Eri jumped slightly as she heard the ceiling shake with a loud boom. With a panicked squeak, she darted for the safety of under her bed. As the noise repeated a few moments later, she curled around her small collection of treasures and the stuffed bear she had been holding at the time covering her ears.
A few feet away from the bed, a strange dark mist began to appear growing bigger and bigger. Her eyes widened as people began appearing out of it. As the eighth figure stepped free, the mist shifted into the shape of a person as well.
"Oh, this looks sort of like my old bedroom when I was younger! I used to have dolls like that too!" One of the three matching men with the weird black and white patterned masks commented while picking up one of Eri's dolls.
"Really? Do you think this is where they have been keeping the girl they are experimenting on?" Eri thought that was maybe one of the other two that looked like the first one who talked from how the others around him reacted.
"Do you think they have her somewhere else right now? Good riddance. Who would want to spend time with a snot nosed brat! "
"No. She is currently hiding under the bed." Eri flinched as the tallest one in the scary mask pointed toward her hiding place.
The man closest to her crouched down to look under the bed at her. Eri's red eyes meet another pair. "Hey kid, you don't have to be scared. I know we all look a bit scary but we are here to help."
Eri bit her lip and curled tighter around her bear. "Who are you? Does Mr. Overhaul know you are here?"
The man covered in hands crouched in front of her gave a raspy laugh. "You can call me Tomura and these are some of my family and friends. Overhaul doesn't know we are here quite yet. He is a bit distracted by the people upstairs helping us get you out of here."
Eri considered him for a moment before deciding that telling him her own name probably wouldn't hurt. "I'm Eri."
He gave her a smile. "It is nice to meet you Eri."
Another man crouched down next to him, one of the ones with the strange black and white masks, and pulled out a pretty blue glass ball just like the one Mr. Overhaul dropped. Eri let out a gasp as she looked at it. "Hello Eri, I'm Mr. Compress. I noticed that you have been keeping one of my marbles safe for me. Would you like another?"
Eri found her hand darting out to grab it from his open palm. She pulled out her other one and held them up to the light to compare them but before she could, the new one turned into a small stuffed cat. She looked at the cat in her hand and then back at the two men blocking the rest from view. "What?"
The masked man chuckled. "My Quirk. It allows me to compress anything into marbles like the one you hold. That toy is for you. I compressed it before we came here with the plan on giving it to you. By compressing it, I kept it nice and safe."
"Your…Quirk?"
There was a pause as Mr. Tomura frowned. "Kid, do you not know what Quirks are?" Eri shook her head nervously, scared that she might have messed up. He scratched his neck and looked back over his shoulder for a beat. "Quirks are sort of like special talents. Powers that can only be used by the one holding them. Compress, do you have something I can destroy?" That last question was directed at the man beside him who nodded.
"I have some of your fidget toys on me."
The man huffed and held out a palm. With a snap, the marble draped into it turned into a strange cube covered in buttons and switches. He turned back to Eri. "So my Quirk works like this." He closed his hand around the cube before opening it a second later to it full of a fine gray dust. "Anything I touch with all five fingers turns to dust. I call it Decay. If you come out from under there then we can show you a few of the other's Quirks too."
Eri found herself crawling out from her hiding place to look up and point at the man who had found her so easily. "Do you have a power that lets you see through things? You don't have any eye holes."
The large man chuckled. It was a nice laugh. It reminded her slightly of a man she could barely remember. "Not exactly. One of my Quirks allows me to see the world through the heat around me. I saw your body heat under the bed."
"Oh… You said one of. Do you have more than one?"
The man nodded. "I have several. My original Quirk lets me give and take the powers of others."
That had Eri's full attention. "Could-could you take away my Curse?"
There were sharp breaths from around the room but the man merely kneeled down so that he was on eye level. "Tell me about your Curse."
Eri bit her lip. "Sometimes when I am really scared it starts and I can't stop it. It made my Daddy disappear. I don't want to make anyone else go!"
The man hummed and rested a palm on the top of her head. She felt a strange tug in her chest before he made a surprised "Oh." He removed his hand and reached up and started to take off his mask.
"Father what-?"
