Himiko waited for a bit for her friends to leave (she'd feel bad for lying about needing to use the restroom if it weren't for her situation) before she left the restroom and briskly made her way towards the third-floor janitor's closet, berating herself about her sloppiness.
She had been so excited to come to school that she had completely forgotten to drink some blood before leaving, and now she was starting to get… jittery. It definitely didn't help that she was constantly around people and catching the faint smell of the blood beneath their skin.
She could try and tough it out until lunch but she doubted she could make it that far. She also knew she could drink her blood in class, but she also knew Kumo would ask about it, and Himiko wasn't ready to explain that.
So that left her having to quickly sneak into the janitor's closet she found on her second day of school.
She had found the janitor's closet completely by accident mind you, but she was glad she did all the same. The bathroom wasn't exactly isolated, her drinking would be heard, and she doubted the Nurse would appreciate her going into her office whenever she needed to drink her blood, so she needed someplace isolated and out of the way of everyone else. The Janitor seemed to always patrol the school around this time and didn't seem to need anything out of the upper floor closets, not at this time at least, so she was pretty isolated when she went there to satiate her needs.
Turning the corner, her eyes widened as she saw two girls standing in front of her safe haven.
One of them saw her and smiled, but the smile felt… off. To a less jaded individual it looked like a regular smile, it looked kind, but something about her eyes sent a tingle down Himiko's spine and made the hair on her neck stand on end. It was a feeling that, due to past experience, usually meant she should probably turn around and flee in the other direction. And so she did.
Or at least she tried to. The moment Himiko turned around to leave, she ran into a third taller girl and nearly fell back onto her butt, but was caught and held up by her armpits by the girl she bumped into.
"Oh hey! Just the girl we wanted to see!" The surprisingly strong girl happily said, smiling. Her smile set Himiko on edge as well.
"U-Uhm, I'm sorry." Himiko nervously said as she tried to walk past, but the other girl's grip held firm. "I-I was j-just going to class." Screw hiding, she'll risk Kumo asking about the drinking. She just wanted to leave at this point.
But the other girl wouldn't allow her. She held Himiko with a firm grip as she forced her to walk toward the other waiting girls. "Oh, that can wait. We just wanted to have a little talk with the new girl."
"W-What if the new girl doesn't want to talk?" Himiko asked as they stopped. The girls giggled as if laughing at a joke, and Himiko nervously laughed with them, not knowing what to do and just going along with them. The sooner she gave these girls what they wanted, the sooner she could leave. Right?
One of the other girls stopped laughing first. "Oh don't worry, you don't have to talk." She looked at the girl holding Himiko and nodded.
The next thing Himiko knew, she was being forced down to her knees, and her arms were being held behind her back. "H-Hey! Stop! Let me go!" She struggled, but the other girl's grip just got tighter. "Let me go, o-or I'll tell the teachers!" She threatened.
The third girl, who hadn't talked until now, snorted. "Like they'll believe a little freak like you." She then pulled out from behind her back a juice pouch, one that had Himiko's eyes widening in recognition. "See? Told you it was hers." The girl said upon seeing Himiko's reaction. "Saw her throw it away yesterday."
"K-Kinda weird, you know? Digging someone's tomato juice out of the trash? Hehe." Himiko focused on appearing calm and playing it off, but internally she was freaking out in a way she hasn't in years. They dug one of her blood drinks out of the trash. If they put two and two together-
"Cut the lies, freak." The leading girl held her hand out, and the blood drink was placed in it. "What kind of tomato juice dries up like blood?"
'Fuck!' Himiko swore in her head. It's fine, just stay calm. "Doesn't make digging it out of a trash can any less weird." She quipped. Probably not the best decision, but dammit, Izumi passed a few traits off to her, and she just kind of did it on instinct.
The girl rolled her eyes, before eyeing Himiko up and down. "So, what were you coming up here for? Your class is on the floor below."
"Stalker much?" Himiko glared at her. "Look, this is a waste of time! Just let me go, I haven't done anything to you!"
"Nothing yet." The leader looked at the strong one, "Get her bag."
"H-Hey!" Himiko struggled as her bag was forcefully removed from her shoulders, and passed to the leader. She reached inside and pulled out one of Himiko's unopened blood boxes and inspected it.
"You know, or hear these things are only allowed if the person requires the consumption of blood. Heard a story once that a kid was denied these, and he ended up seriously hurting someone on the street when his hunger was too much." She looked at Himiko and giggled. "We can't have you snapping on any of us, now can we?"
"Please," Himiko struggled a bit more, "Just let me drink. Just give me my blood, I'll go to class, and I won't mention any of this! I won't hurt anyone, I promise! Just let me drink my blood! I need it!" Himiko felt herself on the verge of tears. She didn't want anyone to know she needed to drink blood for this very reason. She didn't want anyone to be afraid of her potentially snapping. And now here she was, being restrained by other students as they decided to take care of the problem before it became a problem.
She never should have come to public school.
"Oh, honey, we aren't going to stop you from drinking blood." The leader said in a sickeningly sweet tone. "No, in fact, we're here to help. These things," She held up the box, "Aren't fresh at all. Drinking them must be like… hm…"
The girl restraining Himiko chimed in. "Eating pizza from the beginning of the week on a Friday?"
"Exactly!" The leader threw the box away, to the ground nearby. "Who knows how long it's been since you've had fresh blood."
Himiko's eyes widened in fear and panic as the girl pulled out a needle, and slowly moved it to one of her own fingers. Himiko started panicking and doubled her efforts to escape, thrashing around. "N-No, no! It's fine! I'm fine drinking the boxes! I don't need fresh blood!" She quickly refused as she failed to escape.
