A Silent Kind of Strength

Chapter 76

Izuku sat cross legged on the train, his phone turned off and shoved into the back pocket of his jeans. He had taken the last of the bandages off of his face and had snagged a beanie from a dollar shop on the train platform. With all of his longer curls hidden away and a boring navy t-shirt tugged on over his long sleeved undershirt he was sure he looked like any other teenager. Save for the yellowing bruises around one eye perhaps.

But if there was one thing Izuku was aware of it was the fact that the normal people on the street don't want to ask questions about a young kid with bruises. Wouldn't want to ruin their perfectly boring days after all.

He stared out the window, the knife strapped to the back of his belt a comforting weight. He had left his bag just inside the door to the bathrooms he and his classmates had claimed, trusting that it would be found soon enough and brought back to UA. If not, oh well. Hitoshi was more important than some clothes and camping gear.

He figured his absence would have been noted by now, everyone was probably panicking. There was only 30 minutes until the press conference UA had scheduled though so most of the adults would be too busy with that and the plan he was assuming was at the same time.

The train came to a stop with a chime and he checked the station number before disembarking. He was only two or three blocks from the warehouse district. He figured if he jogged he could make it a few streets into the area by the time the fighting started. From there he could turn up his hearing aids and hopefully track them down.

Once he was up the steps of the station he settled into a light jog, just a kid getting some exercise. Nothing to see here lady. His heart was racing way faster than the small exertion warranted. His nerves sparking up now that he knew he should be at least within the same city as Hitoshi. He wished he could have asked Mei to come with him. But the thought of putting his sister in harm's way made his stomach churn. So like a coward he had forgone that phone call.

He quickly made his way out of the nicer neighborhood, the area around him getting a bit more run down the further he went. Nicer apartment buildings fading into rougher houses and then to run down shops.

He slowed a bit when he hit the warehouses. The large buildings towering over him. Their drab concrete fading into the night where the sparse lighting just wasn't enough. He started winding his way through the side roads and thin paths between buildings, turning up the tech in his ears in an effort to not miss a single clue in his quest for his best friend.

It only took five minutes before he heard what he was looking for. And he didn't even need his aids to hear it. There was a boom and a plume of smoke a few buildings over and Izuku was running before his brain even caught up, turning down his ears as he went in the name of not damaging his ears further. Explosions were loud after all.

He slowed as he came to the last turn before the leveled warehouse, edging up against the wall and looking out carefully.

Most of the building where the explosion had happened, and half of those around it were gone. Izuku was looking at it from the side, trying to see what exactly was going on past a half demolished wall. He slid a bit more out to the side and caught a glimpse of nightmare fuel.

A small group of heros in various states of consciousness, wounded and prone. And walking towards them a villain. The man was large, towering over the rubble Izuku assumed he created, and he had no face. Just a plane of gnarled scars over a terrifying grin.