Controlee

95. We Make Our Own

Rule 120: Fear is a weapon in the wrong hands and a tool in the right ones.

Aizawa stepped into the supply closet and frowned. He could've sworn he saw a red glow in here, one just like Otsuka's. Instead, there was only silence and dim light through the closing door behind him.

Maybe the light had just been a strange reflection.

"Emiko?" he called out, just in case.

"Aizawa?"

Aizawa crouched down, looking behind some boxes to find Otsuka and Eri curled close together against the wall. "How are you guys doing?"

"We're fine," Otsuka answered through a round of shivers. Eri was shaking in Otsuka's hold.

It didn't look all that fine to him. "I could see the light from your quirk from outside," Aizawa warned.

"I was trying to help Eri warm up."

Aizawa had spent the last five or ten minutes stalking the hospital, hoping Otsuka and Eri would be in his wing or Yamada's so they wouldn't be in either of the wings those two men were searching. Moving about had kept him warm enough, but there was a chill in this room that wasn't anywhere else in the building. Stuck hiding, it was no wonder the kids were freezing.

It wouldn't be long now before the paperwork would be sent through to Aizawa and Yamada and this would be over. Eri and Otsuka would be able to come out then. Aizawa lifted his capture weapon from his neck and dunked it over the pair of them. They'd benefit more from what was essentially a scarf than he would from carrying a weapon around a hospital.

"We've been told fifteen minutes before the paperwork comes through. Stay just a little while longer."

Otsuka nodded. "We can do that."

Aizawa reached into the shelf, running his handover Eri's hair and using the same hand to poke Otsuka's forehead. "If I'm not back here in half an hour, you come find us. Ok?"

***

Raminski huffed. It looked like a fuse box or something. He didn't know enough about electronics but it was definitely some kind of electrical box. A small red LED flickered on and off. It probably wasn't a good sign that the light was red and flickering, but— again— he didn't know enough about electronics to say for sure.

On with the search, he supposed.

***

Yamada frowned at his husband. It was normal enough when they were around home, normal enough in a hospital bed, but these were not either of those circumstances and it felt wrong to see Aizawa without his capture weapon on.

"What happened to your scarf?" the man who'd introduced himself as Raminski asked as soon as they'd regrouped from a fruitless search.

Yamada took one look at the husband he loved so much, and knew Aizawa was about to give a very stupid answer. "Oh, I gave it to the kids. They're fine."

Yamada bit into his cheeks to keep himself from snickering.

"You saw them?" Leto, Raminski's younger colleague, asked.

"Yes." Yamada bit down harder.

Raminski sighed, putting his hand on Leto's shoulder. "Where are they?"

"The East Wing," was Aizawa's obvious answer, considering that was the wing he'd been told to search. "But they were heading to the North. Otsuka got a little lost finding the bathroom, but I directed her to the right place. I'm sure they'll get back here in ten or fifteen minutes."