Guardian Angel Deku

The Rubicon

In the morning, Ochako stretched as she woke up. Izuku was still... 'asleep'. That technically was not the right word, but the one she would use. It was a good thing, really. A few hours of absolute clarity. Sebastian was back, as well. "Sorry about last night. You all good?"
Still sleepy, she wiped her eyes. "Can't speak for Izuku, but I am."
The angel was surprised. "Is he... asleep?"
Nodding, "Currently."

"Um... so, I wouldn't ask this with him around, but... how are you? Really?"

She sighed, "When he's awake it's getting harder to think. I swear I'm starting to forget things..."

"Yeah. Okay... we really need to find Life then."

It was at this time when Ochako felt Izuku "awaken". A heavy weight, and a partial mental fog descended as he asked, Did I miss much?

No.

Good.

Getting up, she stumbled a bit, her mind still groggy... or was it a different kind of fatigue?

The dark angel glanced at her, concern only showing in his eyes. "You all good?"
"Yeah... yeah..." She said, before standing straight, her wings furling outward in a stretch. "So... what should we do?"
Shaking his head, as if wanting to forget certain details of the preceding night, but did remark on something actually useful. "Right. I wasn't just... well, Sabrina wasn't just gallivanting around last night. We took a look at the defenses as well. There's a less secure patch of fence to the south. As long as we hide in a cloud... we'll be fine. Well, You'll be fine. I think."

"Not a lot of confidence there..." Izuku said with her voice, before she finished packing up and left the room.

Downstairs was just as luxurious as the suite. And rest of the hotel, to be honest. As the two of them walked downstairs, however... she couldn't shake the feeling of hostile gazes... and she knew why. They both did. When approaching the in house restaurant for breakfast, she did notice them scowl for a moment, before putting on a pleasant expression. A lie... but what can I do...

She asked, carefully with the Japanese to Chinese translations, in an effort to try to at least not be the worst kind of tourist, but she just responded, in Japanese. "You don't need to butcher my language anymore. The free breakfast with the Jade class is here." She pointed to a part of the menu. It read (with Izuku translating for her):

Jade Class receive this complimentary breakfast:

Congee with pickled vegetables, tofu, peanuts, eggs, and beef.

Relieved, but apologizing to her about the language difficulty, she stated, "That's fine. I'll have it."

She nodded, inputting the order into the till on her side of the counter. "Very well. It will be brought out to you when it is ready."

Ochako nodded, smiling, as she found a table. Looking around, she couldn't help but feel as if she was being watched. Sebastian noted on her unease. "Relax. You haven't done anything, and it's going to make you more suspicious if you do that."
Relaxing, she thought, Well, it doesn't help that everyone here seems to hate me.

Not everyone.

Thanks... she then lost focus for a moment, before she was brought back to reality as food arrived. Thanking the server, she thought, Wait, why did I lose focus then?

I was calling your name for a while... but... I don't know... concern was clear in his voice, even if she could never see his face.

A creeping reminder of her condition. Shaking her head, as if to dispel it, Ochako silently thanked the chefs for the food, and then ate it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't spectacular, either. It just wasn't the same as home.

After finishing, she walked out of the place, helmet in her hand. Approaching her ATV, she turned the key, igniting the engine, and sped out of the place, and south, taking a roundabout way to get there... and eventually, she made it to the place Sebastian indicated.

They were now at the barrier to the exclusion zone.

The barrier at this portion of the wall was a tall, chain link fence high in the sky, covered in razor wire. There were no guard towers at this portion of it, due to its remoteness. It would not be able to stop anyone who really wanted to get in... and besides, no person would reasonably want to go into that hellzone. But, Ochako had to. Sebastian hovered above and motioned for her to join him... and cross the barrier. Moving the ATV into a better spot, she parked it out of sight, and then carefully placed the helmet on the seat. She didn't know if she'd ever use it again, but it was a faithful and useful vehicle. Now, it was all on her. Closing her eyes, she raised her wings, then pushed down while jumping to launch herself up into the air. She'd need height in order to get past the barrier without triggering alarms. Air parted as she quickly ascended. It felt incredible, the rush of air parting as you fly, the air filtering through the feathers on her wings... at least until it was getting hard to breathe. At that altitude, she decided that now was the perfect height to glide, then did just that. Gliding, she looked down, and saw just how bad it looked.

In the center of the exclusion zone was an abandoned city. All living things were blackened and rotten, with pustules of blight breaking up the monotonous black color of their leaves.

"Horrible, isn't it?" None of his previous jovial self really remained. It was a quiet resignation at that. 
Horror crept into her voice. Sure, she saw it from afar, from the other side of the wall, but seeing the true scale really showed the death and decay of the region. "How...?"
Sebastian closed his eyes, seemingly sensing for this disease god's presence. "Even contained, her power seeps out. The more restrained it is, the more violently it wants to be free." The dark angel explained. "We're headed right for its heart." He pointed to the center of the zone, towards a facility that looked like a hospital.

Nodding, Ochako stated, "Right. Lead the way."

Angling down, he dived, and she followed. He evened out at street level, where Ochako could now fully see the true horror behind the blight. Buildings crumbling down, made quickly for a vast amount of people, but no longer with purpose. Black overgrown vines completely covered more and more as they flew closer to the lab. Dipping under a bridge, she saw human bones nearly covered in vines and scraps of clothes. Shuddering, she continued to follow him to their destination.

When they arrived, the two landed with no issue, a fair distance away. Walking to the facility, she found the sign in front of the front entrance unintelligible. It was in a Chinese script, which was completely different to Japanese script. Not only that, but it had degraded from the centuries left abandoned. She remembered Pony from class B asking what was so different about it, and from a western perspective, she could see how they could be mistaken, but here, there was no mistake. She couldn't read the sign. However, Sebastian translated it for her, "Wuhan institute of Virology. Ha. How... funny." He wasn't really humored by it, but waited for Ochako to catch up as he held the main entrance door open.

The interior was completely dilapidated. Vines had grown and blackened, with blights clear on their faded leaves. The halls were empty, reclaimed by nature before it was found to be even hospitable to normal life. As they walked further in, the halls were even more broken down. It was getting hard to breathe here, as dust was constantly in the air. As they advanced, she couldn't help but cough.

Sebastian was sympathetic. "Fortunately, my first encounter with her, was not while I was alive. It'll be rough. Just push through it."

"Not... *cough*... not like I have a choice." Ochako replied, covering her mouth.

"Don't cover your nose. It'll block oxygen circulation." Sebastian warned as she pushed forward. It was then that she heard a new noise in the distance. The angel also heard, and became quiet as they both moved forward, careful in approach.

As soon as she got closer to the noise, she could identify it. A wheezing breath. Heavy, and sick. It was just around the corner... and when they turned, Ochako saw her for the first time.