"My dear, what you have here is not a Curse but the gift I have been searching for for years." His mask clicked open and he lifted it away to reveal a horribly scarred face.
"Holy shit he looks like a Potato! "
"Do you think you could use it on me?"
Eri stared at the man with confusion. "A gift?"
He nodded with a smile. "Don't worry about losing control, Eri. If need be, I can stop you with my own Quirk."
Eri bit her lip again. "Are you sure?"
He took a shaky breath. "Yes."
"...Okay." Eri tentatively reached over to put her hands on either side of his face before closing her eyes and let go.
It did not take long before she felt his skin rapidly shift under her palms. Around the room there were gasps but she didn't stop. She couldn't stop. Then there was a sharp pain in her chest and a strange feeling of loss.
Eri opened her eyes to meet a matching pair above the man's even brighter grin. "You're okay!"
He chuckled. Eri felt herself give a small squeak as he scooped her up in his arms to hold her in a way she hadn't been held since her Daddy had disappeared and spun on the spot with her. "I am better than okay!"
"Easy, Sensei! You're going to overwhelm her!"
The tall man gave both Eri and the man made of mist a sheepish look. That earned a laugh from the Lizard-man. "What the actual fuck!" He was leaning up against the wall for support.
The man holding her gave him a disapproving look. "Language."
The laughing man made a strange hand gesture at the man. "Really?"
"There is a child here."
"You didn't comment on Twice's language."
"He can't control it, you can."
Eri looked up at Mr. Tomura's father, puzzled. "Uh, are you going to put me down?"
The man looked down at her before frowning and sighing. "I probably should. Would you like me to return your Quirk now or would you like to wait?"
"...Could you keep it?"
Mr. Tomura's father gave her a sad smile. "I can hold onto it for now if you wish. Now would you like to get out of here? My friend Kurogiri here can take you outside so you can watch the show from a safe distance."
The red haired man with a big metal hammer thing gave the nice man a frown. "Is that really a good idea? That is probably not a very child appropriate thing to watch."
He sighed and set Eri gently back down. "I suppose taking her directly to Inko and Naomasa would probably work too."
"Who are they?"
"Two of my most important people."
The first masked man who had spoken giggled. "They are my Mom and detective friend! They are super nice! They helped save me from my mean old family and gave me this new one!"
Eri's eyes widened. "You can do that? Give people new families?"
Mr. Tomura's father smiled and ruffled the top of Eri's head. "We can do that for you too if you wish." Before she could say anything either way, Eri found herself jumping as another loud boom rang out, this time even closer. The man's eyes snapped up and away from Eri to look in the direction the sound had come from frowning. "Eri, let's get you someplace safe. Is there anything in this room that you want to keep?"
"My treasure!" Eri quickly pulled away from the man now wearing an amused smile as she reached back under the bed for her treasures. Holding her teddy bear, new stuffed cat and her handful of shiny things she scrambled back out.
The man of mist, Mr. Kurogiri, had stepped closer to her while she had not been looking. "Is that everything?"
At her nod, he offered her a misty hand. It felt weird to hold, solid but not. She found herself shrinking back into his pant leg as dark mist bellowed up around them before it vanished and she was standing with her back to the man in a wood panel covered room full of tables and weird bottles on shelves. There were also two more strangers, a man and a woman.
The two of them looked up from what they had been looking at at their appearance. The pair gave Eri nice smiles like Mr. Tomura's father had. The woman spoke first. "That was fast."
Mr. Kurogiri stepped away from Eri to wake over to the strange table that the two had been sitting at in front of the wall of bottles. "Eri here found Atsuhiro's marble and added it to her collections of treasures ."
Eri wasn't sure but she thought the man sounded like he was amused as the other man chuckled lightly. The woman looked back at Eri and a bit of a puzzled expression briefly passed over her face. "Is that right?"
The other man snickered. "It is a coincidence, Inko. We have her DNA test. She is no more related to Hisashi than Tomura is regardless of how much they share in common."
She huffed. "Well you can hardly blame me for thinking it. Well at least it will make it easier to hide her in the long run."
Eri looked between the two. "What are you talking about?"
