"Thats where i live. My parents, my older sister and i live above the shop. We can just come in from the front of the shop."
Going in the both of them are ready for any kind of confrontation, but what they were not ready for was for Mei to be tackled and hugged by a women with the same pink hair as Mei.
"Mei are you okay? You have teartracks down your face and your invention are nowhere near. Did anything happen to it? And where are your googles? Did this boy have anything to do with that?"
Understanding the hectic speach of who he assumed is the mother of Mei, his blood started to boil of her audacity of thinking he would cause any harm to here.
"Listen here Lady! I dont know who you think you are but i helped Mei when she was attacked and restraint by her own invention. I also stayed with her and helped her calming down. The only thing i did is helping her but thats not something i can say from you. What kind of mother does not realize her own daughter is beeing manipulated by her own invention. When she told me about the chip allowing the maschine to access her brainwaves to control the movement of the metall arm i was worried for her as the arm moved on its own ithout any input from her as she stopped her previous task and talked to me yet the arm moved like a snake ready to strike, which according to its behaviour would mean its sentient. After i asked about that she begun to panick and wanting to put the maschine away she was restricted by the arm. My quirk allows me to flow energy into anything i want but it is only save for any type of firearms. Because of that my quirk fried the curcuits of it destrying it for good."
Stunned the mother could only look at the boy who told her this. Wanting to know if all this really happened she looked at her daughter to ask if that is the truth. Without needing to ask Mei nodded not beeing able to look at her mothers face. Before Izuku could do anything he was hugged by the mother just like Mei was. Not knowing how to react or to think about this, Izuku could only stand stiff waiting for any sort of attack from the women. The women of course notices the boys behaviour and decided to look at him more clearly. Based on the reaction to her hug he seems to be touch-starved and has no idea what to do. The women made a choice. If the boy lives with abusive parents she would contact the authorities and adopt him wanting him to have a good childhood which by the looks of it he didnt have. The distrust in his eyes and the way his body moves tells her that he has a bad experience with parents or adults in general. She also saw how his eyes would dart around the room as if needing to find ways to escape if things go bad. The pleasent surprise though is how the blue haired boy seems to gravitate towards her daughter which shows her that he would protect her even if that meant protecting her from her own mother.
With a gentle smile on her face the women explains to the boy whats going on.
"You dont need to worry about that. I would never want any harm to befall my familiy. What my husband and i have tried was trying Mei to give us the invention so we could look at its programming as since the moment she finished it her behaviour became more hostile. We feared we would force her to leave were we would be unable to do anything so while she modified and built her devises we watched and noticed anything out of the ordinary. We already notified our friend who works in a supportgear company. His job is to make sure that in case of sentient inventions others are not harmed or manipulated. He would come tommorow to take a look at the device and talk to Mei but as i am seeing her invention is not with you may i ask where you left it? It may be destroyed but if we can find out whats wrong we can prevent anything like that from hapening again."
"Wait! You didnt want to throw me out or give up on me?"
The mother, shocked how her daughter would think that got tears in her eyes. The thought of her daughter believing she would do anything like that hurts the women a lot. Sakura, the mother of Mei, hugged Mei with a strong grip wanting her to know she still loved and will always love her no matter what.
"Of course not honey. We would never do that. The entire family was worried and were doing everything in our powers to help you."
These words combined with the fear from the experience from earlier proved too much for the joung girls as she cried her heart out in the arms of her mother.
Izuku who was watching the whole odeal cant help but think that he should be the one to hold her and make her feel better. Realizing what he thought he snapped out of it. Confused Izuku tries to find a reason why he fells envy when Mei`s mother hugs Mei or why he feels ovrprotective of the girl in the first place as they have just met.
This went on for a few minutes before Mei seperated from her mother. As Mei and Sakura went to thank the boy they saw that he was looking at them confused and seems deep in thought. Puzzled at the action of the teen Mei decided to ask the boy himself to find out. Stepping in front of him she leans in close to his face and tried to get his attention. Before she could even open her mouth whatever state Izuku was seems to be broken as his eyes immediatly made contact with hers. The intense look on his face combined made Mei want to squirm but the arms of Izuku, which brought her in a hug, preventet her. Izuku without breaking eye contact brought her closer to him. The position and the look on his face caused a fierce blush on her face. Mei can distantly hear her mothers squeeling which she wishes would not see this.
