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The heavy clunks of docking mechanisms engaging echoed around the small, airtight room as the Kellion came in close to the Ishimura. Katsuki could see through the small, round window into the space between the two shuttles. Millions of stars like grains of sand filled the black, ever expanding void of space. A booming thud rocked through the Kellion. Katsuki swayed on his feet as the shuttle shuddered and shook. He knew that two large clamps near either end of the Kellion had extended and locked onto the Ishimura to help stabilize the two shuttles as they came together. He felt vibrations beneath his feet as the walkway that would connect the two shuttles extended out.
“Katsuki.” The comm in his helmet came alive with Shouto’s voice. It was clear enough to sound like Shouto was leaning over him as he spoke. “Docking has been successful. You’re clear to exit Kellion . Please be advised, Denki is reporting that Ishimura is cold. Approach with caution, keep your suit on, and weapon up.”
“Yeah, yeah. Open the hatch.”
“I'm serious, Katsuki. Stay frosty. Ishimura hasn’t transmitted in over two weeks. You’re going in blind.”
“Just open the hatch, Scarface.”
The clanks of locks disengaging ran through the room and Katsuki reached beneath his left arm to grip at his SWS Motorized Pulse Rifle that hung against his side. He pulled the rifle from its position until the butt was against his shoulder, muzzle pointed to the ground. It was still a relaxed position, but it would be easy enough for Katsuki to pull it into an active position for potential engagements.
The hatch’s hydraulics hissed as it released, pulling in and then sliding along the room’s wall to the left. Katsuki was already moving before the hatch settled, heavy boots clunking as he walked across the metal plank. It was only a few steps before he was outside the Ishimura’s hatch.
“Pikachu, engage Ishimura’s systems and get this hatch open.”
“Engaging now. Standby.”
Katsuki waited as Denki worked to open the Ishimura’s hatch. He didn’t like having to wait on the plank, but there was little else they could do. When the Kellion had arrived in the same subspace as the Ishimura, they had tried to ping the other shuttle, but all they got back was dead air. The shuttle’s AI pilot hadn’t even acknowledged receipt of the Kellion’s ping. Which meant access to the Ishimura’s systems would have to be done the old fashioned way: after docking.
Still, despite the canvas enclosure, Katsuki could feel the weight of space on him, the black void pressing in. He was exposed on the plank. All it took was for a pebble-sized piece of rock or debris to come careening through and he’d be dead. From damage, exposure, or just being shot off and lost in space.
Hydraulics hissed and the Ishimura’s hatch pushed back and then slid to the side, a mirror of the Kellion . Katsuki stepped through and was greeted by darkness. It wasn’t a complete blackout. The light from the canvas hallway filtered in, casting him a rectangular glow, and the Ishimura’s emergency lights flashed in long, slow intervals of red, but there still seemed to be a darkness the pervaded the shuttle. What shadows Katsuki could see were dark, black— reminiscent of the void of space.
Even though he was in his suit, a cold settled on him and he shivered. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck rising.
“Readings?” Katsuki asked as he flicked his gaze to the upper right corner of his helmet to engage the heads-up display. Data streamed across his vision, overlaying on the inside of his helmet. He’d been given limited access to the Ishimura’s data, mostly emergency stuff. Manifest lists. Shuttle level layouts. Personnel names. Katsuki flipped through them all before he found something of interest: the last Captain’s log dated seventeen days ago.
“Readings are more normal than I would have expected. Life support systems are on emergency power but functional. It’s colder in there than recommended. The air readings aren’t showing anything off the charts. No toxins, bacteria, or other potential airborne hazards.”
“I have a Captain’s log from seventeen days ago. I’m going to play it. Watch my six, Pikachu.”
“Roger. I’m casting your heads-up to the others.”
Katsuki started the log and his vision was filled with a translucent Yaoyorozu Momo, Captain of the Ishimura. She was rubbing her eyes when the video started and releasing a shaky breath. The normally calm and composed Captain looked harried and unwell. When she removed her hand to reveal her face, Katsuki could make out dark splotches beneath her eyes. Fear was etched into her face and her bottom lip trembled. She released another breath and collected herself the best she could.
“Captains log 117. Earth date, March 23, 2XXX. Star date, 2312003023-1.28-5139. This is Captain Yaoyorozu Momo of the Ishimura. Probability states that this will be my last log. If you are seeing this then that means Ishimura did not survive. If you are still in the docking airlock, you may have a chance of survival. Turn around now, do not enter this shuttle any further. Quarantine for forty-eight hours. Do not allow biological testing to occur until after forty-eight hours. Ensure your science and medical officers complete proper protocol and disposal of samples.”
Momo heaved a shuddering sigh, her shoulders drooping as if the weight of a thousand suns had dropped onto them.
“Approximately fifty-seven hours ago, Ishimura came into contact with an unidentified biological organism. Crew member Iida Tenya has been identified as the index case. It is believed Tenya was logging mined asteroid rock when infection occurred. When fever-like symptoms presented themselves, Tenya reported to to Medical Officer Asui Tsuyu. Tsu completed an examination of Tenya and obtained samples of Tenya’s blood. When Tsu found abnormalities in Tenya’s blood, she engaged Science Officer Midoriya Izuku. Tsu and Izuku determined Tenya had a previously unknown infection. Tenya was called into quarantine… but it was already too late.”
Momo had begun shivering, teeth chattering. Her color, already pale and sickly, looked even worse in the few minutes since she’d begun her log. Tears were falling, sliding down her face, and she didn’t try to hide them.
“Key members of the crew had become infected which in turn allowed the infection to spread like wildfire. It’s estimated that at the time of this log, ninety-seven percent of the crew have been infected with varying rates of infection. The zero sum point appears to be forty-eight hours after infection first sets in. The first of the infected have already succumbed.”
A loud banging noise interrupted Momo and she turned toward the sound. The fear on her face had evolved into horror. When she turned back to the camera, her eyes were wide and sweat was beading on her forehead and upper lip. Her breathing was shallow and quick.
“I don’t know what this infection is but it is alien in nature. It has to be. I believe it’s an amalgamation of what we know to be a bacteria, a parasite, and a fungus. Whether it’s truly an amalgamation of those organisms or if it’s something new entirely, I do not know. What I do know is that I watched Iida Tenya flatline and then minutes later come alive again, although I don’t know if alive is the right word. Reanimate might be better. He underwent rapid physiological and anatomical changes. He—it—escaped containment and went on a deadly rampage, killing a number of crew members and security personnel. It was only successfully stopped when the majority of the head—and I use that word tentatively—was removed.”
The banging in the background increased in rapidity and loudness until it was almost drowning out Momo’s report. She stood up and disappeared from the frame. Moments later, she reappeared and placed an augmented plasma cutter on the desk in front of herself before taking her place once more.
“Let me reiterate. If you are seeing this, there are no survivors on Ishimura . Do not enter the shuttle. Do not salvage this shuttle. Obliterate it. Leave nothing left. And if you can, please pass along a message to Todoroki Shouto, Captain of the Kellion . Can you please tell him…that I’m sorry.”
With that, Momo placed the plasma cutter beneath her chin and fired. It was immediately clear that the augmented plasma cutter far surpassed the allowed enhancements to the tool. It had become a weapon. A concentrated beam of superheated plasma energy exited the top of Momo’s head, smoke wisps rising from her hair. The beam had passed through so cleanly and so quickly that Momo’s neurons continued to firethat Momo hadn’t even realized she was dead as she squeezed the trigger one more time. Her eyes ticked back and forth rhythmically as she tipped forward into the camera.
The log ended in a bust of static that turned to black.
Katsuki’s heart was frozen in his chest and his breath was caught in his throat. The Captain’s log dropped off of his helmet display and he found himself staring at the room’s hatch that would lead into the ship. He could feel the rest of the Kellion’s crew disbelief at what they saw.
“Shouto— came Eijirou’s voice in Katsuki’s helmet, but it was cut off.
“Katsuki, get your ass back on this ship right now.” Shouto’s voice was cold but level. It brokered no arguments. It was a command from a superior officer, not a friend.
Katsuki looked over his shoulder, back toward the canvas hallway, back toward the Kellion . Back toward guaranteed safety.
But safety wasn’t the reason they were out near the Rim, wasn’t why they had volunteered to look for the Ishimura. They’d gone in search of the other shuttle because they had friends on the ship. Because they had lovers, family, and a million other things on the Ishimura . They hadn’t even been the closest ship to the Ishimura’s last known location but they’d demanded the right to search and investigate, and they were granted that right.