Mr. Kurogiri returned to her and crouched down with a plate of some food and a glass of water. "They were just thinking that you could easily pass as Sensei's natural daughter. Between your hair and eyes matching and love of collecting things, you fit right in with the rest of his children."
Eri felt her heart flutter at the thought. "Does that mean he can be my new family?"
The other more normal man frowned. "Eri? Did something happen to your other family?"
Eri's heart sank as she bit her lip. "My Curse made Daddy disappear and Mommy leave. There was a nice man who took care of me for a little while but Mr. Overhaul said my Curse made him sick and have to go away too." She paused but brightened as a thought struck her. "But it is okay now! Mr. Sensei made my Curse go away! I can't hurt anyone anymore!"
The man looked at Mr. Kurogiri with a bit of tension in his frame. Before he could speak, Mr. Kurogiri clarified. "She had no idea what a Quirk was. Overhaul has been referring to her powerful healing Quirk as a curse. As a result she has no control over it. Sensei had her use it on himself and had to take her Quirk from her to stop her after she succeeded in reversing the damage."
The woman brought a hand up over her mouth. "He's healed? Really?"
The man on the other hand nodded with a nice smile. " Truth. All of that was the truth."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Hisashi reached down to pick up his mask now that Kurogiri and little Eri were gone to replace it over his face to help protect his civilian identity from those that didn't already know it. "Tomura, Himiko, Dabi, I hope you don't mind but we are keeping her."
Dabi only snorted as Himiko giggled once more with Sako's voice. "Mom and I aren't the only girls in the family anymore!"
"Oh we should all throw her a tea party! Who the hell would want to sit through one of those? "
Tomura was staring at the area of Hisashi's face, slightly dumbfounded. "Her Quirk? How…?"
Hisashi hummed lightly. "If she has no objections, I believe the best name for her Quirk would be Rewind. It is a powerful time Quirk, one that with proper training can act as a powerful healing Quirk which we should register it as for her safety. The Hero Commission, if they were to catch wind of what her Quirk actually is, would likely never let her see the light of day again."
Magne shook her head. "This is all sorts of messed up. Shouldn't we at least try and see if the kid has family somewhere that miss her?"
Hisashi sighed. "Unfortunately, if I had to guess, we likely wouldn't be able to find any. Kids generally don't end up in situations like this and end up having family to go back to. Either the blood family willingly gave her up or they have likely been killed."
Spinner scratched at the back of his head. "Well that is dark."
Before they could converse further, the door opened to reveal a surprised Overhaul. Hisashi reacted before the other man could even fully register what he had found on the other side of what should have been a secure room door. Air Cannon blasted out with enough force to throw the man into the wall opposite the door with Springlike Limbs doing its job of shielding Hisashi from the back lash.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Overhaul was not quite sure how everything had started to go wrong so fast. First the heroes turn up with all three of the top heroes for this stupid raid and then some how the group that actually had gotten into the basement area was bypassing every trap and misdirection that they had rolled out to stop them. The only thing that had even vaguely slowed them down was throwing his men at them directly. As a result they were getting dangerously close to where the girl was hidden.
Overhaul cursed slightly to himself in his own mind. With how they were going, it seemed that they were following someone else's previous journey through the base directly to her. Between the Underground Heroes, Sir Nighteye and the young Heroes in training there were too many unknown Quirks in play.
He had just sent Chronostasis and Confession off a bit ahead of himself to grab the prototype bullets while he grabbed Eri only to be met with what could only be the full League of Villains. Before he had time to really react, he was flying into the opposite wall with sickening cracking and popping noises. The tall bastard in the black skull mask had broken his back and ribs with just one hit.
Slightly dazed, he registered the man turn and point in the direction where Chrono and Confession stood frozen in the hallway looking back at him in what Overhaul could only hope was momentary shock as if the walls between them did not matter. "Two more over there. Tomura, how do you want to do this?"
Shigaraki quickly looked around his group. "Only two and Overhaul? Right. The Compress's and Twice should move as a group to hold the illusion and try and catch some more of these bastards off guard. Magne and Spinner help me hold our exit point and keep the Heroes and these idiots from taking the room. Father, I trust you have these three."
Overhaul felt his breath momentary catch in his throat.
