The meeting with Sir Nighteye hung heavily over Izuku Midoriya's head; that poor little girl Eri was still in the hands of a psychopath and being harvested for her DNA to create a weapon that could destroy Quirks and upturn hero society as he knew it….and while he had done his best, it wasn't enough.
Some hero he was shaping up to be; couldn't even save one little girl.
Alongside him, his senpai Mirio Togata was having similar thoughts but his guilt was even greater. He and Izuku had met Eri and the man holding her captive; Kai Chisaki AKA Overhaul. Mirio had followed Sir Nighteye's orders to not appear suspicious and as such, let Eri get taken away back to that hellhole.
And now, he had to live with the fact he returned a little girl to a man who made most mad scientistrs irk back in horror; breaking her down (literally) to use her to make anti-Quirk bullets.
"Hey, you two okay?"
Izuku and Mirio, pullefd out of their thoughts, looked to see two new faces, obviously foregin. One was Izuku's age while the other looked to be a little older than Mirio; about 20 years old.
The first boy having tanned skin and spiky hair that seemed to be a mix of black and blonde. He wore a school uniform of navy blue and white with red lining, and his right hand was gloved.
The man beside him had skin of a much paler tone and his hair was a shaggy, wild black. His eyes were of rich hazelnut and he seemed to be wearing a hero costume consisting of a half-black and half-white suit with the divide split perfectly down the middle, similar to Two-Face from old Batman cartoons. He had a golden hooded scarf and on his chest was a crest depicting the four primary elements of Fire, Water, Earth, and Air.
"Kind of down in the dumps, eh?" the man asked, a weak grin on his face.
"You speak Japanese?" Izuku asked, the first to compose himself. He nornally wouldn't have started wi8th such a blunt question, but something about these two made it clear they were not 'fully fluent' as Melissa was.
Both boys shook their heads, which puzzled Izuku and Mirio. If they didn't speak Japanese, how were they able to understand them so clearly?
"Not really. A classmate of mine created a universal translator." The first boy said, pointing to his left ear, revealing what looked like a Bluetooth with the symbol of a globe on it. The second boy also showed he had one as well.
"A classmate?" Izuku asked for confirmation
"Yeah, I'm from Kirby Highschool of Heroics back in New York City." The first boy explained as he sat down next to Izuku. "My class and I are here for a spring break trip."
"And I'm a Pro Hero, freshly graduated and everything. Chaperoning for a start up job." The second boy added as he sat next to Mirio. "So what's eating you guys?"
"Well, I just…" Izuku tried to find the right words without giving too much information away. "…There's a little girl whose Quirk is being weaponized to make Anti-Quirk bullets. I tried to save her, but…"
"I messed up. I tried to follow orders and I let her get taken away..." Mirio said. "It's not your fault, it's mine."
"Yeah, the first failure is always tough." The second boy sighed. "What do you plan on doing about it?"
Izuku and Mirio looked at the two boys curiously before looking at each other and deciding to humor them.
"We both want to try again, a second chance. But we can't do it by ourselves, no matter how good our Quirks are..." Mirio sighed.
"I see…." The first boy noted with a smile on his face. Glancing around, he then leaned in and asked. "You got your costumes?"
"Um, yeah?"
"Good. Meet us back here at 8:00 tonight."
The two boys then got up and raced off, leaving Izuku and Mirio bewildered and a little confused as to what had just happened
MHPP
Izuku and Mirio now clad in their hero costumes as Deku and Lemillion, had arrived at the destined spot at the right time and were now waiting for their new sort-of teammates.
"Sorry, we're late."
The two newcomers had arrived. The Pro was still clad in his atture from earlier while the first boy was now wearing a white hoodie with armored shoulder pads and fingerless black gloves, although the glove he had worn on his right hand was still visible. His face was covered by both some red and white paint that reached to his chin, on top of a domino mask and a lower face mask not unlike one a ninja would wear. On his chest, a giant 'E' stood out, and on his back, there was a baseball bat and an off-looking pistol on his right hip. He wore the pants of a lacrosse player and lightweight military-grade boots.
