Down the Rabbit Hole
Leporiphobia
"Are you sure you want point?" Mirio asks, fearless with the questions despite the dark look in Rabbit's emerald eyes.
Tsu wants to laugh at the two, but she's so strung out right now, she's genuinely not sure if she's starts laughing or crying.
"Are you sure you want to be the person standing between me and Dimajio?" Rabbit snarls back, not even bothering to look at the man as he tugs at his gloves.
He's changed, put on the formal ensemble that he seems to usually wear when he's doing business. Not his combat suit. Not the armored, fitted suit that meant he was kicking ass and taking names.
And he's standing calmly, hands tucked into his pockets, but his body language betrays his rage.
It's found in the tightness of his shoulders, the soft scowl that's stuck on his lips, the flash of lightning that keeps surging and dying in his eyes as he looks around.
"Where's Ingenium?" His voice is cold, but not quite a snarl when it's directed at her.
"Iida-Ribbit?" She parrots into the radio. "Status?"
"Building." Came the breathless reply. "Almost."
Rabbit reaches over, slow and steady despite his grip being firm and ferocious as he peels the radio out of her hands. "Move faster. You can hit Mach 3. You can scale a fucking building." And he hands it back to her, crossing his arms. A pause and then, "Hitoshi."
"I have the voices." Came the reply. "Don't worry about check ins."
"Rabbit, are you…" She trails off, unsure how to continue as the emerald fire in his eyes focuses on her. "O…okay-Ribbit?"
"No." He turns back to the building, leaning back against the black sedan. "I'm impatient. Uraraka is inside there, Dimajio is doing god knows what, and I am itching to tear him limb from limb." He sighs, closing his eyes and steeling himself. He flexes his fingers, and it seems like he's actively trying to calm down.
"But I have to wait on Ingenium to take out the snipers before I go in." He says it less like it's a step in the plan he concocted in less than an hour, and more like he's trying to remind himself he's not bulletproof.
"Sniper one out." Ingenium wheezes into the com. "And two and three."
Rabbit whirls on her, hands flexing, but he restraints the itch as she brings it up. "Four?" She asks for him, because she's honestly not sure he can say it without growling.
"Slicer is on him. Taken down."
"Then I'm going." Rabbit replies, dusting off his coat as he turns and walks to the building. "Kirishima." He calls, and the unbreakable hero runs to flank him. "Cover the side." Rabbit instructs.
Lemillion purses his lips, rushing after him and forcing her to follow the two other heroes and the one absolute madman.
Uraraka had told her the secret. That Rabbit was Quirkless. That for seven years, one of the most wanted men was just a plain jane man who used nothing but his own wits and cleverness to evade dozens of heroes and policemen.
She swallows, resting her gaze on that man's back.
He doesn't look so Quirkless now.
Walking along like he's invincible, flanked by a man who practically was, and another that was just untouchable.
Idly, she wonders if he knows just how much like a hero he looks like. Walking into danger just to save the life of another person. Someone he no doubt loves, but someone else, nonetheless.
"Lemillion, Dimajio will have guards stationed inside. Find the ones in the vantage points, take care of them." Rabbit directs as they near the warehouse doors. "I'll get the doors."
Kirishima hesitates, obviously looking like he wants to do it, but Rabbit waves him off.
"This is a deal. Not a fight." He waits for them to move out of sight, then heaves the heavy metal door aside. "Keep out of sight." He growls it, the screech of the door covering that direction.
It's lucky they're already to the side, and as Rabbit steps up to the threshold, Red Riot and her press to either side of the door.
"Ahhhh there's my little Rabbit." Dimajio laughs, and it sounds like gravel thrown into a dryer.
Rabbit bows, all snark and sass as he lingers in the threshold. He hums, lips moving silently before declaring. "I'm flattered you upgraded me from four bruisers to three gunmen and five bruisers." He chuckles and shakes his head.
"Well I figured you'd bring company." Dimajio replies. "Though, I suppose it wouldn't have mattered."
"Snipers?" Rabbit asks, like he doesn't already know, like he didn't already have Iida take them out and Hitoshi copy their voices. "How unbecoming of a mafia man."
"Have to protect my investments." A pause, and Tsuyu wishes she could poke her head in and see what was going on. Rabbit had given numbers, but there was no telling where the occupants were, or what they were using without Rabbit being obvious.
"Do you have what I want?"
Rabbit hums, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a little black notebook. He pages through it calmly, and the scuffle of feet on the other side of the door is unnerving.