Father. This monster was Midoriya Hisashi. That Quirk that had just been used had very clearly not been any sort of fire Quirk.
Shit. That meant-
He could hear the grin in All for One's voice. "Easily."
In a blind panic now, Overhaul prayed that one of his hands was making five point contact with the floor he currently could not feel and activated his Quirk, destroying his gloves and, yes, throwing up a thick wall between himself and the monster. As quickly as he could, he turned inward and set about repairing the damages. Knitting together torn nerve fibers and stabilizing the spine around them. The ribs could wait, he needed to move now. He turned to face his closest companion and their ally. "Run!"
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
"It seems I will be taking you along with me after all." Hisashi chuckled to himself as Tomura grumbled lightly as he reached forward to Decay a path forward for the pair of them. After a while his son looked back at his siblings and friends. "Well don't just stand around here. We have shit to fuck up."
Dabi half heartedly swiped at his brother as he led his little group past. Tomura turned his attention back to the wall. One good thing that had come from his son's random acts of vandalism as his control had improved massively. A year ago, Tomura was just as likely to Decay the surrounding area as the wall he was focusing on slowly tunneling through. It seemed that Overhaul was adding material to it as he scrambled to escape. They had not gotten much closer to the man and his companions that had trapped themselves on the other side of the wall, when the sound of one pair of hurried footsteps came from behind them. Panting slightly behind his mask, Dabi pointed back the way he had gone. "All Might is almost here."
That was not correct. He already was here, staring Hisashi down with clear shock and fear. Hisashi reached out to lightly pat Dabi on the shoulder before lowering his voice. "You all need to get clear. Wait to continue after Overhaul until I get All Might far enough away that his punches at me won't break all of your bones."
He slowly started strolling down the hallway to buy his family time to get clear on both ends of the hallway. Raising his voice he casually called out. "Ah…All Might. So good of you to join us."
Hisashi was of course lying.
You know, like a liar.
In actuality, they had all hoped that they would have taken care of the Overhaul issue first. Oh well. No plan survives first contact with the enemy and all that.
He waited until it seemed likely that Shouta and Mirai had pulled Izuku and young Togata away to a safe enough distance. "My my All Might. If I didn't know better I would say you were afraid of me."
Hisashi turned his head to check on his kids behind him and their friends. It seemed Sako had uncompressed himself as well as Himiko and Twice (the man did not seem to like his own name). They were not clear yet but they were close to the door into Eri's room. Just a bit longer then. "I'm afraid I will have to leave dealing with Overhaul and his companions to you after all. Do make sure to not kill him right away though. I am rather curious about how his Quirk works."
Tomura seemed to realize what he was doing from the grin in his voice. "We can manage, Father. Try to keep the roof from caving in on us."
The clear horror playing over All Might's form at Tomura openly referring to him as Father nearly made Hisashi break character and burst into a fit of giggles. "Easily done, Son."
All Might seemed to stare at Tomura a bit at a loss as Hisashi waited for his kids and their companions to close the door behind them. Without any hesitation Hisashi raised an arm with a grin. It was time to destroy a Symbol.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Inside Eri's room, Tomura's breath caught in his throat as the room shook around them as the power to the room failed. Outside the door, the sound of a low boom and crashing noises were all the could hear of the fight. Still it was too close. Himiko and Dabi pressed into his sides as the three of them found themselves unconsciously clinging to each other in fear. Tomura knew that their father was now clearly in better health thanks to Eri but this was a fight against the man who had so nearly killed him just a few years before.
The room shook again.
Still to close.
They would have to wait until the titans drew farther away. Hopefully Overhaul would not get to far in that time.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Hisashi hung suspended in midair under the power of Air Walk grinning like a bit of an idiot inside the comfort of his mask. He could sit here and let All Might do this all day. The man had gotten so much slower in the years that had passed since their last fight that catching every one of the man's blows with the combination of Impact Recoil and Springlike Limbs was far too easy. It was also clear that the man himself could not.
Under normal circumstances, the man would have had nearly two hours left at his disposal but now it was clear he was burning through his time. "Getting tired already? I could do this all day."
"Why are you here All for One? What made you crawl out of the dark hole you have been hiding in for the past five years?"
