The Betrayal

Elly flashed a fanged grin at the bouncer as she walked up to the club. This was one that her boyfriend worked at often and they knew her well. Oddly, the large man seemed to not want to let her in but he sighed and moved grudgingly over after a few seconds.

She frowned, wondering what was wrong. Maybe he was having a bad night. It could be anything, really, and she put it out of her mind as she searched the floor for her beloved. He wasn't in the middle of a set, so she figured he was resting and strolled along the booths near the bar.

She was right.

There he sat, firmly ensconced in one of the curling, padded booths the club had ready for larger parties and mingling. No less than five ladies were with him, two on either side and one on his lap, which explained why she hadn't seen him before. Her legs continued to carry her forward, though she couldn't feel them anymore, until she grew close enough to be heard.

"Mic?"

He looked around the woman on him and smirked. "Hey, look, it's my loser girlfriend." The girls tittered and the one in his lap smugly stuck her tongue out.

"Mikey?" Her vision darkened and she swallowed back tears. There was no way this could be happening. He wasn't like this! "No. This isn't - you're not..."

"'Course I am." He giggled wickedly. "How could you think I'd be faithful to someone like you?"

She shook her head, turned around and walked straight out in a line without seeing anyone or anything in her way. She bumped into objects, people, anything in her path, bruising her shins and not feeling it. The bouncer winced as he saw her leave. He hadn't had the heart to stop her but didn't know what to say.

Eraserhead was on patrol in the area that night. He was crouching on a rooftop resting for a moment when he saw a figure cross a road directly in front of multiple vehicles. He watched, startled, as the person did not change their pace. After several near misses he decided to intervene and swung himself down. His surprise doubled when he caught sight of the striped, split-ended tail and he hurried on as his colleague walked up the beach and along the wooden pier that ran out amid the water.

"Ches?" Aizawa frowned. Something was not right. The Insanity Hero was swaying lightly back and forth with her hands, head and tail hanging limply down. When he approached she made no sign she heard him, though normally she would have addressed him by now.

He raised his voice. "Cheshire? Are you all right?"

She tipped over and fell off the planking without a sound. Aizawa cursed loudly and caught her in his capture weapon before she hit the water. He kept her wrapped as he pulled her in for fear she might try something else.

"What a stupid thing," he raged at her, tightening his grip. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" She stared at him blankly, or rather, he saw - past him. She was still not aware of his presence and her eyes had a strange, milky cast to them. He shook her gently, his concern growing. "Ches? Ches! Shit!"

He rushed her back to campus, hoping that this odd malady was easily cured. Recovery Girl glanced up, startled, as he burst into her office.

"What the - ?!"

"Something's wrong with Cheshire." He placed her gently on a cot, his expression worried for once.

"What happened?" She rolled up her sleeve and began checking her pulse.

Aizawa told her how he had followed her to the beach. "She didn't respond at all. After she fell off the pier, her eyes kept getting discolored until the pupils were completely gone."

The older woman ran a few tests, her face growing more grim with each one. After she checked Elly's blood pressure, she picked up her phone. "I'm calling an ambulance."

He listened as she spoke with the responders. "Besides her eyes, her pulse and blood pressure are dangerously low and she's not responding to any stimuli. This looks like nothing I've seen before."

Luckily hospital wasn't as busy as it often got, and the lull in patients meant that she was seen quickly. The doctor was a small man with long, lop-like rabbit ears that he tied behind him while he worked. He stuck his head out of the door and motioned for Aizawa after examining her.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I'm afraid she's gone into what appears to be a self-inflicted coma. Completely tuned out the world around her. Quite rare and normally happens with children in extremely stressful situations - it's called "resignation syndrome". I'm not sure, but this looks like the first adult case. I understand she has some mental issues ... did something happen lately that may have pushed her over the edge?"

The dark-haired hero shuddered inwardly at the memory of her teetering off the dock. "Not that I know of. She seemed very stable, in fact. I remember her claiming that her boyfriend had something to do with her feeling better than she ever had."

