Naomasa nearly shuddered under the older Midoriya's gaze. It felt like he was facing down a mother lion who he'd just stolen a cub from. She looked tired, spent, completely out of fuel, yet the look she was giving him could freeze the blood in your veins.

The makeshift shirt bandage that had previously been applied to her cranium when they were still at the police station was now gone, replaced by white medical-grade cotton bandages. They were far more tightly applied onto her head than the shirt, so they pressed parts of her hair down, making them uneven with the uncovered parts.

The doctor-looking fellow approached Naomasa with sweat running down his forehead.

"Sorry... she wouldn't listen to anything I had to say. She woke up in the medical wing we transported her to and immediately stormed here once... well... once I told her where her son was being taken."

Naomasa spared a glance toward the doctor and nodded in acknowledgment.

"And you are?"

"...oh, yes. Sorry."

The man reached into his lab coat and pulled out his wallet. Opening it up, he flashed the ID card it contained. It was the same color as the card belonging to the agent that had driven them here, an off-yellow close to orange. On it, he saw very similar identifying bits of information he had seen on Nezu's card, including the name of the U.I.U on its bottom. By reading it, Naomasa learned his name as well as his position, it marked him as a researcher, researcher Akira Sasaki.

"I'm a researcher part of the organization. I specialize in medicine and biology, so they called me to assist with her wounds. I'm assuming you're the one the Administrator put in charge. Agent Naomasa?"

The detective cringed at the title.

"...Yes."

Looking back to Inko, Naomasa's eyes widened in surprise as he saw her starting to tumble to the ground. Luckily, he and Sasaki noticed in time and so were able to catch her, saving her from a rough meeting with the floor.

Once they secured her, Naomasa handed Inko to the researcher and turned around to retrieve something for her to sit on. Briskly jogging up to a nearby empty office chair, he grabbed it, brought it back to the older Midoriya, and then helped her into it.

As she was settled into it, Inko slowly began regaining control of her faculties. When she finally fully came to, she took a moment to take a few deep breaths and then put her gaze back on Naomasa.

"...Where is he?"

Naomasa gulped, he felt uneasy at the question. Turning around, he looked at the surveillance guards still looking at them, some even with their weapons still out.

"...Does this look like a play to you? The situation is under control, get back to work."

At Naomasa's order, every guard turned back around. With a little bit more privacy, Naomasa turned back to Inko, approached her, crouched down and then spoke to her in a hushed tone..

"...How much have they told you?"

Inko continued breathing weakly.

"Enough."

The doctor approached the duo, prompting the detective to look toward him.

"She's been told about what we are and what we're planning to do with the anomaly."

"His name... is Izuku." Inko said quietly, which made both men turn to look at her.

"Yes, with..." researcher Sasaki said before lowering his voice close to the volume at which Inko had uttered Izuku's name, "Izuku."

Naomasa nodded.

"Alright."

Naomasa pondered what to do. Judging by what she had just done, he thought it'd be likely for her to try to go see her son if he told her where they had locked him up... even if she'd have to delve into the deepest parts of the cell block to do so. In the state she was in... never mind security, she might get seriously hurt.

"Miss Midoriya... Inko. If I tell you where we've put him, you'd try to comfort him even if I told you not to. Am I right?"

Inko didn't respond, only averting her eyes from the detective.

"That's what I thought... I can't let you see him now; it isn't safe."

"I don't care!" Inko said while looking back to Naomasa. "I don't care how dangerous it is, I don't care what might happen to me, I need to see my son!"

"I didn't mean for you... I meant it isn't safe for him."

Inko took a sharp breath in.

"...W-what?"

"I've seen his power be able to put him back together after being ripped apart from the inside and he's also shown to be able to cause quite a considerable amount of damage, I'm not worried about him getting hurt. But one's physical well-being isn't the only thing there is to worry about, we also need to consider the emotional and psychological side of things."

Inko looked unconvinced.

"His emotional and psychological well-being is exactly why I need to be with him! He is scared and hurt, if I was with him I cou-"

"You could... what? Tell him that he injured and killed an immense number of people? Tell him he ripped people apart solely for having seen his face and then..."

Naomasa shuddered at the memory of Izuku devouring his coworker coming back to his mind.

"...And then ate them?"

Inko was too shocked to respond, her eyes seemed to go blank as if she was unable to come to terms with the detective's revelation. She was in total disbelief. Her son couldn't... he could never, it was impossible.

"Yes, that's right. After your son went ballistic in his cell, he ripped the iron bars from their foundations, ran through the police station's concrete walls, killed a policeman and then tore him limb from limb before shoving chunks of him into his mouth and eating them. That's why we couldn't find the bodies of the rescue team that was originally sent into the sewers... because after he was done with them, there were no bodies left to find."

"...You're lying," Inko said, barely in a whisper.

"Why would I lie to you? Why now?"

Again, Inko didn't respond, she just remained silent as tears began falling from her eyes. Feeling that he had been too harsh with the small woman, Naomasa approached her and crouched down to her eye level before putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Going down there right now, it would only hurt him. Not just physically as a result of him reverting back but also mentally when he eventually can think again. This place would also only make things worse; how do you think he would feel if the first thing he woke up to was the fact that he had been sent to the place where the government sends the worst of the worst of our society? He'd think of himself... as a monster, he'd be emotionally ruined."

Inko still didn't respond, Naomasa's words only seemed to worsen how she was feeling.

"But we both know that isn't true," the detective said more quietly after having come closer to Inko's face. "Izuku is a tragic victim of his power. He deserves better, that is evident. Where he is right now, he doesn't know of what he's done and he's safe from harm. Please, just give us time to take him somewhere where he will truly be able to begin healing, where he won't just have your support but that of others too."

Life seemed to come back to the small greenette's eyes as she returned them to Naomasa.

"Please, just have patience. Staying away is what's best for him."

Inko, after wiping her eyes from tears, took in a shaky but determined breath.

"Ok... but I'm not going back to that hospital bed I woke up in. I'm staying here."

Researcher Sasaki grimaced.

"Uh... miss, I really must insist-"

"No, she'll stay."

The researcher turned to Naomasa with his mouth slightly agape.

"But sir, she's not well she needs better medical attention."

"Then bring what you can that'll help. Otherwise, she has a right to remain as close to her son as she possibly can for the time being."

The researcher sighed but relented.

"Alright, fine." Said Sasaki before turning to Inko.

" Just, be careful, ok? I'll be back with a few medical supplies, don't move too much, and keep that ice pack on your head." Said the lab coat-wearing man before turning around and briskly exiting the room by the elevator.

"So... where is my son, detective? Can I at least know that?" Inko said as Naomasa stood up and dusted himself off.

"Yes, of course."

Naomasa turned around, looked at the big surveillance screen in thought, and then turned back to Inko.

"I might even be able to show you."

Walking behind Inko's chair, Naomasa firmly grabbed the side of its backrest and began slowly pushing the older woman toward the head of security.

"Hey, you! Can you get a visual of where we transported the prisoner?"

Turning to him, the head looked at Naomasa quizzically, with one of his eyebrows raised in the air.

"...No? The administrator said right before he left that no visual surveillance was to be turned on during the entire duration of the prisoner's stay. I cannot disobey that order, sir, even if you are in charge."

"Yes, I know. I meant via another method other than cameras. Doesn't Tartarus have a sort of live locating and mapping system?"

The head began to stroke his chin in thought.

"Normally, yes, but that system also uses the cameras. The cameras capture light to create an image and send it to us, but the system also uses the gathered during that process to make the system work. Now, with the cameras down, that system is down too."

"I see... but you must have some sort of blueprint or information display of the cell block's interior, right?"

"We... might? Hold on, let me see." Said the head of security as he began typing away on the keys in front of him and searching through the surveillance console's files and documents.

After a moment, he gave one final tap to the console and brought up a large 3d model of the cell block.

"There, that should do it. It might be a little out of date because of the construction and maintenance that's happened since we used this last, but..." The head zoomed in on the last level of the cell block and then turned the model so they could see the cell that was holding Izuku.

The head had been right, the writing on the walls and above Izuku's cell seemed to be of a fresher coat of paint than the one they had seen on the console's video feed during the transfer.

"Here is where he is right now, far below sea level, in an evacuated wing. I believe your organization even has some of your people guarding it, no?"

"Yes, that's correct" said Naomasa, "If the administrator is as smart as I know he is, he likely assigned the ones who escorted him to the cell to guard it, which is good because they are all blind."

