Switched

chapter 2

Izuku is sitting at the counter of a bar, staring down at a picture of himself- or rather, at a picture of his actual body-and wishing that he could sink into the floor. The picture is from the Sports Festival, Izuku's eyes narrowed and focused, his arm already badly broken. His eyes trace his face, and his stomach knots itself into even more intricate shapes as he wonders if he'll ever have that body again. He knows it's highly likely that this shift is temporary, and worrying about it is useless at this point, but his mind keeps returning to this issue with an incessant feeling of panic building in his chest. It's not helping him stay calm, that's for sure.

"Ooh, isn't that the infamous Izuku-chan?" The blonde-haired girl from earlier chirps, leaning closer and closer to Izuku until it's at the point where he can smell the faint tinge of iron from her clothing. It's probably from blood, he thinks bleakly, pointedly not looking up at her as he keeps his gaze on the tablet. "He's so cute! Why would you put him in the kill list, Tomura? He's too cute to be killed! I can only imagine what he'd look like with a lot more blood," she continues, sighing wistfully.

Izuku tries his best to not look like he is scooting away from her in his seat, but that is precisely what he is doing at the moment, not liking the look in her eyes one bit.

"Now now, Himiko Toga, don't get distracted. We're not after that one," Kurogiri speaks up from behind the counter, purple mist flickering slightly. The girl- Himiko, Izuku corrects, glad to have a name at last- sighs, but hops up onto the seat next to him. Kurogiri nods, setting down the glass he has been cleaning. "Shigaraki Tomura, do you wish to be the one to go over the battle plans?"

Izuku glances towards him, mind blank. Battle plans? If he knew what plans Shigaraki has in store, he wouldn't have done something so stupidly risky as coming to this meeting. "You go ahead," he says instead. "You can explain it better to these…" People? Villains? What's a word Shigaraki would use, anyways? "…Players better than I can. I don't have the patience to go over everything again."

Kurogiri's mist flickers once, but the man calmly nods. "Of course. Then, I'm sure everyone here knows that U.A. is having their summer training camp soon, correct?" He waits long enough that several people nod, and then continues. "We plan on attacking the camp while they have their guard down, damaging the reputation of U.A. permanently while also grabbing a few assets."

"Assets?" A guy asks from where he is leaning against the wall in the corner. His eyes are a piercing blue, but what really stands out to Izuku is his patchwork skin dotted over with silver staples. "Since we're not attacking the actual school, I'm assuming you mean kidnapping."

"That is correct," Kurogiri affirms.

Izuku's eyes dart back to the tablet in front of him, using a single finger to scroll over to study the other list, which is much smaller than the one his photo is in. He pauses, drawing back in surprise, as he attempts to understand the connotations of what this means for the face staring back at him. He tries to swallow even though his mouth is painfully dry. "Bakugou Katsuki," he says, the words tasting foreign on his tongue. Oddly enough, it feels like he's watching his body from above because he feels numb and nauseous at the same time. "We're taking Bakugou Katsuki from U.A."

"Yes, as you requested, he's one of our two targets. The other one, a pro hero that goes by the handle of Ragdoll, is requested by someone else that works in the upper levels of this organization," Kurogiri says. He picks up another glass, calmly cleaning it. "Shigaraki, can you pass the photos around so everyone can see our two intended targets?"