"A little overdoing yet, yeah." The first boy chuckled weakly. "I get that a lot. So, since Mr. E and I new to this conflict, why don't you tell us a bit about the kidnapper and where he was last based?"
Izuku thought back. "He called himself her father, spoke with some medical terms…."
"So an abandoned hospital, probably just recently and not too far from his last hideout if he moved to feel safe, is most likely where we'll find him." The Pro mused. "Know any?"
"I think I have an idea," Mirio spoke up. "Follow me, we'll start there."
MHPP
When they spotted a bunch of thugs standing outside the abandoned pharmaceuticals factory, the boys knew they were on the right track. When one of the thugs left to take a bathroom break, they grabbed him and slammed him against the wall.
"Where's the girl?" Deku demanded
"Not saying, brat." The thug smirked. "Why don't you piss off before my boss comes back?"
"Let me handle this…" Mr. E said before his hazel eyes changed to bright pink as sparkling light of the same color emitted from the thug's forehead, his eyes widening in shock and distress as the information was yanked out of him.
"She's on the top floor."
With the information they needed, the first boy removed his bat and slammed it down in the man's privates, the pain causing him to pass out as the four young heroes raced through the factory, hiding behind the equipment.
"Don't you think that was kind of brutal?" Lemillion asked.
"They're hurting a fucking kid, man." The first boy reminded.
"Was that your Quirk you used?" Deku asked the Pro. "I've never seen a Psychic Quirk like yours before."
"Oh trust me, there's more to me than meets the eye." The man chuckled. "And please, call me the Elemental Hero: Equinox."
Soon, the four arrived at the room where Eri was. Mirio used his strength to fling the door open and saw the little girl on a flat mattress in a plain room with just a small TV and a couple of plush dolls.
"Eri, remember us?" Deku asked gently. "We're here to save you for real this time."
Eri easily recognized Deku and Lemillion and dashed toward them, hugging both of them tightly as she sobbed silently.
"It's okay, we got you," Deku assured her. "We're here to take you away from this horrible place."
"Are you now?"
The four young heroes turned to see Overhaul and his minions standing outside.
"Overhaul, I presume?" Equinox asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Indeed. I don't know how you four managed to find this hiding spot. We were keeping Eri here in case you got wise to my lie and told the police before heading back to our main base."
"We know about what you're doing to Eri now. You won't get away with this!" Lemillion said, his Tintin-esque eyes narrowing.
"Get them and make sure nothing remains." Overhaul ordered his men, the Eight Bullets immediately racing to deal with the meddling boys. Overhaul's two right-hand men, Mimic and Chronostasis stayed by his side.
Equinox's partner, with surprising agility, leaped over all the Eight Bullets and pulled out his gun, firing a glob of teal-colored goo onto Overhaul's hands, causing him to stumble back in shock as the goo hardened.
"Clever, how did you realize my Quirk requires my hands?"
"I didn't!" The boy smirked. "Until you just told me, of course!"
"CHRONO!" Overhaul angrily ordered as his right-hand man shot out his clock arrow-like hair strands to slow the boy down, only for a gout of flames to burn them off before they could reach their target.
Equinox was the source of the fire, having fired it from the palm of his hands as he wrestled with Soramitsu Tabe, who was trying desperately to bite his face off.
"My hair…!" Chronostasis cursed. "I can't use my Quirk!"
"Saves me the trouble of using this!" Equinox's partner said as he took aim with his gun to trap Chronostasis next, only for it to be yanked from his hands and into the mitts of Setsuno Toya.
"I'll take that!"
Hojo Yu and Kendo Rappa both charged toward Izuku, who barely managed to activate Full Cowling and leap away from their punches. Mirio kept his distance, keeping Eri safe in his arms.
"Be sure to watch the girl!" Hojo warned Rappa as they tried to take down Izuku.
"Relax, will ya?!" Rappa groaned. "Anything does happen, Kai'll fix her…!"
"SHOOT STYLE: MANCHESTER SMASH!"