"Oh, come on Midoriya! It's fine! I insist!" The needle was dangerously close to her skin now. "You looked all jittery earlier, so I'm guessing you were coming here to drink some blood. I'll just give you a little taste of mine. I'm sure you'll feel better afterward, right?"
"T-That's not how that works!" Himiko kept trying, but the girl restraining her wasn't letting up. Himiko felt a few tears run down her face. She was so scared. She hadn't been exposed to fresh blood in so long, she didn't know how she'd react to an open wound. "Please! Just let me go! I'll do anything!"
"Oh, don't be like that now. This is a gift for the new girl." And with that, she lightly pushed the needle into her own skin.
Himiko reacted quickly, shutting her eyes and only breathing through her mouth, trying not to see or smell the blood as she scrunched up her nose. It was working, thankfully, as she hadn't caught a whiff of blood yet.
She heard the leader scoff. "Fine, we'll do it ourselves. Girls."
Himiko felt a pair of hands grab her head and force her to look up. She didn't open her eyes though as she struggled against the hands.
"Hold her steady." She heard, as her mouth was also forcibly held open. She still refused to open her eyes. "Here you go, Midoriya~"
Himiko's breathing quickened, getting faster and faster until…
Something hit her tongue.
Something warm, wet, and… delicious.
Her eyes snapped open instantly, and the first thing they zeroed in on was the deep crimson liquid lightly dripping from the puncture wound on the finger being held just over her mouth. Her body went lax as she focused on the source of blood. She took a light sniff through her nose. The sight, the smell, the taste… she wanted more. She needed more.
The girl that was holding Himiko's mouth still had let go when Himiko stopped struggling (though Himiko was still being restrained by the strong girl), and watched as the once panicking girl was now just kind of staring at the blood dripping from the finger of her friend. "Uhm… what's up with her?"
The leader hummed, moved her finger around, and watched as Himiko tracked it, never taking her eyes off the wound. "Not the reaction I expected. But check it out, it's like one of those videos where a snake is copying a person's movements!"
The girls laughed as the leader moved her finger around faster, amused as Himiko started moving her head to follow it. "Oh! Oh! Or like a cat following a laser pointer!"
In their amusement, none of them paid enough attention to notice Himiko's eyes changing, her pupils becoming thin slits surrounded by golden yellow. Her fangs, once small and subtle, started growing, becoming longer and sharper. Their biggest mistake came when the girl holding Himiko loosened her grip, thinking their target wasn't going to do anything, as if they'd tamed some wild animal that would now obey their every command.
Oh, how wrong they were, when Himiko immediately lunged for the bleeding finger and tried to bite into it. The strong girl managed to make a grab for the smaller student only to miss and barrel into her other friend.
The girl with the bloody finger flinched at the look in Himiko's eyes, they no longer were the wide distracted eyes that followed her finger's every move, these were the eyes of a wild cat, lost in madness and hunger. She started backing up towards the janitor's closet with her bloodied hand behind her back, reaching for the door. "Now, don't do anything crazy…" she began.
She turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door, revealing the darkness of the closet behind her. Himiko still hadn't made a move, she was clutching her head like she was struggling to get a hold of herself, a mixture of snarls and crying escaping her mouth. In that time the strong girl had managed to stand and slowly made her way behind the blood-crazed girl, reaching out to grab her again, only for the leader to subtly shake her head.
Instead, she brought her blooded finger back out and waggled it in front of herself. "Is this what you want?"
Himiko stopped struggling and glared up at the offending appendage, her entire focus once again on the crimson liquid that continued to drip from it.
"Yeah, that's it. Good little vampire. Come get the blood." The leader taunted as she slowly stepped to the side.
Despite her previous feral nature, Himiko slowly approached as she remained low to the ground. Seeing the blood… she just wanted some more. Just a little. Just enough to help clear her head, make the hunger stop so she can think. Her head was in pain as her mind screamed at her to just drain the bitch of all the blood in her veins, but Himiko resisted. She'll just take a little, make the pain stop, and she'll run.
She wouldn't get to do any of that, however, when two pairs of hands pushed her from behind. The next thing Himiko knew, she was on the cold floor of the janitor's closet. She turned her head back just in time to catch the door closing, casting her in darkness. Snarling and letting out a scream of frustration, Himiko stood up and rammed her body into the door in an attempt to leave, but it did nothing. There was a weight on the other side of the door keeping it from opening.
Himiko screamed again. "Let me out! Let me out! I need blood!" She rammed the door again, but still nothing. She continued trying to force her way out.
"Little freak!" She heard from the other side of the door. "Tried to attack me!"
"Uhm… so what do we-" She heard one of the other girls ask, but was swiftly cut off.
"Leave the little bloodsucker in there! Not our problem!"
"Okay… how do we do that?"
"What?"
"How do we keep her in?! She keeps trying to get out!"
"I don't know. Barricade it. Figure it out."
"Where are you going?!"
"Class, duh."
"She… just left us to do this ourselves?"
"I-I guess? I mean, I could use my quirk."
"Go ahead, I'll hold it."
Himiko kept trying to force her way out, even as she heard the sound of nails being hammered on the other side. She could eventually feel the difference, as the door started to feel more reinforced on the other side. "Please! Just let me out!" She desperately screamed.
"There, that should do it."
"Alright, come on, let's get to cl- ah dammit!"
"What?! What- oh."
"Stepped on the dumb blood box! I can't go to class with blood on my shoes!"
