habit that he had.
“Thank you.”
The man lit it up.
Izuku took a drag, then another- And then again another. Slowly, the boy felt like his mind started to relax. He knew this was another way to control him, a sick game.
“You can fight.”
It wasn’t a question. The man already knew the answer, so why question it at all? Izuku just nodded while taking in the whole sensation of the cigar. The boy would train every day until his body was black and blue. You could barely call that training; his teachers had a field day just using him like a personal punching bag. But he survived and learned how to dodge.
Izuku shivered.
He wasn’t that stupid crying boy anymore. No, he had a respectable name now. A mad scientist. But he was still a prisoner.
Maybe he had more privileges, but at this point, what even mattered in this life?
“What do you know of the League of Villains?”
Izuku stilled. Was this a trick question? The man knew that the boy had no way to look at the news outside this underground base. But, he heard some rumors. Information was priceless after all.
“Nothing. It sounds like some shitty video game.”
“Do you even know what a video game is?” the man sounded amused. Like, Izuku blurted something funny.
“I’ve read about it.”
The man hummed and took a drag; the room was filled with smoke. Izuku took a drag too. “I want you to work with them.”
At that, Izuku nearly collapsed.
“Do you want to get rid of me?”
The man only smirked, “Not at all.”
Izuku was dressed in blue, baggy jeans with a black, oversized hoodie. He had sunglasses on, which should help with the bright sun. The boy winced when they were navigating around the crowded market.
Everything was too loud.
His senses weren’t made for such crowds. Children are screaming and playing with each other. Mothers smile while gently scolding their children. Vendors scream loudly, reclaiming their products with booming voices. Everyone was going somewhere, bumping into each other while navigating around here. Izuku felt like he was suffocating all over again.
There was too much colour.
Izuku found somewhat comfort in his white, lifeless halls. It made him focus on his work. It made it easier to clean blood from the walls, because you could see well where it was messy. His eyes hurt.
For the first time in a long time, Izuku was glad. He was glad to have one in his life; he was with a guard.
The guard wore casual clothes just to blend in. But Izuku knew better. The guard had a knife in his right boot and a dagger hidden by his belt.
Izuku licked his dry lips and hid his hands in his pockets. It was his first time being in such a crowd outside the underground bases.
“Relax,” muttered the boy to himself.
The guard stopped walking, and Izuku bumped right into him. The green-haired boy looked in the same direction as the guard and paled.
Heroes.
Or at least they looked like heroes. Flasy outfits and overconfidence? Yeah, that sounded right. Izuku never saw heroes in real life and couldn’t stop staring at them. So, they protected the public?
They were casually going around, smiling and asking everyone to show their documents. What exactly was going on? Was this a trap? Did the heroes expect them there? Izuku felt his heart beating so fast that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he collapsed right here and now.
The guard grabbed his wrist tightly. With careful steps, the guard started to walk in the opposite direction from the market. Izuku frowned. They needed to meet someone at the heart of the market. Just have a conversation, less than ten sentences, and dip.
Izuku heard that the heroes are patrolling the alleys ruthlessly. So that wasn’t an option. Bringing the League of Villains to Base 3 could be an option, but they refused. That was okay, Izuku supposed. He wouldn’t want to go if he were in their place.
So, a public meeting then.
The guard’s grip was bruised, and Izuku hissed in pain.
The heroes saw that something was wrong with them and started to walk towards them. Izuku threw a glance at them, and the guard grabbed his wrist tighter, “Don’t look back, you stupid dumbass.”
Izuku threw a sharp, angry glare at the guard. But still obeyed. The last thing that he wanted was to get caught. They were navigating quickly around the market, and the heroes seemed to find what they were looking for. The guard cursed under his breath.
“Brat, let’s split up. Lose these dumb heroes, will ya? I have your location, so I will find you after this.”
