The Origin of something new (mha ff)

Chapter 72

Half an hour earlier

"The plan is safe and well thought out." "Nothing about it is well thought out and nothing about it is good." They stood in the corner of the larger room sorting jars while two lab assistants stood on the other side. "Now hit me." "What, no, I'm not hitting you." "Of course, now hit me you idiot." "I thought that was a joke-" She lost patience and hit him herself. A red abrasion emblazoned Bakugo's cheek as he started yelling and swearing. Kaede backed away and squeezed tears from her eyes. One of the lab assistants came up to them. "What happened here?" "I- I-" She took a deep breath, pretending she couldn't breathe. "Come on, let's sort this out outside. You come too." The lab assistant led her out into the hallway, careful to stand between her and Bakugo. "So, what happened?" "He- He..." Again, she fitted perfectly into her role and held onto the man's wrist where the glove just stopped. He fell to the floor unconscious. "What the hell was that?" cried Bakugo. "It's your own fault. You said my plan sucked, so I had to come up with another one." "I hate you." "I don't care, now help me." Kaede grabbed Katsuki's arm, dragging the unconscious man behind him. "oh." "What oh." "You know, there's one little thing I didn't think of." He glared at her. "And what?" "I can't make the guy go away because he won't hold his breath. But don't worry, we'll just leave him here. He'll think he just keeled over, it'll work out." "How could you forget?!" "I didn't forget, I just noticed it just now." After putting down the balast it took them a while to reach the forbidden wing and finally get inside. "When I pinch you, you have to hold your breath." "Pinch me and I'll kill you." It was suspiciously quiet. The last time Kaede had been here, there had been people and the sounds of work in every room. "Something is wrong." "Yes, we should go back." They quickly made their way back to the safe wing. They turned the same corners and followed the same junctions and still they didn't get back. They got lost, walked in circles and wasted important time. "Something's wrong, but what?" "There are two possibilities. Either something is wrong with the place, or something is wrong with us." She pulled him towards the nearest wall. "I'm going to turn off my emotions to see if we've been poisoned." He nodded. "If there's no other way." She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them. "Oh.""What is it?" "We've been poisoned. There's pink mist everywhere. Probably affected our senses and made us think every corner looked the same." "But why are they spreading fog over a wide area? Aren't they hitting their own people?" "No one is here." "We have to get back to Deku." He waited for Kaede to detach herself from the wall and eyed her critically. "Why are you shaking?" "I'm not shaking." "Of course you're shaking, you.... Wait, your Quirk is just suppressing your feeling, meaning you don't feel you're shaking right now?" "Nope." He put a hand on her forehead. "You're hot. Turn your feelings back on." "I need to get us out of here." "If you fold later you're no help to me, now turn it on so we can see what's going on with you." He saw her eyes twist, but she braced herself against the wall and kept consciousness. Instead, she threw up. He stood behind her, stroking her back and holding her hair back until she finished. She leaned against the wall, exhausted, until she slowly stood up. Bakugo was still eyeing her. "So what was that now?" "I'm not doing so well at the moment and that doesn't combine well with my Quirk."

She looked up. "We have to keep moving, if they tried to poison us, Izuku could be in danger."

20 minutes earlier

Kaede and Katsuki had not been there for 10 minutes. Since no alarm was triggered, everything went according to plan. Izuku didn't notice the lab assistant staring at the smartwatch on her phone before asking him a question after 10 minutes of silence: "What do you think they're doing that's taking so long?" "Maybe they went into another room, or out for a breath of air." The lab assistant nodded. "I'll go see, you keep doing your job here." When the woman had left, Izuku was left with a bad feeling. He muttered to himself, "Why did she look at her watch? Did she get a message? But which one? A call for help?" Too many possibilities and too little information. But he was Deku, he worked with the bare minimum. He waited a few minutes to make sure the woman was gone, then opened the door. Locked. The problem with the door was that it was made of solid steel, which meant that only a firm and well-aimed kick on the lock could open it. He was worried that the noise might cause him to be exposed, but he dismissed that thought. "If they lock me in, we've already been discovered." He took a step back and activated Full Cowl. Then he kicked open the door. It was torn from its hinges and crashed against the opposite wall. He caught another lab technician with it. "Oh no." He rushed to the woman. "Are you all right? Can you get up?" He took the door from her. No visible injuries. "I think-" she threw up. "I'm so sorry, oh no, come on." Her hands tightened and she shook. "I- I got the signal when I was in the bathroom." Her voice broke and she was on the verge of tears. "Everyone's gone already, and now..." She coughed again and spat blood." "The signal...?" "The signal for the facility to self-destruct." She looked at him in disbelief, but could not utter a word. Izuku's mind was racing. He had to find Kaede and Katsuki, but this woman needed his help. "I'll get you out of here." She scrambled to keep her distance. "You are the enemy, you are one of the intruders." Determined, he walked towards her. "I am a hero and I also save those who fight against me." Wide-eyed, the woman let him lift her up. Izuku activated One for all and ran. "Here, take the security card." In between came a door that had to be unlocked. The woman entered a new code each time. Izuku already felt a vibration in the floor, but he stepped out into the daylight before anything happened. He took the woman to other staff and put her down. He was about to turn around when she called out to him. "What are you doing?" He turned and smiled at her. "My friends are still in there. I need to find them." He ran back into the building, which was now shaking more.