Down the Rabbit Hole
Aftertaste
She doesn't see him for two weeks.
Can't actually, because she's been taken off the mission of following him around. It's a covert mission, and while Eraserhead had been happy to have her, too close of contact with him left the operation vulnerable.
Which is fine with her. It means she and Tsu can get back to their previous case, a drug operation in the downtown warehouse districts, running right out of the port.
Unfortunately, there's a stakeout involved there too.
Unfortunate because that leaves her sitting on the edge of a rooftop, binoculars in her hands as she peers over the various shipping containers to inspect the buildings in the evening sun.
"You do know they operate out of the containers, not the warehouses right?"
She freezes, shock tingling up her spine as fear trickles down it. Ever so slowly she lowers the equipment, glancing behind her to find him.
He's dressed differently, no more smooth pristine collar shifts and dress slacks. He's exchanged that for a bodysuit not unlike her own, a dark green color, and a mask and collar combination that leaves the image of a green rabbit with a wide metal toothed grin.
He blinks, and the eyes shift, glass shuttering to mimic the effect.
"Why are you here?" She demands, easing the binoculars down to put a hand on her distress beacon.
Pinky should be in the area tonight, she could get here in ten, maybe twelve minutes. Tsu was on the other side of the ship yard, so that was less. Maybe four.
"I came to see my favorite pro hero." He cocks his head, then extends two brown paper takeout bags to her. "I was in the mood for a burger, but I wasn't sure if you were so I got soba as a backup." He hesitates, still standing on the other side of the container, a good six or seven feet away. "Soba's in the left."
She clicks her beacon, then turns, taking one step, then two closer. "Where have you been?"
He doesn't move or react, and the metal guard around his jaw hides any emotion his mask might have betrayed. She takes the soba bag from him before taking a step back.
"Osaka." He replies readily. "There was a specific gang operation going on that I refused to allow continue." He hums softly, glancing over at the shipping containers in the distance. "This operation is another."
She notes that information for later. The group her and Tsu were after marketed most drugs, but they weren't one percent sure where it was all distributed. It seemed the Rabbit did.
She unpacked her soba, humming softly at the warmth coming from the box. He even included chopsticks. Thoughtful.
"You leaked the information to us." She concludes, popping open the container as she followed his gaze. The containers were closer than the warehouse, and she didn't need the binoculars to see them.
"I do like to help stop certain activities." He replies, moving to squat beside her. She could hear him rummaging through his bag, then the crinkling off a plastic wrapper before he settled.
"Yet you keep other activities hidden from us Rabbit." She accuses.
He pauses at that, then hums again and she doesn't have to turn to know he's smiling. "There are certain things I don't like, but allow." He says. "And there are certain things you heroes can't do that I can. You know it as well as I do how crime has changed in the last decade."
He's right, and it makes her uncomfortable to admit. Open street crime had dropped, fewer pickpockets and random muggings. Less rape, underage drug distribution and kidnapping, but that was countered by an increase in more organized crime. Smuggling illegal goods was at an all-time high, with favorite exports and imports being weapons, black-market organs, and a few other things.
"So, you swapped petty theft for smuggling and the yakuza."
"As much as you don't like them, the mafia's keep to themselves as long as you let them. They don't deal to kids; they don't plan massive overthrowals of government or hero assassinations. They smuggle. They deal to adults. And they like to flaunt money." He shoots back.
She growls and glares at him, but the squealing of tires and the slap of his boots on the floor prevent her.
He's leaping off the container, and the reason why is obvious as a motorcycle peels out of the containers, hidden away somewhere.
Rabbit is bounding overtop of the containers, strides even and measured as he moves, landing on the top of a container as the motorcycle speed below him.
His attention isn't there, he's going for the container it came out of.
Which leaves her with the bike.
Damn.
She hisss out the curse, then slaps her own hands on herself, taking away her gravity and leaping off the container. She triggers her boosters, rocketing down into the corridor of shipping containers to meet the bike in the middle.
