Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Taylor Pov.
"I... I'm so sorry." I said with a slightly broken voice, not even bothering to push my reactions to my bugs, I blinked rapidly as I tried to hide my tears.
"We're really sorry too," Ruby said next to me. I could see her lip tremble slightly.
"We're sorry... we let Izumi get kidnapped." Azula said she was the most 'calm', her face betraying almost no emotion, except for her eyes that looked like a storm of emotions, and her hands. Her sharp nails dug into the palm of her hand. At this moment, Azula's palms were a mess since Izumi was kidnapped.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect Izumi," Darkness said, biting her lip in regret. The four of us were sitting on the sofa in our room, across from us sat Iori Miyamura, with a stony expression on her face.
Once the news of Izumi's kidnapping spread, they obviously had to tell his mother what had happened. Iori immediately came to UA a few hours after we told the teachers about the trackers.
Iori refused to talk to the teachers first, but instead dragged us to Izumi's room and sat us all down, and she sat in front of us.
She stood completely still, an expression that was rare to see. Normally, she was just as expressive as Izumi; in fact, they were carbon copies; Iori was a female version of Izumi and vice versa; the only difference was their eye color.
I bit my lip hard, Iori… Mom had opened the doors of her house to me, she had treated me like a daughter during the last year, she had become more than my ally, she had become a full-fledged mother, more than my own biological mother had been in recent years.
And not just me, she treated Ruby, Azula, and Darkness the same way; she treated us all like daughters, she loved us immediately, without any conditions or problems, and that meant the world to us.
Especially for me, but also for Azula and Darkness. Azula's relationship with Ursa bordered on nonexistent and traumatic, so she was reluctant to get close to Iori, but Mom could be just as stubborn and insistent as Izumi, so she never gave up trying to form a relationship with Azula, and something eventually happened.
As much as Azula hated Ursa, she also wanted the same approval from her that her brother had had almost unconditionally… and she got it with Iori, with Mom. Oh, there was definitely a lot of work to do—more than 10 years of trauma don't disappear in a few weeks—but Iori was more her mother, our mother at this point, than our biological mothers.
With Darkness, it was the same but different; her mother had passed away about 10 years ago, so she also clung to Iori almost immediately. Even Ruby, who was the only one who had a healthy relationship with her parents, loved Iori like a mother.
So, Mom meant a lot to us… and we let Izumi be kidnapped.
I looked down as a tight feeling grew in my chest. Mom finally sighed wearily and stood up, and I couldn't help but shiver slightly.
She took a few steps and approached us. I stood utterly still, waiting for anything she would do. I looked up just in time to see Iori hug us all together.
The four of us opened our eyes, completely shocked and unsure of what was happening.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Iori said, sighing in relief as she hugged the four of us as best she could.
Oh… I blinked rapidly before holding onto Mom tightly. I didn't see that coming.
"I-I'm so sorry." I whimpered through tears as I began to shake.
"We're sorry," Azula said, stuttering as she too clung shakily to Mom. The four of us began to cry on Mom like little children, while Mom just hugged us and comforted us.
It took us about half an hour to compose ourselves and finally stop crying. Mom had separated from us and gently wiped the tears from our faces, as if we were children.
It would have been almost humiliating if Mom's touch hadn't felt so comforting and soothing. Then she placed mugs of hot chocolate in front of us.
"We're sorry about that," I apologized again as I carefully grabbed the hot cup.
"Don't worry, it's my duty and my pleasure to take care of you when you're in distress," Iori said as if it were obvious. I took a shaky breath.
"We thought… you'd be more upset about Izumi," Azula said quietly, though we all heard her. Iori looked down at her cup before sighing.
"My son… is an idiot." Iori said bluntly, and we stared at her in complete shock. "He's a fool, a fool, a chaotic fool, a pervert, and much more. I can name dozens of bad things about my son, and dozens of good things, but my son… is not weak." Iori said as if it were apparent, as if it were an immutable law.
The sky is blue, the grass is green, and Izumi is strong, just like that.