Katsuki turned back to look at the hatch that would take him deeper into the ship. He looked to the upper right of his helmet and pulled up his display again. He check the readings. Still clear. Then he shifted his rifle up, cradling the butt against his shoulder, military training kicking in. “No can do. I’m going in.”
His comms lit up like a Christmas tree, numerous voices coming over the waves in varying states of panic, shock, and anger. He ignored the blended voices and moved quick before Denki could put the Ishimura back into shutdown. Katsuki reached his left hand out, pressing down on the hatch handle, then yanking up to disengage the locking mechanism. He pulled it open just as the emergency locks turned. Loud thumps rumbled and then two and a half centimeter thick metal posts shot out from the side of the hatch at two and a half centimeter intervals down the length of the side. Had the door still been closed, the posts would have prevented him from opening the door, no matter how hard he tried.
Katsuki still had his heads-up display on and took note that the readings remained normal. Only the temperature changed, dropping a few more degrees centigrade. The emergency lock disengaged and Katsuki pulled the hatch shut behind him. “Reengage the emergency locks,” Katsuki commanded over the screaming in his comms. They fell silent at his command but Katsuki knew Denki heard it when he heard the thumping noise again.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” If Katsuki survived the expedition, Shouto would kill him. He wouldn’t be surprised if Shouto allowed him back onboard the Kellion only to vent him into space. What he was doing was stupid. He knew it. Shouto knew it. The crew knew it. Katsuki had signed his death warrant, plain and simple.
“Bro, if the things Momo was talking about are still around, you don't have enough ammo to handle them. We're talking about an entire shuttle crew,” came Eijirou’s strained voice.
“So far, the shuttle’s readings are within an acceptable range,” remarked Denki, his voice squeaky and tight.
“Same with Kats’s stats. His suit is registering no change,” said Mina, her voice the calmest and most level of the bunch.
Despite the air chill and the fact that his suit kept his temperature well regulated, Katsuki felt sweat drip down the back of his neck and another trail along his temple. The darkness that Katsuki had felt in the docking airlock was more present in the body of the ship. The slow flashing emergency lights didn’t help the atmosphere as they bathed the hallway he was in in red.
“The armory isn’t that far away. I’ll hit that first then head to the Captain’s quarters. I’ll go to the medical bay and science labs after that.”
“What is your plan, exactly?” Shouto asked.
“Look for survivors,” Katsuki replied as he began his journey to the armory. Even if he hadn’t done a stint in the past on the Ishimura, it was the sister ship the Kellion. They were laid out almost exactly the same except for a few things here and there that gave the ships their own personalities. His heavy boots echoed with each step he took and his breathing felt too loud to his ears. The emergency lighting wasn’t great which meant there were more shadows than he was comfortable with so he pulled out his heads-up display to switch on his helmet flashlight. Katsuki kept it dim in case he came upon anything unfriendly, but it was a steady enough lighting source that he relaxed minutely.
“You heard Momo, there are no survivors. If there had been a chance for that, I doubt she would have…” Eijirou trailed off, unwilling or unable to say exactly what Momo had done. She’d been a friend to all of them. Moreover, she’d been Shouto’s girlfriend.
“Even if there are survivors,” Shouto spoke up, his voice harsh and reserved, “we can’t risk allowing them, or at this point you, back on this ship.”
“We’ll deal with that when it comes to it,” Katsuki replied. He swept his gaze left to right and back again. He tried rolling steps to help alleviate the sounds of his footfalls, but the rigid soles made it hard. He felt like he was in the open, despite the closeness of the hallway walls. Exposed like prey in the land of predators. His main duty may have been Shuttle Engineer but he’d been a hell of a soldier before joining the Allied Space Exploration Association. One thing that had made him a good soldier was his instincts, and his instincts were going haywire.
He wasn’t alone on the ship. Even if Momo hadn’t given her warning, Katsuki would know he wasn’t alone on the ship. He rolled his neck and brought the stock of his rifle up against his shoulder, leaning his weight into it, ready to fire the moment something presented itself.
Katsuki’s journey to the armory took only a handful of minutes, but each second was like a physical weight on him. If he didn’t have his suit on, Katsuki was sure he would have collapsed, buckling at the knees. The darkness that pervaded the ship pressed in close and the flashing red emergencies did little to assuage his fear in any way; they only served to make more shadows that distracted Katsuki, his eyes jumping between them to ensure nothing was hidden within them.
When he finally arrived outside the armory doors, he was unscathed but still tense. Katsuki could feel it in his neck and shoulders where they were bunched too tight. He tried breathing through it, to force his muscles to relax, but there were too many warning bells going off.
If he hadn’t been a man on a mission, he would have turned tail back at the docking entrance. As it was, if he could bring himself and the rest of the crew any sort of closure regarding what exactly had happened on the Ishimura, he owed it to them. To both crews.
The many outweighed the few. Or the only.
Katsuki adjusted his grip on his rifle and kept his barrel pointed at the armory door. He rested his cheek against the stock and lined his sights up at a height that would be about average to the human torso. It was a big target and the easiest target to hit. He’d worry about a more finessed target when he knew he had the time to do so.
“Denki, can you open the door?” He wasn’t going to risk lowering his gun only to be jumped by whatever was roaming the ship. Katsuki had whispered it as a bead of sweat slipped down his temple and off the edge of jaw to be lost within his suit. His fingers twitched at the trigger.
“Opening in three, two...”
The armory door hissed and pressed back away from Katsuki before sliding to the side. He held his breath, rifle at the ready. The armory was black, his headlamp illuminating just the first few feet. Katsuki strained his eyes and ears.
“No movement detected,” Mina said softly, a second pair of eyes for Katsuki.
“No changes detected,” Denki said, just as softly.
Katsuki inched forward into the armory, sweeping his headlight back and forth to illuminate swaths of the room. He ignored the screeching in the lizard part of his brain that said he still had time to turn around, to run, to survive.
What they called an armory room was less of an armory and more of an equipment supply room. The Ishimura was, after all, primarily a mining ship meant for gathering resources and, in the rare instances, artifact collection. There were a few weapons for the security officers’s use, but referring to the room as an armory was mostly a running joke amongst the crews. However, as Momo had demonstrated, the equipment could be modified past their original parameters and serve as weapons should someone be so inclined.
The towering racks and stacked boxes did nothing to quell his tension, but Denki and Mina hadn't given any indication that their readings differed. Katsuki crept further into the armory, weaving amongst the equipment that ranged from small drill rigs and pallet jacks to plasma cutters used to cut rocks and rivet guns used by engineering. A few suits, nearly identical to Katsuki’s, hung in the back and made his heart leap in his chest when he first lit them up.
One he was assured that the armory was well and truly empty, Katsuki let his rifle drop and he made his way to the security equipment. Everything was locked in a large metal cabinet, a digital touchpad lighting up the gloom with an eerie blue light.
“Denki, code.”
Katsuki’s comm remained silent for a moment before sparking to life. “One, two, three, four, five.”
“You can’t be serious,” Katsuki said, deadpanned. He let his hand hover over the pad, the disbelief clear in his voice.
“It has to be easy for the crew to remember,” Denki countered, defensive.
“Yeah,” Katsuki said as he punched in the security code, “but it doesn’t have to be that easy.”
The pad beeped a cheery chirp when Katsuki finished entering the code and the doors swung open. He pulled them the rest of the way open, stepping back as he did so and eyeing up the cabinet with the assistance of his headlamp.
There were identical rifles to his lining one side of the cabinet and Divet handguns hanging from the right side. After a thought, Katsuki grabbed one of the Divets and tucked it into his empty leg holster. Then he began rifling through the cabinet to turn up as much ammo as he could find and stuff into every available pocket in his suit.
First mission finished, Katsuki closed the doors but declined to reengage the lock. He weighed the pros and cons of leaving it unlocked, determining he’d risk something else getting into the locker if it meant he could get into fast during an emergency. He may have been a trained soldier but he wasn’t willing to risk fumbling under pressure if he didn’t have to.
Katsuki turned back to exit the armory but paused on his way out. He had a second holster meant for tools strapped to his side where he’d normally carry his engineering items and decided that he’d load up on exactly that as a precaution. He picked through kits and slipped the most often needed tools into place, scooping a plasma cutter as well, along with battery packs.
Feeling like he’d added fifty pounds to his suit, Katsuki left the armory behind with a comm to Denki to leave the door cracked open. If the ship lost further power or Katsuki couldn’t reach Denki to open the door, he’d be able to wedge his hands in the crack and force the door open. Another weighing of pros and cons.
“How’s the path looking to the Captain’s quarters?” Katsuki asked in a low voice, his rifle back in an active position as he made his way through the empty halls and corridors of the ship. He moved faster than he had when going to the armory, feeling better now that he had plenty of ammo and wouldn’t have to worry as much about precision shots. He knew it was still finite but it was reassuring, the weight he carried.