"How is that good? How are they going to be able to protect my son if they can't see?" Inko piped in.

"Them not being able to see means Iz- uh..." Naomasa tripped up on his words, having almost revealed Izuku's name to the security guards and the head, "the prisoner won't have anything to be afraid of coming from them. That and their quirks allow them to function normally despite their lack of eyesight, so if push comes to shove, they'd be able to hold their own."

Inko paused a moment, wondering why Naomasa had corrected himself. But, as she looked to the head of security and the others in the room, it dawned on her that it'd be unwise to reveal Izuku's identity.

Even a week after the tragedy, no one knew Izuku was "the monster of Musutafu" because of how unrecognizable he became once transformed. The only people able to recognize him had only been the ones closest to him like her or the Bakugous. If some people found out here the name of the one who caused so much devastation, word might get around later. If people were to find out that Izuku was the monster of Musutafu, he might never be able to lead a normal life ever again.

It's not like things would ever go back to how they were before, especially after what happened and the prediction researcher Sasaki revealed to her concerning her son... but Inko only wished for her son to be able to be happy again. And to do that, no one could know her son was the thing in most people's nightmares as of late.

"Oh, right. That researcher mentioned those people very briefly. They're a task force, kind of like a swat team. What were they called again?"

"They're called Eta-10, the administrator told me they were formed specifically to combat the prisoner's... quirk."

"Yes... it's quite odd, isn't it? This whole affair with the U.I.U and... what they do." Inko said while giving Naomasa a knowing glance.

She knew they couldn't speak about it, the researcher had told her when he debriefed her after she woke up that talking about the U.I.U and its purpose was equated to treason. But, Naomasa got the short greenette's message and nodded.

"Yes... it's all quite unbelievable. I can't quite trust them yet, I'm sure you can't either. But, I was told there will come a time after this is over when I'll be able to quell my doubts, which likely means you will too."

"Doubts or no doubts..." Inko said before pausing, "I just hope they'll be able to help my son."

"...As do i."

Suddenly, Inko sat back further into her office chair and began closing her eyes a small bit.

"I... I think I'm going to rest a bit. I'm feeling... weak."

Naomasa quickly approached and grabbed up the ice pack on Inko's head as her hand fell to her side and she began to go limp.

"Take... care of him... for... me."

Inko dozed off, and she finally slept. Naomasa's eyes softened as she saw the greenette faint before him.

Life had been hard for her... very hard. He knew that from the interview he had with her, but recent times must've been especially hard... partly because of him now that he thought about it. She must've been running on empty for a long time and with the injury she sustained to her head... it seemed her body just couldn't hold on any longer. As he placed the ice pack back on Inko's head, Naomasa regretted how he had treated her during his investigation, maybe she wouldn't have been in the condition she was in now if he had done better.

Sighing in disappointment at himself, Naomasa turned back toward the console only to be met with the head of security getting up from his chair and facing him.

"Sir, something needs your attention."

Naomasa gave the officer an inquisitive and slightly worried look and approached him.

"What is it? Has something happened?"

"No, nothing like that. It's just that-" The officer turned back to the console and brought up a clock displaying the time it was before turning back to the detective. "Normally, at this hour, it'd be time to deliver dinner to the prisoners. With some security measures down and with the prisoner of high importance we have in level B-10, I simply need your permission to carry on with delivering the meals. Additionally, I also need to know if the prisoner that your organization transferred will need a meal too."

Dinner, Naomasa had nearly forgotten about it. Being reminded of it, he felt his stomach growl quietly and demand sustenance. With the stress he'd been under that day, he hadn't had the time to think much about food.

"Right. Well, I don't think our prisoner will need to be given food. He doesn't seem to want to eat food when he's in the state he is in now. Believe me, we've tried in the past few days, the food that's left for him simply begins to rot after a while. For the others, however... how are meals given to them? What's the usual protocol?"

"For the prisoners who aren't in restraints, their food is given to them via an opening on the doors where we can slide the food in. We open them via the console here and, should an inmate act up, we can close the opening instantly, preventing any bad outcome. For those who are in full body restraints 24/7... well we need to send guards into their cells to feed them by hand."

"...Is that the best that Tartarus can come up with?" said the detective with a blank, almost incredulous, look.

"Budget cuts, sir... that and the government isn't as concerned with treatment of the prisoners as it is with security. They didn't think a less "embarrassing" method for them to eat was necessary."

Naomasa sighed in annoyance.

"There's never been an altercation because of the way they're fed, right? Plus, with the mounted guns and the trackers monitoring their brain patterns, it should be safe enough..." Naomasa said while looking to the side in thought. "Go ahead like normal, I see no reason to stop it."

"Very well, sir." Said the head of security before sitting back in his chair and facing the console again.

After issuing a few commands via the console, a single beeping sound was heard, signifying that permission had been granted to begin delivery of the meals.

...

It had begun to rain... it took a few hours to get all of the meals needed to be ready and rain clouds had gathered in that time. With Tartarus being situated far away from the mainland, that meant that strong winds had picked up too, enough so that it made it difficult to stay outside for even a short amount of time. The wind pushing you and the severe rain quickly seeping through your coat made it a less-than-comfortable environment to be in, to say the least.

It was in those moments that one of the prison guards who had been given the task of delivering some of the meals to the prisoners wished that the kitchen for the cell block he was assigned to was connected to it and did not reside in another building entirely. He had feared it was gonna rain soon a few hours ago judging by the clouds that he had seen approaching and, when he received the notification via his earpiece, he hoped it would be to give him an assignment allowing him to stay indoors until the rain cleared.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be so. He had been able to shield himself from the sudden downpour for a little while, at least. He, among many others, had to wait in a room adjacent to the kitchen to be given the portions they needed to deliver and then wait again, this time for the order to be given to begin their delivery.

Waiting there was kind of nice, he'd never complain about simply having to stay in a well-ventilated room but... he wished those odd people brought by that even odder secretive governmental organization didn't have to be there at the same time.

They all felt so... strange. He had been taught since he was young not to discriminate against and not to judge people that had what he thought were strange quirks but... some of the people that the organization had brought just felt weird to look at. One of them didn't have eyes, as in just smooth skin instead of eye sockets, another's eyes were completely white, and yet another one's eyes were constantly glowing a faint green light. Their faces almost fell into the uncanny valley. It wasn't those guys who were the most disconcerting, however. The men wearing heavier armor and carrying heavier weaponry were the creepiest in his opinion.

There was just something about them that was... off. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, they just felt wrong. They were eating, smoking, playing cards just like the other team was yet something in their stoic behavior and on-guard demeanor made him feel like they knew something he didn't, that there was something they knew they should be afraid of that he did not know about.

The room they were in doubled as a mess hall for the staff of Tartarus as well as a waiting room for when meals needed to be delivered; proximity to the kitchen meant quick and easy access to the food, which meant more time during the breaks they were allowed. A lot of tables had been set up for comfortable eating for the staff, so the warden had authorized these... military strike teams of sorts to rest there until they were invariably needed again for the transfer of the monster out of Tartarus.

The monster... his breath hitched just as it had when he spoke with that villain hours ago when he thought about him again. A quote from a book he had read years ago about an evil allied master computer came back to mind when he thought about that wretched abomination.

"Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There are three eight seven point four four million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word hate was engraved on each nano angstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles, it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For you. Hate. Hate!"

Those words aptly portrayed how he felt about that thing. He truly did hate it, him, whatever it was from the deepest core of his very being. He wished every vile atrocity upon him, he wished he could take his life and it tore him from the inside out that he was so close to him and couldn't.

He hadn't talked about these feelings of hatred with anyone... he just couldn't. if he did, he'd explode, he'd not be able to function anymore, he'd die. Instead, he decided to bury himself in his work.

At least when he's working, he's able to take his mind off of the death of his brother at the hand of what they were now holding prisoner.

His dear brother... was part of the rescue team sent into the sewers during the monster of Musutafu incident. He never got to say goodbye, he only learned of his death when they first apprehended the monster of Musutafu. He knew his brother was one of the people that had been sent down; reporters had been reporting on them being sent in and since he hadn't been working that day, he was able to recognize him on the television. When they didn't come out after a long time, he began to get worried. After they still didn't come out after an even longer time, he began to get seriously concerned. But once he saw that photo they took of it towering over All Might with his hands and body drenched in blood, he knew what had happened.

His family was there to help each other in this bleak time, of course, but no amount of help ever quelled the hatred that lived in his heart since that day.

