Cold.
That was the first thing Ryuu noticed when consciousness crept back. Not the dull ache in his head or the metallic taste in his mouth. Just cold, seeping into his bones like water through cracked stone.
His eyes opened to darkness.
Complete, absolute darkness. The kind that pressed against his eyeballs, making him question if they were actually open at all. He blinked several times, straining to find even a hint of light. Nothing.
'Where...?'
Then memories slammed into him like a freight train.
The festival.
The Collector.
The attack.
Darkness spreading like spilled ink, swallowing him whole before anyone could react.
Mina's scream echoing as the world tilted and reality bent in ways that made his stomach lurch.
Then nothing until now.
Ryuu tried to move and immediately regretted it.
His wrists burned where something cold and heavy circled them. Metal cuffs, he realized. 'I'm attached to... a wall?' He pulled experimentally and heard the rattle of chains.
Chained.
He was chained to a wall in complete darkness.
"What the..."
His breathing quickened. The air tasted stale. Underground, maybe?
But one thing was for sure here...
A cell.
He was in a cell.
Ryuu's heart hammered against his ribs. He tried to activate his Resonance, reaching for that familiar warmth in his chest.
Nothing.
The warmth was gone. Not dormant like after his burnout. Just... absent. Like someone had reached into his chest and scooped out a vital organ.
Quirk suppressors.
The realization made panic bloom hot and fast in his stomach. Without his Resonance, he was just a teenage boy with decent combat training.
No amplification.
No emotional sensing. No way to coordinate or enhance or do any of the things that made him useful.
He's truly helpless in this situation.
'Okay. Okay, think.' His thoughts started to spiraling . 'They went through the trouble of capturing me. That means they want something. Which means they'll keep me alive.'
The logic helped. Slightly.
Ryuu forced himself to take slow, measured breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth.
A technique Aizawa had drilled into them for handling stress during villain encounters.
'Panic makes you stupid,' his teacher's voice echoed in memory. 'Stupid gets you killed.'
Right. No panicking. Just assess the situation.
He was alone. The chains on his wrists had maybe two feet of give, enough to move his arms but not enough to reach far. His legs were free, which seemed like an oversight until he tried standing. The chains pulled taut immediately, forcing him back down.
Sitting or lying down. Those were his options.
The suppressors must be built into the cuffs. He'd heard about quirk-suppressing technology during hero classes.
They were expensive, highly regulated, and usually reserved for maximum security prisons.
The fact that villains had access to it was concerning on multiple levels.
Time passed. How much, Ryuu couldn't tell.
Minutes? Hours? Without visual reference or his Resonance to ground him, everything blurred together.
The darkness played tricks on his mind, making him see shapes that weren't there.
His eyes kept insisting they'd adjusted, that he could make out walls or ceiling, but it was just his brain trying to fill in the void.
Hunger gnawed at his stomach. Or was it nausea? Hard to tell the difference when anxiety sat like a stone in his gut.
His thoughts drifted to his classmates. Were they okay? Mina had been right there when the darkness took him.
Had she gotten hurt trying to stop it? What about Momo, Ochaco, Tsuyu, Jirou? The others?
Midoriya had been fighting at full power when Ryuu last saw him. Bakugo had been unleashing massive explosions. Todoroki had been creating ice barriers.
They were strong. They'd be fine.
But the doubt crept in anyway. The Collector had dozens of copied quirks. He could adapt to anything, counter everything. What if someone had gotten seriously injured? What if...
"Stop," Ryuu muttered. "They're fine. They have to be fine."
Because if they weren't, if people had gotten hurt or worse because villains wanted him, he didn't know how he'd live with that.
More time passed.
The silence was oppressive. No sounds of movement, no voices, no indication that anyone else existed in the world beyond this cell. Just his own breathing and the occasional rattle of chains when he shifted position.
Ryuu's mind started playing tricks. In the absence of real stimuli, it began manufacturing its own.
Phantom sounds that might have been footsteps. Shapes in the darkness that resolved into nothing when he focused on them. The sensation of being watched despite the emptiness.
He tried talking to himself just to break the quiet.
"Festival was going well before everything went to hell. Ochaco really nailed the takoyaki booth. Jirou's performance was amazing. We were all actually having fun for once."
His voice cracked slightly on the last word.
"They'll come looking. Of course they will. UA doesn't leave students behind. The pro-heroes were there too, they saw what happened. Even All Might knows. They're probably organizing a rescue right now."
But what if they couldn't find him? What if The Collector had hidden this place too well, buried it too deep? What if they were searching in completely the wrong direction?
"They'll find me. They will."
