Higami let himself be lowered into the couch of his Sanctum, spitting a mouthful of blood into the bucket Shougekiha had handed him. The iron bit at his tongue while she paced.
"You're sure it was Banishers?" She asked.
"Do you want to ask the Paradox?" Higami asked weakly in response, another mouthful of blood coming up, "it was Banishers, Kiha, sure as sure."
"Right, right," Shougekiha said, running a hand through her spiraling blue hair, "We have to handle this quickly and quietly."
"I know," Higami said, leaning back and beginning to shuffle his tarot cards with the rasp of metal on metal. Flipping the first over, he frowned. Justice in the reverse. Flipping over a second, he hissed through bloodstained teeth. World in the reversed position. And finally… "Goddamnit."
Tower in the reverse.
"That bad?" Kiha muttered, sitting down next to him as Higami spat out another mouth of blood.
"Tower is never good, Kiha," Izuku said, reshuffling the deck and flicking the cards again just to be safe. Reversed Justice. Reversed World. He stopped there, not needing to see the broken tower to know it was the next card.
"Let's watch a movie, or play a game," Kiha sighed, sitting next to him and resting her head on his shoulder, "We'll deal with this when you don't have a shard of Paradox killing you."
"Ok," Izuku said softly, turning on the TV for Nejire, "Koda… come on in, the parents are done talking and we're gonna watch something."
Koda had the decency to look ashamed, while Kyoka just threw her leather jacket next to his long coat.
"Hope you're gonna be ready for UA in a week," she said, hopping over the couch and crashing next to Nejire.
"I've done more on worse injuries," Izuku said, waving a hand dismissively.
"Yeah, but were those injuries caused by Paradox?" Kyoka asked.
Fair.
- X Koji X-
Koji watched Izuku walk over to the sink of the sanctuary, wondering, not for the first time, how this place had running water and electricity. The man ran a water soaked hand through the close cropped beard on his face, washing blood out of his beard.
[How is he going to UA?] He signed at Kiha… Nejire… whatever… [isn't he too old?]
"He ages himself up for stuff in our world," Nejire explained, tongue sticking out as she moved her figures on the large table her and Izuku were playing on.
"Right," Izuku drawled, standing up and cracking his neck. Mana caused the world around him to grayscale in Koji's sight as he shrank from being equal in height to him to being quite a bit shorter. His face became the unusually youthful one associated with an Acanthus, his beard and long green hair retracting into his skin and leaving him with only a curly mop and a slight shadow.
"Good idea doing that when you're feelin' the after effects of a Paradox," Jiro deadpanned, watching the movie playing on the widescreen TV. Gandalf was blowing a smoke boat through Bilbao's ring.
"Can't go home looking like an adult," Izuku shrugged, moving one of his greenish brown figures.
"No more magic," Nejire ordered.
"You just don't want me rigging the game," Izuku said.
"You wouldn't dare," Nejire pointed a finger at him, energy spiraling off it and disappearing.
"Would I?"
Not for the first time, Koji felt uncomfortable. The other trio of the cabal had been together for a long time before he joined, they knew each other well. He was a fourth wheel in their dynamic.
"You'll find your place," Kyoka said suddenly.
What…?
"Your heartbeat gave you away," Kyoka said, "and the way you're looking. Listen, I know it's weird to be the new guy, I only met Nejire and Izu a year after they teamed up. But you'll find a place to belong here. Just give it time."
"... thanks," Koji forced himself to say.
"Any time," Jiro said, "Mages our age are rare. We gotta stick together-"
"You cheated," Nejire suddenly accused.
"I didn't!"
'There's no way you got that lucky normally!"
"Dice aren't fair, sometimes, Jire."
"No, you don't get that excuse. You manipulated the die!"
"You would have sensed the mana!" Izuku shot back, "Here, we'll do it again. Ok?"
"Fine," Nejire huffed.
- X Ochako X-
"Ochako," Uraraka Ochako turned from where she was packing an overnight bag. Her father was standing in the door to her room, a heavy bat in his hand and a tired look on his face, "can I come in?"
"Sure, dad," Ochako said.
"..." He walked in, settling down on her bed and sighing, "I don't want you to do anything related to the Neighborhood Watch while you're gone. And that's doubly true if you get into UA."
"Dad!" Ochako protested.
"I know, I know," her Dad said, leaning on the bat, "You've wanted to help us with the Watch since you were a kid… but I don't want you to, Ochako."
