Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

All Might was not captured. He was just bound up with chains, shot up with elephant tranquilizers and slowly lowered into a piranha tank. This was merely a mild inconvenience that he would soon escape from…any minute now. As soon as the room stopped spinning.

Now, the young Number One Hero wouldn’t be all that concerned, if it weren’t for the man tied up right beside him. He and Crimson Riot had been working on two separate cases—exotic animal smuggling and jewel thievery—until the two cases turned out to be one in the same. Long story short, the smugglers were using snakes to sneak illicit goods into the country. Unfortunately, these criminals were a bit smarter than your average crime ring, and managed to get the drop on the two heroes instead of the other way round.

“What a fine mess you’ve gotten us into.” The hard-haired hero grumbled, as he was being slowly lowered into a tiger pit. The general idea was that they’d be fed to animals so the gang would have time to escape, and then the beasties would be shipped to different parts of the country to dispose of the evidence.

However, just as it the two heroes were at serious risk of being turned into pet food, a dark figure burst through the nearby window, spraying glass all around. He recognized that green blur instantly.

“Ah, Jade Mantis!” He greeted with a smile. The vigilante landed on the floor, blew her bangs out of her face and surveyed her surroundings.

“All Might.” She smirked back, before casting her gaze on those left to guard them. “So, we gonna skip to the part where I thrash the both of you or…?”

Recovering from the shock, they reached for their guns. “I’ll take that as a no.”

She dove down, dodging gunfire and keeping on the move, sending shards of glass back at them by way of counter fire.

“You know her?” Crimson Riot asked his companion in capture.

“We’ve met.”

 “Then is she the type to have a plan or more of a ‘wing it’ kind of girl?”

“Oh, she has a plan.” He assured.

“Really? Because she’s currently trapped behind cover and they’re closing in.”

“And we are currently tied up and being threatened by exotic animals.”

But, just as it looked like Jade Mantis was royally screwed, the guards stopped to reload. That was when she popped up out of cover, and ripped the guns out of their hands.

The two guards stared at their hands for a moment, obviously confused. Jade Mantis took a piece of plywood and put them out of their misery straight away.

“Hey, vigilante!” Crimson Riot yelled. “A little help is always appreciated!”

Smirking, the masked woman sent shards of broken glass to cut Crimson Riot’s hands free. (Why they had used rope for his bindings was anyone’s guess). Satisfied that the veteran hero could swing out of there on his own, the vigilante turned her attention to All Might. Bounding up to the balcony, she threw the switch just as his blonde bangs were starting to get wet.

“Hey handsome.” She greeted.

He just smiled. That way he wouldn’t say anything stupid.

“That was a very manly thing you did,” Crimson Riot complimented the vigilante,“but you’re under arrest.”

Quirking an eyebrow, she pouted but held up her wrists “I figured.”

As neither of them really had handcuffs on them at the moment, All Might had to awkwardly wait with Jade Mantis until the cops showed up.

"So...nice weather we're having." He asked, after five minutes of silence had passed.

Jade Mantis gave him a blank look that practically screamed 'really?'.

"Are you just going to prattle on about the weather Mister-I-Hate-Awkward-Silences?"

"Unless you have something better to talk about."

"Small talk with the arestee before send-off, I can think of loads of better topics. Starting with, exactly how much hair gel do you use to get those bunny-ears?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your bunny ears. The antennae. The sharp horns of justice."

"Um, I really don't--"

"So it just gets that way on it's own?"

"Well, no."

"I knew it, no man can keep it up that long without help."

"Why do I have the feeling you're making fun of me?"

"If you could stop flirting with the criminal for five seconds, the police have arrived." Crimson Riot threw out.

“She’s a vigilante, not a violent psychopath.” All Might defended as Jade Mantis got cuffs properly put on her.

“Just admit you have the hots for her.” Crimson Riot grumbled, still a bit annoyed at the Number One Hero.

It was then that the veteran man’s man started to take a look at the young vigilante. Simple domino mask, probably held on by acting glue, available at almost any costume shop. The leather jacket looked warm and tough, but it hardly provided protection, and the work boots looked worn in. That told him that she didn’t have much by way of resources, and was instead making do with things she could wear on and off the ‘job’ so to speak.

 “Is that a new jacket?” All Might asked by way of polite conversation while the cops sorted everything out.

“Well, new to me. It’s warm, bloodstains was out easily—“

“And it matches your workboots.” He complimented. “Always important to color coordinate when you curb stomp.”

“The most important factor, of course.” She laughed. That was the first time that he ever actually saw her laugh. It was…really nice.

“Always a woman of fashion. Your tastes will be wasted behind bars.”

“I do hate stripes.” She thought aloud.

What happened next will not surprise you. She kicked the arresting officer in the shins, stole the handcuff key off his belt and leaped out the nearest window.

Oh no.

How tragic.

She’s getting away. Nothing he could do about it now.

“Your little crush just committed felony assault.” Crimson Riot mumbled to All Might.

“Nonsense! My only interest in her is rehabilitation. I believe that with a little work, she can become a loyal servant of justice.”

“So letting her escape is all part of your reform therapy? Not your best plan.”

The Number One Hero All Might and the Most Wanted Vigilante Jade Mantis had an…interesting relationship to say the least. If pressed, All Might would admit to admiring her tenacity and resolve, and for pursuing her own idea of justice despite technically being on the wrong side of the law. Jade Mantis would admit to admiring All Might’s ideals, even if she felt they were a bit divorced from reality, and there was no doubting the effect his presence had on crime rates—but there were corners that even he couldn’t reach at times. She also thought he had a cute butt. (Jade Mantis could always say things that Inko didn’t have the nerve to).

Jade Mantis did a lot of things that Inko didn’t have the nerve to, like follow Japan’s newly appointed Number One as walked home from the grocery store.

“How domestic.” The one and only All Might nearly dropped his groceries in surprise. An apple rolled off the top but stopped mid-air before hitting the ground.

“Jade Mantis?” He asked, looking around.

“Over here.” The apple flew into her hand as she stepped out of a shadowy corner. She had forgone her usual domino for a surgical mask, and changed into dark street clothes to blend in better.

“You have to admit that’s a little creepy.” He deadpanned.

“Straight out of a thriller movie,” She agreed. “A streetlight was out and I honestly couldn’t resist.” They both smiled at that.

“I have a carton of ice cream in here, and my place is still a couple blocks away, would you mind walking and talking?”

She shrugged. “No problem.”

Inko rolled the apple between her hands. “You know, you don’t have to risk getting nibbled on by fish just to make me feel useful.”

At least he had the decency to freeze for a moment. “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She scoffed. “Please, you’ve got punches strong enough to level buildings, what’s chains and a couple of shots of tranquilizer?” She sadly smiled.

“I guess…I guess I just wanted to make you feel like a hero before we had to haul you off in cuffs.”

“You say that like you didn’t know I’d get out.”

“Kicking that officer in the shins was a ballsy move. Very elementary school.”

“Still one of the weakest points of the body.”

“Fine, I’ll admit it. You always get out.” She smiled in victory. “For now.”

“So is this the part where you tell me not to insult your intelligence for letting you rescue me?” He asked, looking almost worried.

“I thought about that, and I have to admit it was just a bit patronizing…” she smirked, “But also kind of sweet. You’re probably the first person to actually care about how I feel.”

“First person in awhile, you mean.”

“No.”

There was a very awkward silence that Inko always hated. The kind of silence that meant people picked up on unfortunate implications.

“So, uh,” All Might coughed awkwardly. “How did you find me?”

“Oh, a girl has to have some secrets.” She smiled, trying to break the awkwardness. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t anything to outright stalkerish or invasive, I just logged all of your sightings over the past year and looked for hot zones. From there I just had to look for residential areas with blondes who had muscles the size of train cars.”

“You’re lying.”

“What?” She blinked, blanking on what could make him say that.

“That was kind of creepy.”

She laughed again. “Hey, we all have our strengths. You’re one of the top heroes in the country and I’m really good at getting in and out of trouble. Though you have to admit,” she pondered, looking up at the city lights, “one of those is way more useful than the other.”

“You’re the top vigilante in Japan. You save people that the system can’t reach. That’s the opposite of useless.” He tried to assure her.

There was another pause there, much less awkward, but full of something that neither one really understood. Or was truly ready to understand, at that point.

“So you’re saying you like me because I’m effective and I don’t kill anyone.” She pursed her lips, twirling the apple in her hand. “Good to know.”

All Might caught himself, his face starting to go red. “That doesn’t mean I actually condone your activities! At all! You are a criminal, you know that.”

“Only legally.” She shot back, then turned around once they realized that they were at his front door. “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Inko said, and tossed him back the apple.

All Might caught it without thinking.

Chapter Text

The main fact of the matter was: Inko never set out to be a vigilante. Not originally.

When the story begins, the woman named Midoriya Inko had just come off a particularly grueling shift at the establishment where she worked as a waitress. Now, you had to be a very particular type of person to enjoy non-stop customer service, and Inko was not that type of person. What she liked most about that job was that it paid her enough to keep a roof over her head and food in her stomach. Walking home from that grueling shift, Inko passed the local convenience store and remembered her annoyingly bare shelves from that morning.

Not five minutes after she walked in, scanning the shelves for something mildly filling that wouldn't completely empty out her wallet, an armed robber entered the convenience store. Inko ducked down when the shouting started, instinctively staying out of sight and out of the way.

For context, the world had not been particularly kind to the young woman. Inko had been forced to take care of herself for a good chunk of her life, leaving the young woman with no shortage of survival skills and common sense. Common sense dictated that she duck down, stay where she was, and stay out of it. Unfortunately for common sense, Inko had a heart too big for her head.

With another glance towards the terrified cashier that didn’t look much younger than her, the tired and hungry waitress kept low and considered her options. After running several situations and outcomes through her head, Inko quietly grabbed a can of soda yelled at the robber for attention, and threw it. As luck (and small object telekinesis) would have it, the soda can struck true and beaned the gunman right in the head. Disoriented, he fired in Inko’s general direction, and her chest burned and tightened as the freezer section door shattered. Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid What the fuck are you doing?

Inko’s on the fly plan had worked though, as in his disoriented state, the gun’s recoil had slackened his grip instead of tightened it, leaving it vulnerable to her telekinesis. Her throat tight and chest aching, Inko ripped the gun out of the robber’s hand before lobbing another soda at his head. Getting a critical hit, the criminal fell to the floor, unconscious.

Normally coming off that kind of adrenaline high would leave a person tired and shaking. In some mixture of shock and denial, Inko calmly grabbed what she intended to buy and put them on the counter with the gun.

“No charge.” The cashier insisted, starting to bag the items.

“But I don’t want you to get in trouble.” Inko half-argued, still feeling a bit woozy.

“I’ll be fine. You just head home and enjoy your instant ramen, on me.” The young lady smiled, seeing that her rescuer was just about dead on her feet. Inko, rarely one to turn down free food, just vaguely stared at the zip-tied up robber for a few seconds and exited the premises.

She walked the route back home in a habitual daze, not really registering anything going on around her.

“I’m home,” She greeted her cold and empty apartment. It was the stereotypical hole in the wall usually occupied by starving artists or waitresses without a roommate. She lived in…not the nicest neighborhood, but she hadn’t been bothered too much. She really didn’t own anything worth stealing anyway.

Lying on the floor as the food cooked, she turned her head towards the solitary thing pinned up in the apartment: her hero map.

She got the maps for free from the tourist bureau and the box of pins was less than a dollar. She started marking areas with villain activity so she could avoid those hotspots. Recently, she had noticed that Mustuafa had just as much villain activity as the other parts of Tokyo, but less than half the attention from licensed heroes. Looking up at her patched ceiling, Inko could start to guess as to why. When the timer dinged and the ramen was ready, Inko noticed that the nice cashier had snuck in a packet of pomegranate flavored granola bars. Aww that was so nice.

As Inko sat there, eating her ramen and granola bars, she had no idea that this was a serious turning point in her life. All other big changes in her twenty years of existence had been pretty well telegraphed. To be clear though, Inko was not thinking about donning a mask and face off against villains. Not yet anyway. Right then, she was just eating, the pomegranate granola bars the most delicious thing in the world to her at the moment.

It started out small. Facing a near-death experience, she devised a plan quit her crappy waitressing job at the diner and for the new restaurant/bar that would be opening up nearby.  A risky venture, sure, but Inko was riding enough of an ‘I could have died’ feeling that risk didn’t bother her as much as it should. (Besides, she wouldn’t be quitting her old job until after she had the new one lined up).

When she showed up a few days later for the interview, dressed in her best blouse and lucky pink sweater, Inko’s confidence was starting to fade but she was determined to go through with it. The owner, Vronskaya Sakura, was an older woman with a kind spark in her eye despite her harsh accent. The woman had moved all the way to Mustafa from St. Petersburg to open her own bar/eatery, will genuine Russian cuisine and genuine Russian vodka. The Strekoza would be a little taste of Russia in Tokyo.

“Now, how much experience do you have bartending?”

Now, Inko was never much of a liar, even with her own potential happiness on the line. “None at all honestly.” Okay, maybe this whole ‘risk’ thing wasn’t such a good idea. “Most of my time was spent waitressing, but I love learning new things and I’m sure I could pick it up quickly.” Mrs. Vronskaya gave her a look that caused all of Inko’s courage to melt right out of her shoes.

“My apologies for wasting your time, ma’am.”

“Wait,” Vronskaya politely demanded. Inko turned back, not sure what to expect. “Do you drink much?”

“I honestly can’t afford to.”

“Don’t want to impair your judgment?”

“I’m flat broke. I literally can’t afford to.”

Vronskaya smiled. “You know, you have a bit of a mouth on you.” Inko looked down, a fist curled into her chest. “No, I like it. What was the first thing that popped into your head when I said that? Be honest.”

“…that ‘two years of customer service will do that to you’.” A hesitant smile popped onto her face when she said it. The Russian woman laughed, not harsh or mocking, but instead full-bellied and genuine.

“Now, what’s your Quirk?”

“Movement of Small Objects, ma’am.”

“Hm, telekinesis? That’s one of the most versatile quirks out there. What kind of limits do you have?”

“Well, the thing has to be within my line of sight, or I know exactly where it is. Also, I can lift anything with my quirk that I can lift with my own strength.” Vronskaya looked incredibly interested, a full-toothed grin.

“Would you mind demonstrating?”

“Not at all.” Inko returned. Looking over the dining area, Inko pulled a chair down off the table and pushed it in underneath. Standing up, she spotted a white tablecloth folded up on the bar, she grabbed it with her Quirk, shook it out, and laid it on top the table across the room. Then, in a move that would have you humming ‘Be Our Guest’ under your breath, she grabbed plates, cutlery and the other tableware, setting the table for two. In a touch of melodramatic inspiration, she even pulled over an old candelabra and set it at the center of the table.

“Do you have any—“

Vronskaya, enraptured, pulled a matchbook out of her pocket. Not touching, Inko telekinetically grabbed the matchbook and hovered it over to the dining area, pulled out a match, struck it and lit the candles before shaking out the flame. With a more confident smile, she handed the matchbook back to Vronskaya Sakura, who looked like her jaw would be on the floor if the physics allowed.

The woman eventually recovered. “You’re hired.”

“What, I mean—“

“You just re-enacted a Disney movie in my restaurant, you’re hired.”

Things sped along from there. Under Vronskaya’s tutelage, Inko learned memorized how to make almost every cocktail known to Eurasia, a firm grasp of the Russian language, and how to throw a solid right hook. “You’re a bartender darling, it’s going to come up.” Now besides mixing drinks and memorizing cocktail recipes, she picked up all sorts of extraneous abilities and talents, like spotting fake ID’s, and learning some of the politics and inner working of the criminal underworld from the drunk cops and former jailbirds who graced her serving area.

Inko learned how to pick locks after one of the waitresses accidentally locked the key to the supply room inside the supply room. Figuring it out twenty minutes later with a now-broken bobby pin, Inko found that picking locks was actually pretty fun, and started working on almost every lock she could with paper clips.

Wanting to get in shape, but having absolutely no money, she started jogging in the mornings. Then, Mrs. Vronskaya had all the staff take a multi-week self-defense course ‘just in case’ something happened. Needless to say, Inko took notes and had a lot of fun.

By the time Inko’s twenty-first birthday rolled around, Inko could pick locks, throw punches, speak two more languages, and run a kilometer before getting winded. On top of having weirdly intimate knowledge of the heroes that operated near Mustafa and when they were most active. So really, is her becoming a masked vigilante really that much of a stretch?

How the whole ‘Jade Mantis’ title came about is actually something of a funny story. You see, they were doing a theme night at Strekoza, where the staff would dress up like old comic book superheroes—you know, honoring the predecessors of the real-life profession everyone admired, blah blah blah. Inko was dressed in a Green Hornet costume. Wearing a fedora and green domino mask on top of a simple suit and tie, she felt incredibly fancy.

As she was walking to the work, Inko saw something going on. From the corner of her eye, she caught a couple being mugged. A person with a lion-type morphological quirk was holding a knife to the man’s throat and demanding wallets and valuables from the woman. Again, the common sense solution would be to just keep on walking. Unfortunately, Inko’s heart once again got in the way.

Now, this time there were no conveniently placed objects that she could bludgeon him with, but she also had to ensure that she could wrangle the knife away without hurting the hostage. She had a possible advantage with the lion quirk, as kittie paws were not designed for grabbing and holding, but she also had the possibility of claws to deal with. So her strategy would have to be getting the hostage released then incapacitating the mugger in quick succession.

Inko slowly crept up the alleyway, motioning a finger to her lips when the woman’s eyes glanced over to her. Before anything else, she started by trying to gouge the Lion Man’s eyes out from behind, as every natural instinct would override to try and save them. The man immediately starting clawing at her hands as she dug in, letting the hostage go. In his panic, she managed to grab the knife and pull it away before tugging his head back by the mane and putting him in a blood choke. Doing it right, he went slack in about ten seconds. Not wanting to kill the guy, just severely maim or injure, she let him drop.

“Who-who are you?” The rescued man asked, clinging to his female companion. They looked at her with a mixture of shock, awe, and gratitude. That look made Inko feel…very nice.

As established previously, adrenaline did strange things to a person’s brain. So ‘who are you’ somehow translated as them asking who she had dressed up as. And Inko couldn’t remember who she was dressed up as. Something about the color green and an insect?

Somehow, ‘Jade Mantis’ ended up slipping out as she absentmindedly folded the switchblade up and put it in her pocket. “You should probably call the cops.” She thought aloud as she checked her watch. The couple nodded then pulled out their cell phones.

As they were looking away, Inko decided that she really needed to go back to work, her dark clothing masking her a bit as she walked on the more shadowed side of the alleyway. The ‘Jade Mantis’ was gone by the time the couple looked up again.

Now, one of the damsels in distress was a lawyer, who concluded from the disappearing act and the lack of restraining equipment that their rescuer was some sort of masked vigilante. Not wanting their rescuer to get in trouble or be fined for illegal Quirk use, described the incident in vague descriptions, claiming that they couldn’t even tell for sure if it was a man or a woman, and they didn’t give a codename to prove if they were a licensed hero or not. The police arrested the mugger and treated the whole incident with a general shrug, having absolutely no idea what this was the start of.

And Inko? Inko went to work as if nothing in the world was wrong, smiling like she hadn’t just choked a bitch out earlier that evening. She had managed to place the incident out of her mind while she worked, too busy with drink orders and sparkling conversation to think about the thing she did. Unfortunately, coming back home held no such promise of distraction. Looking at her map of hero territory, she once again noticed how relatively infrequently licensed heroes ventured into Mustafa.

 That night, she dreamed of right hook punches and leaping across rooftops, a mask and a smile prominently on her face.

The next morning, before returning the suit to the costume shop she had rented it from, Inko stuffed the switchblade into one of her kitchen drawers and pulled on her favorite leather jacket. At the costume shop, she impulse-bought a similar green mask, and a bottle of spirit gum glue to keep it on.

She was about to do something incredibly stupid.

Chapter Text

Toshinori let the warm water run over his hand as he washed the celery stalks. He’d have to grab the strainer for the smaller vegetables—carrots, onions, mushrooms and broccoli and the like. Green—he hoped he ran into Jade Mantis that weekend.

Dark or light green? He pondered as he looked through his cabinet for the strainer, never really able to remember where he put the damn thing every time he needed it. When he finally managed to convince the stubborn not-bowl to come out of its hiding place, he’d idly decided that Jade Mantis’ hair matched the color of dark green peppers, rather than stereotypical broccoli or celery. It certainly would match with her personality, he thought.

Toshinori pulled a sharp knife out of the kitchen block, and looked over the ingredients. He was making stir fry out of a desire to eat up the produce before they went bad, rather than an honest desire to eat them. Broccoli was the easiest to keep still, zucchini was a bit tough but manageable, and the mushrooms were comically soft, just a bit stubborn when he needed them to move around.

They met under less than ideal circumstances. To be completely honest, he initially thought she was some sort of terrorist, and not a vigilante.

"Young woman, what are you—"

"Get out of here now!" She demanded, trying to look threatening. He was unimpressed but then saw the timer ticking down while being connected to a bunch of wires and made the connection immediately. He then noticed the wire cutters in her right hand. She’d been trying to disarm it. But she was seriously running out of time.

“Crap,” she mumbled, looking at the timer. Looking around, she grabbed a fire extinguisher and threw it out the window—the closed, 30^th story office window. The glass shattered, and she looked almost surprised.

Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. “Fuck it!” She yelled, grabed the bomb with some form of telekinesis and threw it out the window. Instead of falling to the ground (and onto the civilians outside) it floated mid-air for a few seconds before exploding in relative safety. They were the only two people remotely in the blast zone, and her telekinesis had kept the two of them from being ripped apart by the glass, the little crystals floating around them before dropping.

“I’ll contact you later.” She promised, with the blast still ringing in their ears. She dashed out the shattered window and dropped out of sight.

Toshi snorted at the memory; he had ran to the edge, convinced he’d either have to catch her or witness a new stain on the pavement, but nope. Jade Mantis had angled her fall just right so she’d dived into a nearby penthouse pool. He should have learned then that the Jade Mantis always found a way to get out.

Looking down, the superhero realized he’d gotten through most of the vegetables, and moved onto the baby carrots. Toshinori had to be careful with those, they were quite thin and had a tendency to wiggle away when the knife was coming down.

Jade Mantis was completely calm in the back of the police car, her hands cuffed together.

“You said you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yep. Told you I would contact you."

"You are literally in the back of a cop car."

"Semantics. I'm here to tell you that you are also literally quite wrong about how you're going about this investigation."

"Oh, do tell."

“I don’t believe the arsonist has any political message or is affiliated with any particular group, he’s just making it seem like these are terrorist actions in order to keep the police and the pro heroes confused.”

“That’s like claiming you’re a part of organized crime to distract from a parking ticket.”

She shrugged. “I never said it was a good plan.” Then the vigilante pursed her lips. "Although, one could argue that with the police focusing on public safety and predicting political moves--where would a group like 'such and such' hit, things like that--the more mundane motives would go unexamined. And thus, the arsonist muddies the waters of the investigation."

That...made a disturbing amount of sense. Then she told him about all the evidence she uncovered, the little details that didn't quite add up, and it made sense even more.“How’d you figure it out?”

“There was a string of fires a few years ago, all signs pointed to serial arson, but no one really looked into it.”

 “That’s a bit negligent.”

“Well, the buildings were old, and in a bit of a legal limbo. In obvious disrepair, but for some legal reason or another couldn’t be formally condemned and torn down.”

He nodded. “So those were merely opportunistic?”

“Yeah, but the lack of scrutiny makes him bolder. Now he’s moving up to office buildings.” She tugged on her lips, an obvious thinking habit. That was when he realized that she was no longer handcuffed.

They’d ended up catching the guy, of course, the police brass bristling a bit that a vigilante had helped, but generally reasoned that she was low enough of a threat that they wouldn’t have to worry about her for now. Just leave her to the underground heroes. A colleague of his had said. She's young and impulsive, those types burn out quickly without any support or allies backing them up. But she hadn't. Hero after hero had tried their hand at catching or cornering the Jade Mantis of Mustafa, as she had come to be called. All of them failed, coming back either baffled or indignant. Years of training at some of the finest hero courses in the country, various quirks, and unique styles of fighting, and all of them countered by a simple telekinetic in a leather jacket.

So All Might had did as he was advised, and kept his hands off the issue. Left it to the street-side heroes.Toshinori looked at the carrots and decided he would just chop the tiniest ones in half to save time. He was surprised when they kept running into each other and even more baffled when she seemed open to the idea of even collaborating together. In his experience, vigilantes were usually paranoid and untrusting of both the police and the professional heroes. But, nope, not her.

Jade Mantis herself was a bit of an enigma. Her methods were rather criminal in nature—assault, theft, breaking and entering (and then more breaking)—but there was no doubt in All Might’s mind that the vigilante was trying to do what she saw as the right thing with what little resources she had available. She would usually be the first on the scene to suggest calling the police, and would usually drop off evidence or tips with the proper authorities if she thought it was worth anything. Were things a bit different, the Jade Mantis would have made an excellent hero, and a great partner.

            Partner. Toshinori pondered. Is that what he thought of her? To keep up the ruse of a natural born hero and keep the secret of One for All, he’d resisted the idea of having a sidekick.

Up until now, he’d been completely focused on being a hero, the Symbol of Peace that society needed. He actually realized a little bit ago that he had no real close friends, but only professional, if friendly, acquaintances. Old classmates from UA who he would occasionally team up with, detectives that he worked well with, but no one who he could just go invite to see a movie together or grab a cup of coffee and chat about their lives. There was a sharp pain in his finger, and he looked down to see the knife partially inserted into his thumb. “SHIT!” He exclaimed, sticking the bloody finger in his mouth and running towards the bathroom.

            Toshinori wasn’t naïve, for all he loved his job, he was always exactly aware of how dangerous it was. For every time that he helped get a cat out of a tree or helped a little kid find their mom, there was an equal chance of him chasing down armed robbers or face down a villain with just the right quirk to make One For All essentially useless. He found the medical supplies with little problem, stuffed away in the medicine cabinet. Giant robots, fire-breathers, any number of dangerous people out there with dangerous quirks, and not caring about the cost of getting what they wanted. After a few fumbled attempts with the medical tape, he returned to the kitchen with a bandaged thumb.

            He signed up for this job, knowing full well what it asked of him (or at least, having a pretty good idea). The lack of a personal life was really a small price to pay for the greater continued safety of the world. Jade Mantis...some would say maybe he kept letting her off the hook because she was the closest thing he had to a friend right now (which was its own kind of sad). All Might would always deny that, if he truly thought that Jade Mantis represented a threat to law, order, and safety, it wouldn't matter how he felt about her.

The main reason that he didn't get involved in this issue was because Jade Mantis was trying to do for the people of Mustafa what he was trying to do for society as a whole. A point of hope. Her actions revealed exactly how understaffed and under patrolled the neighborhood was, despite being within a stone's throw of UA Academy. But that was just the beginning. Years of corruption, poor urban development planning, and plain bad luck had choked the neighborhood. Crime, by and large, had simply become the most sustainable way to make a living in that area. Jade Mantis' actions were starting to draw awareness, and even if it could be slow, awareness would bring change.

But was that really a good justification for letting this woman continue to run around as the Jade Mantis? At the end of the day, he had no much training she had, or how much she really knew she what she was getting into. But he couldn't just throw her into jail either, not when it was obvious how much she was helping.

After washing his own blood off the knife, he placed it in the dishwasher, done with it anyway.

Oh, would you look at that. Looks like he was making enough stir-fry for two people. Maybe Jade Mantis would like some.

Chapter Text

“So… you know how there’s this advertising everywhere to do something special for Valentine’s Day? To the point where you feel like you have to do something just out of obligation?” She asked, the mood suddenly shifting.

“Well then—“ She pulled out a box of chocolates, tied up with a pink bow. “This is just out of obligation!” Jade Mantis insisted, shoving the white box of chocolates towards All Might. The Number One Hero and Symbol of Peace blushed and suddenly started to feel a bit nervous. Valentine’s Day had always put Toshinori on edge, as an Ace Hero in both senses of the term, but this was a special kind of awkward.

“I uh, had no idea that you—“

“Obligation!” Jade Mantis repeated before slapping her hands over her mouth.

C’mon Toshinori. You can do this. She’s clearly nervous so just make a joke or something to make you both feel better.

“Did you know that the actual Saint Valentine was stoned to death? A more faithful observance of the holiday would imply you take someone out in an assassination, rather than a date!”

Jade Mantis looked him like she had just seen a zebra behind the wheel of a car.

All Might suddenly had to urge to lay face-down in the street and demand that the cars run him over.

Watching Nearby…

“So clueless,” Vronskaya sighed, lowering her binoculars.

The young vigilante seriously needed to get brush up on not letting herself be followed. After all, someone dangerous could be following. As the hero and vigilante continued to fluster around one another, the business owner returned to the Strekoza, pretending as if she hadn’t seen everything.

Inko walked in for her shift exactly ten minutes later, and five minutes early. Vronskaya liked that in an employee and respected the way the young woman looked as if she hadn’t just been running around the rooftops in a mask.

“So, how was your Valentine’s Day?” Vronskaya asked innocently. “Give anyone chocolate?”

To her credit, Inko didn’t fluster or start to turn red, just scoffed and rolled her eyes. “As if, it’s just a stupid holiday created by greeting cards that builds up this absolutely idiotic sense of obligation.”

The boss merely hummed, hiding her smile as she took inventory. “And to think, White Day is just a month away.” She idly mused, knowing very well Inko could hear her.

The young bartender stiffened, and had such a look of dread at the thought of what the Symbol of Peace might do that Vronskaya couldn’t help but chuckle good-naturedly.

One Year Later, at the Mustafa Police Precinct.

Detective Aoki sighed to herself. Another year has gone by, another Valentine's day spent on the job. She was single, so it's not like she had a good excuse to take time off. Still, it was a little annoying thinking about her partner back home giggling with his husband over dinner and drinks while she was here filing paperwork and going over old police reports.

Her email account pinged--maybe it would be something interesting.

Jade Mantis Vigilante Profile--officers in Mustafa Precinct be advised

Law Enforcement of the Mustafa area,

Blah blah blah, she's a danger to the community.

Blah blah blah, be sure to read this over carefully.

Blah blah, we are entrusting this case to the pros, but be ready to give whatever support you can, blah.

Aoki mentally rolled her eyes. Multiple pro-heroes had already tried collaring the vigilante to no avail. What exactly were they--police officers not even allowed to use their quirks--supposed to do about it?

If you were to ask Aoki's opinion on the whole matter, the brass was just getting ticked off that a vigilante was drawing attention to their mismanagement. Their precinct was regularly denied proper equipment and gear to help deal with villain incidents in the name of 'budget cuts'. At least a good third of the cops on the payroll were either lazy or crooked, and no pro would touch the neighboorhood unless it could guarantee them some airtime on the local news.

You put all of that on top of a superhuman society within a stone's throw of UA Academy, and vigilantes were only natural to pop up. To Aoki, Jade Mantis was a hero in all but legality--though she would make an honest attempt to arrest her, if only for appearance's sake.

With that thought in her head, the detective opened the attachment.

Jade Mantis Vigilante

Birth Name: Unknown

Age: Early-Mid 20's

Hair Color: Green

Eye Color: Unknown

Quirk: Some form of telekinesis (upper limits unknown)

Known Associates: N/A The vigilante appears to work on her own.

Criminal Record: Multiple instances of assault, illegal trespassing, resisting arrest, burglary, obstruction of justice, illegal quirk use, destruction of private property (individual instances too numerous to list)

Projected Stats:        Power: 2/5

                                Speed: 3/5

                                Technique: 6/5

                                Intelligence: 5/5

                                Cooperativeness: 1/5

Additional Notes:

• Her quirk, while not overwhelmingly powerful, is incredibly versatile. She has demonstrated advanced combat ability. Possibility of a military background
• A criminal psychologist has put together a psychological profile, important notes summarized here:

Jade Mantis showcases an intensive knowledge of human behavior and emotion. She is able to utilize social camouflage effectively and uses her small stature and a seemingly weak quirk in order to take her opponents off guard.

She has showcased an intense protective instinct towards children, that and her obvious disregard towards figures of authority indicates a history of childhood abuse or neglect.

Actions are motivated by a sense of personal responsibility and not a desire for attention or praise. She cannot be bribed, threatened, or talked down from what she's doing.

Origin of code name unknown, but it is most likely connected to something in her childhood.

• While All Might has not elaborated, it is suspected that the Number One Hero utilizes the vigilante as a confidential informant.
• It is obvious from the data gathered that the Jade Mantis vigilante is a highly intelligent and dangerous individual. Police and pro heroes are advised to never approach alone, and to request back up if encountered.

Chapter Text

To be clear, Inko didn’t hate her job. She didn’t stare at herself in the mirror every morning in existential dread wondering why the hell she let herself put up with it. There were just some parts of it that she hated. Such as asshole customers. “What is this? I asked for a martini with bite, this is practically water.” Exhibit A: the guy she was serving right now.

“You specifically asked for ‘shaken not stirred’.” After wasting a good five minutes of her time umming and urring over what he wanted, and not letting the bartender go serve the other customers. As if this was some sort of business establishment.

“Yeah, because it sounded cool, but it just tastes disgusting. Get me a finger of whiskey to wash the taste out of my mouth.” As if she was the one at fault here.

“Right away, sir.”

She kept up the fake smile and turned back around, her eyes pursuing the shelf of booze and considering what was least piss Sir Asshole off and get him out of her hair the fastest.

“Oh, and darling, be sure to grab the finest whiskey you have, on the house, right? Because my palate had to suffer that crap.”

Grab the back of his head, slam it down into bar woods. His nose shatters, and maybe wiggles a few teeth. Blood dripping down his face and the pure vindication—

The rebuttal was on her lips, what he was asking for was some of the best liquor the Strekoza had, they couldn’t just give it away. Then she looked over his shoulder, and noticed exactly how little time she still had to put up with this. Then this guy could try and lodge his complaints with her replacement. So she poured him the finger of whiskey, imagining the look on the guy's face as he tried to get out of paying.

I wonder what he'll say. "We were flirting, she said it was on the house." No one who actually works here would buy that, not with Vronskaya's good Macallan.

“So when do you get off shift?” Oh great, the start of a pickup line that every service worker simultaneously dreaded and rolled their eyes at. Two minutes, nine seconds. Two minutes and she could walk out of here, head to her apartment, change into her Jade Mantis attire and go out to protect innocence and bash some heads. Just two more minutes.

“Oh, in a bit.”

“That’s great! I have a long night of drinking ahead of me, so why don’t you pull up a chair and join me?”

“As…tempting as that offer sounds, I have a standing engagement that I really don't want to miss.” Sometimes it really sucked when she had to be subtle. Then again, maybe the guy was thick enough that she would need to be more overt—she had heard that taking a chair to the head could be rather convincing. Alexi entered, just in the nick of time. The two bartenders exchanged eye contact and a quick nod as her relief went to put his coat away. “Aaaand that’s my shift. See you around.”

“Wait.” Oh fuck what is it now?

“Hm?”

“Aren’t you going wish me a good night?” He must think he was being smooth or something. Smooth as chocking down gravel.

“I hope you have as good a night as you deserve.” With that, she turned and walked out, feeling like taking some pent up aggression on a stray mugger or two.

Morita Kai thought that the Jade Mantis was the coolest hero ever. First of all, she was a vigilante so that made her automatically 20% cool. She could also stay up late at night, and wore a really cool leather jacket. And the cops went after her because they were just jealous that she was doing things better than them. She wasn’t like all those other heroes who were doing it for money and grandstanding and stuff. She was real.

Like any eight year old fan, Kai wanted to have action figures of her hero, play them in the park with the other kids, stuff like that. But she had to make do with making newspaper clippings and pictures whenever she made the news. She’d cut them out of the paper, then glue them into her special notebook. It was green, kind of like the Jade Mantis! She even managed to draw a praying mantis on the cover.

Most half-decent parents would be mildly worried about their kid idolizing a wanted criminal, but Kai’s current foster parents didn’t really care what the girl got up to, so long as she looked happy and healthy enough when social services stopped in for a visit.

But then—but then! Something absolutely amazing happened! Also scary. But mostly amazing. You see, she actually met the Jade Mantis! She’d just been walking downtown, her foster parents kicking her out so they could get high in peace, and that’s when she found her. At first, the kid had mistaken the vigilante for a sleeping hobo—she’d seen plenty—but then she noticed the leather jacket! She’d found the Jade Mantis unconscious in an alley, that meant—crap! Jade Mantis was unconscious in an alley! That could only mean that bad guys were nearby, or goons would be looking for her.

“Wake up,” Kai tried to insist, tugging at the vigilante’s arm. “Please wake up.” She tried again, remembering her manners this time. She let go, and the arm flopped back down to the ground. Nothing.

Maybe she was really hurt? Kai focused, her eyes glowing faint yellow as she used her Quirk. Unnaturally unconscious. Multiple scrapes and bruises. Possibility of mild concussion. She started to hear footsteps, far away now but they could get closer. Crap. She wasn’t strong enough to move them, not big enough to fight them, all she could do was—that’s it!

Okay, so Inko was having a bit of an off day. First with that asshole at the Strekoza, then some no-name purse thief somehow hits her with knockout gas. She’d been doing this for three years and knockout gas, freaking knockout gas! Then, she wakes up facing a wall, covered in newspapers and wearing a hat at least two sizes too small. She gets up slowly, caution outweighing confusion.

Jade Mantis recognizes that she’s in a back alley, across the street from the warehouse district. The more she looked around—cardboard underneath her, a few empty beer bottles nearby—the more she realizes that she was disguised as a sleeping homeless woman so most people wouldn’t look twice. A type of social camouflage, pretty clever.

“You’re up.” Stage-whispered a voice nearby. Inko looked nearby, to see a smiling kid tucked in behind the nearby garbage cans. The kid was wearing decent if worn-in clothes and a streak of white stuck out of her otherwise dark blonde hair. She started to inch out of her hiding place, looking a bit awe-struck.

“Hi, I’m--“

“Hey!” Jade Mantis turned, seeing a man with orange hair and a Red Dragon tattoo standing in the mouth of the alley. “Suoh’s info’s good! She’s over here!” He shouted, presumably at his co-conspirators.

“Aw, crap—c’mon!” Not waiting for understanding or permission, Jade Mantis swept the kid up into her arms and starts to parkour up the fire escape, hoping that the gas had made its way completely out of her system. As she spirited the both of them across rooftops, she was strategizing. The Red Dragons were an up and coming street gang, haven’t established supply chains yet, and with too many hot tempers and big egos in the hierarchy to really make it much longer. Didn’t mean that they couldn’t be a pain in the ass, though. Jade Mantis took a dive, dropping down into the roof of one of the warehouses. The kid yelled as they dropped like it was a ride at the county fair.

What to do, what to do—ha!

The Jade Mantis looked over at the broom closet and got an idea. It wasn’t necessarily a good idea, but in vigilantism, as in jazz, you must learn how to improvise.

“Are you gonna beat them up?” The kid asked, looking kind of excited. Inko would be a little weirded out if it wasn’t for the apparent context. She nodded, and the girl practically beamed with excitement. It would probably be a few minutes until the Purple Hawks got there, depending on how good their hearing was.

“But to do that, I have to make sure you’re safe first, alright?” She opened up the broom closet, picking the lock in seconds. The kid looked at her like she was selling fried kitten meat. “Look, I—we don’t have a lot of time, and if I’m fighting bad guys, I can’t be worried about a civilian getting caught in the crossfire, okay?” The kid obviously still didn’t like it, but she walked in any way. Jade Mantis locked the door behind her.