Hojo tried to block the approaching axe kick with his crystals but Izuku proved to be stronger and shattered them completely, sending the punk flying into a wall, unconscious.
However, Izuku left himself open as Rappa delivered a rapid flurry of punches that launched the boy across the room, tumbling to a halt as he noticed Shin Nemoto taking out a handgun and aiming it at him.
"Just one bullet to the head will be enough to end you."
However, Shin was stopped when his gun glowed with a black aura and levitated out of his hands before being disassembled into its base components, all the parts falling on the floor uselessly.
Equinox smirked, his eyes glowing steel grey and his hand surrounded in the same black aura that had surrounded Shin's gun.
"Nice job, Equinox! I'll handle things here!" The other newcomer said as he dashed toward Shin, only to dodge some of the quick-drying goop from his own gun, fired by Setsuno.
"Not so tough when your own weapons are turned against you, huh?!"
The gun was suddenly knocked out of Setsuno's hands by Lemillion, who then twisted around while still keeping Eri close to him and punched Setsuno square in the solar plexus with his fist, the thug doubling over in pain before falling flat on his face.
Mimic quickly used his Quirk as he dived into the gun, taking possession of it in an effort to still use it against the heroes but the original owner then pressed a button that made the gun explode, forcing Mimic to return to his body.
"Damn you!" Chronostasis cursed as he rushed forward with a hidden knife he pulled out of his coat, only to hear a familiar…
"SMASH!"
Overhaul's right-hand man could barely dodge another axe kick from Izuku, followed by Equinox's partner rushing at him with his bat. Desperate, Shin took out a spare gun he had on hand and fired a dart that hit the boy in his exposed back but he kept moving.
"Wait…how the hell can you be moving?!" He demanded. "Those bullets destroy Quirks!"
"Yeah…and I don't have one."
The room was dead silent for a full minute, just long enough for Overhaul to free himself of the gunk covering his hands.
"Then you're not diseased…but you're still trying to be a Hero?! Their infection is contaminating you!"
" 'Infection?' Buddy, I don't know or care what your damage is, but in words even a moron can understand: I like helping people and CAN help. That's all. A hero's first duty is to protect." The newcomer said with finality, no sign of pain obvious. "Their body is a shield to defend the innocent."
Eri heard his words and her eyes widened as she took heed of them while still held safe in Lemillion's arms.
Chronostasis and Shin tried to double-team the boy but he weaved under their easily predictable attacks and delivered a double uppercut to both their chins, sending them into the roof. Equinox had also taken down Tabe, Hekiji Tengai, and Deidoro Sakaki earlier, leaving only Overhaul and Rappa left.
"Wow…." Izuku and Eri managed together.
"I'll say! These two are great!" Mirio beamed. "I had to guess; Eqinox is probably around Mirko's level and the other kid is like Sir and Gunhead mixed together…and he's still in training anjd Qurikless! Honestly, kind of jealous…"
"When this is over, I'm killing you, Overwhore," Rappa promised.
Rappa then charged at the foreign boy, who smirked as he rose his bat and pressed a button, causing a shield to form from it. Rappa's rapid-fire fists collided with it but barely made a dent.
"Bet you probably got your start taking candy from babies." The newcomer said. "Some tough guy you are."
"Burn!" Equinox smirked before suddenly thrusting his hand out as his eyes glowed light green. Suddenly, Rappa's mask tore open to reveal his mouth as the air was pulled out of his own lungs before being pushed back at him as a shockwave with the force of a massive fist, knocking him out.
"Congratulations, you took out all of my best men." Overhaul sighed as he took off his gloves and bent down. "But I'll make sure you don't get away with Eri."
Overhaul put his hand on the ground and suddenly, it deconstructed and formed into spikes that rushed toward the four young heroes. Quickly, they all began dodging the onslaught as Lemillion did his best to keep Eri out of harm's way.
"Alright, Bozo! I think you've had enough fun!" Equinox snarled as he floated through the air on jets of wind from his feet before his eyes changed to menacing blood red as he grabbed Overhaul by the neck. "NOW LOOK INTO MY EYES!"