She exchanges a look with Kirishima, and the hero gives her a thumbs up.
At least if a gunfight broke out, Red Riot could grab him and protect him.
"Block 7, Meguro City, Building 4." Rabbit replies.
It's a physical feeling, the shifting of control as those words exit his mouth.
"What?" Dimajio snarks back. "What's that? An address?"
"Block 33, Building 9B." He doesn't respond but continues rattling off the addresses. "Block 17, Building 3C. Block 18, Building 1. Block 34, Building 9. Building 11 as well, ooh someone knows his neighbors."
"Wh-why do you know that?" One new voice shout, and the rattle of metal on metal makes her tense.
"Ryuu…" Rabbit hums to himself, and she can see him flipping through the pages of his notebook. "33, Building 8A. Unmarried, two divorces, three children, does not have custody, lost the case four years ago, arrested twice for possession of drugs, once for distribution, three times for disorderly." He pauses. "Fukuoka Daiichi High, Musashi Junior, Yamamura Primary."
Rabbit looks up, "Brothers, right? So, I guess that's why I only came up with one address." He smiles and laughs.
"The hell are you on about? So he knows where you live? I know where you live, and I'll fucking kill you if you don't shoot him now!" Dimajio roars, and the slide of steel on steel makes her flinch.
They're ready to shoot. She looks to Kirishima. He's already ready. His skin hardened, teeth gritted and he braces against the wall, flexing a little. He's ready.
Rabbit doesn't need it.
"4148 Westwood Street, California."
Silence.
"Premed major, graduated with honors, GPA of 3.1."
Tsu looks at Kirishima, and they both shrug at one another.
"Lives with her mother, divorced twice, but well off. Sold the last house, 2118 North Sukan Street, again, California." Rabbit hums, "those of you that would like to still have a home, and accordingly, all the things that reside in that home." He hesitates, and it's only because the next word that crawls out of his throat is a hiss.
"Leave."
It's a mass exodus, a clatter of metal on concrete as weapons are dropped, and shoes rush.
Five men rush out the door, bypassing both of them and running for the gate. It's.
Otherwordly.
Kirishima eases into the room, and Tsu does as well.
It's standard warehouse. Catwalk running across the top of the warehouse, three gunmen there. They're stopped at the doorway, where Lemillion has appeared, arms crossed over her chest. It's near humorous how her grabs them, escorting them out the door like a teacher scolding children.
Dimajio is trembling, the handgun held to Uraraka's head. She looks good, a little bruised and banged up, a trickle of blood coming down from her hairline, but otherwise fine.
Her eyes are burning into Rabbit's, some unknown argument going on between them, but it's put on hold as Dimajio works the slide.
"I'll fucking kill her if you touch my girl!" He roars.
Rabbit smiles, and it's unsettling how he went from unstable rage, to cold and calculated.
"She paints her toes maroon because that's always the color you wear when you see her."
The gun shakes, trembling in Dimajio's hand as Rabbit eases a step forward. The villain slides his hands into his pockets, returning the notebook of secrets to the safety of his pants. He walks halfway across the room before Dimajio turns the weapon on him.
"Not a- not a step closer." The mob boss demands.
Rabbit comes to a halt, hands calmly in his pockets despite the weapon aimed at him.
"Put the gun down Dimajio." Rabbit growls, and for just a moment she sees the calm faulter, the rage flash through his eyes.
"I hold the cards this time!" Dimajio barks back, taking a step back, back until he's standing behind Uraraka, holding the gun to the back of her head. "So you're listening to me!"
It's quiet. Quiet in a way that the wind stops before a hurricane. Or even the quiet after an earthquake when everyone's trying to figure out what happened. In this case, the natural disaster is replaced with the flex and grit of Rabbit's teeth.
"If you don't remove that weapon from her head right now." He hisses. "I will rip out every bone in your body and force feed it to you through a straw."
A shiver goes up Tsuyu's spine, but she swallows and remains standing. That kind of threat…. She'd heard. She'd heard worse snarled out of other villains, shouted at her as she'd locked them away in a cruiser.
But this one.
This one she believes.
Dimajio swallows too, cocking the hammer back. "Got a bullet in here for you too."
There's a singular second where time freezes.
A singular moment where everything glides to an icy halt, her eyes dancing between the gun, Uraraka, Rabbit and Dimajio. There's no good solution. Dimajio doesn't hold all the cards, but he holds enough.
Where was Mirio?
He could get them out of this!
He could-
It's a burst of lightning and a flash of darkness at the same time.