Kai made herself as small as possible to fit inside the space between the door hinge and the wall, that way if the door opened, they wouldn’t immediately see her. She’d learned the trick from an older foster kid at one of her other homes.

For a while, nothing happened. She heard some clangs from far away, a shout here or there in the distance, but for a stretch of a good ten minutes, Morita Kai, eight years old, was locked in a broom closet, knowing that if anyone other than Jade Mantis found her, she’d probably be dead. It was probably a telling statement on her quality of life that this didn’t frighten her as much as it probably should have.

Then she heard footsteps. Heavy footsteps, definitely a man or someone else heavy built. Kai sucked in a deep breath. The door opened, and she put her hands over her mouth to be sure. Close the door close the door close the door please close the door.

After what felt like a small eternity, the door did close—the bad guy making Kai flinch when they slammed it shut. Then, not five minutes later, she heard yelling. Then fighting. She heard at least three gunshots, more yelling—don’t cry only babies cry you have to be quiet—before there was silence. Then a knock on the door.

“Kid?” The Jade Mantis! “It’s me, Jade Mantis. It’s safe out here now, can I open up the door?” Kai nodded, before realizing that the hero couldn’t see her, but there was a lump in her throat that she couldn’t talk over. “If you’re okay with me coming in, just knock on the door. If you don’t feel safe yet, I can wait as long as you want.” Kai waited for one, two, ten more seconds before hesitantly knocking on the door.

Kai looked up in wonder at the Jade Mantis. Her hair was a mess, there were stains all over her leather jacket, and the beginnings of a bruise on her right cheek. But right then, to that kid? She looked like an angel. A bloody, beat up, perfect angel.

“Kid, are you--?”

Kai launched herself into the adult, burying her face into her stomach and wrapping her arms around the woman’s waist. She didn’t know why she was crying. Softly, almost hesitantly, the Number One Vigilante wrapped her arms around the crying child, stroking her hair.

One Week Later

Another night, another asshole customer. Inko had gotten the last shift this time and was wiping down the bar, five minutes to closing time. She turned to take stock of their liquor when she heard the door open.

"Fair warning, we're close to closing down for the night." She shot over her shoulder.

"It's okay, I'll be quick." Climbing up onto the barstool was a semi-familiar mop of blonde and a stripe of white hair.

"The Jade Mantis told me to come here if I had anything?" The blonde whispered to the bartender. Inko had specifically said that the kid could come to the Strekoza if she ever needed anything, but right now that was semantics. Instead, the bartender just nodded

"Well, my foster parents have this drug dealer, and he said that there was going to be this big shipment of 'something cool and different' coming in. I thought she'd like to know about that." Inko smirked, even as she started to notice how skinny the kid actually looked.

"Alright, I'll pass the message on. You like apple juice?" A nod and Inko grabbed a glass. "And your name is?"

"Morita Kai." She smiled. Inko smiled back, turning to look for the right bottle. "And I'm going to be the Jade Mantis' sidekick."

Wait, what?

Chapter Text

Jade Mantis had given him chocolates (completely ignoring that they were dollar-store chocolates that she’d shoved into his face screaming ‘obligation’). So that meant that he had to give her something back in return. That was just polite. Unfortunately, Toshinori had almost no experience with this kind of thing. As a skinny quirkless kid, he’d never gotten anything in elementary or middle school. At UA, he would usually get a few friendship chocolates from his classmates, but he didn’t really have any money or baking skills to ever really get them anything back. (It wasn’t actually friendship chocolate, Toshi would always just refer to it as that and thinking that it was just his polite form of rejection, no one ever corrected him. There might be some hard feelings with the other party, but then he would go jogging shirtless and all was forgiven.)

So Toshinori had effectively all the money in the world, and no idea what to do with it. The internet failing him in his time of need, he started to get desperate. And by desperate, that meant he was actually thinking about calling Gran Torino. Best case scenario, the older hero reminds All Might he’s a ‘grown-ass man’ and hangs up the phone. Worst case scenario, he goes on a long tirade about priorities, how All for One was still at large, and how dare he think of dragging someone else into this mess didn’t he remember what happened to Nana? So, the Number One hero just sighs and puts the phone down before he even starts dialing.

Then, there was a knock on the door. All Might glanced at the clock. Shit, he forgot about that meeting. More specifically, he forgot to figure out an excuse to get out of it. A quick google search revealed no nearby disasters or villainous activity for him to go stop. Godamnit criminals, the one day he needed them to come through for him.

“You know, when you hired me to be your business manager, I accepted with the expectation that you would actually care to hear about what I was doing. Seriously, I could write I AM EMBEZZLING in big bold letters at the bottom of each accounts spreadsheet and I doubt you’d notice.” She insulted by way of greeting.

Daiho Eden was the head of his management department, overseeing legal and merchandising agreements for his company. Her keen eye for detail and innate viciousness had allowed her to rise to fame and fortune in corporate law, and served the All Might Hero Company well. It’s not that Toshinori didn’t like her, it’s just that…well, all he really wanted to do was to keep on saving people. Everything else on the business and paperwork side didn’t seem quite as important. Daiho seemed to disagree with that.

So, he listened intently as she went over the licensing agreements and employee accounts management over the last fiscal quarter, dutifully nodding in the right places. Honestly, most of these meetings sounded just about the same to him every time. Then she said something that he didn’t expect.

“One last thing, I’ve been looking over some of the employee evaluations, and I believe we could increase efficiency and reduce turnover if we implement a sponsored daycare program.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You know, kids, families. Those things that normal people have instead of trying to save the world.” She deadpanned. He learned early in their work relationship that sarcasm was her own way of showing affection. At least, he really hoped it was.

“So the agency would be paying for the employee’s daycare?”

“I thought along those lines, but it would involve too much of a hassle if they picked different ones. It’d be much easier to establish a center here in the building.”

“My my, Daiho-san. It almost sounds as if you care.” He teased.

“Tsk. As if. Employees lose efficiency if they constantly worry about paying for reliable childcare. What I’m suggesting is limiting that loss of mental manpower. It’s a purely business decision. And given your general gushy demeanor, I knew you’d go right for it. That’s all.” She started gathering her papers together when Toshinori got an idea. He wasn’t saying that it was a good idea, but it was an idea.

“Daiho-san, may I ask you for some advice?”

“Legal, business, or personal?”

“Personal.”

"Hm, then proceed. All Might." 

“Not that I’m trying to dump half the world’s population into one big category and pretend that you aren’t differentiated individuals with personal likes and dislikes, but a woman I’m friends with gave me chocolates for Valentine’s Day and I have no idea what to get her.”

“I’m assuming you’re not asking her because you want it to be a surprise.” He nodded. “Well, as I have no idea who this mysterious lady is, I can’t give you anything too concrete. If you’re completely stuck on an object, maybe instead think of an experience. What would be something that she would do for fun, but couldn’t due to time or other commitments?”

Toshinori would have to think about that a little bit. He had five hours.

“Okay kid, I’m a nice person, so I’m gonna give you one chance. Take the phony ID and get out of here.” Inko shrugged her shoulders, completely willing to pickpocket the kid’s wallet and call his parents if he tried anything.

“Isn’t the drinking age in Russia, like, seventeen?”

“Yes, but this ain’t Moscow kid. Try again in three years.” Seeming to accept the bartender wasn’t going to let one slip, the kid threw his fake ID in the trash on his way out. Inko smiled to herself, and started wiping down the bar. Then an idle glance at the clock reminded her what day it was, and that smile turned to pursed lips.

The vigilante/bartender really hadn’t been looking forward to White Day. After shoving that cheap box of chocolates in All Might’s face, one of two things would happen. Either he got her some outrageously expensive gift that probably cost more than her rent (chocolates she’d accept, but goodness help her if he got her, like, jewelry). Or he got her nothing, which would be a little awkward, (maybe a bit disappointing) but otherwise fine.

Inko did not consider herself a brave person, but the Jade Mantis was. The Jade Mantis will meet All Might, and face whatever happens head-on. She took the morning instead of the night shift so that she wouldn’t have an excuse to back out of what happened. All Might was a genuine person, and they had a remarkably good relationship considering she was technically a criminal. If nothing else, she owed it to hear him out.

So she went home, and was about to make dinner when she thought Wait, what if we go out or something? The mere image of the both of them sitting in a fancy restaurant in full gear actually made her laugh. Then her stomach growled.

So Jade Mantis was sitting on the rooftop where she and All Might usually met up, wearing her nicest leather jacket (the one with the least amount of blood on it). She was bouncing her leg up and down, staying in the shadow of the air conditioning unit. All Might was already five minutes late.

Maybe he was busy. Maybe he forgot. Maybe he remembered that she was criminal and technically supposed to arrest her and this was all one big set up fuck she needed to get out of here--

“Jade Mantis?” All Might asked.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

There was a beat.

“So…Mustafa?”

“Broke up a couple muggings, had an absolutely fascinating discussion about Tolstoy with a high school teacher when I walked them home.”

“That sounds…interesting.”

Another beat.

“So…chocolates seemed like a cop out, and I thought you might appreciate a night off more than anything else. How about I call in a favor or two, we veg out on my couch, eat snacks, and binge TV?”

Midoriya Inko smiled.

(And Toshinori couldn’t help but think it was lovely)

“That’s…an interesting choice.”

“I like old horror movies, sue me.”

“Of the two of us, I’m the only one who can afford a lawyer.”

“Are you using me as a human shield against the zombies?”

“No, I’m just making sure you have a good view of my flat screen. Look at that HD! It's, uh, it makes the gore and makeup look so realistic.”

“…huh, unfortunate.”

“SHE JUST GOT CHAINSAWED TO DEATH!”

“You’re literally a superhero.”

“THE GUTS ARE EVERYWHERE IT’S SO GROSS!”

“Bet you ten bucks we see her stomach.”

“THERE IS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH YOU.”

“Yeah, don’t open that door. Like that guy really shouldn’t.”

Toshinori woke up the next morning on the couch, covered in an afghan and surrounded by greasy popcorn bowls. He had fallen asleep during The Man Who Laughs, the silent melodrama being Jade’s suggested cool down after the previous gore fest. Looking around, he vaguely expected the vigilante to be somewhere around the apartment.

She wasn’t. He didn’t know why that disappointed him so much.

Stretching, he grabbed the bowls and went to the sink. That’s when he saw the note written on the sink.

Thanks for a great movie night, I loved watching you squirm. –Jade.

Yagi Toshinori smiled.

(And Jade Mantis would have thought it was cute, had she been there).

“So, how was it?” Vronskaya asked her the next time Inko came into work. The young woman was practically skipping.

“Hm?”

“Whatever had you smiling and asking to switch shifts. Or should I ask ‘whoever’?” The bar owner teased in Russian.

Inko was too much of a good mood to care. “It’s nothing like that. We just stayed in and watched movies. I introduced him to M&M popcorn and watched him totally scream at horror movies, it was absolutely great.”

“All Might doesn’t like horror movies? You’d think he’d have a stronger stomach for it.”

“I know, yet it’s not out of…wait WHAT!?!?”

Chapter Text

Kai’s face felt like it was going to split in two and she didn’t care. The Jade Mantis, the freaking Jade Mantis was right in front of her, asking her questions and listening to what she had to say. After she’d explained everything, the Jade Mantis smiled at her. She was going to be such a cool superhero teacher!

“I’m so proud of you for bringing this to me Kai,” and she even looked like she meant it! “It was very brave of you to come here. Though in the future, I’d feel better if you left messages during the day, instead of midnight on a Sunday.”

“I want to be your sidekick. Can’t be a sidekick if you’re a scaredy cat.” Jade Mantis hummed, then paused before she went on speaking.

“Your parents, I hate to ask this, but…do you feel safe with them, where you are?”

The eight year old blinked. “They don’t yell and they don’t hit if that’s what you’re asking.” At least, she hadn’t done anything to provoke it yet. It was a relatively new foster home, so she was still testing the boundaries. “They mostly leave me alone if keep everything clean and don’t make a lot of noise.” Occasionally they make her heal the needle marks on their arm, but that was super easy.

As they looked at the clock, Kai suddenly remembered. “You can just take me to Mura-san’s nest in the park. I can just crash there.”

Jade Mantis’ raised an eyebrow. “…I beg your pardon?”

“The park, the one with the cool water fountain. You know that cool lady who can talk to birds?”

“Mura? The one with the tail feathers?” Kai nodded. “And she…lets you crash with her whenever you’re locked out.”

“Yeah, she says it’s ‘cause I’m nice to the crows.” Which was kind of weird to Kai, all she did was heal one with a broken wing. Now practically every crow she meets will give her something.

“Kai, how often do your foster parents lock you out of the house?” Oh no. No no no no no.

“Not—not a lot.” She felt her smile falling. “Please, please don’t go to the police.” Kai practically begged. And she hated begging. “’Cause then I’ll just go somewhere else. And you might not be there and they might not be—” She tried to swallow against the constriction in her throat.

Jade Mantis looked at her for a moment, before dropping down to Kai’s level. She flinched back, and she hated that she flinched back.       

“I’m sorry,” the vigilante apologizes.

“What?”

“I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.” And suddenly Kai felt so stupid.

“You—you don’t, I—“ She looked down at her shoes. The blonde jolted when she felt a hand on her scalp. Was—was Jade Mantis patting her head?

“We should stop now, before we end up going in ‘apology’ circles.” The vigilante smiled. “It’s late, and I should probably get out there. Would you be okay if I introduced you to a friend of mine?”

Kai nodded, completely trusting her all-time favorite hero.

After leaving Kai at the bar with Vronskaya, the Jade Mantis decided stop by Mura-san’s ‘nest’ in the park, just to double check what Kai was saying was true. Not that Inko didn’t believe what Kai told her, but being the Most Wanted Vigilante in Japan had made her just a touch paranoid sometimes.

Jade Mantis had worked with the bird-woman in the past. Not too long ago, there had been more drug dealers than kids in the Mustafa Park, and it had been one of Jade Mantis’ first big projects. Mura-san lived in one of the old Mustafa Park picnic shelters—far enough in the back and in such disrepair that no one ever used it anyway. Jade Mantis couldn’t tell if the police genuinely didn’t know Mura-san was there, or if they had just decided that she wasn’t bothering anyone just let her be.

The vigilante had taken more of an active approach, asking Mura-san for information and her assistance with driving the ‘scavengers’ (as Mura-san called it) out of the park. It had taken six months of relentless work, of beating up the right people, having the birds spy, and disrupting distribution lines, but they had managed to drive the dealers out. In fact, she’d overheard a few Red Tiger recruits whispering to each other that anyone so much as stepped foot in the park with a needle on them, and birds would come to try and peck out their eyes.

Jade Mantis had to place a hand over her mouth to suppress a chuckle.

She was before park shelter #9 in no time. As always, pigeons, sparrows, and other winged beasts lined the roof and surrounding trees. The vigilante paid them no mind, she knew she was being watched from the moment she stepped foot in the park.

She came to the sliding door, and politely knocked. The door slowly rumbled open, and the greenette could make out two yellow eyes and a sharp beak in the darkness.

“Hello Mura-san,”

“Jade Mantis.” She chirped in the darkness. “What brings you here?”

“I brought food.” Jade Mantis offered, holding out the two paper bags, one with a container of the Strekoza’s special beef and barley stew, the other one with a birdseed mix she knew Mura-san’s friends liked.

One of the crows flew down and landed next to Jade Mantis’ combat boots. It cawwed a few times, and Mura-san tilted her head in understanding. “I see. This is about the hatchling.”

“The…hatchling?”

“The golden-haired girl. Yes, yes, I let her sleep in my nest, what of it?” The crow fluttered up to her outstretched hand, and a wrinkled hand came out of the darkness to pet it.

“Nothing at all, Mura-san. I just wanted to be sure.” The bird woman said nothing for a beat, just continuing to stroke the bird.

“Nice hatchling, very nice. Healed Francis’ wing. They like her glow.”

“Her…glow?”

“Yes, yes. Kai is the Wayuu word for ‘sun’ or ‘the one who brings knowledge’. Very appropriate. Very.”

Jade Mantis placed the two bags at the foot of the door and gave a small bow. “Thank you for telling me this, Mura-san.” And turned to continue with her night.

“It was worse before.”

“Hm?” The vigilante paused, turning back to the door. The bags had soundlessly been swept inside, but the beak remained.

“The home before. It was worse. And a hatchling can never learn to fly if it is forever jumping from nest to nest. Would you risk her falling into one of vipers?” The door slid shut before the vigilante could answer, not that even if she could.

Well, she got what she wanted to know, that was perfectly certain. It left her with a lot to think about. If kid’s quirk was open knowledge with potential foster families, it was easy to see how some people would want to take her in to use her as free healthcare, or for things you can’t really risk the cops finding out about. Whatever benefit of the doubt Inko was willing to give the Hada’s—addiction was a medical condition, after all—went away when the girl let slip that she was locked out for tonight. What kind of monsters kick an eight-year-old out of the house on a Sunday night? In this part of town??

(As opposed to being handed some crumpled bills for food money and left to an empty house for a week?) Inko swiftly brushed the thought away. She still had a job to do tonight.

Time to kick someone’s ass in the most socially constructive way possible.

Four hours later, Jade Mantis returned to the Strekoza—well, Vronskaya’s apartment above the bar. Even though Inko’s boss had given her a key,  Jade Mantis still snuck in through the window. That way, if anyone saw anything, they couldn’t claim a connection.

What the fuck am I gonna do? Inko thought to herself, noticing Kai sleeping on the sofa in the living room. One of Vronskaya’s big, heavy quilts draped over her, and a pillow under her head. The woman herself was resting in a nearby chair, looking for all the world like she was sound asleep. Inko knew better.

What the fuck am I gonna do? Inko thought to herself, taking off her mask and stuffing the leather jacket back into her work locker. Well, the hidden compartment of her work locker. She still hadn’t thought up an answer by the time she collapsed on the bar, long past wondering if she should bother traveling back to her own apartment.

Inko only glanced up when she heard a cup being placed next to her head. It was steaming and definitely didn’t smell like coffee. She hoped it had alcohol.

“So what did the songbird have to say?” Vronskaya asked in Russian, as Inko used her telekinesis to bring the nightcap to her. They habitually discussed Jade Mantis and other vigilante related matters in the foreign language. Much less complicated than developing some sort of code.

“Vague and cryptic as always. Apparently, the kid has a healing quirk and was nice to a bird.” Among other things.

“She’s a sweet girl. And her foster parents?”

“Apparently the neglectful drug addicts are the lesser evil to whatever she had before them.”

Under normal circumstances, Inko would hate for just dropping the news on someone else’s life like that. Goodness knows she would have, way back when. She took a drink of her nightcap, and could already feel the tug on her eyelids. She must have spaced out for a minute because the bartender realized Vronskaya was still speaking, and Inko only caught the tail end of it.

“—good for her development.”

Inko blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

Vronskaya rolled her eyes. “I was saying talking about how this girl obviously hasn’t had the best influences in her life. You could be good for her.”

“Okay, I must have heard that wrong. Because if you suggested what I think you just did—“

“I did. I’m suggesting that with Kai’s obvious regard for Jade Mantis, and her mistrust of the foster care system. Well, give me two phone calls and the situation would simply sort itself out.”

“You’re going to adopt Morita Kai?”

“No, you’re going to adopt Morita Kai.”

The bartender/vigilante gave mirthless laugh. “Yes, I, a woman in her mid-twenties with no family, barely any friends, and voluntarily goes out at night to pick fights with criminals, am a good role model and caretaker for this child.”

“Worked for Batman.”

“Batman was a billionaire. And fictional.”

Vronskaya hummed. “And inspired countless people around all the world for over a century.”

Inko huffed and dropped her head back down into her arms. Okay, okay, just think this through. The kid said that she didn’t want to call the cops because she’d be shuffled off to another family in another place, one where they might be even worse. What if she could somehow guarantee a nice home? No, it was obvious the kid didn’t trust the system anymore, and Inko didn’t want the kid to lose faith in the one adult she seemed to look up to. (Her, a role model. What a laugh). But she highly doubted her own ability to actually take care of an eight year old. But what other options where there? Play Russian Roulette with the foster homes again, keep Kai at a place where she clearly wasn’t being cared for, or try to take the kid on herself until she could double—no, triple ensure that she’d be placed with a good family. (Was this kidnapping? It felt kind of like kidnapping.)

“…I’m not dressing her up and taking her crime fighting.”

“Of course not, that’s irresponsible.”

“And you’re going to have to help me.”

“I don’t know if I have the energy to keep up with an eight-year-old.” Inko raised an eyebrow, indicating just how much she thought that was bullshit. Vronskaya tilted her head. “Fine, I can help keep an eye on her. But that doesn’t mean you can wash your hands of this.”

“Wasn’t planning on it. And we are going to find her a good foster home.”

“Right.”

“This is just a temporary situation.”

“Of course.”

“I’m not going to just suddenly turn into this kid’s mother.”

“Naturally.”

With any luck, she would help Morita Kai would be taken in by a wonderful foster home, and spend the rest of her adolescence not being influenced by a serial fuck-up and general all-around mess.

Seventeen Years Later…

“Biokinesis.”

“What?” Izuku startled. After he’d dropped the news that he now had a quirk, Kai had responded like there was a walrus seated at the family dinner table—just kind of staring and unsure if she should go along with it. Mom, on the other hand, had responded with hugs and crying, promising to make him his favorite dessert to celebrate.

“Biokinesis." Kai continued, "It branches off Mom’s telekinesis in that it moves your muscles in such a way to create super-strength. The influx of testosterone at puberty, combined with all the strength training you’ve been doing gives you more obvious results, and that’s why it's been lying dormant until now."

Right. She’d probably been trying to wrap her head around the biology of it, not just that he actually had a Quirk. “Yeah,” he laughed, rubbing his head, “it’s probably something like that.” It was certainly a much more believable story than him choking down a hair from his childhood idol and suddenly being able to punch out giant robots.

“Izuku?”

“Hm.”

“You know I can tell when you’re lying.”

Crap--!

“But that answer should satisfy anyone that asks.” Then she returned to her book. You know. Like Izuku wasn't having a minor freak out there on the couch next to her.

Chapter Text

Midoriya Inko was eighteen the last time she had talked to her parents.

Four years before that, she ran. There was no straw that broke the camel’s back, just an opportunity on the horizon: high school. Specifically, her parents left her to do all the paperwork. She applied to one in Tokyo (four hours by bus line), pretended that she had just applied to one in the next town over, then took her meager savings and ran.

It was harder than she had expected. She was still alone, that was a constant between before and after. But there was a difference between being alone and at least having parents that paid the bills, and being alone and not even having a safe place to sleep at night. She couldn't even do homeless shelters, because there was serious pressure to report minors. Nope, no way. It was character building, at the very least. You meet the most interesting people in tent cities.

She went to classes, participated in after-school clubs that didn’t require any cash (thank you debate club), and picked up odd jobs to keep herself afloat. It was tough, and she had almost no social life whatsoever, but she managed to make it work.

She eventually found a tiny apartment in Mustafa that was a bit of a hike to and from school, but the landlady took cash and didn’t ask questions. It was barely the size of her old bedroom, with no shower and no central heating or cooling, but it was hers.

All she had to do was keep her head down until she was an adult, and she couldn’t be forced to go back there. The worst a judge could do was mandatory family counseling. So she waited, ever patient, and kept her head down. The day she turned eighteen she didn’t celebrate, barely even acknowledged it. Her co-workers got her a cupcake. The day after she turned eighteen, they went out on the town, and she got absolutely wasted. And, as luck would have it, she and Misaki got arrested for drunken disorderly conduct.

Her mother had called her in holding. Tips had been great that month so Inko had the money together to post bail, but as Hisui was slumped on her shoulder too hungover to move, she had no one to post it for her.

She almost told the officer to hang up for her when he said her family had called. But a tiny voice in the back of her head insisted that this could be different. That maybe four years had changed them. That maybe—she picked up the phone.

“If you expect us to take you back, you’ll have to come yourself. It’s a four-hour drive to Tokyo.” Her mother’s voice was as cold, chipped, and indifferent as ever. And just like that, it was over. Any illusions of reuniting with a suddenly happy family had been buried alive years ago. This was just the final gasp of air before it suffocated completely.

Of legal age and safely hidden away, Inko started to indulge her one coping method: sass. “You say that like I called you.”

"Well, what am I supposed to say? You're the one in prison. Not that I'm really surprised, you've always been a selfish little troublemaker. Do you know how much your father and I have had to cover for your little temper tantrum?"

Inko wanted to scream. (The desk sergeant's pencil cup started floating mid-air. He was too busy with the crossword to notice.) She pinched the bridge of her nose and remembered her training from debate club. "Oh I don't know, but I suppose it was much easier than actually caring for your child."

"Don't be overdramatic. You always had food, and someplace warm to sleep."

"You left me alone. For weeks. Who the fuck leaves a seven-year-old alone in the house with a wad of cash for grocery money?" Inko

Her mother tsked, dismissing it as trivial. "This is getting us nowhere. We're leaving for China soon and could use a house sitter. It would certainly be a nice start to making up for all the trouble you've caused us."

Inko's honestly amazed that she hasn't told her mother to fuck off at this point. After that moment though, her rage...morphs. It transforms from a burning fire to the cold ice of logic. It was always going to be like this. Her parents never loved her. Most would find that heartbreaking or sobering. To Inko though? It just means that she had lost nothing.

Her mother takes the silence as an opportunity to express more of her opinion. “Inko, be reasonable. You’re not tough enough to make it on your own.”

“Really? Because that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past four years.” She bit back.

“Call us when you’re ready to be reasonable.” She sighed as if INKO was the one at fault here.

“Call when you actually care about me.” The greenette then hung up and managed to hold onto her tears until after she’d been released and was safely holed up in her apartment.

A year later, she heard that her parents had died in a head-on collision. She was almost glad she had to work in order to afford rent for that month, it took the decision out of her hands.

Midoriya Inko had grown up with parents who were cruel in their indifference. She would not let Morita Kai suffer the same way she had.

That didn’t mean, though, that she had absolutely any idea what she was doing.

Like, materials wise she could vaguely plan around that. She bought a second futon for the floor (adult sized because that kid was gonna shoot up like a weed once she was fed consistently), stocked her pantry with ingredients for easy to prep meals, and even finally bought a carbon monoxide detector.

It was the whole…parenting aspect that really through her through a loop. Not really having a clear reference point to work with, Inko had decided to check out the local library for parenting books. Most of them were kind of useless, assuming that: 1. She would have a husband (or significant other) and/or 2. That the child was biologically hers and starting from a baby. She managed to find one on advice for foster parents and one for advice for single mothers and decided to just kind of work it out from there.

Hey, she became Japan’s Number One Most Wanted Vigilante after starting out from like, three self-defense classes and some vaguely criminal skills. Inko knew how to work with a shaky foundation.

Okay, the first point advised was to evaluate her resources. Vronskaya always paid her employees quite well (and that was beside the tips she made as a bartender), so economically speaking Inko had plenty to support herself and a school-age child (with some budgeting). In terms of who else can be trusted to help with the girl, she trusted Vronskaya completely, and Mura-san seemed qualified enough to look after Kai’s physical well-being in an emergency.

Next would be to employ community support, which meant schools, afterschool care, hospitals, the works. This was where Inko was starting to run into a bit of trouble.

They were about three days into her newly established custody (Kai had responded with pleased squeals to Inko’s secret identity, but solemnly swore to keep it a secret), when the new foster mom broached the topic.

“So…Kai. What’s the name of your school again? I want to call ahead to let them know about the change in address.”

“Oh, you don’t need to do that.”

“No, I do it’s so they don’t accidently—“

“I don’t need school. I’m gonna be your sidekick.” Right. Now that Inko thought about it, she realized she’d never actually told the eight-year-old that she couldn’t do that. But that wasn’t the immediate problem right now.

Once again, Inko took the time to evaluate what she knew. The kid was street-savvy, sure, but she was still eight. The first few years of a kid’s education were probably vital or something. So, weighing all the pros and cons, Inko decided to start to establish some boundaries.

“Actually, you do, Kai.”

They’d fought over it for what felt like half an hour until Inko pulled the “I’m your guardian and because I said so” card. Kai stewed for a while after that, her little nose pressed into a cookbook that Inko wasn’t even entirely sure she could read. She glanced at the clock, not even noon yet.

“Kai, how do you feel about soup?” That caught the girl’s attention.

“Its fine I guess.” She shrugged but kept her wary eyes on her foster mom.

“Would you be interested in helping me make some?” She offered. Inko had loved helping her grandfather in the kitchen when she was about Kai’s age. (Or was she just happy for the slightest bit of attention? Not important).

So, Inko got the biggest pot she had and took out all the ingredients they would need. She had started eating better ever since becoming Jade Mantis, fruits and vegetables important to crime fighting and all that. “We’re going to make some nice mushroom and vegetable soup, how does that sound?” Kai seemed to perk up more. Inko took command of most of the chopping, tasking Kai to help clean the ingredients and stuff like that. The kid had the most adorable look on her face learning how to measure out the olive oil, water and sea salt (which was a nice introduction to fractions, looking back). Inko smiled to herself, glad that she was at least able to teach Kai something when—

“Crap!” Kai flinched and looked her way with a dash of fear in her young eyes.

“What did I—“

“Not you.” Inko quickly tried to reassure. “I just cut my finger when I was chopping, like an idiot.” She stuck her finger in her mouth and wondered if there were still band-aids left in the medicine cabinet.

“Here.” The little girl offered, reaching out her hand. Oh right, healing quirk. The wounded offered her finger. There was a certain golden glow that shone out from underneath Kai’s skin right before the girl touched her wound. The glow then spread to Inko’s skin for a second before her flesh knit itself back together.

“Whoa…” Inko stared at her finger. It was if there had been no wound there at all. “That’s such a cool power, Kai!” She praised, rustling the girl’s hair. The blonde gave a shy, toothy grin in response.

The ate their soup about half an hour later, and Inko's not sure if she's tasted anything so delicious in her life.

Kai kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to go wrong. She was relieved when it didn't, but that didn't mean that she couldn't afford to let her guard down. First, she agrees to go to school. That’s fine, that’s ok, she can deal. Then she kind of gets it when Jade Mantis—no, Inko, she said to call her Inko out of the mask—told her that Kai couldn’t become a sidekick at her age. (Not yet at least)

Her day would usually go like this: she’d wake up with Jade Mantis, do some stretches, eat breakfast, then walk to school. She'd do the school and the learning thing, her teachers were okay, and none of the kids had tried messing with her. After school, she would walk to the Strekoza if it was a patrol night (it was usually a patrol night) and go up to Vee-san’s apartment to work on her homework. Inko would get off her shift about half an hour later and would walk Kai back home to their apartment. She would make dinner and try to help the girl with her homework before settling down for a long nap.

“So, what are you working on?”

“A report for school. It’s on who our favorite hero is.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, we were all talking about it during recess. I think half my class said ‘All Might’. Like, I know he’s super popular and stuff, but there are other heroes.” The adult seemed to hum in agreement.

“So who do you want to do your report on?”

“Well, you, duh.” Inko started blushing and almost looked like she was going to start crying. Kai seriously thought it was weird. “But when I told the teacher she said no.”

“Oh,” She looked at her with those big green eyes. “I’m sorry about that.” Kai just shrugged.

“So I said that I’d just do Recovery Girl.” The foster mother looked at her and smiled. Then that smile started to drift into full-on smirk territory.

“Want to know a secret? Something that I guarantee that no one else in the class is gonna know about All Might?”

Kai leaned in, delighted. “What is it?”

“All Might isn’t cool at all. In fact, he’s a total nerd.”

Kai gasped. “Really?” The vigilante nodded sagely. She pulled out her phone, and with a few taps, queued up a video.

The timestamp was last February, All Might was in his Silver Age costume, the blue and red cape billowing behind him. “I am justice,” he tried to gargle, low and dark “I am the night,” he tried to wrap the cape around him to be more cowl-like, “I. Am. Bat—shit!” While he was trying to strike a dramatic pose, his foot slipped on a patch of ice, causing the symbol of peace to fall on his ass.

Off-camera, Jade Mantis started laughing, the hysterical, side-splitting kind that you could never really fake. The video got a good shot of him lying on the ground, then stopped. Kai couldn’t help but notice that All Might was smiling at Jade Mantis. Like…soft smiling. The kid looked back up at the real-life Jade Mantis, who seemed like she didn’t even notice it.

Kai decided she would talk to Vee about it, the old lady was usually pretty straight with her.

“Hey, Vee-san.”

“Hm?” The woman asked, going over some spreadsheets on her laptop.

“Does All Might like Jade Mantis? Like, like-like her?” The older woman looked at the kid for a few moments but then chuckled to herself.

“Ask me that in Russian, and I’ll answer you.”

Kai pursed her lips in thought. “Does All Might want to …want to…like! Does All Might like Jade Mantis?” She managed to get out. Russian was so cool, but it was hard.

“Da.” Vee-san nodded. “I think they really like each other.”

“Does that mean they do kissing stuff?”

The woman shrugged. “Nyet, I don’t think so.” That seems to have quieted the girl down for now. About five more minutes passed, and the girl’s focus seemed to have returned to her schoolwork.

“I don’t think they should do kissing stuff.” Kai seemed to decide.

“Oh, really?” Vronskaya wondered (it was always good to let kids know you were listening to them)

“He’s not cool enough.” Vronskaya couldn’t help but laugh at that. Kai had decided that All Might, Symbol of Peace and Pillar of Society, wasn’t cool enough to kiss her foster mom. She really loved this kid.

“You know what? You’re completely right. And as a reward, I’m going to take you to the park this Saturday and teach you how to pickpocket.”

Kai gasped in surprise. “Really?!”

Vronskaya nodded. “Just…don't tell your mother.”

(That would become something of a running theme.)

All Might noticed that there was something…off about Jade Mantis these days.

She was sharp as always, on top of every detail. But there had been something almost…distracted about her, recently.

At first, he thought it was just the general wear and tear of the heroics profession (or in her case, vigilantism). Then he started to notice little things. Tiny things that would usually mean nothing, but put together start to paint an interesting picture. She mentioned having to cut back on her activities for a while. He would see her looking at schools and daycares around Mustafa. He would sometimes even catch her staring at families with small children or pregnant women nearby. At first, he could kind of just shrug it off, but then he saw a book with advice for single mothers sticking out of her back pocket. He politely pretended that he hadn’t seen it. But right then, everything seemed to just kind of…snap together.

Could Jade Mantis be…pregnant? She had never mentioned any kind of boyfriend or girlfriend or gender non-binary datemate, and All Might could tell that she didn’t have a wedding ring on underneath her gloves. Plus you know, the book was advice for single mothers.

But what was he supposed to do about it? He was Jade Mantis’ friend certainly, but he didn’t even know her name, let alone an address or PO box to surreptitiously mail money and diapers to. (Whoa, aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves? Maybe be sure she even wants the kid, dumbass).

“Oh, yeah, it’s just. Something big just kind of happened to me and I'm trying to find a way to balance it out with everything else." While logically, he knew the language was vague enough to apply to almost anything, All Might was in a certain frame of mind that the line almost sounded like a confession.

He nodded sagely and decided to try and just wing it. “I understand that it’s a scary world for someone out there. Especially raising a child on your own.” There! Now she knew that he knew and would tell him everything and maybe even show him sonograms if it was early enough for them. (Not that he wanted to invade her privacy but seriously he needed to know the support system this woman had and how much he could help and what were the best type of pacifiers to buy.) "You have nothing but my absolute respect for trying to tackle something like this."

“…what. How, how did you know?”

“Well, I’ve noticed a lot of little things coming together over the past few weeks. And I know how much you value your privacy, but at the very least, tell me if you need me to punch anyone.” He finished, laughing uncomfortably. (Because any man who dared get her pregnant then not even stick around to at least offer help was going to get a very sternly worded talking to).

A dark look crossed her face. “Believe me, I’ve thought about it. I’ll just let the justice system take it on this one—for now.”

Wait, the justice system? Did she get…ahem, close to some sort of criminal? That really didn’t seem to be Jade Mantis’ style. Unless—wait, no let’s not assume anything unsavory here. Because if he started going down that path then he might just end up killing someone. (And that’s not what Symbols of Peace do. However, private citizens can do lots of things. Like cut break lines.) Shit, this is getting dark.

“But, back to the main point. Just to make sure we’re not having one of those hilarious miscommunications, what exactly do you think is happening?” Well, shit now it’s just awkward. All Might rubbed the back of his head before deciding to just spit it out.

“You’re pregnant, right.”

Jade Mantis stared at him for a beat. Not an ‘are you kidding me’ stare or its harsher cousin ‘are you a fucking idiot?’ Just a stare.

“Well, glad I got out ahead of that one. No, I’m not pregnant.”

“There’s this kid who got wrapped up in one of my cases. Her foster parents—well, let’s just say she doesn’t trust the system anymore. So I’ve been keeping an eye on her.” The vigilante explained with a shrug.

“Oh.” All Might said, and don’t know why he suddenly felt…not disappointed but—well, those were feelings that could be re-examined at another time.

“I think you’d be a great mother.”

“Huh?” A certain redness started to spread over her cheeks. It was…really kind of adorable. And All Might had no idea why his heart just suddenly started to squeeze in his chest.

Chapter Text

Vronskaya Sakura took a moment to enjoy how Inko squirmed. The idea that her movements and activities had been observed for the past month without so much as noticing obviously distressed the young woman. Sakura let the feeling mellow for now, in order to reinforce that ‘Jade Mantis’ would have to do far better if she was going to make it out here.

After letting the young woman alone with the knowledge her entire bartending shift (and noticing how well Inko could mask her emotions), Sakura invited Inko upstairs to her apartment. It didn’t look like much on the surface, but Sakura had taken special care to alter the apartment to fit her needs. Like soundproofing, for one example, so there was less of a chance for them to be overheard.

The vigilante showed some promise by not immediately taking Sakura’s direction to go upstairs, and tried to subtly scout the area for potential police cars or other clues of an ambush. The Russian woman smiled to herself.

“Okay,” Inko eventually demurred, and followed her up, keeping an observant eye all the while. Sakura very noticeably locked and dead bolted her door when they stepped inside the living room, but had very carefully left her window slightly ajar earlier. Inko surely noticed it, but was currently doing a good job of not indicating that she’d noticed it.

“So…how is this supposed to go? You talk first? I talk first?” Ah, the sass. Sakura so enjoyed Inko’s sass, it was one of the healthier coping methods out there for this line of work. It was obvious that the vigilante used it as a shield.

“I can tell you right now, that you’re not in trouble. Not with me, at least.” Inko was smart enough to not immediately believe that, but Vronskaya wanted to put it out in the open anyway.

“How do I know that this isn’t some sort of set up, or trap?”

“Inko-chan, honey, I’ve known you for over a year now. I’d like to believe that you wouldn’t think so low of me.” Though it would be prudent. Inko clenched her jaw, not saying anything.

“Do you…want something? Because I really don’t make enough to be blackmailed.” Sakura indulged a little huff of laughter.

“Nothing like that, I merely want use to have a chat about what you’re doing, and possibly explore a few options.” Sakura sat herself down on the couch, letting her body language slip into casual, and hopefully non-threatening.

“Options.” Inko, parroted, remaining standing.

“Oh do sit down, you’ll just make me crane my neck to look at you.” Inko didn’t move at first, but then sat down on the arm of the chair right across from her boss. Excellent choice, keeping herself within sight of the window, and not in direct line of the doorway should someone try to burst in. “I imagine you have some questions.”

“…how did you figure it out?”