"Just go wash them off in the restroom." Their voices faded as they walked off, leaving Himiko alone in the darkness of the closet.
It was bad enough that she was trapped, what made the situation worse was that she was hungry for blood. She'd been exposed to fresh blood, denied more, and is now trapped in a dark room with the smell of more blood taunting her on the other side of the door. She kept trying to force it open, ramming it, and at some point even clawing at it, as if she'd be able to dig a hole through it. With every second she could feel her grasp on her sanity slipping away as the only thing taking up all of her thoughts was that she needed blood.
She didn't know what to do. She couldn't call for help, her phone was in her bag. She felt like a small child again, alone, scared, and locked up, denied the very thing needed to keep her sane. As her body began to tire from trying to escape, she did the only thing she could think of past the screaming of her thoughts demanding blood.
She curled up and cried. And she continued to cry until everything started to feel fuzzy.
She wasn't sure how long she stayed like that. Maybe hours. Eventually, through the pain and the hunger, she heard voices outside the door. She couldn't understand what they were saying, and they sounded warped and unintelligible to her at the time. She didn't care who they were or what they were saying.
She was hungry.
She drew her fist back and slammed it into the door. Obviously, it didn't break or open from the strike, but that wasn't the point.
She heard them talk again, she registered that they were speaking, and then the sound of wood being forcibly removed reached her ears. Himiko looked up and saw exposed pipes near the ceiling. She climbed on a few boxes nearby and jumped up to the pipes, wrapping her arms and legs around them, hiding in the darkness of the closet.
The door soon opened, but the light didn't reach her hiding spot, she was still hidden. She saw someone walk in and look around, before turning to leave. With the prey person's back turned, Himiko dropped down quietly behind them.
Her vision wasn't right. Everything was fuzzy and blurry, and she couldn't make out the face of whoever was at the door. None of it mattered to her though. She didn't care about who it was, she didn't care who she hurt, she didn't care about any of it.
She just wanted blood.
Without a word she lunged, mouth open, hands grabbing for the weak thing's arms, teeth gnashing for its throat.
She swore the person she lunged at looked like Sami-Chan…
That didn't matter to her though as she leaned down to bite into its flesh.
All that mattered was blood…
And then she woke up screaming.
"Himiko?!" Inko immediately burst into the room, eyes wide at her adopted daughter's panicked state. It was Izumi's old room. Her two daughters unexpectedly dropped by earlier in the day, and Inko wasn't ready to see her youngest covered in blood and crying. They got Himiko cleaned up and changed, but the events of the day had tired the young girl out, so she was placed in Izumi's old bed so she could take a nap.
At some point, Izumi had gotten a call, and though she didn't tell Inko what was going on, she said she'd be back for Himiko. So that left Inko with the task of looking after her daughter, who she admittedly didn't spend as much time with as she would have liked to.
She didn't know much about her other two children in general, other than what her husband and Izumi had told her over the phone and what she herself had learned through video chats with both of them.
Jin loved to cook, was talented and had a diverse skill set, was very loving towards their family, and had a strange verbal tick where he contradicted himself, some would even call it split personality disorder.
Admittedly, she knew the least about Himiko, other than her special diet and her love to tinker with her husband's support gear.
But something she had managed to pry from Izumi before she left was that all three of her children were very touch-oriented. They all calmed down at being shown physical affection in their own little ways, and that was something Inko could easily do for them.
Izumi was the simplest, she was receptive to pretty much any form of positive touch, from head pats, hair ruffles, hugs you name it, she loved it.
Jin was a snuggler, but in a very similar way that Hisashi was, he'd put his legs up on your lap or lay across your lap and not make a big deal about it if you didn't. Kind of like a cat.
Himiko, from what Izumi had told Inko, was a hugger. She loved hugs, she loved being held and if she was having a panic attack it was one of the only true ways to get her to come down from it, just letting her know that there was someone there with her, holding her and shielding her from the world.
And if anyone knew anything about Inko Midoriya, it was that she was a hugger. Mitsuki claimed that Inko had hugged Hisashi into submission when they first started dating and she honestly wasn't that far off the mark.
So with that in mind, Inko threw caution to the wind, she rushed to Himiko's side and wrapped her arms gently around her panicking daughter, petting her hair and whispering softly that she was here, and that Himiko was safe.
"It's okay, it was a dream. It wasn't real, sweetie." She didn't flinch as Himiko dug her nails into her back, she kept her focus on the girl in her arms and kept whispering to her, trying to calm her down.
"I…I hurt Sami-chan!" Himiko hiccuped into Inko's shoulder in barely audible English, and Inko only hugged her tighter. Inko may not be a fluent English speaker, but she could definitely understand it well enough.
"No, you didn't honey, he's fine, both of your friends are fine." Inko kept petting Himko's hair hoping it was having a calming effect on the girl while she talked. "They stopped by to give you the notes you missed, and they didn't look injured at all, they just seemed worried for you."
Himiko let out a shuddering cry at that and Inko let her, the girl needed to release the stress and worry that had been building the past few hours or she'd never truly recover.
"How…" Himiko took a breath and transitioned back to Japanese "How did they know where you lived?"
Inko chuckled and shook her head. "Your friend, Kumo-Chan, "lost" her phone in your bag, so they followed the tracker built into it here." She smiled, "You have some great friends, Himiko."
Himiko hiccuped. "Friends…"
Inko kissed the top of her head. "It's gonna be okay."
Himiko nodded, wanting to believe her, but finding doubt gnawing at the back of her mind. She decided to try and focus on something else, then noticed the lack of another green-haired woman.