His brother was more than just that to him, he had helped him through the toughest times of his life. He got him through his old alcohol addiction even though he actively fought against his help, helped him find a job working at Tartarus when he got better, helped him meet the love of his life, helped him be able to afford a ring to ask her to marry him, helped him set up the wedding and he was even his best man.

He saved his life, financially helped him when he was in desperate need and was always there for him when he needed support, he was the greatest man he had ever met.

And... and he took him away. Killed him. On top of that, the police have refused to say anything about the location of his brother's body, they won't even comment on if he's dead or not.

The man slowly breathed in and out a few times with his eyes closed to calm himself. No, he still had a job to do, a family to support. All of his brother's efforts would be for nothing if he allowed his life to go to shit again, if he allowed himself to get consumed by his hatred.

The man was snapped out of his trance when he heard the door to the mess hall-like room open. In came dozens of kitchen workers who proceeded to place all the meals they had put into bento box-looking containers made of cheap plastic onto the tables.

The man, along with the others who had been assigned meal-delivering duty, began to line up in front of the workers to get the meal they were to deliver to the cell they had been assigned through their earpieces.

After a while of waiting in line, he finally received his bento and waited for the order to come in for him to begin walking toward the cell block. After 20 minutes, it arrived.

When he opened the door to go outside the building, he cursed as he felt the intense wind hit him in the face and saw the innumerable droplets of water hit the concrete floor creating enough sound that it was difficult to hear himself think. Despite that, however, he steeled himself and then walked out into the storm before beginning to rapidly jog to his destination.

Once he arrived at the entrance, he took a moment to take a breather and let his drenched coat dry a little bit before continuing. Before long, he was joined by the other guards who had been sent at the same time as him. Some didn't bother to wait and continued walking, still drenched in rainwater, and some did the same as he had done and took a moment to gather themselves. Finally, after his breathing returned to a normal pace, he began walking toward the elevator to the cell wings.

Passing by the metal detectors, a small beep was heard as a green light on the arch of the machine glowed, signifying that he was being allowed passage. Normally, for any other person, the metal detector would've gone off but since he was wearing the earpiece all Tartarus security guards wear, he was able to pass through the detector without alarming it. The people in the surveillance room of the cell block could activate a command from the big console there for the metal detectors to detect any specific earpiece and ignore anyone passing through who's wearing it.

Looking toward the ceiling, the man was able to see that the camera system had been turned off. He couldn't see the usual red light signifying the cameras were on, they were all powered down. When Tartarus had first been contacted by the governmental organization, he along with everybody else on staff had been notified that all cameras would be completely turned off for the entire time the monster resided within the walls of the prison. He didn't know why that needed to be, frankly he didn't care.

If it meant the monster was going to be imprisoned where he belonged for even a short amount of time, it was fine with him. He wished his stay would be longer. Indefinite, even. But no, that was out of his control because the government of Japan and the Hero Public Safety Commission had taken control of the monster of Musutafu and had decided to leave it to the apparent expertise of this secretive organization he had never heard of.

They were told next to nothing, apparently, and as just a lowly prison guard, he had been told even less. All he knew was that after "The Administrator", which he hadn't even been able to meet, returned, that the monster would be transported out of Tartarus to "another facility". Whatever the hell that meant.

He hoped whatever facility it was he was going to, that it would be worse than even Tartarus.

Walking into the elevator alongside a few other guards, the man pushed the button to the level they were all going to and then waited as the doors closed and he began to be lowered into the depths of the cell block.

He had been assigned to nearly the lowest basement level. Just above the deepest one, in fact. The one where the monster of Musutafu resided. Yet again, the pain of being so close to him and unable to do anything to him felt like a dagger repeatedly stabbing him in the heart.

The elevator dinged and then the doors slid open, revealing the white and cold corridor of level B-9 of the cell block. Walking up to the cell he was assigned, the man gulped and then pressed on his earpiece to open communications to the surveillance room.

"Cell 6, ready."

A few seconds later, a loud "CLUNK" was heard and then the door to the cell opened. Inside, was a man the prison guard did not want to interact with more than he had to. "Just go in, feed him, and then leave," he told himself.

The man he was afraid to interact with was the same villain he had transferred to the cell he was now in and who had nearly caused him to have a mental break just a few hours ago.

The man wore the usual prison attire, had shoulder length platinum blond hair and sported a more than handsome face. He had a fancy European name the prison guard knew not how to pronounce. Something like... "Marc-André Pluchet", or something other French-sounding. He had apparently immigrated to Japan from Paris years ago to begin his villain career... and a hell of a career it was even if it was relatively short-lived, only lasting around a decade. The general populace had begun calling him "The silver-tongued villain" because of the way he achieved his villainous goals.

His quirk wasn't that powerful, it only allowed him to talk to people using his mind. That fact made some of the staff question why he was one of the ones put in full-body restraints but... it was an understandable decision if one knew what this villain had done. In reality, it was the villain's cunning, his connections, and his sadism that made him a threat.

During the entire time he acted as a villain, he had a separate, fake, constructed life to mask his actions. He had a wife, a daughter, a son, in-laws. He had convinced every last one of them that he was a person that he wasn't, a good family man, all to hide right in the open.

In reality, he had damn near formed a business using his undeniable ability in convincing and manipulating others to satisfy his sick desires. He formed a villain team that committed large robberies, committed fraud, and exploited legal loopholes so an immense amount of cash was able to flow directly to him. What did he use that immense wealth for?

Power? Influence? Control? No, kidnapping and human trafficking.

He'd pay to have people delivered to him that he would torture for a month before offing them in a horribly painful manner. The torture, though it contained many conventional physical methods, did not limit itself to just that. He apparently delighted himself in mental torture of all kinds.

Mental warfare was of daily routine for his victims. He'd make them think they were getting rescued by heroes, that he'd been defeated, only to reveal it was all a lie and that they were still in hell. He'd lock some of them up for weeks at a time in solitary confinement, making some go crazy from lack of stimulation. He'd even make some of them fall in love with him only to rip out their hearts when he murdered them. Mind games, using his charisma and using his silver tongue were his favorite ways of hurting those he tortured.

The reason why the prison guard knew all of this was because he admitted it all in court, among many other things.

The legal battle had been long and arduous, the villain earned his name well, but eventually he had nowhere left to run and could not continue with his sick pleasures any longer because of how much he was being watched by the authorities.

So, as a last chance to mentally torture everyone in the courthouse, he admitted to everything. All just to see the horrified faces of all of those around him. His fake family at the time was even there, and he smiled as he revealed to them that he never cared for them even slightly, that he had purposefully eradicated all of his wealth that very day so that they'd be left with nothing and have to live on the streets when he gets sent to Tartarus.

They had become financially and emotionally dependent on him because of how he manipulated them, so they were completely devastated. The children cried, and some relatives left the room screaming in denial of how they'd been manipulated. His wife stayed where she was, showing no emotions.

A few days later... she reportedly hung herself, her mind not being able to come to handle the devastation of what the villain had done to her.

It scared the guard that the villain could easily just manipulate and throw someone away like that. He couldn't even comprehend anyone being able to do such a thing and it terrified him that he could easily pull off the same trick even in the restraints he was in right now.

"No, it's fine. He can't do anything, like he said before. Just get in and get out," the prison guard thought to himself as he begun to walk into the villain's cell.

As he approached, he felt creeped out as the villain's eyes seemed to follow him without even blinking once. A large smile spread across his face as the prison guard opened up the bento box and brought the first bite of food to his lips. As the creepy look kept growing on the villain's face, the guard felt himself begin to tremble.

"Well hello there, nice to see you again."

As the villain finished his sentence and before the prison guard could respond, an immensely loud sound exploded and rang throughout the cell wing of level B-9.

Because of the volume of the sound, the prison guard dropped the bento on the ground and brought his hands up to his ringing ears before crumbling to the ground himself with his eyes closed and in searing pain.

When his ears stopped ringing, he got up, stumbled a bit, and then opened his eyes... only to be met with darkness. Before long, his eyes adjusted to the sudden change in light, revealing the terrifying face of the sadistic villain still staring at him as if the explosion they had just heard hadn't happened.

In his mind, the prison guard heard a voice saying: "I have a proposition for you, my friend."

...

Back in the surveillance room, everything had devolved into chaos. Alarms were blaring so loudly that Inko, who could only sit there, hyperventilate and ask what was going on, woke up. Naomasa, on the other hand, jumped into action and started barking questions at the head of security.

"What the hell just happened!? What was that sound!?"

"I-I don't know, sir! Give me a moment!" responded the head without looking at the detective and madly typing away on the console, bringing up window after window displaying information about different systems.

