*Midoriya's P.O.V*
Keep a straight face, don't let him know we're after him.
"My apologies on behalf of my daughter, hero. She gets carried away with her games sometimes and hurts herself. Such a troublemaker, this one." Chisaki said.
His eyes... he's lying. He's hurting her I don't know how or why, but he is. No, don't make a face, stay straight as straight faced as po-
"We should be the ones apologizing." Togata said stepping in. Good, he'll do the talking, I'll do the planning.
We don't have ANY evidence to peg this guy to a crime, especially child endangerment. For all we know she could have fell into a cactus or something, either way we can't peg him to a crime without hard evidence. But still, I'm not abandoning her, she's scared of him. She reminds me of me when I was younger. Like hell I'm letting her go back.
But what's the play here?! I could run, but that would leave Togata behind with an angry Yakuza member. I definitely won't let her go. All I can do is wait, find an opening, then fucking book it, once I get that opening, I lift Togata onto my shoulders and run the fuck away! If we take her with us, we'll not only save her, but we can get her account for evidence against Chisaki.
That's about as good of a plan as I can get out.
"So let's get going!" Togata said.
... Shit, I don't have an opening... then fucking make one!
"Excuse me... but your daughter here, she's shaking, she seems scared." I said which made Togata look nervous... I'm sorry, but I'm doing this.
"That's because I just scolded her, you know how kids are, doing actions and yet are scared of the punishments, but they must learn after all." He said placing his hands behind his head. My opening.
"That's what I thought it was." I said as I lifted her up and began shuffling towards Togata, "Now let me offer this as a rebuttal." I said as I hoisted Togata over my shoulders, gave him the middle finger, and fucking bolted!
I ran, I ran and ran and didn't stop until I was certain I took us far away from him to talk.
Oh I'm in so much trouble, but it's fine, as of now she's sa-
"WHAT'S A MATTER WITH YOU?!" Togata yelled smacking me upside the head. "YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO DRAW ATTENTION TO US! YOU DIDN'T THINK THIS THROUGH DIDN'T YOU?!"
"Hold that thought." I said as I set the girl down, "Are you okay? You're safe now. I'm pretty sure I put 30 miles between us and him."
"A-Are you sure... h-he's gone?" She muttered still shaking.
"Yes." I said as I gently patted her head, she tensed up for a second, before reverting back to normal realizing I'm not going to hurt her, "Sorry about that. I know of any other way to save you than run as fast as I can."
She looked at me for a few seconds... before hugging me, "T-Thank you." She muttered before she started crying.
I turned back to Togata, "Look, what I did might have jeopordized the entire mission. I get that, but I'm certain she's the evidence we need. At the least, child endangerment, at most, something bigger. What thing is that? I don't have that info yet, and I can't pull a sensable theory if I wanted to."
He took a deep breath, "I understand that... but why did you act out of instinct?"
"It wasn't instinct, I thought about it. This is the evidence we needed. At the lowest, we have child endangerment and abuse, at most... something bigger. Look at her arms, you're telling me that needing to bandage her entire arm is the result of a simple fall?" I asked, "Assuming it's the worst possible option, leaving her with them was the worst thing I could have done. So I took her and you, and ran as far as I thought I needed to."
"But Sir-"
"I'll take the yelling, hell I'll even take being fired. But I'm certain what I did was right." I said as I lifted the girl up.
"So let's go find Sir Nighteye."
"You did what?!" Bubble Girl asked.
"I rescued this girl from the target." I said.
"But why? What warranted the need to do that? He and the Eight Precepts will be after you and the girl." She said.
"Even better. I'll wipe them out myself." I said.
"Mido-"
"That aside I had perfectly valid reasoning to take her and Togata and run." I said.
"I looked at you two... and saw this happening. So tell me Midoriya, what was the valid reasoning?" Sir Nighteye asked.
"Gladly." I said, "The first reason was the mission. You wanted us to get evidence of a crime, right? Well here she is. What we have here is a witness for, at least child endangerment and abuse, at most something big."
"And what is this 'Big Thing'?" Sir Nighteye asked.
"I don't know, and I don't think I could know. It's not like I could have asked 'Hey, you doing something big?' That would have been recieved with a slap to the face. But I'm almost certain they were using her for something." I said.
"That's not valid enough reasoning, and how can you be so certain she was abused in the first place?" Sir Nighteye asked.
"She was gripping onto my shirt and begging for dear life! How can that not be a tell tale sign of abuse?" I asked, "And plus, I could tell from their eyes."
"That is not valid evidence. Anyone can fake eye gestures!" Sir Nighteye yelled.
"That's not humanly possible! And even if it was, you're telling me, that a little girl can do that? She has the eyes of a scared abused girl, and Chisaki has the eyes of an abuser with ulterior motives." I said.
