Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a simple raid, take down the villains, collect the information. It consisted of all the top 20 pro heroes (plus the unofficial number one of the underground, Eareserhead! Keigo thought he was really cool and respected the work he did.), hence why Keigo was there. 

They had been told that the villain organization was led by an immortal ‘boogieman’ of the underground, All for One. Apparently, he had crippled All Might, restricting the amount of time he was allowed to do hero work, but All Might had also crippled him, to an extent.

“All right!” Nedzu’s chipper voice echoed through the meeting room, “Connect your comms and we’ll head out!”

—

Nine was tired. They had done so many tests today. His green curly bangs stuck to his forehead, and beads of sweat dripped down the surface of his skin like the condensation on shower doors. The men in the white coats had used one of their quirks on him again and it really hurt. ( “Get up Nine. We don’t have time for silly games. You need to finish your tests” )

“Nine,” the Doctor spoke, his voice was always cold (just like his ) “today will be a test of trust, we have reason to believe heroes are going to be infiltrating us soon.” Nine hid his surprise - hope - behind his carefully crafted mask. (It was the first thing the others taught him before they disappeared) “I want to see how you fair against them.” the, I want to know if I can trust you to hurt and possibly kill the heroes, went unspoken, but it was there. Nine nodded.

“Good. I expect exceptional results.” With that, the Doctor left the cold room – prison. It’s a prison, call it what it is. –

—

Keigo took a sharp turn, Eraserhead (who was surprisingly fast.) and Miruko flanking him. Once they rounded the corner they slowed down at a large steel door. The three of them shared a glance before nodding. Miruko charged towards the door and kicked it down. (Damn, girl that was steel.)

“You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

The three heroes halted to a stop and looked down? To the voice. It was a kid with large, jet-black wings and matching spots around the collarbone area in places the torn white t-shirt showed. The child’s ( fledgling ) fingers faded into murky black talon sort of an elongated form of nails. (Just like Keigo.) Their hair was curly and green and their eyes were heterochromic, one was a normal acidic green and the other’s eye whites were a black akin to their claws.

“Hey uhm, p-person with red wings,” Keigo sharpened his focus onto the kid, “Could you cut these c-cuffs off me…they ki-kinda hurt.” Before Keigo could even think of a reply Miruko snarked, “How can we trust you? You may be a kid but visibly your quirk looks pretty strong.” 

“That’s fair,” the kid reasoned nervously. They pointed to the corner of the room where a thick manilla folder lay. “That's m-my file, I don’t remember how o-old I was but I was kidnapped, I-I’m currently eight.” The three pro heroes stiffened and Miruko quickly padded over to the corner and grabbed the folder. A feeling of dread washed over Keigo as he watched Miruko’s face morph into one of pure disgust. 

“We-We’ll look over this more later, Hawks, get the kid out, now .” Miruko demanded, her voice slightly shaking. Keigo quickly complied and cut the kid out with his talons.

The winged boy twisted his wrists and let out an airy laugh, their head was hanging low and water was dropping?

Oh. 

Oh , they’re crying. 

Keigo didn’t know why, but he slowly started to come close to the kid. The fledg- kid looked up abruptly, wide, scared eyes looked up at the winged hero, tears were welling in their eyes and god if that didn’t break him. 

“Kiddo, can I pick you up?” Keigo’s voice was soft as he spoke. The kid’s gaze sharpened, they looked exhausted. The boy (?) hesitated for a moment before nodding. Keigo picked up the child and felt as their breathing slowly evened out, they went slack in his hold and for a moment Keigo was scared he killed the kid before Ereaserhead huffed, “They’re asleep. Let’s get out of here.” 

The three pros ran (flew in Keigo’s case) out the door and outside towards the police teams. 

—

Nezu had always been a curious animal, so to say that his curiosity was heightened when Hawks walked out, flanked by Miruko and Eraserhead, holding a child with curly green/black hair, large jet-black wings, and murky black spots in places across his skin, was an understatement. 

The three heroes walked towards Nezu and Miruko handed him a thick manilla folder. 

“Be careful reading this,” Eraserhead warned, “The kid’s been through something like you have. From what Miruko read, it was gruesome.”

Nezu watched as Hawks and Miruko brought the child to an ambulance that was on stand-by. Miruko hopped (quite literally) into the back of the ambulance and nodded towards Hawks, who then flew away, as the raid was done. 

Nezu turned back towards Aizawa-kun and asked, “What’s the child’s name?”

“Akatani-Midoriya Izuku.” 

Chapter Text

Rumi leaned her head against her best friend’s shoulder. Keigo had always been there for her, more than anyone else. 