"W-Where is Izumi?" She asked.
Inko hummed, and maybe it was just Himiko's imagination, but she looked… irritated. "Honestly, I'm not exactly sure. She got a call and said she had to go, but that she'll be back. So it's just me and you right now."
Himiko frowned at her mother and couldn't help but ask, "Are you okay? You look upset."
Inko jumped at her daughter's observation and chuckled nervously. "Oh, no I'm fine!" when Himiko didn't respond Inko sighed and shrugged "Izumi and I had a… Disagreement, nothing important or for you to worry about just two worry warts negatively bouncing off each other. I'll talk to her when she gets back to clear the air." She reassured Himiko with a smile.
Himiko frowned up at her mom before nodding "Big sis worries a lot but she cares."
Inko ruffled Himiko's hair, "That she does," she quickly got up and stretched before heading towards the door. "Why don't you go wash your face a bit to wake up, maybe take a proper shower instead of a sponge bath, and then we can watch some movies together? I have a tub of ice cream calling our name~"
Himiko narrowed her eyes. "What flavor?"
Inko smiled. "Dutch Chocolate."
In an instant, Himiko was out of bed and running to the bathroom to speedrun a shower.
Inko chuckled and shook her head, walking out to the living room to pull out her movie collection, as well as prepare the pillows, blankets, and ice cream. She stopped herself though and also pulled out the leftovers from dinner as well. Himiko most definitely would be hungry and ice cream could only satisfy you for so long.
As she did this though, her melancholy came back and she sighed thinking about the other daughter that was away from home, probably risking her life again doing God knows what.
She closed her eyes, and like she did every night, prayed that Izumi would come home safe.
Izumi scouted out the dock from atop a nearby roof and resisted the urge to scowl.
Of course, the CIA would demand she handle a situation in Japan while she was abroad. She knew it was a possibility when she accepted the transfer, sorry, "Loan" to Japan, but it annoyed her that the government couldn't even wait before giving her something shady to do.
Heroes in the states like she had said to Jin are part of the US military. The US does have a Hero Public Safety Commission but they only deal with public relations and insurance for both civilians and property damage from villain fights, they don't really have a say in what the heroes do. The US' heroic chain of command is…bloated and convoluted, but the way it works is that while Izumi is in Texas she is under the banner of the US Heroic National Guard, a branch of the national guard dedicated to stopping villains and high-end crime that Police can't handle.
Once outside of Texas, but still, within the United States, she is under the direction of the FBI, mainly to make operations in other states simpler. Izumi didn't understand why heroes weren't just under the FBI by default but what did she know? She wasn't a politician.
Once she left the US though she was transferred to the jurisdiction of the CIA, and because of that, she would get some orders that would rub her the wrong way.
Like the orders she had just received shortly after getting Himiko cleaned up and put in bed.
Someone was smuggling guns into Japan from the US, specifically California. The CIA, and by proxy, the Government of the United States, wanted those weapons found and destroyed. Not because they wanted to help decrease crime in Japan, but because they didn't want Japan to blame the US for the influx of illegal weapons and the increased crime rate that naturally came with it. Something about risking trade relations or something.
Izumi hated politics.
So the CIA pinned down the ship and crew smuggling the guns, and sent their nearest asset, which was Izumi mind you, the coordinates, along with her orders.
Put simply, destroy any and all evidence that the guns came from the US.
Any and all evidence included witnesses.
Luckily, civilian presence was pretty much guaranteed to be zero, so she won't have to get innocent blood on her hands. She counted her lucky stars that she's never had to do that before, she can handle putting a bullet in a criminal's skull, but she knew she wouldn't be able to bring herself to shoot an innocent person who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Of course, the alternative was… well, kidnapping them and finding a way to keep them quiet, but that's just as bad as killing them, in Izumi's opinion. The experience could be traumatizing for the person, and trauma was a bitch to deal with.
Izumi knows that all too well.
She sighed as she continued to do reconnaissance, surveying the ship that was docked. What she was doing wasn't exactly legal. She can't get caught by any Japanese authorities, and if she was caught… Well, best not to think about what she'd have to do.
Izumi shook her head and did one last gear check, making sure her guns had silencers equipped. Due to the nature of this operation, she couldn't use her revolver, it was too loud. high-caliber weaponry in general was a no-go. She couldn't sit back and snipe either, she could miss someone or someone could just run away and escape, no, she had to get up on the ship and clear it efficiently and quietly.
So it looked like that training from her few operations with the Navy was going to pay off.
She used her grapple arm to repel down the opposite side of the building she was on and made her way to the water, using the cover of night to stay hidden. She tapped the side of her helmet and scanned the water for any odd heat signatures. She knew she wouldn't be able to spot any cold-blooded quirk users, but she doubted the goons in the ship were that obsessive with security. They probably had cameras attached to the bottom of the ship, and those could be dealt with easily. She was more worried about warm-bodied people with aquatic-related quirks swimming around, which thankfully there weren't.
Tapping her helmet again she sealed her suit, making it airtight, and pulled out a small underwater scooter, sighing as she walked slowly into the dark water, making sure not to make more sound than necessary.
She entered the water fully and dived, her breathing unhindered as her mask and suit supplied her with oxygen. She stayed close to the dock as she approached the ship. It may be dark, but one can never be too careful. Plus, she didn't know exactly what these guys were packing in terms of equipment.
Her approach went smoothly, as she was able to find a blind spot where she could grapple up to the ship on its starboard side, close to the stern.