"Uh huh." The doctor paused, thinking. "Isn't that Present Mic?"

Aizawa grimaced at the fact that the man knew. "Yes."

"Do you know where he is? We need to snap her out of this and it may very well be he could be the deciding factor. Patients that are in shock sometimes respond to a loved one. Although..." He tapped his tablet, shaking his head. "I don't really know what happened. I'd like to see if he could help, though."

He shrugged. "Already texted him. He hasn't replied yet so I assume he didn't get the message. Believe me, he'll be here as soon as he knows she needs him. Do you have quirk dampeners?"

"Of course..?"

"You may want one handy. He gets extremely excitable where his girlfriend is concerned."

Everything about this situation was strange, especially Mic's attitude when he finally showed up an hour later. The doctor offered him the dampener, but he eyed it suspiciously.

"No, I won't need that." He shied away from the small device. "I'm fine. So, where's she at?"

"She's in this room." The nurse held the door open and then backed away so they could have privacy.

Mic walked slowly over to the cot where she lay, pale and unconscious. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Hey, what did you do, try to off yourself?"

She said nothing. He sat down beside her and kicked a leg idly about as he spoke.

"I never thought you were this gullible! I never loved you at all. I just played you so I could fuck you a whole bunch. Was planning on dumping your dumb ass before long, anyway. It was getting boring, being able to have it whenever I wanted."

Her chest rose and fell rapidly and as her heart rate quickened the monitor began beeping faster and faster.

"In fact," he continued in a low voice only she could hear, "I hope you do croak. Serves you right for thinking you deserve me."

Elly vanished.

A nurse ran in, panicked, to check the heart monitor as it steadily climbed. She blinked when she noticed the patient wasn't there. "Doctor!"

Aizawa strode in along with the physician, his eyes immediately glowing red. "She's using her quirk. Here." He trained his gaze quickly on her and incidentally, Mic as well since he was bent over the cot. His eyes widened and he tried to get out of the way but Aizawa looked ...

... and the tall man clad all in leather dissolved into a human sized lizard with large, unblinking eyes. He was, however, actually wearing Mic's jacket, pants, speaker and boots.

"What the hell?!"

"Who is that?"

"Get him out! I need to stabilize her now!"

The lizard man leaped at the wall and desperately tried to reach the window to make his escape, but Aizawa's capture weapon lashed out and snared him. "We're going to have a little talk," he told him angrily, dragging him out. He found an empty room and slammed him down onto a chair.

"Where is Mic?"

"Why the hell should I tell you?"

"Because if you don't, I'll let her ask you." He pointed back towards the room they had just left. "When she finds out what you did and that her boyfriend's been caught, you're not going to like what will happen."

The villain scoffed. "Heroes won't hurt anybody."

"Oh, she won't hurt you," he agreed mildly. "Not physically. Don't you know what she does? Ever wonder why she's called the 'Insanity Hero'?"

The huge lizard eyes blinked once, very slowly. He had heard stories when she first began working in Japan; they all had. "Uhhh... he's safe."

"Sure he is. Where?"

"Sh - shit! In an abandoned warehouse by the red light district. I don't know anything more than that!"

-

Aizawa checked every warehouse in the area until he found his friend. He had to take out a few guards, nothing too serious, before he found the correct one.

Hizashi had been stripped of his clothing so the imposter could wear it, and since his captors hadn't replaced anything he was only wearing a white tank top, red boxer briefs and socks. He sat in an uncomfortable steel chair in the huge, empty space, tied at the ankles and wrists and gagged. His face was bruised and he had a black eye, among other abrasions and one arm that seemed to be hanging at an awkward angle.

He squinted at the sound of footsteps, unable to see without his prescription sunglasses.

"It's me." Aizawa found them on a table and picked them up. "Here, Mic." He slid them on before freeing the beaten hero. Hizashi fell forward, unable to stand right away. His friend caught him and held him.