“Hey Rumi?” Keigo started, he was tired, she was too, they hadn’t slept more than three hours since they met the kid. (Did they really meet him though? They had said two sentences then, rightfully so, passed out.) “If I said I wanted to adopt this kid, what would you say?” Rumi hummed, too tired to acknowledge the question fully”

“I’d say, wait ‘till they wake up, talk to them, then make your decision.” Keigo made an unintelligible noise and leaned into Rumi more. 

“Fuck you and your logic that makes perfect sense.” Keigo grumbled. Rumi snorted and spoke again, “Better hurry though, I heard Eraserhead has a knack for adopting kids, and has the power of Nedzu on his side.” Keigo groaned again and was about to make a snarky reply when there was a soft ( so so broken ) whimper from the hospital bed. 

It was the kid. (They still hadn’t read the file yet officially, both too scared to see what the hell this kid had gone through. If the scars – so many, too many, –  that marred his body were any tell, it’s gruesome.) The whimpering grew louder and they were trembling. It was a nightmare, that much was apparent. 

Rumi remembers how when she was little, a bit younger than this kid, she had bad nightmares, they probably weren’t anything compared to their’s, but her mom would come into her room and card gentle caring hands through her silky white hair. So that’s what Rumi did, she got up, shimmied herself next to the kid on the hospital bed, and carded her hands through choppy, black/green curls. 

Now there’s a problem, every time she’s tried to get up, the kid starts whimpering and whining again, she’s not totally against it, but she really has to pee. 

“Keigo please switch me!” Rumi whispered-hissed. Keigo stifled his laughs with his hands. 

“Fine” Keigo rolled his eyes fondly and they smoothly swapped places. 

“ Holy shit. ” He hissed fondly, “Rumi why didn’t you tell me this kid’s hair was so fluffy! I wonder if his wings are fluffy too…” Rumi let Keigo stare in awe with his hand in their hair and went to the bathroom. 

—

Keigo sat next to Rumi around the circular table, pinkies interlocking like they did whenever they had a particularly jarring case. He thinks this is jarring. 

Name;; Akatani-Midoriya Izuku

Age;; current; eight ; Nine was brought in when it was 4 and a half.

Birthday;;  7/15/2208

Mother;; Midoriya Inko: status; deceased

Father;; Akatani-Midoriya Hisashi: status; alive, compliant

Experiment Number;; Nine [9]

Original Quirk;; Quirkless

Added Quirks;; 

Fierce Wings – a mutation formed from Winged Hero; Hawks’ DNA; it behaves exactly the same, we are unsure as to why the wings are black rather than red as Hawks’ own, the hair doesn’t seem to have anything to do with it as Hawks is naturally blond. Something to look into indeed. Another thing to note is that instead of regular talons Nine’s are a jet-black, identical to his wings. – Nine’s hearing and vision heightened, presumed additional mutation.

Hop – an enhancement formed from Rabbit Hero; Miruko’s DNA; this quirk added a physical enhancement to Nine’s legs, jumping higher, running fast, higher resistance. Along with this, Nine’s sense of smell was enhanced, it’s hearing wasn’t enhanced by much, due to the previous added quirk. We are unsure why Nine did not get an exact copy of Miruko’s quirk like it did from Hawks’. Presumed to be because of the already added quirk.

Training Stage;; 10 (most loyal yet, hopefully a success.)

Shouta is a level-headed man, he has seen the worst of society as an underground hero. So when he says this case is terrifying and disgusting, he means it. He’s not entirely surprised when Miruko (“ We’re off the clock! it’s Usagiyama Rumi to you ‘Raser!”She had said with a feral smirk. ) and Hawks have to excuse themselves. Nedzu broke his cup of tea. Shouta himself has covered the second half of his face, eyes wide. Tsukauchi is in the room with them, he has his head in his hands and his hands are trembling. 

They don’t even know the full story, but the implications alone…

—

For the first time in a long time, Nine didn’t see red. Red was all that he knew, for as long as he was alive (but was it really alive? He was just an experiment, nothing more, He wasn’t alive, he didn’t have feelings or emotions. Stop! Nine’s brain screamed, they wouldn’t want you thinking like that . . ) Though, he didn’t entirely oppose it. Not seeing red was nice, safe . 

Nine slowly became more aware, consciousness gripping into it ruthlessly and cruelly. When he awoke, it was bright, painfully so. Fluorescent lights buzzed harshly, banging against the hollows of his skull. 

He didn't register where he was until he tried to get up only to tug against an IV chord and, in his distress, he looked around the room to see red, black, and white. He then registered that those colors were people, those people were heroes and those heroes saved him. His breathing is picking up and he’s hyperventilating, and he can’t breathe. The red- Hawks. No.3. Winged hero, his mind supplies, and it’s worse now. Hawks gets closer and takes his hands out of his hair, when did that happen? 

