Hey everyone! Here's this weeks chapter, hope you all enjoy it!
Also big thanks to Bunkerbird25, I'm so glad you're enjoying my story! it honestly means a lot to me :)
Chapter 20:
Yaeko was pacing back and forth at the entrance of the hospital, her eyes glued to the glass doors. Akari had called her over an hour ago to tell her that Noriko had been taken by a Nomu and that they didn't know where she was.
She had finally fallen asleep and was barely wake for the phone call. But the minute the words were fully processed, she had shot up with the intention to head over to join the search party, but Akari had stopped her.
She knew that Yaeko wasn't fully recovered from the surgeries she performed on Eraserhead and would probably just end up hurting herself in the process.
She was in the middle of arguing with Akari when she had let out of shout of excitement. Noriko had activated her tattoo. She knew it would be a while before they actually found her because the tattoo only served to guide her sister in the general direction.
A blacked-out van skidded to a halt outside the doors, the breaks making a loud screeching sound as it did so. Yaeko stopped pacing and slowly made her way to the doors, hoping to God it was her sisters.
"Incoming, we have a female, 17 years old, several broken ribs and low oxygen levels!" A young woman in a paramedic's uniform jumped out of the passenger side, rushing to the back to through open the back doors.
A gurney was pulled out, and she caught sight of the familiar deep blue hair with pastel green highlights. Yaeko bit back the sob that was threatening to escape and rushed to meet them half-way.
Her full attention was on Noriko, so she didn't even notice the blonde boy that had hopped out of the truck after her sister.
"I can treat her." Yaeko croaked, stroking Noriko's hair softly.
"I'm sorry Dr. Imai, conflict of interest means you can't be on this case. Inkfinity also made it clear you we weren't allowed to allow you to assist." One of the nurses informed her with an apologetic look.
"I don't care what Inkfinity, or anyone says! I am Noriko's legal guardian, so what I say goes!" Yaeko snapped; uncaring about how rude she was being.
Feeling the strong gust of wind blow through the entrance from the open doors, she turned to see Hawks and her sister landing. Akari's wings melted back into her back as soon as her feet touched the ground.
Her eyes had been on their sister, but the minute Yaeko stalked her way up to her, she immediately focused on her older sister. She was pissed, something she had been expecting, so she was prepared for the incoming fight.
"How dare you?!" Yaeko snarled. "I am the best person to treat her injuries and condition!"
"Yes, you are, but you're not at 100%. Let Recovery girl fix Noriko's ribs and have them put her on oxygen. Tomorrow, after you've rested, you can do a final examination and treat her if she still requires it."
Akari spoke to her older sister in a calm tone, knowing that she needed to deescalate the situation. Both of them were on edge from what had happened tonight, but one of htem needed to keep a level head for Noriko's sake.
Yaeko glared down at Akari, listening as the nurses to rushed Noriko into a room behind her. She faintly heard one of them paging Recovery Girl, who thankfully, was already on standby at the hospital.
She wasn't happy about not being the one to treat her sister, but she knew Akari was right. Recovery Girl was the next best option, something she knew from experience. Yaeko had had the privilege of working with the older woman many years ago in an internship during her medical school days.
A wave of dizziness hit her suddenly, making her stumble slightly. Hawks was immediately at her side, holding her up.
"Easy there, Doc. You need to rest."
He was right. She was already stretched thin, her body still feeling heavy despite the adrenaline coursing through her. If she attempted to try and heal Noriko in this condition, she might actually do more damage than good.
"Fine, but I want you to tell me what happened tonight." She muttered, gesturing for them to head in the direction of her office.
Akari looked over at the boy that had found her sister. "Dynamight, come, Yaeko will want to hear everything you saw and heard."
He didn't look at her, instead his eyes were glued to the doors of the room her sister had been taken into. Understanding how he was feeling, she stepped up closer to him.
It wasn't until she was standing right next to him that she realized how tall the teenager was.
Standing a couple inches taller than Hawks, Akari had to strain her neck to look up at his face. He was very handsome, even with the permanent scowl that seemed to be etched into his face. But she knew he wasn't truly annoyed or mad, because his red eyes were swirling with concern.
The way he had been holding Noriko in the warehouse when they finally found them, also told her just how much this kid cared about her. He hadn't wanted to let go of her and had immediately shifted to cover her when he heard them approaching.
He was prepared to defend her no matter the cost. It showed her exactly how great of a hero he would be someday.
"Hey kid, she'll be fine. Recovery Girl will heal her right up and then we can see her in the morning."
"Don't call me kid!" he snapped, finally looking away from the room to glare down at her.