The ship was basically a heavily modified yacht, and it was pretty big. She'll have to clear the whole thing, which may take a while. She'll have to be quick. Finding everyone on the yacht would be easier if she could find one of the guards now. She could tap into whatever form of communication they were using, and scan the ship for similar signals, using them to hunt down the rest of-
Oh… there was a guard right there by the railing, having a smoke break. Pretty fucking convenient, but she'd take it!
Keeping the sights of her pistol trained on his head she readied herself and opened fire, quietly taking the man out and rushing to catch him before he fell overboard. She took his earpiece off him and dragged him around a corner out of sight. She looked at the earpiece for a moment before her suit and eye wirelessly tapped into its radio frequency. She began surveying the ship, as the computer built into her helmet began counting out radios on that frequency with small number indicators on her HUD.
She didn't verbalize her surprise but she felt her eyes widen at the number, fifteen signals were counted out, sixteen if she counted the one in her hand, and that might not even include the buyers. She turned the earpiece off to prevent it from messing up her count and placed it back on the perp's ear, just in case by some stroke of luck the authorities or other heroes arrived and thought what she caused wasn't a run-of-the-mill gang turf war.
Most of the signals were located at the front of the ship on the more open deck, which was most likely where the meeting was taking place. However, Izumi decided to do a quick sweep of the ship anyways, just to make sure that there were no hostiles who weren't carrying earpieces or weren't on the same frequency. She would come to be thankful she did when she found a few men kinda just wandering around. She took care of them quickly and finished her sweep. Once done, she made her way back topside and moved towards the main deck.
She found an elevated spot that overlooked the whole deck, which was pretty big by the way, and made sure she was shrouded in darkness, making it near impossible for any of the men below to see her. All the men working with the gun runners were, well, using guns. In Izumi's head, it made sense. Even if any of them had quirks that would be lethal in combat, there's a higher chance the quirk and the damage it causes can be traced to the specific individual, but someone who fired a bullet, now that's harder to trace. Anyone could have shot a gun.
The buyers though didn't have any firearms to speak of, but they all seemed ready to move if need be, so they were most likely relying on quirks if the meeting went south. Though, there was one detail about the buyers that Izumi had a hard time ignoring.
The plague doctor masks. All of them had one on. If it wasn't the beak of a plague doctor mask, then it was a generic disposable mask instead. Either way, they all looked like they were trying to avoid catching a plague. Izumi figured it was a gang thing, like a uniform or something.
She watched as one of the buyers was inspecting a crate presented to them, which Izumi could see held all types of guns and munitions. He held an assault rifle in his hands and looked it up and down, checking the sights, making sure it was the real deal.
"Is it all to your liking?" One of the gun runners, who stood out because of the suit he wore, asked.
The buyer hummed. "Everything seems to be here, as you said." He put the rifle back down into the crate and allowed a few men to come back over and close it up again. "My boss will be pleased."
"As will mine," Suit guy said, "Assuming, of course, you brought what you promised, in exchange?"
Plague guy hummed and nodded. With a snap of his fingers, two of his men carried forth a crate of their own. Suit guy looked at one of his men and nodded for him to open it. The man walked forward with a crowbar and pried the top off of the crate. Izumi zoomed in with her helmet and saw that the contents were red darts of some sort.
"As promised." Plague Guy said. "Feedback on the effects will be much appreciated. These are just prototypes, but assuming this partnership of our sticks, you can expect a steady supply of the final product once it's manufactured."
Izumi furrowed her eyebrows. Prototype? Final product? This seemed like more than a simple meeting to buy weapons. Hell, the number of weapons these gun runners seemed to have on them was more than what was normal for their kind.
But that wasn't her problem. These guys were from the States, so the CIA can take care of them over there. She had her orders here.
Time to cause a bit of chaos.
She took aim at the representative of the buyer and squeezed the trigger of her rifle.
It didn't take long for all hell to break loose after that.
"Mom?" Himiko hesitantly asked.
"Yes, dear?" Inko petted the hair of her daughter, who was snuggled up next to her under the blankets. They had long ago finished their dinner and ice cream. Now they were just sitting in silence as they watched their little movie marathon.
"... Am I a freak?" Himiko's voice cracked.
Inko's eyes widened when she heard that question. It was one she's had to answer once before, for a different child. She looked down to immediately answer "no", but her words got caught in her throat when instead of blonde straight hair, she briefly saw curly green instead. She blinked and shook her head, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Himiko and her normal hair instead.
"Mom?" Himiko looked up at her when she didn't answer.
"N-No, of course, you're not a freak," Inko assured her after getting over her shock of the minor hallucination.
"But my quirk-" Himiko started, only for Inko to immediately interrupt that train of thought.
"Is a part of you, and believe me when I tell you, Himiko Midoriya, that every part of you is beautiful." Inko held her closer as she continued. "Anyone who can't see the beauty in you isn't worth the time of day."
"But… the blood…" Himiko's mind flashed back to earlier that day when she attacked her friends over her hunger.
Inko shook her head, "That doesn't matter. There are ways around your dietary needs. Himiko, you shouldn't feel ashamed of who you are, and what you need. If you need blood, we'll get you blood, it's no trouble. You're a part of our family, and no price is too high for family."
Himiko sniffed as she felt tears escape her eyes. They weren't tears of fear or shame, this time they were tears of joy and happiness. Feeling a bit of her normal demeanor return, she couldn't keep herself from laughing a little and responding to Inko with, "Fast and Furious."
Inko scoffed but still kept her smile as she laughed. "You are just like your sister. You're father too. In fact, if I didn't know already, I would mistake you for a biological Midoriya!" Inko then started tickling Himiko in the same places she would tickle Izumi when she was a small child and wasn't exactly surprised to see that Himiko too was ticklish. "You really are a part of our family!"