"How can you possible tell what those eyes are?!" Sir Nighteye asked.
"BECAUSE I HAD THOSE SAME EYES!" I yelled.
That silenced the room, "I know damn well what the eyes of an abuser looks like, and I know damn well what the eyes of a scared abused kid looks like. So sorry! I jumped the gun! But at the end of the day I saved the life of a little girl! I saved the life of a child who was going through the same torment I did!" I yelled before looking at Togata, "And you! Mr. 'Oh I'm going to save, a million people', YOU DIDN'T EVEN WANT TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A LITTLE GIRL! There was your chance to practice what you preach, and you squandered it!" I yelled.
No... take a deep breath, breath...
"I'm sorry... it's just tha-"
"No, I'm sorry." Togata said, "I was so caught up with the mission... that I forgot my promise to myself. I apologize... to both of you." He said with a bow.
"But still... with you three at the scene, and with you specifically running off with Chisaki's 'Daughter' he'll be after you three in particular." Sir Nighteye said, "What's your plan?"
"Isn't it obvious?" I asked, "Take her to U.A."
"You can't be serious." Sir Nighteye said.
"U.A is too high profile. And there are 12 pro heroes there on standby. If they were stupid enough to storm the beaches, then they'll be walking into their own deaths. U.A is the safest place she can be right now." I said.
He looked at me, then back to Togata, then right back to me. "Fine." He said throwing his arms up, "Fine, by all means. Take her with you."
"Awesome." I said while kneeling down to her, "You're going to be safe, I'll make sure of it... oh silly me, I never got your name."
"E-Eri." She muttered.
"Okay Eri, we'll keep you safe. If those evil bird mask people come to get you, well I'll beat them up myself." I said with a smile.
I can see some tension fade from her as she nodded.
"But we need to make sure she gets out of the city and to U.A without any goonies spotting her." I said before turning towards Togata.
"Give me your cape."
"This is as close as we can get." I said as we stepped out of Nighteye's office. Eri has my jacket and Togata's cape as a hood. As for Togata and I we stole some of the spare clothes that was lying around. I was wearing a grey cardigan a pair of formal pants, a pair of shades, and a cap. While Togata sported a three piece suit, a pair of shades, and a fedora. Togata's hair was slicked back, and my hair was braided thanks to Bubble Girl, as well as some concealer for my freckles. Eri's hair was put into a bun.
At least from a glance none of Chisaki's croonies will recognize us.
"Can't you just run us back to U.A?" Togata asked.
...
...
"Look, sometimes you can't help stupid. But we're too far gone now." I said, as I picked up Eri and carried her in my arms.
Togata sighed, "This isn't going to work."
"Hush. Now let's head out."
This feels like a moment from some terrible spy movie. But it's working, aside from some weird judgemental looks from snobby people we made it to the train station. Except the trains are fucking delayed from a villan fight that happened literally 10 minutes ago. All we can do is wait.
...
...
It took 45 minutes for it all to go wrong. Kai Chisaki was right there.
"What do we do?" Togata asked.
"Act natural." I whispered as I put my hat on Eri to at least hide her horn and her face slightly. Because he came over to us.
"Excuse me, have you seen a little girl, a boy with green hair, and boy with blonde hair?" He asked.
"No sir, we haven't." I said, "But I do believe Issac and I saw a trio like dat down by da bakery a few blocks down." I said trying to do the best accent I can imagine... sorry Ochako.
He looked at us intently, thankfully Togata and Eri didn't move a muscle, even though they really wanted to. "Wait a minu-"
"Now boarding, we apologize for the delay." The announcer said.
"We do apologize sir, but we must be goin'. Ma would be rather sore if we miss dinna." I said as we stood up and bowed, "Good luck on ya search mista."
"... Yes, I apologize for wasting your time." He said before leaving.
We boarded the train and gave a heavy sigh. "That... was close."
"Too close." Togata replied.
"Mm-Hm." Eri nodded.
"That was the worst accent I've ever heard." Togata muttered as we took a entire seat.
"Lay off me, I couldn't exactly practice." I replied, "Anyway we're safe. Chisaki doesn't seem to have caught on. He had slight suspicion but nothing else." I said.
"So we're good then?" Togata asked.
"Yes, we should be able to get Eri to U.A without anymore altercations." I said, before looking towards Eri, "You're safe now."
She didn't say a word... but I can tell she's relieved. We eventually made it back to U.A, and it's nighttime once we were in the safety of U.A's walls. Now, the big challenge.
Introducing Eri to the others.
"Izuku, welcome ba-" Mom said, then she saw Eri... who hid behind my leg in fear. I didn't see anyone in the common room, probably studying in their rooms or something.
"It's okay Eri... she's my Mom." I said.
She didn't leave from behind me... but peeked out a little bit.