Izuku turned now really pale. It was already a whole experience being here in such a crowded place, let alone now being on his own. “No-,” muttered Izuku. But the guard already let go of his wrist and went to the other side. The heroes seemed to take the bait and follow him. Izuku took a steady breath and kept walking, keeping his head low and muttering apologies when he bumped into someone.
He walked slowly, but steadily. With every step, his heart sped up.
He wanted to go back.
Back to the underground. It was maybe depressing as fuck, but he knew his way around there. Why shouldn’t he? He grew up there.
Izuku bumped into someone and muttered softly: “Sorry”.
“Oh. You look really pale. Are you okay?”
Izuku looked up at the woman. She was smiling and looking worried at the same time. Her voice was soft, but steady. She was only a bit older than he, but looked so lively. Her hair was white and looked so soft. She held grocery bags in her hands filled with vegetables and fruit.
But was he okay? Izuku wanted just one hit, then he would be okay.
He needed something in his system, and fast.
“Yes, I am,” muttered Izuku. Shit, he was supposed to get away. Not attract attention to himself. Did he fucked everything up? The boy took a step aside to move, but the woman did the same thing.
“Listen,” she started again, “You look somewhat sick. Do you need a doctor?”
Izuku just stared at her with wide, hollow eyes. He was thankful that she couldn’t see his eyes because of the sunglasses. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
“Are you maybe scared of another villain attack?” she hummed thoughtfully, “I guess the previous villain attack spooked everyone a bit. But don’t worry! My father is a hero and is doing his best to protect everyone. Oh! And my brother is graduating soon too; he would be the best hero.”
Izuku nodded slowly. She truly believed in her family. But what was she talking exactly about? Villain attack? The boy hadn’t heard anything about it in his Base.
Then, she grabbed a red apple out of her grocery bag and gave it to him with a kind face. “Here, please, take it. It’s still really fresh.”
Izuku wished that she would give him a cigar or another needle. Slowly, like a cautious animal, he grabbed the apple from her. “Thank you.” The woman did nothing but offer a genuine smile. “Take care of yourself.”
Izuku nodded yet again. He seemed to be at a loss for words. Slowly, he started to walk away. The apple was tightly in his hands.
Not even ten minutes later, his guard came back for him. He was sweaty and looked tired. Like, someone was chasing him. And Izuku had a good idea who. The meeting was cancelled, and a party was sent to investigate what and who the heroes expected.
“Experiment number 93. There we go,” Izuku yawned while his eyes started to go blurry.
He gently grabbed a mouse with his gloves and shushed it. It wasn’t exactly distressed, just somewhat confused. But it sure wasn’t spooked by humans at all. They were bred only for one purpose: experiment dummies.
He grabbed a syringe and injected it into the mouse. At first, nothing happened. Izuku rolled his eyes and grabbed his notebook, ready to write that the experiment failed. But it let out a little shriek, and the boy jumped to his feet.
“What the-,” started the green-haired. But the mouse began to go feral. Biting the cage and running in all directions. “What’s up with you, little guy?” The mouse kept making loud noises and running disoriented.
“Kill it. It makes me lose my concentration!” shouted Shun at the other side of the lab, annoyed. Izuku only made a ‘tsk’ sound with his mouth and kept staring at the mouse.
It looked like he had more work to do than expected.
The second time Izuku saw Viperfang was in Base 1.
Base 1 was nothing like the other two bases. It was messy, and a lot of rules didn’t apply here. Not that anyone tried to make rules for this place. Base 1 was like a rest zone for a lot of people here. You could do drugs, drink, and smoke. But the most important thing was the fights.
There was a ring in the centre where everyone could test their fighting skills. It was more of a show-off, in Izuku his opinion. There were more than enough sectors to practice your fighting skills. Around the ring were stands where the people always stood and bet on the fighters.
In other words, it stank. You could smell the alcohol, sweat, and blood.
Not that it bothered Izuku so much, as long as he could get high or wasted.
Base 1 was simply for brawls, while Base 3 was for brains.