"All electrical power to level B-9 and parts of level B-8 and B-10 have been halted! All systems are unresponsive to those sectors and all of the guards' electrical gear can't be reached by the console!"

This wasn't good, this wasn't good at all. Naomasa got right up to the console and began screaming orders over the loud blaring alarms.

"The generators, have they malfunctioned or something?"

"y-... No! not all of them, but..."

"But what!?"

"The emergency generator is fried, sir, but the main one is still operational! It seems electrical power delivery has been tampered with by whatever we just heard!"

Naomasa nodded his head.

"Ok... Everyone! Find out a way to get the main generator to get power back to Level B-8, B-9 and especially B-10, NOW!"

At his order, the entire room began working on the task given to them. Naomasa, not being able to do anything more, stepped back and waited with bated breath while biting his thumb's nail for them to resolve the issue. Inko was still loudly demanding she'd be told what was going on, but Naomasa ignored her. He couldn't lose his concentration, he needed to be focused until this problem was resolved. Her question would have to wait.

Luckily, after only a short few minutes, the lights flickered in the room, the alarms stopped and then someone yelled out: "Power restored, sir!"

"Activate cameras in level B-8 and B-9 and open communications to the soldier's posted at the prisoner's cell in level B-10." Yelled out Naomasa after approaching the screen.

When the head didn't respond and, instead, turned to look at the detective in doubt, he turned to him and yelled louder.

"NOW!"

Without skipping another beat, the head turned back to the console, opened the video feed for all cameras that Naomasa had asked and connected the console to the members of Eta-10 situated in level B-10.

"Eta-10! Talk to me, what's going on down there?!"

"Sir, electrical systems seem to be failing down here. Lights are flickering on and off and the escape prevention walls haven't been deployed." said a gravely voice originating from the console. "We're in battle positions and prepared for conflict, but the prisoner hasn't moved from his position within the cell."

"Do you have any information on what caused that explosion we heard?"

"Negative, sir, we do not."

"Damn it... all right. Stay in position until I give you the all-clear."

"Affirmative."

Looking at the video feeds that the head had brought up; Naomasa scrupulously scrutinized each one for a hint as to what had happened. In most feeds were inmates and prison guards alike either still writhing on the ground holding on to their ears or slowly recovering from the loud sound that had caused mass panic. In a select few, however, were prison guards with their weapons drawn at the villain they had been feeding. The only one that immediately stood out to the detective was the feed of the camera inside of cell 6 of level B-9, it revealed a prison guard who, unlike the others, seemed to be relatively calm and composed while pointing his firearm at a grinning villain with platinum blond hair.

Before he could comment on it, though, another camera feed stole his attention. It showed a large brown-skinned man with dirty yellow hair going ballistic and banging on his cell door with his fists.

"Can you turn on the audio surveillance in that cell there?" Naomasa said while pointing at the camera feed that had peeked his interest.

"It's already is on, I'll make it so we can hear it."

Turning the volume on, all you could hear was the inmate yelling, swearing and daring the prison guards in the cell wing to come and fight him.

Squinting his eyes, the detective paid closer attention to the inmate's skin as he continued thumping his large arms on the steel of his cell's door, something about it seemed to bug him. Searching in his memories, he seemed to recall seeing someone with a similar physical description to the aggressive inmate during Izuku's transfer in level B-10.

"Yes, that's right!" he thought to himself as the image of the inmate hours ago came back to him. In his memory, he did not recall the inmate resembling the way he looked now. His veins were notably dark and sported a yellow glow within them but now they no longer did, what could that mean?

"That inmate, what's his quirk?"

"A professional has never registered his quirk. We do know that it involves some type of electrokinesis, but we do not know to what lengths he can apply his quirk." The head of security said after bringing up the inmate's file.

Things began to connect in Naomasa's mind as the head revealed the inmate's quirk.

"So it's feasible that he could've released some kind of electromagnetic pulse to cause the power outage we just experienced?"

"Well, yes, but... the sensors tracking his brain waves should've caught him before he was able to activate his quirk. He should've been fired upon by the mounted turrets before he could even do anything!"

"What if..." Naomasa said as he examined the image of the inmate hours prior in his mind, "What if the sensors weren't quick enough to activate? No matter how quick, electrical signals need to be sent from the prisoner, to the sensors' system and then to the mounted guns for them to fire, that takes time. What if the delay between the inmates thought of activating his quirk and its actual activation is quicker?"

"The mounted guns usually takes a few milliseconds until they fire, how could someone's quirk be faster than that? Normally, it'd take someone a second or two to think about and then activate their quirk."

"Yes, I know. But what if his quirk works differently? I remember reading about an animal called the mantis shrimp, an animal that can throw a punch so fast that it boils the water it resides in. It's capable of doing that because its arms acts sort of like a spring loaded mechanism. What if this villain's quirk works similar to that? Hours ago, his veins looked different than they do now and I think I know why. I think this inmate's body passively generates electromagnetic charge and your sensors did not pick up on that because he did not have to consciously will his quirk to do so. Now, with a huge amount of charge and tension built up, he only needed to give it a single thought before his quirk went off like a mousetrap closing on the neck of a rodent. The activation of the quirk and the pulse he created likely moved faster than the speed at which the system could catch him, causing it to be deactivated before it could fire upon him."

"That's... quite ingenious."

"Yes, it is. Even if that's not quite what happened, however..." Naomasa said before gesturing toward the inmate now kicking on his door and still yelling like a mad man, "I think it's pretty obvious from the fact he is the only person in level B-9 not in full body restraints, not reeling in pain and attempting to bait guards into fighting him that he is the one who caused the power outage. Contact the guards we've just sent down to come back and get those cell doors closed again, dinner is canceled. Close the cameras, send someone to check on the emergency generators and get some guards to get full body restraints on that villain, we can't have this happening again."

Naomasa began to turn to speak with Inko but stopped himself as he seemed to remember something.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Get me in contact with the men guarding the prisoner's cell in level B-10."

"Yes, sir." Said the head before bringing up communications to the members of Eta-10 once again.

"The situation is resolved. You can return to your prior positions, we've got it handled."

"Understood, returning to our positions at cell 6."

Naomasa nodded in satisfaction and then turned to the head.

"Alright, do as I said. Lock the cell doors, get the emergency generators checked and get that lunatic in restraints before he tries anything again."

Finally, as the head turned to the console to issue Naomasa's command, the detective turned around, approached Inko, and then pushed her away so they were out of earshot of the rest of the room.

"What the hell just happened, detective?!" The greenette said before Naomasa could begin explaining anything.

"Well, obviously, we just had an escape attempt. We know who did it and I have a good guess as to how they did it. I've ordered the inmate at fault for all of this to be restrained in full-body restraints, so it should be safe now. And, as you heard from Eta-10, Izuku's doing fine. You don't need to worry."

Inko sighed, the stress she was feeling starting to slightly dissipate.

"Good grief, this isn't helping my headache."

"Yes, I bet it isn't. But you can take it easy now, I've got this under control. Even if that researcher gave you more medical attention when he came back, resting is what he said you needed to properly heal. So go back to sleep, I'll take care of your son."

"...Thank you."

"No problem." Said Naomasa while pushing Inko back toward the console.

Once back, Naomasa approached the head.

"So, have the guards come back up? What's the progress?"

"All prison guards have returned to ground level, they should be back with restraints in just a couple m-"

Before the head of security could finish, he was interrupted by a single beeping sound coming from somewhere on the monitor. Bringing up the tab that had made the sound, the head squinted his eyes in confusion.

"The generator room? Why would-"

Again, the head was interrupted as a communication line was opened to the surveillance room.

"GAH-... EMERGENCY! A PRISON GUARD HAS ENTERED THE GENERATOR ROOM, HE'S GOING T-"

Suddenly, the lights in the surveillance cut completely. For a minute that stretched on and on and on, everyone in the surveillance room could only sit there and wait in near complete silence. The console had powered off, the screen had shut down, and all they could hear was each other's breathing. Slowly, Inko turned to look at Naomasa and, after a moment, he began looking around the room until he finally fell on her gaze. They shared a look of deep worry.

As soon as it had left, however, the power came back and alarms began to blare again. This time, Naomasa didn't have to say anything. The head, taking the initiative, immediately went to check on the condition of the main generators. As he read the diagnostics, he began to sweat.

"S-sir! The main generator is functional, but... but the electrical output to level B-9 has been completely cut! The wiring system is signaling critical technical failure! With the emergency generators fried, we won't be able to send power to that section anymore!"