"They may have kidnapped him, but that doesn't mean anything. In fact, I almost feel sorry for the villains. He's not stuck with them; they're stuck with him." Mom snorted with a grimace.
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"Did they buy more chocolate?"
"For the love of- can you shut up! No, we didn't buy chocolate! We already gave you a damn 1kg bar, have you finished it yet?!"
"Of course! 1kg of chocolate is nothing!"
"You're a fucking addict! I hope you die of diabetes, you fucking bastard!"
"How dare you! It's not my fault! I'm distraught, I'm telling you! Distraught! I'm the victim of a kidnapping! I'm being held hostage! I need chocolate to get through this!"
"It would be more believable if you weren't playing with that damn console!! Why are you playing with the console!?"
"Hey! Mercury invited me to play! My mom raised a good boy, I couldn't refuse!"
"Mercury! I told you to watch him, not play with him!"
"That's what I'm doing! Keeping him busy! Last time I didn't entertain him, he made half the Travelers cry, Trickster hit him 4 times, gave Twice another mental breakdown, and Dabi tried to kill him 7 times!"
"I mean, it's not my fault they're easy to provoke- ah! Toga! Get off me!"
"No! Your lap is pleasant! Let me drink your blood!"
"No thanks! Stop being such a villain, and I'll think about it."
"Aaawww."
"How are you so good at this!? You're a boy!! You can't be a cute boy and be so good at video games!"
"Ha! Sounds like skill issues, Spinner, don't blame me. Look, you died again!"
"Son of the -"
"For the love of- shut up at once!"
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I tried to open my mouth to deny it, but… it was Izumi… and when she put it that way… I let out a dry laugh. Yeah… he was more than capable of making the villains hate him in 10 different ways in less than an hour.
If the villains didn't return it by the end of the day, they'd have to be given some kind of reward. I laughed mentally as my body eased slightly. I was still worried, but not as much as before.
"You're right, Izumi is strong... and very hateful when he wants to be." I said with an amused smile. Mom burst out laughing, she seemed much more relaxed than all of us... or not, I could see the slight tension in her eyes and hands. I guess it was impossible for her not to worry about her son, but she also had faith that Izumi was completely fine.
"I don't know whether to feel sorry for the villains or not," Ruby said, slightly confused. Azula snorted.
"They deserve it for taking something that belongs to us." Azula said dryly. I laughed amusedly at that.
"That 'something' that belongs to us will be the source of their distress." I scoffed playfully, and Azula shrugged.
"Once again, it's not our fault. They should have thought twice before kidnapping, possibly the only person who probably isn't even remotely afraid of them and is capable of making fun of them." Azula said mockingly. We all laughed at that.
"We should put a warning on him, 'do not kidnap, you might end up crying.'" Darkness laughed lightly. We all smiled slightly. The atmosphere was much lighter now. We drank a little more of our hot beverage.
"So… the heroes have a plan to rescue him?" Mom asked suddenly. The four of us froze.
"Yes," I said immediately.
"And you have a plan?" Mom asked again. I grimaced.
"No… we can't tell you." I said with an apologetic look, Mom just nodded and drank from her cup calmly.
"Then that's a yes," Mom said simply, and I grimaced. "And you're going, aren't you?" she asked again. Once again, we grimaced.
"We can't tell you?" Ruby tried awkwardly, but Mom just raised an eyebrow.
"So that's another yes," Mom said simply. Ruby pouted. She could really see where Izumi got a lot of her personality from. "Okay, I won't ask any more questions," Mom said, surprising us.
"Oh, I thought you'd have more questions," Darkness said, almost surprised. Mom shrugged.
"Oh, I have a lot of questions, but you're not the ones to answer them. I'll question the teachers later, but that's all," Mom said, her eyes slightly twinkling. "I trust them to bring my idiot son back completely whole," she added, and I nodded.
"Yes... they are... organizing everything, ALL the teachers are involved." I said slowly, Mom paused for a few seconds before nodding.
"Then I'm calmer," Mom said simply. I sighed in relief. "And by the way, you're not allowed to hurt each other, understand?" Mom asked, narrowing her eyes at us. I smiled slightly as I nodded.