It's a crackle of energy and a reverb as the inside of the building explodes, a shockwave that shouldn't have happened but did. She flinches, ducking away before ripping her eyes back to the situation.
Dimajio could have pulled the trigger!
Uraraka!
Is safe.
Rabbit has the gun to one side, a dent in the concrete a few feet to her right. The barrel of the gun is still smoking, but he again doesn't seem phased by the heat.
He's focused completely on Dimajio.
"Get her free." He commands, and it takes a moment for her to realize who he's talking to.
It's her.
It's Kirishima.
Oh shit.
She scrambles, jumps forward and fumbles with the chains as Kirishima shatters them.
"Get her out." He commands, and once again, his voice is like iron, cold and impersonal. Strong. "And don't come back in."
Dimajio is shaking, teeth gritted as he glares at Rabbit. "So, you got me here. Now what?"
"206 bones in the body Dimajio." Rabbit replies softly. "Let's see how many of them I can break at once."
And if she hears a scream when she walks out. It doesn't go in her, or Kirishima's report about the incident.
She doesn't ask if Rabbit did what he said he did to Dimajio or not. She's not truly sure she wants to know.
But when Rabbit drags the mafia boss out of the warehouse later, both of them bloodied and grim looking, she averts her gaze and instead focuses on Uraraka.
She's awake, dehydrated and hungry, but alive. She smiles at him, but there's a hint of fear in her eyes. Tsuyu doesn't look, doesn't want to look and know what pain Rabbit is capable of causing for the sake of her partner's safety. It's scary enough seeing how he reacted to losing her temporarily.
She doesn't want to think about what would happen if something else occurred.
"Hey there sunshine." His voice makes Tsuyu jump, clinging to the side of the ambulance as her head whips around to look at the villain.
He's changed. Sort of. He's removed the bloody shirt he walked out in, and his hands are bare, white skin exposed under the cruel sun. He doesn't seem to mind, and instead steps into the middle of the heroes, dropping to his knees in front of Uraraka.
"Are you okay?" He nearly whispers it, but the amount emotion strung out in those three words makes her throat tighten up and her chest ache for him.
He's one scary villain.
But he's one hell of a man too.
He extends his hands out, open palmed and waiting. "I know you saw a side of me that probably scared you." He whispers, ignoring everyone else around him as his eyes focus on Uraraka. "But I promise you I will never hurt you. And I'll do anything you ask to prove it. I want to make this work."
Uraraka nods, smiles at him weakly as she leans back. "Supervised dates?" She asks, and it's weak and a meek two words that escapes her lips, but it's the smile that blooms on her lips after that let Tsu know her partner is okay.
Rabbit smiles, everything about his so suddenly gentle and soft it's just…unreasonably cliché. His fingers fumble with hers, and he brings it up to his lips, kissing the back of her hand as gently as he can.
"I'd even let All-Might supervise it if it lets me see you." He replies with a smile. "Are you okay?"
"Doing better now." She hesitates, and the quirk of her lips lets Tsu know there's a hard question coming.
"You said you were Quirkless."
Rabbit shrugs like it's the easiest question in the world. "Not my quirk." What? "But if it mean protection you, I'll use anything I can get my hands on to keep you safe."
Tsu rolls her eyes, unable to quite bare the intimacy of the moment.
"Alright alright- Ribbit." She interrupts. "Let's clear you. You, little mister Rabbit you, have some explaining to do. And a future to decide on." She purses her lips and tries to look intimidating to a man that moves in the blink of an eye and handles mafia/mob bosses like they're common thugs and playthings. "And you." She glares at Uraraka.
Her friend.
Her best friend.
Her partner.
Her study pal at UA.
Her motivator when cases were tough, and they were both drowning in paperwork.
Her favorite person to lovingly annoy.
"You need to get cleaned up for your man." A pause. "And there better not be any babies unless I get to be the aunt."
It's mindbogglingly fun how easy it is to get both of them to blush, and fumble over themselves denying the- no-I-don't-not-yet-I-mean-unless-you?-no-I-not-maybeaftermarriage?-butEraserheadwouldkillme-mymomwantsawedding!-TSUYU!
She smiles and laughs and shakes her head.
So, he's scary.
So, he's probably the most dangerous villain they've ever met, not because of strength (though he has that), but because of connections and knowledge.
He's still just a man in love with her best friend.
And that entitles her to give him as much hell as she can.
And if the sterling smile Rabbit gives them all is any indication. She'll have all the time in the world to do so.