Sakura, despite beeing worried for her daughter and the boy, cant help but squeel when the scene in front of her became romantic. Based on the the blue haired teen reaction to the recent events she concluded he was falling in love with Mei. He also seems to be extremly protective and possesive. While that may be a problem Sakura can see that her daughter not only doesnt seem to mind but also likes it a lot. From the looks of it Mei also stated to fall in love with him if the blush is true. With how close the two are and the looks they give each other it wouldnt surprise her if they startet kissing passionly in front of her.
Before the two could kiss however the doors of the house opened and a man with dark brown hair comes in. As Izuku looks at him he realizes who that man is. The man is an ex pro boxer who won the title of champion before he suddenly dissapeared a few years ago. There was a time where Izuku wanted to look up self defence courses he defend himself from the bullies but as the man in front of him dissapeared he was unable to sign of for the lessons Vander offers. Other self defence teachers dont take quirkless students as the teachers dont see the use of teaching someone wo would never ammount to anythingor be able to defend themself even with lessons. There is also another reason why he would have wanted to learn from him. Vander is known to stand against discimination as he himself witnessed what it does to others which made Izuku respect the man. Different from All Might who you could only see on television or at a mass gadering either because of villian attacks or hero conventions one could see Vanders training or coach others even talk to him personally if you needed help if you are discriminated or bullied or just dont know what to do with your life and need help. Izuku was watching Vanders himself once defending a group of kindergartners from a villian. The police and heroes coulndnt do anything o Vanders as he didnt use his quirk or illegal support items. The very support items Vanders uses are the ones he built himself which according to the law and their loopholes he is fully allowed to use them as long as he causes no permanent injury or uses the outside of self defence of himself or others who were attacked first. As the man comes in all eyes are on him and the person standing besides him.
"Honey, i am back. Has Mei come back from the beach yet? Also i went to school to pick up Vi after she beat up a classmate of hers."
"Dad, i already told you that he deserved it. He was mocking and bullying other because of their quirk. Why shouldnt i do something? He wouldnt have stopped and the girl he was bullying already had her arms broken by him."
"Thats not it Vi. The problem is you used what i taught you to defend others to cause grievious harm instead. I taught you how to disarm those with weapons and restrict them safely. What you did instead was repeteatly punch him to the head causing him a cuncussion and be admitted to the hospital alongside the girl. In other words you were no better then him. You used just like him your powers to hurt others, not to defend others. I know you want to be be a hero Vi but you cant just put someone in coma or permanently injure them like this."
"Im sorry dad."
As the two came in no one looked at Izuku to see his looks of shock and awe at seeing someone he looked up to in front of him. While Mei was seperated from the hug since the moment her father came in she wasted no time in rushing at her father to bring him in a hug. Both the man and the girl next to him where shocked when Mei suddenly hugged him and started to cry while letting out "im sorry"s during some of the sobs. Without thinking about it Vander brought her in a hug. While he is confused and worried about his youngest, his first priority is to make sure she fells better so he said nothing but tightened the hug while Mei continiued her apologies.
Vi, not knowing why her little sister is crying is looking around to find the reason for it only for her eyes to land on a blue haired teen Meis age. Without thinking she approaches the boy bringing Izukus attention towards the older sister.
"So, you must be Meis sister ri..."
"Shut it and listen dipshit"
Stunned, Izuku can only be shocked on the irony of the situation which causes him to start laughing uncontrollolably whle olding his sides getting the attention of everyone in the room.
"W.. Why are you laughing? This is sirious."
"Hahahaha i.. im it was just to funny hahahaha."
Stumped at the boys exclamation Vi looks shocked at the boys behaviour not noticing that her sister and mother were quietly laughing along as they realized on why Izuku starts laughing. When Vander sees the quiet laughing of his family he only raises an eyebrow. Vi on the other hand, while also noticing the quiet laughter became only more confused ss she felt she was in midst of a joke she has no knowlegde from.
"Hihihi... sorry the irony of this situation was just too funny.
Calming down slightly Izuku tries to explain the situation to the older sister.
"What irony?"
" When coming in here with Mei after her invention seeked to harm and control her i may have come in similar to you." smiled Izuku with mirth in his eyes and a gentle smile on his face.
The smile on her heroes face brought a gentle blush on her face only her parents caught but decided to say nothing yet and save the teasing for later.
"How about we all go to the living room and talk in peace whats going on seeing as i believe some of us are missing rather important pieces of information?"
As all agree and move to the living room and sit down on the available couches and chairs the blue haired boy cant help but feel out of place. Mei and Vis parents seem to genuine care for their daughters and its easy to see but the thing confusing him is what this stinging feeling in his chests is whenever he looks at how content Mei looks beeing with her family who sill love her even if she was afraid they would throw her out or stop caring about her. Thinking that he wouldnt be needed by her anymore now hurt Izuku in a way he never experienced before. Not long after sitting down Mei turns towards her saviour and adress him.