He had to believe that. The alternative was too horrible to consider.
Ryuu's mind drifted to his mother. Had anyone told her yet? Was she sitting at home worried sick, wondering why he wasn't answering his phone?
She'd already lost his father. The thought of her getting news that he'd been kidnapped...
"I'm sorry, Mom," he whispered to the darkness. "I'm sorry."
His father's words echoed in memory. Not Kenji, the man he'd barely known, but the lessons Ryuu had absorbed growing up. 'Heroes protect people. That's what makes us different from villains.'
But how was he supposed to protect anyone chained in the dark?
Time continued its meaningless march. Ryuu dozed fitfully, never quite sleeping but never fully awake either.
The cold made rest impossible. Every time he started to drift off, his body would shiver and jolt him back to consciousness.
At some point, he realized he was crying. Silent tears that tracked down his cheeks and dripped off his chin.
He wasn't even sure what triggered it. Maybe the isolation. Maybe the fear. Maybe just the accumulated stress of the past few weeks finally breaking through.
The field trip attack. His quirk burnout. Learning about his father. Momo's vulnerability. The festival's brief happiness. And now this.
How much was one person supposed to take?
"I'm scared," he admitted to the empty darkness. "I'm really scared."
Saying it out loud somehow made it easier to breathe.
A sound.
Ryuu's head snapped up, muscles tensing. There it was again. Footsteps. Real footsteps, not phantom ones his brain had invented. Getting closer.
Light suddenly blazed from above, harsh and blinding after so long in darkness. Ryuu squeezed his eyes shut, tears streaming from the sudden assault. Even through closed eyelids, the brightness was overwhelming.
He heard the sound of a door opening. Smooth, mechanical. Not the scrape of old metal but the pneumatic hiss of something modern and well-maintained.
"Apologies for the dramatic entrance." The voice was cultured, almost pleasant...but also familiar. "The sensory deprivation period is a necessary precaution. Helps discourage escape attempts."
Ryuu forced his eyes open, blinking through tears and spots in his vision. Slowly, shapes resolved.
The cell was smaller than he'd imagined. Maybe ten feet square, concrete walls and floor, a single harsh light set into the ceiling.
The chains on his wrists led to a bolt in the wall behind him. No windows. No furniture. Nothing except him and the cold.
And standing in the doorway, silhouetted by brighter light from beyond, was Kurogane Takeshi.
The Collector.
His metallic skin caught the light, shifting between chrome and copper as he moved.
Those same dead eyes that had stared Ryuu down during the festival attack now studied him with interest.
"Hello, Resonance." The Collector stepped fully into the cell, and the door hissed shut behind him. "I trust your accommodations have been... adequate?"
Ryuu's throat was too dry to respond. He just stared, taking in details with growing dread.
The Collector looked worse than during the festival. His skin didn't shift smoothly anymore but spasmed between states.
Dark veins were visible beneath the metallic surface, pulsing with something that looked wrong. When he moved, it seemed to cause him pain, though his expression remained neutral.
He was deteriorating. Fast.
Which made him infinitely more dangerous.
The Collector pulled something from his coat. A simple folding chair, which he set up with deliberate care before sitting down. Now they were at eye level, predator and prey separated by maybe six feet of concrete.
"I imagine you have questions," The Collector said, settling into the chair. "And I have a proposition. But first, we should establish some ground rules."
He gestured vaguely at the cell. "These accommodations can improve or worsen based entirely on your cooperation. Food, water, warmth, light. All privileges that can be earned or revoked. Your quirk suppressors will remain active until I'm confident you won't attempt anything foolish."
Ryuu finally found his voice. It came out rougher than intended. "What do you want from me?"
"Direct. I appreciate that." The Collector's smile was cold. "What I want, Ryuu Kazama, is very simple. I want to live."
He leaned forward slightly. "My quirk is killing me. The Absorption Matrix that allows me to copy and store multiple abilities is breaking down at the cellular level. Each quirk I add accelerates the degradation. I have perhaps a month before my body gives out entirely."
"Then stop copying quirks," Ryuu said flatly.
"If only it were that simple. The damage is already done. Stopping now merely slows the inevitable." The Collector's metallic fingers drummed against his knee. "But your father's research suggested a solution. A way to not just stop the degradation, but reverse it. Perfect it."
Ryuu's blood ran cold. "My quirk."
He stood, began pacing in the small space. "Ancient research on Resonance-type quirks suggested something fascinating. Not mere amplification, but something deeper. Evolution. The ability to push quirks toward their theoretical maximum efficiency."
"I don't..." Ryuu's mind raced. "That's not..."