Himiko went into a giggling fit, and for the first time since the beginning of that day, felt like herself again. She felt loved and cared for, a feeling she has come to know well since becoming a Midoriya, and she will always treasure it. But as Inko ceased her assault, something she said had Himiko thinking.
'A real Midoriya…'
"... Hey, mom?"
"Yes?"
"Can I ask for a favor?"
"Of course."
After making sure the goons were all dead and verifying that the guns were all accounted for, Izumi took out a plastic explosive that she brought and threw it into the gas tank of the ship. She calmly made her way off the ship before preparing to blow it to smithereens. Let the JDF or Heroes find anything in that.
Before she left though, she stopped. She made her way over to the crate of darts that were to be traded for the weapons and carefully took one of the darts. "What are you?" She asked no one as she placed it into one of her secured pouches. She'll need to have it analyzed, she'll scan it and send what she can to the CIA. This was their operation after all.
With that done, she abandoned the yacht and made her way through the empty docks. As she made her way through the docks, she barely caught movement out of the corner of her eye before she had to duck under a punch aimed for her head. She quickly grabbed the arm of her assailant, as well as his head as she slammed it against a shipping container next to them. Her opponent dazed, she swept his legs out from under him before quickly moving to place her foot on top of his chest, drawing her pistol and aiming for his head.
But she hesitated when she saw her attacker. It wasn't one of the goons from the ship that had survived, it was a man, a relatively prim and proper-looking man with well-groomed green hair and glasses, as well as a serious demeanor about him. She'd recognize this man even if her eye and HUD hadn't already scanned him, she'd known who this man was even before she became close friends with Toshinori.
Under the barrel of her gun was Sir Nighteye, and Izumi was very close to having a crisis of faith.
"Out for a midnight stroll? Nighteye?" Izumi snarked, she could work with snark, she needed to stall, to figure out a way out of this.
"It's eleven at night." Nighteye snarked back, Izumi would have squealed if the situation wasn't so dire.
"A little late to be strolling around the docks for no reason. Though, I suppose I'm one to talk." Izumi took a deep breath, she wasn't prepared to do this, but she had to. "I'm sorry, but my orders were clear. No witnesses."
Nighteye's eyes widened as he realized what she was about to do, and in desperation to not shake hands with the Grim Reaper, yelled out, "Wait! I didn't see you!"
Izumi blinked under her helmet. "... Huh?"
"I never saw you here." He explained slowly. "As I arrived, I saw a van speeding away, leaving behind a yacht full of dead men."
Izumi stared at him for a full minute, before reaching for the detonator on her belt, and pushing the button. A second later, a loud boom was heard, and Nighteye looked to where the Yacht was, only to see fire and smoke rising from its location.
He slowly turned his head back to Izumi. "... Make that a burning Yacht full of dead men."
"Why should I trust you?" Izumi didn't move her gun away from his head.
"I was only here for the buyers. I don't care that they're dead, I overheard their little talk before everyone started shooting, I have the info I came for." Nighteye told her. "I never saw you here."
"... You better not have, Mirai." Izumi took her foot off of him and backed up a few feet before lowering her weapon. She turned and ran off as sirens started to be heard in the distance.
Nighteye let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding. He got to live another day.
As he stood and adjusted his suit and whipped the blood from his nose he paused…
How did she know his name?
Izumi pulled up to her mom's apartment on her motorcycle. She had changed out of her hero costume in an abandoned building, as well as confirmed with a CIA agent that the mission was done, before making her way home, so as not to be recognized or associated with anything that happened at the docks. She sighed as she took off her helmet, she was tired. Mentally tired. The operation wasn't enough to tire out her body, as she hardly did anything strenuous, but being the cause of all that death takes its toll. She's killed before, she's used to it, but that doesn't mean she completely enjoys having to do it.
She reached into her pocket and felt the vial that contained the red dart she took. She needs to remember to send whatever data she can get from it to the CIA. Crates of these things were about to be smuggled into the US if Izumi didn't crash the deal, so she figured they'd like to know what the darts were.
But that's for later. Right now she wants to relax a little. Besides, she has a sister to take care of.
She made her way to the door of Inko's apartment and used the spare keys to open the door. She can hear the TV on deeper within, and after closing the door and locking it, she quietly made her way over to the living room. She found her mom and sister passed out and snuggled up together under a pile of blankets as a movie was playing on the screen. She couldn't help but smile at the sight before her.
Though, that smile became a look of slight shock and confusion when she noticed something. Specifically a detail about Himiko. She quietly approached and inspected her. She thought it was a trick of the light at first, but pulling out her phone and using the light from it instead, she got a clearer look.
Himiko's hair was now green.
Izumi stared wide-eyed at the change in her sister's appearance until movement from the side caught her attention. She looked over and saw Inko stirring, her eyes slowly opening. When she saw Izumi kneeling in front of the couch, her eyes snapped open in panic, thinking there was an intruder, but she relaxed and let out a breath of relief when she realized it was just her eldest daughter.
"Izumi, you scared me." She put a hand over her chest.
"Sorry, Ma." Izumi apologized as she stood up. "I just got back." She looked back at Himiko. "So uh… what happened to her?"
"Oh!" Inko looked at her youngest child. "She asked to have it dyed green. Said she wanted to feel closer to us in appearance."
"Well, it looks good on her." Izumi ran a hand through Himiko's hair, her sister's lips curving into a smile as she leaned into the touch.