Naomasa approached the console.

"Damn it! Turn the on the cam-"

Naomasa was cut off by the entire surveillance room shaking and the sound of yet another Electromagnetic pulse.

"TURN ON THE CAMERAS TO THE GENERATOR ROOM!"

As the head brought up the camera feed to the generator room, everyone in the room nearly gasped at what they were seeing. Alone in the room, next to an engineer attempting to crawl away while bleeding out, was a single prison guard firing shots into a generator. Next to the generator was a screen blaring a red warning sign, signifying that the generator was close to ceasing functioning altogether. However, one could've probably been able to guess that without the computer's warnings from the black smoke beginning to billow from the large machine.

Naomasa firmly grasped the console as sweat began to roll down his forehead. He held a stressed but determined grimace on his face.

"...Connect me to the mobile task force Epsilon-11. The team with the bigger weaponry."

Without responding, the head complied and opened communications to mobile task force Epsilon-11.

"Agent Tsukauchi Naomasa to Nine-tailed Fox. There is a hostile in the generator room providing power to the cell block containing the U.I.U's detainee. They are attempting to sabotage the machinery, you are ordered to pacify them. Do not kill them, detain them and then bring them to the main surveillance room of the cell block. They need to be questioned."

"Understood, sir. We will contact you once the hostile is detained."

"Good... and get it done quickly. I have a feeling we're on a time limit here."

Looking back to the camera feed, the guard had stopped firing into the generator and was now hitting it with some metal tool he had likely found nearby. It wasn't doing much to damage the power-generating machine more than he already had, but the rogue guard did not seem to notice.

"Damn it, what the hell is he doing?!"

The room shook again.

"Shit," said Naomasa "Is there any way you can get a read as to what's happening on level B-9?"

"No, sir. With no power, we are blind."

"Alright... here's what we are going to do. Open communications to the soldiers posted in B-10, they might be able to help us."

"Yes, sir."

A moment later, the communication line to the members of Eta-10 guarding Izuku's cell was opened.

"Eta-10. Are you okay? What's happening?"

"We are currently fine, sir... escape prevention walls have been deployed but hostiles are near and approaching our position."

"What?! How many, how do you know?!"

"One of our members here can sense vibrations very accurately. According to him, many sets of feet are moving a level above and have entered the elevator. From the sound of it, it looks like it is approaching our level."

"...Are you going to be able to fend them off?"

The member of Eta-10 paused, causing Naomasa's heart rate to quicken.

"...We are outnumbered, sir. We are only four down here and from what I'm being told, 11 inmates will be attacking. We are unlikely to succeed."

Naomasa closed his eyes in resignment and cursed under his breath.

"I am so sorry..."

"We were trained for this eventuality, sir. We will hold them off for as long as we can, ensure that the detainee returns to U.I.U control. Our hopes are put on you."

Suddenly, the communication line was cut by the doomed member of Eta-10.

For a moment, Naomasa couldn't move or even think. The situation was spiraling out of his control, his nightmare scenario was coming to fruition.

"...T-turn on audio surveillance for level B-10. If we can't see what's happening, we need to hear it." He said after gathering himself.

The head complied. All they could hear, at first, was the buzzing of the lights illuminating the cell wing and the sounds of the members of Eta-10 getting into battle positions. The stillness of the sound reminded the detective of the phone calls he had listened to earlier that day, the ones that had been issued to the police station of Musutafu prior to the incident that Izuku had caused. The same feeling of helplessness came back to him. Once again, he could only stand there and listened while being unable to do anything to help the people he knew were doomed to die.

The ding of the elevator was heard and then came the sound of multiple footsteps exiting it. As the footsteps died down, the sound of whirring electricity was heard, followed by what sounded like the emergency escape prevention walls being raised back into their compartments. As the sounds of the walls raising continued, the sound of a barrage of gunfire followed it. As it stopped and as Eta-10 was heard reloading, though, another strange sound appeared.

It sounded like flowing lava, like the shifting of some thick and sludge-like substance accompanied by the creaking and bending sound of large amounts of metal.

"A wall?... no. NO, WATCH OUT!"

Seconds after a member of Eta-10 yelled out to his teammates, the odd sound returned, this time louder, followed by the sound of bones snapping and breaking and of flesh being compressed into a pulp. After that, the odd sound was heard again but this time followed by a wet thud. For a few seconds, things returned to complete silence. Everyone in the surveillance room waited with bated breath for a hint as to what had happened.

Then, they got their answer as one voice began to darkly chuckle, followed by more voices joining in the laughter. As footsteps were heard starting to approach Izuku's cell, the chuckling transformed into full-blown cackling.

Everybody's heart dropped. Eta-10 had failed, as they had predicted. And from the sound of it, their last effort hadn't even caused damage to the attacking inmates.

"Open it... our ticket out of here is waiting." A sickeningly sweet voice said.

A grunt of acknowledgment was heard, followed by the sound of flowing electricity becoming louder and louder. Then, the surveillance room shook again as the same emp sound they had started to become familiar with rang out once more.

"Well hello there... you're in for quite an experience, my friend." The voice said as footsteps were heard entering Izuku's cell.

"...cut the audio to level B-10 and open audio surveillance to the prisoner's cell." Naomasa said as footsteps were heard getting deeper and deeper within Izuku's cell.

The head obeyed Naomasa's order and, as he switched to the audio of Izuku's cell, the voice was heard again. This time, it seemed to be talking to them directly while Izuku sobbed in the background.

"Good evening to you, dear jailors! I am truly sorry for this little bump in your regular schedule. Or maybe not considering that this newcomer here definitively wasn't part of what you were expecting on your schedule today, haha!"

Footsteps were heard in the cell, followed by the sound of the nylon bag covering Izuku's entire head being stroked.

"Let me tell you what I think is happening here, what warranted such a grand entrance to Tartarus' newest inmate. Simply put, this poor welp here is a tragic victim of a quirk gone out of control. From his incessant sobbing and blood covered hands, I think that's quite obvious. From what I've heard, he killed quite a large number of people, and injured even more. My, he's quite the monster, no? Anyway, for anybody else, this would warrant simply being thrown into Tartarus never to be seen in the light of day again. Just throw away the key and forget about him, that's the usual protocol. It's quite an effective practice. Trust me, I know."

The villain chuckled in reminiscence.

"But that's not what happened here, is it? No, this newcomer was escorted, practically on a red carpet, to his cell by almost an entire army of heavily armored men I've never heard of. Even more than that, he was given an entire cell wing! No, that isn't how things usually happen around here, this isn't how normal villains are treated."

The villain sighed in delight.

"No, he's different, isn't he? I don't think he was ever meant to have permanent residence here."

Naomasa and Inko's eyes widened as the villain revealed his thought process. How could he have guessed so much with such accuracy? He... he couldn't know what was actually going down, right?

"No. I think this one is a villain quite like me, one with connections."

...What?

"Maybe mommy or daddy are very wealthy... maybe they have good friends high up in the Japanese government. Either way, it appears clear to me that he was sent here to disappear. One of my accomplices already did it for all of you, but a power outage was planned, wasn't it? A made-up "escape" would happen and later he'd be found "dead" floating in the sea. He'd be pronounced dead and then he'd be able to start a new life under a new identity. It's a tactic I've used before too, it's quite useful."

The inmate was heard pacing about in the cell.

"Then, under the nose of the entire population of Japan, mommy and daddy would ship him off to some island home they have in Europe or South America, to live out his days peacefully and with the blood of many still on his hands."

The villain laughed.

"I have to give it to you, it's a clever plan indeed. Tartarus is the perfect place to have this happen. A lot of people turn a blind eye to the human rights violations that happen here, it wouldn't be too far-fetched for them to turn a blind eye to such a plan too, especially if the right financial incentive is given."

The villain's pacing stopped.

"Unfortunately, i'm going to have to hit the brakes on this plan of yours. You see, I've gotten quite bored in here and I think now is the time to resume partaking in my hobby. So, here is how things are going to work. If me and my associates are not allowed to leave, we are going to torture and kill dear tall, pale, and bloody over here. We are already not going to complete our life sentences any time soon, so it makes no difference to us if he dies. For me, it would just be an enjoyable experience. But for dear powerful mommy and daddy, oh, the death of their child would cause quite the souring of relations, no? If they're ready to orchestrate such a clever plan... I don't think orchestrating for all of the ones involved in its failure to be killed would be outside of what they are capable and willing to do."