Viperfang saw Izuku first and waved at the boy. Izuku simply threw him a confused stare before making his way to him. The winged seemed to be uncomfortable in Base 1. He was standing not so far off the ring, and the boy pushed some people aside to stand beside him.
“Yo,” the man greeted him with a smile. His eyes were focused on everything at the same time. It looked like he was paranoid. Why? Was this the first time that he visited Base 1? Izuku had a free day, Sunday. The week passed all too fast, and the only thing he knew was that he was allowed to get high.
Normally, he had his outside privileges. But his boss found it too dangerous. He was worried that the heroes had seen his face.
Viperfang’s wings were tightly wrapped around himself. It looked like the man had trouble being in such cramped places.
“Hey.”
The man stared at him with- worry? Izuku couldn’t really tell. Not that he cared that much.
“What are you doing here?” the man asked in a light manner. But something in his eyes screamed like there was something wrong.
“Getting high.”
Viperfang stared at him with wide eyes. Like he couldn’t believe him. Like he was debating whether this was a joke or not.
“What?”
Izuku didn’t care what that man thought of him.
The boy looked at the ring and saw a man fighting with a woman.
Her fighting style wasn’t about strength, but about speed. She was like a fairy. Dancing and moving fast on her feet. Never staying in one place too long. She is getting slower, Izuku hummed in his head. The woman was using too much energy in dodging and wasn’t attacking. The man at the other side had brute strength and was attacking. They both danced in a steady rhythm. Making sure not to get hit and end this fight as fast as possible.
They were doing hand-to-hand combat, making no use of their quirks.
Just as the woman ducked and left the man exposed, ready to hit-
The man seemed to predict that. He was ready to grab her fist and twist her whole arm. But in one blink, the woman teleported to the other side and punched the guy in his jaw. He fell over, losing his balance, and she delivered a final kick.
People all over started to cheer and laugh.
Izuku raised his eyebrow. This was nothing special here. Every Sunday, he would be in Base 1, and it was always the same. People would want some ego boost and get in that ring, losing their teeth in the process. But who was Izuku to judge?
The boy started to walk towards the bar at the end of the Base. Viperfang started following him quickly.
“Izuku, wait!”
But the boy didn’t care. Why was that man so keen on following him? Izuku could slip into the crowd easily because of his skinny form. Viperfang, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. The man bumped into everyone and muttered curses under his breath. Izuku heard his name being called again and stopped, annoyed.
He turned around and met the winged man.
“What do you fucking want?”
Viperfang stilled. Not expecting such a harsh tone. He seemed to be at a loss for words. “It just- The last time I saw you, you were being dragged out by these guards. Why? I thought you did something... Well-”
“Why do you care so much?”
The winged one paused at that. He opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by an alarm. Izuku winced because of how loud it was. Viperfang’s mouth fell to the ground and paled.
Then there was chaos. People screamed and ran like an uncoordinated bunch of chickens. The guards screamed commands, and some villains started to put their masks on, grinning like they had been waiting for this moment. The dealers and smugglers paled and started to run in all directions.
Izuku covered his ears from how loud everything and everyone was.
But he knew exactly what to do.
He needed to return to Sector 32.
With a burst of energy, Izuku ran. He didn’t care who he bumped or who was screaming at him. Izuku needed to at least save his notebooks with all his research in them. All his hard work would go to waste.
Or worse, somebody could steal it.
His boss would give him the beating of his life.
The boy was in Sector 29, just a little bit, and he was in his own sector. He was running through the white hallway.
Izuku then felt someone grab the back of his hoodie and pull it back.
The boy let out a silent scream in surprise while he fell on the ground. Izuku tried to get up, not even a second later. But he was pinned to the ground.
Green eyes met yellow.
Viperfang looked pained, but also decided. He held the boy by his shoulders. Izuku felt panic taking over him, but he forced himself to stay calm. The green-haired boy grabbed the man’s hand and twisted it with a practiced ease. Then, he got up and ran.
Not even ten steps further, and he felt a blow to his head.
“Fucker,” slurred Izuku out slowly, before his whole vision went black.