Overhaul tried to resist but he soon found himself in some kind of dark void, where he saw a little boy curled up and alone on the streets before being found by a kind old man that Overhaul recognized.
"Boss…!"
The area changed to a park and Overhaul found his boss towering over him, opatting his head.
"You don't have anywhere to go, do you? Well, we can't have that. Come on, Kai, was it?"
Time passed yet again and Kai found himself at equal height with the boss.
"Our way of life is dying and I'm too stuck in the old ways to change. Kai, I'm counting on you to save us.'
The boss' face changed yet again; gone was warmth and care. Now, all that was on his face was fear and disgust.
"Kai…H-how could…Why? Eri is barely five years old! I DON'T CARE ABOUT SAVING OUR WAYS! She's my granddaughter, for Kami's sake! Your niece! There are other Anti-Quirk materials! We can use those! Mix them with Trigger or something! I don't care! Just let Eri go! Wait…What're you? No, Kai! DON'T!"
He thern collapsed onto the floor in a coma, only to rise up and glare at Overhaul, who was now tiny compared to him.
"You are nothing but a disgrace. You've destroyed the family with your deluisions and now, Eri will never be a normal little girl again.'
What he said next broke the villain.
'I should've let you rot on the streets where you belonged, trash."
The man then turned and walked away, not giving his adopted son a single glance.
"BOSS! NO! IT WAS ALL FOR YOU! BOSS, PLEASE!" Overhaul begged as he thrashed around, desperately trying to reach out for his beloved adoptive father.
"SMASH!" Deku shouted as he punched Overhaul hard across the face, sending the scumbag flying into the wall and crashing hard, his mask broken off and his eyes glazed over as he slumped over unconscious.
"Wow, he had such a deadly Quirk but a weak-ass body," Equinox noted. "And an even weaker mind at that."
"I've already contacted Sir and the authorities," Lemillion said. "They should be here in under an hour."
The four then heard feet racing up the stairs; the thugs they had passed must have heard or seen the fight break out and were now racing to stop them,
"Get the girl out of here!" The foreign boy demanded as he reached behind his back. "Equinox and I will take care of the grunts and catch up!"
Deku and Lemillion nodded as they made their way to the closest window. Lemillion kept Eri in his arms as he and Deku leaped out and onto a nearby rooftop, running as fast as their legs could carry them.
Meanwhile, Equinox and his partner stood side by side, the former's eyes glowing bright orange as flames ignited in his hands.
"Get your stuff, Bobby. I'll handle the rest." He ordered his young partner while the latter took out the remains of his gun and his bat.
Rappa groaned as he slowly regained consciousness but was too messed up from having his own breath used as a weapon against him that he couldn't do much before noticing something on the shield of the bat.
"Wait…that symbol…"
"So you noticed." The boy mused as he heard gunfire from outside. Risking an attack from the villain, he glanced out the window and saw police cars had surrounded the factory.
"Huh., Looks like I don't have to burn anything after all." Equinox said, putting his flames away.,
"Wait a sec….that symbol…Bobby….Oh Kami! You're the missing…" Rappa started
"Yeah."
The villain grinned from the ruined remains of his mask and shook his head with a chuckle.
"The Guild's put quite a bounty on your head; 2 billion in cold, hard cash."
"Thanks for the notice. Pity you won't be able to collect it." The boy smirked as he pointed to the door, which was forced down by…
"POLICE! FREEZE!"
Their job done, Equinox and his partner leaped out of the same window Deku and Lemillion escaped through, eventually catching up with them.
"You ok?" Deku asked as he noticed Equinox's partner had taken quite a beating during the fight.
"Don't worry, I got him. Besides, he's had worse." Equinox said as his eyes glowed a beautiful mixture of red, orange, and yellow as he placed his hands on his friends' shoulders, the wounds fading away as if they had never been inflicted in the first place.
"Thanks, Mr. E." Bobby managed.