"I think its time for introduction. Izuku, this is my father Vander Hatsume. He is a ex pro boxer and is currently owning a bar 2 blocks down the street. His quirk is augmentation. His skin is thicker and his muskle and bone density is several times higher than a normal humans. As a sideeffect his emotion are less pronounced but still never miss meaning. My mother Sakura Hatsume is a mechanic who runs this shop. Her quirk gives her the ability to zoom in on aything she sees. The headeache is pretty strong as a consequence if overused. The only one left is my big sister Vi. Her full name is Victoria Hatsume. She is currently in second year in UA High school in the hero course. Her quirk allows her to power up the gauntlets she wears in order to hit harder. The gauntlets use the energy from her quirk to activate without any additional energy. The distributer uses the energy from Vis quirk from the energy chamber where the energy is beeing stored for later use. The quirk only works on gloves and gauntlets though so there arent many option for her quirk. Anything added to the gloves like claws or knives dont get the power boost. As a side effect of her quirk she becomes increasingly more agressive and angry the longer she uses the energy so in a way to somewhat counter that my mother and i developed the gauntlet. The storage function allows her to charge it for later use so in a battle she wont be blinded by her anger and rage.
Izuku was fascinated with her family and there quirks. He didnt fail to notice on how Vi and his quirk have a similiar effect the only difference beeing she could store it while he couldnt. While that limits him on what he can do on preperation for fights it gave him something to work on.
The family of Mei dont seem to object ho him being told about there quirks but watch him for any negative reaction towards any of them. Seeing only an amazed and curious look on the boys face brought relief the girls of the family and a small smile on the fathers face.
"Thats fascinating. That would explain how despite the changes in the rulebook which allows quirks to be used in a boxing match, of course with regulations, your father came out to be a victor in several matches even with severe disadvantages. Didnt he had a fight with the villian Muscular where he came out on top?"
"He did! Im surprised you even know about it since it wasnt made official since dad is not a pro hero and doesnt possess a licence to use his quirk even if it is only passive in effect. While Muscular escaped before he could be captured the police and HPSC made it so a lesser known pro-hero which somewhat resembles dads quirk and figure got the recognition. What was he called? Death Arms?"
Seeing Izuku`s flinch at said pro heroes name the Hatsumes ask themself what could cause such a reaction. Not wanting to push the teen and make him uncomfortable Vanders decided to answer Mei`s question.
"Thats his name. He was not exactly a rookie but had several fights with quirks similar to Muscular or strenth enhancer so it was easier to believe he were the one to fight and win. The HPSC doesnt like Vigilantes so they are usually treated the same as villians which makes it more difficult for Vigilantes to help people as they have to fight criminals and villians while evading heroes so they wont get captured. Some get off easy by working for the HPSC but those are very few."
"You mean working for the HPSC like Lady Nargant?"
"Oh, you know about her? Hardly anyone does."
"I found it suspicious so i made some research. I found several security cameras catching audio and visual of hers or the dealings with the HPSC. Lady Nargant was approached by man in black suits from the HPSC asking her if she would agree to be taught and trained by them to become a pro-hero. It was just a facade though as she was told to assassinate several people who according to her handler where villians or corrupted heroes to dangerous to be left alive. When one day she found out the truth and the corruption and plans of the HPSC president she decided to quit her job. While from video evidence it seems to go well for her she was unfortunatly attacked by pro heroes in the presidents pocket who knocked her out. The next day she was shipped to tarturus and declared a dangerous hero turned villian destroying her reputation and any chance on getting a fair trial no matter how much evidence is beeing presented to court. Those who have tried got their carreers destroyed or ended up dissapearing. Some even ended up dead as a casualty of a "villian attack" which in truth was nothing more then a staged attack against them to throw of suspicion and give them a possible alibi.
The Hatsumes could only look in shock at the information presented to them. Not even Vanders who has overheard a lot of informationbrokers during his career, even used their services once, had that throughout information about the HPSC or any other organisation. Which brings up the question from where the boy in front of him got said informationen in the first place. Deciding that asking directly may give him the best chances to answers Vanders asked Izuku where he learnt all this.