An amused smirk played on Akari's lips, as she met his glare head on. "Nemuri-Sempai was so right when she compared you two, hot heads." She laughed, turning to follow after Hawks and her sister.
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"What the hell is up with teenagers these days? I think you all need a therapy day to deal with all these anger issues." Akari tsked, with a shake of her head.
Hawks stifled a laugh at the outraged look on Bakugo's face. He never let go of Yaeko, having felt the slight tremble in her body when he caught her. He looked down to see the older Imai sister looking back at her sister and Bakugo curiously.
"Who is that?"
"He's the one that found Imai-Chan." Yaeko let out a low hum, turning back around to continue their short journey.
Red eyes, ask blonde hair and permanent scowl in his face. He must be the angry kid Noriko had ranted about before, Yaeko thought.
"The real question is what's with you Imai women and your heights! How is it that all three of you are fucking midgets?" Bakugo snapped back.
Yaeko's eyebrows shot up, turning slightly to look at the angry teenager. With his hair as spikey and poofy as it was, he did look like the Pomeranian Noriko had compared him too.
"Well, you know what they say, the best things come in small packages." Akari winked at him over her shoulder.
Bakugo felt the vein in his temple throb, feeling his irritation rise because of the blue haired woman in front of him. He had to admit that the woman held a scary resemblance to Noriko, though more annoying if that was possible.
"Oi, Warugaki, how'd you find Noriko?" Yaeko called over her shoulder.
Bakugo couldn't help but stand straighter the minute he locked eyes with the older Imai sister. Something about the way Yaeko carried herself, even now when she was clearly not at 100%, was intimidating.
It was ridiculous considering the woman was almost an entire foot shorter than him. But she was also Noriko's Ane, and she was the one who was supposedly a villain.
"Who the hell are you calling a brat?!" he snarled, though he didn't shout or put much malice behind his words.
Akari let out a snicker, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. She always found it amusing how Yaeko could intimidate most people, but this was great. Part of her was upset Noriko wouldn't be able to witness this herself.
"You, who else? Now don't make me repeat myself." Yaeko reached out to put her thumbprint into the keypad of her office.
"I followed the Nomu after it snatched her."
"How much did she use her quirk?"
Hawks led Yaeko over to her desk, making sure she was okay before moving back to lean against the glass windows behind her. He waved off her thanks, looking at the city below, still feeling uneasy about the Nomu attack.
Bakugo stopped behind the two chairs placed across from her desk, eyeing as Akari threw herself into one of them. His lips curled in disgust when she slouched, throwing her feet onto the spare chair without a care in the world.
"Were you raised by a troll? Get your feet off the table!" Bakugo snapped, swatting her feet as he went to take a seat.
"Geez, alright, alright, you old man!" Akari laughed, pulling her feet down.
"As for that dumbass, Noriko, she first used her quirk when the Nomu appeared. He jumped off one of the buildings and landed hard enough to increase the pressure in the area. She stopped the wave and caught any flying objects thrown around by it." Bakugo crossed his arms as he thought about everything that had happened.
He remembered being surprised by her level of control, but that was nothing compared to when she had contained the explosion she helped create.
"Then she created this crystal wall to stop it from attacking a little girl. When it turned its attention to her, she used that trick of her to make her float, and she stayed up there the rest of the fight. I think she reached her limit when she helped Icy Hot to fry the bastard."
"Makes sense, Noriko usually sets off her explosions with her sparks." Akari murmured, looking over at her older sister. "But since she didn't get near the thing, she just manipulated the molecules around the Nomu and waited for the fire and ice kid to use his quirk."
"And she probably didn't factor in that his fire would be more powerful that her sparks." Yaeko murmured, reaching into her desk for a protein bar.
"She seemed surprised when the explosion went off." Bakugo confirmed, thinking back to the look of shook on her face before using both hands to contain the explosion. "She did warn Deku and I to get out of the way, but it wasn't even necessary, she caught the explosion easily. But she didn't put it out until the damn shit was completely down… or so we thought."
Akari held a handout to get him to stop speaking, reaching into her utility belt for her phone. She tinkered with it for a moment before looking over at him. "You hungry?"
"HAH?! How can you think about food in a moment like this?!"
"Yaeko probably hasn't eaten all day and she performed surgery on Eraserhead for most of it. That's why she's so dead on her feet. Hawks what do you want?"
"Chicken wings."
"I still think that's some form of cannibalism." Akari muttered under her breath but added it to the order. "Last chance, kid."
"Stop calling me kid dammit, and spicey curry if they got it." He snapped.
"It's scary how much Noriko and you have in common."