“Let’s see, a friendly neighborhood vigilante with dark hair and a telekinetic quirk, and a waitress who often comes in with bruises and injuries. What does that make me think?” Inko pursed her lips, but nodded. “Moving forward, I think it should be best that you imply that your quirk is limited by size, rather than weight. Having people underestimate you will always be an advantage.” Sakura pursed her lips. “Also, remind me to show you some make up tips later, you would have a much better time at this if someone taught you how to blend things properly.”

“Moving forward—what?” Inko took a moment. “You’re not…turning me in?”

“No. At this point you’re doing far too much good.” Inko still looked a bit confused, but her body language wasn’t as stiff. “I’m not blind my dear, I see the problems in Mustafa same as you. To be clear: I do believe that a long term solution does lie more with official channels like the police and the pro heroes, but what you’re at least trying to do…” Sakura took a moment. The right word of praise or condemnation would be vital here. Too much ego would make Inko sloppy, while too little would leave her hesitant. “…you can inspire the people of this neighborhood, and become a symbol to rally around. But you’re not going to help anyone if you wind up dead in a gutter with your brains smashed out.”

Inko rubbed her hand. “So…what do I do about it? I know—I know that you don’t have to go to a hero school to get a provisional license. But adult training programs to get a full liscense require the kind of resources that I don’t have right now.”

“Hm…I think it’s a little late to go legitimate at this juncture anyway, to be honest.” Inko looked up. “While you could start afresh with a new hero persona, it would squander what little you’ve gained in community trust. That also raises a serious problem in training you.”

That really got her attention. “Training me?”

“Most pro heroes get three years of vocational school, getting guided and prepared for a life of heroics work, and that’s without any additional responsibilities. The police academy takes about, hm…” she returned her gaze to the young vigilante. “Yeah, twenty one weeks. I’m sure I can have you whipped up into decent shape by then.”

“…huh? How are you—are you even qualified to do that?”

Vronskaya responded by precisely striking Inko’s nerve cluster, and having her hog tied within twenty seconds. (She had the capture tape in her pocket this entire time).

“…I take it back.” The young vigilante responded.

“Alright, first lesson, how do you get out of bindings?”

Ooooo this was gonna be so much fun.

After a full night of questions and evaluations, Sakura released the vigilante to go home at around one in the morning. Five hours later, Inko was back at the Russian woman’s apartment, notebook in hand and a caffine-addled manic glee in her eye.

Sakura gestured to the white board that she had brought up. “This is a three part training program, seeking to improve your quirk, your body, and your mind. Yes, you can take notes.” Inko started scribbling. “Getting your body prepared will be the most straightforward. I have put together a training program of strength training, cardio, endurance work, and improving your fighting prowess.” She handed the younger woman a multiple page training regimen. “Fair warning, this is a type of program intensity designed for the special forces, so if things are getting beyond what you can handle, you have to tell me. Overworking will be detrimental and help no one.” Inko nodded.

“Next, for your quirk training. You told me when I hired you, that your quirk was limited by line of sight and what you could physically lift yourself. Thus, improving your body should also improve your quirk. Also, I have left much of the later stages of training blank, as we need to explore the possibilities of what you can and cannot do with your quirk.”

“Lastly, your mind. For the work that you are doing, understanding the criminal element and the human mind will be of paramount importance. In a way, you’re essentially learning how to be both a detective and a con artist.” Or a spy, Sakura mentally added. But, well, Inko didn’t need to know that.

“Before we start with your training, we should make one thing clear. For the first month of your training, you will put a pause on your activities as Jade Mantis. No patrolling, no sightings, no interventions, nothing.”

Inko barely stopped herself from yelling. “Won’t a sudden disappearance hurt my reputation within Mustafa? Become known as the ‘flighty, unreliable vigilante’? How can I possibly become a symbol if a symbol isn’t—“

“Mind your sensei getting a word in edgewise,” Sakura grumbled, and Inko quieted. “While you may have some solid points, a disappearance for a month will give you some much needed breathing room. Right now, All Might is the only one who seems to see you as a potential symbol of the community—that’s why I believe that he’s taken an interest in you.” Inko blushed, but otherwise didn’t comment. As much as any ‘relationship’ with the Symbol of Peace might benefit Jade Mantis, right now Inko couldn’t afford to have any distractions in her training. “The police and local heroes are starting to mount up a serious effort to capture you as a show of force. Right now, the Jade Mantis is a nuisance but not enough of an embarrassment for serious efforts to be mounted. Glory hounds looking to capture you for some attention will patrol the streets and might stumble into doing some good.” Inko still looked like she wanted to argue the point a bit further, but bit her lip.

“But don’t be thinking that a ‘break’ means that you’ll be going easy on you. You’ll be cutting back on your hours at the Strekoza so that almost every waking moment you have for the next month will be with the sole intention of making you the most dangerous and capable individual in the area.” Sakura let a gleam of malevolence shine in her eyes. “My Quirk, Fault Line, allows me to see every single weakness you have. And I will take advantage of them. By the time the month is over, you’ll be wishing you were dead.”

Inko looked at her with fear. Good.

The young Jade Mantis vigilante was not sure what she was expecting, but being dragged out to an abandoned warehouse at four in the morning was not it. Vronskaya looked chipper as always, wrapped up in a warm coat and holding a thermos of what smelled like coffee.

“Alright, for your first lesson—clean this!”

“Huh?”

“I bought this warehouse as a place for us to train away from prying eyes. Now I want all signs of pests gone and the holes at least boarded up by sundown, chop-chop.” Inko eyed the coffee. "You can get some when you manage to sweep the floors clean. But I'll make an exception if you get bit by a rat."

"Bitten?"

"Learning to dodge is an important skill."

“Parkour is going to be one of your best skills as a vigilante, it’ll allow you to navigate an area quickly and efficiently, as well as support your hand eye coordination and quick thinking.”

“Do we really need to be standing on the edge of a rooftop to do that?”

“Just getting you used to the height.” Vronskaya then pushed Inko over the edge of the rooftop. “AND SEEING IF YOU CAN DO ANYTHING ALREADY!” The young vigilante managed to twist herself into taking the least amount of damage from the fall, at least.

Ah well, it was only two stories tall for a reason.

“FUCK YOU!”

“THAT’S THE SPIRIT!”

Inko grunted as she was kicked in the chest. “What the fuck?!”

“Doesn’t matter how much training you have, kid, a broken rib is a broken rib. Now you’ve got to learn how to work around it. Now fight.” Inko was able to stay upright for about another two minutes. “Now for our next lesson: lying to hospitals.”

“Focus on the ball.” Vronskaya instructed, holding a baseball in her hands. Inko reached out with her quirk, focusing on the object, and lifting it into the air no problem.

“Nice, now try to do that with your eyes closed.” The telekinetic wasn’t sure if she could actually do it, but tried anyway. Hesitantly reaching out with her telekinetic hands (because that’s her frame of reference), Inko once again manages to find the baseball.

“Can you feel it?” Inko nods. “Can you lift it?”

“I think so.” She hesitantly picks the baseball with her quirk and, yep, it’s staying! Inko’s eyes flew open. Holy crap she could—Vronskaya lobbed the baseball at Inko’s face. The student fell back onto the floor, nose bleeding profusely and teeth feeling rattled.

“You have to be constantly vigilant! Staying alert means staying alive!”

In combat, Vronskaya effortlessly parried or blocked every hit sent her way. Inko had been trying to land a hit for what felt like forever now, but the Russian kept flicking her away as she would a fly.

“My my, are we getting frustrated?” She baited. The young woman was just more determined to get one solid hit in, that would shut the old woman up. She went for a haymaker—and was promptly struck in her side.

Not taking her eyes off the target, Inko felt around the area for something she could use as a projectile. There! As Inko went for Vronskaya’s face again (drawing away her attention) she ripped one of the water bottles of the bench and furiously aimed it for her teacher’s head. The Russian never saw it coming, and slumped down to the floor and Inko’s punch hit her in the jaw.

“Ha ha! Look who’s—are you okay?” Inko immediately dropped to Vronskaya’s side, any feelings of victory put aside if she had actually hurt her mentor.

Instead, the old woman cupped the back of her head and started laughing. “Ha! You really got me there, Inchka.” She smiled, and raised herself up. “You’re really starting to learn, kiddo.” She took a breath. “And now it’s you’re turn to defend!” Vronskaya attacked, and Inko went home that night covered in bruises as always.

One Month Later…

Inko was about ready to kill Vronskaya and shove her body parts in a dumpster. But she couldn’t deny the results that the woman had pushed her towards. Whatever meager pride she had in her abilities before this paled in the face of what she could do now. Vronskaya had not taught her a set kata, but instead a type of style referred to as ‘Systema’, which taught versatile tactics that could be effective against different types of enemies under any circumstances.

Right now, they were in an abandoned warehouse that Vronskaya had bought from the city, and then had Inko clean and renovate for their needs. A work bench with disassembled electronics was on the side wall, filing cabinets with cyphered content and thick training mats all over the floor. Inko currently had her faced pressed into one of those training mats right now, as Vronskaya held her down in an arm-bar. Inko used her telekinesis to pull at Vronskaya’s clothes to try to pull her off balance, then managed to escape.

“Very good.” Vronskaya complimented, taking a drink of water.

“I’ve got a present for you.” Vronskaya unveiled the mannequin. “Your old jacket and work boots look were fine on a bartender’s salary, but I was thinking you needed an upgrade to do what you’re going to do.”

Inko looked over the outfit with wonder. “Your style requires a lot of movement, so I couldn’t go with a full torso protection, and instead went for a balance between protection and movement. The jacket is made of a sturdier version of what the pros use in their outfits. Knife attacks can bounce off it pretty well, on top of it being fireproof and stain resistant. Given Japan’s rather strict firearm laws I don’t expect you to be running into guns that often, if you do the jacket can take the hit, but you’ll be plenty sore in the morning. The leggings are a similar material but more breathable and a bit lighter. They can be worn underneath your usual jeans so you don’t lose your working-class charm.” Vronskaya smiled. “Your mask also needed a bit of an overall. A domino mask mostly works as a distraction, rather than a true disguise. By incorporating mirrored lenses that won’t restrict lines of sight, you have some eye protection both from debris and identification. We can discuss further modifications after you take this out for a test-run.” She smiled.

“You mean this…this is mine?” Inko knew she was a bit of a cry baby but this…no one had ever given her anything this nice before.

“I, uh—yeah. It’s also machine washable.”

“THANK YOU!” She cried, before practically tackle-hugging the older Russian woman. And then properly grappling her because Inko had learned her lesson.

Chapter Text

“Thank you for coming to speak with me, Midoriya-san.” Even though Inko hadn’t been in school for about six years, her back straightened almost on reflex. Funai Eka was Kai’s second grade homeroom teacher, a middle aged woman with a polite, if firm, air about her.

“It’s no problem,” Inko assured, pretending that she wasn’t completely nervous. Was Kai being bullied? Misbehaving? God, this whole thing just reminded her why she was completely unqualified for this whole ‘parent’ thing.

“Midoriya-san. Morita-chan isn’t in trouble. In fact, so far she’s a joy to have in class. It’s just…” Mrs. Funai paused, and Inko had a bad feeling stirring away in her gut. “We’re a bit concerned about some of the things that she’s been saying to the other students. About you.”

“…I beg your pardon.” Inko hadn’t noticed any pro heroes or loiterers around, but already planned no less than three escape plans in that pause.

“She says—and I’m paraphrasing here—that you could “totally kick everyone else’s ass”.” Funai looked apologetic, but still a bit quizzical.

Inko allowed herself to breathe. “Oh, thank god.”

“Midoriya-san?”

“Oh, no, no, that was inappropriate, I’m sorry.” The woman sobered herself. “I was just worried that the other kids were making fun of her for being a foster kid, or something along those lines.”

“Well—none that’s been brought to my attention.” But the look on Funai’s face clearly telegraphed that she wouldn’t put it past some of the kids. “But, uh, what is it you do for a living, Midoriya-san? Marital arts instructor…police officer…?” Pro Hero? Hung in the air, unspoken. Legally no institution could ask if a person was a pro hero for safety concerns, that information could only be given voluntarily.

“I’m a bartender.” That caused the teacher’s eyebrow to quirk, but she otherwise refrained from commenting. “But my quirk,” Inko held out her hand and the teacher’s pencil cup flew off the desk and into her hand, “is a versatile if weak form of telekinesis.” The greenette placed the pencil cup back on the desk. “Also, I may have told her about a time I broke up a bar fight all on my own.” Inko chuckled, nervous. Nothing of what she’d just said was lying, per sey, she was just…playing a few things close to the chest.

The elementary school teacher nodded. “I see, I too apologize for assuming anything, Midoriya-san. It’s just, having seen Morita-chan’s file, I’m concerned about her talking about any kind of violence in the home.”

Godness, wasn’t that ironic.

“Hey,” the teacher stated, getting Inko’s attention. “Parenting is always hard, even for people who’ve done it before. You got thrown into the metaphorical deep end, and I can tell that right now, you feel like you’re barely keeping your head above water—“

Possible Empathic quirk. Makes sense for a schoolteacher.

“—but for whatever it’s worth, I think you’re doing a good job so far.”

That’s kind of bullshit, but I appreciate the sentiment.

The meeting ended shortly after that, with a polite handshake and Inko not quite believing what the teacher was saying. Inko waited outside the school for another ten minutes so she could pick up Kai. She suspected that Funai had schedule it during school hours not only to accommodate Inko’s work schedule, but so the teacher could perhaps see how Kai reacted to unexpectedly seeing her foster mother. Smart move, really.

“Inko?” Kai blinked, looking surprised but not scared. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I just thought that I’d come see my favorite blonde.” Inko patted the top of Kai’s head. “And maybe we could walk over to the library today?” The kid practically glowed at that. The school had a day trip to get all the kids library cards a couple of days ago, and Kai had been rearing to go back ever since.

“You serious?” Kai asked, looking unsure. The kid gave the most adorable little smile when Inko nodded her head yes.

Mustafa Public Library Computer #6, Google Search History: Friday, 4:36pm

--Mustafa Crime statistics

--All Might effect on crime statistics

--All Might Mustafa crime statistics

--All Might

--All Might cute

--All Might cute butt

Inko stared at the search results for a good thirty seconds before closing the tab in shame. What the fuck was that? She rubbed a hand up and down her face, trying to force down the blush. All Might was her friend, what was she doing acting like an obsessed fangirl? (Even if he was her second favorite blond).

Taking a breath, Inko leaned back to check on Kai. The Public Library was arranged in such a way that the vigilante could do some online browsing as Kai looked through children’s section. A mop of blonde hair was standing in front of one of the shelves, a book already in hand. Despite the irregularities in Kai’s education, she was a bright kid who liked learning.

The woman turned back to the computer and clicked over to her email account. She noticed several emails from a sender labeled only as MICAH—huh, okay. Not sure where this was going, but bored enough to check, Inko clicked the message open. She skimmed it, reading something about an ‘amazing opportunity’ and ‘please take the time to schedule an appointment’. She swiftly deleted the message, along with two other ones that she didn’t so much as bother to open.

She heard Kai’s light footsteps approach and signed out of her email. “Hey, you ready to check out?”

“Yep,” the girl nodded, looking so adorably enthusiastic.

Inko turned back to log out of the computer. “Nice, what did you get?"

Kai held up a book labeled Happy Hero Encyclopedia. Inko recognized it as a children’s book that gave simplistic explanations of the quirks of some of the most well known heroes. Like, ‘Endeavor can light things on fire to catch all the bad guys’ type simplistic. Nothing that a person with a working TV and Internet signal can’t put together themselves. The other was a medical encyclopedia that Inko doubted came from the children’s section.

The foster mother raised an eyebrow.

“Vee-san said I should work on improving my quirk. And I can only recognize stuff that I’ve heard about.”

She lowered her eyebrow.

“Are you going to check anything out?” Kai asked as Inko stood, stuffing her notebook back into her purse.

“Yeah. I’ve got a long stakeout planned for this weekend, so I grabbed an audiobook.” Inko held up the case containing Anna Karenina. All 35 hours and 40 minutes of it.

Happy families are all alike; The text on the back read, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

People with happy families probably don’t take that quickly to pick-pocketing, that much Vronskaya knew. As the woman had promised, she had taken the eight-year-old out to Mustafa park to start to teach the girl how to pickpocket. The girl had gotten a handle on it pretty quickly and was now having a hell of a time “accidentally” bumping into people and apologizing as she went to go play. Vronskaya would then put on her ‘kindly old grandmother’ act and return the valuables to their original owner.

Now, they were having a break. Kai was off at the playground, laughing and enjoying herself with the other children. Sakura sighed contentedly to herself, as she sat on a bench facing the pond. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see some ducks approaching the shoreline at their own leisurely pace. 

Vronskaya chanced a look towards the lone figure by the pond. Blonde hair, antenna-like bangs, muscles the size of train cars? It certainly was a possibility. It wasn’t until she checked him over with her quirk, and discovered that the man had absolutely no weak points whatsoever that the Russian was convinced. She looked back down at Kai, who looked almost hypnotized at the sight of the Number One hero just…feeding the ducks.

The Russian woman pulled out her notepad and a pen. “Ready for another lesson?” Kai nodded her head, always eager to learn.

“Go over there, and ask him for his autograph, without anyone else overhearing and finding out,” Sakura instructed. “After all, he looks like he could use a quiet day.” Kai nodded in agreement, taking a deep breath and seeming to steel herself.

It was so adorable.

Toshinori was taking a rare afternoon to himself (he was entitled, once every three months or so and yes that’s perfectly healthy), just sitting in Mustafa Park and feeding some ducks. It wasn’t that he didn't love his job or his fans (he did, he really did), it was just that everyone needed a break now and then. A chance to take a breathe and remind yourself what it was that you were fighting for. Mustafa Park was a perfect example. A few years ago, families didn't dare draw near because of the drug dealers and junkies that used the place as a sort of marketplace. Now? Not a needle or shady figure in sight, with refurbished playground equipment and families out enjoying the weekend with their kids.

All thanks to Jade Mantis. He couldn't help but think. He was so busy thinking while feeding the ducks, that he didn't even notice the pitter-patter of little feet approaching.

 “All Might-san?” He looked to his left almost automatically. There was a little girl holding a pen and a notebook, shaking just a bit as she tried her best to maintain eye contact. Aww, the poor dear was probably just shy.

“Hm? Yes, young lass?” He asked, gentle, so as to not scare her off (or let anyone else know that he was right here).

“Could you…could you…” She hesitantly held out a notebook and pen, looking at the ground. “Could you please sign this?” She mumbled. Toshinori barely heard it, but smiled anyway, and gently took the offered pen and paper.

“Of course, miss..?”

“Oh! Morita! Morita Kai!” She remembered. “And I…uh, I think you’re really cool.” She whispered again, looking at her shoes.

To Kai—I think you’re really cool too! All Might

“Thank you,” Kai-chan whispered, just a bit louder. She looked at the notebook for a long second, before giving him a quick hug. (Just around his side, probably an impulsive decision). Before he could react, she ran off, autograph in hand, back to a woman with greying hair he supposed was her grandmother. The women talked for a few moments before walking away, not making a fuss. Toshinori smiled to himself, it was always good to meet a fan.

“You stole his wallet?” Vronskaya laughed, almost scandalized.

“It was almost too easy!” Kai laughed, sitting there on the barstool. She really had just walked up to All Might wanting an autograph (she’d be able to show it to everyone at school, it would be amazing), but then she’d just…wanted to see if she could. Sakura knew that she should probably scold the girl for this, but this? This was too good.

The symbol of peace pick-pocketed by an eight-year-old, no one would ever believe them and that just made it funnier. They had walked home from the park back to the Strekoza before Kai showed off her prize, like a little baby owl showing off her first kill.

They found basically what you would expect in an everyday wallet, credit and debit cards made out to one Yagi Toshinori (a little fact to file away for later), some receipts, membership cards, and about 9,000 yen in bills. However, there was one thing that Vronskaya hadn’t expected.

It was a folded up polaroid of what looked like a young All Might--or, well Yagi Toshinori-- with a muscular woman with dark hair. The yellow gloves and white cape gave away her most likely profession as a hero. An old teacher perhaps? A mentor? Maybe even a parent. Vronskaya suddenly realized that she was being…invasive. This was All Might’s wallet, and the man might be pulling his blond hair out looking for it.

“Alright, alright, we’ve had our fun. Time to give it back.” Kai pouted, but otherwise didn’t object.

Yagi Toshinori could admit it, he was a little annoyed. He’d lost his wallet and was trying to wrack his brain as to where the hell he could have left it. To try and take his mind off it (and put off calling the credit card company to try and cancel his cards), he was sitting in an internet café not too far from the park and messing around on his laptop.

--Mustafa crime statistics

--Mustafa crime statistics Jade Mantis

--Jade Mantis

(He closed the tab before he could go any farther. Why the heck had he done that?)

He was scrolling through his civilian email (spam spam, coupon, spam) when he came across an email titled New Case from [email protected]. It was probably Nedzu, as no one else Toshinori knew was cheeky enough to have an ‘Island of Doctor Moreau’ reference as an email address. Nedzu was a welcome addition to the hero community, certainly, but he was…well…a bit odd, to say the least. Always prattling on about something or another, when he wasn’t laughing maniacally.

Toshinori steeled himself and opened the email. Going undercover. 24 hour radio silence. Wish me luck! The animal hero had then put a cute emoji of a paw giving a thumbs up. The number one hero blinked. Okay, so it wasn’t a couple of paragraphs long and that was really nice, but as the Symbol of Peace he did need to set an example for the other heroes and scold them when necessary.

He switched over to the official heroics email account all the pros used to talk to each other.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Nedzu, we have a secure hero email server for a reason, please use it. Good luck on your operation, talk to you when you get back.

Before he could really think about it any further, his cell phone rang.

“Excuse me, is this Yagi Toshinori?” A lightly accented voice, inquired.

“Who is this?” He asked, probably letting his irritation bleed through more than he meant to. Toshinori was immediately sorry for being rude, but had a coupon to his favorite café and there and was only one more stamp away from a free coffee and cookie. Also, one of the only pictures that he had with Nana.

“My name is Vronskaya Sakura, I found your wallet on a bench at the Mustafa Park.” He thought back to earlier that day—ah, the little girl! When she gave him the hug, it might have jostled the wallet out of his pocket. Or maybe he took it out for some reason and just forgot about it. Anyway, it was obviously found now so he didn’t have to worry about it anymore.

“Oh, thank you very much Vronskaya-sama!” He thanked, profusely glad at the prospect of getting it back. “Though, if you don’t mind…what condition did you find it in?”

“No problem at all. It still has all the cash and credit cards, I believe. Though I will admit I’m tempted to nab your Sam’s Club membership card.” The older woman joked. Now, as much as Toshinori liked to believe the best in people, the realities of his job put him face to face with what humanity had to offer. It was nice, though, to see that his worst guess was wrong.

“Now, Yagi-san, would you prefer that I mail it back to you, drop it off at the police station…?” He’d honestly prefer to just pick it up himself, and there was no way he could ask Vronskaya-sama to do it. His wallet, his responsibility.

“No, no, I dropped it like an idiot, so I shouldn’t inconvenience you any further.” After some convincing on his part, he agreed to meet up at the Strekoza Restaurant in Mustafa to reclaim his lost property.

He ran a small, quick background check after he hung up the phone. Vronskaya Sakura was born in Russia, and had served her required time in the military becoming a translator for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After working in several embassies throughout her career, she retired and moved to Japan several years ago.

Just run a couple blocks away to pick up his wallet, absolutely no problem.

The Number One Hero could smell the beef and butter as he approached the building, and felt his stomach rumble. Maybe once he got his wallet back…

He found the woman that he recognized from the background check standing behind the bar at the back of the restaurant, wiping down the bar with a rag.

“Uh, hi, my name is Yagi Toshinori, I was supposed to—“

“Ah! Yagi-san.” The woman heartily greeted, looking him up and down. She reached into one of her apron pockets and pulled out his wallet. Though he was genuinely grateful, he took a moment to make sure everything was there. It was, just as he recalled it.

“Well, Vronskaya-sama, as you found my wallet, I believe it’s only fair that I grab something to eat.” Besides, he was the only potential customer in here right now, it was really only fair.

After ordering some appetizers, he heard one of the side doors open and saw the little girl from earlier (Kai-chan, as he recalled) come down. She was making her way over to Vronskaya-sama at the bar, but stopped once she saw him. The child looked at him curiously, as if trying to connect the dots. For whatever reason though, she didn’t seem to recognize him this time, and after a few moments continued on her way.

Vronskaya-sama geve an indulgent smile as the girl climbed up on a barstool and sat down, opening up her book. “Kai-chan, this is Yagi-san. We found his wallet in the park, remember?” The kid nodded, understanding suddenly lighting up her eyes. The kid then smirked for some reason before going back to her book.

About half an hour later, Toshinori was about halfway through some of the most delicious beef stew he had ever eaten in his life when the front door open again. The hero vaguely registered a man in khakis holding a clipboard before turning back to his meal.

“Delivery for Vronskaya Sakura?”

“I beg your pardon?”

The man gestured to his clipboard. “The Strekoza Restaurant and Bar is scheduled for a re-stocking delivery. I’ve got about three crates full of vodka for you in my truck, ma’am.” The deliveryman stated, voice oddly strained.

Vronskaya-sama took a moment, assessing the situation. “I think you may have come to the wrong address, as we have re-stocking shipments come on the third and seventeenth of every month, and we have a regular delivery person is well. Her name is Nariko and you are certainly not her.” Vronskaya’s voice was tight, and Toshinori noticed that she kept sending glances towards Kai-chan at the bar. The girl hadn’t looked up from her book.

The deliveryman followed her line of sight and rubbed his face. “Damn, I was really hoping that we could do this the easy way.” Before Toshinori could understand what was happening, there was a ‘click’ sound and a pink gas started filling up the restaurant. He looked back, and the man was now somehow wearing a gas mask, and Vronskaya-sama was taking a swing at him. The number one hero immediately rose up to assist in whatever way he could—but then he blacked out.

When he came to, Toshinori saw that the restaurant was wrecked. Tables were flipped over, chairs practically splintered, and Vronskaya-san was behind the bar. His vision was still blurry, but he could still make out how injured and tussled the older woman looked, scorch marks on her clothing and a trickle of blood coming down from her forehead. The hero blinked several times, and as his vision cleared he realized that arms were not supposed to bend that way.

“—I am being calm, you just have to let me talk. I don’t care about deep breaths, you have to understand my goddaughter was abducted.”

Chapter Text

30 minutes ago…

Vronskaya Sakura was no stranger to fighting. She’d started when she was eighteen, and never really stopped since. The Russian was getting long in the tooth, certainly, but she’d like to think she hadn’t lost her bite. She noticed that All Might dropped to the floor a mere five seconds after the gas hit, even while she and Kai were unaffected. That, combined with the stranger’s gas mask, told her that the gas was somehow gender specific. In that case, all she would really need to do is rip the mask off and go after Kai-chan

She ran through the possibilities in her head while she fought this idiot. Dreyarovich would have gone with a sniper or an explosion, something that would be flashy without being in your face. Kravanov would have come himself. Anyone else that could have found out would have made too much noise about it and tipped me off. So that ruled out anyone of her enemies.

The next likely was one of Jade Mantis’s enemies. But she’d drilled the importance of stealth and misdirection into the girl’s head enough times for it to stick pretty well. She blocked a punch and then countered, keeping this fake on his toes.

Sakura feigned, finally letting the guy get in a little closer. She went for a punch to try and break his ribs. However, right then, the villain somehow managed to teleport armor onto himself. Plate armor, the kind worn by medieval knights. Sakura yelled in pain, and drew her hand away, getting further back. Dammnit, she could tell that she broke something there.

“Dang, you really had me there. I’m lucky I checked out the history museum or I can tell I’d really be in trouble.” Sakura racked her brain—the Tokyo Museum was having a big exhibit on European warfare during the Crusades. (She’d been planning on taking Kai to it)

“So, your quirk lets you teleport items from specific locations.” She thought aloud, mumbling to herself in Russian.

“What? Didn’t catch that.” He asked, tilting his head. The likelihood of this being a hit went lower and lower, as the real pros never made small talk with the victims. (It helped, keeping it all separate. You couldn’t think of your targets as people).

“I’m cursing because this really fucking hurts.” She bit back. Inko had always been the one good at the quips and one-liners. Sakura’s idea of a witty comeback was to electrocute someone and call it a ‘shocking development’. (It was almost disappointing when everyone was too dead to hear her being funny).

“Oh, totally understandable.” He then stretched out his left arm. Before Sakura could really recognize what was happening, some sort of gauntlet/shield/sword thing appeared on the outstretched limb.

“The hell?”

“A lantern shield, also from the museum exhibit. It technically counts as a gauntlet so my quirk can call it to me, but the big metal and stabby parts are going to be pretty useful.” He flexed his arm, obviously getting used to the weight. Vronskaya saw a few weak points in the armor, but not in places she could immediately exploit.

“Sorry about this lady, but a job’s a job.” Coming in close, the villain tried to stab at her face, she dodged last minute, but felt a graze across her hairline. While she was steadying herself, he attacked again, this time bludgeoning her arm with the shield. Sakura both heard and felt the ominous crack of bones in her right arm. The pain was intense, it also brought opportunity.

She grabbed at the back of his head, tugging his head through his hair. Armor is useful, but it makes you top heavy and unstable—and where the head goes, the body follows. Throwing away the gas mask, Sakura slammed the guy’s head into the bar countertop. Hospital, not morgue.

After taking a breath to steady herself (and try to get the pain into something like control), Sakura made her way out into the alleyway, coughing and breathing heavily. The pink gas that had flooded her restaurant was starting to dissipate, and she could start to get herself under control. Then she saw it—a little green shoe by the door. (They’d lucked out thrift shopping, a pair of grey and green kids’ sneakers just Kai’s size).

No no no, no need to panic maybe it had just slipped off when she was running. The Russian woman went back into her office and pulled up the security cameras, rewinding back to about five minutes ago. Yeah, okay, there was the time of the attack, she told Kai to run, Kai ran out through the door and then—

Oh.

Oh, fuck no.

Kai was scared.

She didn’t like being scared.

Vee-san had told her to run, and she had! She’d run out the front back door in the alleyway intent on getting all the way to Mura-san’s nest. But then—

“Whoa, there kid!” She’s seen a white blur and…bunny ears? “No need to worry…” Kai felt a sharp prick in her neck. “Because everything’s going to be just fine.”

She tried kicking as hard as she good, and even felt one of her sneakers start to twist off of her foot, but it was no use. She felt her peripheral vision fading before her whole world was nothing but darkness.

Now…

Toshinori you useless fucking idiot.

There was a voice in his head that sounded awfully like Gran Torino, but the hero didn’t find it in himself to really disagree with it. He could never forgive himself for being so careless. While Vronskaya-sama was fighting for her life and Morita-chan was being kidnapped, he was knocked out and completely useless.

She’d called emergency services, and Toshinori had cowardly snuck out the back so All Might could arrive on the scene. (Well, he could literally never come back here as Yagi Toshinori again, but he was pretty sure he could live with that if they got the girl back safe).

“Vronskaya-sama, your arm is clearly broken, you need to go to the hospital.”

“The hell I do.” The old woman spat, though All Might could tell the anger really wasn’t directed at him. The first ambulance that arrived had to take the villain in custody, where he would be treated under heavy guard. Vronskaya-sama had waived another ambulance coming to pick her up, stating she would wait until she actually talked to someone who “Could do something [Russian] useful”. (As she was allowing the paramedics to dress and treat her broken arm, All Might was fairly certain that meant she would wait to speak to the police).

“Vronskaya-sama, I know you’re concerned about Ka—your goddaughter—but can you think of anyone who would want to hurt her or your family?” The old woman took a breath.

“She’s a foster child, Inchka and I are the only family she really has. Sorry—Midorya Inko. Inchka’s a nickname.” She ran a hand through her salt-and-pepper hair. “The Strekoza’s doing fine, well in the green, but I am not a rich woman. And the only ones who might want to hurt Kai-chan for being Kai-chan were some of her old foster parents, the—“ she let out a string of Russian that All Might couldn’t understand, but recognized the ire and venom in the way they were spoken.

“Please—“ the woman grabbed his wrist. “She’s just a little girl.”

“I swear to you, I’m going to do everything in my power to get your goddaughter back.”

And it not, All Might thought to himself, I’ll make damned sure the ones who took her live just long enough to regret it.

Inko was in hour twenty-one of listening to Russians angst over love and marital infidelity when she got the call.

The Purple Hawk gang was on its last leg. Starting with getting drugs out of Mustafa Park, the Jade Mantis had been chipping away at the Purple Hawk’s influence in the neighborhood. Right now, the gang that had once held Mustafa in a near-unbreakable chokehold was barely clinging by their fingernails. That causes stress, and people tend to fall back into bad habits when they’re stressed.

Like spending a considerable amount of time at a racetrack. Inko was pretending to gamble while she carefully watched one of the Hawks’ top lieutenants

“Vronskaya, what’s up?”

“Kai’s been abducted.”

Inko nearly dropped the phone. “…what.”

“There was a fake delivery, a smoke bomb that knocked out Yagi-san—“

“Wait, Blondie was there?” She asked in Russian.

“Long story. It happened barely thirty-five minutes ago, I called the police first.” She had continued in Japanese, that meant that there were people around, people that could overhear. “Inchka, I’m so sorry to drop this on you while you’re off on your business trip but you had to know…”

Business trip. That meant that Inko now had a reasonable alibi for not being there. Me being out of the country would give me more time, but harder to prove. The train ride from Hokkaido prefecture to Tokyo is about 8 hours…

“I’ll come back from Hokkaido as soon as I can, but it might take a few hours.”

That meant Jade Mantis could get to work.

Fuck these assholes I’m finding my kid.

(It didn’t even occur to Inko to question why she thought of Kai as ‘her kid’)

Mustafa Police Station

“Alright everyone listen up! With kidnapping cases the first twenty-four hours are vital if we want this child found alive. All Might was at the scene when the kidnapping occurred, and will therefore be assisting with the investigation. He’s currently with one of his CI’s to track down a lead on one of the suspects.”

The Jade Mantis effortlessly dislocated the man’s pinky finger.

“Where is she?” The vigilante demanded, low, and intense. She wasn’t yelling, no, yelling meant that they were getting to her. They had tried to do this the polite way, but when no one had given anything up, she had resorted to knocking heads together as All Might just stood there looking menacing.

Once upon a time (actually, only a few years ago) All Might had tried to set some rules for when they would team up. Number one: no one dies. (Easy, Jade Mantis didn’t kill). Number two: he took the lead (difficult, the hero’s heart was in the right place, but it was obvious he didn’t know how to navigate the criminal underworld, not the way she did). Now here they were, her taking the lead on an investigation to find her freaking kid, and with All Might standing behind her like a freaking Colossus, in silent support. (It would almost make the vigilante’s heart stutter, if she wasn’t so dead-set on finding Kai).

The reason that they were talking to this particular guy was because he was one of the top money launders in the neighborhood. Whether you’re a heroine dealer, a thief, or hired muscle, you need someone to clean your money. Which makes a good money launderer the closest thing you can get to a Yellow Pages for criminals.

“Nothing! I don’t know nothing honest!”

“Yeah, I’m gonna call bullshit.” She pulled out the picture of the rabbit-woman, taken from the Strekoza’s surveillance cameras. “Because even if you don’t know her name, a quirk like that makes a person stand out in your particular social circle. So you’re going to tell me who she is, or direct me to someone who would know.”

They had name: Tabata Chimari. Her quirk, Jack-Rabbit, basically did what it said on the tin. She’d run a few jobs here and there, but was currently going freelance.

It took an arm-bar before the money launderer admitted that he’d actually hung out with her at a party once, and Tabata recommended this little diner downtown for some of the best pie in the city. “But that’s it, that’s all I know!”

“Don’t worry, I believe you.”

“Thank you.” All Might finalized, just as Jade Mantis knocked the money launderer out with a baton. He was polite like that.

“Downtown?”

“Downtown. A career perp like Tabata is going to see a uniform a mile away. The cops come, she’ll clam up and try to leverage anything she knows as a plea bargain—and what are you doing?”

All Might was crouched down. “The fastest way there would be as a crow flies—and I can jump a lot better than you can.” He patted his shoulder. “Climb on.”

As fun as it was hearing All Might asking her to climb him, Jade Mantis just quirked an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“Unless you’d prefer a princess carry.”

The vigilante scoffed, but complied. When they lifted off, she may have half-strangled All Might and screamed in his ear for a few seconds, but that was the adrenaline.

Mustafa Police Station

“Here’s what we know—at 4:05 pm, a suspect disguised as a deliveryman entered the Strekoza under the guise of an alcohol delivery. When Vronskaya-san called out oddity of the situation and confronted the suspect, things got violent. A strange pink gas filled the restaurant, which incapacitated All Might and other males there. The suspect used his quirk to have a gas mask cover his face. Vronskaya-san and young Morita were not affected, and she attempted to engage the perpetrator and told the girl to run. Unfortunately, another suspect was lying in wait by the door. She grabbed Morita-san, before then taking of in a silver SUV with a getaway driver. The Strekoza’s security camera only managed to snag the last two digits on the license plate, so we’re currently doing searches of that make and model, along with canvases of the street to see if anyone else may have seen something. It’s a long shot, but one worth taking.”

“Here are our current two suspects: the first, Nonaka Ieyasu. His quirk Costume Change allows him to teleport different types of clothing onto his own body. He has a long rap sheet, mostly petty theft and a few fences. He’s currently in the ICU at Tokyo General after the godmother slammed his head into her bar, so we won’t be able to talk to him for awhile.”

Sakura waited patiently over Nonaka’s bedside. She had been sloppy, and she knew it. In her recklessness to end the fight, she had temporarily cut off a source for answers as to what happened to Kai.

How she would play this would mostly depend on how…cooperative Nonaka was. He would play coy, at first certainly. Then she’d bend a few fingers to prove she meant business. Maybe he’d hold out for a bit, that would tell her how much he feared the one who gave the orders. But she’d break him.

She wasn’t once nicknamed ‘the Sledgehammer’ for nothing. And right now? This guys’ kneecaps were starting to look like nails.

Jade Mantis was a woman of many talents. Instead of entering the diner guns blazing and demanding where Tabata was, she took a breath and calmed herself. Taking off her domino mask (had she always had such deep green eyes?), she zipped up her leather jacket, pulled a medical mask over her mouth and suddenly looked indistinguishable from the other civilians. Social camouflage, he remembered her calling it.

Through the diner windows, he saw her flash a smile at the waitress and start a what looked like a friendly conversation. Her entire body language had completely changed from ‘stressed-out and angry vigilante’ to ‘overworked and just got off the night shift’. The waitress poured the vigilante a cup of coffee, and seemed to gesture over to the clock. Jade Mantis pulled down her mask to take a sip, and All Might looked away. (Politeness, he justified, professional politeness.)

Half an hour later, Tabata Chimuri showed up, her rabbit ears making a distinctive silhouette. The door to the diner opened with a chime, and Jade Mantis didn’t immediately react. Instead, she took another drink of coffee, looked at the menu, and looked over at the rabbit-woman with an expression almost like boredom. She then very publically stretched and headed over to the bathroom—that was the signal.

Toshinori entered the diner, jacket only half-way zipped up over his hero uniform and a baseball cap angled in just the right way for his iconic bangs to poke through. He looked like he was trying to not attract attention, while knowing he’d be immediately recognizable to anyone who’d spare a second glance. And given the fact that Tabata had just helped kidnap a kid, she’d be paranoid enough to take one look at him and get out of there—right to where Jade Mantis would be waiting.