Inko began hyperventilating and her heart beat quickened as she heard the villain's declaration. A deep pit-like feeling of fear and dread began to take over her mind.

"So that is my hand, my friends. We get out, and our friend over here doesn't suffer. We don't and, well, he will suffer one of the most gruesome and painful deaths one could exp-"

"Cut it off!" Naomasa yelled at the head of security before the villain could finish talking.

The room returned to silence, everyone was too stunned to speak. Everyone except Inko.

The mother pulled herself up, got up from her chair and slowly approached Naomasa, one step at a time. The detective, having heard the greenette rising from her chair, turned to her, his face holding a still horror-stricken expression. As Inko got in front of him, she tightly and firmly grasped his trench coat. Naomasa looked down, and his eyes met Inko's own. A fire fuelled by fear and anger danced within them.

"...Do something."

"Wait a minute, we-"

"Do something." Inko interrupted.

Naomasa didn't respond.

"Do something! DO SOMETHING! DO SOMETHING, YOU BASTARD, DO SOMETHING! SAVE HIM!" Inko said as she began throwing punches at the detective.

As Naomasa attempted to shield himself from Inko's attacks and calm her down, she was stopped by the sound of the elevator's ding. Turning around, members of Epsilon-11 came into the room while dragging a restrained and beat up guard along with them. As they stopped a few meters away from Naomasa, he nodded.

"Thank y-"

Before he knew what had happened, Naomasa heard a gunshot be fired. The restrained prison guard's eyes shot open and he screamed as blood began pouring out of a bullet wound near his liver. Everything seemed to slow as the detective looked down, he saw Inko Midoriya holding his firearm and pointing it at the guard that had been brought to the surveillance room. Without thinking, he tackled the small woman to the ground before she could fire again.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH, HOW DARE YOU?! IT'S YOUR FAULT, HE'S IN THIS SITUATION BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"Inko! INKO! NO, DON'T DO THIS! LET GO OF THE GUN!" Naomasa said as he struggled against the woman's grip on the gun and her quirk pulling it into her palm.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO, DAMN YOU!"

"THIS ISN'T WHAT HE WOULD WANT! YOU SAID HE COULDN'T HURT A FLY, RIGHT?! IF HE'S AS EMOTIONALLY FRAGILE AS YOU SAY HE IS, HOW DO YOU THINK HE WILL FEEL WHEN HE LEARNS ONE OF THE PEOPLE CLOSEST TO HIM IS A KILLER?! HOW LOST AND CONFLICTED DO YOU THINK HE WILL BE?! FOR HIS SAKE, LET GO!"

Inko began to begrudgingly loosen her grip and, eventually, Naomasa was able to pry the gun from the mother's hands. Getting up from the floor, Naomasa walked backward toward a security guard while keeping his eyes on Inko, who was now sobbing loudly in a ball on the floor, and then handed the firearm to them. Looking back to Epsilon-11, Naomasa could see them tending to the gunshot wound that the guard had suffered thanks to Inko using the medical supplies that the researcher had left in the room hours ago.

Naomasa then began to approach nine-tailed fox, but was stopped by the head of security before he could begin talking to them.

"Sir... I'm sorry to interrupt but control of the elevator has been lost!"

"What?! How?"

"Something in level B-10 is preventing us from issuing any commands to it. Th-they have full control over it!"

Naomasa cursed.

"Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

The head looked to Naomasa in deep fear and worry.

"What do we do, sir?"

"...We... we do nothing. Close all surveillance. All cameras off, audio surveillance off, open only the communication line we have to the rest of mobile task force Eta-10 we still have on standby. Contact all personnel and tell them to take cover. No one is permitted to be or look outside."

Inko sniffled and then turned to Naomasa.

"W-what? You're going to do nothing?!"

Naomasa approached Inko in a huff, got down on one knee to be at eye level with her, grabbed by the shoulders and then firmly jostled her.

"We're no longer able to do anything! If they escape, that means he will likely come with them and that means the media might capture them on camera. If they capture his face, we're all dead! Since they have seized control of the elevator, that likely means they're able to know who we'd try to send down so we can't go on the offense either."

Naomasa got up while still looking down at Inko, a sympathetic but worried look in his eyes.

"They have the wrong idea about everything, they don't have enough information to properly interact with the prisoner, which means it's only a matter of time before something goes wrong. So, there's only one thing left for us to do..."

"...What?"

"...They don't know what he truly is, what he can do. We've got to let him take care of it now."

...

In the bowels of Tartarus, in cell 6 of level B-10, Marc-André Pluchet, the silver-tongued villain, was preparing his torturing tools with the help of his accomplices. One of them, a shorter, brown haired one, currently had his hands submerged in the now liquid/sludgified metal floor of the cell.

As he moved his hands around in the mass of shifting metal, pieces of it floated out to then form different tools like a scalpel, a hammer, a vice grip, needles, etc. As they finished taking shape, the metal tools solidified again and fell in front of the leader of the escapees. Picking them up, he closely examined them while smiling.

"Great craftsmanship, these will do nicely. Continue making me some more."

"...Boss. That creep's still crying," the crafting villain said while gesturing toward Izuku, who was now restrained by slightly pink-hued rectangular pieces of metal wrapped around his arms, legs, and torso, with his head, "are you sure this is going to work? He's barely even acknowledged us since we've entered his cell. Something feels wrong about that guy..."

"...You're job was only to kill the ones guarding his cell and make me tools with your ferrokinsesis quirk. You did that job well, crushing them under a wall of metal was fun to watch and, like I said, these are very well made. But that's where your job ends, let me handle the torture. Everyone has their weak spots, even the mentally deranged."

The villain turned away from his ferrokinetic ally and walked toward Izuku. While the greenette still audibly sobbed, he bent down and grabbed his face by his cheeks, jostling his head around for his amusement.

"Trust me, I'll get him to scream... one way or another."

"Mister Pluchet!" another villain, one with strange-looking eyes, pipped in after entering Izuku's cell, "They haven't sent anybody into the elevators and they don't seem to be mobilizing guards to send down here. They're all staying put in the surveillance room."

The silver-tongued villain smiled and chuckled wickedly.

"Good... they're trying to see if we're serious. Well then, let's begin."

The villain moved to the cell's entrance and called out to his remaining allies.

"Hey, you two, gather around! The fun's about to start!"

After a few seconds, all 5 villains had gathered around Izuku. Each one held a different tool in their hands.

The first to approach was Marc-André. With a toothy smile and anticipation filling his too-wide-open eyes, he marched over to Izuku with multiple razor-sharp needles in his hands.

"Sorry, looks like they need to see what we're about before they listen to us. Don't worry, this will only hurt a lot."

While sinisterly laughing, the villain roughly grabbed hold of Izuku's hands and slowly brought one of his needles closer and closer to his fingers until it pierced the flesh under his nail. The greenette began to bleed, Marc-André waited to delight in hearing his yells of pain... but nothing ever came.

When he put his first needle into Izuku's finger, Marc-André was expecting a scream, a screech, a protest of any kind. It had been years since he last tortured someone, and he had been desperately waiting to experience the ecstatic climax he experienced whenever someone underwent tremendous amounts of pain by his hands. This was supposed to be his chance to feel that rush once more... to start feeling alive once again!

But no, he received nothing from the skinny teen.

When he didn't get a reaction the first time, the villain's smile slowly fell from his face. When he put another needle under another of Izuku's nails... he received the same result, nothing.

As the villain kept repeating his attempts at torture, all the way until he ran out of needles and all of Izuku's appendages were bleeding profusely, his frustration and anger began to grow.

Standing back up and backing away from Izuku, the villain's pupils began to constrict as his fury reached a boiling point.

"Hey... what the hell is going on?"

The villain kicked Izuku in the stomach, doing nothing to halt the greenette's crying.

"No... you're not supposed to react like that!"

The villain stomped on Izuku's head once. When the crying didn't change, he stomped him again and when it still persisted, he stomped again, again and again. Eventually, a stream of blood began to pour from the opening of the nylon bag on Izuku's head, forming a big crimson puddle on the white metallic floor of the cell.

The villain balled his hands into fists and began grinding his teeth together.

"No... no! No, no, no! You're supposed to react, to do something! Anything! Stop crying already and scream, you freak!"

The villain turned around and pointed a finger at one of the other villains.

"You, go! Make him scream."

The villain, who had been caught off guard by the sudden fury of his leader, fumbled with his scalpel a bit before quickly walking up to Izuku. Once before him, he examined him for a second, trying to decide what he'd do to him. He'd just seen not react at all to his boss shoving needles under his nails... what the hell could he possibly do? Did this guy have a pain suppression quirk or something? Then, an idea came to him.