"Lemillion, I'll take Eri to UA. Can you try and smooth things over with Sir Nighteye?" Izuku asked.
"I'll try my best...but Sir's definitely not gonna be happy I broke curfew..." Mirio said worriedly.
"I can come with you and explain." Equinox offered. "Better to have a Pro with ya, after all."
His smile then became a face of dread.
"Oh god, I just realized: Michelle and Perry are goanna kill me for this!"
Bobby chuckled a wee bit, but his face in a grimace suggested he was pitying his teacher.
"Before I go, who are you?" Izuku asked, stopping the other hero. "I heard your name is Equinox, but what about you?"
Equinox's partner smiled as he neared the building's ledge and gave a nod.
"Call me Everyman!" He waved as he neared the building's ledge. "I'll be seeing you again, Izuku Midoriya!"
He then leapt into an alley and before Izuku could ask how he knew his name, had vanished into the nighttime crowd. Equinox just rolled his eyes as they glowed cyan before he vanished in a flash of spiraling light, having teleported with Mirio to Sir Nighteye, who was already down with the police.
MHPP
Izuku quietly snuck back into Height's Alliance dormitory. Making his way to the kitchen, he began making some hot cocoa for Eri.
"Here you go." He smiled gently as he handed her a mug
"Thank you, Mr. Deku." She took a small sip and blushed at the taste.
"You can call me Izuku if you want." The boy said gently, not used to being thanked. Eri simply smiled at delight of her drink and kept drinking, her smile warming Izuku's heart.
'Whatever comes? It was worth…'
"OI, DEKU!"
Izuku cringed at the familiar brash and abrasive voice of Katsuki Bakugou before doing his best to keep Eri hidden, stifling her behind his back.
"H-Hi, Kaachan..."
"The hell are you doing up so late, ya damn nerd?" The explosive blonde asked rudely, his hands in his pockets.
"Um…you know…" Izuku tried to half-lie. "J-just making some coco…Ya want some, Kaachan?"
"You're acting pretty fuckin' suspicious...more so than usual," Katsuki grunted, squinting his eyes and trying to look behind Izuku, as if the green haired boy was hiding something.
"Hey, what the heck is going on?"
The two boys turned to see the rest of their class had made their way down to the kitchen area
"Midoriya, what on earth happened? Curfew was over two hours ago!" Tenya Iida shouted in annoyance.
"Iida, calm down. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation." Momo Yaoyorozu sighed, gently stepping forward. "Midoriya, is there something wrong? You know you can tell us anything."
"You look like you got into a fight, Deku." Ochako Uraraka worriedly noted. "Did you get attacked?"
"Mr. Deku?"
Eri peeked out from behind her savior and caught a glimpse of several people his age; most of them looked very nice, but the one he called 'Kaachan' scared her.
"Aw, how cute!" Ochako and Mina Ashido squealed at the sight of the child, and Eri soon found herself being cuddled by the girls.
"What's your name, sweetie?" Kyoka Jirou asked with a smile.
"E-Eri…" The unicorn managed before she Tooru Hagakure's floating pajamas and reacted accordingly for a little girl; screaming as she ducked back behind Izuku. "AH! A GHOST!"
"What?" Tooru asked, before realizing. "Oh no, no, no! Sweetie, I'm not a ghost, I'm just invisible!"
"Prove it!" Eri demanded, surprisgly with great anger and disbelief for a young child.
And then something happened that most of the class had never seen before;
Tooru was suddenly visible; revealing herself to have short, wavy chartreuse hair, with pink specks, big round eyes, with the pupils being violet on top, teal on the bottom, and yellow on the inside, and light yellow bushy eyelashes.
The entire room was silent as everyone stared at Tooru for what felt like hours as she quickly picked up on their stunned gazes.
"What? I've always been able to change to normal!" She mused.
The universal response, which shook the whole dorm was, was a resounding:
"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU?!"
"You never asked! Besides, it doesn't help my Quirk."