"Stop comparing us!"
"Anyway, order placed. We can continue." Akari chose to ignore Bakugo's outrage, smiling sweetly at him. "What were you saying, otouto?"
"Akari, stop antagonizing him." Yaeko shot her sister a long look, before focusing back on the angry blonde. "What happened after she contained the explosion?"
"She stayed hovering in the air, I think to make sure the thing was fully down. But it looked like she was having a hard time breathing. She was wheezing a little, nothing like back at the warehouse." Bakugo frowned, looking straight at Yaeko. "Is that a draw back of her quirk? It messes with her breathing?"
"Yes, her quirk doesn't just pull at the molecules surrounding whatever she focuses on, it also pulls from the ones directly in her surroundings. In order to create chemical reactions, she basically changes the composition of the molecules, which in turn reduces the level of oxygen her body in takes."
"Didn't seem to affect her the times we've sparred, granted we never fought for very long, nor did she really use her quirk to the extent she did tonight." Bakugo frowned.
"She does breathing exercises in the mornings and at nights, as well as during training to help increase her quirk use. But she still needs support gear, something she was never approved for since she couldn't enroll in hero courses or use her quirk outside of an emergency." Akari answered, sitting up straighter in her seat.
"Endeavor had her fill out a form for her hero suit, he said she included details and sketches of a hero support item to help with that. She should be getting it soon." Hawks spoke up for the first time, looking over at the three of them.
"She didn't tell us anything about that. I assumed it was because they were gonna wait until after she got her provisional license." Akari pouted.
"She wanted it to be a surprise, so she told Endeavor not to mention it. He only mentioned it to me because she had also requested fireproof training clothes. He would usually ask Best Jeanist, but he is so busy with his newest collection launching soon he wouldn't have time for it. So, he asked if my department could handle that for her and naturally, I peeked at her form." He smiled cheekily.
"Of course, you did." Akari muttered dryly.
"Couldn't help myself, especially with such an unusual request. But I thought it was cool that she didn't seem to have any drawbacks to her quirk, so I commented on it, and he did mention that her oxygen levels decreased but so far, she seemed to have a handle on it. That was why I was a little shocked to see you so concerned earlier."
"Most people don't know about it until they see it first-hand. She does well at hiding it when she focuses on her breathing techniques during training. However, the ordeal from today pushed her quirk more than she usually does, not to mention with the adrenaline pumping through it must have been hard to focus on her breathing." Yaeko sighed, looking down at her phone for the millionth time to see if there was any update on Noriko.
"They'll call us when they have an update." Akari murmured softly.
"I know… For now, please tell us what happened after the Nomu snatched Noriko."
Bakugo took a deep breath, before recounting how he followed the Nomu back to the warehouse and how Dabi had been there waiting for their arrival. Hawks tensed at that, staring intently at Bakugo as he told them what he saw and heard.
"They know details about us and our quirks. How else would he have connected the tattoo on her shoulder to me?" Akari sent a sharp look at Yaeko. "The top heroes can't get their hands on our records, but the villains could?"
"You think you can explain this to us, Hawks?" Yaeko's voice was hard, her eyes dark with barely restrained fury.
"I don't know how this was possible, but I'm definitely going to get to the bottom of this." He growled, locking eyes with Akari to try and convey that he will get to the bottom of this.
"What else happened, Dynamight?" Akari asked after a moment of staring into Hawks' golden eyes.
She knew what he was trying to say with the look he was giving her, and part of her wanted to believe he could handle this. But the truth was, she was scared. The HPSC had failed her family multiple times, including now. Information on her family had been hacked into or leaked, and because of it her baby sister had been in danger.
She also didn't know how she would face him if he ever learned the truth about her part in what happened 4 years ago. Her sisters always reassured her that she had done nothing wrong, that it wasn't her fault, just like it wasn't Yaeko's fault. But it didn't stop her from feeling guilty.
"I don't know. After I signaled to Noriko to be ready in 3 minutes, I left to make as much noise as possible. I was hoping Dabi would either retreat or his back up would come out and join the fight. It wasn't the best plan, but I needed to get her out of there before the dickhead started losing his patience even more."
"You did good, kid." Akari smiled softly at him, unphased when he yelled at her for calling him that again.
A knock on the door stopped him mid rant. Yaeko shot to her feet but was immediately pushed back down by Hawks. Akari sent him a grateful look as she stood to answer the door. It turned out to be the food, something she was extremely grateful for, considering Yaeko seemed to be getting paler and paler by the minute.
They took a brief pause to eat, most of which was full of the three of them pushing for Yaeko to eat everything Akari had ordered for her. At the end of their meal, Yaeko was properly full and feeling a hundred times better.