“Still no eyes except yours and readings remain normal. I changed some settings to focus on ambient noise and those remain within an acceptable range,” Denki rattled off, sounding distracted.
“I’m here, Kats,” Mina assured in her soft voice. The others remained quiet, understanding the importance of Katsuki having direct lines with Mina and Denki. He knew that Eijirou would be especially bursting at the seams though, talkative in the best of times and downright filibustering when nervous. Shouto was a harder read, but Katsuki knew Shouto was more than likely acting as a third pair of eyes, picking up data and analyzing as much as he could to get as much information as possible.
The Captain’s quarters were centrally located in the ship. It was a strange setup since most had the Captain’s quarters as close as possible to the pilots’s cabin but the Captain didn’t necessarily only work pilot duties. It was important that the Captain knew how to do everything if a situation arose when he or she had to step in. Thus, both the Ishimura and Kellion designed their layout so the Captain could reach any part of the ship from their quarters within the same amount of time.
This also meant that Katsuki was going deep into the ship. He could feel sweat prickling at his forehead and upper lip. His skin seemed to jump in the suit. He was keyed up and tense despite the fact that nothing had happened yet. He hadn’t even seen anything or anyone. Katsuki berated himself, knowing that he needed to bring himself level.
“Your stats are starting to spike,” Mina chimed in.
“I know, I know,” Katsuki grumbled. He huffed and growled, shaking himself to loosen the tension that settled back into his body since the armory. If he continued this way, he was liable to shoot anything that moved, enemy or friendly. “I haven’t even seen anything and I’m just—”
“That’s the issue though, isn’t it?” Shouto interrupted quietly, so quietly that Katsuki thought he might have accidentally relayed it to the crew. “There hasn’t been anything. Where are the bodies?”
Katsuki froze and he knew that the crew back on the Kellion had done the same thing. It was physical, the question Shouto asked. It was so obvious and Katsuki wanted to kick himself for not realizing it. The way that Momo had talked, there should have been carnage. All Katsuki had found so far was some disarray and empty hallways but that shouldn’t have been the case. It was as if the crew had simply vanished.
“How far away am I from the Captain’s quarters?” Katsuki asked as he began walking again, faster this time. He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, oxygenating his lungs and blood. His training kicked in, the years disappearing as he approached his mission like it was military. The muzzle of his rifle swept back and forth with his eyes and headlamp. His fingers were light on the trigger.
“Go straight and then turn left at the first intersection. Entrance will be directly ahead,” Denki stated, voice tight.
Katsuki followed the instructions and was only just able to stop himself from sprinting down the hallway that seemed to lengthen with each step he took. The entrance to the Captain’s quarters loomed ahead, unassuming and quiet. As he approached, forcing himself to remain aware of his surroundings, the door slid open unbidden.
“Wait, no, close them again,” Katsuki said in a rush.
The door slid shut again, Denki hastening to obey. “But why?”
Katsuki pulled himself just short of the door and studied it close, releasing his rifle to run his hands over the surface. It wasn’t easy to see but he could feel dents and scratches on the door. “Something was banging on Momo’s door during that recording.”
“What did you find?” Shouto asked.
Katsuki turned off his headlamp and switched his overlay to night mode. It didn’t work as well as it could have with the emergency lights still flashing but during the low light, the damage on the door was thrown into relief. He switched his overlap back to normal and turned his light back on after a moment. It would be enough for Shouto to analyze and long enough for Mina to capture an image.
“Open the door again.”
There were emergency lights within the Captain’s quarters, although they buzzed a consistent low red rather than flashing like the hallways did. It cast everything in a red glow like blood in water. The shadows that remained were dark. Katsuki stepped in and gave a quick once over to the room. When nothing immediately stood out, he walked further in, hearing the door hissing shut behind him. He thought about telling Denki to keep the door open but decided against it. His soldier training said it should stay open but his instincts told him to keep it closed. When the door shut, the blaring alarm that had been screaming in the back of his mind quieted. It didn’t stop but it seemed to think that the Captain’s quarters were safer.
The room was entirely Momo and unlike any other Captain’s quarters. While plenty of others tried to play illusive and mysterious, Momo was someone who told you exactly who she was when meeting her. It was why Katsuki had liked working under her and did so without many complaints. A rich girl from Earth, she didn’t hide her expensive tastes—tastes that she paid for through hard work. Daddy might have gotten her in the door at the Allied Space Exploration Association, but it was all her that got her the title of Captain. A genius only rivaled by Shouto, she was a voracious reader, scholar, academic. She made it her business to know every job on the ship and every member of her crew. Papers, notes, and books littered every available space. Mining equipment, weapons, science kits, instruments, anatomy models, and tools laid on top of those. Katsuki picked out math equations, diagrams of the ship’s core, structural drawings, and recipes. There was also, of course, plenty of pictures of Momo, her family, and her friends tacked and hung up.
He didn’t have time to linger though. Katsuki knew it was best if he kept moving so he stepped toward the desk that took up much of the center of the room. There were two chairs in front of the desk: one overturned and one sitting up. He hesitated as he rounded the desk, knowing what to expect.
Katsuki wished he could have been disappointed but he knew what he saw on the video, and, frankly, if Momo’s body hadn’t been sprawled on the floor, he didn’t think he could have stayed on the ship any longer. Training or not, closure or not, it would have moved into the realm of too weird, too fucked up for Katsuki to stay.
It was a sad, upsetting sight, and one that he looked away from quickly. Momo, a beauty by anyone’s standard, still held onto that beauty even in death. She would have looked as if she was sleeping if not for the vacant eyes and hole beneath her chin. Due to the plasma cutter’s cauterizing capabilities, there was no mess, no leakage of blood or brains on the floor. There was only a burn mark on the ceiling of the quarters that Katsuki looked away from just as quickly.
The chair that Momo had been sitting in had toppled over with her and Katsuki used his foot to move it out of the way. He didn’t kick it, as he was tempted to do, trying to keep a modicum of respect for his former Captain despite the urgency of everything.
When the chair was out of the way, Katsuki shifted behind the desk and tapped away at the Captain’s computer. It powered up, kept alive by the same auxiliary power that kept the emergency lights going, and Katsuki was brought to the login screen. The cursor blinked in a slow rhythm, awaiting the password.
“Zero, four, one, seven, s, t, m, y, four, e,” Shouto rattled off before Katsuki could ask.
Katsuki didn’t question it, just entered the password as stated and hit enter. He wasn’t surprised when it worked and the computer screen changed to reveal a picture of Shouto and Momo next to each other, smiling for the camera. Katsuki felt like he should say something but knew Shouto wouldn’t care to hear it and, besides, it was unlike him. They’d have time to mourn later.
“Any suggestions on what I should be looking for in particular?” Katsuki asked as he began clicking around the files and folders, opening some things only to close them moments later.
“Let me get in there. Hook in your cable,” Denki said. Katsuki stopped clicking around and flipped over his left hand. He dug his fingers into his wrist and pulled out a hidden cable. He hooked into a port on the computer and let Denki do his work.
Lines of code appeared and disappeared, moving so fast across the screen that they were little more than green blurs to Katsuki’s eyes. Different windows popped open and closed, filling the screen and sliding away as Denki smashed his way through the computer.
“Done.”
“Well?”
“Nothing we didn’t already know. I’ll parse through the information though, just in case we missed something. And I still can’t get to the cameras.”
Katsuki sighed and ran his hand over his mask, irritation creeping to the front of his mind at the waste of time. He could have gone directly to the med and science bays.
“I’m leaving then. I’m going to the med and science bays next,” Katsuki said as he unhooked his cable, letting it retract back into its space at his wrist. They were luckily connected to each other via a shared lab space so the trip should be quick as long as nothing popped up. The unlucky aspect to their location was that they were located on the opposite side of the ship from where he had docked. It would not be a hasty exit in the event of a situation but it was what it was.
“What are your plans after that?” Shouto asked.
“We’ll figure it out then. Those seem to be ground zero.”
“Is that the only reason you’re insistent on going there?”
Katsuki didn’t bother to answer the question. Shouto and the others knew that wasn’t the reason he was going there at all. It was the only acceptable reason to go there during such a situation but the real reason, the whole reason he volunteered— insisted —on being the one to enter the ship despite Eijirou’s status as head security officer was because he was looking for someone.
“Bakugou—” Shouto started but Katsuki was already on the move, the door sliding open at his approach.