She does, crashing into the side of it as it whips around the corner. She wraps the driver up, his gravity disappearing and her momentum carrying them a few more moments before she drops them both to the ground.
The driver isn't feeling up to moving though, groaning and rolling away on the ground. She pins him, handcuffs clipping on before she's tapping her headset.
"Tsu, I got a perp on a bike in the containers. Rabbit is here. I repeat, Rabbit is here. He's engaging the original container the bike came out of."
"Already on my way- ribbit."
"Careful Froppy," Rabbit's voice chimes through the comms. "A lot of these-" there is a crackling sound, then a yelp of pain. "have a fire quirk-" A ping then, "so be careful with your tongue and surfaces!"
"Thanks Rabbit- ribbit." Tsu replied, either unphased or uncaring that Rabbit had once again stolen their com link.
Uraraka doesn't really have time to ponder it. She has to catch up.
Again she uses her quirk on herself, ignoring the stomach churn as she activates her boosters, forcing her to rise above the crates and shoot back towards where Rabbit had disappeared. She has to make it in time.
She has to catch him.
She has to get it.
He's here. That means he knew. And if he knew, she can detain him.
And if she can detain him, that means her and Tsu can finally get the accreditation they deserve after opening up their own hero agency.
That thought dies as she throws open the container door.
The inside is clinical, but trashed. Crates of white powder torn open, the contents checked but not disturbed. Body after body lies on the floor, bleeding and broken but wheezing one steady breath after the other as she steps in.
It's cramped and tight and the door in the back is closed, but that doesn't stop the sounds coming out of it. The sharp crack of bone breaking, and the muffled scream of pain.
She swallows.
Is…Is that Rabbit?
Is he… getting tortured?
She creeps towards it, hand drifting up to activate her comm. "Tsu." She whispers.
"Called in backup. Pinky will be here in ten. I'm almost there."
"In the container. Definitely a shipment of coke. Back door closed. No sign of Rabbit. Something happening in the back. I'm engaging." She curls her fingers around the door handle.
There's a moment of her soft quiet breathes, a blink of fear as she hardens her resolve into steel. Then she throws it open and charges it.
Offense is not required.
Defense is.
The metal pole cracks across her forearms as she blocks the strike, and she winced, stumbling back to gauge her opponent.
Only to find the pole has retracted, and green eyes and black gloved hands are reached out, fear and concern in them as Rabbit steps forward.
He's bloodied, and the silvery pole at his side bears the brunt of it, a thin sheen of red on it that looks to have saved most of his green costume. He swallows, the sound audible in the confines of the container.
"You scared me." He murmurs, "I-I'm sorry." He hesitates, then shifts, putting his body in front of her to block her line of sight. "You don't need to see this." He adds softly.
She shoves him, and he backpedals, giving ground easily, until finally she shoves him to the side. He didn't fight her, didn't stop. And she wants to know why he deterred her with words and not force.
But that thought has to wait as another forces itself to the forefront.
She wants to puke.
The soba in her stomach feels sour and poisonous. She looks at him, then the broken battered body strapped to the chair.
"You did this." She hisses, unable to tear her eyes off the bone breaking skin.
It was a person once.
Mutant quirk, a third and fourth arm growing out under the normal pair. The joints are snapped in the wrong directions, fingers purple and swollen already. There's blood on the floor, a dozen white chips mixed in.
Teeth. She reasons.
Uraraka turns back to him.
"I didn't want to." He whispers. "But somedays I don't get to work for myself." He glanced behind him, then back to her. "I'm sorry." And he's running, out the door before she can chase him, before she can slap his wrist and steal his gravity.
Before she can even understand what he just said, and that he might have just apologized to her for his deeds.
Something she's not quite sure he's ever done to anyone. Much less a hero.
A.N
So I originally uploaded this to AO3, and then here, not expecting a lot of hits.
And I have been blown out of the water both on the responses, and just the spike in attention. Perhaps there's something to say for keeping up with the current fandoms... Enjoy. Thank you!