Inko maneuvered her way out of the covers and stood up, approaching Izumi and looking her over. "How did it go? Was it really dangerous? Are you hurt?" She quickly asked.
Izumi felt a tinge of annoyance, if only because of their… disagreement earlier before she left. "I'm fine. If I was hurt then I would have gone to a hospital." Which was a lie. Going to a hospital meant she'd have to explain why she was hurt, which she couldn't afford since she wasn't supposed to be at the docks, to begin with.
"I'm sorry, I was just worried," Inko explained.
"I know." Izumi sighed as she looked around. "Anyways, thanks for watching over Himiko. I'll get her stuff and wake her, then we'll get out of your hair." She started searching around. "Where did you put her dirty clothes and school bag?"
Inko didn't immediately answer. She looked conflicted, debating on whether or not to touch on the subject that led to the tense atmosphere between mother and daughter. In the end, she decided to be direct. "Izumi, we need to talk."
Izumi resisted the urge to negatively react in any way. Not a scowl, not even a sigh of annoyance. Instead, she took a deep breath and faced Inko. "Look, mom, I'm tired, and I have a big class tomorrow. I just want to go home with my sister and sleep."
"I-I know you do, but we need to talk about this." Inko insisted.
"What's there to talk about?" Izumi snapped back, though she stayed quiet so as to not wake up Himiko. "You're just gonna say the same thing you said earlier."
"Izumi, you said you were going to burn the school down!" Inko reminded her of her words.
"Metaphorically!" Izumi clarified. "... And maybe literally."
"Izumi!"
"They hurt her, mom!" Izumi's voice strained as she struggled to keep her volume low. "They hurt Himiko. My sister, your daughter! What? Are you going to wait for them to make her feel like she's the scum of the earth? That she shouldn't exist? You have allowed it with me, but I won't let the same thing happen to her!"
"You think I wanted to wait?!" Inko could already feel the tears forming in her eyes. "You think I wanted to let that happen to you?! Every day I saw you come home with ruined clothes and a torn-up bag, every time I saw a new bruise, I felt nothing but anger, and wanted nothing more than to use my quirk to rip out that damned principal's eyeballs for allowing it to happen right in front of him! But I couldn't," She walked up to Izumi, ignoring the fact that her daughter stood a head taller than her and was built better than even Mitsuki was when she was younger. "You know how this country is about quirklessness, you've experienced it first hand! But do you know how hard it is for us as Parents?"
She glared at Izumi, challenging her to interrupt her. When Izumi didn't, she continued. "I am not blaming you for being born the way you were, I never will but you don't understand! You don't understand the hardship that Hisashi and I had to go through every day to try and make sure you were safe in this awful world! Hisashi wanted to sue that school so many times, but his lawyers would always tell him that he'd never have a case! That quirk discrimination didn't apply to the quirkless! I had to document everything just to sue Aldera the first time!"
Izumi didn't say anything, she just stared at her mother. Inko continued. "I had to document every bruise, every piece of damaged property, every single conversation with your teachers and principal, I had to record everything, and even then when it became too much and they…" she spat the word like it was something awful on her tongue "went too far and we had to send you to the US, I still recorded everything. Katsuki took it upon himself to record conversations with his phone and send them to me, he'd take photos or videos of kids being abused by staff and students alike, and even with all that evidence I barely won my case against them."
She grabbed Izumi's hands, not flinching at the cold touch of her prosthetic "I only ever wanted you to be safe, to be happy. I may disagree with your choice of carrier," she smiled up at Izumi to let her know that she was partially joking "But I have always supported your goal to be a hero after that day, I failed to support you when you were four, I promised myself that I would always try and support you no matter what after that." She took a shuddering breath "But Himiko is a different case than you, and even if it's unfair we should at least be thankful that she is. Quirk discrimination is easier to prove after all than quirkless discrimination, so if this was planned out by the school and not a case of bullying we can find out and use that to make a noose for them to hang themselves with." She scowled before smiling again "I may not like you getting hurt, especially this bad…" She lifted Izumi's prosthetic and frowned, "and we may disagree at times, but I am your mother. It's my job to disagree with you when I think you're being reckless."
Izumi didn't respond, instead, she wrapped her arms around her mother and let out a shuddering "I'm sorry."
Inko's eyes widened at the sudden shift in attitude but hugged Izumi back. "W-What are you sorry for?"
"For talking to you like that," Izumi answered. "I-I shouldn't have said what I did. I know you and dad tried your hardest back then, I knew that and still know that. It's just… I couldn't take seeing Himiko in the same position. Something inside me just… boiled. I just don't want her to go through what I did."
"Oh, Izumi. You're such a good big sister." Inko smiled into her daughter's shoulder. "It's alright. You're stressed. Don't worry, we won't let what happened to you happen to her. I promise you. She has friends who care about her at Aldera, she's not alone. And we'll figure out what happened and act accordingly. Okay?"
Izumi took in a shaky breath, feeling a single tear run down her face. "Okay… okay…"
A groan and shuffling coming from the couch had the women turning their gaze onto the stirring form of Himiko as she began to wake up. She yawned as she stretched one arm and rubbed her eyes with the other. "Waz happenin'?"
Izumi wiped her face to clear it of the tear, then put on a smile for her sister. She approached and kneeled in front of her, "Hey you little Gremlin."
Himiko stared at Izumi with tired eyes, before she gasped and lunged at her, wrapping her arms around her. "Big sis, you're back!"
The angle in which Himiko threw herself at Izumi had the two falling away from the couch and onto the ground. Izumi, though, just laughed as she held her sister close. "Yeah, I'm back!" She sat up with Himiko in her lap and ran her hand through her hair. "Call me biased, but I like your new look."