“I’m going to find him,” Katsuki grit out between clenched teeth. He brought his rifle up to his shoulder and delved back into the red gloom. The argument had been intense about deciding who went in. On some level, they all deserved to go in and fought to do so but Katsuki came out on top. It was a careful argument, convincing them that he was simultaneously the most expendable crew member (Shouto could take his place as engineer and besides, he hardly did any work at all on most missions) and the most qualified crew member to enter an unknown and potentially high stress situation (he was military, after all, and unknown stressors were his bread and butter). The threat to shoot whoever tried to go was also an incentive, the crew knowing that he was not only willing to do such a thing but also able to with little thought.
The journey to the med and science bays was just as uneventful and harrowing as the journeys to the armory and Captain’s quarters were. There were still no bodies, no biological matter, and no signs of struggles. There were, however, more signs of life having once been on the ship. As Katsuki moved closer to the bays, guided by Denki, he found forgotten, rotting food; lost papers that had fluttered to the floor without care; spilled boxes that displayed their contents; and even equipment that were propped against walls as if left there and never retrieved.
“What the fuck happened here?” Eijirou’s voice in his ear made Katsuki tense up before he could stop himself.
“Shhh,” reprimanded Mina, probably noticing the spike in Katsuki’s vitals.
His breathing felt loud in his helmet, louder than it had been. The darkness continued to press in on him, the red lights doing little other than adding an eerie ambiance that the empty ship didn’t need. With each step he took further away from the docking entrance, Katsuki could feel the weight of the ship around him.
The sight of the med and science bays was a welcome relief. Denki and Mina murmured in his ear but Katsuki disregarded them as he dropped all pretenses and ran the distance to the med bay door. Denki didn’t hesitate as he opened the door and Katsuki stepped through only to stumble to a stop, blinded. When he opened his eyes again, his helmet’s display had adjusted to the bright light of the medical room.
“Holy fuck.”
“Bro, you need to get out of there.”
“Oh my god.”
“Katsuki, return to the docking entrance immediately. That is an order.”
Katsuki ignored the explosive chattering in his ear though, his eyes wide and unbelieving at what he was seeing. After so long of nothing, not a hint at what had happened on the Ishimura, he was suddenly very much in the midst of it. Ground zero was not an apt enough description for the horror that was the med bay.
Blood and black gunk covered nearly every available surface. There were arterial sprays that scaled the walls and smeared across the ceiling. The once white floor looked as if a child had finger-painted across it in reds and blacks. There were limbs and intestines strewn about like confetti. Katsuki knew that there wasn’t enough to cover the entire crew but it was far more than he would have ever expected, had ever seen in one place. It was an artwork of gore and horror that had his gut churning.
Equipment and beds had been flipped over and broken. Sheets and curtains were ripped and shredded. Whoever or whatever had been in the med bay had been nothing short of monstrous.
He walked further into the room and reached out toward the nearest desk, dipping his fingers in the black goo that seemed in equal part to the blood. It was viscous and sticky, tacky. When he drew his fingers away, the black stuck to the tips and stretched. Katsuki flicked his wrist and the black strand snapped. He brought his fingers to his face and brought up his HUD, scrolling through the options until he found analysis.
His suit got to work and he was sure Mina was doing the same on her side. Numbers and letters and formulas scrolled across his display for a few seconds before it flashed with a light beep. The results displayed themselves.
UNKNOWN blinked slowly next to every line item.
“Mina?”
“I don’t… I don’t know. I don’t understand, none of this makes sense.” Mina’s voice faded until it was a whisper in Katsuki’s ear. “Kats, you have to get out of there.”
“Not yet.” Katsuki cleared his HUD and brought his rifle up to his shoulder. At the other end of the med bay was the lab area and through the lab area was the science bay. It’d be his last stop before turning around and retracing his steps. His comms lit up as his friends tried to talk over one another in an attempt to convince Katsuki to return to the docking entrance.
“In for a penny, in for a pound,” Katsuki muttered aloud, more to himself than to the others.
He took his time, picking his way amongst the gore, taking care not to slip or bump into anything that might alert something of his location. The distance between the front of the med bay and the back seemed to stretch out before Katsuki, but it took only seconds for him to arrive at the lab door. It didn’t slide open as others had, but Katsuki knew he didn’t need Denki to open it for him. He raised his hand and pressed a button that would open the door. It slid, silent but for a soft hiss that his helmet picked up.
When Katsuki stepped through the door, the clamoring in his ear fell silent, replaced by a soft static hiss. He raised his hand and rapped his knuckles against his helmet. “Hello?” Katsuki asked. “Come in, Kellion. Come in.” He tapped his helmet again while pulling up his HUD, flicking through his comms settings.
CONNECTION LOST blinked before his eyes, little bars flashing as his suit tried to reestablish a connection.
“Fuck,” Katsuki hissed under his breath. He looked over his shoulder back into the med bay. It was unlikely that going back would return the connection. He could only hope that Denki would be able to work his magic and reestablish contact. Until then, Katsuki had to push forward.
He stepped further into the labs.
They were darker than the med bay but Katsuki thought that had more to do with sample sensitivity than lost power. It also did not hold the horrors that the med bay did. In fact, it looked like much of the rest of the ship: like whoever had been there had simply vanished. Katsuki weaved amongst the lab tables, careful of chairs that had been left pulled out. Papers with various scientific jargon, terms, and formulas were spread across some of the tables. Others held once active experiments and studies, the time that had passed leading them fizzle out or become dormant messes. At the edges of the labs, there were rows of collected and tagged samples. Some of rocks, others of plant-like life, still more of organisms that appeared organic in nature. There was a line of lab tables to his left and another to his right with a large central space that ran from one end of the lab to the other. There were smaller walkways between the labs and samples.
As Katsuki made his way through the lab and toward the opposite door that would lead into the science bay, he was struck by the sensation that something was watching him. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and he froze. Katsuki sighted down his rifle and rotated to his left, scanning his immediate surroundings, eyes jumping to shadows and corners. No movement caught his eye as he completed his circle but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t alone.
In the middle of the labs, Katsuki was exposed, whether he went forward or not. He deliberated for a minute and mentally kicked himself for not scanning them the moment he stepped through. He was too caught up in getting to his intended location. Decision made, Katsuki began to backtrack toward the med bays. He did a side step that gave him peripheral vision of both ends of the room. It left his back exposed every time he stepped between tables, but he figured that anything dangerous would choose to move into the larger center aisle for an attack.
Halfway back to the med bay, the sight of a shoe caused Katsuki to freeze, breath caught tight in his throat. He knew the shoe. There was only one idiot he knew that wore such bright red shoes; the shoes were practically part of their personality.
Another quick, half-assed scan of the area and Katsuki was slipping between the lab tables. His heart thudded against his ribcage, hard enough that he would be sure he could see his chest moving if he looked. It shook his body and Katsuki rounded the table corner. He sucked in a sharp, deep breath between his teeth and his rifle wavered until the barrel was pointed at the floor.
Sprawled on the ground before him was Midoriya Izuku, his reason for getting on the Ishimura. His husband.
There was a brief flare of hope at seeing Izuku in one piece. At first glance, he had all his limbs attached and there were no obvious signs of injury, no pools of sticky, tacky blood—red or otherwise. Katsuki stepped around to Izuku’s side and slipped to his knees to hover over the other. Izuku looked as if he was sleeping. Sick by the pale pallor of his face and dark bruises around his eyes, but sleeping. Green curls were matted and stuck to his forehead, and his lips were cracked.
Katsuki reached out a hand and pressed it against Izuku’s chest. He ignored the tremors that ran up his arm and through his body.
He shook Izuku who rolled slightly with the movement.
“Deku. Deku, it’s me.”
There didn’t appear to be any movement coming from Izuku. Katsuki couldn’t see his chest rising and falling, he couldn’t see any movement beneath the other’s eyelids, and there was no twitching in extremities.
Katsuki thought back to Momo’s message, about how Izuku had been one of the first exposed to whatever had made its way through the Ishimura’s crew. How she had said it was too late.
“Deku, if you’re alive, you better wake up right fucking now.”
Tenya was one of Izuku’s closest friends. Even if he hadn’t been the science officer, he would have been with Tenya when whatever it was had taken hold of him. As the science officer, it would be worse because Izuku would have insisted on being involved in diagnostics. He would have been the best for it too, if it was unknown. Between Izuku and Tsu, they would have figured out what was going on.
“Deku, please. If you open your eyes up, I’ll make you katsudon. I’ll make it for you whenever you want it. Everyday, even.”
Key personnel had gone down first and the rest of the Ishimura was quick to follow. It had been two weeks since the ship had gone silent. Two weeks Izuku could have been lying on the lab floors.
“I’m here, Deku.”
