Chapter Text
Nine perched on the edge of a roof, watching a group of adults below him. He had been following these people for awhile, after one of the neighborhood ghosts tipped him off that they were doing something bad with kids.
Nine had watched the group move masses of kids around, packing them all in a van and taking them to different locations. It was definitely very weird, especially since none of the locations looked all the nice.
One of his personal ghosts had tried to reason that the group was probably just a child watching service, after all the sign on the main building labeled it an orphanage, and everything was perfectly fine. The kids were probably just being moved between foster homes.
That idea was quickly shot down as Five pointed out that several of the kids were in restraints including a purple haired kid in a muzzle, and the people picking up the dropped off children were all armed with guns. Their argument had led Nine to one of the nearby libraries to look up what an orphanage was supposed to do, and after a full day of research he had agreed with Five.
Seven had spent a while pouting, though Nine didn’t feel very much pity for her. She tried too hard to see the good in people.
Nine narrowed his eyes as he watched the adults below pull more kids out of the fake orphanage and push them into a van. He spotted a tuft of purple hair, and immediately knew he had to Intervene and soon. the kid was wearing a muzzle like usual, but looked even more tired and upset than normal. Even from the roof Nine could see the glare the kid shot the adults.
Things always got rough when the tired, muzzled boy was being moved. Despite his tired and hopeless appearance, Nine knew the kid was a fighter. That had been proven by the multiple times the boy resisted the treatment, fighting back in whatever way he could.
Nine refused to let this go on any longer. Nobody else was paying attention to this - yet another mark against the hero and police forces - so it was up to him to do something.
Nine waited until the purple haired kid started his usual ruckus, this time the kid did it by head-butting one adult and then kicking another in the crotch, before dropping down into the fray. Nine felt his quirk come alive under his skin, and he distantly noted that the ghosts were watching him from the rooftop still.
They were probably silently testing him, they did that at various points just to make sure he could control the disaster that was the quirk. If they didn’t think he was able to control himself, they could limit his usage of their aspects of the quirk.
It was a bit of a headache to understand the quirk, honestly. Even though they were dead, his companions still had some control over their original quirks, mostly in regards to his usage of those quirks.
Thankfully, he hadn’t failed a test yet, and he had managed to impress Four, Five, and Seven, so he was able to use their quirks as well as the base strength augmentations that came with the quirk. Four’s part of the quirk was the most handy in situations like this, where he couldn’t use Blackwhip due to the innocent kids around him, and it was too awkward to move around with Float.
Nine turned his attention back towards the fight at hand, dodging an incoming fist to the back of the head. He noticed that the purple haired boy was still trying to fight, even if he wasn’t able to do much due to his hands being bound behind his back and the general lack of muscle. Nine did have to give it to the other boy, he was determined to be free.
Sadly, that was where things took a turn for the worst. One of the adults, one larger than everyone else and much meaner looking too, whipped out a gun and grabbed one of the small children. The child, who couldn’t be any older than five, whimpered at the rough handling and the gun being pointed at their head. The large, mean man glared at Nine and the purple haired boy, “Alright, this has gone on for long enough.” The man growled, “both of you kids are going to stop playing games now, or else I’m going to blow this kid’s brains all over the pavement.”
Both Nine and the other boy froze, neither wanting to risk the life of the young child. The large man smirked, “good boys.” He praised, though it made Nine feel sick, “now, my men are going to restrain the new interloper, and both of you are going to get into the van without resisting. Understand?”
Nine nodded, he hated this, but he didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t risk an innocent life, and he knew he wasn’t fast enough to knock the large man out before he pulled the trigger. Nine was stuck, and he was internally panicking as he felt his arms being roughly pulled behind his back and locked together. One of the other adults forced him into a muzzle, so he mirrored the purple haired boy, and the two of them plus the terrified young kid were shoved into the back of the van.
As the doors shut behind him, Nine couldn’t help but wonder what he had just gotten himself into, and if he was going to be able to find a way out and save all the other kids as well.