Chapter Text
Izuku wasn’t quite sure what had happened. Well, actually he knew exactly what happened, the “what” part being fairly obvious — that being him stuck in All for One’s body — it was more a matter of how at this point. His best guess so far was that All for One used a stolen quirk to switch bodies with him, but he didn’t like that theory, as it led to the terrifying possibility that All for One was running around in his body. It was also fairly unlikely as when, who he could only assume was All for One’s doctor, treated him with the same respect he assumed would be given to someone who could kill you without lifting a finger. Izuku didn’t think it was all to unreasonable of him to draw the conclusion that it was some sort of voluntary body switch though, after all, he didn’t think about why he would be in the number one villain’s body often, or, in fact, at all, but, nonetheless, that theory was unlikely considering all the points that didn’t add up.
His next idea was that it was involuntary. Someone completely separate had switched their minds. This was not an outlandish theory, especially considering the existence of quirks greatly expanded the realm of possibility. It would certainly explain his rather gentle treatment by the doctor, whom he had elected not to talk to, on the account that he had no idea of the doctor’s name, or even if he should care. Izuku knew that he most likely had enough influence to get away with most things, but he still felt quite powerless despite the hundreds of quirks swirling inside him, only one of which he knew how to use after hours of poking and prodding, that being the heat vision one. He preferred to keep that one off for the most part, on account of very rich blues and very bright reds being quite disorientating when they were all he could see.
But going back to the subject of his theories, Izuku had long since concluded that he simply needed more information. Information was not something he was willing to ask the doctor for, though, as prolonged conversation was the road to disaster in his opinion. He needed someone who he could tell about his true identity and have them believe him, and someone who could reliably get information on his situation, not to mention had a real reason for him to want them here. After several hours of mulling over his options, he had concluded that detective Tsukauchi was his best bet. He had a lie detector quirk, which if it worked as he hoped, would guarantee his help, not to mention his close relations with All Might serving as a reason to capture him without raising any alarm bells. Izuku had, in fact, been turning this idea over in his head and polishing out all the little kinks, that he had a little list of things to say when he confronted the doctor he next time he came to check his equipment. He was so prepared, in fact, that he had taken every little possible thing that could go wrong into consideration. This interaction would be perfect.
When the doctor actually came into his room, he felt significantly less prepared.
He turned on heat vision, so he could see when the perfect moment to speak was. The doctor silently walked around the room, shoes tapping as he bent over and looked at what was most likely the equipment keeping Izuku alive at this very moment. As he finished up a few moments later and made to leave, Izuku stopped him
“I need someone” start the conversation off vague, questions could easily be answered at this point.
“Very well. Who do you want?” Simple. Easy to get right without raising suspicion.
“Detective Tsukauchi. I want him unharmed. Bring him directly to me.” Authoritative, explicit, little room for questioning, all without oversharing. The perfect sentence. The doctor opened his mouth to speak. This was where most of the risk came. What if he asked for reasons beyond what he planned for? What if Izuku said something out of character? What if —
“of course. I’ll have Kurogiri deliver him as soon as possible.” Huh. No dramatic confrontation? No dramatic pause as the doctor realized something was amiss?
Izuku suddenly felt stupid as he realized that the doctor wouldn’t question all but the most outrageous demands. All his planning was for nothing. He really did hope Kurogiri understood the “unharmed” part though. It was one of the points he had made sure to drill into his brain extensively, as he was dealing with villains, and from what he had seen, Kurogiri was one of the more effective ones. As much as Izuku hated it, the most effective way was violent more often than not. It was one of the key reasons heroism was so much harder than villainy. Heroes had to make sure not to cause too much harm to whatever adversary they were facing, while villains had no such restrictions. He supposed that was a key factor of villainy though, a lack of rules.
Oh, here Izuku was, getting sidetracked again. He should really be planning what to say to the detective right about now. Luckily for him, there were no cameras in the room, so he would be able to talk freely. He had no doubts the detective would be calm enough for a real conversation, it was more a matter of keeping it natural until he revealed his situation, then he had to figure it out.
In some ways, Izuku hated planning out conversations in his head, because he would inevitably psyche himself out and become a nervous wreck before anything actually happened. Other aspects of making mental conversations were almost fun, planning out every little detail he could think of and perfecting everything was almost therapeutic in a way, and not to mention all the uses! It was practically an art form….
Izuku was getting sidetracked again. He didn’t blame himself though. Being stuck mostly motionless in a room he could barely see was extremely boring. But, back to the subject of Tsukauchi, he could see one major issue that might appear. His quirk. If it worked on heartbeats and other such bodily functions, like a polygraph, then the argument that he was simply a good liar could be made, therefore making it so any attempt at explanation would be undermined. That would be a problem he wouldn’t be able to solve, so he would simply have to plan around the assumption that detective Tsukauchi would believe him. It was still nerve wracking though.
The only way to find out at this point was from the man himself. Izuku Would simply have to wait. Assuming Kurogiri was informed immediately, he would likely need to find out Tsukauchi’s location, then wait for him to be alone. Transportation wouldn’t be an issue, and neither would actually catching him, so that was a big chunk of time off. Taking into consideration Kurogiri most likely had a scary amount of information on the detective, given his proximity to All Might, the information gathering stage would be cut down significantly, bringing his estimation to about a day, give or take a couple hours. That would work.
Now all he had to do was bide his time and plan. He could do that.