Insomnia [Shota Aizawa x Reader] (Rewritten Version)

Chapter 9

Ethan panted for breath once he got back to the doctor's place. Eraserhead being there was one hell of a coincidence and an inconvenience. Not fun. Katsumi and Aiko were waiting for him in front of a table where the doctor usually was.

"I was interrupted by a pro-hero," Ethan grumbled. "He was following me so I had to get them back home."

Katsumi raised an eyebrow at him as he walked in explaining what happened. "The doctor isn't very patient with this."

"More like the mad scientist," Ethan muttered. He sighed, guilt creeping up on him. The drug he had put in the coffee only put you to sleep for a few minutes, hopefully you would be fine and your nightmares wouldn't be too bad.

A man with dark hair and glasses suddenly appeared next to him from a circular black hole. It was Miki, settling down and glancing at Ethan.

"Did something happen?" Miki asked.

"A hero got in the way. We'll have to try again another time." Ethan shrugged. "Their quirk's not going anywhere."

"Now we're going to have to convince that hand kid to go along with the plan." Katsumi frowned. "Even though he stands by what Sensei does, he is really close to [L/N]."

"Sensei and the doctor have been preparing this for a long while," Miki said.

A phone rang, and the three besides Ethan came up to the table where it was.

Somehow Ethan felt that ever since they've been working on the project, he's been an outcast from the group. The one time he had something to do was simply bringing someone over. And he'd failed that.

It was because it was you, he told himself. Maybe it was his hesitation to bring you into this that made him fail. He frowned, staying back for them to listen.

A few minutes later, Katsumi looked up to Ethan to explain. "Shigaraki's coming over. Apparently Sensei changed his mind about getting their quirk. He'll work on that later."

"What? Why not now?"

"Who knows?" Katsumi paused. "We'll do it ourselves, then. We'll just have to convince them. It won't hurt for Sensei to go back to the plan again if everyone involved agrees."

"They could've told us earlier about it too." Aiko frowned. "This 'ultimate Nomu' better be worth it."

"Definitely!" Katsumi brought an arm around her and started sorting out the papers on the table with his other hand. "The one Shigaraki tested out will be nothing compared to this one. Sensei and the doctor have given it much better and powerful quirks since last time. We didn't even need that guy with the resistance quirk if we have quirk immunity. It'll be a breeze to defeat All Might."

<•>

It was a few hours later and you arrived at the doctor's. The base was similar to Tomura's. It was bigger, but still well hidden with multiple entrances and exits. You were just outside the back entrance, about to go in until you heard angry voices. You pressed your ear against the door.

"It's because you got impatient."You recognized that as Katsumi's voice, despite how long it had been since you'd last seen or heard him. "Of course that first Nomu wasn't going to be 'the best' like you wanted. Things won't always go your way."

You heard an annoyed grunt from Tomura.

"And what are you, a child? He's already decided."

"He changed his mind. There will be another way." Tomura's voice was surprising not completely angry, but you could tell that his teeth were clenched. "If he just takes their quirk, they'll be completely quirkless or dead."

"There's got to be risks with these types of things." Aiko's voice was calm and collected, but there was a concerned undertone you could barely make out.

"The ultimate Nomu will definitely be worth the risks," Katsumi went on. "I thought you were completely with Sensei's and the doctor's original plans, even if it changes."

There was silence after that, and it didn't take long for you to realize they were talking about you. Sensei was going to take your quirk? How?

It did make sense, though, for their plans. It was a great idea. The 'ultimate Nomu' would have powerful quirks that inflicted damage as well as be immune to almost every other kind of damage, including quirks. It was able to take mutation-type quirks too.

But that would mean Sensei and the doctor would take your quirk, essentially leaving you quirkless unless they gave you a new one. He would definitely do that. But you knew that the quirk extraction was painful, and receiving a new quirk was extremely risky as well. You weren't sure of the exact details, and neither were the other group of villains. Sensei and the doctor were really secretive about the method.

Was this why Tomura was acting weird the past few days?

"Boo."

You jumped and almost hit your head hard on the door. You looked over to the source of the voice to find Ethan crouched next to you.

"Yo," he greeted, giving you a hesitant smile. He had this knack for sounding cheerful and calm despite any situation, even if he was having an existential crisis on the inside.

"Why do you do this?" You sighed. Ethan always managed to scare people even without his quirk, saying 'boo' as if it was a greeting. "Did you drug me or something before?"

His grin turned into a frown and he looked down. "Yeah... sorry about that. I... had to get—"

"It's fine." You sighed. Maybe you were too forgiving, but knew why he did that, you didn't want to hear his explanation. "What the heck is going on?"

"I'm sure you've heard most of it." Ethan sighed, eyes gazing back at the entrance. "Our group's project was to create the perfect, powerful Nomu. Katsumi wants your quirk."

"Have you all been looking for people for suitable quirks the whole time?"

Ethan nodded. "Sensei and the doctor had collected them all and put it all together for more Nomu. All that's left is yours."

He looked at you with a blank stare. It was silent outside for the most part, but Shigaraki and Katsumi's voices were still arguing. You could hear Kurogiri's voice mix in as well.

"Oh," you finally said. "Guess I'll let them do that."

"What?"

You looked him in the eyes. "I'll do whatever Sensei feels is right. I owe him that much." Plus, despite it being useful in certain situations, your quirk has caused many problems in the past.

"Hey," Ethan hesitated before continuing, "I didn't stop only because Eraserhead came to me. He was just a chance for me to second guess myself and think if I really wanted to kidnap you and bring you here for them. You shouldn't do this."

"Thanks, Ethan. But...." You shrugged. "I owe him at least this much."

Ethan said nothing, knowing your past and resolve. "What about U. A. work? How're you going to explain that?"

"Might have to quit immediately. Shouldn't be too hard." You stepped back from the door. "I don't need to find information about All Might if the key to defeating him is something as easy as taking my quirk and setting a Nomu to get him. Which it is."

"Still...." Ethan gave you a worried look. His tail was curled up tight behind him. You knew this happened when he was either stressed or, very rarely, angry. You could tell which it was.

You ignored it, turning the knob and opening the door.

"Hey," you called. The villains looked toward you. "Heard you needed my quirk."