He plastered on a smile and opened up the door. The waitress visibly doubled back when she saw him, and soon he had both her and the short order-cook in attention, asking for autographs, and telling him what big fans they were. (They didn’t notice Tabata all but run out of the back entrance, but All Might caught it out of the corner of his eye)

When he managed to politely finish a cup of coffee (and free slice of apple pie the star-struck night waitress had all but shoved down his throat), he found the rabbit-quirk user hog tied with Jade Mantis pressing her face up against the brick wall—the domino mask was back on, but the metaphorical gloves were off.

He could hear her as he silently made his way closer.

“You see? This is me just doing my due diligence as the neighborhood vigilante. You don’t want to see me when I get invested.”

“Fuck you,” the criminal spat.

“I wish, but unfortunately the only way I get fucked is by people like you, who apparently think,” she pulled the woman’s head back “that kidnapping,” she slammed the woman’s forehead against the brick wall, “is okay.”

All Might didn’t let himself flinch when he heard something ‘crack’.

“Alright! Alright! I don’t have a name, everything was done over the phone. I was just supposed to help set up the gas canisters, wait outside, and grab the kid. The van let me out a few blocks away, and took her someplace else.”

“And then?”

The criminal spit blood and saliva down on the ground. “Depends, how much is it worth to you?”

“Depends, how attached are you to your pinky finger?” It was in a completely deadpan tone, but All Might knew she was completely serious.

“Fine! I got a glimpse at the GPS, they were headed out to some big office building in Roppongi.”

“What building?“

“I don’t know—“

“You’ve been awfully liberal with the ‘I don’t knows’, I doubt your kneecaps will appreciate it.”

“I said I don’t know! I really don’t! I just got a glimpse of the address.” The criminal insisted, and All Might was beginning to believe her. Still, Jade Mantis held her grip on the rabbit’s head, firmly pressing it back up against the wall.

“I think that’s enough, I think you’ve gotten all you can out of her.“ He placed a hand on the vigilante’s shoulder. He felt the metal prongs of a tazer against his neck, and took a long look at Jade Mantis. The lenses in her domino mask covered her eyes, but he could tell now that she was on edge and would run herself into the ground if she didn’t stop to take a breath. Wordlessly, she placed the tazer back in her utility belt and pulled out a small, black canister.

“I doubt pepper spray is going to—“ The vigilante sprayed it in Tabata’s face, and the woman slumped like a marionette with all of her strings cut. “—oh, never mind.” Jade Mantis then wordlessly tied the rabbit quirk criminal to the fire escape, and started walking away without so much as a glance in his direction.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

“Roppongi, obviously. Now if we’re done with the stupid questions we should get thermal sensors out there and—“

Having just learned his lesson about touching Jade Mantis, All Might instead flipped up and over the vigilante’s head, landing in front of her. The vigilante made an adorable ‘oop’ noise as she walked face-first into his chest. Then she took a few steps back and was glaring at him. “I know you’re angry—“ He began.

“That does not begin to describe what I am.”

“—but you need to keep a cool head. You can’t rescue Morita-chan if you let your rage blind you to other potential clues.”

She swatted his hand away. “Oh, like you? Were you so busy being with your ‘cool head’ that you let this kid get snatched right from under your stupid blond nose—“

“You think I’m not mad?” He interrupted. “Of course I’m mad. But right now that’s not going to help us find Morita-chan. We have suspects, lines of communication to investigate, and now a possible location to start looking. I hold onto that instead, because that is what can help us right now.”

The vigilante huffed, almost pouting, before wiping some of the blood off her leather jacket. “It’s just…the thought of her, out there, on her own, I—“ she took a deep breathe “—I don’t like it.”

Neither did he, but All Might didn’t want to break the moment by saying it.

Kai found herself floating on a sea of darkness.

The pain came in waves. Sometimes big, sometimes small. Sometimes she could almost feel the places that the pain originated. But always, the girl was helpless to do anything to stop that pain, and was instead forced to just…get through it.

Then she started hearing things, even as she was completely unable to open her eyes. Like this…beeping. A heart monitor, she thinks it was called.

“Oh, crap is the kid—“

“She’s starting to become conscious, increase the anesthetic dosage.”

“Sir, for a child this size I would not recommend—“

“Her quirk factor just burned through stuff that could knock out a small horse. Increase the dosage.”

Kai felt a cup go over her face, and things started going dark again.

Nedzu had been undercover less than twelve hours when he first saw Morita Kai.

He had been stuffed back into his ‘observation cell’ at MICAH only a few hours previously, trying to recover from the latest round of ‘experiments’. The shock collar and ankle brace chaining him to the floor were coldly familiar, but he’d been prepared for that. Even now, the animal hero was convinced that this was the only way that he could take them down, once and for all.

Nedzu had just added five new escape plans to his ever-growing mental catalogue when he saw the observation cell next to him being prepared. Each cell was made of a special material translucent material that allowed the scientists to observe subjects around the clock from the security cameras. It also allowed Nedzu an unobstructed view of what was happening all around him.

He watched, silent, as a cot was brought in to one of the larger containment cells and bolted to the floor.

He watched, curious, as they brought in children’s toys and coloring books, laying them out like surgical tools on a small plastic table.

He realized, horrified, as he began to faintly hear the cries and struggles of a small child in the next room (his hearing was much more sensitive than a human’s).

The animal hero didn’t allow himself the luxury of so much as moving a muscle as he saw a little girl being carried into that cell, wearing little more than a hospital gown. That little black band placed around her ankle was the same shock collar wrapped around Nedzu’s neck. She would wake up, confused and alone, in a place that would only ever bring her pain.

And for a moment, despite all of his genius, Nedzu had no idea what to do.

All Might would know. All Might would break out of here in an instant with a smile and some cheesy line, scoop the girl up in his arms and take them away. He would take this to police, because who wouldn’t believe the Symbol of Peace. No one ever accused him of lying, exaggerating, or ‘not being objective enough around humans’. All Might would make everything okay, or at least a lot better, just by his very presence.

Nedzu could not do that. He could not get them out of there (for now, even his most expedient escape plan would have them in here for another five hours), and he could not try to reassure the girl with an imposing presence and indomitable spirit. But he could maybe…make her feel less alone. Maybe that would be enough, for now.

MICAH Accelerated Research Division

Subject: Morita, Kai

Age: 8

Quirk: Triage, a combination of an information-sorting mental state and a healing ability. Exact method of healing currently unknown, but it does require skin contact, and some sort of yellow-gold energy.

Hypothesis:

1. That the subject’s Quirk factor creates and releases an as yet unknown substance that repair damage to organic matter.
2. That the substance or energy that comprises this healing factor can be studied and replicated artificially.

Background. Subject’s father, Morita Kyouya, had generously donated cells to research in the past. However with his passing, the subject entered the foster system and has therefore been difficult to reach. Healing Quirks are rare and should be studied as much as possible, as within them could be solutions from everything from autoimmune diseases to cancer.

Methods: Subject was removed from the custody of foster parents. Accelerated schedule the result of proposed budget cuts to the department. Proposed methods will take samples from tissue, blood, plasma, and bone marrow. Subject will be kept under sedation during such procedures. The subject will then be held in observation for an undetermined period to assess accelerated healing rate.

As yet, the subject’s quirk has only ever been used on themselves and other humans, whether or not it can cross the species barrier will give further evidence to the exact nature of the healing factor. For that purposes, subject N-500-Z has been brought in to asses not only it’s Biped Quirk, but also the cross-species healing properties.

Chapter Text

Kai woke up groggily and lazily. Not ready to face consciousness yet, she re-adjusted the blankets and curled back up on the mattress.

Wait, mattress? That was wrong, Jade Mantis’ apartment was too small for beds so they both slept on futons. Looking around, Kai then noticed that she wasn’t at Vronskaya’s apartment either. The walls were clear and the room was small, but empty.

Just as soon as she was about to cry, a voice started up.”

“Hello!” Kai looked up.

“Huh?”

“Over here.” Across the hall from her was a small, white figure in another cell. They were dressed in a simple hospital gown much like hers, but with a black collar around his neck.

“It’s me, your tiny mammalian neighbor.” They—he said, in an incredibly upbeat tone. Kai blinked, more than a little confused as to what was going on. “Am I a dog? A mouse? Or a bear?” He smiled, showing off pearly white teeth. “My true identity is—the Animal Hero: Nedzu!”

Kai couldn’t help it, she laughed a little bit. (She didn’t see the mammal start to perk up).

“Say, now that I’ve introduced myself, what’s your name?’

She swallowed. Well, they guy did say that he was a hero. “Morita Kai.”

“A pleasure to meet you Morita-chan.”

Despite knowing that he was a hero, and just being polite, the girl stiffened, just a bit. “Um…would you mind calling me Kai?” She shyly asked. “I like it better.”

“Not at all, Kai-chan.”

MICAH Accelerated Research Division

Log of Doctor Sonoda Utzuki

The subject’s healing properties are, to be frank…amazing. While under sedation, the quirk repaired multiple lacerations to the subject’s arms and legs, as well as marks left over from injection sites. It was amazing. Morita-san’s quirk could only repair damage to the epidermal layer of the skin, and he had to actively use his quirk on himself. Meanwhile, we were barely able to keep Morita-chan open at all during the procedures, as her quirk factor was constantly repairing surgical incisions. It also somehow caused her to work through the anesthesia, and start to wake up in the middle of surgery—we’ll need to do further tests.

Meanwhile, I wish that the containment units had audio, as well as visual surveillance, as when the girl woke up post-surgery, Nedzu started to talk to her. While they certainly could be planning something, we’re dealing with the intelligence levels of an eight year old girl and a rat. Okay, the rat is about as smart as the average twenty year old but the point still stands. Whatever lucky break he caught the first time around, there’s no way Nedzu’s getting out of here unless I—I mean, MICAH—allows it.

In another case update: The Kayama gas did not perform as expected. Apparently the ‘adjustments’ my co-workers made to try and make the unconsciousness cross the gender barrier didn’t work. Still, we learn from our failures as well as from our successes.

Speaking of which, now that we’ve finished testing Morita-chan’s self-healing abilities, it’s time to move on to see how her quirk affects others.

Controlling the flow of information was vital in a kidnapping case, both to the abductors and the police. If a criminal is smart, he’ll have it so each member of the team only knows enough to fulfil their part of the job, and nothing more. It gives them more time to prepare and possibly run if they decided that things were getting too close for comfort.

You also had to control the information that the kidnappers themselves knew. Sure, she could play the part of the desperate guardian for the TV cameras, begging for Kai back and promising anything for her return, if Sakura genuinely thought they were after a monetary ransom. But, as she wasn’t actually that rich, and there hadn’t been any contact demanding anything, it was safe to assume Kai was taken for other reasons.

The more the kidnappers think they’re in control and everything is going their way, the safer Kai was. That’s why the news had only reported that Kai was taken and Vronskaya Sakura was injured, and not that Nonaka and Tabata had already been taken into custody. Now, obviously these fuckers had no idea who they’d pissed off, otherwise they’d have sent better than this small fry.

“Where is Morita Kai?” She’d asked, the moment the kidnapper woke up.

He criminal took a moment to asses his bearings, and noted the way he was handcuffed to the bed. “I’m not going to say anything without my lawyer present.”

“Wrong answer.” Using Fault Line, Sakura had already identified the man’s weak points, and decided to start with his ribs.

“OW! What the fuck? Cops can’t—“

“Where is Morita Kai?”

“I said I’m not telling you shit!”

Next came the left kneecap.

“Stop it! Stop it!”

“Not until you tell me what I want to know.”

He wasn’t giving it to her. Right kneecap came next.

“OH MY GOD HOLY FUCK!” He yelled. My my, that boy had a healthy set of lungs. “I’LL TELL YOU! I’LL TELL YOU EVERYTHIN!”

“That a boy,” she praised.

“I don’t have a name! Everything was done over the phone. However, we were all paid cash in non-marked, non-sequential bills upfront. While I was counting mine, I found an ATM receipt in the envelope.” Could be a planted lead, or it could be a rookie mistake. But a lead’s a lead.

“And?”

“And, it said that the money was withdrawn from this one ATM in Roppongi. That’s all I know. I swear.”

“Hm…” Sakura took a moment to observe the man (and let him squirm). “I believe you.” She then punched him in the face to knock him out.

Flipping open her burner phone, she exited the room and signaled to her man guarding the door. The policeman nodded, and visibly relaxed, ending his concentration. Quiet Zone was such a versatile and useful quirk, it allowed its user cancel any and all noise originating from within a ten foot by ten foot area of their choosing. Two years ago, Yarasa had tried to use it to break in and rob the Strekoza’s cash register.

It was incredibly satisfying to see someone make the most of their second chance. Speaking of which—

“I have an update on the case.” She told Jade Mantis in Russian.

All Might indulged a yawn as he poured himself a cup of coffee. It was now two in the morning, and ten hours since Morita Kai had been abducted by an as-yet unknown party. He had returned to the Mustafa police station to rendezvous and discuss strategy with the officers on the case. Jade Mantis was apparently meeting with another contact in Mustafa Park, someone who could hopefully narrow down their search parameters (Roppongi wasn’t exactly a small area, after all). Jade Mantis’ tip on the ATM location had helped, but it was going to take them a little bit to wake up a judge and get them to sign a warrant to see the withdrawal statements.

It was then that a uniformed cop entered the bullpen, looking like he ran all the way up here.

“All Might! Detective Aoki! There might have a new lead.”

“Hm?”

“There’s a woman downstairs, claims to have information relevant to the kidnapping case.”

“Well then don’t just stand there bring her up.”

Kayama Teiko was a plain, dark haired woman in her late thirties. She seemed nervous, but more of an ‘uncomfortable’ rather than the guilty kind. All Might also noted that she was wearing fingerless gloves and long sleeves, despite the fact that it wasn’t that cold out.

He and one of the other detectives watched from behind the two-way mirror as Aoki interviewed the woman. (His coffee hadn’t even cooled down yet, with how fast things were moving)

“Now, Kayama-san, you mentioned having information relevant to the case?”

“Yes, I believe that my quirk was somehow used in the kidnapping case. The one with the little blonde girl.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“My quirk is called Somnanbulist, this pink gas comes out of my skin and puts other people to sleep—well, men, at least. When I saw the report on the news of a little girl being taken in a cloud of pink gas, I recognized it as my own.” All Might and the detective looked at each other room.

“Maybe she has relatives who could be involved?”

“Or maybe we should let her keep talking.” All Might suggested.

Detective Aoki pressed a handkerchief over her face, but motioned for the woman to demonstrate. Kayama removed one of her gloves, and a pink gas rose from her palm. She let it sit in the air for a few seconds before putting her glove back on. All Might recognized it instantly.

“Before I say anything else, you have to understand: I’m a paralegal and my husband can’t work much because of his health. So when I was approached with a way to get his heart medication at a reduced price, I took it.”

“Please elaborate on that for me.”

“MICAH.” All Might froze.

“I beg your pardon?”

“The Medical Institute for the Continued Advancement of Humanity. It’s full of scientists that study quirks, and stuff.” She rubbed the back of her hand with her thumb. “They approached me about two months ago, saying that if I helped them with a bit of their research, I could get my husband’s pills at a reduced cost.”

The detective continued talking to the witness, and as All Might listened he could feel the pieces starting to come together in his head. MICAH was the organization whose scientists had discovered and experimented on Nedzu. The mammal had eventually managed to escape, and told some other heroes what had happened. There had been an investigation, and the scientists had been charged with animal abuse, and the stain of unethical behavior was likely to blacklist them from any self-respecting research institute. At least, that was the story.

All Might admitted that he wasn’t the best at reading Nedzu—years of torture had made him paranoid about revealing his true feelings—but even he could tell that the animal hero hadn’t been pleased with the outcome of the trial.

“Thank you for coming to use, Kayama-san.”

“Really, you shouldn’t. Though, there is one thing…my daughter, Nemuri. She wants to be a hero and is applying to UA in February. This won’t…affect her chances, will it?”

The detective blinked. “I don’t believe so. Nothing you actually described was in any way illegal,” Though if MICAH was involved, then it would constitute as something like weapons manufacturing. “Thank you for your time.” The woman nodded, and was then escorted out by another officer.

Aoki sat back in her chair, collecting her thoughts. “So, what do you think?”

“It’s not an unreasonable theory. MICAH has a history of employing those who perform unethical experimentation. Morita Kai is a girl from a lower class neighborhood, and no living family. Perhaps they thought that her foster parents wouldn’t try to look for her?”

“Hm. Well, as the kidnappers haven’t made contact with any sort of demands for ransom, my next theory was some sort of human trafficking. With the kid’s healing quirk though, it’s easy to see why an organization obsessed with advancement might want to try and test it to start some sort of ground-breaking medical research. But it’s the kidnapping that rubs me the wrong way. Why go to all of that trouble abducting the kid when you could just…I don’t know, offer money or something?”

That briefly reminded him that they hadn’t heard anything from the girl’s foster mother in a while. He brushed the thought aside. Midoriya Inko had been almost immediately dismissed as a suspect. While, yes, the majority of kidnapping cases are perpetrated by parents (often with histories of domestic violence), Midoriya Inko was a single foster mother, who by all accounts was trying her best to provide a safe home for Kai. As crazy as it was, evil scientists kidnapping a girl to study her quirk was the most reasonable theory they had right now.

Aoki sighed, and left the interview room. Just as All Might was heading out to follow her, his cellphone began to buzz. After three rings, it stopped. That, combined with the fact that the number was blocked, told him that it was Jade Mantis trying to contact him. He hung back, shut the door, and tried the number.

Jade Mantis picked up three rings later.

“Ah, my favorite confidential informant. Any progress on your end?”

“My contact is spreading the word through her agents. Word travels fast, but we should know if they have anything in about an hour. In the meanwhile, we’ve got an additional two-hundred or so eyes out there looking for Kai-chan.”

“Two hundred?” He smiled, “You continue to surprise me with these ‘contacts’ of yours, my friend.” Even after almost four years of working together, All Might really knew very little about the Jade Mantis and how she operated. When they had first met on that arson case, everything about her had screamed a self-taught do-gooder trying to shoulder her neighborhoods’ problems all on her own. Then, she’d disappeared for an entire month, and came back with military-grade equipment, a fighting style that could best be described as ‘brutal, but efficient’, and a much better handle on her quirk.

After that, she abruptly hung up. All Might stared at the phone for a few moments. When he went bac out to the bullpen, Aoki was there with a mug of coffee in her hand.

He gestured to his cellphone, probably needlessly. “That was my contact,”

“Right.” The detective nodded. “You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. How do you think that the Jade Mantis got as good as she is?”

“I…beg your pardon?”

“C’mon, it’s basically an open secret that the two of you work together sometimes.” All Might blinked. He had no idea that the police would have this much of a laid-back attitude towards the vigilante, even if she had been operating for about four years now.

“Well, she has a valuable form of insight as a…criminal.” He lightly tested the waters there.

The detective rolled his eyes. “Please, if you honestly believed that, I doubt you’d be working with her on a case this sensitive. But that doesn’t answer my question,”

“Well, uh, whenever I try to ask, she kind of keeps changing the story.”

I was functionally homeless through most of high school, and once knife-fought a homeless man over a bench.

A former Russian spy took me under her wing, and taught me her ways.

An old troll kept breaking my ribs and pushing me off of rooftops. (That last one actually made him call Gran Torino and ask if the retired hero had been training vigilantes in his spare time. The old man had only laughed for five minutes straight.)

“…but whatever it is, I’m pretty sure she got to this level of skill the same way most pros do: hard work. I can tell that she works to improve herself, all while keeping her own limits in mind. Though with this case in particular, I worry about her.” The detective was silent, leaving

“Wow, It’s almost like you’ve got a crush on her or something.” Aoki commented before taking a drink of coffee.

!!!!

“What? No! Detective it’s not like that at all please understand we’re professionals. Yes, she’s a talented vigilante, and I admire her dedication to the neighborhood but that does not mean I have feelings for her.”

The detective gave him a blank look, but didn’t say anything else about it.

Nedzu had been in the middle of lecturing the girl the first time he was taken away. What had started out as a simple talk about Russian verb conjugations (Kai-chan was apparently learning the language from someone she called Vee-san) had jumped around from linguistics to history to sociology as the animal hero found himself discussing the training pros should have to properly work internationally. He could tell that Kai-chan was listening too, based on the way the girl asked questions when she didn’t know something, or to clarify a connection she’d made. It was incredibly satisfying to see her try to engage with what he was saying.

So satisfying, that Nedzu had essentially forgotten about asking the girl how she had ended up here, or start to probe the idea of an escape plan. Ah, well, better to reassure the girl first, and earn her trust before broaching the topic of escape.

The muzzle went on before anything else. (He had tried to bite Sonoda’s nose off once, and was probably still a little angry about that).

“Such a fascinating subject, really. Did you know that white streak in her bangs is actually vitiligo? Not related to her quirk genes whatsoever. Oh, right, vitiligo is when the skin looses its pigment cells.” Nedzu mentally rolled his eyes, sometimes it was rather annoying to pretend that he was only of above average intelligence, instead of his true genius.

“It was such a hassle, Morita Kyouya was such a nice test subject. Young and healthy, and just the right side of naïve. And to have that line of work suspended by a freak car accident?” Sonoda tsked. “But, when one door closes, another opens as they say. A colleague of mine has been doing a longitudinal study into the increased output of quirk factors, so perhaps this could also be of some use to him.”

Nedzu wasn’t looking at Sonoda, but was certainly listening to all of this very closely, trying to distract himself in the face of what was certainly going to be…unpleasant.

“Now, on for the next experiment with you…I’ve been meaning to get some brain tissue samples for awhile now. No need to worry, it’ll be a great chance for Morita-chan to show off her quirk.”

Well, shit this was going to hurt.

Kai was left alone for a long time after they took Nedzu away. The girl wasn’t really sure for how long, as there weren’t any clocks anywhere and all she could really do to measure time was the amount of coloring book pages she’d filled in.

She tensed the moment that she saw movement in her line of sight. It was one of the scientists or whatever, probably come to collect her.

“Morita-chan?” She tensed, but reminded herself to breath. Do what they say so they don’t get mad. Fighting back will only make it worse.

As they walked out of the windowless laboratory, Kai got a chance to get a look out of the great big windows in the main hallway. The guard had an iron grip on her right hand, but Kai was still free to look around. Then—there! On the perch of the window-washer sat a crow.

The bird looked at her and tilted its head. Corvids know faces, Mura-san had said, and talk to one another. You healed that one’s wing, now they all know you. Kai wasn’t entirely sure if Mura-san was talking sense, but let her left hand briefly glow with Triage for a few seconds, sure that no one was looking. She cancelled it out the moment someone stepped out and said “Morita-chan?”

“Right here.” The guard responded for her. Kai dismissed her glow, and hoped the bird understood, and would go back to Mura-san.

Kai activated her Triage the moment the hero returned to her line of sight. Multiple lacerations, tissue damage, electrical burns. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, Nedzu shifted, and Kai got a look at his right eye. To put it simply it was…bad. Really bad. Like horror movie poster bad. And she could tell that while on the other side of a two-way mirror.

“Ah, and the star of the hour has arrived.” Kai tensed again when she heard that voice. It was saccharine and condescending and fake. She disliked that man in the doctor’s coat immediately.

“Now then, Morita-chan, your quirk has a double nature, does it not? Tell me, what happens when you concentrate on him?”

As much as she would hate to do anything for these people Kai focuses, and re-reads over the diagnosis her quirk provided. “…he’s been burned, and, um, has cuts on his skin.” There, telling the truth, but still keeping a bit to herself. (Vee-san said the best lies are the ones that are mostly true). “Also his eye is, uh, bad.”

“Hm, indeed.” The doctor moved on. “So, why don’t you try and fix it for him, wouldn’t that be nice?” The absolute last thing that Kai wanted to do was go along with what they were suggesting but—she saw the way that Nedzu’s eye was bleeding, even without Triage. (It was like…a black hole, was there something even in the socket anymore?)

Kai walked into the room alone, feeling the eyes on her even with a mirror in the way. She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at them.

Carefully, she stepped forward to where Nedzu was huddled against the corner. She could hear the pro hero breathing, in and out. Kai would do that whenever she woke up from a nightmare, trying to stay silent so no one else would stir and yell at her (or in Jade Mantis and Vee-san’s case, get worried).

She stopped, about a foot away from where the pro hero was curled up. “Nedzu-san?”

The hero’s ears perked up. “…Kai-chan, what are you doing here?” He was trying to keep his voice upbeat for her, but failed miserably.

“They—I—“ she took a breath, planning her words. “You’re hurt, please let me heal you.” Nedzu’s ears twitched, before slowly turning around to face her. Kai tried to not react to badly, but she felt herself twitch back from the sight of Nedzu’s eye. It was...worse, up close.

“Is…is that your quirk?” He asked. Kai nodded.

“It’s called ‘Triage’, I can kind of…focus on people who are hurt and learn what’s wrong. Then, well…” she held her hands out, and called her power to her. Her blood vessels began to glow yellow, from the inside. “I can also touch people and heal them.”

She let the power stay in her arms for another few seconds, waiting for a sign from Nedzu. Kai knew what it was like for people to not respect your boundaries and treat you like a thing. So, she would try to give what little dignity she could to the animal hero.

The white-furred mammal stared at her for a long moment before nodding his head. Kai gently placed her hand over Nedzu’s eye, and let her power flow from her to him. After a few seconds, she drew her hand away, and he blinked. And blinked again, before the animal hero gingerly touched at the skin around his eye. Kai wasn’t talented enough with her quirk yet to heal others without some kind of scarring.

“I’m sorry.” She said, almost on reflex.

Nedzu looked at her again, considering.  “You have a very kind quirk, Kai-chan, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for.”

There was a quiet moment, a moment of something almost like peace, before the door opened and Kai was dragged away, kicking and screaming.

Nedzu moved to try and help, but he felt the familiar jolt of electricity hit his neck, and the animal hero dropped back to the floor.

Nedzu paced up and down in his own cell as he waited for Kai’s return, his genius mind for once not helping as he theorized one of the various ‘experimentation’ methods used against the girl in order to test her quirk.

When she came back to her cell, Kai was the model of compliance, keeping her eyes downcast, and not saying a word. When the guard shut the door and left, she took one of the blankets off of the cot and wrapped them around her. Then, she started to cry. She was crying. And not big, wet sobs, but the gasps of someone who was crying and trying their best to not make any noise while they did so. Nedzu could feel his heart break, listening to that.

“I just wanna go home,” She eventually mumbled, apparently all cried out. Hearing that, Nedzu’s sadness began to give way for another emotion: rage. He allowed himself to indulge in that rage for a brief moment, imagining in visceral detail what it would be like to bash Sonada’s head in with a fire extinguisher. Then he forced it back down and turned his attention back to Kai.

“Hey,” he said, gentle yet loud enough for her to hear. Kai-chan looked up, eyes hot and red from tears. Low and firm, Nedzu started talking. It wasn’t about anything in particular at first, just idle chatter to try and calm her down. Then, he turned the topic towards the idea of escape, and—low and quiet—he proposed his plan.

“Now, I know that this is going to be scary, but if you distract him I should manage to take the security key off of his belt when they come to feed us.”

“I can just take it, if you want me to.”

“…I beg your pardon.”

“I know how to pick-pocket. Vee-san taught me how. We were actually in the park practicing before I got taken.” Nedzu made a very big mental note to check up on this mysterious ‘Vee-san’. Because while the animal hero admitted he didn’t have the best grasp on human child rearing, teaching a little girl how to pick pocket didn’t sound particularly normal. Or healthy.

“Hm…if it comes to that, perhaps.” Kai-chan seemed to light up at that, at the thought of being helpful.

“Kai-chan…is there anything else that you can do that I should know about?”

The little girl visibly wracked her brains for a moment. “Well, I think I’m pretty good at kicking people in the shins”

Nedzu just nodded. Of course. Of course she could.

“My mom taught me that. When all else fails, just kick ‘em in the shins and run.”

Okay, he seriously needed to meet this family. But first, he had to get Kai-chan out of here.

Chapter Text

“So, I think I know why Kai was taken.” Was the Jade Mantis’ greeting to Vronskaya, spoken in low Russian so as to not be overheard.

“Whose kneecaps will you be breaking?”

“Sonoda Utzuki’s if I’m right.”

“And you’re probably right, I didn’t train a slouch investigator.”

“You’re too kind, sensei,” The vigilante mumbled. “Anyway, as I was talking to some of my other sources, a homeless man said that he remembered seeing the van used to take Kai. He wasn’t a witness to the kidnapping, but he did see it a week ago near his tent. You see, free food and basic medical care is being offered to anyone willing to get poked and prodded by the MICAH organization.”

“Okay, I can start to see where this is headed.”

“It’s all very hush-hush, but people with the more useful or unique quirks are asked to stay the night for ‘further testing’, and don’t come back for a few days. I read in the paper about how the organization’s funding was going to get cut due to a lack of feasible results, as there were plenty of other quirk research laboratories. I didn’t make the connection immediately, but when I looked back at those emails they sent, I saw that they wanted Kai to be part of some big study and that it would take a few days but I would be compensated in time. They also attached several waiver forms that, reading the fine print, I saw made references to invasive surgery, as well as taking blood and bone marrow samples.”

“…isn’t that the really painful one where they shove a needle into your spine.”

“Yep.”

Vronskaya let out a string of curses that Jade Mantis mentally echoed.

“So, what, Kai’s supposed to be the goose that lays the golden egg? How did they even know about her?”

“Her father, Morita Kyouya, donated some samples before he died and was a part of that project. Which was headed by Dr. Sonoda Utzuki. I read up on him, and the guy’s an egotistical glory-hound at best, and an outright sociopath at worst. And apparently doesn’t like it when people say no to him.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Vronskaya asked, after a beat.

“I’m gonna wait for confirmation from Mura-san if her birds saw anything in the main building, because she could be here, or they could have moved her to another location. When that happens. I’m going to call All Might to see if I can count him for backup. Either way, rescue the princess from the dragon.”

“You know he technically can’t do anything without a warrant. Symbols of Peace do have to set the standard of playing by the rules and all.”

“Eh, he’s smart. He’ll find a loophole or a way to conveniently be in the area. If not, you taught me how to be more than capable at handling this on my own.”

“Yes I did, though are you sure you don’t want me tagging along?” Vronskaya asked.

“No, you’re arm’s still broken.”

The older woman tsked. “I’ve fought with worse.”

“I know, but…well, someone has to stay there. If only to make the police feel better.” There was more behind that, of course. The cops would find it rather suspicious if they both disappeared for a time, and that would just raise more headaches.

“It’s annoying, how often we have to cater to their feelings.”

Jade Mantis gave a low chuckle. “Yeah…” She took a long, deep breath. “But we’re so close, I can feel it.” She looked up at the Roppongi skyscraper, MICAH Tower (built in slightly more affluent days) was about 40 stories tall, and Kai could be almost anywhere in there. The thought of the little girl alone and scared gnawed away at Inko’s chest. She hated it. She hung up on Vronskaya, still hating it, but letting that feeling strengthen her resolve. Jade Mantis was going to rescue Kai, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop her.

There was a flutter of wings. Inko turned around, and saw two magpies staring intently at her.

How did that creepy old rhyme go? One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy? The thought of if this was Mura-san’s work or just paranoia was settled when a third bird landed, a piece of paper held in its beak.

Jade Mantis squatted down, holding out her gloved hand. The magpie carefully placed the note in her hand, and then waited.

The hatchling was seen cooped up on the 24^th floor, less than half an hour ago.

Jade Mantis felt a wolfish grin spread over her face. “And we have liftoff.”

Mustafa Police Precinct

“Yes, I admit that MICAH and the use of Kayama-san’s gas was suspicious, but they’ve been losing their government funding, so perhaps they cut some corners with their security system and our kidnappers used that to take the gas.” Detective Aoki said, even though All Might could tell that she was only presenting reasonable doubt.

Still the hero sighs to himself and rubs his eyes. Twelve hours after the Morita abduction and it felt like they were hitting their head against a wall.

“…did anyone take samples of Kayama-san’s gas?” All Might asked. While he wasn’t a detective, he was used to pursuing his own investigations as a hero.

One of the other officers made a sleepy nod. “Yeah, forensics already matched it to the residue inside the containers.”

“And there’s nothing on them that could tie them back to MICAH? Not a label or…”

“Nope. They were modified from the kinds of canisters used to disperse tear gas, but it’s not exactly hard to replicate.”

“I’ve gone over these account statements three times already, and at no point does any one withdraw the amount of yen Nonaka said he was given as an upfront payment.”

A metaphorical lightbulb went off in Toshinori’s head. “Wait, what about one card holder that made withdrawals several times throughout the day?”

“Huh?”

“ATMs have withdrawal limits, so whoever was doing this couldn’t get the money all at once, and getting this amount of cash at once would be bound to draw some stares. So, look through that report again, checking for cards that withdrew the maximum account they could, and hopefully at several times throughout the day.”

“Yes sir,” the officer gave a sharp salute, and turned back to his desk.

“How come we didn’t think of that?” He heard one of the detectives whispering to the others.

“Because it’s three-thirty in the morning and he’s All Might.”

All Might had known that Jade Mantis was…not okay. There was a certain type of person who became a vigilante, and they usually had some sort of trauma lurking around in their past. Someone they cared about was hurt or killed, or there was an injustice went uncorrected. Perhaps this was why she was working herself so hard to find Morita-chan—she saw herself and her own childhood trauma in the girl, and wanted to be there for her in a way that no one had been for the vigilante.

Hence the low groan of rage when All Might tells her that they can’t knock down doors and start hauling people away based on the word of a crow—no matter how smart corvids were scientifically documented to be. (What? He reads.) It was frustrating, especially with Morita-chan in danger like this, but they had to follow the rule of law.

“Look, with the information we have available, the only thing we could get a warrant for where Kayama-san’s gas samples were kept. It’s not much, but it at least gets our foot in the door.”

“Good thing I don’t care about warrants.”

“Jade—“

“See you later, Blondie.” She hung up on him.

“—don’t.” All Might sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. As odd as it was, but sometimes he honestly forgot that Jade Mantis was a vigilante, and not an underground hero or a freelancer. He suppose she was, if you expand the definition of ‘freelance hero’ to include people who don’t even have a license to begin with.

He could respect where she was coming from with this, but heroes were supposed to be the examples. As the Symbol of Peace, it was vital that he followed all the proper procedures in using his powers and being a hero. He knew that better than anyone did. But this wasn’t something minor, like incident reports. This was getting a warrant to do a search legally, so that the people that did this could be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and not get out of due punishment on a technicality.

There was another message alert on his phone, and All Might quirked an eyebrow as he saw it was from Nedzu’s email account. The same one that had been used to contact him yesterday.

Dear All Might,

I set this message on a timer, so failing to delete it means that I am most likely still undercover. Oh, and by undercover I mean that I allowed my former tormenters to re-kidnap me so I could gather evidence and shut down MICAH once and for all. The reason I told none of you this is because I noticed that most heroes seem to think of me as paranoid and odd.

I am most likely being held at the Roppongi main headquarters, if not here are several other possible locations, the addresses and relevant maps are attached as PDF files.

Also, please come rescue me.

--Nedzu

Okay, good to know. Because it’s not like this situation was sensitive and complicated enough as it already was.

Nedzu had no idea what time it was. There were no clocks or windows in the holding area, and the lights were still on so all two captives had to go on were their own biological clocks. And even those were being thrown off with the drugs and other methods to keep them relatively compliant.

After the last round of ‘tests’ Nedzu and Kai had been allotted a short amount of ‘nap time’ to try and rest. This was also time most likely spent to prepare the labs for the next round of Sonoda’s off-kilter idea of ‘science’. It was maybe two or three hours, but it was enough time for the two of them to honestly just take a nap, and get ready for the trial ahead of them.

Knowing the schedule of these things all too well, Nedzu planned for them to escape the next time the guards came for Kai.

Right on time, the guard used his key card to open up the girl’s cell and step into her room. The girl flung herself, crying, at the guard’s leg. The man was taken by surprise, so much so that he didn’t realize that the girl had taken the key card off of his belt. When he gruffly asked her to stop and start walking, Kai took a moment to sniffle, wiping her face in her hospital gown as she hid the key card underneath there. Still not realizing that he’d been robbed, the guard grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the containment cell. Kai positioned herself to be on the man’s left side, and as they were walking, started crying a bit again to draw attention away from her dropping the contraband from her hospital gown, and sliding it over to Nedzu’s cell.

The hero had propped open the cell’s dinner hatch only a moment before with his foot. He stepped on the key card, hiding it from view as Kai continued her little scene. Seconds later, Kai was dragged out of the door, and Nedzu knew he wouldn’t have much time before their watchers knew something was wrong.

By his calculations, only two minutes eighteen seconds.

Taking the key-card, he used the clip to improvise a tool and swiftly unscrewed the back of the shock collar, finding the main battery. He ripped it out, the rush of adrenaline allowing him to work through the light shocks. And here Sonoda had praised it for being tamper-proof. Pathetic, really.

The cells were too thick for him to use the key-card to access his own cell, so instead the hero planned for the door to be opened for him when the guards game to wrangle a new shock collar on him. Which would be right about…now.

“C’mere you little—“ Nedzu jumped out of the cage, kicking the first guard in the face. Momentarily stunned, the guard backed off, allowing a window of opportunity that the animal hero leapt through. Landing on the back up guard, he latched onto his face and navigated the two into striking each other, dropping down at the last moment. He also grabbed the new shock collar, placed it on that guards arm, and relieved him of the remote control in quick succession.

Standing calmly in the room, he waited for that one to make a grab at him. He cranked the remote up to maximum, and the man dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. “And that’s how it feels.” He taunted.

The second guard still needed to be dealt with, so Nedzu smiled and quickly relieved the first guard of the stun gun they kept on their belt. Once more dodging the few more attempts at grabbing him, Nedzu aimed the stun gun and fired it into the second guard’s chest, sending him wriggling to the floor.

Well, now that unpleasantness was over, he could move on to rescuing Kai. He hoped All Might got his email, which would make this a bit easier.

Jade Mantis let All Might’s next call drop to voicemail. She was crawling through the MICAH office’s air ducts on her hands and knees, and had her burner phone on silent so as to not make noise at an inopportune moment.

Inko could probably guess what the message entailed. If it wasn’t an update on Kai (unlikely, she would have noticed the cops pulling up) or some sort of vital information on MICAH (in which case she could probably deal with it as she went), it was probably All Might trying to tell her not to do anything rash. And crawling through the air ducts with no backup and the bare outline of a plan probably counted as something rash.

The vigilante could hear the cheeseball now, saying something like: “Sometimes things are just beyond our control, and we have to work within the limitations placed on us.” Which would be a little weird considering he was usually all “Go Beyond! Plus Ultra!”. Inko could relate to that, from a certain extent. She had a non-combative quirk that she had to work at and actively think about how to use in combat, and it was limited by how much she herself could lift with her own muscles.

Would it have been way more convenient if her quirk was mega powerful, and allowed her to lift cars with ease? Yes. But the vigilante worked hard within her limits, and in her own way found a way to go beyond them. Now, she found that she could hold dozens of tiny things at once, so long as they all were within a certain weight. Now one of her special moves was to break glass and throw the shards at people with her quirk. All Might? All he probably had to do was figure out how to punch people in just the right way so he didn’t kill them, or damage the surrounding area too bad.

Inko came to a stop, seeing the massive spinning fans that were currently in her way. You know, the ones that actually circulated the air through the ducts she was currently crawling through. Great.

You know, that’s probably the difference between us, Blondie. Inko thought, eyeing up the ventilation fan. You come against a wall, you try to knock your head against it until it breaks. I look for a ladder. Taking out her spare baton, the vigilante jammed it into the spinning blades, stopping them in their tracks. She then barely managed to crawl through, but she got it, and pulled the baton back to her with her quirk once she was on the other side.