"Understood." "Don't worry, we've got it all figured out!" "We won't." "We'll take care of it!"
We said all four at the same time, firmly. Mom nodded, satisfied once again.
"Good, I'm glad. Bring my idiot son here—" Mom began slowly before her eyes flashed dangerously. "—so I can punish him for being so stupid and letting himself get kidnapped." Mom growled lightly, and we both shuddered slightly.
Sorry, Izumi, but you're on your own in this.
"And you girls are trouble, too." Mom said suddenly. My eyes widened, and I looked at her in confusion. Mom glared at us coldly. "Don't think I didn't notice how you 'students' are going to be conducting a rescue operation with your teachers and other pro heroes. I have no doubt you instigated the whole thing, so when this is all over, you'll be grounded too." Mom said coldly.
The four of us shuddered slightly.
"""" Yes, Mom."""" The four of us said, bowing our heads in surrender. Mom nodded.
"I'm glad you understand. Now, let's try to talk about something lighter before I have to talk to your teachers. How was camp before all this?" Mom asked simply. The four of us sighed, but began to answer the question.
It was really nice to be with Mom.
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August 13, 2xxx - Taylor Pov.
The four of us were finishing putting on our costumes when someone knocked on the door. I frowned as I peered outside through my bugs. Midoriya and the rest?
I didn't bother hiding my disguise; I just opened the door slightly,
"Yes?" I asked lightly, but Midoriya didn't even look at the costume I had on; he just stared into my eyes.
"We want to go." Midoriya said firmly, although his voice trembled slightly. I frowned and looked over my shoulder, almost wondering if any of them had said anything. The three girls seemed to get the message and shook their heads.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Midoriya." I said softly. I looked at Midoriya and then at the rest. There were Bakugou, Todoroki, Jinx, Penny, and Yunyun. A cacophony of people. I didn't even know if several of them talked to each other most of the time.
"Stop pretending, Bug Girl. We know you're going to rescue your' dog of boyfriend," Bakugou growled. I raised an eyebrow and leaned against the door frame.
"Really, Bakugou, I don't even know what you're talking about." I repeated carefully, Bakugou snorted almost like a growl.
"So you just felt like putting on your costume?" Bakugou asked dryly, I shrugged.
"My breasts grew a cup size, I had to adjust my costume." I lied easily.
"Yeah, you're not fooling anyone," Jinx interrupted curtly. "Now... you are going to let us go, aren't you?" Jinx growled almost angrily. I hummed before sighing.
"If we... were to go on a rescue mission, which we won't—" I ignored the snorts. "—hypothetically, we'd have our teachers' permission, you wouldn't," I said simply.
"I know! But… I can't just sit back and do nothing." Midoriya said, gritting his teeth and looking down. "Izumi… he protected me from that teleportation quirk, that black sludge targeted me first, he protected and freed the hostages before I was captured, I… I can't just sit back and do nothing." Midoriya said determinedly.
I stared at him before sighing.
"I understand, I really do, but I must ask you to stay here, really, the teachers and the heroes have everything planned, everything will be fine." I said honestly while looking at him.
"And let them go fight villains with you?" Bakugou growled.
"We won't fight," Azula said simply. " We're still students without any kind of license; we can't legally fight villains, we'll go to help… without fighting," Azula explained.
"But…" Midoriya tried to say, almost devastated.
"Don't worry, Midoriya, we'll bring him back. I'm sure Izumi will be really grateful that you wanted to go save him." Darkness said with a small smile.
"Midoriya… we'd better listen to them." Todoroki finally said, and Midoriya bit his lip.
"We have to go." Ruby said as she pointed at her scroll. I nodded.
"We'll be back shortly with Izumi." I said firmly, entering the room and grabbing Shusui tightly before leaving the room, while surrounding the group still at the door, the girls quickly followed me with their weapons.
"Hey! You'd better bring him whole, understood?" Jinx growled, sounding almost annoyed and worried at the same time. I nodded in her direction before starting to walk to the main building.
"g-good luck!" Yunyun said forcefully.
All right, time to get this started. Izumi… we're coming for you.