Down the Rabbit Hole
What is it Worth?
If there's anything that could make Rabbit nervous, apparently it was sitting across from her in a coffeeshop answering his emails.
"You know we're allowing you to work quite freely, right- Ribbit?" She asks, examining her cup of tea.
"I-I know." Rabbit hesitates, then shrugs. "I guess it's just weird." His fingers clack on the keys, and she hears the tone as he sends one, two, three emails out one after the other. "It was one thing when it was Uraraka. I guess it's another when it's you."
She cocks an eyebrow at him, straightening up in the chair and leaning over the table to look at him. "And why is that?"
His cheeks color, edging towards red but settling on pink for the moment. "Well. I.. I dunno. I guess I just…"
"Expected me to quiz you on your intentions for Ochaco-chan- Ribbit?" She asks.
He shrugs, awkward as he takes his coffee and drains it. It's almost hilarious, but she smothers the kerokerokero laugh that wants to bubble up in her throat.
"Well, I was going to let you work-Ribbit. But if you're putting the topic out there." She smiles, folding her hands together. "Why do you seem attracted to my partner- Ribbit?"
He blushes for real this time, looking away and down into his bag. "I mean." He hesitates, as he seems to do when there's an important topic on hand. "She's special. Remarkably so. And genuine." He shakes his head. "There's a lot of heroes that do it for the money, or for the fame, the attention, gear, whatever. And… and I think it says something that she says she does it for the money, but only such to support her parents." He shrugs. "I've dug into your finances. You don't live beyond your means. She lives in an apartment. You do too. Nothing fancy. Nothing extreme. You manage your agency fairly, give you sidekicks a good salary and bonuses on the holidays."
"It's the right thing to do- Ribbit." Tsuyu responds. Her tea is getting lukewarm, but that's the temperature she prefers it. Anything too hot is just… ugh.
"But that doesn't mean everyone else is doing it." He responds. "Think about Endeavor's salary. Sure, the man deserves it, but he has so much extra cash in his account that he doesn't even use or touch. Or better, do you remember MoonBeam?"
Moonbeam….
Ah. Yes.
"Mmm." She hums back, "Vaguely. Big scandal came out about him working hostage situations both ways right? He'd hire the thugs, work out the deal, pay the guys a fraction of the ransom, and make off with the rest- right?"
"Close enough." Rabbit replied, "other heroes do that kind of thing with their sidekicks too. Unequal pay distribution. It depends on the accountant and how honest they are. Or just… not spending money wisely. Red Riot did that a while back."
"You mean the brick drive?" Tsuyu furthers, a smirk sliding across her face. "We told him it was dumb."
Rabbit shrugs and smiles, emerald eyes flashing. "I mean, yeah, but it was pretty fun. Giant waste of his budget, setting up a fundraiser for people to throw bricks at him but, it is what it is." It broke even, apparently brick throwing at an unbreakable hero was entertaining. "I meant the gear upgrades he did a while ago for his costume. He trailed it for two weeks and tore through eight of those costumes. He had the brains to switch back to something more rugged, but…"
"Even if the lab told him they'd foot the bill. It was still a rather extreme expense-Ribbit." She hummed. "Hadn't thought about those expenses. How bad are we?"
He shrugs, tapping away at his laptop for a moment before answering. "Better than most. You and Uraraka tend to bare-bones things as opposed to over the top them." He flips the laptop around to display a set of bar graphs.
"This is a bit old, about a year since I updated it, but it should give you a general idea about costs compared to your classmates. I tend to track 1-A as a baseline."
"Why?" She asks, pulling it closer to better examine.
"Sample size and consistency. If I gather data on every hero, there's different school, different teachings, different eras to consider of heroing practices. But if I just track you and your classmates, the data is cleaner, give me a better data."
She hums, acknowledging that. He had a point. The older heroes tended to lean towards an All-Might style of working. Over the top and flashy, but usually successful. There was a weird flux in the next ten years depending on quirk, such as Sir Nighteye, Midnight, Eraserhead vs Mount Lady, or even Lemillion.
"So, you took all those variables away, and this lets you look through…" She trails off, scrolling all the way to the right to find the largest bar. "Oh right. Last year Ground Zero's collateral damage was insane-Ribbit."
