Chapter Text
“Hello?”
“Izu-kun!!!” Wincing, he holds his phone away from his ear at his sister’s squeal.
He’s more than used to doing so after living with Present Mic for so long. How the man hasn’t shattered his phone yet is a complete mystery.
“Oh hey Miko.” He says with a smile, trapping his phone against his ear with his shoulder. Bending down to pick up another cat toy from the living room floor, as he had been doing before Miko called. Deadpool rubs against his legs with a curious merp, staring at him as he tidies the mess they made playing together. “What’s up?”
“I’ve got a surprise for you! How soon can you be here?”
“Depends on where ‘here’ is.” He deadpans, fighting back an amused smile at Miko’s antics.
“Oh right! Can you come to the penthouse as soon as possible? There’s someone I want you to meet.”
“Uh sure… I’ll be right there.” He says, dumping the toys in the box they’re supposed to be in before grabbing his leather jacket. Already heading for the door.
“Papa? I’m going out, Miko wants me to come over!”
“Alright, have fun, Izu-kun! Make sure to come home in time for supper, though, we’re having katsudon tonight!”
He smiles, just basking in the fact that he has a home to come back to, people who want to have him home for supper. He was alone for so long and now, his life is filled with so many amazing people who care so deeply about him.
“Will do! See you tonight!”
•
Izuku takes a deep breath as he knocks on the door of Necchan’s flat, bouncing on his heels.
Tapping his foot as he waits for the door to be answered, he stills in shock when the door opens to reveal a midnight haired teen. One he recognizes from being portrayed in quite a few pictures on the walls of this very house. The guy’s slate blue eyes stare at him with curiosity. Izuku tries not to stare at the myriad of scars painted on the stranger’s skin.
“Hi...”
He cringes as soon as he utters the single word greeting, trying to snap out of his shocked state.
The stranger seems unfazed. He gives Izuku a winning smile that leaves the green haired boy blinking in surprise.
“You must be Izuku, nice to meet you. I’m Nei, Miko’s brother.” Says the teen with a smile. “Come on in, Miko is in the living room.”
He brightens. “Nice to meet you, Miko talks about you all the time.”
“Does she now?” He comments in a smug drawl. “I knew she missed me, she’s been denying it.”
He suppresses a smile, liking Nei already. Anyone he can bully Miko with is great in his books.
“So, um, how come I’ve never seen you before?” He asks hesitantly as he steps inside, hanging his jacket on the hook they always keep empty for him. “Miko and Ne-chan wouldn’t tell me much.”
“Was infiltrating some sketchy villain group, turns out they’re scum.” Nei shrugs nonchalantly. “No surprise there, but it’s worse than we thought.”
“Oh, was it the Yakuza wannabes?
“Yeah, they’ve been on our radar for a while, there were rumours of human experimentation and kidnapping floating around, turns out they’re true. They’re keeping a little girl captive.” He says, fists clenched with barely repressed rage. “Experimenting on her to make some kind of quirk erasing bullets. Their leader is a sick fuck who seems to enjoy torturing her.”
“She’s only six years old, it’s not right, she doesn’t deserve this.” Miko says solemnly as they enter the living room. She’s covered in paint, adding another blood red rose to the mural she’s been working on for the last week. She looks more troubled than he’s ever seen her.
His sister’s eyes are glimmering with unshed tears, and his heart goes out to her. This must be stirring back a lot of bad memories, for both of them.
Shortly after they met, he and Miko trauma dumped on each other, having both woken up with nightmares the same night.
She’d shakily told him about how Nei and her were experimented on for three years as children by some cult that believed in unlocking the true potential of people’s quirks. It did work, to some extent, but no amount of improvement to their quirk makes the suffering they went through to get there worth it.
She and Nei killed all of them when they escaped, but the scars from those years they spent being treated as lab rats still remain.
“Oh.” Izuku says, sounding calm and steady despite the storm brewing inside of him. “When are we killing them?”
“They only have two days left to live.” Miko says with a blood-thirsty grin.
Nei gives him a feral smirk, looking incredibly smug. “I’ve been gathering intel on their weaknesses for a year, they are hopeless at quirkless combat, so with Uncle Shouta joining us for the mission, wiping them out will be easy.”
Izuku’s smile is just as eager for violence. “Good. Their end can’t come soon enough.” He frowns. “What about the kid? Will she stay with us?”
Miko giggles, using a stained rag to wipe her hands and coming over to hug him tightly. “Of course. Our parents have a habit of taking in strays, after all.”
“Does she have a name?”
“Eri.” Nei visibly softens. “Her name is Eri.”
Izuku nods, a tight smile on his face. “Hang in there, Eri. We’re coming to save you.”