Chapter Text
It takes no time at all to get an address, and Kendo can appreciate the speed and efficiency of someone named Drumsticks without feeling too weird about it.
The woman that answers the door, however, while looking nothing like what little of O'Clock he got to see, he knows immediately they're related.
It's probably the slick black turtleneck, and the pinched corners of her mouth in her bemusement. Maybe the eyepatch too. That is certainly all her father. It tells Kendo a fighter.
"Hi, how can I help you…?" she asks, looking between them. Her expression softens when she spots Eri hiding by Kendo's leg. "Are you guys lost?"
Tiger Bunny shifts on her feet. "Oguro… Tamao?" she says, and it sounds dubious to his own ears. "Daughter of Oguro Iwao?"
Immediately, her face ripples with concern. "Yes, that's my father, is he okay?" she starts, and then clearly spies Tiger Bunny's folded back ears beneath her cap. "Aren't you the No. 6—"
Kendo cuts in. "We're old acquaintances of your dad, go waaay back," he says, placing a finger briefly to his lips, grinning despite it. "Lost touch after he retired, but were hoping to catch up with 'em! Is he around or something?"
Tiger Bunny hooks a thumb at Kendo at her less than sure look. "What this blockhead said, just wanna catch up with the old man," she says, and then continues at a lower volume, flashing her license," and yeah, I'm that No. 6, but we're not trying to be too conspicuous here, if ya don't mind."
Tamao snorts, more amused than anything now. "I commend your efforts," she relents, and glances around. "Well, he should be by in an hour, lucky enough for you guys, but here I thought he left all this hero stuff behind. You're welcome to wait; it's not much, but I can put some tea on."
"Thanks!" Kendo says, and pats Eri from behind his leg. "C'mon, squirt, don't be too shy, alright?"
Her hand latches onto his, but she smiles unsurely at the woman as they pass her and into the hallway of the apartment. It's a little more spacious than Tiger Bunny's, and way more clean for sure. Kendo gives her a pointed look when Tamao passes, and Tiger Bunny huffs.
The place is a lot cleaner than hers. There's a mass of scattered papers lined across the couch against the wall and the low table in front of it. It's small but neat, a little homey in a black and white way with the blocked rug and light wood furniture. She's definitely doing better than them, which is good. Parents should… take care with their kids, and make sure they take care of themselves. It's good to see O'Clock did right by her.
"What's that?" Eri whispers when they're sitting around the low table, O'Clock's kid having scrambled to collect all of the sheets up to make room. He leans over to follow her pointing finger. "The green thing."
Kendo squints. "A guitar, I think," he says, and now that she mentions it, he notices the other things tucked in the corners. An amp hides behind the seated guitar but next to what looks like a keyboard, and a surround system strings along the walls, foam blocking in the corners; upon reflection, the papers might have been sheet music. "Looks like we got a rock 'n roller."
"Ooh," Tiger Bunny says, propping up on the table. "You in a band?"
Oguro laughs. "Sure am," she admits, turning on the faucet. "We're very underground though, doubt you've heard of us. It’s a side thing as I get my degree."
Rappa snorts. “Well, we’re gonna be waiting anyway, why not show us what you got?”
“Ehh, really?” Oguro says, turning around as she places the kettle on the counter. “It’s… not exactly kid friendly.”
All eyes turn to Eri, and then slip to Kendo. He wrinkles his nose. “Do I look ‘kid friendly’ to you?” he grumbles, waving a hand, and then smirks at Tiger Bunny. “I’m sure it’s fine, squirt’s heard it all by now.”
Tiger Bunny glares, but with a shrug, Oguro doesn’t fight it. She slips over and fiddles with one of the large, fancy speakers. The music that splits the air is aggressive and the beat immediately curls Tiger Bunny’s ears. It’s something Kendo might have listened to when he was young and more angry and bitter, just before he ran away from home, or after a rough fight. The lyrics are sound though, and it’s good , and seems to speak to Eri’s tiny child self, her eyes wide as the bass nearly shakes the table. Kendo’s sure Oguro’s neighbors hate her.