“Call dropped to voicemail.” All Might sighed, putting away his phone. He and Detective Aoki were driving towards the MICAH main headquarters, back up following in unmarked vehicles close behind them.

“We’re only a few minutes out from the office.” The detective spoke. “If Jade Mantis is smart, she’ll probably be sneaking in to try and grab Morita-chan and run out of there. And I have no idea if that is going to make things easier or more difficult for us.”

“Jade Mantis does march to the beat of her own drum.” All Might rubbed his eyes. “But if there’s anything I’ve learned from the last four years, it’s that she has a tendency to get herself right into the thick of things, and that the Jade Mantis always gets out.”

Kai gave a delighted smile when she saw Nedzu approach.

“Kai-chan!”

That girl’s smile turned downright predatory when she turned, striking that guard in the shins and groin in quick succession. He doubled over, and Nedzu supposed that there was more force than expected in those tiny fists.

“Very good.” Nedzu praised, taking her hand. “But let’s move.”

Not long into her trek, Jade Mantis noticed a splash of red, white, and blonde standing under one of the vents.

All Might. The vigilante registered, able to recognize those blonde bangs anywhere. She smiled, almost despite herself. She knew the big guy would find a way to come through for her. Currently, he seemed to be with a detective trying to serve a warrant to search the labs and the receptionist was giving them the run around.

Well, that wouldn’t do.

Crawling a bit further on, Jade Mantis soon found a gathering of three beefy looking men eating chips and discussing horseracing. Security guards by the looks of them. Were they involved in Kai’s kidnapping? Maybe. Was she still going to kick their asses? Oh most definitely.

Opening up the ceiling vent, the vigilante dropped down and landed right next to the three of them.

“Hello boys—“ she extended her baton. “Momma needs to express some rage.”

The receptionist had been trying to get them to leave or wait for a supervisor for over five minutes now when All Might heard it. Not too far way, someone was getting their ass handed to them.

“Did you hear that?” All Might asks, looking over at Detective Aoki. “It sounds like someone’s in distress.”

The receptionist tries again. “Detective, All Might, I’m sure everything is—“

There was a definite ‘crack’ and rather high-pitched yelling. “I AM IN DISTRESS.”

“Excuse us,”

All Might rushed through the door like a human wrecking ball, completely ignoring the lock. There, he saw Jade Mantis—almost predictably— fighting some people. She slammed one person’s face into the ground—probably the man that had let out the call of distress—and released the arm bar.

She threw her baton striking one person in the head. Then, Jade Mantis activated her quirk, and the baton struck the second person in the back of the head before returning to her open hand. Both swiftly fell unconscious to the ground.

“Hi.” She greeted, more baring her teeth than really smiling.

Before he could say anything else, another man rushed the vigilante., apparently intending to end what the–All Might counted up the unconscious bodies—four people before him had not.

All Might watched as Jade Mantis wrestled the security guard to the ground. To the ground and she’s small. It was like watching a baby lion take down a wildebeest. She pounced, grabbing him by the shoulders, lifting herself up, then lifting up her legs, slinging them around the man’s neck before dropping herself down and taking the man down with her. He was trapped between her legs, and she when she started strangling him with them, the guy was out in less than seven seconds.

She looked at him, laughing, and All Might felt a very odd…tightness, in his chest.

“Twenty-fourth floor, big guy, move it or loose it.” She cheered, running over to the stairwell.

Well, All Might couldn’t very well turn down a challenge like that, couldn’t he? Smiling, he chased after her.

Nedzu tried the key card at the doors at the end of the lab, but it kept being rejected, the light flashing red.

“Drat, it looks like they foresaw our movements and invalidated this keycard. It looks like we’ll have to ambush the next person who walks through this door in order to move forward.”

Kai opened up a nearby cabinet and started looking at the various chemical containers. The eight year old couldn’t really understand what she was reading, until she came to one particular bottle

Rat Pheromone—highly concentrated.

“Hey, Nedzu, what’s a pheromone?”

“Oh, it’s a chemical substance produced and released by an animal, it usually affects the behavior or physiology of others of its species.” Affects behavior…

“Like, could it make them fight?”

Nedzu briefly glanced over as Kai picked up the bottle. “No, I don’t believe so. It makes them rather…affectionate, if I remember correctly.”

Hm. Well if it makes rats affectionate, and most people don’t like rats… A plan blossomed in the young girl’s mind. She turned back around to face the hero, a smile starting to grow on her face as she outlined her idea. A manic grin spread across Nedzu’s features as he agreed.

Oh, this was going to be so much fun.

All Might soon overtook Jade Mantis on the stairwell, as a well-intentioned and physically fit vigilante no match for even 10% of One for All. (“Show-off” he heard her grumble as he sped upwards.)

In a matter of moments, All Might had bounded up from the tenth floor to the twenty-fourth. Jade Mantis had said that they were there, and as she generally had good sources of intel, that was as good a place as any to start looking. Coming to the first doorway to the labs, All Might listened carefully. Unable to hear anything, he forced the door open.

At first, he noticed that there was nothing in the room but cages upon cages of rats. Most likely testers for the lab. Then, he felt liquid slosh over him, and a bucket clack as it fell on the floor. It smelled…weird but hey people he had rescued before had puked on him a handful of times he could deal with it. This was probably one of Nedzu’s little traps or something. No big deal.

Then, All Might heard a ‘clack’ of metal, as over twenty cage doors swung open as one.

The rats—the rats were everywhere! Crawling all over his body, nibbling at his costume—goddamit it seemed that for every one that All Might managed to fling away, about a dozen more came to assault him. Oh god they were everywhere!

Then, he heard the sounds of two beings engaged in maniacal laughter.

Jade Mantis was only about two minutes behind him as she stopped for breath on the landing of the twenty-third floor. Goddamn that show-off. She was about to move to follow him when the door swung open, and a hurried looking man ran into her. She stopped him effortlessly.

They blinked at each other for a moment, before recognition set in and Jade Mantis’ eyes hardened. Doctor Sonoda Utzuki had just run into her while trying to make his escape. It was almost like fate had decided to give her a little treat.

“Oh,” Jade Mantis extended her baton. “I am going to enjoy this.”

The scientist tried to attack her, but it was obvious he had no idea how to fight. He went high, she went low, sliding down and striking at his shins. The scientist have a hiss of pain, and that made the Jade Mantis smile.

Using her baton, she parried his arms away from her, and brought her right combat boot down on his knee. Feeling the kneecap dislocate underneath her heel, Jade Mantis disengaged and let the man fall to the ground. She then flanked, and placed her foot right over his windpipe.

He pulled a scalpel, apparently intending to stab her in the ankle. Jade Mantis used her quirk and pulled the blade to her like it was nothing.

“Ah ah ah, watch it, or I might get mean.” She added a bit of pressure on her boot, just for some extra convincing. Before she could so much as get out a ‘where is she’ there was a loud, obnoxious laugh coming from the near vicinity.

“I AM HERE! With Nedzu and Young Morita!” All Might came down the stairs with a white-furred…person and Kai tucked into each of his arms. Both were wearing little more than hospital gowns, and were clinging to the tree of a pro hero. Kai recognized her immediately, the little kid lighting up visibly. Then she seemed to remember herself, and kept her mouth closed.

“I can—gurk.”

“You don’t get to talk,” Jade Mantis emphasized, pressing down again on Sonoda’s throat. “And Morita Kai…” Inko finally let herself take a breath, and felt the weight just slump right off of her shoulders. “I’ll see you later, okay? I’m sure your mom is just worried sick about you.” Kai nodded, and Jade Mantis hauled Sonoda to his feet. She had dislocated only one of his kneecaps so that he could technically still walk.

“One moment please,” the small, rat-like figure spoke up. Oh, right, Nedzu. She’d have to ask about that later. “I would like to say something.”

All Might nodded, and the small mammal took a brief moment of silence before addressing Sonoda.

“I hope you think of us when you’re in prison. Because we will most certainly never think of you again. You and MICAH will become little more than a blip on the radar, and in the span of a month, no one will remember either of you.”

Full of dignity, Nedzu turned up his nose at the man.

Kai, meanwhile, stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry.

Years Later…

Nedzu re-read the email again, even though he already had the words memorized.

You are invited to celebrate Morita Kai’s graduation from Tokyo University Medical School, a small gathering will take place at the Strekoza Restaurant in Mustafa, starting at 1pm. Food and alcohol will be provided.

The principal smiled to himself, and allowed himself to indulge a bit of pride. But how could he not? He had watched the girl grow up, blooming from a child in need of saving into someone who saved others. As principal, it was his duty to oversee the growth and education of hundreds of children, and he felt no shortage of pride upon seeing them graduate, grow and succeed in their chosen fields. But this? This was a bit more personal.

Despite the general expectation for graduation gifts to be cash, Nedzu had a pair of sleek, black tonfas wrapped up and hidden away in his desk drawer. The girl had enjoyed training and fighting with them during her internship, as even a support hero had to know how to defend themselves. The weapons were simple, but excellent for attacking and defending in close quarters. These particular tonfas were modified to be collapsible for ease of storage and movement. Nedzu would have to thank Power Loader somehow…perhaps wiggling the budget around for that 3D printer he could tell the hero was eyeing?

He was drawn from his thoughts by the buzz of the intercom, “Principal Nedzu? All Might’s here to see you.” Ah, another sign of how things were changing.

“Thank you, let him in.”

The door to his office opened cautiously, and Nedzu greeted his old colleague with a smile and a nod as the hero sat down on the sofa. How the years had flown by, for all of them. He soon powered down into his normal form, releasing smoke and a cough.

“Nedzu *cough* good to see you, old friend.”

“You as well, All Might. Tea?” He gestured to the prepared pot, with a choice of several brands appropriate for someone without a stomach.

All Might nodded, and Nedzu talked as he prepared two cups of tea. “Once again, I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to force any kind of decision here. I just believe that UA would be an excellent place for you to look for and find a successor. My feelings won’t be hurt if you say no.”

The hero sighed. “No, I’ve given your offer a lot of thought, and I think that it’s probably the best course I can take right now. UA’s the best of the best when it comes to hero training, and I’m unlikely to find a better choice for a successor. However, there is something that I am a bit worried about,” All Might paused. “Well, I’ve never actually…really…taught anyone before. If my cover here is as a teacher I’ll have to actually teach.” Nedzu placed a warm up of tea in front of him, and the hero cradled it in his hands.

“Oh, that can be solved. You’ll simply have to gain a teaching license. I imagine with the amount of time that will take, you won’t actually be able to join the faculty until the next school year. After all, it’s never too late to learn something new.” All Might didn’t look completely convinced. “For example, take the other new hire next semester: Doctor Night.” He smiled, thinking of her in her new blue hero uniform with the doctor's coat. “She was a medical student at university, with absolutely no experience in a hero course when she decided to start pursuing the idea of becoming one professionally."

“Oh, that’s nice, I—“

“Amazing really, because she did most of her training and gained her provisional license all while still attending medical school, and keeping her grades in such a state that she was consistently in the top 5% of her class. She only gained her full hero license a month ago, and she just graduated from university last week. With honors I might add.”

“You seem…rather excited about her, sir.” Excited? Nedzu had the offer of employment typed up and waiting in his outbox the minute Kai asked him about being a hero. And that was several years ago. She had done things a bit slower than the other students, but Vronskaya’s training in…say…roguish activities as well as Russian martial arts had laid most of the ground work years ago. All he really had to do was give a few pointers and watch the girl grow.

“She still technically has to do her residency, be we managed to work it out so that Recovery Girl will be her attending physician. A good year of working in the field as a support hero, and then she’ll come and work at UA in the nurse’s office. With her and yourself joining the staff, I can already tell that next year is going to be rather exciting, wouldn’t you agree?”

All Might just kind of nodded along.

Chapter Text

The Children’s Hospital Ball was one of the biggest fundraisers in the Tokyo charity circuit. It gave a chance for the upper crust in Japan—old money and some of the top pro heroes—to rub elbows, dress up fancy and often discuss the latest gossip. Yagi Toshinori hated going to it.

Unfortunately, Daiho Eden, business manager of the All Might Hero Office, was never one to accept a straight ‘no’ for an answer. (At least, not when it came to business).

“No.”

Eden sighed, rubbing her forehead in annoyance. “Yagi-san, you are a grown man. Stop acting like a petulant child.” She’d tried being nice and reassuring for the past two days. When that hadn’t worked, she’d moved on to just showing up in his office with a tailored suit and telling him what was going to happen.

Normally, he was indeed adult enough to just grin and bear it but you have to understand: he really didn’t want to go. “Aren’t I technically your superior?”

“Oh, I’m sorry boss,” Daiho drawled out, voice dripping with sarcasm. “I suppose I just forgot about that between handling all of the merchandizing agreements, going over contracts, going over expense reports, doing our taxes, and making sure everyone in the office gets paid.”

Toshinori sighed, they both knew he didn’t have a head for business but there was no need to be so rude about it. “You know I hate rubbing elbows with those people.” Not that he was a wallflower by any means, by there was a very particular and very snoody group of people that attended these things, and he wasn’t fond of dealing with socialites more than he absolutely had to.

“Well, unfortunately the upper class of Tokyo just love rubbing elbows with you. And it gives me a chance to network and overhear juicy little details that are great for determining business propositions. You ducked out last year, but short of a giant robot attack, you’ll have to attend this one. Just smile, look pretty, nod along, and maybe tell a couple of funny anecdotes.”

Well, looks like he’s lost this particular battle. Might as well try to negotiate a surrender he could get something out of. “Ugh, two hours, maximum.”

“Hm, a little short but I’ve worked with less”

“I don’t have to go to the next one.”

“Reasonable.”

“And I’m not dressing up in a silly costume.” He’d seen the invitation, this year’s theme was a full on French-inspired Masquerade.

“As opposed to your day job, wherein you dress up in a completely non-silly costume.” Daiho deadpanned, lightly teasing him. “But there’s no need to worry on that particular front.” She gestured to the black outfit bag. “Three piece suit, a particular shade of blue to match your aesthetic, and nice black shoes.”

Toshinori nodded. With any luck, this would be a completely boring and uneventful evening, and he could leave as soon as possible.

“The Children’s Hospital Charity Ball is going to be robbed.” Vronskaya said by way of greeting. Inko was in the warehouse, trying to Frankenstein together some parts she’d found on the beach junkyard.

The vigilante blinked, putting down the screwdriver. “Uh…okay?” Instead of continuing with the whole robbery thing, the Russian walked over, looking over the parts strewn over Inko’s workbench.

“Pliers, cable ties, mother board…I had no idea computer building was a hobby of yours.” The older woman remarked, curiosity lilting with her accent.

The telekinetic grabbed her water bottle and gestured over to the opened book laying off to the side. “The university library was throwing away a set of electrical engineering textbooks to make room for a newer edition. The information’s still accurate, and I managed to find a good haul from the junkyard.” She took a long swig of water before returning to the matter at hand. “But you were saying something about a robbery?”

“Yes. You’re going to stop that from happening. Or at the very leach catch the guy in the act.”

“Uh…yeah, that’s not really my job.” She set down her water bottle and picked up the screwdriver.

Vronskaya gave her a look. “You’re a self appointed vigilante. Strictly speaking none of this is your job.”

“You know what I mean.” Inko grunted out, inspecting the metal laptop casing. “I’m all about defending people that slip through the cracks, keeping people from getting hurt. I really don’t care if some millionaire’s third set of diamond earrings gets swiped.”

“Technically they’re rubies, but not the point. The point is getting your hands on the burglar that’s planning on stealing them. He goes by the Ghost—“

“—kind of a stupid name.”

“I didn’t pick it. He’s the latest in a family business. While I usually agree with you about limiting your scope, this isn’t about the burglar himself, but about what you can get out of him. He’s new enough to the game that if you shake him information should fall right out, and with his family history, what you hear will be worth the effort. The big fences in Tokyo, what Yakuza lords have a weakness for Ming dynasty pieces, stuff like that.” She explained, as if it was simple as chatting up a stranger at a laundromat. Inko could feel herself to start to be convinced, and she didn’t like it. Vronskaya continued.

“So, you can either sit here, and read through your set of books on homemade bomb making for the third time, or you can go undercover, and start to get a feel for the underworld that you’re going to be dealing with on a regular basis.”

Inko set the screwdriver down, and re-did her hair bun. “So, I catch him pocketing the jewelry and then…what? Drag him to locked closet and start breaking fingers?”

It was probably noteworthy that the Russian didn’t correct that idea. “Scout the area, find a good location with little foot traffic and preferably sound-proofed walls. I won’t be there to help you in the field. You’re learning how to adapt, improvise and think on your feet.”

Inko grimaced, really not liking this idea. “My feet are not going to like walking in heels.”

Vronskaya gave another smirk. “Yeah, about that. I made a few arrangements, and you’re not going to be undercover as one of the guests.”

The Next Night…

All Might looked around the ballroom, and tried to pick out people he recognized. The couple dressed as a knight and a European princess were the Yaoyurozus, who would most likely talk his ear off about the stock market and overseas holdings, so they were immediately out. The group of white haired snow fairies were the Korimotos, Endeavor’s in-laws. Nice enough people, but--

“All Might!” A man in a dragon costume waved him over. He blinked, and realized that it was Iida-san, the current Ingenium. They had been in the same class at UA, and had kept up with each other over the years. Or at least, as well as they could with the lives of pro heroes being what they were.

“Ah! Iida-san, good to see you.” Toshinori immediately made a beeline for the fellow pro hero. The dark haired man smiled, and waved down one of the black-masked servers to bring them some champagne.

As he grabbed two flutes of alcohol off the server’s tray, Toshinori noticed that the other hero was conspicuously without company. “So, are you here solo or…?” He asked when the man handed him one of the glasses.

“Got it in one. Tensei came down with a cold last night, so my wife’s at home looking after him.” Iida-san smiled. Their oldest was around middle school age, if Toshinori recalled correctly. “I was half inclined to stay there with them, but dad would chew me out for not being out there ‘representing the Iida family’.” He chuckled to himself before taking a drink.

They chatted for a bit, discussing some of the latest tech developments or anecdotes from villain incidents.

“You know, my wife and I were actually discussing you the other day.” Iida-san commented idly. “‘Why doesn’t All Might ever bring a plus one’ my wife asked me. ‘Being the top hero and never taking on any sidekicks must leave him no time for a personal life.” Toshinori gave a mental sigh. He could tell where this was going and he didn’t like it.

All Might shrugged his shoulders, nonchalant. “I prefer to do things myself.”

Iida-san nodded along. “Well, if that’s how you want to work, that’s how you want to work. Forgive me for being a snoop here, but it does seem like your social life consists of nothing but hero work these days.”

“Well, it’s an important job. And if you’re about to pester me about dating, I’m not above digging out our high school year book.”

“You wouldn’t.” Iida-san laughs.

“Oh, I would.” He faux-threatened. “I wonder how much your sidekicks would enjoy seeing you with zits and braces. And who could forget the second year sports-festival?” His pants had snagged on something at the start of the obstacle course, and hadn’t noticed when he activated his Engine quirk. The man had to do the rest of the course completely pantsless.

Iida held his hands up in mock-surrender. “Hey, hey, let’s not get crazy now.” He chuckled. “Besides, don’t act like I don’t have just as much dirt on you. For example, I know for a fact that I have at least one picture of you trying to pick a fight with a swan and loosing—“

“—it stole my sandwich—“ He tried to defend, a nostalgic and embarrassed smile on his face.

“And more than a couple of you puking after sparing with Gran Torino-sensei.”

Toshinori could swear he felt his stomach flinch at that particular memory. “Oh lord, don’t remind me.” His old classmate gave a friendly laugh, completely devoid of malice.

Iida-san sobered himself, after a few seconds. “Seriously though. Having someone in your life, someone to talk to about everything and nothing with, who makes things better just by being in the same room, and can make you smile no matter what kind of bad day that it’s been…I would hate to think that you’re depriving yourself of that out of some sense of obligation, Yagi-kun. As heroes, we swore to protect society. But that doesn’t mean that we let it consume our every waking moment.”

Toshinori did not know how to respond to that, so instead he took another drink of champagne and let his eyes wander across the ballroom. He saw a flash of dark hair in a familiar top knot, and an image of Nana immediately came to mind. The hero immediately pushed the memory aside, but he couldn’t shake that odd sense of familiarity. As the crowd parted a bit, he saw that the woman was dressed in the uniform white shirt and dark pants of the wait staff. Despite telling himself that it was nothing, every now and then Toshinori would sneak a glance at the person while continuing his conversation with Iida-san. All Might had been a hero too long to ever ignore his instincts, even when they didn’t make the most sense sometimes. Eventually the other hero noticed his distraction and allowed him to ‘go out and socialize’.

So, there All Might was, side eyeing a waitress that kind of looked like his dead mentor at a party he didn’t even want to be at. He almost hoped it was some sort of villainous plot, and the person he was seeing was psychically disguised as Nana or something. (Hey, in this superhuman society, he’d seen and fought weirder things). The answer actually presented itself in the most curious of ways: and entitled old socialite complaining about the food.

“What?! Why is this so tasteless?!” The woman had demanded, practically fuming.

“To mess with you, specifically. They’re completely different for everyone else.” The waitress idly commented.

Toshinori had to fake a cough to hide his laughter. He would recognize Jade Mantis’ delightful deadpan anywhere. After the woman fumed off, he politely tapped the server on the shoulder.

She made the most adorable sounding ‘hm?’, and did a really good job of disguising the fact that she knew him. However, she overcorrected and didn’t react at all to his presence, while most other servers at least did a double take at seeing the Symbol of Peace himself.

“Hors d’oeuvres, sir?” She offered, as if the last guest’s temper tantrum had never happened.

All Might then suddenly remembered that it probably wouldn’t be the best idea to talk to the Jade Mantis in the middle of a packed ballroom full of socialites, other pro heroes, and some members of the police upper brass. In his peripheral vision, he noticed the police commissioner dressed as an oni socializing with a woman dressed in a toga and wearing ram’s horns.

Okay, time to be sneaky, thought the seven foot tall man built like a brick house.

All Might gave a picture-perfect smile, and grabbed one of the proffered snacks. “You know, it’s a long way from Mustafa, isn’t it?” He asked low and quiet, right before taking a bite.

The disguised vigilante gave him a sidelong glance, before the poker face slid right back on. “You’re too smart for your own good sometimes, Blondie.”

She handed him another hors d’oeuvres and started walking away. Toshinori only felt the light scratch of paper in his sleeve a few seconds later. Shaking it out, he found a small note written in green ink.

Meet me in the unisex bathroom on the other side of the ballroom.

He looked up, Jade Mantis had placed the plate on the refreshments table when no one was looking, and was making her way towards the other side of the grand ballroom without gaining any sort of attention.

When he attempted to follow her at a leisurely pace, he was stopped no less than three times by colleagues or fans. He eyed her slipping through the door with something like envy—and concern. What the heck was she doing here? As he was going through the possible scenarios in his head— theories ranging from catering being her day job to tracking down a serial killer—All Might didn’t notice how his fake, polite smile had turned into a genuine one.

About seven minutes later, All Might met her in the out of order bathroom. She had purposely clogged the drains with toilet paper earlier that day so she’d have a private place to drag Ghost. “What are you doing here?” He asked the moment he opened the door and saw her.

“Hello to you too, Blondie.” Inko sassed, looking to see if he’d been followed or noticed before locking the door behind her. “You certainly took your time.”

“The Korimotos wanted to talk about merchandizing and—“ he paused. “That’s not important. What is important is you telling me what the heck you’re doing here. You could get caught.”

She frowned a bit at that. All Might had worked with her several time now, he should know better than to think of her as a newbie. She crossed her arms and gave him her best ‘seriously?’ face. “No I won’t. That’s literally the point of going undercover.”

“You literally just gave yourself a dye job and a different colored mask.” He gestured towards her, as if that would convince her of anything.

Inko rolled her eyes. As much as she respected All Might, this really wasn’t his area of expertise. She’d take the word of a dangerous Russian over a celebrity hero on matters of stealth any day. “Be reasonable. There are very few clear photos of my face; and who really looks twice at their waitress anyway?” Inko knew she didn’t have much of a presence, and as such was used to people just looking right past her in everyday life. Might as well use it to her advantage.

The pro hero crossed his arms, and studied her for a moment before wisely changing the subject. “You know, you still haven’t answered my question as to what you’re doing here.”

“Jewel thief.”

“Beg your pardon?” Oh, she loved knowing things he didn’t know. Jade Mantis had to hold down a self-satisfied smirk as she continued talking.

“Some dude who calls himself the ‘Ghost’—”

“That’s a pretty ridiculous name.” All Might unknowingly echoed her earlier thought.

The vigilante let her smirk out. “I know right? Like a freaking Saturday morning cartoon. Anyway apparently he has a thing for rubies, so he’s planning on pocketing the earrings up for auction tonight.”

All Might quirked one of his eyebrows. “You don’t really seem the type to go after burglars. Especially this far from Mustafa.”

She didn’t bother denying it. “He has information and connections that I would find useful. Knowing your opponent is half the game for me to keep doing what I’m doing.”

All Might’s eyes hardened. “This isn’t a game, Jade Mantis.”

“It’s called a metaphor, All Might.” She scoffed back.

The vigilante noticed the slight tug at the corners of his mouth. He was fighting down his own smile. “You know, you’re pretty mouthy to someone who just wants to help you.”

She shrugged. “Eh, it’s part of my charm.” And a defense mechanism for when I’m nervous. All Might gave a little quiet laugh, sounding rather genuine.

“I suppose so, but rather bold for this ‘Ghost’ fellow to strike in the middle of this Charity Ball. There are several here in law enforcement, both as police and pro heroes.”

“A fair point. But by and large the point of these things is to socialize, with the auction more about fundraising than the items themselves. Even with a possible security guard watching the auction items, a thief worth his salt will manage to slip in and out of there unseen. And with the Ghost’s youth and ego, he’ll probably do it right in the middle of the ballroom.”

All Might nodded in agreement, and Jade Mantis did a little victory cheer in her head. Taking another minute to strategize together (and by strategize she meant she would basically keep doing what she was intending to do while All Might acting as a second set of eyes), the hero and vigilante walked out of the bathroom.

A woman with red hair was waiting for them, her eyes half-full of mischief just as her glass was half-full of champagne.

“Daiho-san,” All Might spoke, obviously surprised.

“Nice to see you socializing.” She commented, looking All Might in the eye. The Symbol of Peace flushed, looking down at his shoes. (Inko liked this woman immediately). The woman continued looking at them for a moment, before taking a delicate sip from her champagne flute. “So, work or play?”

“What?

“You snuck off to an out of order bathroom with one of the servers, wait—“ Daiho took a long, hard look at her. “Let’s see, your mask is different from the others, better quality. And the way you sassed the Kiriya heiress tells me that this is either a temp job or you really don’t care. The catering company wouldn’t have sent you out if you weren’t professional…” Daiho laughed to herself. “Oooooh my word, an undercover vigilante. How scandalous.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Jade Mantis face-palmed. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Was she really that easy to see through?

“Language.” All Might chastised.

“Eat a dick.” She growled out.

“No thanks.”

Daiho Eden liked this girl immediately. She’d never given much thought to All Might’s type before, (for a long time, she just thought he didn’t have one), but dark haired, sassy, and able to kick some serious ass was probably it.

After a brief introduction, the vigilante explained the situation with the jewel thief, and promised to only break a couple of his fingers. All three of them—hero, vigilante and manager—were keeping their eye out for the Ghost. Jade Mantis was out on the floor, ready to intercept the moment things started happening, while Eden and All Might were out of the way at one of the side tables, while still being able to maintain clear sightlines to the display cases. The manager couldn’t help but notice how Yagi was using those sightlines to keep track of Jade Mantis, rather than the jewelry.

“So, that’s you’re mysterious ‘lady friend’.” All Might gave a hum of acknowledgement, his focus obviously elsewhere. Eden would be insulted if it wasn’t so damn adorable.

“You know, when you were asking advice about a White Day present, I would have thought that it was for like a neighbor or something not an…insect enthusiast.” She quickly changed out, remembering that they could very easily be overheard.

Yagi’s eyes glanced back towards her. “We don’t hide it, but don’t really…advertise our partnership either.”

“A partner, is that what she is to you?” She queried, offsetting her interest with the gentleness of her tone.

His eyes shifted back out before he responded. “Something like that.”

Eden knew how close her boss played things to the chest, even to himself. Getting him to open up emotionally was like pulling teeth, and she was in no mood to play dentist right now. “Hm, good. If you ever referred to her as a sidekick, I’m fairly certain that she would kick your ass.”

That got her a low chuckle. “She’s good but she’s not that good.”

The business manager smiled before taking a sip of champagne. “I don’t know, she’s scrappy. I think she could take you.”

Eden liked giving All Might a hard time, but she genuinely did care for the guy. As the Symbol of Peace, the guy was bombarded with nonstop praise and pressure. He needed someone who’d treat him like an actual person and not some almighty figure who could do no wrong. Plus, the rebelliousness teenager in her—the one that was anti-establishment to the bone and spitting back in the world’s face for daring equate her quirklessness with uselessness—got a bit of a kick out of seeing the Number One hero get sassed by a vigilante that came up to his elbow.

Before they could discuss things further, there was a sudden movement on Jade Mantis’ end. The vigilante was…talking to someone. He had his back to them, so Eden couldn’t really tell what was going on. But in a flash, the man with the blue suit was walking away, and Jade Mantis suddenly had something metallic and shiny hanging around her neck. Before the manager had a chance to think about it further, the vigilante was speed walking—in the other direction.

Oh, that probably wasn’t good.

If there was one thing that Inko was going to learn from this experience, it was to never underestimate her opponent again, even if it was a newbie jewel thief. She’d reexamine exactly how badly she was going to kick his ass after she got this dumb bomb off of her neck.

“You know, it’s generally considered rude to take things that don’t belong to you.”

A smile probably thought to be charming, and an assessing eye. A marble pulled from his pocket and suddenly the Jade Mantis felt a weight around her neck. “Don’t panic,” he whispered in her ear. “Just stay calm and don’t call the cops and it’ll be over in an hour.”

Jade Mantis was faced with two options: let him go, or press on. As pressing on had a greater than likely result of him pressing a button and blowing her head off, the vigilante elected to let him go. For now. She’d returned to the bathroom, and was getting a better look at the bomb in the mirror. It held the appearance of a particularly thick necklace, and there was no way Inko would have guessed that it was a bomb. That meant there was no way anyone else in the ballroom noticed it either.

God, I hope All Might doesn’t think I chickened out or something—before that thought could progress any further, All Might barreled through the door so hard and so fast that Inko would have been surprised the door didn’t fall off if she wasn’t currently focused on not dying. “What happened?” He demanded.

Jade Mantis sighed. “Ugh, I was stupid and underestimated him so he put a bomb around my neck.”

“Wait, bomb—“

Inko wasn’t sure why she kept talking, but she did. “Seriously, rookie move. I knew his quirk could shrink things, but it didn’t occur to me that he’d risk bringing explosives in with him. Maybe the spaces are reduced between atoms, rendering it to a non-explosive state? Fuck I probably should have taken physics in high school…” As the vigilante rambled, she took a safety pin and a Swiss Army knife out of her pocket, and started to undo a panel on the necklace of doom.

“Stay calm.” He tried to reassure her. Jade Mantis appreciated the intent.

“I am calm, you stay calm. Actually? Better idea.” She reached into her pocket again. “Here,” she handed him a small device with a small blip moving across the screen. “I put a tracker on Ghost. At the clip he’s going he’s probably in a vehicle given the fact that he already has the compression quirk thing-y and it’s extremely unlikely that he’s also got, like, super-speed on top of that. That would be really unfair.” All Might took a moment to study the device, and then looked back at her with concern. Concern for her or for where she got the tracking device, Jade Mantis didn’t know and frankly didn’t care. “Follow him, catch him, and make sure he doesn’t blow my head off. I’ll be trying to disarm it on this end.”

“Do you even know how to—“

“If you’re so unsure, stop talking and start running.” She turned. All Might was giving her a look. The kind of sappy, puppy dog face that made her really uncomfortable because it was usually associate with pity, and the last thing Inko ever wanted was to be pitied. But faster than a speeding bullet (probably), the Symbol of Peace left to go save her neck.

All Might ran as if the hounds of hell were at his heels. He had made it a solid two kilometers in less than ten seconds, the power of One for All coursing through his veins. He easily found the car where the tracker was located, and forced himself to slow down a bit. If he scared the burglar, he may panic. Panicking wouldn’t ensure Jade Mantis’ safety.

I could never live with myself if something happened to her on my watch.

Seeing the getaway vehicle turn off into an empty side-street, All Might knew he had his best chance there and then. He touched down in front of the car, grabbing the hood with his arms. A quick peek through the windshield confirmed that there was a very surprised Ghost (still a dumb name) behind the drivers’ wheel.

“Hello there,” All Might greeted, feeling his smile start to twist closer to a snarl. “I would advise you to surrender now and make things easier for yourself.”

Less than a minute after All Might rushed out after the Ghost, Jade Mantis was still staring at the reflection in the bathroom mirror when the necklace stopped blinking. Fuck, she thought for a moment, until the clutch released from around her neck.

Not taking any chances, she quickly finished the disarmament, cutting the trigger mechanism from the incendiary elements. Needing some air after that,

The Jade Mantis rubbed her neck, looking at man cowering in All Might’s grasp. If he had the ability to compress living beings, now would probably have been the best time to use it. So that meant that he could only compress non-living matter. She bared her teeth in a wolfish grin.

“You’re going to tell me every fence and connection you have in this city, and/or I’m going to break every single one of your fingers. Then, I’m going to go and get a hot coco and a bearclaw because I have had a very stressful evening.”

“Oo, can I get in on that?” All Might asked. Jade Mantis blinked, realized that the man had gone from imposing badass to loveable goof real quick.

She…actually liked the latter one a lot more.

Two Hours Later…

“Sorry for telling you to go eat a dick.”

All Might looked up from his bearclaw. After Jade Mantis extracted all the information she could out of the burglar, All Might turned the villain over to the proper authorities and the two of them indeed go out for hot coco and bearclaws. Daiho had handed him the company credit card and told him to ‘go have fun’. He didn’t know if the pastries were always this delicious, or if his stomach was just happy to be digesting something other than those fancy finger foods.

“Oh, uh…well I guess it was a little rude. However, I have to be honest as I probably just say ‘language’ out of habit. Heroes have to stay relatively family friendly for the kids.”

“Ah,” she nodded.

“To be honest, I probably swear just about as much as you do—in my head at least. But hey, you were back talking to an authority figure. And you were right it is…charming, in its own way.” He admitted, trying to be polite.

Jade Mantis still looked a little mortified. “Yeah, but I still shouldn’t have said it.” She paused and took a breath. “Look, Blondie, if we are going to end up working together more—and something tells me that we are—you should probably know that I have…issues. Like, I work through my emotional problems with cursing and vigilantism, type issues.”

I’m sorry the criminal put a bomb around your neck

I’m sorry if I come off as aggressive or oaverbearing, but I’ve never had a partner before.

I’m sorry someone hurt you so badly that you think being a vigilante is the only way you can help

I’m sorry I almost let you die.

But he didn’t say anything like that. Instead, he merely went with: “You were really brave back there.”

Jade Mantis shrugged. “Well, I figured I would either be right, or it wouldn’t be my problem anymore.”

He gave another laugh. “But seriously, I didn’t know that you knew that much about bomb making. Or is it electrical engineering?”

The vigilante’s mouth quirked up into a smile. “You know, it’s actually a funny story…”

Chapter Text

Fanart!

radioactivepeasant

Midoriya Inko was not having a good week.

It kicked off with All Might calling her to let her know that he was going to be gone for awhile. Apparently, something that had ‘demanded his attention’ in China, and he was going to both be out of the country and on radio silence for a few weeks.

“I wanted to let you know, just in case anything came up and—“

“—and I was wondering where you were, gotcha. You know, I do deal with things when you’re not around, big guy. Like, big things, organized crime, murder investigations, etc. etc.”

“I know, I know. You’re the Jade Mantis, the Terror of Mustafa, the vigilante that is single handedly cleaning up an entire neighboorhood. That doesn’t mean that I don’t worry about you, sometimes.”

“The Almighty Pillar of Society worrying about little old me? Don’t make me blush.” She teased, even as there was a light blush forming over her cheeks. The vigilante sat down on the edge of a rooftop, legs dangling in the open air. “But seriously, I’ve been taking care of myself a long time before I met you, I can more than handle Mustafa on my own for a few weeks.”

Of course, that wasn’t the complete truth. In the last year and a half she had noticed an uptick in police and pro hero presence and effectiveness in the community. Looks like she was finally forcing those reforms Vronskaya had talked about.

“Fine, fine. But it’s going to be total radio silence. I look forward to seeing you when I get back.” She could practically hear the smile in his voice.

“I look forward to seeing you too, Blondie.”

So, yeah, she wasn’t going to see him for awhile, but that in and of itself wasn’t much of a problem.

What had sucked was that with All Might gone, a villain had used his absence to start a rampage of quirk-created constructs, centered in Mustafa. The forms were made out of twisted metal, and could be shaped as anything as innocuous as a dog to as formidable as a T-Rex. Jade Mantis had tracked the hot zones to find the one responsible, then provoked the villain to gain his attention (turns out her quirk was good for long-distance bitch slaps). With his attention on wanting to get rid of her specifically, then the constructs would be drawn away from hurting other people. Jade Mantis created a choke point on the highway bridge leading out of the city. There, she was forced to deal with both the villainous creations and the unwanted attention of the other heroes. She had to deal with Endeavor. Endeavor.

“I’m not a soft-hearted fool like All Might, so you’d better listen when—“ one of the constructs tackled him off of the bridge.

Jade Mantis quirked her eyebrow upon seeing the Fiery Hero land in the river below. “I’m listening.” She quipped, even though she was the only one there who could appreciate her sparkling wit.

At the end of the fight, with the villain unconscious and in custody, the Jade Mantis managed to slip away unseen. Street heroes were fine in combat, but most of them utterly sucked at stealth.

Then, Kai had come down with a nasty cold that forced her to miss school. The nine-year-old had tried to insist that she was fine and push forward, but one look at her glassy eyes and runny nose had caused the mother to send her right back to bed. (The child’s healing quirk was great, but not perfect, and would improve with time). This again was a little worrisome, but not a huge deal. Kids got sick, it was perfectly normal. But the cherry on top was that Inko couldn’t be there to take care of Kai herself. No, not because of anything to do with being the Jade Mantis, but because of her own messed up family business.

Inko was fine staying out of the spotlight—preferred it that way, really. But her foster daughter being kidnapped by a big research institution like MICAH and then being rescued by All Might himself tended to draw people’s attention. The heroes had tried to keep Kai out of the media’s attention—“The poor girl’s been through enough”, Nedzu had said—but then an orderly had tweeted a photograph of All Might carrying Kai to the hospital after rescuing her and it had all gone to shit. The paparazzi started popping up everywhere, peppering the little girl with questions and generally making the Midoriya family’s life an annoying game of hide and seek. Vronskaya and Inko had tried to keep Kai out of it—pulling her from school for a week after a reporter managed to track down where she went to school—but they couldn’t exactly keep her indoors the entire time.

Fortunately, All Might had one hell of a legal team, contacting all the major news outlets on the Midoriya's behalf with a very strongly worded ‘cease and desist’ letter asking them to leave the traumatized child alone or face repercussions.