"When you have no friends but a lot free time with no one to interrupt you you try to find something to spent time on to get rid of boredom. One of the things i took up was hacking and coding, while it was difficult at first once i got used to the process i tried hacking in simple shops cameras and played a bit around with the video and audio. A year ago i tried hacking into the HSPC and it was actually much easier then i thought. All i had to do was hack myself into the commputer of the person working at the entrace hall. From there on i worked my way up the ladder till i reached the HSPC presidens computer itself where all the hidden files and evidence about their illegal projects they hide from te public. One said project is Lady Nargant while the other one is one nobody would assume."
"One nobody assumes? Who exactly do you talk about?"
"Why our number 3 hero himself."
"WAIT WHAT?" screamed all the Hatsumes at the same time, eyes wide open with gaping mouth. The disbelief of the notion of the number 3 hero beeing another project of the HPSC was easy to read on their faces.
"Hawks, the number 3 hero is named Keigo Takami. He was brought from his parents by two agents of the HPSC on orders of their president. His grandmother had the same red wings as Hawks causing interrest in the HPSC as the potential of Keigo was much higher then his grandmother. Differently then her he could remotely each individuel feather not only making them into a sword like weapon or even listen to conversation and locate people with his feathers. The training he went through could be called torture as the videos the HPSC recorded of his training was something i would never wish onto smeone. His quirk gave him several changes in body and mind resulting in him having talons like feet and claws and the desire for raw meat or chicken. Despite the fact his claws and talons grow back they repeatatly cut them of or shortet them without any pain dulling medicaments or a narcose.
"What kind of project is that and why does nobody know or do something about it?" asked Vanders, hoping to find out what eelse Izuku knowns.
"Project Paragon is essentially to scout for potential children with strong or useful quirks and train them so they can be used to take care of their dirty work or to boost popularity and support. They are picked up by agents of the HPSC either discretly or quite open. The former involves making the parents of the child they have their eyes on seems like villians by the public by faking evidence or framing them in general. Their lives are basically over, then the agents would swoop in and propose a deal. Either they agree to sign over guardianship of the child or they will be hunted down by heroes and thrown in prison after getting "ruffed up". If they agree to sign guardianship over the HPSC would issue an interview where they would tell the public that said parents will go to villian rehab programm while in truth their beeing disposed of never to be seen again. If anyone asks question of their whereabouts it will be told that they made a runner or changed their names to start a new life leaving their child in the HPSC hands. Their are also cases like Keigos where the parents willingly sold him which honestly happens more times then one would think. Then the cases were the HPSC would be direct in their actions. They would hire civilians, heroes, villians and even cops to stage a villian attack near the residents of the parents of the child they desire when said child is far enough away in order to not get hit by crossfire. The paid heroes, civilians and cops would act as if it were normal villianattack and the villians they hire would received drugs, weapons, women/men, money or reduced sentences if their from prison. The hero would either miss their attack or the villian would hold the parents hostages or cause massive colleteral damage and then try to escape. Video footage show that in one such case the villian caused a building to collapse causing the death of several people which include the guardians of an orphan the HPSC had their eyes on but wouldnt agree to hand the child over. Cause of the guardians influence and connections it would have been to difficult to frame or blackmail them. The villian run away after the paid hero in hot persuit where several blocks away the both of them would stop and an agent would come at their point and hand over the promised goods for the job. While the HPSC erases the footage of all their dealings they still copy the evidence and load it on their computers which i aready hacked.
Dumbfounded Sakura is wondering why Izuku despite having evidence of a corruption in the system doesnt bring it for to the police or make it public so everyone is aware of what the HPSC is doing behind everyones back.
"Simple. If i were to reveal their action publicly people would lose any trust in heroes which will cause the heroes to give up their licences, thus preventing them from using their quirks and saving people as without a licence they will be breaking a law. It also complicates matter even more when villians, who went into hiding or bid their time waiting for the right moment, will attack or cause massive damage and casualties of civilians. The best way to ge rid of the corruption is to do so without alerting the masses about it. Easiest way to do so would be to become a hero people would listen to similar to All Might. Which means having a rank in the top 10 and be as likeable and trusted as All Might. 'Even if he doesnt deserve it.' "
"..."
"..."
"As much as i would like to argue about the people reactions i have to agree that THAT scenario would happen if they found out."
Mei, sensing that he was hiding something decided to ask carefully, not wanting to anger her first and only friends.
"Escuse me fo asking but you sounded like you were hiding something when you talked about the possible future actions as a hero. May i ask what?"
Impressed that someone picks up on it Izuku tells her about his wish to become a hero to change japan. He also tells her about his meeting with All reactions he got from the Hatsumes fills Izuku with warmth in his chest as the family of four is angry on his behalf instead beeing angry at him for slandering All Might.