Chapter Text
Ai’awa felt as if a crushing weight was upon him, weighing down upon all of his body. His eyelids seemed to be glued down, keeping him firmly in the darkness. What was the last thing he could remember? Had they trapped him again? The only reason he wasn’t in a complete panic was the fact that he felt warm, and he definitely didn’t have any metallic restraints biting into his body. Overhaul definitely would have done that had he been captured by him again.
But… Overhaul is dead.
That thought seemed to burn in the muddle that his mind was currently. Body aching, he groaned lightly to himself. The noise resulted in a light shuffling next to Ai’awa. It was then that he realised that he was definitely not alone, wherever he was. He struggled harder to make his body move, aware of the danger that he was potentially in, yet his body refused to cooperate.
Ai’awa struggled to stay calm, feeling the panic start to seep into his mind as he lay there, defenceless.
“Hey, are you awake? Do you need anything?”
The voice had a weird, foreign accent, yet seemed young, non-violent. Despite the burning desire he had to ask what was happening, his dry throat seemed to close upon itself as he attempted to speak, resulting only in a mix of a cough and a groan.
Whoever was with him answered to that with a tinge of panic in their voice: “I’ll take that as a yes, fuck, what do I do with a barely conscious alien- water! Definitely water! Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a click- '' shuffling could be heard next to Ai’awa, hurried steps walking away. Within the next few moments, the person came back, slowly positioning the water packets in front of Ai’awa.
Carefully drinking down the water offered, feeling it coolly going down his throat, Ai’awa couldn’t help but wonder who was with him. Upon finishing, he tried moving again, this time being able to open his eyes. Yet his eyesight remained blurry, unable to give him much information except the greyish colour the ceiling had.
“Where…are we?” He was able to force out, his voice raspy despite the water he had just drunk.
“Oh, we’re on the escape pod! I was able to drag you out after they knocked you out. We’ve already reached a planet- don’t worry, it’s habitable!”
Ai’awa sighed, finally able to move his eyes to clear his eyesight. While being on a planet was good-ish compared to floating in the vast expanse of space, the lack of mention of a rescue was glaringly obvious. He hoped this situation would not be as bad as before, but he knew there were no guarantees.
Finally able to slowly look at the speaker, he asked, “Who are you?” only to freeze at the sight of the Deathworlder.
It bared its fangs at him, only to proclaim, “Oh, I’m Izumi!”
Fear overtook him at the clear display of danger. With him feeling as weak as he was currently, he would be able to do nothing to stop it. Activating his ability would do nothing, he could do nothing. He was helpless. Heart palpitating, panic freezing him, he looked at the Deathworlder, apparently capable of speaking.
He couldn’t deal with this. He couldn’t. With that thought, he was helpless to stop himself from returning to the darkness of unconsciousness he had just escaped from.
—-------------
“Damn,” was all Izumi could muster as Eraserhead fainted just after looking at her. “Am I really that terrifying? Was it the teeth? I was smiling, no? I guess that was a mistake…”
Before Izumi could dissolve into a mutterstorm about alien culture, she reminded herself of the currently unconscious alien in front of her. Sighing, she put the blanket over him again and went to throw out the water packet. Guess it was time to return to worrying about the effects coma’s had on aliens.
—-------------
Mei probably only had sugar and caffeine running through her veins at the moment, but she didn’t care. She had to complete her baby! It was nearly finished, but the last details were constantly blowing in her face! She had to do this! She was able to make everything! She was unstoppable!
That was probably the sugar talking. And the coffee. And whatever the hell she took while working. Taking a last look at the spaceship and sighing, she pulled off her gloves and took out her phone, typing a number she knew by heart. He picked up the phone on the first ring, like she knew he would.
“Boss-”
“Is the ship ready?” Katsuki cut her off. Rude!
“Nearly! The schemes I found online were great to use as a base, but there’s a problem with my baby.” Leaning absentmindedly against a table in her workshop, she pulled out another candy out of her pocket, popping it into her mouth.
“What is it?” While his voice seemed serious and snappish, she knew he was worried. Well, she was too, but that didn’t matter, did it?
“I need alien ship parts. Well, my baby needs them. As urgently as possible. ASAP. Basically yesterday-”
“Okay, okay.” Mei could visualise Katsuki rubbing his temples in order to stop himself from exploding, barely keeping herself from laughing at the internal image.