It seemed to work, and the family was left in relative peace until a few months later when the actual case went to trial. Kai and Vronskaya had been called as witnesses, along with Nedzu and All Might. The heroes again tried to have a closed courtroom for the girl, but MICAH and Sonoda’s lawyers had put up enough of a fuss that the judge dismissed the idea. So, the little girl went on the stand, explaining what had happened to her (and making her mother wish she could break the scientist’s kneecaps all over again). Even the tricksy defense attorney (who was probably a nice enough person just trying to do their job) couldn’t get Kai to say or indicate anything that would create reasonable doubt for the defense. When dismissed, Kai came down from her seat and Inko gave her a big, reassuring hug, telling her daughter that she’d done great. She could hear the click of the camera shutters and wasn’t surprised to see her name and face plastered all over the front page afterward.

A few days after the trial concluded (guilty on all charges, and the institution disbanded), Inko had received a phone call from her parent’s lawyer. He said that there were still matters with their estate that needed to be dealt with, including her inheritance. And if she wanted them to be dealt with, she would have to travel back up to her old hometown to have the meeting in person.

Inko had to restrain the urge to tell the man to fuck off and leave her alone. (She found she had to push down a lot of feelings, whenever thoughts of her blood family came up). Her parents had died seven years ago, and she had been doing just fine without their money—except, that wasn’t entirely true. She knew the state of her financials, and the toll that adopting Kai had taken on them. Don’t get her wrong, she would never in a billion years regret opening he heart to the young girl, but her wallet probably did. For the sake of being able to better care for her daughter (yeah that’s right her daughter), the greenette would swallow her pride and face her fears.

So Vronskaya was back home, keeping an eye on her daughter as Inko forced herself to go back to the one place she swore she would never return—Kuzuhama. It was a small town towards the Northern tip of Japan.

Inko had purposefully chosen to run away to Tokyo—giving herself some distance, both mental and physical between herself and her past. This time, the long train ride was doing her no favors, as unpleasant memories of locked doors and frequent hunger were resurfacing. The telekinetic knew she had issues—years of physical and emotional neglect don’t exactly make you happy or well adjusted—and she had been trying to work on them. But between being the Jade Mantis and Kai’s mom (and the price of good mental health counseling being what it was) she had to do it basically on her own, and that wasn’t ideal.

But Inko comforted herself with the idea that hey, she may be far away from home in a place that had given her a litany of childhood trauma with no way to release stress via vigilantism but hey! It could always be worse. People could be shooting at her! (Actually, scratch that, she would rather people be shooting at her)

The lawyer, Funara-san was an older man in his mid-fourties. His salt and pepper hair and grim set face matched Inko’s mood perfectly.

After polite chit-chat, they sat down at his desk, and Inko decided to cut straight to the matter. “So, what was so vital that you waited seven years to contact me about?”

He raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn’t react to her snappish tone. “To be perfectly honest, Miss Midoriya, I would have contacted you about this after your parents passed away, but we were unsure of how to contact you, or if you were even alive. As unfortunate as your foster daughter’s kidnapping was, it did allow me to confirm you were alive and have our investigator track you down.”

“That was freaking terrifying to experience as a parent and a little invasive, but whatever.” She sighed, running a hand through her hair. “So, uh, I’m not entirely sure how we do this.”

Funara pulled out a thick file. “Well, the basic idea is that we go through and review your parent’s physical and financial assets, in conjunction with their wishes in their last will and testament.”

Inko nodded along, starting to bounce her leg a bit. “So things have just been sitting there for the past seven years?” Okay, calm down, think of the possible interest rates and just do this for Kai.

“Not quite. Funeral expenses and the like were handled by some of your cousins.” Oh yeah, Inko kind of forgot about them. As Funara started talking, Inko allowed herself to zone out and half-listen to what he was saying. With the exception of her grandfather, Inko had never been close with anyone in her family. When she was first starting to figure out that what her parents were doing to her was wrong—that being regularly locked in closets and left alone for days or even weeks with no supervision wasn’t normal—the girl couldn’t help but grow angry at her entire family. The way her younger self had seen it, either they were stupid, or willingly turning a blind eye to what was happening, not loving her enough to care what happened to her. Inko knew now that neglect was much harder to recognize than abuse, but that lingering sense of abandonment had never really left when she thought of her extended family.

She followed that train of thought until it sounded like Funara had come to an important part, and forced herself to pay full attention. “—so, a simplified explanation is that your parents left you their estate in a trust that you can’t actually use until you’ve married.” Great, even from beyond the grave they can’t stop screwing me over.

“So I took a four hour drive from Tokyo just to learn that I can’t inherit anything yet?” The twenty-five year old deadpanned, resisting the urge to facepalm.

“Well, not quite nothing. There’s also the matter of the house and the liquid assets. It’s been sitting empty since your parents passed away, and there are several interested buyers. Unless, that is you yourself are—“

“No.”

“I didn’t even finish.”

“You were going to ask if I would be interested in living in my childhood home. The answer is no.” She dug her nails into the back of her hand. Go back to that place? With empty rooms, a dreary atmosphere and closets that locked from the outside? No fucking thank you.

“Alrighty then, I’ll refer you over to the house’s real estate agent, I’m sure that they’ll be glad to finally get the property off of the market.” He said, digging into a file and passing over a business card.

Funara-san gave her a look over his spectacles. “No, that barely scratches the surface, Midoriya-san. But I’m confident that if we keep on task, we should be able to get through most of it today.”

Inko sighed, and really wished she could get fucked by something other than life.

After a solid six hours of tiring discussions and mountains of paperwork, Inko was feeling both emotionally drained and on edge. The telekinetic dragged her suitcase behind her as she walked through the downtown area. Even with all her anxiety over this meeting, she had neglected to actually reserve a hotel room overnight. So she had to walk there herself because the meeting hadn’t gotten out until after the busses stopped running.

As she was walking through the downtown—purposefully ignoring the names of the shops so as to not bring back memories—she heard the tell-tale sounds of a struggle nearby, and glanced into an alleyway. A big, brute of a man was towering over someone else, and pressing their arm threateningly against their throat.

“Oh, think you’re such a tough guy? Huh?” The bully jibbed, inching in closer. She knew it wasn’t appropriate, but Inko couldn’t help but have a giddy feeling leak into her chest. Finally! A chance to do something.

“Hey!” She called, drawing attention. When both pairs of eyes turned to look at her, Inko rushed forward and kicked the attacker in the ribs. Not wasting a moment, she grappled him and placed the bully in an arm bar, now pressing his face against the wall. “You know, it’s not nice to choke people.” She quipped. “Non-consensually, at least.”

Confident that the guy was restrained, she turned her attention back to the other man. He was blinking at her owlishly, and rubbing at his throat but seemed otherwise fine. She checked him over just to be sure, feeling something like recognition as she took in his freckles and dark curls, but was unable to place it.

“Midoriya…Inko?” He questioned.

She tilted her head. Understanding and recognition suddenly snapped into place. “Hibiki Hisashi?”

Hisashi was an old high school acquaintance. They had run in similar circles but had quickly fallen out of touch after school ended. In fact, Bakugou Mitsuki was really the only one she kept in touch with, the more Inko actually thought about it.

“So…uh…hi?” He tried.

“Good to see you, want me to call the cops?” She inquired, gesturing to the man she currently had trapped in an arm bar. He tried struggling, so she knocked his head against the wall again for good measure. Inko might have let her frustration leak through as she hit harder than she intended, and the man slumped to the ground, no longer conscious.

Hisashi continued staring. “He, uh…well he was trying to get this girl’s number and being all pushy so when I, uh, intervened he didn’t take it too well…” He awkwardly laughed. “Better me than her, I guess?”

Inko blinked, then smiled. “Well, that was nice of you, but seriously, cops?”

“Well, yeah I guess—though is zip tying him really necessary?” Inko looked down at the completed restrains. She wasn’t wearing one of her Jade Mantis protective jackets, but instead a regular leather one. Still, she always carried simple gear in her pockets out of preparedness. She had honestly restrained the attacker on autopilot.

“Well, we wouldn’t want him to run away and bother someone else.” She offered. Hisashi nodded, still looking a big jittery and nervous. After more than a few moments of silence, she calmly and carefully stood and walked over to him, placing a hand on his arm.

“Um, I, well…”

“Do you have someplace safe to go? I can take you there if you want.”

He nodded, flushed and embarrassed.

She walked him home. They talked all the while, Inko trying to calm him down and get his mind off what just happened. He was in his last year at university getting his international business degree and was doing a summer job in Kuzuhama at a specialty Greek food shop. He talked about school, how excited he was to spend a semester abroad in America and even shyly admitted his life-long dream to drink coffee while at the top of the Space Needle. Inko thought it was absolutely adorable.

Coming to his door, she honestly just expected a quick thank you, so then they could move on with their lives. They would track each other down on social media, maybe chit-chat every now and then, but that was it. But, Hisashi surprised her.

He offered her a nightcap, and the shyness in his smile told her that he wouldn’t be offended if she turned him down. Inko could think of a few reasons why not. She gave him his number, so the police could get her statement later. What little release she got from saving him was bleeding away as being in Kuzuhama continued to press on her mind. She should probably get back to the hotel, in order to have a place to sleep for the night.

She agreed anyway.

Going up to his apartment, she set her suitcase by the door, expecting to be out of there after they called the police and explained the situation. She opened the sparsely stocked liquor cabinet and poured herself a half a glass as Hisashi dialed the cops. He gave his statement, explaining what had happened and where his attacker was still tied up, and promising to come in tomorrow morning. Inko also gave a statement but explained that she had a pressing appointment in the morning so she could only really do this now over the phone.

Inko rolled her eyes at the incessant questions but answered each and every one of them as politely and professionally as she could. Every now and then, she could see Hisashi glance over at the clock, and at her suitcase.

“And yes, Midoriya Inko, that’s my full statement, goodnight.” At the final assurance from the officer on call, she hung up the phone and sighed.

The telekinetic looked back over to Hibiki Hisashi. “Are you okay?” He asked, looking concerned for her.

She waved her hand dismissively. “I’m tired, and a little worn out, and not looking forward to walking the rest of the way to the hotel.”

“I, uh, didn’t want to say anything, but I think that they don’t actually do check ins this late.”

Inko rubbed her eyes, and let out a few choice curse words that caused her host to start blushing. “Sorry, it’s just…I’ve had a really stressful week.”

“Really? I would never have guessed.” He tried to joke, and Inko managed to snort out a small laugh. “You know, I feel really terrible about you not having a place to sleep tonight because of me. So…if you’re cool with a futon, I’m totally fine with you crashing here.”

“Seriously?”

“You kind of did just save me from getting my ass kicked. It’s the least I could do.” Normally Inko would turn him down, hating the idea of being a hassle for someone who was not a criminal. But as previously established, she was tired and stressed and really just all around grateful.

But still, even as she changed into her pajamas and started settling down to a futon, that on edge feeling wouldn’t leave her. Inko wished she had a way to get rid of all of this excess stress. That was when she got an idea. A truly bad idea, one that she could name a dozen reasons not to do just off the top of her head.

She fucked him anyway.

Inko wished there was a more polite way of putting it but that was the simple fact of what happened. They weren’t ‘making love’ or any other kind of poetic euphemism that would make it more than it was. Two consenting adults, of sound mind and able body, had a roll in the proverbial hay on a literal futon.

Inko wished she could say that she didn’t know why she did it. She wished she could say that she was drunk and horny and it was just a stupid mistake. But it wasn’t. She was tired and stressed, Kuzuhama putting her on edge since the moment she stepped off the train. But she wanted to forget that she was back in the place where no-one had noticed her parents neglecting her for fourteen years. She wanted to forget that her parents were screwing her over from beyond the grave. She wanted to forget that she was in love with All Might and knew that it would never work out.

Oh yeah, she was in love with All Might.

She’d known for a while, at that point. It had started out small, a flutter in her chest. Toshinori was an admirable person whom she had formed a strange friendship with. But then he would always keep an eye on Mustafa when she was out, would always ask after her after an injury, hell, even the way he would make a fool out of himself just to try and make her feel better. It had been a very long time since Inko had felt so…appreciated. The telekinetic couldn’t name a specific moment her feelings had started to morph. She was in the middle before she even knew it had started. But then she remembered who they were—the almighty Symbol of Peace and a scrappy vigilante from Mustafa. Symbols didn’t settle down, let alone settle for emotionally fucked-up bartenders who were also technically illegal vigilantes.

More than anything, she was angry at herself for ever wishing that someone as kind, gentle and genuine as Yagi Toshinori could ever possibly love someone like her. On some level, she was kind of hoping that the sex would dislodge all those weird, messed-up feelings inside her.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t.

(Like, getting licked out and plowed by someone who knew what they were doing was great, but it didn’t work miracles).

Midoriya Inko woke up the next morning and felt a moment of confusion at seeing Hisashi’s back curls spread out on the pillow next to her. Then she felt disappointed that it wasn't a more familiar blonde.

Oh, oh no.

Using every bit of her vigilante training, Inko had stealthily gotten dressed (in a different set of clothes), left a note with her phone number, and locked the door behind her. All while Hisashi was snoozing away in dreamland.

After another four hours of meetings with the lawyer, Inko was on a train heading back to Mustafa, and vaguely wondered when the hell her life had gotten this complicated.

Chapter Text

Fanart!

radioactivepeasant

Despite the fact that she lived with the Jade Mantis, Morita Kai would never get over how cool she was. Like, right now, she was standing in Vee’s living room, all decked out in her uniform, going out to take down the Purple Hawks! The leaders of the villainous gang had hidden themselves away from the reach of the law, so it was the vigilante’s job to take them out. Despite the lateness of the hour, Kai was practically buzzing with excitement.

That buzzing was contained to Vee’s couch as the Russian and the vigilante were going over a final equipment check before the raid. Most people would probably be worried about a lone woman going up against an entire building full of gang members, but not this nine-year old. Inko was the Jade Mantis, and in Kai’s opinion, the Jade Mantis could do anything.

“Just one last thing.” The girl tilted her head. Jade Mantis had all of her things, what left was there to do? Inko looked over to her. “A certain little miss needs to be tucked in tonight.”

Kai groaned, and flopped back onto the couch. “Awww, c’mon, let me stay up.”

“Nope, it’s not healthy for you to stay up late.”

“You do it.” The girl tried to shoot back. The foster mother responded by just picking her up and carrying her to the bedroom.

“I think this is one of those times where you’ll have to do as I say and not as I do, kid.” Kai pouted and crossed her arms, but allowed herself to be tucked under the covers and given a kiss goodnight. “I’ll be here when you wake up.” Inko said, right before closing the door.

Kai tried to go to sleep, she really did. But whenever she closed her eyes, all she could think about was Jade Mantis, out there and helping people. Kai wanted that. She wanted to go out there and just…help. She wanted to help Jade Mantis, and she wanted to help other people the way the vigilante had for her.

But Inko had said that she didn’t want Kai as her sidekick. But then Kai had a thought—Inko wasn’t here to object right now. With a wicked smile, Kai went into her closet. She stayed with her Russian ‘godmother’ so often that most of her stuff was actually here, instead of their one room apartment she shared with Inko.

You see, Vee had been teaching her things. Like…how to pick locks. How to climb and jump all around across the back alleys of Mustafa. How to fight back if someone hurt her. Things that had to usually be taught with the preface of ‘don’t tell your mother’ and a conspiratorial wink. And then that wink had been extended to a very special present at her last birthday party. A knife-proof dark grey hoodie, made of a smiliar material to that in Jade Mantis' jacket.

Kai smiled as she took off her pajamas and pulled it on. The girl’s plan was to go out and prove that she could be a good vigilante, that way Jade Mantis would have to take her on as a sidekick.

Jade Mantis couldn’t help but smirk as she approached the Purple Hawks’ hideout. She wasn’t being cocky (she’d learned that lesson the hard way with Ghost), but enjoying the moment. Because sometimes self-care is downing an obscene amount of coffee and picking a fight with the local crime boss.

But in all seriousness, the vigilante had spent weeks planning and scouting the building in preparation for this raid. She wasn’t naïve enough to think that this would ruin the gang for good, but knocking out their leadership would leave the Purple Hawks fractured and flailing. That would mean that the police would have an easier job scooping them up and putting them behind bars. The people of Mustafa were about to have a serious thorn removed from their side.

She came to the shadows, observing the back entrance. Two men were guarding the door, both with broad shoulders and projecting the kind of air that they knew how to handle themselves.

Reaching out with her quirk, Inko telekinetically grabbed at the man’s throat and pressed down. As she was moving parts of a person instead of an object as a whole, it took much more concentration to actually be able to do it. (Besides, All Might would get unbearably smug if he knew that she used an idea he got from a movie).

That was when she noticed something odd—as she was choking the man on the left, the man on the right didn’t seem to move, or otherwise respond. He was just…staring ahead. The first guard reached for something in his pocket, but the Jade Mantis pulled it away with her telekinesis. A radio?

She tore it out of his hand an into hers before he could contact anyone. Five seconds later, he was on the ground, unconscious. And the man on the right flickered and faded away, still without ever reacting.

An illusion quirk, interesting. Usually the Purple Hawks posted guards that had quirks with a little more bite to them. Big guy with an illusion quirk at the back door meant that they were starting to stretch thin, but still wanted to give the façade of being strong as ever. For the Jade Mantis’ goals, that was absolutely perfect.

If this went well, tomorrow morning her daughter would wake up to a safer neighborhood. So the telekinetic in the leather jacket took a breath and stepped through the door.

All Might was not bored. Any night where he didn’t have to constantly go between incidents and villain attacks was a good night. That being said, the Symbol of Peace had to admit that things did seem to be particularly slow in his neck of the woods.

Normally, whenever he had a slow night, Toshinori would take the opportunity to sleep or maybe catch up on the latest hero news. But for some reason, the number one hero found himself bounding over the rooftops headed for Mustafa.

As he was over the neighborhood, trying to catch a glimpse of the local vigilante, he noticed a shadowy figure bounding across the rooftops. It was a bit slower than Jade Mantis’ normal speed, but maybe she was injured or something.

That last thought causing a bit of concern, Toshinori directed his descent and landed on the next rooftop in the figure’s path as gently as he could.

He heard a small grunt as someone landed. All Might cautiously spun around, only to be greeted by the sight of a small figure in a grey hoodie. The moonlight glinted off the goggles covering the upper half of their face.

All Might blinked. “You’re not Jade Mantis.”

“Well duh.” The small figure spoke, and yeah that was definitely a kid’s voice coming out.

All Might blinked again. A few seconds went by, and apparently tired of being stared at, the small child started to walk off.

“Hey, wait,” Toshinori quickly moved to come in front of the kid. They did a double take of there suddenly being a person in front of them, but quickly calmed down. “Uh, kid, what are you doing?”

Though the goggles were mirrored, he could definitely tell that the kid was giving him an assessing look. “Jade Mantis is busy so I’m looking after things.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Where’s Jade Mantis?”

The girl crossed her arms. “Like I said, busy.”

They stared at each other for another moment. “Then, may I ask who you are?”

That earned him a smile (though, one that leaned closer to a smirk). “I’m the Jade Mantis’ sidekick, Alley Cat!” She put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest in pride.

All Might decided that despite the oddness of the situation, this was still just a kid. He knew exactly what to do with a kid. His expression went from bemused to amused. “Ha ha ha! I’m sure! The Jade Mantis must very much appreciate you looking after things while she’s occupied,” He was lying about that, no way he actually believed that Jade would knowingly let a little girl run across the rooftops late at night all by herself. “But I think she would like it even more if you were back at home safe. And isn’t now around the time that little girls should be in bed? You must be tired.”

The kid crossed her arms, all traces of positivity and openness replaced with a deadpan look. “No.”

All Might paused. Well, maybe he just needed to appeal “Okay, seriously kid, it’s like 11pm you need to go—“

“Alright then, I’m going.” Alley Cat tried to walk away.

“—home. Hey!” he put a hand on her shoulder and spun her around. The girl froze underneath his grip in a way he recognized, but didn't have time to think about. He removed his hand, apologetic, and the deadpan look from before doubled in intensity. “Sorry, but you are a child. It’s not healthy or safe for you to be out here at this hour.”

The self-proclaimed ‘sidekick’ gave him another assessing look. “You’re not gonna leave me alone, are you?”

Toshinori shook his head in a gentle but clear ‘no’.

She held up her tiny fists. “Then I’ll fight you!”

Aww, that’s adora—Umph!

The kid kicked him in the shins and stared running, making it over the edge of the rooftop before he had a chance to process what was happening. Sloppy, so sloppy, he internally criticized. But seriously, who expects that kind of stuff from a kid?

He effortlessly jumped down after her, and saw her start to slink into the shadows. He grabbed the back of her hoodie, and lifted her up by it. He could feel her glare through the goggles, as the kid started wriggling and shimmying to try to get loose. While All Might could very easily hold onto her, the hero realized that she would never cooperate with him if he just forced this, and taking her to the nearest police station probably wasn’t going to help matters.

“Okay, I’ll make you a deal, Alley Cat,” That seemed to get the kid’s attention. “You let me accompany you on your patrol on the condition that you let me take your home when you’re done.” The kid gave him another look, before sticking out her hand.

“Promise?”

He shook the tiny hand in agreement. “Promise.”

(Around the corner, Vronskaya smiled to herself. When she had noticed Kai was out of her bed, her intention had been to track the girl down and drag her back to the Strekoza. But this…this was a chance encounter and she was curious to see how it turned out. Trusting the number one hero to take care of Alley Cat, the Russian turned and walked away.

I hope you have fun tonight, Kai. She thought. Because tomorrow, your training intensifies.)

“Also, have we by chance met before?”

“Ha ha ha! Nope! No idea!” Alley Cat tried to insist. He wasn’t convinced, but decided to just nod along anyway.

Jade Mantis laughed as she wiped the blood away from her nose.

Catching projectiles mid-air wasn’t as hard as it used to be. She just needed to think of her telekinetic ‘hands’ as forming a kind of barrier and whamo! She was catching things midair. Had a tendency to freak people out, and given her whole ‘vigilante’ thing, it was kind of what she was going for.

Take this guy—one of the big shot Lieutenants, had the ability to shoot poisoned barbs out of his wrist like a pufferfish. He tried to shoot her, and she just stopped it mid-air. He froze, as that had probably never happened before, and the vigilante charged him. He was bound and gagged in a matter of seconds.

Just as she finished binding his wrists so he couldn’t use his quick (thank you duct tape) the Jade Mantis could hear the heavy footsteps on the other side of the door.

Back up was coming and that wouldn’t do at all. Taking out the bag of ball bearings, she threw them towards the entry way. The first person who came through made a hilarious ‘thump’ as they rushed through the door and fell on their ass. So did the second person, but she was already crawling into the air vents by then.

It took Toshinori longer that it maybe should have to piece together that Alley Cat was Morita Kai. To be fair, she was wearing a disguise—that very recognizable stripe of white hair covered up by the hood—and he didn’t know her well enough to recognize her voice right away. In fact, he didn’t really figure it out until she stabbed someone in the leg.

Okay, that sounded bad, let him rewind.

The basics of the plan was this: ‘patrol’ with the girl for a bit until she tuckered out, and then take her home as she would probably just want to sleep in her own bed. Unfortunately for him, Alley Cat was one energetic youngster. It was almost two in the morning but there were no signs of her slowing down yet.

They had indeed come across a few incidents. Car thief, attempted home invasion, runaway car (the driver had fallen asleep behind the wheel). Things that were quite simple for a hero in position, that he had everything handled in a matter of seconds, before the young vigilante could move. Every time that happened. Alley Cat would give a little pout but otherwise say nothing.

Throughout their patrol together, she wasn’t as chatty as he expected. In fact, she would only talk if he addressed her directly, and even then her response was usually monosyllable. The girl was probably doing it to be stealthy, or she didn’t want him finding anything else about her. But that didn’t stop All Might from putting some things together, just based on her behavior.

To start with, the girl had some kind of training. You didn’t jump across rooftops and parkour down the sides of buildings without learning how to, especially not at that age. While All Might was sure that Jade Mantis wasn’t training this girl to be a tiny vigilante, the point was the girl had training. A well-intentioned parent had probably enrolled the girl in parkour classes, having no idea what she was going to use it for.

That particular train of thought was interrupted when the girl stilled at the edge of another rooftop. “Wha—“ the girl put a finger to her lips, silencing him. She then pointed down.

Ah. Hostage situation/Mugging. One guy had a knife pulled on the other. That would something that had to be handled carefully, to ensure that no one got badly hurt or worse. He turned his attention back to the little vigilante.

“Alley Cat,” All Might warned, but the girl jumped down anyway. All Might let out a sound of surprise. It would be imperative for him to end this matter quickly and safely.

 He leaped down, landing in a heroic pose. “Have no fear, for I—“

“AHHH, SHE FUCKING STABBED ME IN THE LEG!”

“—am here?” He looked up in confusion. The villain was on the ground holding his leg, and Alley Cat was holding a knife. The hostage was no longer threatened but definitely looked lost.

“That’s what you get for being criminal scum.” Alley Cat stated, staying out of the man’s reach, even as he was on the ground bleeding.

The former hostage looked between the Number One Hero and the tiny vigilante. “Is she…with you?”

All Might rubbed his face, sighed, and said: “It’s complicated.”

“No it’s not,” The kid chided. “He’s accompanying me on patrol!”

The Number One Hero took a deep breath and counted to ten. “Yes, and while I applaud your quick thinking, you don’t just stab people in the leg. Criminals or not.”

“Hold on a second, he was threatening to kill someone and you’re scolding me?” Were kids usually this snippy? Kids usually weren’t this snippy to him.

“Well he’s unconscious, also, why is he unconscious?” And no longer bleeding.

Alley Cat held up her hand. Her glowing, ungloved hand.

Having been on the receiving end of Recovery Girl’s quirk since the ripe old age of fifteen, everything kind of clicked together for Toshinori after that.

Glowing hand + lack of stab wound + unconscious person with lack of stab wound = Healing Quirk.

Small Girl + Healing Quirk = Morita Kai

Morita Kai = the kid that got kidnapped by evil scientists, was experimented on by said evil scientists, and would have to testify against the evil scientists by a trial that was coming up relatively soon. (Also she kind of covered him in rats. Lots of rats. Lots of…amorous rats but he was a big enough person to get over that. Mostly)

There was a lot to unpack there.

Shit.

Chapter Text

Fanart!

radioactivepeasant

As childish as it probably was, Jade Mantis had always tried to find the fun in what she was doing. Being a vigilante--especially the Number One Most Wanted Vigilante--was tough, and could very easily get her killed if she wasn’t careful. So she looked for a bit of enjoyment, be that in cracking a tough case, or just seeing the dazed look on a criminal’s face when a woman maybe half their size took them down like it was nothing.

Turns out, fisticuffs with a person who made their living in underground fight clubs was not fun.

Eventually, she managed to grapple him down to the ground, and strangled him out with her thighs. She let go five seconds after he stopped moving.

“Sorry about that,” she breathed out, talking to no one in particular. “But you were kind of trying to kill me.”

On the bright side, if they were coming after her this hard, it meant that she was going in the right direction.

About half an hour later, the criminal was handed over to the proper authorities, and both All Might and Alley Cat were on the roof of another building. Just... sitting there in silence.

“So…” he started, before trailing off. In his career, doubt and indecision were luxuries he couldn’t afford. Yet here All Might was, completely unsure of how to talk to a nine year old girl. He heard a crinkling sound, and saw Alley Cat tacking a packet out of her sweat shirt.

“Are those fruit snacks?” He asked, just as the girl plopped one into her mouth.

Alley Cat nodded, and then wordlessly offered some.

Toshinori cautiously took one. Huh, apple flavored. After finishing one, young Morita kept the small packet between them--a silent offer to share. By the time they were all out of fruit snacks, he had something close to a strategy.

“I think we should probably talk about what just happened.” The child hugged her legs in close to her chest, resting her chin on top of her knees.

“I got the knife away from him. That’s a good thing,” she offered as a defense.

The hero nodded slowly. “Yes, it is. But you have to understand that so much about what you did could have turned out wrong. Miscalculate the angle of descent, don’t have enough force behind the attack...and you and that hostage get hurt. Or worse. ”

That silence hung in the air of a long moment.

“Everyone keeps saying I can’t because I’m too young, but I know I can help her.” She gripped the fabric of her sweatshirt. “I can help, if people will just let me.”

So that’s what drives you, huh? Unbidden, All Might began to think of his own origin. Of telling Nana how he wanted to become a pillar for people to rely on, and the hero affectionately calling him crazy.

“Have you considered that they’re not saying that because they doubt you, but because they want to keep you safe?”

Alley Cat crossed her arms and looked away. “I can take care of myself.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I think your foster mother would disagree with that, Morita Kai.”

The self-proclaimed sidekick did a visable double take, jumping up to her feet. “What?! How did you--?”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone your secret identity.” He said, putting on a reasurring smile. “But if you must know, I figured it out after you showed me your quirk. Being able to heal people is a rare ability, even in this superhuman society.”

Young Morita nodded sagely, looking down at her own hands. “But you want to what amazes me even more than your quirk? That heart of yours.”

She tilted her head, looking up at him like a second head was starting to sprout from his neck. “Let me explain...after you were taken--”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” The girl cut off, and started to walk away from him.

“Okay, I understand,” he acquiesced. The girl stilled, but she didn’t turn around. “But what I was going to say was, after something like that, a lot of other people might only be able to see the darkness in the world for awhile. But not you--you’re out here, trying to save others and share your wonderful gifts with the world. That is what amazes me, young Morita.”

Her back was still to him, and Toshinori had no idea if he’d gotten through to the girl. Then stop being so damn useless and do something you idiot. A voice like his old mentor’s encouraged.

“And if helping people is something that you seriously want to do, you could always apply to UA when you’re older! That way, you can learn how to be a hero in a healthy environment filled with professionals who will only wish to see you succeed.” (Toshinori trampled the memory of Gran Torino beating the snot out of him as far as he could). “I’d bet you’ll be a real famous one, as well.” He gave a wide smile, to add an extra level of encouragement.

Alley Cat finally turned around to face him. “No thanks.”

Excellent, a spark ignited in the heart of a--wait, what? All Might blinked.

Apparently sensing his confusion, the girl elaborated. “People who have their faces put on everything are just full of themselves. I want to be a real hero.”

“Ah...okay...” said the hero with one of the biggest brands in Japan. “My point is, you’re probably too young right now to be a hero or a vigilante.”

“And you’re probably too old to be wearing footie pajamas.” She commented.

Jade Mantis came to the final part of the hideout. Behind that door was most likely the leader of the Purple Hawks gang, and the man that she had been seeking out the entire evening. Her last obstacle was a special bunker--one way in, one way out, and it could only be opened with the boss’ hand print and retina scan. It was probably meant to keep any rivals, police raids, or tricksy vigilantes away with a lock that just couldn’t be picked. The Number One Most Wanted responded by dismantling the door, screw by screw and piece by piece. She removed the deadbolt with a final ‘clack’ before just kicking the darn thing in.

Some would call it overdramatic. She called it fun.

There was a lone figure in the final bunker, a broad-shouldered shadow sitting behind a desk. How absolutely cliché. “Haga Tatsuya,” the vigilante greeted, keeping a touch of a distaste in her voice.

“Jade Mantis,” The man acknowledged. “It always was going to come down to you and me.”

The vigilante extended her batons. “How about we skip the fluff and get to the part where I kick your ass?”

The crime lord looked at her a moment. He then grabbed the metal chair beside him, his quirk shaping it into a sword.

Jade Mantis gave a wolfish smile.

All Might could tell that Alley Cat was starting to tucker out. The young girl was leaning up against his side now, and he could see her struggling to keep her eyes open through the goggles.

Just as he was about to suggest taking her home, they both saw movement. All Might and Kai were sitting on the rooftop in the industrial district. Across from them was a rather simple looking brick building. Its back door swung open with a ‘clang’ and there was Jade Mantis. She was dragging the leader of the Purple Hawks behind her like a trash bag. Interesting.

“Jade!” Alley Cat gasped, and jumped down to go greet her.  All Might reached out, maybe about to advise that they not let the vigilante see them. Too late.

Jade Mantis looked at him, then down at Alley Cat. The surprised look on the Number One Vigilante’s face quickly hardened. He could feel her glaring at them through the lensed mask.  “Rooftop meeting. Now.”

“I know you’re angry—” Kai started.

“I’m not angry, just disappointed.” Inko said, leveling a steady look at the girl. “You see, I know for a fact that you’re smarter than this. So I’m disappointed that you didn’t use that big brain of yours.”

All Might tried to interject. “Jade Mantis, if I may—”

“You may not. I haven’t even gotten to you yet. Running around at night with a school age child fighting crime? Newsflash, this isn’t a movie, and she’s not your plucky sidekick. Alley Cat could have—” Inko pinched the bridge of her nose, and forced herself to take a breath.

“I’m going to run her home, stay here and don’t follow us.” She picked up Kai, and started her leap across the rooftops, leaving All Might behind.

After running Kai back to Vronskaya, Jade Mantis came back to the rooftop. She didn’t know why she was surprised that All Might stuck around.

She silently landed on the rooftop, and then placed her hands on her hips, and cleared her throat. He spun around to face her. The Number One Hero was giving her the ‘I’m sorry’ eyes, so at least he knew he did something wrong—though whether he was sorry he did it or just sorry they got caught remained to be seen.

Inko lets the silence hang in the air, making her disappointment apparent without having to be said. All Might was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Good.  “So this kid walks up to you and says that she’s my sidekick, and you just go along with it?”

“It’s not like I actually thought she was your sidekick,”

“You say that like it’s an excuse.” She pointed out.

“Look, at the time I didn’t have a clue of who she was or where she lived. Not like I could just scoop her up and take her back home.” He tried.

He had a point there. Not like she would tell him that though. “So you still allow a nine year old to play at being a vigilante, walking around one of the most dangerous neighborhoods. At night.”

He stepped backwards, rubbing his hands together. “I had everything completely under control...upuntilshestabbedaguy…”

The mother hadn’t thought that she could possibly be more angry than she already was. She was wrong.

“...she healed him though.”

“That doesn’t excuse it.” She growled out, even though her anger wasn’t directed at him at the moment.

“Of course not!” All Might agreed.

Inko forced herself to take a breath. As much as just yelling at him more would make her feel better, it wouldn’t change what happened. He already knew what he did was wrong. Further yelling wouldn’t accomplish anything. “I know you did what you did with the best of intentions, but the fact remains that by allowing her to keep on doing it, you were sending the message that it was okay.”

“That being said…” Inko took another breath, mentally changing gears. “What kind of total cornball symbol of peace lets himself get dragged around by a nine year old?”

He blinked, apparently taken off guard by her apparent sudden change in mood. Then, All Might started laughing. Not his hammy ‘Symbol of Peace’ laugh, but a chuckle that probably belonged to a man named Yagi Toshinori. Inko didn’t hear it as often, but she liked it whenever she did.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m kind of a sucker for children.”

“That much is obvious,” she deadpanned.

“It is exciting though, to see such determination in someone so young.”

“ Exciting for someone not responsible for enforcing her bedtime ,” She mumbled in Russian.

“What was that?’

“Nothing.”

There was a companionable silence.

“She was snippy. Kids usually aren’t snippy to me.” He said, sounding confused and amused at the same time.

“Well,” Inko huffed in understanding. “You don’t have to deal with them on an extended basis.”

“She told me I was self-centered.”

“I beg your pardon?” The Jade Mantis raised an eyebrow.

All Might gave a soft smile. “Well, not directly, but when I said I thought that she could be a famous hero one day, she basically said that famous heroes have their faces plastered everywhere, and that just means they’re self-centered.” Inko couldn’t help it, she let out a snort of amusement.

“Hey!” All Might pretended to be insulted.

“No, no, it’s just—“ She immediately quieted down, “—I actually used to think the same thing about you, once.”

He didn’t say anything to that, just blinked at her.

“It was before I really knew you. When you debuted, I saw the video and heard that ridiculous laugh of yours and went ‘no way that’s real, he’s faking it’. And then I started seeing you everywhere, from magazine covers to cereal boxes and I guess that familiarity brought a bit of annoyance.” How much has changed. “I used to look up at the Mighty Tower and think ‘it’s probably that big to contain his massive ego’.”

“Oh.” He said, giving her a look that she couldn’t really interpret.

Jade Mantis elbowed him in the side. “That, and I would joke that you were probably compensating for something.”

He sputtered, while she laughed at the overdramatic embarrassed look on his face. “If—if I might get this conversation back on track.” He said, after she laughed for a few more seconds. “It’s obvious that young Morita wants to follow in your footsteps. And if she does follow your example, I have no doubt that she has the potential to be a great hero.”

Jade Mantis felt a thu-thump in her chest, and unsuccessfully tried to shoo it away. “Yeah, I wouldn’t really call myself a ‘role model’. Anything that she achieves, it’ll be despite me, and not because of it. But I agree with you, she’s going to be amazing, no matter what path she chooses.”

She caught a look of concern, right before All Might pulled up his usual jovial mask.  “Nonsense, my friend! Despite your vigilante status, you are a hero to the people of Mustafa, and an inspiration to the next generation.”

“Look, big guy,” Inko sighed, really not in the mood to go into her own issues right now. “Whatever I do as…well, Jade Mantis, yeah I get shit done. But me as me,” she gestured to herself, “I’m kind of a mess.”

“I doubt that.”

“You don’t know me.”

All Might gave her a look. “I may not know your name, Jade Mantis, but I know you. You’re brave, kind, intelligent…trying to save people that others ignore, and all on your own …how could someone look at you and not be inspired?” He said, with that goddamn genuine tone of voice that brokered no argument.

Midoriya Inko felt a stab of affection. It took her another ten seconds to figure out that what she was feeling wasn’t the kind that stemmed from friendship.

Oh . Oh, no.

Fucking shit. Inko needed to go punch something, immediately. Except she just got done punching an entire building full of really bad people and now he’s looking at her with those big blue eyes and puppy dog smile and ahhhHHHHHHH .

“Uh, Jade Mantis?” All Might asked, and she realized that the silence had started to turn awkward.

“Nothing, you cornball.” She managed to get out, her voice only slightly more high pitched than normal. Then, she got an impulse. Something that probably wasn’t that good of an idea. And in classic Inko fashion, she rolled with it. She leaned herself up, and gave the Number One Hero a peck on the cheek.

“Thanks for taking care of the kid. See ya!” The vigilante said like it was no big deal, and then took a running start off of the lip of the building.

After about five blocks, the Jade Mantis dropped down into an alleyway. Inko placed her face in her hands, and let out a long, drawn out Russian expletive.

(She couldn’t see the way that Toshinori cradled his cheek after that, a dusting of red across his features. "Jade Mantis was just thanking me" he would justify. "Just, ahem, being affectionate. Apologizing for yelling.")

Not long after, Inko was back in her civilian clothes and standing in front of the liquor section at her local grocery store. She had been standing there for awhile when a sales associate approached her. “Can I help you with anything?”

“Yeah, if you just found out that you’re hopelessly in love with someone and it’ll never work out, what would you drink?”

The sales associate looked at her, then at the alcohol. “Vodka.”

“Vodka.” Inko nodded her head, grabbing two bottles of Smirnoff and headed towards the check out.

Omake:

One Week Later

“Alright, I’m heading out,” Inko gave a final announcement, grabbing her purse. “Remember, she’s still grounded for sneaking out at night and stabbing a guy. That means after she finishes her homework, no TV, no non educational websites, and no parkour lessons.”

The Russian waited a total of five minutes before pulling out her cell phone. “Nedzu, it’s Vronskaya. Mamma Hen has left the coop, I repeat, Mamma Hen has left the coop.”