Under the thrum, Eri tugs once more on Kendo's hand. He leans over for her to reach his ear. “What is this called?” she asks. "The noise… and singing?"
“You... don’t know what music is?” he asks, incredulous, louder than he means to, and Tiger Bunny and Oguro jerk in his direction. She ducks her head, nodding as she fiddles with the hem of her shirt. Kendo barely keeps his lip from curling, and at the other two, says, “Hey, the squirt doesn’t know what music is, mind if we give her a bit of everything? This shit’s good, but…”
He can tell Oguro has questions, that Tiger Bunny has even more, and both are undoubtedly confused that a child of any age doesn’t know what music is, but. Oguro merely nods in return as she turns the dial down a little before the kettle whistles behind her. She serves them a round of tea before the next song ends, and Kendo scoots Eri over toward her. It’s slow going, but they hit it off like a house on fire, and Kendo is content to watch under Tiger Bunny's intense gaze.
An hour and a half passes that way before the doorbell rings.
It's just barely audible under some sort of genre called ‘Dreamcore,’ and Oguro leaves her phone in Eri’s happy hands. Kendo, maybe, a little, smiles at the way the kid seems to be putting big thoughts into what song to pick next. Tiger Bunny wiggles her eyebrows at him, and he wipes it off his face for a scowl.
"Hey dad, your old friends dropped by—mmf!"
At that, Tiger Bunny's ears twitch and swivel, her attention becoming focused. A grin splits her face after a moment, and Kendo straightens from his slouch against the table.
"Hey, grandpa, forget all about us, did you?" she calls, learning back from the table. Eri looks up from the phone, startled, and immediately scoots back to place beside Kendo. "I'm a Pro now, if you don't know, so quit trying to run already, we're not here to hurt anybody."
With a snort, Kendo mutters, "Speak for yourself," into his tea, and the kick to his shin smarts something fierce.
There's some shuffling, and a familiar face appears in the doorway. Even greyed with age, O'Clock rather looks the same in Kendo's eyes, still a fighter even if the flames have cooled. The scar along his face is new, though, and Kendo’s sure the story behind it must be a really good one. O’Clock frowns at them, Oguro peeking apologetically from over his shoulder, and stumbles on Eri peering from Kendo's side.
"... You guys look good,” he says, his face easing into simple amusement. “Staying out of trouble then?”
Tiger Bunny huffs. “I’m an upstanding model of society, unlike this lug,” she says, smirking at Kendo, “but we all knew that. And, no, actually, but that’s gotta be readily apparent. Trouble found me.”
O’Clock laughs, and Kendo flexes his hands. “Hey now, I’m just looking for a good time, not my fault no one wants to step up,” he grumbles, and he can see the moment something shifts in O’Clocks eyes. Yeah, he’s still got it. “I still want my rematch, old man.”
“You just want to fight my dad?” Oguro accuses, bewildered, and apparently realizes she took Tiger Bunny being a Pro for granted. “She’s a Pro, what does that make you?”
Just a guy cruisin’ for a bruisin’, he thinks, and it feels… empty, all of a sudden.
Huh.
But, Kendo doesn’t get to answer. The doorbell rings again, and the hairs rise along the back of his neck. Oguro frowns, startled, and squints suspiciously at Kendo before turning away. Something must show on his face because O’Clock's brow furrows, and then jerks around.
“Tamao, wait—”
A lot of things happen all at once. Tiger Bunny clears the table, frog hopping O’Clock, and Kendo grabs Eri. If he could explain what it feels like when he’s disassembled, it’d be like white noise and a weird tingle everywhere. It’s jarring, and he knows exactly what it feels like now, to know what the shift in the air means. He gets one last look at O’Clock's surprised mug before the world shifts.