“Human tech seems to be incompatible with the schemes. You won’t believe the number of explosions I’ve triggered these days! So much fun! Get me some engine parts and space tech in general to look at, the schemes won’t cut it! Call me when you get them, preferably in 20 hours, I’m crashing.”
Cutting off the outraged screams of “How the hell do you think I will be able to do that?” and sighing contentedly to herself at a job done, Mei bounced over to the bed hidden away in a corner of the workshop, falling onto it. She was asleep the moment her head touched the pillow.
Meanwhile, Katsuki stared incredulously at the phone in his hand, his other palm crackling with small explosions. Sure, Mei had been working relentlessly for the last few days, but how did she expect him to get alien tech? Yes, he had connections, but how was he supposed to find tech from something that didn't exist in the public eye? Did the government have the tech? Was it villains?
“Why the fuck do I have to do all of this shit? Izumi, you better be grateful,” he scowled as he scrolled down his contacts on his phone, tapping on one.
“All Might, you better know someone who has alien tech or I’ll blow something up.”
—-------------------
All Might didn’t know anyone with alien tech.
—-------------------
New scorch marks on the floor and relentless platitudes of “Don’t worry, Young Bakugou, I’ll find someone!” Later, Katsuki was at his wits end. The next hour was spent going through the contact list on his phone. Each negative response only served to enrage him further, with him eventually storming to the training room.
The past few days had been hard, full of research on aliens, sifting through the real and the fake, as well as reconstruction efforts after the eventual end of the Year of Chaos. Katsuki, despite being young, was one of the public faces that confronted All for One, meaning he had to parade himself in front of everyone for their ‘peace of mind’.
All Might had spent the last few days addressing the last two issues, but in a different way. Despite Izumi’s public persona being a vigilante, last year her popularity skyrocketed to unseen levels, reminiscent of All Might’s own golden age, with him being the face of public heroism. Izumi, despite being a vigilante (while still having a provisional licence), had managed to become the face of hope in the country destroyed by All for One.
There being a galactic force was one thing. Them kidnapping the public’s sweetheart was another.
Katsuki didn’t envy All Might. His power as the previous Symbol of Peace made him perfect for politics, but the amount of sharks he would have to deal with in the process... Katsuki’s palm sparked at the thought. He would have exploded all of the weakling politicians a long time ago had he been in All Might’s place, and All Might had been in and out of meetings non-stop for the last few days.
Honestly, his hope was in All Might. As long as they figured out space travel (and with Mei on their side, it would not take long), it was on him to stop a potential galactic war from anyone trying to curry the favour of the public by fighting the force that took away their Hero. All Might also had the best chance of forcing everyone to collaborate in the reconstruction efforts- he could be scary when he wanted to be, and the public still strongly supported him.
The next half an hour, Katsuki spent beating up a reinforced boxing bag, methodically using his explosions to boost his punches.
He was only pulled out of his thoughts when his phone rang at an incoming call. He grabbed it as soon as he heard it ring ( he was not worried for Izumi, not at all), only for it not to be All Might but an unknown caller.
“Fucking scammers,” he cursed as he declined the call.
The phone soon rang again, with the same number appearing on the screen. Fuming slightly, he picked up this time, his palms heating up but not crackling yet.
“Who the fuck is this?” he basically spat out into the phone.
“Guess who?”
Katsuki felt the blood still in his veins.
The speaker must have heard his breathing cut off, because the next thing that they said was, “I guess you know, then.” The speaker chuckled slightly at that before continuing: “I’ve heard you’re looking for alien tech. Fortunately—or unfortunately—for you, I do have some pieces laying around you could use. Under some conditions, of course.”
There was a slight pause after that.
“....Why the fuck are you doing this? After all you have done? Bastard, you definitely stirring up some shit, I’ll blow you up since it seems like LAST TIME THAT DIDN’T STICK-”
The speaker cut off the enraged screams: “I don’t care what you think. I am the only one who has the tech. If you want to save your precious Izumi”- the words were bitterly spit out- “you’re going to have to agree to the terms. You’ll receive another call tomorrow. I hope you have an answer by then.”
They hung up.
Katsuki was left with a silent phone in his hand. Palms crackling in range, he punched the wall. The pain didn’t help him feel better.
Calling back to the number gave him the result he expected: a robotic voice saying, “The number you are trying to reach doesn’t exist.”
Seething in range, he typed the number he knew by heart.
“Hey All Might, we have a big fucking problem..."