Rabbit snorts, rolling his eyes. "Dumbass." He whispers, then shakes his head. "But uh-" He leans over, getting out of his chair to page the screen back to the left. "Lets…." He taps one graph, and it expands, breaking up into a half-dozen other bars. "Creati is a good example of overhead."
"Momo is like- the least destructive individual, next to maybe Ojiro – Ribbit."
"But look at her overhead." Izuku waves his finger under the cost, and it's the largest bar out of the categories. "Her collateral is next to nothing, her complaints are none-existent, no lawsuits, no insurance payouts, but her overhead is through the roof because of her quirk."
"Food intake?"
"And costume changes." He explains. "She's changed costumes four different times, winter and summer in the past three years, before finally picking the one she's in now."
"I thought she produced them herself?" Tsu purses her lips, considering that.
"She does. Prototypes." He hesitates, then admits, "I might have stolen two or three. And one of her encyclopedias. They're really handy for experimentation. Which- is another cost. She's gotten them reprinted and expanded so many times, she made a deal with the company to get them at a discount."
"And us?"
He shrugs, "Your and Uraraka have maintained the same costume, give or take seasonal changes and repair work, since graduation. Support items have changed, but that's not uncommon with the territory and getting into more work. You find the kinks and smooth them out." He tabs out of Creati's graph, and swipes over to Uravity's. "Her main cost is related to support items. Rope, handcuff replacements, and visor replacements for her helmet."
Tsu hums in agreement. It seems that every couple of weeks she'd come in with a grimace on her face and a crack in the visor. And they'd grumble and complain about it, and then send it off to get fixed.
"Mine?"
"Goggles, gloves, handcuffs." He responds without changing the graph. "You need to get a better pouch to hold them. You lose them in the water nearly as much as you get them on someone."
She can't argue with that either.
"Who's the worst?"
He smiles and shrugs. "Depends on what you classify as overhead costs and what you classify as personal."
She cocks an eyebrow at him, knowing he has an opinion.
"Iida. He overheats and melts gaskets like there's no tomorrow in the summer months. In the winter he basically has to pipe in anti-freeze each morning to get his engines warmed up. Engines for legs isn't that cost-efficient of a quirk, as it turns out."
She snorts, shaking her head.
"Alright. I guess you pass on that question – Ribbit." She hums, sipping her tea as he puts away his laptop. It's interesting watching him move.
It's calculated, efficient despite him apparently not having training. He pulls out a sketchbook and a pencil, a fat eraser that looks more like a sad gray blob than a rubber eraser.
"Do you mind if I draw?" He asks, fidgeting with the pencil.
"You already have my autograph- Ribbit. And Uraraka's."
"But it's rare I get to draw you heroes up close." He defends, cheeks burning red. Ah, she guesses that she can admit he's cute. But her heart is set on another.
"As long as I can keep asking you questions." She replies, leaning back as he starts. She waits, watches as his hands tilt the pages this way and that.
He's back wearing the gloves, thin black leather that conceal the scarred fingers and pink scars twisting around the long digits. And when he settles back in the chair, she keeps her position, watching his eyes flick from the page up to her.
"What's your plan?" She asks.
"For?" He flips the pad upside-down, and she's not really sure why. Drawing was never her forte. "Dimajio? I've forwarded Mirio quite a lot of information, and I'm follow up in my own way."
"Uraraka. What are your intentions there?"
He pauses, pencil shaking back and forth before he removes it completely from the page, turning it in his fingers uncertainly. "Courting for right now." He decides.
"Your lifestyle and her's don't exactly mesh- Ribbit."
He hesitates again, then the pencil returns to the page. "I'm… tying up loose ends. Maybe I'll change businesses. Something more mundane. Or less over the line in the least."
"Would you- Ribbit?"
"It's worth it for her." He replies, tone conveying uncertainty despite his relaxed position. "I'm not going to sully her name, or yours for that matter, by keeping involved with dark elements just to date her. I know I have to choose one or the other."
"Do you?" She presses. "You're not acting like you plan on changing."
He shrugs, but before he can reply, her radio goes off.
"Explosion on fourth street! We've got civilians in the building! I'm going into search! Anyone in the area, I'll need back up!"
Uraraka.
The sketchbook slaps closed, and Rabbit is already shoving his things into his bag. He stops for one precious moment to look at her, and then he's moving again, zipping it up and fumbling to pull his gloves back tight.
"We're not going." She says, ignoring the tick of worry that worms its way into the back of her head. "There are other heroes in the area. I'm supposed to be watching you."