Suddenly, Kendo is on the roof, the building assembling itself back together beneath his feet. Across the way, Overhaul stands proud like the skinny bastard he is, his feather hood fluttering in the slight wind. Eri hangs limp from his arms, her red eyes wet with tears. Kendo snarls, and he can see the anger simmering just behind the thin veneer of Overhaul's hooded eyes. Too many floors below, Kendo can just hear a door slam and rippling cries of fear as people are shifted within their homes.
“Let’s not make a scene, and everything will be… forgiven,” Overhaul says, terse, and Eri visibly shudders. “Be still, Eri. It’s time to go home.”
For a long moment, nothing happens. Kendo can feel his heart beginning to race, his teeth grinding as he thinks and thinks, and thinks. She doesn’t want to go, he knows that, and, and he doesn’t want her to go either. Not back there, where Kendo is apparently the only person who’s ever been nice to her. She didn’t even know what a hanamaru was, or what music is. She didn’t know so many simple things, like how to tell time or how to say No or that she even could.
She can't go back there. She won't go back there.
Today, Overhaul will die.
“Eri,” Kendo says, uncurling a fist, and wags the hand. “Eri.”
Her eyes go wider, tears spilling over, and. And, Overhaul recoils hard when she screams, kicks her legs, and he absolutely howls, when she sinks her little baby teeth into the bare skin of his arm. He all but throws her away to clutch desperately at the bloody pricks as if she mauled him near to death. Eri hits the ground with a choked yelp, a little bit of blood smeared at the corner of her mouth, and scrambles across the distance. She desperately climbs into Kendo’s arms, shaking like a leaf but this took guts.
"Good job, squirt," he murmurs, and her heart is fluttering like a trapped bird against his chest, her breath hot and ragged against his neck. Red boils at the edge of his vision, seething and roiling. "Good job."
“Eri,” Overhaul snarls, shudders, his eyes blazing with a sick rage and a frenzied fear. “Eri, come back here—”
“No,” Kendo says, baring his teeth.
It feels like the world stills with Overhaul. “... No?” he echoes, and it's a quiet hate, a nasty forced calm.
Kendo shifts Eri around, her hands fisting tight and close to the roots of his hair as he hooks her legs over his shoulders. She makes a wounded sound as he raises his fists, rolls his shoulders to shuffle her closer around his neck. “No,” he repeats, widening his stance. “You want her? Fight me for her.”
“Rappa!” shouts a voice on the breeze, and Overhaul raises his arms, the wound gone, and faint wisps fall away from his hands, his ever present gloves disassembling to dust.
“... I’m beginning to think the consequences far outweigh the benefits of keeping you around, Rappa,” he hisses, and Kendo’s blood roars in his ears. “Eri… come here.”
This time… This time Kendo will win. He has to. He’s always had to, always would, but this time he has to. Eri trembles over his shoulders, but her fingers curl tighter.
“N-No,” she says, voice hiccuping, and something sparks at the edge of his vision.
Kendo laughs, leaping forward and—
White noise. A tingle up his spine, but—
The sounds rush back in with a crunch, colors and the world itself. All of a sudden, that ridiculous mask crumples under Kendo’s fist, ripping free of Overhaul’s startled face as the hit throws him off balance. Kendo’s faster, stronger, and just better than Overhaul in more ways than anyone can count, and while he hates working with anyone to win his fights, he knows it's… not all that bad, sometimes.
A kaleidoscope of colors run down the length of his arms, the many aches from years and years of previous breaks and weaknesses of the bone seeming to fade, but he doesn't have the time to inspect it more. His gut tells him there has to be a limit, if not for Eri, then for him, and it’s never failed him before. Kendo doesn’t know what the kid’s quirk is, never asked, because it made her sad and clam up, so he’d just shuffled it to the side like with many things, but.
She trusts him for some God awful reason, and so he will trust her in turn.
“Rappa!” shouts that same voice, closer, Tiger Bunny, and Kendo draws back his fists, his shoulders twisting far smoother than they have in a long time with the beginning rotation, and—
Today, Overhaul will die.
Kendo and the squirt will see to it.