Himiko blushed slightly as she buried her face into Izumi's chest. "I… I wanted to look like you. I wanted to look like I'm your sister." She admitted.
Izumi hummed as she continued to stroke Himiko's hair. "Well, just know that your hair could be rainbow colored, and you'd still be my little sister."
Inko chuckled and shook her head "Alright you two, Himiko you need to get up and get some actual sleep, Izumi too but I need to make sure she actually eats beforehand."
Izumi and Himiko looked at each other, seeming to read each other's minds. They nodded as they agreed on something.
They both turned to Inko and gave her their best puppy-dog eyes. A lesser mortal would have immediately given in to such a combined attack on their sympathy. Inko however just laughed it off. "Oh no, don't try that look on me. Who do you think invented it? There's a reason your father can't resist it. Up you get, Himiko. I already called the school when you started your first nap, you're excused from classes for two days until they can figure out what happened, so you'll have plenty of free time to bug Izumi tomorrow."
Himiko let out a little cheer as she hugged Izumi one last time before moving towards Inko and hugging her as well, she then moved towards her room to finally get some sleep, which Inko was grateful for.
"I know you are busy tomorrow with work, but if you could find something for her to do to keep her mind off things? That would help her mental state. She's hiding it right now, but she's still hurting." Inko told Izumi as she got out some leftover Miso Soup, rice, and fried pork.
Izumi nodded, flexing her prosthetic fingers out of habit before she glanced at it and a grin formed on her face. "I think I might have an idea, Ma."
"First off, sorry for sending my report late. I wasn't in a secure enough location to do so." Izumi said in English to seemingly nobody. She was currently in the privacy of her room at UA. Contrary to what some may believe, Nezu did not in fact have the teachers' dorms bugged with tiny cameras and microphones; she even checked twice. So she didn't have to worry about him eavesdropping on her report or thinking she had done anything sketchy last night, though she doubted he'd care. As far as anyone on campus knew, she was at her mother's house the whole time last night.
Her helmet was currently placed on her desk as she used it to record her report. She really needed a laptop...
Her tone was all professional as she continued. "Anyway, all threats were eliminated, and all evidence was destroyed. I even blew up the boat for good measure and framed it to look like a drug deal gone wrong. You were right, these guys were armed to the teeth, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. I'll send recorded footage of the operation along with the report for you to look over. Be advised, that I took a blow to the back of the head near the end of the operation, so the recording towards the end got corrupted a bit. I'll try and recover what I can, but if I can't, I'll include what happened in the written report." She lied. She had purposefully corrupted the footage where she ran into Nighteye on her way out.
"Other than that, I came across something interesting."She reached over and picked up the red dart she took. "It seemed that the buyers were going to trade crates full of these red darts in exchange for weapons. What the darts do, I'm not sure, they don't seem to be filled with Trigger. I ran a scan and will send the data with this report. I figured you'd like to know about what drug or whatever this is that almost made its way into the US."
A knock on her door caused Izumi to pause before she looked back at her helmet. "That's all I have to report. The data and written report should be in your hands later today, Flintlock out." With that she pressed a button on the side of her helmet and turned the recording off, it would automatically send to her handler over at the CIA and hopefully, she wouldn't have to deal with them for a few days. She put the dart away as well, not wanting to leave it just lying around.
Standing and stretching she made her way to the door, opening it she saw Jin with his apron on and a frown on his face. Well, she assumed it was a frown, judging by the way his mask was shaped.
She found it adorably hilarious that he now wears his costume's mask everywhere, even when the rest of his outfit is casual.
"You were doing something sketchy, weren't you? What drug was it this time?"
Izumi playfully scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Just because I'm locked in my room doesn't mean I'm doing drugs, Jin. Maybe I was watching porn, did you think of that?"
"That's what they all say, but I've watched Spider-Man: Homecoming! I caught you popping pills! I know what you did!"
Izumi chuckled at the old argument. "That was some extra strength Ibuprofen. You know, for this?" She waggled her stump at him and he just shrugged. "I don't even take that stuff anymore. Haven't had to in a while."
"Excuses! I believe you!"
Izumi sighed, exacerbated. "If you must know I was talking to Me…" She was cut off when Himiko dashed up to Jin with a frantic look on her face.
"Breakfast is burning!"
"Oh… Shit! My spinach puffs!" Jin dashed out of the room immediately much to Izumi's relief. She gave Himiko a small fist bump. "Thanks, sis. Jin's a little too much this early in the morning."
"What else is new?" Himiko smirked.
Izumi gave an ominous laugh. "Well… I have a surprise for you."
Himiko narrowed her eyes at Izumi and took a step back. "Am I going to like this surprise, or are you going to like this surprise?"
"Oh, relax. You're gonna love this. Come in." Izumi led Himiko into her room. She walked over to her dresser and opened a drawer, eventually pulling a familiar object out.
Himiko's eyes widened at both the object and the state it was in. "Is that your Mark 1 arm?"
"Yep!" Izumi chirped. "As you can see… it's in rough shape."
"What happened to it?!" Himiko looked it over.
"... Villain attack." Izumi lied, like a liar. "Anyways, point being, why don't you and I go over to the support studio later, and let's see if you can't fix it."
Himiko gasped and looked up at her sister with wide eyes. "W-Wait! A-Are you serious? You're going to let me mess with one of your prosthetics?!"
Izumi shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, it's not like if you damage it further somehow it would matter. It's already in no condition to be used. Besides, I think you could probably get it in working order again anyway."