He pauses, just for a moment as he slings the bag over his shoulder. "Then watch me help Uravity." Like it's the most logical solution to their issue.
And damn it he's already out the door.
"Rabbit-Ribbit!" She launches herself out of the chair and the door after him, half-hopping, half-sprinting to keep up. "Wait!"
"Can't! Burning building!" He responses because damn him he's right.
"Two are out! There's someone else on the third floor!" Uraraka crackles in through the radio again.
She unclips it, brings it up and responds. "Froppy and Rabbit are on our way, is there anyone else in the area?"
"Rabbit?" A third voice- Ingenium responds. "We're bringing a villain to a rescue scene? No! Stop!"
"Can't!" She responds as he rounds the corner in front of them. "He just started for it; I'm following after him!"
There's a crackling of fire on the other side of the radio, a muffled thump and then general static. Tsu rolls her eyes. Uraraka must have left her headset on again. Or lost it.
She huffed under her breath. There goes another one.
The building is in view.
She can physically see it.
Smoke billowing out from the seams, the brick and mortar scorched with soot. It's unnaturally out of control. And that makes her suspicious. But if it bothers Rabbit, he doesn't show it as he bursts through the crowd.
"Clear out!" She yells, bounding over it in a single hop. "Heroes coming in!"
Where's Uraraka?
It's a thought that settles in the back of her mind as she keeps the citizens back, but one that blooms anew as the building shakes, shuttering on its very foundation before it explodes. She whips around, fear clutching at her heart as a burning bundle tumbles out of the second story window.
It lands in a heap on the ground, tumbling another foot as bricks and mortar ping through the air.
She rushes forward, hoping – hoping -hoping.
Green hair makes it impossible, and the size isn't right for both of them, but she rolls him over anyway, exposes what's beneath Rabbit's curled body.
A child.
Weakly breathing, soot stained and wearing a pink helmet.
A note taped to the side, part of it burnt, but she recognizes the name.
'Dimajio sends his regar' in neat print across the bottom, the corner burnt.
Rabbit peels it off, forcing himself to his feet as he wheezes out one breath after the other as he bends down. Darkness crackles around his hands as he peels off the note.
There's lightning in his eyes and it's so much scarier than any other expression she could compare it to.
How his teeth grit and flex, his body hunches over, muscles straining against his shirt as he curls in on himself.
And howls.
It takes everything in her not to run.
Every shred of training from four years, every ounce of self-control, every fiber of muscle flexed to resist the flee command that's trickled through her mind and invaded every part of her.
Rabbit throws himself into the rubble, the roar slipping from his lungs never ceasing as he grabs rubble and rock, flinging it away-one way or the other- he doesn't seem to care.
And when the sound dies, it's only so the intensity of his movements can double.
She's stuck frozen until a hand claps her shoulder, and it's Ingenium, rushing up to help the villain heave rubble out of the way. And she's-
She's-
She's managing the crowd, pushing them back and giving Ingenium and Rabbit room.
"Is that the infamous rabbit?"
"What's he doing here?"
"Why is he helping the heroes?"
"Didn't he save that girl?"
"Where's Uravity?"
A dozen questions are floating through the air, but it's in one ear and out the other as she sets up a perimeter and more heroes appear on scene. It doesn't take long.
But it took long enough.
The rubble is cleared.
No body is found.
And Rabbit.
She stares at him, at the way his nails are biting so sharply into his palm as he grits his teeth, kneeling in front of the cleared rubble. He's scraped up and bloody and he looks a right mess.
But when he stands up, it's like he's the monster from before.
"I'll be back." He snarls the words as he brushes past her, ducks under the perimeter tape and disappears into the crowd.
She nods, mutely, dumbly as he vanishes.
"Froppy?" Ingenium. "Are you okay? Did that villain hurt you?"
She shakes her head, clears her throat and shakes it again. "N-No. RI-Ri-Ribbit." She hiccups on the croak, chokes it out wide eyed and terrified. "I… I …" She blinks again. "I think I'm just sca-scar-Ribbit. Scared."
Dark emerald eyes.
Crackles of lightning in his eyes.
Blood dripping off of torn black leather gloves.
Dimajio had made a mistake in taking Uravity. That's for sure. He might have been looking to pull a rabbit out of his hat.
But he was about to get a literal nightmare.