"It is exactly that." The Collector stopped pacing, fixing Ryuu with an intense stare. "I've observed it myself during our encounters. Your classmates don't just get stronger when you touch them. They become better. More precise. More efficient. You grant them temporary access to perfection."
He leaned against the wall, his metallic skin shifting uncomfortably. "One touch from you, with genuine intent, and my Absorption Matrix would stabilize. Perfect. Become what it was always meant to be."
Ryuu's throat went dry. "How do you know that?"
"Research. Observation. Desperation makes one very thorough." The Collector's smile was thin. "Your father's work provided the foundation, but he was... clever about hiding the critical details before he vanished. Very clever indeed."
'V-vanish??' Ryuu's eyes shook at the mention of that.
Something in his tone made Ryuu's skin crawl.
"In fact," The Collector continued, almost conversationally, "I've recently acquired someone who claims to have worked on similar research. Commander Yamamoto. Very knowledgeable. Very dedicated to the cause." A pause. "Almost too dedicated, perhaps."
Ryuu's heart hammered...Was he talking about his father? Did he know?
"But I digress." The Collector waved a hand dismissively. "The point is, I know what you can do. And I need it to survive."
"I won't help you." Ryuu's voice was steady despite the fear. "You're a villain. You hurt people. I'm not going to make you stronger."
"Even if refusing means your friends die?"
"D-dont...you dare" his expression was of pure anger and pain at this point.
"Heh, I like your current expression...it suits you."
The Collector pulled out a tablet, tapped the screen, then turned it to face Ryuu. Video footage appeared.
Multiple angles of UA's campus. His classmates, still recovering from the attack. Mina crying. Momo organizing search efforts. Ochaco, Tsuyu, Jirou looking lost and scared.
"I have operatives positioned throughout Tokyo," The Collector said calmly. "One word from me, and they finish what we started at the festival. Your friends are tired, injured, emotionally vulnerable. Easy targets."
"UA has security. Pro heroes. You can't just—"
"Can't I?" The Collector's smile widened. "Ryuu, I orchestrated two major attacks on Japan's premier hero school. I have resources, connections, and copied quirks from some of the most dangerous individuals in this country. If I decide your classmates die, they die."
He sat back down, setting the tablet aside. "But I don't want that. Senseless violence serves no purpose. All I want is your cooperation. One session of amplification, administered willingly, and I'll call off all operations against UA. Your friends live. You live. Everyone walks away."
"You're lying."
"Perhaps. Or perhaps I'm a desperate man looking for any solution to avoid dying slowly and painfully." The Collector's expression shifted to something almost vulnerable. "I didn't choose this quirk, Ryuu. I was born with it. Spent my entire life collecting abilities because that's what I was good at, only to discover too late that the collection itself was poison."
He leaned forward again. "I'm not asking you to become a villain. I'm asking you to save a life. Mine. In exchange, I spare lives you care about. That seems like a fair trade."
Ryuu's mind churned. Every instinct screamed that this was wrong, that helping The Collector would be a betrayal of everything heroes stood for. But the footage played on repeat in his head. His friends, hurt and scared because of him.
"How do I know you'll keep your word?" The question came out barely above a whisper.
"You don't," The Collector admitted. "But consider this. If I wanted to kill your classmates, I could have done it during either attack. I didn't. Because despite what you may think, I'm not interested in creating more enemies than necessary. Help me, and I have no reason to target them ever again."
"And if I refuse?"
The Collector's expression went cold. "Then I demonstrate what happens to those who deny me. One by one, your friends suffer and die while you watch helplessly from this cell. And eventually, either you break and help me anyway, or I find someone else with your capabilities and you die knowing you could have prevented it all."
He stood, folding the chair and moving toward the door. "You have until tomorrow morning to decide. I suggest you choose wisely, Resonance. A lot of lives depend on your answer."
The door opened with that same pneumatic hiss. Light flooded in from the corridor beyond.
"Oh, and Ryuu?" The Collector paused in the doorway. "Don't hope for rescue. This facility is shielded, hidden, and defended by some of the most dangerous quirk users in Japan. Even if your friends somehow tracked you here, they'd die trying to breach it."
He stepped through the door.
"I'll return in twelve hours for your answer. Try to get some rest."
The door closed. The light cut out.
And Ryuu was alone again in the darkness.
But this time, the silence was worse. Because now he knew what awaited him. An impossible choice that would define everything that came after.
Ryuu pulled his knees to his chest, chains rattling, and tried not to think about the fact that he'd already started considering which choice he could live with.
Because that alone felt like a betrayal.