"As enthralling as this is," Shoto Todoroki said, turning his attention to Izuku. "What were you doing? You obviously snuck out and helped this girl out…"
"I wasn't alone," Izuku confessed. "I had help from Mirio-Senpai, a Pro Hero named Equinox, and some guy named Everyman."
While the others listened in awe of Izuku's story, both Tenya and Momo seemed to be more focused on the name of his ally.
"Where have I heard that name before?"
MHPP
Everyman slipped through the window of his hotel room, making his way to his bed, and slumping down face-first into his pillow, groaning out-loud into it.
"What I wouldn't give to have my own Healing Quirk... Still, Mr. E great work."
It was late; he'd be expected to wake up in four hours. And yet, he wasn't tired or jetlagged.
So, instead of going to sleep, he then made his way over to his suitcase and pulled open an manilla envelope, from which he pulled out several wrinkled but still legible letters.
"Been way too long since I read these." He mused as he pulled out one letter, a sad smile on his face.
Dear Izuku,
My name is Bobby Walker and my sisters signed me up for this pen-pal project. They chose you because we share a certain condition.
He flipped the letter over to see the response; he'd been kind of bratty in that first letter.. Nothing like his pen-pal
Dear Bob chan,
I am sorry to hear you're Quirkless like me, but I am jealous of you for having apparently well-meaning sisters. I'm an only child. I have my best friend Ka-chan but he's not very nice.
Where do you live? Who else is in your family? Do you like heroes? What's your facvorite food?
I live in Mufasta Japan with my mom, my dad works overseas. I really like All Might, but I'm also a fan of Sir Nighteye, Gang Orca, Present Mic…..
That list had gone on for a bit. Bobby's next letter had been much better.
Dear Izuku,
Sorry about the wait and my moodiness in the first letter. To answer your questions; I live with my mom, dad and seven older sisters on a small island not too far from Hawaii. My favorite heroes are the Walker Seven Sisters and John Doe and my favorite food is anything with noodles in it.
I also like the Crawler, Electrophant, Cow Lady and Stars & Stripes as heroes and yeah, sorry for not mentioning All Might! My dad apparently went to college with him and Dr. Shields, the Nobel Prize winning scientist.
Bobby stifed through several other letters, glancing and speed reading them as sleep began to overtake him.
No one could've guessed that starting the next day? The world of heroism would change, going back to basics and older ways…but before we get to that story? We must tell and finish THIS story.
Mrotrax A/N
Yes indeed, this story is BACK! Major thanks to my co-editor and good friend on this site, Knightmare Lord, one of the biggest fans of this story, after Autistic Grizzly, who had included Bobby and other characters in this verse into other stories.
After so long (mostly due to one huge middle of the story plot point I could not satisifactorly write), it is my hope that by Halloween of this year, the full first story of the Pen-Pal verse will be complete.
Now, for a refresher; I started writing this story midway through the Overhaul arc, just before the raid began and before the Endeavor vs Hood fight. Plot elements in the MHA canon have come up and DRASTICALLY changed what I'd had in mind going into this universe, but for this story, things will not change and any changes will remain in place, so PLEASE no comments on how this is different than canon!
Glad that we got to give Mirio a wee bit of a redemption/more of a role here; I kind of shafted him in the original version…
For this reboot, a few Quirks will change around for the Class of Kirby, plus we have an additional teacher with them to help mitigate some of the 'non-villain' issues that will be popping up.
Also, proud of myself for FINALLY showing that Izuku and Bobby where pen-pals, rather than just saying it.
That's about all I can say for this, so let me pass it off to Knightmare Lord! Anything to say, buddy?
Knightmare Lord A/N:
Welcome to the revival of one of Mrotrax's most beloved oldies; My Hero Pen-Pal! There was a lot of potential to be had in it but writer's block put him on a permanent hiatus!
Now, with my writing skills joining in, we're working to bring back the story with some new twists and surprises that Mrotrax had wanted to show in the original but never could!
Also, we have an additional hero on the scene; Equinox! (No relation to the villain from Batman: The Brave & The Bold). What is his story and how are he and Everyman connected? Find out in the very next chapter!