Katsuki took a shuddering breath in and lifted his hand from Izuku’s body. His head dropped and he breathed, each one tightening his chest further and further until it was like a steel band had been wrapped around his torso. He pressed the back of his hand against his helmet and cursed his suit, wishing he could feel his skin again.
He knew the chances of finding Izuku alive was low. It was an inherent risk to what they did, traveling through space at speeds faster than light. Accidents happened all the time. The science was perfect but humans weren’t, and human error accounted for a lot of those accidents.
After listening to Momo’s last recording, he knew the chance was practically zero. No, he knew it was zero. But he had to see for himself.
“Fuck, Izuku,” Katsuki whispered, voice and throat tight. He could feel a familiar burning in his sinuses and behind his eyes. His fists clenched and unclenched. “Fuck.”
The sudden sound of metal banging had Katsuki shooting to his feet, rifle readied. He aimed in the direction he thought the sound had come from but it was hard to pinpoint as the sound echoed around him. He was panting, snorting snot back so he could focus on breathing appropriately. The stinging behind his eyes remained but he refused to allow his eyes to blur with tears, survival instincts kicking into full gear. Katsuki strained his ears, listening for another out-of-place noise.
It was soft, and he wasn’t sure he was actually hearing it, but there was a dull, metallic sound. It was as if something was denting metal with weight rather than with blows. It was coming from the science bay. Weirder, though, was that it sounded above him, but Katsuki knew there was no way that he would be able to hear someone walking on the level above. It was an impossibility.
Yet, as the soft sound slowly came closer, Katsuki was more and more sure that it was coming from overhead.
He stepped over Izuku’s legs and stalked toward the center walkway, sighting down his rifle. It was aimed toward the ceiling, back where the science bay met the labs. Katsuki’s instincts were screaming at him to turn and run, to just hightail it out of there, but he didn’t want to expose his back. If what he was hearing was faster than him, it would be better to face it head on and hope he could shoot it down. He wouldn’t go down running.
“Kacchan—”
A weight fell on his shoulder, and Katsuki was spinning, throwing his elbow back. He could feel a soft impact. If Mina was looking at his stats, they’d be wild as the adrenaline flooded his body, his instincts warring as to whether it was time for fight or flight.
What met Katsuki’s eyes though put a bucket of ice water into his veins. His eyes widened at the sight of Izuku folded back over a lab table, his hands clutching at his chest where Katsuki had planted his elbow. Wide, green eyes stared back at him, scared and surprised. Then they flicked up to the ceiling. Katsuki could see Izuku working, struggling to get enough air to form words.
“Vents—” Izuku managed to force out before he was gasping for another breath, eyes rolling in pain as he pressed harder on his chest. “They’re—they— vents!”
The sound of metal clanging, rattling against the ground behind Katsuki had him peering over his shoulder. A metal grate shuddered and settled on the labs’ floor. It was warped and twisted, as if someone had gripped it tight and twisted it free from where it had been bolted. Katsuki lifted his eyes to the ceiling.
Emerging from black void of the ventilation system was a single long and spindly black arm. It gleamed in the low light of the labs like an insect’s carapace. The six fingers were just as long and as spindly, and displayed an extra range of motion due to the two extra joints on each one. The fingers tip-tapped along the ceiling, leaving little holes where the tips of them had pierced the metal, until the arm was stretched out. A second one then emerged from the darkness.
It was enough for Katsuki. He looked back to Izuku who was pushing himself off of the table, breath mostly back, although he still rubbed at his sternum. He dropped his gun so that it hung beneath his arm, at his hip. He didn’t bother to clip it back in so it wouldn’t bump against his side, opting to reach out for Izuku’s free hand.
He couldn’t actually feel the heat of Izuku’s hand through his suit—but he knew it was there.
Then he ran, dragging Izuku along behind him.
The door between the labs and med bay was still open from Katsuki’s earlier entrance and he didn’t hesitate as he dove through it. He continued his flight, pulling a yelling Izuku behind him, declining to take the time to close the door. At the far end of the med bay, the door that led to the hallway had closed at some point and Katsuki charged it, jerking Izuku with each step. He was worried they would slip in the blood but it had dried enough to allow some traction. Then, he slammed into the door and pounded his free hand against the opening mechanism. A low growl reverberated in his helmet and it took him a second to realize it was him who was growling. Izuku was jerking on his arm and slapping at his back, screaming unintelligible sounds.
The door began sliding open and Katsuki wedged his fingers into the space and wrenched. The servos in his suit whirled to aid him, adding the suit's strength to his. The door shuddered and jolted at Katsuki’s action and he could hear the gears whirling, whining in protest at the treatment. The moment the gap was big enough, Katsuki shoved his way through. He felt his guns and tools belts catch and hook between the door and the jamb, but ignored it as he ripped himself free, stumbling into the hallway. Izuku’s weight slammed into his back.
There was no time for thought. Katsuki was in motion again as he did his best to back track his path. Izuku was still screaming, and it was getting hard to pull the other along, but they needed to put as much distance between them and that thing in the ventilation system as possible. Katsuki didn’t know what they were dealing with, but if Izuku’s reaction was anything to go by, he couldn’t even spare the time to look over his shoulder.
Their flight in terror lasted minutes before Katsuki found himself at the end of the long hallway that would take them to the Captain’s quarters, should he choose to go there. He looked over his shoulder and found Izuku right behind him, hair wild and eyes more so. There was terror in them, pure and unadulterated. He was wheezing, gasping for breath and still rubbing at his sternum. Katsuki made a decision then, and pulled Izuku down the hallway toward the Captain’s quarters. As far as he could tell, whatever was after them hadn’t been able to get to Momo.
The red emergency lights still blinked, adding a sinister new depth to the shadows that haunted the hallways. They made the panic Katsuki held back acute as it needled at his eyes and brain and skin. He went headlong down the hall. Izuku stumbled but Katsuki didn’t let him go down to his knees, spinning and yanking Izuku back to his feet without care. The long shadow at the end of the hallway they had come from wouldn’t allow him to be gentle.
“Keep moving, keep moving,” Katsuki chanted, righting Izuku and then leading him once more. Together they slammed into the Captain’s door and Katsuki fumbled with the locking mechanism. However, the door remained stubbornly closed and Katsuki’s heart dropped to his ass when he realized he didn’t have the entry code. He didn’t need it when he’d had Denki, but he didn’t have him this time around.
“Deku—” Katsuki began, turning to the other, choking on the overwhelming fear and helplessness. He’d just gotten Izuku back and he was about to lose his husband again because he didn’t think about the fucking code.
But before Katsuki could apologize for his failure, Izuku was shoving past him and tapping away at the code pad. His fingers shook so hard that Katsuki thought he’d have to enter the code again, but then the pad beeped and the door slid open. Izuku fell forward and Katsuki looked back into the hallway.
He couldn’t see what was chasing him but he could tell that the shadows moved along the ceilings. He could hear the metallic tick-tack of fingers piercing metal. When the thing was finally caught in the bloody red light, Katsuki gasped, and then was pulled backward into the Captain’s quarters. The door slid shut in front of his nose.
Katsuki spun to face Izuku who was heaving, gasping for air, alternating between holding his sides and rubbing his chest. Sweat clung to every inch of him, making him glisten, making his hair stick to his face, making his clothes cling to his body. He was shaking and tears cut tracks through the dirt on his face. Katsuki reached out toward Izuku and the other collapsed into his arms. The force knocked Katsuki back against the door and then they were sliding to the floor together as Izuku sobbed, trembling in his arms.
Izuku buried his face into Katsuki’s chest, ignoring the uncomfortable press of the suit against his skin, and wrapped his arms tight around Katsuki’s face. Katsuki pet at Izuku’s back and hair, and bumped his helmet against Izuku’s head.
The need to see Izuku with his own eyes, hear Izuku with his own ears, smell Izuku with his own nose, and not through the helmet’s processors, was too great. Despite knowing better, despite all the protocols, despite everything that had happened on the Ishimura so far, Katsuki lifted his hands and disengaged the locks on his helmet. The helmet parted from his suit with a hiss as air flooded into it, the coolness, the freshness a sweet relief against his skin. Katsuki let his helmet drop to the floor and buried his nose in green curls, relishing the feel of them against his skin.
Izuku stunk. He smelled like death and blood and garbage. It was disgusting and an affront to Katsuki’s nose. It would have been better to keep the helmet on but Katsuki didn’t care as he cradled Izuku harder against himself, rocking the smaller gently as he tried to calm his husband down.
When Izuku’s body-rocking sobs turned into hiccups, Katsuki lifted his head from Izuku’s hair and adjusted him in his arms. Izuku whimpered but Katsuki was careful to keep him enclosed in his arms and boxed in with his legs. He lifted Izuku’s face up so that he could look into it.