"See, don't you feel so much better now that you don't look like a walking corpse?" Akari cooed, pinching Yaeko's cheek.
She yelped when she felt a sharp sting on her hand. The blue haired woman pouted down at her sister, shaking her bruised hand to ease the pain.
"Keep up your shit, and the least of your worries will be your hand." Yaeko threatened, at the same time her phone pinged.
Glancing down to read the notification, she jolted with shock. She jumped up and rushed out of her office.
"Whoa, wait, Yaeko!" Akari yelled, rushing after her sister. "Where's the fire?!"
"Noriko's awake!"
*Meanwhile*
"I don't give a flying fuck what you want or need. I said I wanted to see my sisters." Noriko growled out, glaring at the money in a suit standing in front of her.
The man had come barging in with a nurse following closely behind, trying her best to stop him. He flashed her his badge and rudely ordered her to not interrupt and leave the room. Then he turned and introduced himself to her briefly, before starting to question her about the night's events.
Off the bat, Noriko disliked him and forgot his name. She told him to get the hell out of her room, and to take up his concerns either with Yaeko or Endeavor. He hadn't liked her answer and started trying to order her around.
That had been around 10 minutes ago, and she was starting to lose the patience she didn't have. Despite being awake and being able to breathe in general, she had a migraine and body aches, specifically in her chest and ribs.
"Miss Imai, I must remind you of the conditions of your sisters release and your future hero career." He warned, taking a step forward, glaring at her just as hard.
"Yes, and never was I told I had to answer to some HPSC wannabe goon who has no respect for a recovering victim."
"If you really are a victim, as you so claim, then you should have no problem giving me a statement!
"What exactly are you implying? That I conspired with the villains to be kidnapped and almost killed?" Noriko snorted, trying to hide her cackles. "Please get the fuck out of my room before I make you."
"Are you threatening an officer of the HPSC?"
"No, I'm promising you I will kick your ass out myself."
"What the hell is going on in here?"
Both turned to see a seething Yaeko and serious Akari standing in the doorway of her room. Noriko leaned back with a satisfied smile, knowing her sisters would take care of this clown.
"Inkfinity, as you know I need a statement from both your sister and you. You both are making my job harder than it should be by not cooperating." The man straightened, turning to address the older Imai sister.
"I do believe that my sister is still considered a minor and requires her guardian present during any and all police matters." Yaeko's voice was icy.
The man gulped, suddenly feeling uneasy in the presence of the eldest Imai sister. He raised his hand to adjust his suddenly too tight tie, before opening his mouth to speak.
"Sasaki-san, good to see you again." Hawks' easy-going voice chimed in from behind the two sisters. "Didn't think I'd see you around again, considering that earlier I told you Endeavor, and I would be handling the case." His carefree smile suddenly dropped.
"Well yes, but we still need a statement for the record. The sooner we get that, the better. You know this, Hawks-san." The man looked taken aback, having not expected to see the number two hero here.
"I do, and you'll get your statements as soon as Miss Imai has fully recovered enough to give it. I'll bring you the full report myself once it's complete." The tone of finality was obvious enough for all to hear.
Akari smiled smugly at the pissed off man as he rushed out of the room, sending him a cheeky wave when he turned to look over his shoulder at them. She laughed out loud at the angry expression on his face.
"Thanks, you oversized chicken nugget, but I think my sisters had a handle on it." Noriko's tired voice rang out, bringing her attention back to her.
Her eyes were drooping low, squinting as if the light was bothering her, so Akari reached out to dim the lights. Noriko let out a sigh of relief, slumping further back into the bed.
"I know they did, chickadee, but I got rid of him faster and without killing him." Hawks said softly, moving to stand on the left side of her bed.
"Pity, would've loved to see them beat his ass." She sighed, turning her head to look at him. "Where's Bakugo?"
"Outside, giving you some time to be with your sisters. Which, I agree with." He patted her head affectionately. "We'll both be right outside. Take your time, I doubt that kid's going anywhere."
He chuckled at the blush that colored Noriko's cheeks. He nodded at her sisters before heading out to meet Bakugo in the hall.
"How's she doing?" He asked when he caught sight of the pro-hero.
"Good…She's a strong one."
"Yeah, she is." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his cargo pants. "She literally stood toe to toe with that burnt piece of shit without flinching."
"No doubt that piqued his curiosity." Hawks muttered darkly.
"It did, but he seemed to be more interested in the other one." He nodded his head back at the room. "Tattoos."
Hawks felt his blood run cold at the young hero's words. "Explain."