"Yeah... yeah, that should work. Pain or not... nobody can ignore losing an appendage." The villain said while crouching down and placing one of Izuku's hands flat on the bloody floor.

The villain brought the scalpel to Izuku's pinky finger and began to saw into it. As the skin from his finger began to be severed and cut into, the villain grew a smirk on his face. He had felt his boss' rage-filled eyes boring a hole in the back of his head when he walked up to Izuku, so a success here might mean he'd be spared some of his fury.

The man continued to cut deeper into Izuku's flesh, his malnourished skin and muscles offering very little in terms of resistance against the cutting tool's slice. But as the man finally reached Izuku's bone, he felt all progress cease.

Suddenly, it was as if he'd hit a brick wall. He had begun his cut near the knuckle, so he knew he wasn't cutting through straight bone, he should be cutting through ligament and cartilage. So... why did it feel as if he was trying to cut through steel?

The villain quickened his sawing using the scalpel, sweat began to mix in with the blood on the floor as it fell off his forehead. When he tired himself out and removed the scalpel from inside Izuku's flesh, his eyes went wide at what he saw.

The scalpel had been destroyed. The metal it was made of was all bent up, the edge was completely gone. It had gotten so dull, that the villain imagined the surgical tool might have problems even cutting a cucumber now.

"S-sir!" The villain cried out before turning his torso to face the leader of the group of villains and showing him the tool that now was no better than scrap metal.

Marc-André approached the villain holding the broken scalpel, took it and then threw it violently to the side in a huff of anger. For a moment, he just stood there with his fists balled tightly in seething. Then, suddenly, he stormed out of the cell while shouting "Continue torturing him, I need time to think!"

While outside of the cell, the platinum blonde-haired villain was able to breathe deeply and gather his thoughts.

This guy's peculiar quirk had certainly set him off. After a few years of not partaking in his hobby, he was tense, he was desperate for a rush. Since he hadn't gotten it when he thought he'd finally get to have it again, he had lost control of his emotions. That was bad, to properly inflict misery upon someone, one's mind must be clear and able to think properly.

He paced back and forth for a few seconds.

"So, this daddy's boy has a quirk that makes him resistant to pain, gives him an unbelievably strong skeleton and, on top of that, gives him the ability to regenerate. Just great." The silver-tongued villain thought.

The villain who had been cutting into Izuku's finger hadn't realized it in his fervor, but Marc-André had seen it. The needles that he had inserted into Izuku's fingers had been slowly pushed out of his body during the sawing of his pinky. Once Marc-André got closer to Izuku's body and examined the broken scalpel, he was also able to see that the holes he had made in the boy's fingers were gone. That meant that he could mend his wounds too, which wouldn't help in their attempts at torturing him.

The villain ruffled his hair. No... he needed to get back into the swing of things. He had gotten rusty after a few years away from his hobby, he needed to remember his roots, what truly was the most effective method of torture. After so long without practice, he had gotten too hasty, too unrefined. He jumped immediately into physical means of hurting someone while ignoring the facet of the victim's mental state. Psychological torture was the key... if this freak of nature was impervious to physical torture, they'd have to find the flaw in his mind that'd make him crack.

But what could that flaw be? He hadn't spoken to them since they busted into his cell, finding out his weakness through communication and deception would probably not be possible.

"Damn that anorexic annoyance," He thought "if only he'd stop crying under that stupid nylon bag for a single minute. Maybe then we'd be able t-"

But then, as a camera in the cell wing caught his eye, an idea began to take shape in his mind. He hadn't realized at first... but the normal red blip he'd see on cameras watching him in his cell wasn't present on any cameras in the wing. He went into cell 5 and saw the same thing. In cells 4, 3, 2, and 1, he also saw no sign of any small red lights.

Had they... cut off camera surveillance? Was it to avoid having to watch them torture Izuku? No... it couldn't be. If it was, only the cameras in the wing and cell 6 would've been turned off, it seemed like they had cut off all surveillance on the entire level. Walking up to the pulverized corpses of the members of Eta-10 who had been guarding Izuku's cell, the villain crouched down and moved some of the gore out of the way so he could confirm his hypothesis.

...He was right, all of them seemed to be blind in some shape, way or form.

The nylon bag over his head, blind guards, cut camera surveillance, as all these bits of evidence began to come together in his head, a grin appeared on his face.

Walking back into Izuku's cell, Marc-André was met by practically all of his accomplices beating on Izuku's body. Cutting, kicking, punching, electrifying, stabbing, choking, they seemed to be trying anything at all to hurt the tall greenette... to no success whatsoever.

"Hey!" the leading villain shouted, causing his accomplices to cease their assault on the heavily bleeding and beaten Izuku, "You guys can stop making fools of yourselves. I've figured it out."

The villain pushed past the group of torturers and crouched down at Izuku's head.

"Tell me... don't you all find it odd that he was brought here with a bag over his head? I mean, what reason would they have to do that? Look up, you'll see that the cameras in the cell have been turned off too. Even the guards we killed were all blind. Why is that?"

The villain raised his head to look at the group, all of them wore either a stumped or quizzical look on their faces.

"Well, if nobody's gonna connect the dots, let me do it for you. All of this has been done to accommodate him." The villain said while pointing at Izuku.

"I guess that he has a form of scopophobia. Specifically, I think he's afraid of someone looking at his face. So, to keep him calm until they were able to sneak him out of here, they did all of this. That makes our job quite simple, gentlemen, because all we need to do is..." the villain said before grabbing onto the nylon bag's opening and then ripping the whole thing off of Izuku's face, "this!"

When the villain removed the nylon bag from Izuku's head, his smiling face met Izuku's crying and frowning own.

When their eyes met, Izuku's irises constricted in horror. The teen began to babble, yelp and strain against his restraints as Marc-André backed up to bask in delight at Izuku's suffering. As his outburst transformed into unbelievably loud yells, screaming and tossing wildly on the floor, the villain began to cackle in ecstasy. The group of villains, too, began to rejoice at their victim finally cracking. They felt that their freedom was finally nearing.

Suddenly, however, the villains' laughter began to die down as the sound of creaking and bending of metal began to be heard. Some still held a jovial look on their face, but one villain's face had begun to go pale in horror. The brown-haired one with the ferrokinesis quirk, cried out in disbelief.

"N-no... that's... that's not possible!"

Everybody turned to him as he exclaimed in horror.

"All Might would have problems even bending that alloy, how is he-"

Before he could finish his thought, the group of criminals was nearly knocked off their feet as one of Izuku's large and bulky metal restraints was practically launched off of his legs. Looking at it, they all paled as they witnessed how the metal binding had been completely torn apart.

Izuku's tossing and screaming increased in violence and intensity, causing all of the metal restraining him to begin bending and tearing. The group of villains looked to their leader for a clue as to what they should do, only to witness him quickly walking by them.

"...Are you all gonna stand there and gawk or are we getting out of here? I, for one, do not want to stay to find out what will happen once that freak stops babbling incoherently."

Immediately, every villain ran out of Izuku's cell to join Marc-André.

"What do we do, boss?!"

The leader turned to the ferrokinetic villain and gestured toward Izuku's cell.

"Seal that thing up. Make a wall, bind the door, I don't care. Just make it so he can't come after us."

The villain nodded, ran up to the cell's entrance, and then planted his arms into the ground. A few seconds later, a wall made of the same pink-hued alloy had risen from the ground, replacing the door to Izuku's cell.

"What now, sir?"

"Now? We go back to our cells and give ourselves up. That freak was more unstable than I thought, the plan's a bust." The villain said while frowning, prompting the rest of the group to run to the elevator and the villain with dirty blond hair to start messing with the elevator's electrics.

"It's not like our life sentences can get any longer, we'll just have to wait for our next opportunity. No matter how long it will take, another one is certain to show itself." The villain said while chuckling and walking toward the elevator.

The brown-haired villain smiled and sighed in relief; his stress began to die down.

"Heh... yeah. You're right."

The villain began to walk toward his leader to join him but was thrown off his feet before he could reach him by a titanic quake coming from his right accompanied by a booming "CLANG!" sound.

Turning his head to his right, the villain was stricken with horror as he saw that a massive dent had just been made in the wall he had created. Then, the dent got bigger as another quake shook the entire wing. The villain, now trembling, got up and began running toward the elevator.