Izuku looked even more terrible than he had laying on the floor of the labs. The pallor and bruised eyes were made worse by the puffiness of his lids from the heavy crying, the raw nose from the rubbing, and the blotchy skin. He was an ugly crier made uglier by the ordeals he had faced while on the ship.
Katsuki dipped his head and placed a gentle kiss on Izuku’s lips. He tasted like death just as much as he smelled like it.
“You’re here,” Izuku whimpered, eyes shiny. His bottom lip trembled and fresh tears welled over. “I knew you’d come.”
“The whole Kellion is here.”
“How long has it been?”
“Two weeks.”
“That’s all?” Izuku lifted a hand to cover his mouth, eyes moving away from Katsuki’s face as thoughts whirled in his head. He began mumbling and Katsuki let him, happy to hear his husband’s annoying habit after having thought he’d lost him.
Katsuki pet Izuku’s hair back from his forehead and counted the freckles he found spread across Izuku’s nose and cheeks. It had been too long since he’d counted them. He placed another kiss against Izuku’s forehead.
“That’s all.”
Izuku’s lips trembled and he pressed the back of his hand against his mouth. He pressed them into a thin line and then looked Katsuki in the eye. Like a switch had been flipped, Izuku composed himself, separating from Katsuki and rising to his feet. He held out his hand for Katsuki to take and then pulled him to his feet so they stood facing one another. Katsuki watched as Izuku’s lips trembled once, eyes glistening, before his husband took a deep breath and scrubbed his face hard. He looked around the Captain’s quarters.
“I’m going to—” Izuku tried but was cut off when his voice trembled with tears. “I’m going to shower. Then we’re going to talk.”
“Okay,” Katuski agreed, although he didn’t want to let Izuku out of his sight again. He knew that Izuku was putting on his scientist persona, dressing himself in layers of academics, unbiased and controlled. It was for the best because they needed to get off the Ishimura and having a full mental breakdown was not going to do them any favors. “Don’t look behind the desk though.”
Izuku looked to Katsuki quickly, his face inquisitive, but nodded when Katsuki didn’t elaborate. He stepped away from Katsuki and beelined it to the only other door within the quarters, behind which laid the bathroom.
When Izuku disappeared from sight, Katsuki sucked in a deep, meditative breath. He released it long and slow, letting his lungs empty out. Bringing himself back under control, he went around the desk to Momo’s body. He didn’t want to move her but he knew it would just be another thing that could send Izuku into a spiral they didn’t have time for. He rationally knew that he was also at the edge of spiraling but if he could focus on stopping Izuku from losing it, it would give him enough focus to stop himself from falling off the edge.
As Katsuki steeled himself to lift Momo from where she had fallen, the muffled sound of glass shattering rent the air. Katsuki was moving before he realized it, slamming open the bathroom door and lifting his forgotten rifle. The only thing that he found, however, was a naked Izuku cradling a bloody fist, the bathroom mirror shattered over the vanity and floor. The bathroom was filled with steam and Izuku’s dirty clothes lay on the floor.
If Katsuki thought Izuku had looked bad before, seeing his husband’s naked body made it apparent just how hard Izuku had it since everything had started. Large, blotchy bruises littered his body everywhere as if he’d been tossed against every available surface. They were mottled black, purple, and green. Izuku’s normally tan complexion was waxy and colourless making the bruises all the starker. He was covered in cuts and scrapes of varying sizes as well. The worst started beneath his left peck and ended at his right shoulder like one of the things had taken a swipe at Izuku. The skin was split, curling at the edges like dried paper. If it wasn’t for the fact that Izuku was clearly up and moving around, Katsuki would have sworn the wound would have been fatal.
“Deku,” Katsuki called softly, letting his rifle fall back into place. “Deku, look at me.”
Izuku turned to him, eyes wet. He crossed his arms over his chest as if to hide the wound there. He didn’t look at Katsuki, choosing instead to stare at the ground between their feet. He shifted his weight from side-to-side. “Sorry, I—I thought I could hold it together but then the wound, in the mirror.”
Katsuki stepped closer to Izuku and reached out to touch him but Izuku pulled back. “They’re out there. Waiting. I know they are,” Izuku whispered, his fingernails biting into the skin of his biceps. “They’re not going to let us get off the ship.”
“We’re getting off this ship.” Katsuki reached out to Izuku again, satisfied when the other didn’t flinch away, and pulled him close. The suit pressing against Izuku couldn’t feel good but Katsuki felt Izuku crumple against him. “You’re going to shower. I’m going to find you clothes. And then we’re going to run. We’re running all the way to the dock entrance where the others will be waiting for us.”
“What if we don’t make it?”
“We’re going to make it.”
“They’re so fast, Kacchan.”
“We’ll be faster.”
Izuku pulled himself free of Katsuki’s arms. He still didn’t meet Katsuki’s eyes but pulled on Katsuki’s arm, dragging him toward the shower. “Shower with me?”
Katsuki hesitated. If comms were reestablished, Denki could alert Katsuki even without his helmet on with a simple ping to his suit. But it had been a few months since he’d last seen Izuku, and the other was right. There was a good chance they wouldn’t make it off the ship. Katsuki’s gut was telling him that it wasn’t the last they saw of that thing, and that it hadn’t been hunting them so much as playing with them.
“Sure. Help me get this suit off.”
It was a two-man job to remove Katsuki’s suit. While he could get most of the plates off himself, he wouldn’t be able to remove his torso piece himself. They worked in silence as they twisted and flipped releases, the suit hissing when each plate released from the bodysuit Katsuki wore beneath them. The back plate took the longest, the spinal support releasing one at a time. When Izuku leveraged it off, Katsuki was able to remove the chest plate. Most of the vital cords were stored there and he had Izuku hold the plate while he disconnected them from the bodysuit. When all the plates were off and Katsuki felt fifty pounds lighter, he had Izuku unzip the bodysuit. The steamed air hitting his smothered skin was refreshing enough that Katsuki groaned at the feeling.
Izuku took his hand and led them into the shower where the hot water awaited them. They both groaned as it hit their bodies, the sound echoing off the tile.
“Perks of being the Captain,” Izuku said with a sad, soft smile as he tipped his head back into the stream of water. His wild curls flattened and he scrubbed his fingers against his scalp. Katsuki spotted the shampoo and scooped it up, popping it open. The subtle smell of peaches wafted on the steam and Katsuki upturned the bottle, pouring it onto Izuku’s head. His husband grunted his thanks and lathered up his hair until suds slipped down his temple.
Katsuki followed suit, leaning to Izuku’s space and knocking the other out of the way long enough to soak his hair. He turned the bottle over in his hand and then brought it to his hair where he massaged the shampoo into his hair.
It was almost domestic, reminding Katsuki of their time at home when they had their shared vacations and time off. If not for the fact that they'd been forced into the Captain's quarters by something distinctly not-human which awaited them, Katsuki could almost forget that they were on the Ishimura, trapped in a nightmare.
A soft touch to the side of his neck brought Katsuki out of his revere. He wiped the shampoo from his face and tipped his head down. Izuku was pressed against his front, hands braced on his chest. He wore a shy pout, earlier distress forgotten or set aside. Izuku traced a finger over Katsuki’s pec, following the line of his muscle.
“I missed you,” Izuku whispered as he leaned more of his weight into Katsuki. He placed a light kiss against the pec he wasn't tracing.
“Deku, I don't think—”
Izuku was quick to cut him off, a flash of something broken, pleading morphing Izuku's face before he pouted once more. “Please?”
Katsuki’s resolve wavered. It was inappropriate, what Izuku was suggesting. They’d just found each other after Katsuki had thought Izuku had died. They were on an empty ship that boasted at least one monster. Momo was dead not twenty feet away.
Izuku’s lips slipped up Katsuki’s chest until he was pecking at Katsuki’s neck, tucked beneath his chin. “Please. I need this. I need to feel something. I’ve felt like I’ve been a ghost for so long.”
The broken sound of Izuku’s voice snapped something within Katsuki and he was crowding his husband against a wall. He dipped his head and caught Izuku’s lips in a fierce kiss. His hands dropped to Izuku’s hips and squeezed, digging his fingertips into the skin there. When Izuku gasped, Katsuki took the opportunity to slip his tongue into Izuku’s mouth. There was still the sour taste from lack of brushing but Katsuki didn’t care. The only thought he had was to feel Izuku, to establish that he was alive, that they both were.