"I'm not-"
"I don't think you're weak," Dad said, "it's more complicated than that. We're… we're breaking the law by doing this, Chako. It's Vigilantism, when you get down and dirty with it. And if me and your Mom get caught and in trouble for it, that's one thing. But if you get caught while tryin' to become a Hero, that's another. You'll be barred from becomin' one. Please, you can help once you become a Pro. But until then, leave the Monster fighting to me and your mom."
"But… I wanna help."
"Then help by becoming a Pro," her Dad said, "That's… if there are Monsters messin' with people like us, there gotta be ones messin' with other parts of Japan. We'll handle things here, you handle them on a bigger level. We gotta trust ya and the next generation to handle this for us, ya know, 'Chako?"
"...Yeah," Ochako nodded.
"Good," her Dad gave her a tired smile, leaning the bat against the bed and opening his arms so she could give him a long, tight hug, "I need to go on the Watch tonight. We haven't seen anything for a few weeks, but better safe than sorry."
Ochako nodded, a question biting at her gut.
What if there was a Monster at UA?
- X Izuku X-
Izuku cracked open a Coke bottle, moving one of his Guardsmen forwards as he watched Lord of the Rings with one eye, "Nejire, it's your turn."
Start the day hunting mad men, take some damage from Banishers, end it partying. His life was so,so weird sometimes. Still partying with his family could be worse.
Nejire jerked a ork forwards with magic, humming as she glided over with a bag of popcorn, "I missed this."
"Shouldn't have joined the Nakatomi-En," Izuku said, causing the older teen to roll her eyes.
"It's just for another year, you grump," Nejire chided good naturedly, "Speaking of which, I had some information for you. Yaoyorozu Momo is going to be taking the Recommendation test tomorrow."
"Daughter of the head of the Yaoyorozu conglomerate, I take it?" Izuku asked, preparing a character to fire.
"Yep," Nejire said, "Keep your guard up around her."
The local Hunter Conspiracy, the Hototogisu, had long drawn members from the Yaoyorozus. And while the Hototogisu generally preferred to make deals with the Supernatural over fight them (Izuku had, in fact, had dealings with them in the past. Both as a mercenary and to be patched up after fights), the Yaoyorozus tended to be more combat focused, the family having a long, documented history of weaving between Pro Hero Work and Support Gear.
"This is my territory," Izuku said, "She'll respect that or we're gonna have problems."
"Hopefully she'll listen to reason," Nejire agreed, "but don't get yourself into a war you can't win if she doesn't."
"Me and Koda will keep him on the level, Nejire," Kyoka said, eyes locked onto the TV as she scooped some chips and dip, "We always do."
- X Momo X-
Yaoyorozu Momo carefully examined the Shamen Specialist Shotgun, the signature weapon of the Hunters from her family, but a pale imitation of the original "Castigator" made for her Great Grandfather during the Quirk Chaos.
Creating a screwdriver, Momo began to carefully go through the process of caring for the gun.
It had started life as a heavily modified Beretta 682, the barrel shorn so short it barely poked above the wood. Which had, in turn, been replaced with mahogany.
All of those were easily repeatable with practice. Some of her family even modified the wood with engravings. Though the idea of having to replace your Shamen entirely was viewed as embarrassing.
What made the Castigator unique was that her Great Grandfather had gone cancerous to perfect it. Wizards, Fog Men, a Demon, the gun had been enhanced by the best her grandfather could find.
"Miss Yaoyorozu?" Momo looked up, an oiled rag halfway down the upper barrel of the Shamen.
"Yes?" Momo said, standing up and swinging open the door.
"It's time for dinner," the maid said, raising her tray, "We made a hearty one. The Recommendations exam will likely be tiring."
"Thank you," Momo said, bowing and taking the steak meal.
"And your father called," she said, before lowering her voice, "There's a Wizard at UA, and another in Mustafu. He'd prefer you keep the peace, neither has disrupted the family's interests."
"Thank you, I will," Momo said, putting her food on the table and slid into her bathroom to wash her hands of the oil. Sitting down, she began to scarf down the high fat meal in front of her, all grace abandoning her.
A Wizard. She hadn't met those before, only a single vampire that worked for the Yaoyorozu conglomerate. She wondered if they were a teacher? Maybe she could learn magic? It'd be interesting.
- X Eri X-
Eri breathed in with a shuddering breath, closing her hands as the man who was supposed to be watching her shrank and then vanished. The Scars across her body ached as she prepared herself. She had to gst out of here, away from the web of pain and needles and experiments. She needed to be free.