He never made it past Marc-André, however, because as he neared him, the villain stepped forward and stabbed him in his gut with one of the knives he had originally created to torture Izuku. Screeching in pain and falling to one knee, the brown-haired villain grasped his wound and yelled at the platinum blond-haired villain who was now walking to the elevator to join the rest of the group.

"W-what the hell?! What are you doing?!"

"Sorry, doesn't seem like that wall you made will hold him for long. Occupy him for us."

"NO! DON'T DO THIS TO ME, DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE!"

The villain got up and began to limp his way to the elevator as Marc-André pushed a button to close the elevator doors. He tried to go as fast as he could with his injury holding him back... but he wasn't able to make it in time. Once he reached the elevator doors, all he could do was bang on them and scream for his group to come back.

Behind him, one final quake threw him to the ground as Izuku exploded out of his cell and began running full speed at him. The villain, in a panic, used his quirk to throw sharp pikes of metal at the barreling Izuku, not slowing him down in the slightest.

In only three seconds, Izuku closed the distance between him and the villain, grabbing hold tightly of his throat once he got to him. The villain, in a last-ditch attempt, used his quirk to summon poles of metal under Izuku to stab him all throughout his body.

Tears began to fall from his eyes as he watched his attack have no noticeable effect on the monstrous greenette. He felt his windpipe starting to be crushed by Izuku's mighty hands as he simply moved his torso to the side to snap off the metal beams encumbering him.

Finally, Izuku brought one of his hands over the man's head and then crushed his skull with one swift motion, ending his life.

...

In level B-9, the group of villains had already arrived. The other villains who had stayed back in case the staff of Tartarus tried to pull something all turned to the elevator once they heard the ding signifying its arrival on their floor.

"What the hell are you guys doing back? What was that shaking?"

Marc-André walked into the cell wing in a huff.

"Sorry, everyone, I know I said today you'd escape from Tartarus but unfortunately that won't happen today. The newcomer proved to be more troublesome than at first glance, he broke out of his restraints and by now has likely killed one of our colleagues. Now, i suggest laying on the floor and waiting for the guards t-"

Before he could continue, the silver-tongued villain lost his train of thought as he felt an odd sensation at his feet. The ground... was shaking. Very softly now but... it was slowly gaining in intensity.

"...Are you kidding me?! Each level is separated by 50 meters of pure steel! He's going to break through that too?!"

The villains who had stayed at level B-9 all looked to each other in confusion as to what their boss had just said.

"What? What are you saying, who's breaking through 50 meter of st-"

The shaking increased, enough that now it was noticeable to everyone in level B-9. The group that was still in the elevator began to tap on its buttons furiously, and Marc-André's heart began to beat faster. For the first time in his life, he was terrified.

Without another word, he turned tail and ran back into the elevator before it could shut him out. As the doors slowly slid closed, he heard the sounds of muffled manic screaming coming closer and closer to them from below the wing. Right before the elevator's doors shut, he saw a long pale arm erupt from the ground and tear apart the metal flooring, followed by the rest of Izuku, who now sported a jaw open far too wide for a normal human being.

Because of the relatively slow pace at which the elevator proceeded up, for a few seconds, they could hear screams, the tearing of flesh and the breaking of bone coming from level B-9.

For ten minutes, the group sat in silence and anticipation. Looking at the indicator near the panel, Marc-André could see that the elevator was going all the way up. To ground level.

"You, with the eye quirk, where the hell are the guards?!"

"u-uhm..." the villain said before activating his quirk, "They're... they're nowhere! No one has been mobilized at all, they're all just staying still in the surveillance room!"

"What about at the ground floor, anybody waiting for us there?"

"No... now that we're closer to the surface, I'm able to see that nobody's even waiting for us outside the cell block!"

"...Those bastards, they knew this would happen! Damn it!" The sadistic villain cursed, "Well, if they're going to offer no resistance, then we're making a break for it."

The shaking returned, but this time they could hear the echo of Izuku's yelling down the elevator shaft... he was approaching them at a rapid pace.

"...Shit, he's coming at us from the elevator shaft!" Marc-André said.

Quickly, he looked at the elevator's indicator and saw that they were on level B-3.

"Come on, come on, come on... hurry up, you stupid machine! GO!"

Level B-2, they could hear Izuku grabbing hold of the walls in the elevator shaft and launching himself up. Level B-1, they could clearly hear Izuku yelling nonstop at the top of his lungs, like if he was just behind the floor. Ground floor, Izuku burst through the elevator's flooring, grabbing two villains as he did so, one by the leg and the other by his face. The one he grabbed by his leg, he swung at the ground so hard it ripped his leg off and practically exploded his upper body, showering the slower villain who was running away from the elevator and into the lobby with a shower of red. The one he grabbed by the face, he tried to electrocute him, but Izuku simply shoved his head into the elevator wall and pushed until it exploded too.

Farther ahead, Marc-André exited the cell block followed by the villain with the odd-looking eyes to be met with pouring rain and the sound of Tartarus' alarms.

Looking back while sprinting away from the cell block, Marc-André watched in petrified horror as he witnessed Izuku scrambling to shove every piece of the people he just killed into his mouth and biting down on them. He was devouring them... and at an alarming pace at that. At least it gave him a little more time to run, he thought.

And that's what he did, he ran as fast as he could. He could see the bronze gate in the distance, he was close, he just needed to keep running! As he heard the shattering of the door to the cell block he had been imprisoned at, he looked back and cursed as he saw Izuku steadily catching up to them.

Without warning, the man suddenly stopped and shoved the villain with the strange eyes who had been running with him to the ground before turning back around and continuing to run to the bronze gate. He yelled at him, cursed his name, even, but it did nothing. A few seconds later, Marc-André heard one last yell from the villain before the sound of flesh being ripped apart signaled his departure from life.

Finally, he had arrived at the bronze gate. Without wasting any time, he scrambled to get to the booth nearest to it. Once in there, he frantically looked around for a computer, a lever, a button... something that would open the gate out of Tartarus and maybe save him from the monster on his tail. He found what he was looking for, a computer that looked to have been left open. It looked like someone had been using it but had to drop everything and leave immediately, leaving no time to shut the computer down. Scrambling through all the computer's functions, he finally fell on a single button labeled "OPEN GATE" on the computer screen. Clicking it, he heard the loud sound of the humongous gate outside opening. Exiting the booth, he smiled at his escape approaching.

But, as he turned around to gauge how far away Izuku still was from him, he blanked as he saw his palm inches away from his face.

The sound of the rain, the alarms and the door had covered up Izuku's stomping and yelling, making Marc-André misjudge how far away Izuku actually was from him.

He was thrown to the ground, Izuku climbing onto him as his back intercepted the concrete floor. The villain opened his eyes only to see Izuku's rage-filled face and his hands coming closer to his mouth.

Izuku shoved his hand into the villain's mouth, causing him to gag. The discomfort was great as Marc-André felt Izuku's long and crooked fingers touch the back of his throat, but it was nothing compared to the hellish pain he felt as his jaw was ripped completely off of his skull. Marc-André's eyes widened as he felt blood pouring down to his chest and onto the floor, mixing into the rainwater.

As he bled out and began fainting, Marc-André saw Izuku devouring his jaw, his teeth crushing it like it was a saltine cracker.

In his last moments, Marc-André, the sadistic silver-tongued villain who had ruined countless lives, died alone and terrified, like a dog, in a pool of his own blood while being devoured by Izuku.

Eventually, nothing was left of the villain and Izuku got into the fetal position. Slowly, he calmed down, his yelling stopping and his yelping turning into soft sobs. As he returned to his normal temperament, Izuku rose up from the ground and began walking back to the cell block he had come from, aiming to return to his cell. As he did, Captain Hodr and two other members of Eta-10 followed him, getting closer and closer to him as he approached the cell block. Eventually, they got close enough to him that they were able to slide another nylon bag onto his head. After they got done covering Izuku's face, they ceased following him and backed up.

"...Captain Hodr to agent Tsukauchi Naomasa, the detainee has been pacified. The cognito hazardous threat has also been neutralized, detainee now seems to be returning into the cell block." The captain said after bringing a hand up to his ear and pressing on a communication device.

The captain's head perked up as a sound reached his ears. Far above his head, he heard the sound of several helicopters approaching.

The administrator had returned.

"...Agent Naomasa, the administrator has arrived. Yes... yes. Understood, retrieving detainee."

Captain Hodr, after motioning to his teammates, began to advance into the cell block to retrieve Izuku and get him back into the hands of the U.I.U... permanently.