Not seeing any harm in it, Hisashi answered honestly. "Overhaul threatened my kids repeatedly. I couldn't exactly leave him be if he had no intention of leaving what is mine alone."
All Might froze slightly. "Kids?"
Hisashi chuckled. "Of course. Why would I stop with only one? My eldest recently made me a grandfather too."
The man faltered in his next hit. Sloppy. "That boy with you…?"
"My future successor. He is the only one lacking any heroic leanings sadly. My youngest boys will follow their eldest brother's footsteps and attend UA next year much to my disappointment. My little Mini Me and Peppermint had so much villainous potential. Oh well."
All Might wasn't punching anymore, clearly both too dumbfounded with the idea of multiple of the Symbol of Evil's kids wanting to go into heroics. "I'm sorry but are you telling me that your eldest son is a licensed Pro-Hero?"
Hisashi chuckled. "Oh? Why would that be hard to believe? You are my dear brother's legacy after all."
"You killed him! Him and every one that followed!"
Like that the playful mood he had been feeling was gone. "I did nothing of the sort to Yoichi. The Second holder stealing that Quirk is what killed him. All I wanted that day was for that bastard to give the Quirk back! Yoichi was dying without it! And for the record I never started the fights over the centuries outside of this one and the ones with the Second, I just ended them. That was on you and your predecessors."
The man visibly recoiled at the venom in Hisashi's voice. Thankfully for him, the brief pause in fighting created an opening for Hawks to attempt to stab Hisashi in the back with one of his sharpened feathers.
Keyword being attempt. "Ah, if it isn't the number three Hero. Is there a reason you are attempting to cut in? This is a bit of a personal matter."
Hawks grimaced as he released the feather blade in his own grip that Hisashi had so easily caught to try an bring another around to stab him. "If you think that I would just stand by and watch..."
Hisashi triggered Multiplier to snag that one too. "Oh, watch what exactly? Not me killing the Symbol of Peace surly?" Behind him, Yagi leap back into action to try and land a blow. It was easily countered as well. "Oh dear, this is rather disappointing. Even with the two of you, this is hardly much of a fight."
Hawks' eyes had widened slightly in shock in those few moments. "What-? How?"
As they danced around each other with Hisashi catching or rebuffing blow after blow from both sides, Hisashi grinned to himself as the helicopters circled them trying to pick up the action. At this point, Hisashi found he was the one protecting them from collateral damage. "Oh, has All Might never mentioned me child? Allow me to introduce myself, I am All for One. I believe that All Might has granted me the title of Symbol of Evil though personally I am more found of the the Devil of the Underground myself. I am the one who gave him this-" Hisashi darted one of his hands out to jab All Might right were he had just a few years prior forcing the man to jerk back and cough up blood. He hoped that the blood was being picked up by the cameras.
To the man's credit he was quick to bounce back. He pointed at the helmet that Hisashi wore as he wiped the blood from his lips. "You are one to talk. I can't help but notice your new fashion statement."
Hisashi floated back with a shrug. "Eyes are overrated anyways. It is nothing my collection is incapable of compensating for. Speaking of-" Hawks had paused and was staring at him in open horror as one of his hands lashed out to grab the boy's face. With a simple tug, Hisashi felt Fierce Wings settle inside himself. Quickly, before the 21 year old could fall to his death from this height, Hisashi activated the Quirk himself and used it to carry the young man down to the ground as all of the other feathers flew through the air to settle on his own back in a mockery of angel's wings. "What a nice item to possibly add to my collection." He gave them a nice stretch for the camera before allowing himself to drift back down to street level to land before the young man as both he and Yagi stared at the sight of him in horror.
Hawks flinched back as he reached back out to cup the boy's face and return his Quirk. "Luckily for you, one of my boys is a fan. However, if you continue to push your luck, you will likely find the mistake to be fatal. I don't generally keep the Quirks of the Living after all."
The young man jerked back, eyes so dilated with fear that they nearly looked black. He was quick to beat his wings and flee.
Just as Hisashi turned back to face Yagi who was now in motion trying to land another blow while his back was turned, the clear crack of a gun shot followed by a horribly familiar scream rang out from below.
Izuku.