There was a knock on the door not ten minutes later. Vronskaya opened the door, and Kai brightened the moment she saw who it was.

“Nedzu!” The girl immediately ran up and gave the animal hero a crushing hug. It took a moment, but the mammal returned it, patting the girl on the back with his paws.

“So, training?” The girl asked, practically bouncing with excitement. Both the hero and the spy shook their heads.

“In respect to your mother’s judgement, we will be postponing your self-defense lessons for the time being,” The pro hero stated, putting down his backpack. Kai pouted.

Nedzu pulled out a laptop and a mini-projector. “However, today I have prepared a lecture on the iconography, symbolism, and meaning behind various tattoos in Japan’s criminal subculture.”

“Yay!”

Chapter Text

Fanart

radioactivepeasant

In the mellow dip between lunch break and dinner rush, the Strekoza restaurant and bar sat empty.  This was gladly taken advantage of by owner and bartender, who were using the time to have a relatively private conversation. The other Strekoza employees were either busy with their own individual chores, or simply minding their own business. Vronskaya Sakura was thankful for this, as it was obvious that her student was in need of a good talk.

Inko was lying face down on the bar, the picture of melodramatic despair. “Oh my god, sensei, what the fuck did I do?"

“I think that expletive answered your own question.” The Russian woman deadpanned.

“Ugh, not helping.”

Sakura affectionate spark in her eye, even as she rolled them. “Not to be insensitive, Inchka, but I think you’re making a bigger deal of this than it actually is. Sure, you had a bit of fun. Sure, you had sex with a man even though you’re in love with someone else. But you and Yagi are not in a committed relationship. There’s no inherent agreement or trust being broken. Unless of course the two of you already, well…” The bar owner wiggled her eyebrows in a suggestive manner, trying to get a laugh.

The bartender didn’t take the bait, instead just straightening up in her seat and resting her head in her hands. “No...he’s asexual, actually.”

Vronskaya blinked. “Oh? Is that…going to be an issue?”

The younger woman shrugged, unbothered. “I have a functioning right hand and a good imagination. I’ll be fine.” Inko then seemed to remember herself, a dower expression returning. “Of course, that’s assuming that he even wants to date me.”

Sakura gave Inko a look. “ Inchka, he’s the Symbol of Peace and a Pillar of Society, and yet he conveniently always makes time to meet up with you on a rooftop? Most of the time you’re not even working on a case together !” She switched back to Japanese. “At the very least, that shows that he cares about you, very deeply.”

“Well yeah, I know that,” the greenette bit back, some of her spirit returning. “It’s just…‘energetic and affectionate’ is basically that dork’s default state, making it impossible for me to tell if he’s possibly interested, or just being nice.”

Sakura considered that. “As cliché as it is to say, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and tell someone how you feel.”

She ran a hand through her hair. “I’ve tried! But every time I try to look at his stupid, earnest face I lose my nerve.”

“Then how about a love letter? I know it’s a bit middle school, but at least you can just get it out and over with.”

Inko was silent for a long moment. “...but what if he...says no.”

The Russian thought back to her own youth. “Well then, at the very least you won’t have the regret of never saying anything.”

Two Weeks Later.

The mixtape really was a cheesy idea. But Inko was in a cheesy mood when she made it. There even was this one song that she’d found—big brass band, smooth singer and saccharine lyrics that remind her of him. He’d love it. And it he didn’t like the letter that she included with it…well, like Vronskaya said, at least they could get everything out in the open.

She hummed the tune under her breath as she made her way towards the docks. Nothing at all had changed in her life, but it would, just as soon as All Might came back.

Jade Mantis had been tracking a shipment that a certain Purple Hawks gang had been anticipating like kids the week before Christmas. Her main plan was to get in, take some photos, maybe get a few samples, then get out. After all, drug shipments were easy (and she wasn’t feeling up to anything too stressful, as she’d recently picked up a stomach bug). The evidence would be in the hands of the Tokyo Police within 24 hours, no problem.

She’d been monitoring the Purple Hawks for weeks. In the months after knocking out their stronghold, she knew there would be a period of chaos and flailing. The leadership had been making noise, looking to try and make an alliance with some of the more established crime families in the surrounding neighborhoods. The main problem, as ever, was All Might. The Symbol of Peace’s very existence was a huge deterrent to criminal behavior (though eradicating it completely would depend on a number of social reforms, and the increased economic and academic opportunities in Mustafa were slowly chipping away at that from the bottom up). The only reason Orito Family was open to talks was because a certain Symbol of Peace was off in China. Well, that and this ‘shipment’ was apparently valuable enough to garner the old yakuza family’s interest.

“Straight from Columbia, best quality goods I’ve seen for awhile.” She’d overheard from one ot the lieutenants who had been sent to negotiate. Colombia was one of the top three producers of opium in the world. Burma and Afghanistan were the other two, and Kai had impressed her geography teacher by knowing where those countries were on the map. (Because who said vigilantism was detrimental to child rearing?)

It was early December, and that guaranteed a cold welcoming should she get knocked overboard. That, and the 200 foot drop from the cargo deck made a quick swim to shore a non-viable escape plan. (250ft was the cutoff for when things got fatal, but Inko didn’t trust herself enough as a diver to risk it). But there she was, working on the shipping container that was closest to the edge of the ship. She was eyeing the searchlight, but was feeling prepared for anything that the drug runners could throw at her.

She’d timed the patrol routes, and knew that she had two minutes and twenty-nine seconds until the next guard came around. Getting the lock open, Jade Mantis slipped inside, feeling fine. Then she pried pen one of the boxes, and everything was suddenly very, very not fine.

Because a whole new awareness of the situation dawned on the vigilante as she did not find cocaine, crack, or opium seeds in those wooden boxes. She saw weapons , and lots of them. Automatic rifles, explosives…weird glowy stuff that looked like something out of Kai’s comic books. Based on what she found in just two of those boxes, there was probably enough in that shipment to outfit a small army. And all of them were headed straight to some of the most dangerous criminal organizations in Japan. Fuck.

Jade Mantis then realized that she’d only have about twenty seconds until the next guard came into hearing range. While her quirk had improved greatly in the last few years, she wasn’t skilled enough to pick the lock and get herself out if she locked herself in here. With no way she could get out of here and escape without notice, the vigilante hid in the space between the door and the wall of the shipping container as best she could.

Yagi Toshinori had landed in Japan about an hour ago and it felt so good to be back.

He yawned as he unlocked the door to his apartment. He’d managed to book a flight that would have him back in Tokyo by nightfall, so the hero’s circadian rhythm wouldn’t be too messed up by the international travel. He’d succeeded, but right now he was more hungry than tired, and decided that after getting something in his stomach the hero would go straight to bed.

While the instant ramen was warming up in the microwave, Toshinori noticed an envelope secured to his fridge with a magnet.

Read Me, it asked, with a stylized mantis head staring out.

He stared at it for a few moments, debating opening it. Then the microwave beeped. Toshinori decided that whatever Jade Mantis wanted would have to wait until his brain was less fuzzy.

The letter would stay unopened until the next morning.

Unsurprisingly, everything had gone to shit.

Jade Mantis had managed to ambush the first guard that came to investigate—slamming the metal door out against his face. But the noise had quickly alerted one of the other nearby guards, with a particular quirk that gave him long, prehensile hair that he could move like whips. He had managed to keep her corralled the area, stopping the Jade Mantis from being able to escape and sneak back towards the docks.

In a moment of genius, she managed to pull out her camera, turn up the flash—aiming right for the guard’s face. That moment of confusion was all she needed, sending him down to the ground with a swift kick to the head.

And then—

“It’s the Jade Mantis!”

She hauled ass, to say the least.

“Don’t just stand there! Shoot!”

The vigilante managed to dive behind the door of the shipping container that she’d opened up. The reinforced steel kept the bullets from hitting her, not because it was thick enough for the projectiles to just sink in, but by deflecting them. And what happens to deflected bullets? They have a tendency to ricochet.

Say, off the open door and into the shipping container itself? You know, with all of the explosives? The explosives that were being kept in wooden boxes.

Jade Mantis realized this during the five seconds the guards were re-loading. “WAIT!” Miracle of Miracles, they seemed to pause. “Please tell me I’m the only one that hears ticking.”

All attention suddenly swerved right towards the shipping container. Jade Mantis managed to get a five second head start before the whole thing blew to hell.

I’m so sorry Kai, I’m so sorry, was all she had time to think before the blast sent her over the edge of the boat. There was a cold slap of pain as she fell into the dark, cold ocean below.

Dear Toshinori , (the letter started)

It’s a mixtape. I remember you mentioning that you liked American music even if you didn’t get to hear it that often (for a rich guy you sure are weird about spending money on yourself). So I decided to make you this. It’s got about an hour’s worth of songs on it, and honestly most of it is just stuff that I think you’d like without any real rhyme or reason to it. In my defense, it’s my first time making one of these!

The reason I left it in your apartment when I know that you’ll be gone was so I didn’t lose it or chicken out. Because I’d like to talk to you about something when you get back, and now you know that and you can hold me to it.

Actually, fuck it, here it goes: I’m kind of definitely in love with you. I’m so sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable, and if you don’t reciprocate at all I won’t hold it against you. You’re my best friend and the last thing in the world is to make you uncomfortable or disrespect your feelings. But I love you with every bit of my fucked-up, piece of shit heart and I know that you’re too good of a person to ever toy with my feelings. There’s nothing more cruel than letting a person hold onto false hope.

So just…enjoy the mixtape. We’ll talk when you get back. It’s probably going to be long, and awkward, but at the very least it’ll be out of the way.

Can’t wait to talk to you,

JM

Chapter Text

Fanart!

radioactivepeasant

In retrospect, this was probably the moment that he fell in love with her.

It was the second year of their partnership. They were on a stake out, set up in an abandoned building across the way from their targets. The hero and vigilante, in a room together for over twelve hours. Yeah, they got bored. More specifically, he got bored.

“So...why do you like horror movies?” All Might asked, after a solid twenty minutes of tense silence. Even as the subject left his mouth, he could tell it was a weak one. Still, not like he had a better one to bring up.

The Jade Mantis lowered her binoculars and turned to look at him. “...uh, why do you ask?”

“No reason, just making conversation.”

There was another pause. “...it’s kind of dumb.”

“You say that to the man who unironically loves all of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies.” Even though maybe half of them were any kind of quality.

The vigilante was quiet for another moment. “After…” she paused, taking a deep breath. “After I ran away from home,” (and boy, didn’t that get his attention) “I was scared for a long time. Scared of the cops, scared I would be forced to go back, scared I would be robbed or murdered if I didn’t pick the right place to sleep for the night. I was basically one big ball of anxiety disguised as a high schooler,” she gave a humorless laugh. “Then I found horror movies. I didn’t like them at first, but they gave me something I couldn’t get anywhere else--catharsis and something like relief, I guess? Probably sounds crazy, but it appealed to me.”

He was a good enough bullshitter to have something pulled up on the fly. “Horror movies keep your attention by keeping up the ebb and flow of tension. Meanwhile you were tense basically all the time with no relief.” Toshinori added, remembering his class on Film Studies.

Jade Mantis nodded, turning back to look through her binoculars. There was another long silence, and All Might just felt more awkward than ever, because what the heck do you say to something like that? Sorry to hear about that felt cheap and devoid of any real substance. So that meant he had to say something meaningful, a show of trust and support...

“I’m asexual.” Is what popped out instead.

The vigilante blinked at him. “Okay, not sure where that came from…”

“It’s just...uh…” This was a horrible idea. “...you revealed something super personal about yourself and I guess I wanted to be supportiveorsomethingbutIpanickedI’msorry.” He mumbled off, suddenly very uncomfortable. Even though he had figured that aspect of himself out after awhile, he had never actually told anyone about that. After awhile, he sort of became afraid to.

Jade Mantis laid a hand on his shoulder, gently drawing him out of his swirling thoughts. “Thank you for feeling comfortable enough to tell me. It means a lot.” She smiled, looking him in the eye. “Now...seriously? All four? Even the last one with the nonsensical plot and the nuclear guy?”

All Might blinked having a slight case of whiplash from the change in topic. “It’s Nuclear Man and there’s nothing wrong with a bit of camp.” He informed, giving a bit of a cheeky grin.

Yeah...looking back, that was probably it.

If only the moment he realized he was in love with her was as peaceful. Or just generally less stressful.

When Toshinori actually got around to reading her letter, he nearly choked to death on his cereal.

Having a sufficient amount of sleep in him and feeling much more human, Yagi Toshinori made himself some breakfast and opened up the Jade Mantis’ letter. He placed the mixtape off to the side before sitting down to read it.

Dear Toshinori, the letter started, which immediately confused him because how did she know his given name? Then he kept reading and there was something else that superseded that concern.

Namely, Jade Mantis confessing that she was in love with him. In a moment of shock, his breakfast suddenly went down the wrong pipe and Toshinori had to down his entire glass of milk to keep from choking. Well, at least physically choking.

He--She--That is---aaaaaaAAAAHHHHHH went his train of thought for a few moments afterward. It was right then that a news alert on the TV grabbed his attention.

“Turning now to a new story breaking this morning, a cargo ship going up in flames last night. Eyewitness accounts describe the Jade Mantis being onboard and the sounds of gunfire before the explosion. Could the Number One Most Wanted Vigilante have been caught in the blaze? Details are still forthcoming--”

All Might was out the door before you could say ‘terminal velocity’.

Last Night…

Vronskaya Sakura was awoken by a knock on her window. Years in her certain profession had made her a light sleeper by default, so she pulled the knife from underneath her pillow on pure instinct. Then she noticed the bird at her window, and felt a little silly.

She was about to go back to sleep when she noticed that there were actually three birds at her window, one of which had a piece of paper grasped between their beak. How strange, Mura-san usually wasn’t the one to contact them.

She opened up the window, and the crow deposited the note in her hand. It took a second moment for her to read the message through. Another five for her to fully comprehend its meaning.

Less than ten minutes later, the Russian was out the door with a sleeping Kai over one shoulder, and the bug out bags over the other.

Toshinori touched down in one of Mustafa's many alleyways with a sigh. He knew better than to think that she would just be in a convenient hospital. Even under an assumed name. But the nurses guarded patient information even against pro heroes so no, they couldn’t tell him if a young woman with dark green hair in her twenties had stopped in for treatment last night. Not without a warrant.

Still, it had been worth the effort to just try.

With the hospitals a no-go, the Symbol of Peace had sped all over Mustafa looking for a trace of the vigilante. No dice. So here All Might was, trying to figure out what his next move will be. Okay, okay, Jade Mantis was investigating some sort of illegal trading when the entire cargo ship went up in flames. If she was injured, she would be lying low with a trusted ally.

Perfect! He just had to find some of her contacts and get a message to her. Except...he had no idea about the identities or locations of any of the Jade Mantis’ allies. (Besides himself, of course). Whatever little things she had let slip about herself and her life, she never revealed so much of a hint about who helped her.

Toshinori sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. He was no slouch in the investigation department, but he knew sniffing out Jade Mantis was something he couldn’t do alone. If he was to find her, he would have to follow in her example and enlist the help of people he trusted. Except...the people he knew who could help him find Jade Mantis without immediately trying to arrest her was a rather short one.

And one rather short hero was at the top of that list. Toshinori pulled out his cell phone, seriously considering the fact that he was about to do this. Do it for her, he told himself, and slapped his leg to try and keep it from shaking so bad. (It didn’t work)

Gran Torino’s phone rung for awhile. Toshinori was sure that it was about to go to voicemail-- oh thank goodness I can just leave a message-- when the older hero picked up the phone.

“Eh? Who’s this?” A gruff, familiar voice answered on the other end of the line. Last chance to back out.

“It’s me sir,” The hero sighed, bracing himself for anything.

“Ah, Toshinori...you know it’s been quite awhile since you called.”

The Symbol of Peace could feel himself sweat drop. “Yes sir, it’s just...well being a pro hero keeps me so busy…”

The old hero hummed in thought. “And yet not so busy that you can’t run around Mustafa like it’s your own personal jungle gym. What’s with you this morning?”

“How did you--”

“For someone who’s been the Symbol of Peace for a couple of years now, you still forget that people notice when you do things. Speaking of which, that Alley Cat kid from a few months ago--” Shit, I thought for sure Daiho managed to bury that. “--it’s generally considered rude not to tell people you have kids.”

“Sir--”

“I mean seriously, if I had known I would have told you straight away that patrol is no activity for a youngster. I bet you got a real tongue-lashing from Miss Most Wanted when you got back home. Which, by the way if she’s the baby mama--”

“Sir, please!” He raised his voice, completely embarrassed. “I called you because it was serious.”

That got the old troll’s attention. “...is he --”

“No, no, not him --though I’m still on that I promise--It’s actually about the Jade Mantis. You see, I saw the report about her getting caught in that explosion, and--well, I know you’re retired, but please...keep an eye out for her.”

There was silence. Silence and his teacher rarely meant something good was about to happen. “You’re right,” Toshinori stopped, surprised. “I am retired. But don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out for your girlfriend for you.”

“Thank you sir,” he replied, honest and full of relief. Suddenly, he remembered her letter back at his apartment. An idea formed in the back of his mind.

Gran Torino was silent for a while, and Toshinori actually had to look to make sure the man hadn’t hung up on him. “She must mean a lot to you, if you’re willing to call me of all people.”

“...yeah, she is.” They hung up shortly afterward.

Jade Mantis...when I find you, I’ll answer your feelings honestly.

Because I think I’m in love with you as well.

Inko did not wake up suddenly and sharply. One moment she was dragging herself onto the closest bit of shore she could see, trying to get there before the pain would become too great for her to even move. (Adrenaline was a wonderful, wonderful thing) The next, she was suddenly aware that she was staring at the inside of her own eyelids, with absolutely no sense of connection between before and after.
Time was feeling weird—in fact, everything was feeling weird. There were long sections of time where she wasn’t even sure if she was conscious or not. Eventually, her senses started to return to her, like her brain was starting to reconnect with the rest of her body.

When Inko opened her eyes, she tried to assess the situation, all of her training and all that. But her brain felt too full of fuzz, and her thoughts were too much like water—unable to hold on to anything for any stretch of time. All she could really register was the pale walls in front of her. So she shut her eyes. After an indeterminable amount of time later, she awoke again to the same pale walls.
This time though, the door opened, and Inko’s green eyes lazily drift over. A woman with red hair and blue scrubs entered the room, holding a clipboard. She greeted Inko in Russian, apparently glad that she was awake. Inko wanted to say something back, but she was still working to get through the fog. Then the carrot top stopped talking and said:

“Konichiwa, Midoriya-san,” in broken and awkward Japanese. Inko belatedly realized that the woman might think that she didn’t speak any Russian, due to her lack of response (the fog was just starting to get clearer, but still undoubtedly there)

“Privyet, tovarich.” Inko greeted. The nurse smiled, almost…embarrassed?

“Ah, you speak Russian?” She nodded, well perhaps ‘flopped’ her head was more accurate. “ Well then, I’m glad you don’t have to suffer through my Japanese .” She was doing something then, something with the little…blinking machines. And everything went dark again.

Nedzu read over Vronskaya’s message again. He already knew perfectly well what it said, but he still went over it, if only for his own feelings.

Nedzu,

With what happened last night, the family and I are taking a trip north. We are unsure of when we will return. But I will establish safe lines of communication in time.

Kai already misses you.

Regards,

Vronskaya Sakura

He knew that the family had connections with the Jade Mantis. Beyond just that of the vigilante helping to rescue Kai. Perhaps they helped her, perhaps they harbored her, Nedzu didn’t really want to know. There was such a thing as ‘reasonable doubt’ and he would prefer to have that card to play if the time ever came. But that wasn’t important, what was was that the Jade Mantis had made very powerful enemies, and the kind that wouldn’t be satisfied with her head alone. If the vigilante was truly dead, it would be open season on her allies.

With that in mind, it was only natural that the Midoriyas would flee as soon as they heard about the explosion. For the time being, Russia was much safer for them. While he would miss the young girl, the animal hero would be busy here, ensuring that it would be safe for Kai and her family’s return.

It was almost strange, thinking about how attached he had become to the Midoriya family in the time since the MICAH incident. Even though he was getting more and more busy with his work at UA, he still made the time to try and share a cup of tea with them every now and them.

Just as he was starting to put together enough information on the Orito Family, Nedzu was surprised by a knock on the door. With the Midoriyas gone he honestly couldn’t think of anyone to stop by for a social call, and he was up to date with his rent.

That surprise didn’t lessen when the hero looked to see who was there.“I am here! In need of assistance.” The Number One Hero greeted, standing in the threshold of Nedzu’s door.

“All Might,” the animal hero said, hiding all signs of surprise. “Not that you’re unwelcome, but what are you doing here?”

It was pretty hilarious, watching a man over seven feet tall try to lean down and whisper to him. “It’s about Jade Mantis, can I come in?”

Checking to make sure that the hero hadn’t been followed, Nedzu locked the door once the hero was inside.

All Might pulled out an envelope, with ‘Read Me’ written in green ink. “I found this in my apartment the night of the explosion. I...didn’t open it until the following morning. But I believe that it might contain a hidden message from Jade Mantis.”

The animal hero tilted his head. Jade Mantis did have a close working relationship with All Might. It was worth a look over, if nothing else. All Might placed the letter in his offered paw.

Nedzu looked at the letter, then at All Might. Then back at the letter. Well, it looks like a lot of people owe Daiho-san money, he couldn’t help but think.

Just doing a quick scan of the letter, his genius brain couldn't pick up on any irregularities, patterns, or any indication of code. But Jade Mantis was always a crafty one...that is, well...

"I'll see what I can do,"

All Might gave a smile.

The next time Inko came back to consciousness, things were a lot more clear. Both her head and her back hurt like a bitch, and she was just on the right side of hungry to get even more irritable. However, before she could really do anything about it, a familiar head of white and blonde hair shot up and had her in their sights.

“Mom!” Kai called out, rushing to the edge of the bed. “You’re finally awake!”

“Kai--?” Inko weakly called out, even as the nine year old practically tackled her into a hug. The mother grit her teeth to keep herself from voicing any pain.

“Vee-san enrolled me in an international school! I speak Russian almost all the time and I made friends and I get to learn a lot about Eurasian history and—“

“Alright little one, give your mother some space.” Vronskaya was suddenly at her side, an indulgent smile on her face alongside some new worry lines. The greenette took the opportunity to look around and observe her surroundings--especially the clipboard at the foot of her bed

“Was it really necessary to take me all the way to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk?” Inko asked. While she had wanted to see Russia someday, flying her out to receive treatment felt a bit extreme.

Vronskaya shrugged. “Cheaper than St Petersburg.”

They were about to discuss it further, when there was a knock at the door.

“I am...Doctor Sakharovna. You speak Russian, Miss Midoriya?” She asked in stilted Japanese.

Inko nodded her head, even as she was rewarded with another sharp bite of pain. “ Yes, but my head is still kind of fuzzy, so I may need you to go slow or repeat a few things .”

The doctor nodded back in understanding. “ No problem at all. And don’t be afraid to let me know when I’m going to fast. The first thing you should know is that you’ve been in and out of consciousness for the past week….” She continued, outlining Inko’s various injuries as she came into the ER. The greenette was honestly surprised she was still alive. “...honestly, all injuries to be expected when a car explodes.”

“ I’m sorry...car bomb?” Inko blinked. From what snippets she could recall she was on a boat when a shipping container exploded.

“ Don’t worry, a couple of fuzzy memories are to be expected after injuries like those.” Sakharovna informed with a reassuring smile. “From the police report, you and your family were walking downtown when some sort of accident caused a car to explode. So unlucky, especially as you’re here on vacation.”

“ Vacation, right,” Inko nodded.

“ However, I do have some good news for you.” The Russian doctor’s face lit up into a smile. “Congratulations, you’re pregnant !”

Inko blinked. “What?”

“ Oh I’m sorry. You are pregnant .” The doctor repeated, going a bit slower this time.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

Inko’s mind blanked out there for a few moments. She was…pregnant.

Huh.

I need to seriously think about this . But not right now.

The doctor continued to talk after that, going over Inko’s prospective healing schedule, and the prospect of physical therapy. “ We should be able to get you out of the hospital within the next two weeks. From there though, we’ll need to set up a system with your local hospital that includes a good physical therapy regimen .”

The patient rubbed her eyes as she nodded. “Later, okay, later…”

Doctor Sakharovna smiled reassuringly. “ Don’t worry, you don’t need to make any decisions right now, we’ll talk when you have a bit of a clearer head.”

The doctor left the room soon after that, leaving the three women of the Midoriya-Vronskaya-Morita family alone to talk.

There was a bit of an awkward silence.

Kai broke it. “Don’t worry it’s safe,” she informed, looking up at her adoptive mother from the bedside. “We can talk about vigilante stuff.”

Inko blinked. “Oh...that’s good to know.” Another pause. “So...what actually happened that night?”

“Don’t know,” the girl shrugged her shoulders. “I was kinda sleepin’.” Either adult could have interjected then, but Kai kept talking. “But when I woke up we were in Russia, and you were in the hospital.” The girl looked away. “I was really worried, and I tried to tell them about my quirk but no one would let me--anyway we’re living in a farmhouse now!”

“A farmhouse?”

“Yeah. There are two floors, I have my own bedroom now and there’s a real kitchen and stuff. There’s also a barn!”

“Seriously? That sounds cool.” And relatively safe for a little girl’s curiosity if the structure was sound enough. Definitely better than Kai jumping around the rooftops and picking fights with people twice her size.

Kai continued to talk for a bit, going over her new school and all the other interesting things in Russia that she’d seen so far. “--and Koycheva--sensei said that my Russian is really good. Which is great because I’ve been practicing a lot with Vee so I was worried about it.”

“Speaking of school,” Vronskaya politely interjected. “Don’t you have a math assignment to work on?”

The nine year old pouted as she looked over to her backpack. “Yeah...but…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take over from here, kotenok. ” The Russian woman smiled. The young blonde gave another long look at Inko before grabbing her backpack and leaving the hospital room. Vronskaya’s gaze turned back to the greenette. “Now, as for what happened…”

Last Week, the night of the explosion...

Vronskaya Sakura carefully placed Kai in the backseat of the van, with the bug out bags next to her. While the girl would certainly pout about leaving some things behind, Sakura had been sure to pack her favorite book. Right now though, time was of the essence. So the Russian started up the car and called her backup at the same time.

The former special forces officer picked up on the second to last ring. “ Da?” He asked, sleep in his voice.

“I apologize for the lateness of the hour, Alexi, but a family emergency has come up. The girls and I will be in Russia for the next few weeks. Possibly longer, depending on circumstances.”

“I’ll hold down the fort here. You can count on me ma’am.”

Sakura nodded to herself. “I never doubted it.” She tsked upon coming to her first red light, but didn’t dare speed through it. Unsafe driving could risk a ticket which would waste even more time.

“Vee?” The sleeping girl asked, starting to stir.

“Don’t worry about it little one, we just need to take a drive.”

“Okay.” The spy watched in the rearview mirror as the girl’s head slumped over as she once more fell asleep.

With the little one safely tucked in, Sakura made her way to the beachfront coordinates. It was off the beaten path--a small gravel road connecting to the shoreline opposite the pier. As the van approached, the headlights illuminated several pairs of eyes.

Sakura got out, and saw that over a dozen birds were now roosting on top of the Jade Mantis’ prone body. They stepped off to the side when she approached, allowing her to come near.

“Oh, Inchka…” she sighed. The poor woman had managed to drag herself onto shore before collapsing from her injuries. Mura-san’s agents must have informed her, and she instructed them to stabilize her for the time. Pelicans, seagulls, and the like had been roosting in order to try and keep Inko warm.

The Russian turned to one of the smaller birds in attendance. “Go back to Mura-san. Tell her we’ll be gone for awhile.” The bird dipped its beak in acknowledgement before flying off.

Vronskaya Sakura pulled out her cellphone. She had a few favors to call in.

“...From there, it was only a matter of making certain calls to certain individuals who could help. A phone call to get you on the first medical plane to Russia. A phone call to have a ‘system error’ to fudge our arrival date. A phone call to stage a little accident. As for Kai, well Funai-san was a little confused, but understanding about the short notice transfer. Utarefson Academy is well regarded, so any parent should jump at the opportunity to have their child enrolled there.”

“You enrolled her in school here? Isn’t that a little, uh, excessive?” Inko felt a little lost.

“Utarefson International is a great school, and I think it’ll be good for her development to study abroad.”

“That’s something that kids usually do in high school, but...well, even with my injuries, we should be able to get back to Japan in a few weeks, right? The hospitals there are fully equipped to deal with these types of injuries.”

Vronskaya looked off to the side for a moment, then back at Inko.“About that...I think it would be prudent if we stayed in Russia until your injuries are sufficiently healed, Inchka. And possibly until your child is born. That is...if you want them?”

Inko had to think for a moment, but the answer came relatively quickly. “Raising Kai has been a genuine joy, so...yeah sure, why not have another kid?”

A soft smile spread over the old woman’s face, lighting up her dark eyes. “Well then, this couldn’t have come at a better time then. This hospital happens to have a great pregnancy care center. Of course, we’ll have to talk to the embassy, get everything straightened out paperwork wise--”

“Uh, sensei if I could steer this conversation back on track?” The greenette interjected. “Why do you keep insisting that we stay in Russia? Yes I’m injured and pregnant but I also have certain... responsibilities with my second job.”

Vronskaya’s lips thinned as she frowned. “Inchka, you can’t.”

“I’ll admit it’s a little ill advised, but just a quick appearance in the leather jacket and mask, reminding people I’m still out there as I go on a...hiatus. I’ll spin it as some big undercover thing, that way the underworld will be extra on edge. The youngins can probably hold down the fort for a few months.” She said, in reference to the newer hero agencies that have started up in Mustafa.

The Russian gave her a long look. “Inchka, the Orito family is currently on the lookout for the Jade Mantis. Sticking your head out now is a good way to get it chopped off.”

“The Orito family hasn’t made a big move in years.” The vigilante handwaved with more confidence than she probably should have. Was it the painkillers? Maybe it was the painkillers.

“They are an old family who are very careful about their image to the other groups. The Jade Mantis embarrassed them, and destroyed a massive shipment of a prospective business deal. They’re embarrassed and looking for your head.” The Russian paused “Besides, with this explosion, I think that now would be a good time for you to retire.”

“What?” Inko startled.

The Russian continued. “I told you when I started training you, Inchka, that the long term solutions lie with the police and the pro heroes. Well, that’s exactly what happening now. Things have gotten better. Not to mention how long you’re going to be out of the game now that you’re going to have another child.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, I agree that I definitely shouldn’t be jumping around rooftops with a baby bump, I think that retiring might be a bit premature.” She insisted.

“Babies take a lot of work, care and attention. And I know what I pay you so I can safely say that you cannot afford a full time babysitter.” The Russian woman poured herself a glass of water.

“You didn’t have these concerns when I took in Kai--hell, you were the one who brought it up!”

“That’s different.” Vronskaya bit out, before calming herself. “As horrible as it is to say, Kai was at least somewhat used to a life of danger. A baby is completely different. With the explosion, the longer you go unaccounted for the more people start to think that you’re dead, and will stop looking for you. You can rest and recover without having a yazuka hit over your head. Why waste such a perfect opportunity to quietly retire?”

“But what if it doesn’t work out?” She bit back. “What if...the minute that people start to think that the Jade Mantis is dead, a bunch of cockroaches come crawling out of the woodwork to wreck havoc in Mustafa? Huh? That’s on my head.”

“I’m not ignoring the risks. Something that was always going to happen, whether or not you retire, or fall in the line of duty. But as you just pointed out, you aren’t the only exterminator in town anymore.” Inko looked away. “Let other hands take up your burden, Inchka. Raise your children in peace.” Vronskaya gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “Your children deserve to be raised by a mother who loves them. You deserve a chance to get to watch your little ones grow up.”

Inko continued to say nothing, her jaw clenched as she stared out the window.

“I’ll...I’ll think about it.” She eventually managed to speak.

Vronskaya silently nodded. “That’s all that I ask.”

Toshinori hadn’t meant to break the TV. Honest.

To back up, Daiho Eden, business manager extraordinaire, had caught him sleeping in the office for the second morning in a row. That in and of itself wasn’t an odd occurrence, Toshinori had a tendency to fall asleep at his desk after a long night of working a case. What was different was why he was sleeping there.

“Rise and shine, All Might.” Was the stand-in for his usual alarm clock. Toshinori startled and almost fell off the couch.

“Ah!” he manages to steady himself just in time and sits up rubbing his eyes. “What time is it?”

“Little after eight.” the business manager commented, taking a drink from her travel mug. He couldn’t help but eye it enviously when he smelled the coffee. “You know...you have your own apartment, right? When was the last time you were back there?”

He forced a smile. “I’ve got backup uniforms here and a cafe not too far. I’m fine.”

Daiho gives him a long look. “Hm...well, usually this is the point where I’d say that you’re an adult and I’m not your nanny, but you kind of look like a mess right now. Greasy hair, bags under eyes, very not Symbol of Peace looking. So seriously, go home. Food, shower, change of clothes.” She ordered, before walking out to her own office.

Yagi Toshinori ran a hand through his hair and sighed. If only it was that simple.

It had been one week. One week with no sign of the Jade Mantis anywhere. While this would be discouraging in a normal missing persons investigation, All Might hadn’t lost hope. It would take months for someone to recover from explosion related injuries. Not to mention the theory that this was all somehow staged, and the vigilante was somehow undercover. (It wasn’t one he particularly believed, but it was something. )

Still, the real reason he hadn’t been back to his apartment was because he felt guilty. It was stupid, he knew it was stupid. Didn’t make the guilt go away. He tsked the moment he opened up his front door, the unlit apartment matched his dour mood perfectly. Very not Symbol of Peace looking indeed.

The thing was, Toshinori dealt with unpleasant emotions the way most people dealt with their car’s ‘check engine’ light turning on; ignoring it until something went majorly wrong and just kind of hoping that it goes away on its own. Was it healthy? Probably not. Was he going to keep doing it? Yes.

He threw his dirty clothes into the hamper, and was unsurprised that the dark mood didn’t wash off in the shower. After taking the appropriate amount to effort to make himself look nice, Toshinori pulled went into his kitchen.

The blond hero had the TV on more for background noise rather than any desire to watch the news. Without surprise, he found the 24 hour news channels to be covering the Jade Mantis story. He could practically hear her reacting to the broadcasters discussing her apparent demise, irreverent and sassy as always. Wait you think that could actually kill me? I’ve eaten bigger explosions for breakfast, Blondie. Heat, force, and shrapnel, all part of a balanced diet.

Toshinori smiled into his oatmeal. That was when his attention was tugged back to to broadcast.

“ ...and of course, we can’t ignore All Might’s role in all of this.”

The news anchor nodded. “Well yes, it’s certainly a help to the investigation to have the Number One Hero involved.”

“No that’s not it at all.” The pundit said, and there was a flash of confusion on the anchor’s face before it was replaced with picture perfect professionalism.

“What do you mean?”

“To be frank, All Might had chance after chance to arrest the Jade Mantis for her vigilante activities. Chance after chance, he let her go and continue to flagrantly break the laws of this country. Unfortunately, this explosion was the result of a lone wolf poking a bear with a stick until it attacked her. And now, at least four men are dead.”

“I think that’s a bit extreme--”

“I guarantee you, if he had done his job and brought the Jade Mantis vigilante into custody, she would still be alive. So might those other men who were killed in the explosion. She was an untrained civilian playing at a dangerous profession, and that’s what got her killed--”

That was when he threw the remote at the TV. The small rectangle embedded itself in the screen with a sharp ‘crack’, causing the picture to fizzle and blur before going black.

He had no idea why he did that. In fact, that he had even thrown the remote didn’t even register until the unit started smoking. Yagi Toshinori immediately regretted that. It was a fit of childish pique, he was above that, he knew his own strength-- so why the hell did he do that?

Oh don’t be so dense. An intrusive voice in the back of his head whispered. Even you’re not that dumb.

Toshinori ran a hand through his hair. Shit. Directly or indirectly, what happened to Jade Mantis had been his fault. While she was fighting for her life, he had decided to ignore her letter and go to bed. He would never forgive himself for such slothfulness.

And yet you run yourself ragged looking for one woman? A part of his mind whispered. The Symbol of Peace is to protect and elevate everyone, not selfishly prioritize the ones you know personally.

Well then what was he supposed to do, recuse himself from the case? He knew Jade Mantis best, if anyone could find the vigilante it would be him. Besides, it’s not like he could just ignore a person in need of help. Especially one he--

What, loved? That’s your next mistake. You saw what happened to Nana, you idiot. You saw her pain after she lost her husband, and gave up her son to protect him. And you went ahead and fell in love with her anyway.

It’s not like he had a choice in the matter. Jade Mantis was intelligent, strong, empathetic, protective of others, resilient--

Not resilient enough, apparently. And no matter how good she was, she wasn’t a pro hero. You allowed her to walk down this path with barely a word of censure or discouragement. Whatever happened to her, it was because you didn’t stop this.

There was a knock on the door, and the intrusive thoughts started to scatter with the sound. Toshinori couldn’t find his voice. To say ‘come in’ or ‘go away’...he didn’t know. The decision was made for him when the door opened anyway.

The last person he would have thought stepped through that door--Daiho Eden. She was wearing her long overcoat over her regular business suit, and had something tucked underneath her arm.

Daiho raised an eyebrow at the broken TV. “Doing some redecorating I see,” the redhead commented. It was her way of trying to break the tension. It didn’t work.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, shame draining him of any bite.

“Well, as you know I’m your business manager, not your keeper. But my beautiful, amazing wife who is constantly a better person than me pointed out that bringing food in times of trouble is something that decent people do.”

“Food,” he repeated, more like a question. Because Daiho Eden...she was many things. But she wasn’t someone who showed up at his house bearing food.

Daiho took a breath, seeming to almost steel herself. “I am here, with food, because you’re my friend, you dumbass.”

He blinked.

“Here,” Daiho took out the package, revealing a to-go tupperware full of pancakes. “My wife put in blueberries instead of chocolate chips, because you seem like the type of person who eats those.” She sat across from him on the table and drank from her travel mug full of coffee.

Toshinori moved to go grab a knife and fork, still honestly a little confused.

The business manager wasn’t immune from the awkwardness herself, sitting ramrod straight at the table. Toshinori started eating his pancakes.

“So...Jade Mantis?” Daiho ventured after a few bites.

He hummed, his mouth full of food. “Working on it. I have Nedzu following up on an angle.” She hummed back in acknowledgment. There were a few more sips of coffee before she came to some kind of decision.

“Yagi, you know that I’m not one to pry into your personal life, but, uh…well there’s no polite way to say this. Are you in a relationship with Jade Mantis? Like...romantically.”

Toshinori was in the middle of a drink of milk. He sputtered but managed to get it down without spilling or coughing. “How did you know?!”

Daiho raised an eyebrow. “What, was that supposed to be some kind of secret?”

The blond wiped his face with a napkin. “...considering I found out about it a week ago, yeah, I guess.” He realized that he misspoke about two seconds after the words left his mouth.

This time, her eyebrows were furrowed. “You only realized you were in a relationship a week ago? Yagi…”

“No no! I just...found out that I, uh...liked her liked her.” He mumbled into his pancakes.

Another hum and sip of coffee from Daiho. “Really? Because working with the Most Wanted Vigilante without once even considering turning over to the police wasn’t enough of an indication?”

He just ate another slice of pancakes, unable to come up with his usual excuses. “I’m teasing, of course. As for how I knew...the charity gala a few years ago. The way you two played off of each other…” she shrugged. “I’m good at reading people. Comes with the job.” She smiled. “Even back then, it was obvious how much you liked her. And how much she liked you.”