He felt Izuku slip his fingers into the short hair at the back of his neck and tug. The little sparks of pain morphed into pleasure and Katsuki rolled his hips into Izuku’s. The other moaned at the contact and canted his hips to get a better angle. Katsuki rolled his hips again, his quickly swelling cock gliding across Izuku’s slick abdomen. Izuku rolled his own hips, cock sliding against Katsuki’s thigh.
Katsuki continued devouring Izuku as they rolled their hips into each other, seeking relief through the friction. But it wasn’t enough for Katsuki, and he bent his knees so he could grab Izuku behind his thighs.
Catching onto Katsuki’s intentions, Izuku hopped up into Katsuki’s hands and wrapped his legs around Katsuki’s waist. The new position aligned their cocks and they moaned into each other’s mouth at the new contact.
Katsuki pressed Izuku’s back into the wall and ripped his mouth from Izuku’s. His husband whined at the loss but it morphed into a moan as Katsuki pressed his hips hard into Izuku’s.
“Ka—Kacchan, more, please, more !”
Katsuki reached out blindly behind him, hand seeking the conditioner. When his fingers bumped against plastic, he snagged the bottle and pulled it to his face. Conditioner confirmed, Katsuki released Izuku’s thighs to fumble the conditioner open and squirt some into his hand.
It wasn't the best option, but it would have to do.
While Katsuki smeared his fingers thoroughly with the conditioner, making sure to coat them, Izuku buried his face in Katsuki's neck. He used his arms to leverage himself as he continued rolling his hips into Katsuki’s, hot breath panting against Katsuki’s wet neck. “Hurry. Hurry!”
Fingers sufficiently coated, Katsuki reached his hand around Izuku, trailing his fingers up Izuku's thigh. He slipped his fingers along Izuku’s taint, tickling the soft skin behind his balls, before sliding them along to Izuku’s rim.
Katsuki would normally take his time preparing Izuku, especially after so long apart, but time was of the essence and he didn’t think gentle was what Izuku was after. Katsuki slid his first finger in to the knuckle, pausing to let Izuku adjust. His husband was tight but he pumped his finger, feeling Izuku squeeze around the digit.
Too soon, Katsuki pressed in a second finger, petting Izuku’s hip with his other hand when Izuku hissed at the intrusion. He waited a little longer, giving Izuku a brief respite, before he picked up pumping and scissoring his fingers.
“Hey,” Katsuki called gently. Izuku pulled his face from Katsuki's neck, his eyelashes wet from more than just the shower.
Katsuki snagged Izuku’s lips in another kiss. Unlike the prep, the kiss was slow and languid as they mapped out each other’s mouths. Katsuki took the opportunity while Izuku was distracted to press in a third finger.
It was far too soon and Izuku pulled away to release a pained groan. His face was twisted up and eyes were closed as he breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth.
Short of slowing down, it wasn’t going to get any better for Izuku so Katsuki pumped his three fingers, spreading them to loosen Izuku as much as he could in the limited time they had.
“Just go,” Izuku panted, cracking his eyes open to look at Katsuki. “We don't have the time, just go.”
“We have a little more time,” Katsuki tried to argue but he was already removing his fingers and gripping up his cock, slathering it with the leftover conditioner.
“Don't wait,” Izuku directed, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard enough Katsuki could hear it over the water spray.
“Deku—”
“Don't wait,” Izuku whispered harshly, yanking on Katsuki's hair to emphasize his point.
Katsuki shook his head but lined himself up with Izuku’s hole. He rested the head of his cock lightly against the skin there and they both held their breath. When Izuku released his, Katsuki pressed in, in one smooth motion.
He dropped his head against Izuku’s shoulder and felt a searing heat rise up in his shoulder where Izuku had scratched him. Izuku was too tight and gripped Katsuki almost painfully. Izuku was panting and whimpering in his ear. His thighs were squeezing Katsuki’s hips tight enough that he thought his husband might break him in half.
“Move,” Izuku commanded, pain making his voice tight.
Katsuki lifted his head from Izuku’s shoulder and looked into his husband’s pain-pinched face. “We can wait a second.”
“Kacchan—”
“A second.” Katsuki thought Izuku was going to argue but then the other nodded his ascent. As they caught their breath, they traced their fingers over each other. Izuku let his fingers rove Katsuki’s shoulders and neck while Katsuki prodded the edges of Izuku’s chest wound. The small flinch let Katsuki know the wound was still tender. It oozed a bit of blood plasma, agitated from their activities and the shower.
“Okay,” Izuku said softly, shifting his hips. The grip around his cock marginally looser, Katsuki acquiesced to Izuku’s request and pulled back his hips until only the head of his cock remained seated in Izuku’s heat. Katsuki pressed in, slow, letting his cock drag over Izuku’s velvet walls. He set a slow pace, determined to make sure Izuku finished with more pleasure than pain. He shifted his hips until Izuku’s small noises of discomfort shifted into moans of pleasure. Prostate found, Katsuki aimed for it on every press in. Soon, Izuku was gripping at Katsuki, body shaking in pleasure, as he rolled his hips in rhythm with Katsuki.
“Faster, faster,” Izuku panted against Katsuki’s mouth. Katsuki obliged him and picked up his pace, hips slapping against Izuku’s ass, the sound loud on the tiles of the shower.
Heat began to pool low in Katsuki’s gut and he knew Izuku was getting close by the way he clung to his shoulders. Izuku’s blunt fingernails found purchase in Katsuki’s skin and he knew he’d have crescent marks on his shoulders for days.
“Harder,” Izuku demanded before smashing their lips together. Katsuki widened his stance and slammed into Izuku, flexing his hips and abdomen.
The pool of heat continued to grow into a tight knot behind his navel. Katsuki’s pace became erratic as he sought to bring Izuku over the edge first, zeroing in on his husband’s prostate.
Izuku pulled his mouth away from Katsuki’s with a loud moan that morphed into a scream as his orgasm washed over him. He shook in Katsuki’s arms, legs flexing and a muscle in his neck jumping. He bore down hard on Katsuki’s dick, his heat becoming overwhelming.
Izuku’s eyes were squeezed shut and his head was thrown back to expose the long column of his throat. Katsuki dove in, sucking harshly in the skin there to mark up the other. His hips stuttered as the pleasure rose up like a wave until it crashed over him, Izuku’s muscles fluttering around him and milking him. The knot in his gut snapped and Katsuki buried himself deep within Izuku where he released, cock jumping and pulsing.
When his cock gave a final twitch, Katsuki released Izuku’s throat from his teeth and carefully lowered the other until his feet touched the ground. Katsuki was loath to part from Izuku so soon, but they couldn’t afford to linger anymore than they already had. He still took the time to turn Izuku around though and clean him out as much as he could with crooked fingers. Izuku shivered at the touches, oversensitive. Katsuki peppered soothing kisses across freckled shoulders, stopping to plant a few on the back of Izuku’s head.
“We should get out,” Izuku said as he turned around to face Katsuki. He was worried, face drawn tight and fear growing in his green eyes once more.
Katsuki wanted to argue, wanted to just wait it out into the Captain's quarters, but knew Izuku was right.
“Let’s finish washing up.”
In record time, they washed the last of the dirt from their bodies and were exiting the shower. Katsuki directed Izuku to wait in the bathroom while he hunted around Momo’s clothing to find something that Izuku could wear. Momo’s proportions were different than Izuku’s, but they were about the same height and Katsuki was able to locate sweatpants and a simple t-shirt. He also dug out socks and shorts that could act as underwear, nabbing his helmet from the floor, and returned to the bathroom.
They got dressed in silence, Izuku helping Katsuki back into the stuffy suit. It weighed even more than it had before.
Katsuki turned his helmet over in his hands, catching his reflection in the face plate. He looked worse for wear even though it hadn’t been more than a couple of hours since entering the Ishimura. There were dark circles forming around his eyes and his hair was limp. He looked bloodless and pale.
“Kacchan.”
Katsuki looked up in time for Izuku to place a soft, quick kiss on his lips. His husband took his helmet from his hands.
“What’s the plan?”
“I’ll lead and clear the way. Stay behind me. We’ll jog until we’re forced to run. I don’t want to wear ourselves out too soon by running right out the gate. Once we get to the docking entrance, we’ll make our way into the antechamber. The glass there is high grade. It’d take a meteor to break it so even if we have to quarantine, we should be safe from whatever is on the ship. It should also put us in range for my comms to work without problem.”
Izuku’s teeth worried his lip until it was flushed a dark red, blood welling to just beneath the surface. Different emotions flicked across his husband’s face and Katsuki could see the wheels turning until they settled. Izuku looked up and met Katsuki’s gaze.
“I love you.”
