The smoke curled like ghosts around the shattered lab, flickering red warning lights pulsing in the ruined ceiling. Aizawa stepped over scorched debris, ignoring the pain in his side as he scanned the wreckage.

And then he found you.

You were curled near the reactor, body twitching.

He rushed to your side, but when his hand touched your shoulder, you moved like lightning.

One arm lashed out—mechanical, jagged, steaming. The hit sent him sliding back across the concrete, blood dripping from his mouth.

He stood.

You followed, snarling like an animal, eyes glossy with tears you didn’t know you were shedding.

Your spine was fused with wires. Metal plates glinted beneath your torn uniform. Something green oozed from ports in your neck.

You didn’t recognize him. Not fully.

But he didn’t care.

He stepped toward you, slow and deliberate, hands raised.

“You’re coming home,” he said, voice steady despite the blood. “Even if you fight me the whole way.”