“...I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, to be honest. The last time I was in a serious relationship...well things just kind of faded after I moved away," he recalled, thinking of his time in America with David Shield. "And I love her, I really do, but I have no idea what that actually means in the grand scheme of things. I’m supposed to be the Symbol of Peace, how can I do that and be with someone, knowing what my job is like?” He saw the pain that had settled into Nana, after her husband. The last thing he ever wanted was to be responsible for Jade to feel that herself.

The redhead glanced down at her hand, before looking back at him. “Well, to be fair, it’s not like life is completely risk-free. I could walk down a flight of stairs, trip and split my head open. There’s always a balance of risk and reward, so you have to decide if it’s worth it. She obviously has.”

Toshinori huffed, and looked back up at his business manager. “How would that even work? The Number One Hero and Vigilante? Because I imagine that is something people are going to notice.”

“To be honest, I’ve probably spent way too much time thinking about it. Simple way: All Might’s never in a relationship, but Yagi is. Slightly less simple way: stage a meet cute with her civilian identity, say we want to keep things private. The complicated way involves defense attorneys, press conferences, and probably a Dateline special.” She smiled, before it started to dip into a frown. “That is, however, hinges on the idea that--”

“She’s alive.” Toshinori interjected. “I know she is.”

Because the Jade Mantis always got out.

True to his word, Nedzu had tried to decode the letter and mixtape. He ran the letter through every type of cipher or system he knew, cross-checking certain phrases with the songs in order to detect some sort of hidden meaning. He pulled the mixtape apart on a digital level, looking for any kind of unusual spikes or background noise.

He found nothing to suggest any kind of intent or pattern. If there was a code (and Nedzu was 99% certain that there wasn’t) it was one that he couldn’t crack.

No, All Might, this wasn’t any kind of complicated code. Instead, the vigilante confessed her love to you before stepping into the jaws of death.

Nedzu sighed, and went back to his laptop. “One more time,” he said, if only to himself. “One last time, and if I don’t find anything…” he trailed off, before pressing ‘play’. The mellow notes of a big brass band came through the speakers.

We’ll meet again,

Don’t know where,

Don’t know when

But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day

Keep smiling through

Just like you always do

‘Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away *

There was a burner phone in one of the bug-out bags. One of the specially modified ones that the Jade Mantis used to call people without being traced. It would be so simple to just pick the phone up and call All Might--Inko’s had his phone number memorized for years now. She had at first thought to call him, to let him know she was alright.

But then...she stopped. It had been an entire week since the explosion, and sure he would be glad to hear that she was alive but then the next question out of his mouth would be ‘when are you coming back?’ And that wasn’t a question she was sure she could answer.

Because she loved being the Jade Mantis so much. The total freedom in using her quirk whatever way she pleased, jumping across rooftops, the wind in her hair, a mask and a smile on her face. Fighting to protect others—always outgunned but never out planned—could she really give that up?

She already was in a way, bedridden for the next couple of months at the very least. And Vronskaya was so right, she had enough on her plate with Kai, a newborn was going to completely destroy any kind of crime fighting schedule. It would be a long time until she could get back out there, she could get rusty in that time, and in that line of work getting rusty meant getting killed most likely.

Mustafa has gotten better, she reminded herself. There were new hero agencies being set up, kids from Mustafa actually getting into UA with the intent of serving their neighborhood once they graduated. The old camera chasers were replaced by heroes that cared, and regularly patrolling the neighborhood. It would be awhile until the public fully trusted pro heroes, but that would come with time. The police force also did a massive overhaul, getting rid of most if not all of their corrupt officers in the district. (At least, the ones she was aware of.)

If anything, this was the perfect chance for her to ‘die’. To duck out now, and raise her kids in the relative peace she helped create. But could she really give up being the Jade Mantis, and all that entailed?

Inko thought about Kai, the little girl so excited to be going to school, telling Vronskaya all about her day. She looked down to the sonogram in her hand. At the little life now growing inside her, full of potential.

For her children?

Without question.

As for the letter she wrote...well, she wouldn’t regret never saying anything to him. And she’ll never have to hear him say ‘no’. Because be honest, what were the chances of him saying ‘yes’, really?

Sorry about this Blondie, she silently apologized, gripping the phone in her hand. But my kids come first.

And that was the story of how the Jade Mantis died.

One Year From Now...

Kai entered the Midoriya apartment and immediately heard her baby brother crying.

“Uh, Inko?” As she passed the kitchen, the ten-year-old, noticed that some of the cups and spoons were suspended mid-air. Okay, weird. she followed the line of floating objects into her guardian’s bedroom.

Little things floated idly around Inko—books, bottle caps, the formula powder, some pens. The woman herself was sitting on the floor next to the bed, with her head buried in her knees.

“Mom?” Kai asked again, softer.

“He was crying and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.” She said, not looking up at her. “I changed his diaper even though it was clean, I tried to feed him, but he wouldn’t eat, and he wouldn’t lay down for a nap, I—I don’t know what he wants!” She started crying again, turning away from Kai.

I can’t do this I can’t do this I can’t be a parent I’ll hurt him I’ll fuck it up I always mess things up I can’t do this.

“Hey.” She heard from Izuku’s room, and dragged herself up to get a better look. She saw Kai approach the baby boy, and from the way that she was staring at him, Inko guessed she was using her Triage. “Well, apparently nothing’s wrong with you physically, so, I guess—“ She furrowed her brow, the kid was used to thinking her way out of things, how was this much different? “Maybe he just wants some attention?” She called out to Inko.

The greenette considered that idea for a moment, before wiping away her tears. “Alright, worth a shot…”

She picked up her son, and while the reaction wasn’t immediate, he did seem to settle into her.  “C’mon, maybe we can watch some TV or something…”

As they were flipping through channels, they came to one of those 24-hour news stations, they were talking about Symbol of Peace resolving one incident or another.

“Ahm, ahm!” Izuku babbled.

Inko smiled. “Yes honey, that’s All Might.”

“Ahm, ahm ahm,” the baby continued to say.

“Wow, you really like All Might,” She said, holding her son on her lap.

“Like mother like son, I guess.” Kai commented as she studied. Inko shot her daughter a look, but the girl just gave a cheeky grin and turned back to her homework.

Chapter Text

Nedzu had been dreading this conversation. One would think that with his...eccentricities that the animal hero would enjoy being the bearer of bad news. They would be mistaken. Even though the rat/dog/bear creature had a lower emotional intelligence than some and more than a few problems empathizing with others, he wasn’t a sadist. He liked seeing humans squirm, not truly suffer.

A part of him wondered if he was instead indulging in a bit of emotional masochism, having invited the Number One Hero back to his apartment to discuss his findings, rather than summarizing them in a phone call or email.

The last analysis of the mixtape and letter had yielded no more results than the first had. There was no indication in Nedzu’s mind that this had been anything other than a simple love confession.

He had just finished explaining this to All Might, and the blonde hero nodded in understanding.

“I suppose it was a bit of a stretch. However, that would support the idea that she’s holed up somewhere healing from her injuries, instead of an undercover operation.” The blond hero mused, taking back both pieces of evidence and gently placing them in his coat pocket.

Nedzu looked away for a moment, before meeting his colleague's gaze directly. “All Might, I think we may need to consider the idea that Jade Mantis isn’t in hiding.”

The other hero shook his head, still thinking. “No, we’d be getting reports of any confirmed sightings in Mustafa. Heck, even unconfirmed sightings would get some media attention. Makes sense though, nothing but the strongest healing quirks would get her back on her feet this quickly.” Still in the midst of a thought, All Might turned and looked out the window. “I’ve already talked to the top five in the country, and those not bound by doctor patient confidentiality say they haven’t helped anyone with Jade Mantis’ description or supposed injuries. Of course, there’s always the possibility of underground clinics...”

Oh dear, he really is in deep with this. “No, you misunderstand. I think the investigation needs to start taking steps to search for a body. If nothing else, divers checking the waters at the crime scene itself.”

That caused the Number One Hero to still. “...that’s not funny, Nedzu.”

The animal hero in question tilted his head. “All Might?”

“I know you have a bit of a twisted sense of humor--anyone with your background would--but that’s not funny.” All Might’s back was to him, so Nedzu couldn’t see his face. His voice, however, was cold and dismissive. Completely out of character for the man that the genius knew.

The implication that he wouldn’t take his job serious raised Nedzu’s hackles more than any accusation of heartlessness ever could. The animal hero had to remind himself that All Might wasn’t in a good place right now, and that doing one of his...pranks would only get him in more trouble than it was worth.

“I’m not joking, All Might. In an investigation, all necessarily and logical steps must be taken. To not even check would be a waste of law enforcement’s time and resources.”

All Might looked back at him, a cold kind of anger lurking in his eyes. Nedzu could feel his fur bristle, but refused to back down.

“If this wasn’t about the Jade Mantis--if she wasn’t the one who was missing--would you at least consider what I was saying? That it is something that we at least have to check ?”

The taller man looked away first, body language going from confrontational to slumped in a few seconds. “I...apologize Nedzu.”

He stepped out of the apartment without another word. Yagi was too polite to slam the door behind him, but the soft ‘clack’ was much less satisfying an end.

It took Toshinori another two months before he really believed it.

When he was a kid, back when being quirkless wasn’t as rare as it was now, he read comic books. In them, he noticed that the authors would often try to build suspense with cliffhangers. Asking the readers ‘oh did this character survive that?’ as if they hadn’t already had half a century of lore behind them detailing how easy it was for them to survive those kinds of things. Every time he would start to get nervous about losing one of his beloved icons, Toshinori would go back and read other stories, assuring himself that they’d survived worse.

His reaction to Jade Mantis’ death was something like that.

Nana had been different. He had been eighteen, with tears streaming down his face as Gran Torino had to drag him away from the battlefield. With that final blast of light, there had been absolutely no doubt as to his master’s fate. Even before that, when he had seriously believed that he and his master could and would emerge victorious against All for One, the whole affair just had a certain air of finality about it.

Jade Mantis? Jade Mantis was in the middle of it all. The first time they met, she was trying to defuse a bomb. When that didn’t work she threw it out of the window, let it explode, and then jumped out of that same window not thirty seconds later. That kind of first impression, combined with the dozen other near-death experiences he’d seen her go through over the past five years had transformed her into this near-immortal in Toshinori’s mind.

So, All Might was in a state of disbelief for almost two months, completely convinced that Jade Mantis had escaped, and was simply recovering at a top-secret location. Or that the whole explosion was staged, and this was all sort of some long, deep-cover operation. Then, he had to intervene with no less than three major villain incidents in Mustafa without so much as a flicker of Jade Mantis’ involvement.

Turns out, the criminal element in the neighborhood was smart enough to put the puzzle pieces together, even when All Might refused to so much as open the box. Jade Mantis had been in worse scrapes before, he told himself, and she got out.

The Jade Mantis always gets out.

He could still remember where he was when it really sunk it. It was early evening, and he was listening to that mixtape for about the 100 th time, when he came across it. There was a candlelit gathering in Mustafa Park, with a few dozen people. Toshinori slowed down out of respect, and was about to walk away before he overheard what someone was saying.

“--while not a hero in the conventional sense, the Jade Mantis was a hero to each and every one of us. Through her efforts, she tried to make life in the neighborhood just a little bit better for all of us.”

Toshinori was suddenly felt rooted to the sidewalk, unable to turn away. They were talking about how much the Jade Mantis had meant to all of them. How she had touched their lives.

A schoolteacher, talking about how she had never felt more safe than when Jade would walk her home, talking to her about Russian literature and making her laugh. How she had finally gathered the courage to press charges against her stalker because of those walks.

A man said that the only reason he was alive to see the birth of his grandchildren was because Jade Mantis had performed CPR when he had a heart attack.

Two teenage boys, light and dark hair and both in UA uniforms. The blonde explained how his friend couldn’t talk right now, but that Jade Mantis had restored his faith in heroes, and inspired him to apply to UA.

“I never met her, but she sounded super cool!” A chuckle rose up from the other audience members, even as the dark haired boy glared at his friend.

That was when it happened. That moment, there at the candlelight vigil, a makeshift funeral for a woman that had deserved so much more—that was when he knew she was dead. He cried in the company of strangers, no one there judging because no one there had a dry eye. All Might had raced back to his apartment, back to the letter and poured over every word, no longer fooling himself. She had loved him, and he had loved her, and when she finally worked up the courage to say something, she had been blown to hell right after. Toshinori was never under the illusion that life was fair but did it have to be such a bitch?

Years later, he vaguely wonders how he would have reacted to her confession if there hadn’t been any explosion. He probably would have been so awkward about it, that much Toshi knows for sure. He probably would have gone out to try and do some hero work to try and give himself some mental room. Saving others usually puts things in perspective.

Toshinori doubted that he’d have been able to figure out his true feelings in time for that rooftop meeting. He wasn’t blind to his own faults, he could be stubborn, oafish, and always trying to keep any kind of negative or uncomfortable emotion buried. But every now and then, he would let himself wander into the realm of ‘what-ifs’, and imagined how it could have went down.

The hero pictures himself landing on a rooftop in Mustafa, rubbing the back of his head because he was so sure that he was about to break his best friend’s heart. He imagines himself then taking a look at Jade Mantis in the light of the setting sun. Her face would be flushed from activity and have some hilarious or heart-warming story about what she’d done, unconsciously reminding All Might of how much she looked out for others, and how the true goal of a hero was to protect those weaker than yourself. Toshinori imagined that in such a moment, he would suddenly realize that he was indeed in love with Jade Mantis.

And he would tell her. Jade Mantis would smile, that soft, shy smile she got whenever someone did something nice for her that she didn’t expect, (and she never expected anyone to do anything nice for her). She would probably call him a dork. Jade Mantis would then take off her domino mask, and he would see those deep green eyes that he remembered from when they first met. They would talk, long into the night, absolutely no secrets between them as they began the rest of their lives together.

Toshinori knew he was an absolute sap, and now he would never get to hear Jade Mantis tease him about that. Never again.

Oh, god, she was really gone.

Hibiki Hisashi becomes Midoriya Hisashi on a cold December night. He got the phone call from Inko a week before that, explaining the situation.

“I would have contacted you earlier,” she explained, sounding pained over the phone, “but I got caught in an explosion while on vacation and I’m still recovering from it.”

“I…uh, sorry?” He tried. “That was weak, but I really have no idea what else to say here.”

“Nah, it’s alright. I was thrown off kilter when I got the news as well. We weren’t exactly trying for this to happen, it just kind of—“

“Happened.”

“Exactly.”

There was a beat.

“…so getting married would help the kid out?”

She huffed. “Yes, while it’s technically illegal to discriminate, I couldn’t help but notice the way that the administrators looked at me when I was handing in the family registry to try and enroll Kai in elementary school. The ones with the nastiest looks were the ones that we weren’t accepted into.”

“But she’s adopted. ” He remembered Inko telling him about her kid, back during that long night in Kuzuhama, and looking so proud.

“I know.” Another huff. “So, here’s my plan, if you’re amiable. We get married, I put your name on the register, and you can go work overseas. I won’t even ask for you to send us any money.”

It was Hisashi’s turn to huff. “Uh, okay this is unexpected, but I’m not a dick, Inko.”

“I wasn’t trying to imply that. We stay married in name only until the kid is, say, two or three years old. Then we can amicably divorce and move on with our lives.” Hisashi looked up at the ceiling, damn was he seriously thinking about this? There was a tickle of thought at the back of his mind, reminding him that there were scholarships out there for married business majors. He swatted it away for now.

“I…guess, I’m amiable. I mean, you kind of saved my life and stuff…though, not to be at all crude here, are you sure you…want to have the kid?” He cringed at himself. For goodness sakes’ it was Inko’s life, what right did he have to question her decisions?

“Yes.” Inko stated, completely sure. “Hisashi…it’s hard to explain, but I feel like the past few years of my life have been, like, a chapter. A very good chapter, a very interesting chapter of my life, but I feel like I’ve reached a good stopping point. Almost dying sounds like a pretty good way to end one chapter, so maybe having a baby will a be a nice way to begin the next one?”

Hisashi took a deep breath. “So…what, I’m basically a sperm donor in all of this?” He tried to joke.

The line was silent for a few, heavy moments. “I’m not going to force you to be a parent if you don’t want to, or you’re not ready for it. Because I know what it’s like being raised by people who make it clear you’re not wanted.”

“Oh, uh…I’m sorry?”

He imagines her shrugging. “It was a long time ago. But the reason I’m telling you this is because I know what happens when a kid does not feel loved by the people who are supposed to take care of them. Again, no offense here, but if there’s a chance of that happening…I don’t want to force you or this kid into that kind of a situation.”

The more he thought about it, the more it actually made sense. Hisashi was not in a place in his life to be taking care of a baby. Inko was a great lady, but they were...acquaintances at best. That kid deserved the best chance they could get, and having a dad that would barely have one foot in the door emotionally wasn’t one of them.

Oh lord, he was actually going to do this. “Well, could you maybe…keep me updated? Send the occasional picture?”

“Of course.” She agreed.

“And...maybe I could visit once in awhile? I’m no dad, but maybe I could be fun Uncle Hisashi?”

Inko gave a delighted little laugh. “I would be more than happy with that arrangement.”

After that, they discussed the logistics of the actual wedding. The first agreement was that it would have to be small--neither of them were close to their families, and telling them would just cause more trouble than it was worth. Most of the costs of the wedding went to covering his plane ticket to Russia. The ceremony itself occured in the Japanese embassy in a town whose that he could never pronounce correctly.

Inko was wearing a loose yellow dress, and bandages all over her arms and back. Hisashi wore slacks and a button up shirt, and felt conspicuously overdressed. Vronskaya and two other bartenders from the Strekoza served as witnesses while Morita Kai (his…stepdaughter?) was the world’s cutest little Maid of Honor.

The ceremony was very quick, in and out of there in less than ten minutes. They all went out for pirozhki afterwards. (It was Hiashi’s first time eating Russian cuisine, and he was surprised how much he liked it).

Two days later, he was getting on an airplane, and heading back to Japan. The goodbyes were still more than a little awkward. “Oh, and never hesitate to call if the kid starts breathing fire, I know all the places to shop for that.” He joked, and managed to get a chuckle out of her. Lord, how Hisashi loved to make Midoriya Inko laugh.

As always, life went on. Hisashi soon got accepted to the University of Seattle’s business course in America and sent Inko pictures from the top of the Space Needle. The time difference made communication a bit tricky, but staying up late at night studying turned out to be a great time to call his wife. He knew it wasn’t much, but Hiashi still had the desire to be there for her in some small was. Even though he hadn’t actually spent all that much time with her, it was obvious to him that Vronskaya and Kai were the only two steady presences in Inko’s life.

That must be lonely. Hisashi couldn’t help but think.

Midoriya Izuku was born July 15 th , 7:23 am. And goodness, did he come out with a bang.

To start off with, he was an early bird. Inko felt so bloated that she was so sure that she was going to pop at any time, but the doctors put the due date closer to July 30th. But then again, Midoriyas had always been self-starters.

Midoriya Inko woke up in a Russian farmhouse at four in the morning in pain and with little clue of what was going on. While waking up in pain and without a clue is never a fun time for anyone, it becomes extra stressful when you’re a former vigilante technically in hiding. After a solid minute and a half of wondering if this was some sort of quirk or poison, Inko realized that she was kind of definitely in labor.

Cue panicked Japanese screaming, one very startled Russian who had drawn a knife on pure instinct, and one ten year old that really just wanted to go back to sleep. Vronskaya Sakura tore her way out of that gravel driveway like she was in a chase scene, rather than on her way to the hospital. (Their nearest neighbors--the lovely Karenin family that generally minded their own business--woke up later to find their mailbox run over and a hastily scribbled note explaining the situation. There would later be some apology katsudon.)

If they all thought that the general excitement would be over once they reached the hospital, they were wrong. The Midoriya women were greeted with some not-so-fun news: the baby was breech.

“ That means he’s coming out feet first instead of head first, right ?” Kai asked, still honestly just trying to stay awake.

The doctor gave an indulgent smile and a nod. “Yes, that’s exactly right. Unfortunately, babies are supposed to come out head first, so things are a bit more...tricky.”

“And by tricky I presume you mean ‘dangerous’.” Inko surmised.

“ In this day and age, the risks towards the mother are slim to none if the baby is delivered vaginally ,” the doctor assured. “ But really, a cesarean section is still safer for both the both of you .”

The telekinetic sighed, and rubbed at her eyes. Damnit kid, you just like making things difficult for you momma, don’t you?

She looked back up and gave a little nod. “ Slice me open, let’s do this .”

Two hours later, another Midoriya came into the world screaming his little lungs out and covered in someone else’s blood. Vronskaya would have joked that he already took after his mother, but right then didn’t seem like the time.

There was the prerequisite kisses, hugs, and cooing once the baby was cleaned up and brought back to meet his family. Right afterward, Kai fell asleep and Inko insisted that Vronskaya take the ten-year-old back home for some much-needed sleep. Thus, leaving her alone with the little baby.

Inko hadn’t managed to come up with a name yet, when she went into labor. Months of pregnancy, so much time to decide, and after going through multiple baby books multiple times, she still had no idea what she was going to call the kid.

Then, she saw him. He was such a tiny little thing--Inko knew that babies were small, at least logically. She’d just never actually...held one. In a long time. She took the time to look him over, soaking every little detail in. The kid was bald now, but hair would come in with time--green, if he took after her at all. His eyes though...his eyes were what drew her attention. They were almost too big for his little face, very dark, and staring directly at her.

“I guess you’re going to need a name…” She mused aloud. The baby continued to just stare at her. It was actually kind of amazing. A tiny person came out of her. And now that tiny person needs a name. A name that he will be called every single day for the rest of his life, so like, no pressure.

The telekinetic huffed when nothing that fit just right popped into her head. “…to be honest, I can only really think of one person I could maybe name you after. My grandfather. He loved me, that much I could never doubt. Much more than I could say for the rest of your blood relatives, but we don’t have to ever worry about them.” She adjusted herself a little bit, moving the pillows around with her quirk to get a bit more comfortable. “What do you think of the name Izuku?”

There was no cinematic moment, no giggle or sign or other kind of thing that indicated that it was the ‘right’ name. All there was in that moment was just a mother and a baby.

Midoriya Inko chuckled and then started crying. “Hello Izuku.”

But hey, that was life.

Chapter Text

The main fact of the matter was: Kai hadn’t set out to be a hero. Not originally.

The reasons that Kai had loved the Jade Mantis as a kid—her honesty, her integrity, the way she never sought fame or attention—carried over into her beliefs as she got older. Kai knew that heroes were necessary, that they provided a great service to society the same way that doctors or police did. She just hated the fake-y showboating.

So, no, Morita Kai had not set out to become a hero. What she wanted was to help people, and becoming a hero was merely the most effective way to reach her goal.

“Huh?” Izuku asked, looking up at his big sister with those wide, green eyes. “You’re not gonna go to UA?”

Kai shook her head, an apologetic smile on her face (even though she was the furthest thing from sorry). “No, I want to become a doctor, and UA is more set up for heroics.”

So, even though her precious baby brother begged and cried for Kai to go to UA, the girl had stood firm. She wanted to be a doctor. Morita Kai wanted to use her quirk to the best of her ability, to protect and heal anyone who needed her help. Being a doctor, rather than a media whore seemed like the best way to do that.

However, that began to change her second year of medical school. She was having a rare afternoon to herself—planning on walking down to her favorite coffee shop—when she saw a crowd of people gathered on the street. Izuku was always down to talk about public fights, so Kai figured that she’d check it out and have something to chat about with her baby brother tonight. So, the nineteen-year-old made her way to the front of the crowd, right behind where the police had formed a dividing line.

She recognized the two pros dealing with the villain—Sir Nighteye, All Might’s former sidekick who recently left to start his own agency, and the current Ingenium. She said ‘current’ because it was obviously a family hero name, and the newest guy just took over from his father or uncle or something. But that wasn’t what drew Kai’s attention. No, that was one of the other heroes at the scene attempting to move a man in a way that would only worsen a possible spinal injury. Kai activated Triage. Okay, make that a definite spinal injury.

“No! Stop! His spine’s damaged!” Either the hero couldn’t hear or was ignoring her, but either way, he was about to do some serious damage to the civilian. She had to make a decision, and fast. She was raised by a former Russian spy and a prolific vigilante, so thankfully Kai knew how to think and plan quickly. Knock the sidekick out of the way, contain healing to the spinal region so as to not risk patient’s stamina.

Just as soon as she’d gone through that, Kai’s body moved—almost without any input from her, as weird as that sounded. She pushed the sidekick away, ignoring his confused grunt, and activated her quirk, reaching out to start healing the damage that had already been done.

Unfortunately, the sidekick knocked her to the ground, the two of them grappled and Kai (more annoyed than anything else) managed to swiftly manipulate her opponent into an arm bar. Confident he was down for a little bit, she used her other hand to finish healing up the victim’s spine (or at least, heal it enough so that moving him won’t do permanent damage).

That was then the other pros showed up. Kai put on a smile and released the arm bar. “Um—hi?”

Five minutes later, she was in handcuffs and sitting on the curb. Seriously, not how she wanted to spend an afternoon. She was debating if breaking out of the handcuffs would be worth the trouble of running away when a rather irritated looking Sir Nighteye appeared. He crossed his arms and looked down at her. Kai immediately decided she didn’t like him.

“Young woman, care to explain yourself?”

“Yes: this is bullshit.”

“You crossed a police line and assaulted a sidekick. And whatever you did to that man—“

“I healed him, which you would know if you just bothered to fucking check.” When in trouble, Kai’s default defense mechanism was sass. She got it from her mom.

“—please refrain from the foul language, young lady. The point is, no matter your intentions you are a civilian, the heroes are trained and know what they’re doing.”

“Oh really? Then why was that dumbass,” she gestured over to the sidekick with the bloody nose, “about to move a guy with a severe spinal injury? On his own. You know, in the worst possible way to make the injury worse?” Sir Nighteye turned his attention over to the man.

His frown deepened, but his attention returned back to her. “While that does place a new perspective on things, what makes you so qualified to—“

“Morita Kai, I’m a second year medical student at Tokyo University. And my quirk lets me diagnose serious injuries just by looking at someone.” She gestured to her eyes, and briefly activated Triage for a moment. Sir Nighteye had a couple bruises and scrapes, but was otherwise fine. “Then I can heal people through skin contact.”

The hero didn’t look any more understanding. “Quirk use in public, another infraction on your record.”

“Hey, hey, no need to be overzealous.” Ingenium approached, hands held out placating. “Sir, perhaps you should take a breather here.” The pro hero gave another long look at Kai before walking away. “Sorry about him, he’s a great hero I promise. He’s just a bit high strung with starting his new agency and all.” Kai rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything. “Anyway, I can tell your heart was in the right place here, Morita-san, and I personally thank you for making sure that no further harm came to that man.”

The student blinked, taken back at the hero thanking her. “Uh, no big deal, I guess.”

“However, Nighteye has a point here. While you are trained in medicine, you’re not a pro hero or a licensed physician. Rushing in like that—even to help—made a dangerous situation more complicated. Friend or foe, you were a distraction in a situation where pros keeping their focus keeps them alive.” The blonde rubbed the back of her neck. He had a point, but she couldn’t find it in herself to really regret what she’d done.

“Which brings me to my next point: have you ever thought about becoming a hero?”

“…the fuck?”

“Language!” Nighteye scolded.

“EAT A DICK!” She bit back. “And, uh, why do you ask?”

Ingenium continued on, purposefully ignoring that brief exchange. “Because despite the obvious danger, you still moved to try and help someone else. Also, you kicked the crap out of a trained sidekick.”

She assessed the pro with a long look. “Well to answer that…No, I have some serious issues with the way that the modern hero system is set up.”

The turbo hero sat down beside her on the curb. “What do you mean by that?”

Kai pursed her lip in thought. “Look, you seem like a nice guy…”

“Hey, I wouldn’t be much of a professional if I couldn’t take a bit of criticism. Go ahead.”

Oh, where to start? “Like, don’t get me wrong you guys are doing important work, saving people and all that. However, the way that the current system is set up, it seems like heroes are encouraged to showoff and be flashy to try and get media attention, rather than trying to de-escalate the situation. That and the whole celebrity culture that inherently pits different heroes against one another makes a system that people can easily go in for fame and fortune, rather than doing good. That competitiveness could also go horribly wrong, making heroes try to one up each other instead of trying to work together, which would be disastrous in an emergency situation. It feels like half the heroes I’ve seen are more interested in giving soundbites rather than doing their actual job. I actually care about helping and healing people, and being a hero these days is just one massive game of PR that I just don’t want to play.”

Even though Ingenium’s helmet made it impossible to read his facial expressions, Kai had the distinct impression that the hero blinked, and looked surprised. “Well, I won’t lie, you have some pretty valid concerns there—though I would say that the competitiveness of the system drives people to be better and improve instead of stagnate. However, most of the problems you talk about lie with street heroes, those focused criminal apprehension or crisis management. Underground and support heroes though, they don’t really have to do that. You’ll be called in for disaster relief or to help in an emergency regardless of rankings or how popular you are with the press.” He brought out a small key. “You said you were a medical student? Well, if you were to go into a support heroics—which, he I’m not trying to force you or anything, just pointing something out—you’d never get in trouble for using your quirk in public, and could have the training needed to help civilians or other heroes in combat situations.” He unlocked her handcuffs, and Kai began to rub at her wrists. “And even if you do get a hero license, it wouldn’t stop you from being a doctor, lots of pros have other jobs.” Despite the helmet, Kai got the distinct impression that the hero was smiling at her. “Also, now’s as good a time as any to tell you that you won’t be facing charges.”

“Oh, uh, thanks. Have a nice day, I guess.” With that little detour out of the way, Kai walked the rest of the way down to her favorite café. Still, despite treating herself to a cappuccino with a tower of whipped cream, Ingenium’s words couldn’t quite leave her mind.

Have you ever thought about becoming a hero? Kai thought back to Izuku, how he had begged her to go to UA, and insisted that she could be one of the greatest heroes ever if she just tried. He’d scribbled in his little hero notebooks not just about her quirk, but her reasoning skills and fighting style (Kai had kept up her parkour and Russian Systema, just in case).

But no, she couldn’t become a hero just for her brother. If she was seriously considering doing this, she would be doing this because of her own goals and desires, and no one else’s. The Turbo Hero had a point though, with a license she could use her quirk in public, completely unrestricted. She could intervene whenever she saw someone in trouble, be it medical or criminal.

She needed another opinion. A couple more opinions, really, but another pro would help. Kai opened up her email account, took a breath, and figured the worst thing that he could say was ‘no, I don’t think you have what it takes’.

Dear Nedzu,

Random, hypothetical question. Can someone who didn’t go through a hero course in High School still get a hero license? Like, not for combat or apprehension, but to do medical treatment in emergencies and stuff like that.

Hope all is well,

Morita Kai

She received a response the next day.

Dear Kai,

To answer your question, yes. While they aren’t as well known as the Hero Academies, there are several courses available for people to enter the field and earn their license nontraditionally. Tokyo University has some adult learning classes that I would recommend, perhaps you could audit one over the summer semester, and see if it’s for you. Though, another alternative is interning underneath a hero agency, who will then sponsor you to take the provisional exam.

Also, a full hero license is non-specialized, so someone who wishes to be a support hero will have to prove themselves at least capable of criminal apprehension (not exceptional, just capable), and vice-versa.

Thank you for asking my advice with this, such a pleasure to hear from you!

 PS.  Ingenium told me how you quickly grappled a trained sidekick into an arm-bar in order to keep them from inadvertently injuring a civilian. And told Sir Nighteye to eat a dick. As a pro hero, I should probably scold you for that. As your honorary uncle, I’m nothing but proud.

Nedzu

Principal of UA High School

Animal Hero

Then, what had started as auditing some classes on Hero Law had turned into a full-blown internship and training under Nedzu. The next thing Kai knew, several months had gone by and she was staring at the gates of the provisional license exam.

Her family had been there every step of the way. Mom and Vee were helping her with her training regimen and balancing a class schedule as Izuku analyzed her quirk and fighting style. They had always encouraged his analytical skills, and it was weirdly satisfying that she was the first ‘hero’ to try and put his observations into practice.

The smile that had lit up his face when she almost effortlessly dodged and countered one of her sparing partner’s moves? Utterly priceless, and precious. She wished she had a camera.

Goodness, she loved that little bean sprout. He had such a sparkle in his eye whenever he talked about heroes or one day helping people that he rarely talked about anything else. To be completely honest, Kai was pretty sure that her brother actually didn’t have much else to talk about. She noticed the way that he would never mention friends from school, or people he so much as hung out with.

But still, Kai had a plan. Her brother loved heroes, loved watching their fights and analyzing their moves and quirks. Hero journalism would be a natural fit with his interests, or even hero management!

But anyway, back to the provisional exam. She passed, naturally. The same way she passed all of her exams in college, and kept herself in the top 5% of her class, even with her hero training.

The end of that day, she was sitting with a cellphone in one hand, and her provisional license in the other. Kai had thought of at least a dozen different ways to phrase this. In the end, she just texted a picture of the provisional license to her brother with the caption “You won”.

Morita, Kai

Hero Name: Doctor Night.

She went on to get her full license under that name, though not until after it was basically guaranteed she would get her medical license. Truth in advertising, after all. Then, Nedzu offered her a position of assistant nurse at UA, and what was Kai supposed to say? No?

Morita Kai had not set out to be a hero. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to do her best.

Midoriya Izuku wanted to be a hero more than anything. He wanted to save people with a smile, and be there to protect others, the way that his big sister had always been there to protect him.

Because, as stereotypical as it was to say, his sister was his best friend. Some people might think that was weird, especially because of the huge age difference between them, but she really was. Kai was Izuku’s best friend. He imagined that would be the case even if she wasn’t literally his only friend as well (because, as mom had made clear very early on, what Kaachan was doing to him was not friendship, and not okay).

Kai had always been there for him, as long as Izuku could remember. Her quirk provided a soft glow that would be there to soothe any bumps or scratches he came to her with. When he was four years old, the two of them worked together for weeks trying to see if he had some sort of hidden quirk. The tests ranged from the sensible—Hey, Izuku, after some Facebook stalking I’ve found that you’ve got a third cousin that can manipulate steam, how about a trip to a sauna?—to perhaps the more laughable—Alright baby bro, I’ve got a dog whistle, let’s see if you have advanced senses. No? Alright then you eat this pepper and we’ll just see what happens.

Mom had put a stop to it when Izuku tried to jump off the apartment balcony to see if he could fly. That had led to that fateful visit to the doctor’s office, and the X-ray revealing Izuku’s extra toe joint. His mother had wept over him that night, apologizing profusely and having no idea how she was hurting him. But Kai? Kai did something completely different.

That next morning, when Izuku had come out for breakfast, there was his sister. They had breakfast together in relative silence, and afterward she put some old All Might videos up on the television, stuff that even Izuku hadn’t seen before. When they got through most of those, Kai had turned on this old cheesy tv show. He didn’t remember what it was, but he remembered that it had bade him laugh. His quirklessness hadn’t been spoken of at all that day, but the message was clear: I love you. And I’m in your corner no matter what.

One would think this comfort would ring hollow, his sister having a two-faceted quirk when he had none; but Izuku had never envied Kai’s quirk, even in his darkest moments. His sister had lost everything when she was little, with her quirk and her name being quite literally the only connection she had left to her birth parents.

Which was another thing that people would assume being an issue but really wasn’t: Kai being adopted. It hadn’t been any sort of secret, she didn’t really look like him and had an entirely different surname. But no, Kai was Izuku’s sister, with nothing being different if she had been his biological sibling.

Which meant that as much as they loved each other, they could also squabble. Like when she frequently forgets to clean out her hair brushes or leaves her medical textbooks in the weirdest placed. Or when grandma was teaching Izuku parkour and Kai conveniently neglected to mention that she liked to push you off of rooftops as a type of pop quiz.

He’d come home crying, and Kai had started laughing manically (she was well into her internship with Nedzu by then, and some of the animal hero’s traits were starting to rub off on her).

“You did what?” He remembered mom saying, deadpan and giving Grandma some side-eye. Because Izuku only belatedly remembered the Russian telling him to not tell his mother

The old woman hadn’t looked at all apologetic. “What? Now I’m three for three! And parkour is the study of movement, completely harmless.”

Izuku had to agree that parkour was probably the most useful thing that his family taught him for day to day life (Russian was great, but it was very rare that he met another person who actually spoke it). It made moving around hero fights, and avoiding Kaachan, much easier. They went to the best elementary and middle school in the neighborhood. The best his mom could do was make sure that they were never in the same class, at least. But even that wasn’t enough, most of the time, based on the blasted state of his notebook. (And it was a shame too, it was one with all of his notes on Kai since she started her training)

So, yes, Izuku was highly skilled in both Russian and parkour. That was more than a lot of fourteen year old aspiring heroes could say almost a year before UA’s entrance exam. Even with his lack of quirk, Izuku knew he could be a hero, if only given the chance.

Despite the odds he could see stacked against him, Izuku wasn’t deterred. He would believe in himself to reach his goal, and keep on smiling, just like All Might! Kai had just become a hero a good decade after most pros did, and Doctor Night was already considered to be a rising star in support heroics!

Izuku walked under the underpass, mimicking that iconic laughter, and had absolutely no idea that his fate had spun the wheel, and his odds were about to change.

Some Time Later…

Inko woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. As enjoyable as the thought of remaining in bed was, what was waiting in the kitchen was definitely much more appealing.

Following her nose, the greenette padded out into the hallway. Looking into the kitchen, at the stove was a familiar blonde figure, his back to her. She smiled, he definitely hasn’t heard her yet.

Inko smiles as she sneaks up behind him. “Good morning, dear.”

“Ack!” He startles, the overdramatic goofball. Hm, no blood… she observed with a smile. “You startled me.” The man stated. “Also, good morning.”

She chuckled. “Old habits, Toshi.”

“I made bacon and eggs.”

Inko mentally flipped through the safe/not safe list of foods before giving a small smile and a nod. “Smells great.” She says, and starts up the coffee pot. After measuring out the coffee grounds and pouring in the water, she looks over to catch Toshinori’s eyes on her.

“See something you like?” She teases.

“I see a lot of things I like,” he chuckles. “But I was actually thinking about how much Kai drinks that stuff. Just last week I saw her chugging the last of it straight from the pot.”

Anything’s a coffee mug if you just don’t care. Inko couldn’t help but think. “Hm…She’s a pro hero and a doctor. During medical school it was more strange to not see her drinking the stuff. And goodness knows I drank a ton of this during my own night life.” She stretches, and runs her fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame it a little.

Toshinori hums, and after a beat declares their breakfast done.

“So, Izuku is out with some of the other students and Kai is doing hospital rounds with Recovery Girl. We have the day free and the house to ourselves.” He says, placing the plates down on the table.

“Hm, oh what will we do to fill the time…?” the mother mused aloud, bringing over two cups of coffee before sitting down.

“Well, I do need to keep on top of my grading and didn’t you say that you had to do some translation work?”

Inko stuck a piece of her bacon in her mouth. “I’m actually well ahead of schedule, so I’ll definitely finish by the deadline.”

They ate in comfortable silence for awhile. Inko couldn’t help but look over at Toshinori.

We really have come a long way, haven’t we Blondie? Hard to believe that I once burst through a window to find you dangling over a piranha tank.

The blond couldn’t help but notice her staring at him. “What are you thinking about?”

“Just…reminiscing a bit. Also, what do you think about a trip to the aquarium? That could be fun.”

He smiled at her again. “With you? I’m up for anything.”