It felt like a goodbye but Katsuki refused to dwell on it. He reached out and lifted his helmet from Izuku’s grasp. He slipped it over his head, working the latches until it was fastened back in place. It hissed as it locked airtight over his head and the HUD popped up to run diagnostics. The comms still blinked disconnected, but that was the only issue the suit noted.
Katsuki dismissed the HUD and looked into Izuku’s face.
“Save it for when we’re on the Kellion.” Katsuki pulled the Divet from his thigh holster and turned it over to Izuku. “Eyes on me the whole time, from the moment we leave this bathroom until we’re at docking.”
Izuku’s lips were pressed into a thin white line but he nodded, checked over the small gun, and flipped the safety off. He held it like his training dictated, muzzle pointed at the ground and held in front of him. Katsuki nodded back and turned, raising his rifle to his shoulder.
“Eyes on me.” Then Katsuki was out of the bathroom, studying through the room, and hitting the open mechanism on the quarters’s door. It slid open and Katsuki was scanning the hallway laid out before them. When he clocked nothing, he set out into a jog, trusting Izuku to follow behind him without further directions.
Every sense was on high alert. Katsuki turned up the sensitivity on his audio input, straining to hear the creaking of metal ventilation giving under weight. Their footfalls echoed dully, louder than Katsuki would have liked but they had to sacrifice stealth for speed. His eyes scanned left to right and back again, top to bottom. The ventilation systems ran all over and the thing could emerge from almost anywhere.
Katsuki did his best to remember his path, but there were a few intersections he had to pause at. Izuku didn't speak when that happened, just tapped one shoulder or the other, or pressed between them to direct Katsuki. It probably would have been better to let Izuku lead, but Katsuki was a little more durable in his suit and could risk taking a hit that Izuku couldn’t should they be ambushed.
Minutes crawled by as they made their way through the ship’s maze. Katsuki had never felt trapped on a ship before, but now he felt like he was in a ticking time bomb. His comms remained silent as did the hallways. It should have brought an iota of relief but it did the opposite, cranking up his anxiety until he was buzzing with it.
They turned left down a hallway and Katsuki recognized it as the one that he’d followed after leaving the armory. They only had a couple minutes left before they arrived at the docking entrance. Adrenaline spiked through Katsuki at the realization and he picked up his pace minutely but as he did so, metal groaned.
He skidded to a halt and felt Izuku run into him. He shot an arm back to steady his husband and listened. It groaned again and Katsuki could tell it came from behind him. He peeked over his shoulder, past Izuku's curls. The red emergency lights flashed. Once. Twice. A third time. The bloody light was low and revealed nothing.
Metal groaned again, popped. He could feel Izuku shaking even through his suit. There was pressure at his lower back as Izuku pushed against him.
Katsuki looked forward. The hallway was clear ahead of him, as far as he could tell. He reached back and squeezed Izuku’s hand twice.
They were going to go for it.
Izuku squeezed back twice.
They were running, feet thudding loudly and reverberating around them. The metal pops and groans grew louder, faster. The end of the hallway looked ahead and they would swing left into the hallway that would take them to the docking entrance.
Katsuki led the charge, rifle up as they rounded the corner. He spared a half glance at the armory and then they were past. He could hear Izuku panting behind him. He could hear himself sucking in air. More metal pops and groans. They were closing in. Then loud static and yelling.
The comms had connected. They were within range.
“Open the fucking door!” Katsuki screamed. “ OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!” They weren't in sight yet but he didn’t care. There was more yelling in his ear but he couldn't make anything out, too focused on just surviving.
Izuku screamed behind him and metal screeched, rattled. Katsuki juked to the side, spun, and blind fired as Izuku zipped past him. The bursts from his rifle lit up the gloom but the light didn't penetrate more than a few inches. He squeezed off a few more shots and then turned tail, chasing after Izuku.
He watched as Izuku braked hard and then dove to the right, through the docking entrance doors. Katsuki was seconds behind and did the same, throwing himself hard into the docking entrance. He bounced off the ground and scrambled through, kicking his feet out.
“CLOSE IT, FUCKING CLOSE IT!”
The doors slid shut, the emergency locking mechanism engaging with heavy, reassuring thumps. Katsuki let his head drop against the floor, his muscles going weak as the adrenaline flushed out of his system. He closed his eyes but a soft ping had him opening them again.
Filling his vision was Shouto. He looked pale and shaken.
“Report.”
“There's—there's something in there,” Katsuki gasped out, trying to draw in air. “I don't know what. Non-human. I recovered Izuku.”
Shouto’s face drained the last bit of colour that remained and then he muted himself, turning to someone off camera. Katsuki could see a rapid argument happening before Shouto turned back to the camera and unmuted himself.
“Katsuki. I need you to listen to me very closely. While we were disconnected, Denki got into the cameras.” Shouto paused, fear seeping into his normally calm exterior. Fear for Katsuki.
“Katsuki, there is no one with you.”
“What are you talking about? Izuku is right fucking here.” Katsuki turned to look at the exterior hill door where Izuku had collapsed but found that his husband had moved. He flipped his head the other way to display the other side of the docking entrance but found that too was empty.
Katsuki pushed himself to sitting and twisted around, every which way. The room wasn't very large and there were no places to hide so where the fuck was Izuku.
But Izuku wasn't there.
“That’s not possible,” Katsuki stated as he got to his feet, turning in circles. “I watched him come in here. He came in first.”
He turned to face the glass.
“Did he step out before you closed the door?” Katsuki walked to the door and tried the hatch, pushing and pulling on it. “Open the door Denki.”
“Katsuki—”
“Denki, open the door. Izuku was right here, he must have gone out when I came in. He’s out there! Open the door! He’s out there with that thing!”
“Katsuki, I need you to breathe.”
“Fuck off! Open the fucking door! Izuku is out there!” The last word was practically a howl as Katsuki threw himself against the door, engaging his suit’s servos with the hope he could force the door open. He peered through the glass, expecting to see Izuku in the dim hallway but found nothing.
He must have run when he realized he couldn’t get through the door.
“Katsuki, listen to me.” Shouto’s voice was soft and coaxing but Katsuki would have nothing of it. “Katsuki, there is no one there. There is nothing there.”
The way Shouto emphasized nothing had Katsuki's blood running cold.
“What are you saying?”
“The ship is empty, Katsuki. We watched the archived footage. There’s nothing there.”
“Fuck off, I know what I saw!”
“No, Katsuki.” Shouto’s voice remained soft but Katsuki could hear the pity seeping in. It was like his Captain was speaking to a wild animal. “There’s nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing in the med bay.”
“They did it to themselves.”
It was like Katsuki's brain performed a reboot because there was no way he heard what he thought he heard. It didn’t make sense. The crew did not do that to themselves. It was impossible.
“No. That’s not possible.”
“What they found, that black stuff you touched earlier, we think it causes violent hallucinations. They were infected by it, and it led them to turning on each other. We watched the videos. They did it to themselves.”
Katsuki was shaking his head as he turned from the door and walked to the hull. They must have missed that thing crawling through the vents. It’d be hard to see during the chaos that would have broken out. They wouldn’t know what to look for.
And besides, he’d been with Izuku up until moments ago.
“You’re not seeing right. You’re not looking for the right thing on the videos. I was with Izuku almost from the moment we lost connection until now. It’s in the vents.”
“Katsuki, there is nothing there.”
“Show me.”
“That's not a good—”
“Show me, I want to see. I’ll show you what I mean. You’re just missing it!”
Shouto went still in his video. There was a twitch in his cheek, his face was tense. He looked off to his side again then his attention was back on Katsuki.
“Denki, show him.”
A second video screen popped up Katsuki’s display. It was time stamped for 18 days ago. It was a video of the med bay. Numerous people laid in the beds, thrashing. Tsu and Izuku walked amongst them. They wore ventilation masks. The video skipped ahead a day. When it stopped, it was in the middle of a blood bath. A blood bath that was caused by the crew. They were tearing into each other, literally ripping each other apart. Blood splashed everywhere. There was so much of it, they were slipping on it. And no sign of the thing, either.
The video changed and it showed the labs. Izuku was hiding behind a lab table. He peeked out every few seconds. There was something in his hands. He lifted it to his mouth but Katsuki couldn’t tell what it was. A few seconds passed and he began jerking, shuddering. It looked like a seizure and then he collapsed onto his side before rolling onto his back. He thrashed wildly before falling still.
The video jumped and the time stamp indicated it was taken only a short time ago. It was Katsuki walking into the labs and finding Izuku. He leaned over the body and then stood up suddenly, rifle readied. Katsuki watched himself standing in the central walkway before spinning and running from the room.
Alone.
He’d been alone the whole time.
There’d been no monster.
There’d been no Izuku.
“Katsuki, I’m sorry.”
He screamed.