He coughed up a small spray of blood and raised his head. "Ches?" It was all he could say. Aizawa saw his throat had been severely bruised, probably in an effort to keep him quiet.

"She's okay. I'll bring you to her."

Of course, the staff at first refused to admit him as a guest since he needed treatment himself but they got hold of the doctor working with Elly. He brought him into the room just as he was, torn, bleeding and unable to walk or speak properly. Aizawa pushed him over to her side in a wheelchair and he wheezed in pain, eyes filling with tears when he saw the state she was in.

"Babe?" His voice came out as a sibilant whisper. He shook his head and tried again. "S'me."

She twitched a little, her ears perking.

"Zashi is here to see you, Ches." Aizawa spoke out in a firm, clear voice. "The other was a fake."

Another ear flick.

"Baby?" Mic leaned over as close as he could. "Please..." He touched her cheek with trembling fingers and her eyes popped open.

The white drained slightly, her purple eyes coming into view as she focused on his beaten features. Her nose tested the air. "Shota..?"

"It really is him this time." He trained his quirk on Mic to prove it, who remained himself.

"H - Hi - Hih..." She choked, stuttered, tried again. "Hizashi!"

He grinned painfully as she threw her arms around him and used his one good arm to hug her. She held him, sobbing uncontrollably and stroking his hair, which was a tangled mess of blood mixed with the product he used to slick it up in the morning.

"We need to treat him as well," the doctor gently pointed out after several minutes.

She nodded, still weeping. "Bring him back to me," she said so intensely that the man flinched.

"Of course."

Elly was relieved when they wheeled him back into the room which was now theirs for the time being. He was cleaned up and bandaged, with one arm in a sling and his hair washed and tied back in a ponytail. Hizashi waited until the nurse was gone before getting painfully up to sit by her bedside.

"You're hurt," she said sadly. "I should sit by you. Go back and lay down!"

"M'fine. Look, roll over a little." He crawled beside her on the cot. There was barely any space but when he pulled her close they were fine. "What happened, though? I was told you tried to - to hurt yourself?"

She buried her head in his chest. "The guy was at the club you usually work at, making out with all these women. Then he told me horrible things... I don't remember everything but Shota said I fell off the pier at the beach."

"Oh, baby, I'd never do you like that. Ever." His face fell. "How could you even think that?"

"He even smelled like you, Zashi. I mean, it was crowded, so scents get mixed up and stuff. But he was wearing your clothes so he had your scent." She sniffled, remembering the pain of seeing him that way.

"I know," he soothed, holding her close and rocking her gently. "You - you were gonna hurt yourself," he whispered. "Please don't ever do that. I got so fuckin' scared when they told me you were in the hospital."

"I'm sorry," she whimpered. "You're - you're my everything, Zashi. I know it's not healthy, but I can't help it. I need you."

"But how could you think I would..."

"My family treated me badly. I love you more than anyone in the world, but my psyche is so damaged it's going to take a long time to heal. If my own mother and relatives abused me, of course anyone else could. And we're not technically family..."

He brightened all at once, his head raising as a huge smile broke out on his battered features. "Then let's change that. I'm never gonna let you go, 'kay? Here, look." He raised her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. "I promise. Marry me."

"Wait, now? Like, right now?! We - we could wait a little..."

"Nuh uh!" He shook his head, then winced as a bolt of pain shot through it. "We can do it with lots a' people around later. I'm not gonna wait one freaking minute after this."

The next time a nurse walked by the door he whistled shrilly. Elly winced, but he apologized and then pointed out towards the hall. "You got a chaplain or somethin' around? Like, you know, anybody that can marry us?"

The nurse blinked. "Um. Right now, sir?"

"Yeah, right now. We're both fit enough at least to sign for it."

He hesitated, looking from one hero to the other. "I - I don't know if the doctor..."

"Please," he asked softly. "This is very important to us."

"You know," Elly sighed, smiling, "It is. If one's not available we can ask for something to be arranged."

"Then good came of all this after all." He hugged her carefully.