"B-But why is she here?" Mom asked before looking at her arms, "What happened?" She asked went from worried to angry.
I looked at Togata, he shook his had.
"We can't explain, I hope you can understand.." Togata said.
Mom nodded in understanding, there is only so much she can know.
I led Eri to the couches, only for her to yelp and jump.
"What? What's wrong?" I asked looking at her, she shakily pointed towards the ground... she's scared of Polterpup. "Oh Eri, that's Polterpup, she's my puppy, she's really sweet and affectionate, give her a chance. Just stick out your hand."
She fearfully nodded as she moved her hand towards Polterpup. Polterpup sniffed her hand before nuzzling her head onto her arm. Eri went from scared to confused.
"She wants to be pet." I said as I took Eri's hand gently and began moving it slowly down Polterpup's neck. She went from confused to curious as she kept petting Polterpup in that same motion.
I'm so glad Koji is here training her, remind me to make him a feast for my gratitude.
"So what are we doing with Eri?" Mom asked.
"We're keeping her in our custody until the thing we're doing blows over." I said, she knows it's a hero thing considering I just came back from an internship, "She'll be staying in my room. I'm a light sleeper and should someone comes to get her by force I can beat them before they can lay a finger on her."
"That's good... but what about the others?" She asked towards the stairs, "They'll probably freak out over her."
"I'll... handle them." I said as I pulled out my phone.
IM: Okay, this may seem weird. But keep an open mind.
TI: Izuku, you're scaring me.
MY: I must agree I am rather frightened by your statement.
IM: Just come to the common room, and for the love of all that is good, don't freak out.
IM: Mina, Denki, Tooru, Ochako I'm looking at you 4 specifically.
MA: Wow!
DK: Called out...
TH: I'm offended.
OU: Actually that's valid.
MA: Ochako!
DK: Uraraka!
IM: Just come down stairs.
"I'll explain it to them."
"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed.
"What part of 'Keep an open mind' did you not understand?" I asked while pinching the bridge of my nose, "All the steps forward we made... have immediately been erased." I muttered before kneeling in front of Eri, "Don't be scared, they... for better or for worse, are my family you can trust them."
"Aww... you see us as family?" Tooru cooed.
"Yes, congratulations." I said as I turned to face them, "So this is Eri, she's under my custody, so I would appreciate it if you didn't scare her with your... you-ness." I said.
"W-What's that supposed to mean?!" Mina asked as Eri hid behind my legs again.
"That's what I mean... so for the time being, can you... not be you guys. Especially you Minoru." I said.
"She's a kid!" Minoru yelled, "Like heck I'm going to act out in front of her, I may be a pervert, but I have standards."
"I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing you've acknowledged it, but I'll hold you to it." I said, but an unaccountable factor has come. Fumikage Tokoyami.
"B-Bird people!" She yelled as she hid behind me.
"Shoot!" I said as I turned over to hug her, "It's fine, Eri. Fumikage is a good bird person. He won't hurt you. If anything he'll help me protect you." I said before looking at Fumikage, "Right?" I mouthed 'Play along'.
"Yes. I will do whatever it takes to make sure those 'Bad Bird People' won't hurt you. You have my promise." He said.
She isn't 100% comfortable... but she knows I trust him. So she stopped crying. Phew...
"So you brought... a puppy, an ex villain, and a little girl, what's next?" Denki asked.
I know it was a joke... but I genuinely gave it honest thought.
"Probably an abused adult, complete the cycle."
...
...
*Creak*
I woke up at the sound of the door opening, I saw Eri walking out into the hallway... where is she going? I slowly got out of bed and glanced at the analog clock on my desk... 1:42 AM. Rubbing the gunk out of my eyes I followed Eri down stairs, she and Polterpup were sitting on the couch. Polterpup is probably there to comfort her... as for Eri, it was probably a nightmare that woke her up. She was rustling a little next to me... but I thought it was she trying to get comfortable.
"Eri? What's wrong?" I asked sitting next to her. She didn't respond. "... Bad dream?"
She nodded.
"Bad bird people?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Was Fumikage one of them?" I asked.
She shook her head... thank goodness.
"I know you're still scared, just know... that I won't let them hurt you. Ever." I said, pulling her into a hug, "I'll protect you."
She's still trembling with fear... how did Mom help me when words weren't enough. Right.
Sing.
*Jirou's P.O.V*
"Stupid Present Mic and his stupid English homework..." I muttered to myself as I began heading down to the common room for a drink. I'm subjecting myself to an all nighter to work on Mic's stupid English Homework.
"My father wasn't around..."
Huh? Who's that?
I descended down the stairs to see a mop of green hair, "I swear that I'll be around for you... I'll do whatever it takes, I'll make a million mistakes. I'll make the world safe and sound for you."
He's... singing?
"... will come of age with our new nation. We'll bleed and fight for you, we'll make it right for you. If we lay a strong enough foundation, we'll pass it on to you, we'll give the world to you, and you'll blow us all away. Someday, someday, yeah, you'll blow us all away. Someday... someday..."
The song ended... that was... actually really good.
"Is there something you need Jirou?"
This went from really good to really bad.
"Uh... Hi." I said, just here to get a drink." I said as I headed into the kitchen.
...
...
"How much did you hear?" He asked.
Don't lie to him, "The 'My father wasn't around' part. Is that true?" I asked.
"Yes... might as well say it since you already heard it." Izuku said.
...
...
His hatred for fake smiles... makes too much sense now. But why didn't he tell us?
"Because I'm not 100% with you all." He said... wait, was I talking outloud?
"No, but I can see your eyes, and the turmoil they're in. The eyes are the gateway to the soul. They tell all." Izuku said, "I love you all, you're like the brothers and sisters I never thought I wanted. But forgive me for keeping a few things close to my chest." He said as he gently stood up with Eri sleeping in his arms, "I'll tell you all when I'm good and ready... but I would appreciate it if this stayed between us." He said before leaving.
...
...
This stays between us.
*Midoriya's P.O.V*
It's been several days since Eri's rescue and my temporary suspension of work. Eri still has nightmares, but they've dwindled in severity, of course I had to wake up to comfort her, singing the song I sang to her the first night because it's her favorite, but she's slowly getting better. As for school, I had to bring her with me. Not because I'm worried for her, but she's worried about being somewhere without me there. Mr. Aizawa... took a little bit of convincing, but he agreed to it.
However, today is important. Sir Nighteye texted me, we have an important meeting regarding Chisaki and the Eight Precepts.
"I'll be back soon Eri. I have to go take care of something." I said.
"Okay." She said as I began heading towards the door, "Bye Dad."
*Thud*
I tripped and fell face first into the carpet.
"I-Izuku?!" Mom exclaimed as she helped me up, while all of 1-A started laughing at me.
"She's imprinted on you!" Mina exclaimed.
"S-She's not an animal!" I yelled.
"Are you okay dad?" She asked.
D-D-Dad?!
"I'm a grandma?!" Mom exclaimed.
I was about to say 'I'm not your Dad' to her face... but that would be a horrible thing to say me! Jesus!
... My father wasn't around... I swear I'll be around for you. Yeah... that does imply that I'm her father. I should have sang 'Take a Break' instead.
But I can't say no to that, it'll make her sad.
...You know what? I'm taking it instride! I'll be a way better dad than he ever was!
"I'm fine." I said as I kissed her forehead, "I'll be back soon." I said before exiting the dorms before the others could make fun of me any further.
Itake is probably going to jump to all sorts of conclusions... that's going to be hell to explain.
"What happened in there Izuku?" Ochako asked as she, Tsu, Momo, and Eijirou waited for me. It just so happens that we have to go on the same train so we decided to go together.
"I'll... explain on the train."
"PFBT!" Ochako said before exploding into laughter.
"S-She called you Dad?" Momo asked at least holding in her laughter.
"Yeah..." I muttered feeling my face reach an internal temperature of 1 million degrees.
"W-What caused that, ribbit?" Tsu asked long since regained herself from her laughter.
"I-It was because of a few days ago. She had a nightmare and headed down to the common room. So I did what Mom used to do, sing to calm me down." I muttered.
"Daw!" Ochako teased, "What a good dad!"
"H-Hush, and don't say that in a public train!" I yelled.
"But how does that make her think you're a snrk, dad?" Eijirou asked.
"One of the lines was 'My father wasn't around... I swear I'll be around for you'." I explained.
"Yeah... that would do it." Momo said, "But more importantly... does that make me her aunt?"
"That makes me feel old." Ochako said.
"That makes me feel manly, I'll be the best uncle she has ever had." Eijirou said.
"As far as I know, you're her only uncle. If she has one, well I'll going to kill him and hide the body." I said.
...
...
"Yup, protective dad." Ochako said.
"H-Hush, anyway we're here."
We got off the same station, walked down the same path, turned the same corner, and met up at the same building. The entirety of the Big 3 stood outside waiting for us.
We entered to see a bunch of pros. Including but not limited to; Fatgum, Ryukyu, Bubble Girl, Centipeder, Rock-Lock, Mr. Aizawa? And that old guy from Hosu too?
"By virtue of the information everyone provided me with, I was able to make substantial progress with my investigation." Sir Nighteye said, "I have called this meeting for none other than to share the information, as well as to discuss how to proceed in dealing with the plots of a certain small organization named the 'Eight Precepts of Death'."
This is it... time to end this 'Organization'.
*End of Chapter*