“Hey kid, can you name 5 things you see?” Keigo says as the kid looks up at him with wide, scared, and confused eyes. “Trust me, ‘kay?” 

“You, white, Black, uhm- the-the IV and my-my hands.” The kid, Izuku, stammers and stutters over his words. Keigo nods, “Good job kid, how about four things you can feel?”

“Your hands arou-around my wri-wrists, The hospital gown, the blanket, my ha-hair against my-my forehe-head.” 

“‘Atta boy, three things you can hear?”

“Br-breathing, the li-lights are buz-buzzing, the heart mo-monitor.”

“Good job kid, you’re doing great, two more, two things you can smell?”

“Ant-antiseptic, and uhm, something sweet?”

Keigo snorts, then nods, “Probably my shampoo, you did great kid, last thing, one thing you can taste?”

 The boy, Izuku, hesitates for a moment before uttering, “Blood. I think I bit my lip.”

Keigo grimaces for a second before nodding in confirmation, “Hey kiddo, can you remember your name? Not a number, your name.”

Izuku shakes his head hesitantly. Keigo smiles softly before speaking again, “We went through your file, it said your name was Izuku.” 

Nine, no, Izuku’s eyes swell with tears, it had been so long, longer than he can remember, since he had been called a proper name. It was a little scary, but not the bad kind.

 It wasn’t the kind of scary that the Doctor was or the others in white coats, it was the excited kind of scary. The kind of scary where you knew something big was about to happen, in a good way. Distantly, Izuku felt Hawks’ arms wrap around him in a comforting hug. He was warm, safe. 

—

 The three heroes were outside of Izuku’s hospital room, the boy long since falling asleep from exhaustion. Noamasa was with them, an impassive look on his face. “I’m sure you all know why you’re here. We need to figure out where to place this kid,” the detective let out a breathy sigh, “I have half a mind to let Nedzu make him a ward of UA. But the three of you have been closest to him, so I wanted you to tell me what you think is best.”

There’s a moment of thinking before Eraserhead speak up, “I’ll take him in, I’ve recently officially adopted a child already, and I mean this in no offense to either of you,” the underground hero glances at the two limelights, “I don’t think you’d be qualified enough to raise a child, especially one so traumatized.” 

Before Miruko can beat Eraser into the ground, Hawks speaks, staring directly at the underground pro, “I disagree. I don’t think you’d be able to help Izuku, at least not him specifically,” Eraser looks down-right pissed, “Me and Miruko have interacted with him the most, and he has my exact quirk and a variation of Miruko’s. There are things you just won’t understand about Izuku like me and Miruko can.” Hawks finishes, Eraser looks a bit more willing to listen now, and he gestures for his fellow pros to continue.

Hawks sighs before continuing, “When I was younger my senses weren’t as trained as they are now. There were times where I shut myself in a dark closet because everything was too loud, those types of things are things only we can take care of.”

“Hawks is right.” Miruko starts, there's a fierce burning flame of determination in the rabbit heroine's  eyes. “There’s shit the kid will do that you won’t understand, and although you could learn, he’s gonna feel isolated since neither you nor your family do that. He’ll question why he’s different his entire life. That’s going to hurt him in the long run.”

“I believe Usagiyama-san is correct!” Everyone in the hall jumps at Nedzu’s chipper voice. “While I believe it would be lovely to have Izuku-kun at UA as a ward, the points her and Hawks make largely outweigh my reasoning!” Naomasa knew what that meant, paperwork! Woo-hoo! 

—

Keigo walked into Izuku’s hospital room, a soft smile decorating his face. Izuku had wide eyes, always, as if he was looking for something, scared something was going to hurt him. The hero sat next to the boy.

“So, we’ve figured out where you’ll be going,” The younger winged boy seemed to become more scared, aware, “We figured it would be best for you to go with me, think that’s okay? And it’s completely up to you!” Keigo reassured. 

Up to me? Nine- Izuku (it was hard to rid the habit of calling himself his number) thought to himself solemnly, Nothing has ever been up to me, at least not without an underlying threat if I chose the wrong one… Izuku shook his head at that thought. The heroes have been nothing but kind, kinder than the Doctor, even kinder than the others! Not that the others weren’t kind! But they always seemed so tired and sad, they tried their best though. 

Izuku thought a bit more before hesitantly talking again, “I…I think that’s okay.” 

Hawks’ face seemed to light up so bright, brighter than the sun, and a smile as equally bright split his face, his eyes were crinkling at the corners and he had dimples on his cheeks. 

One day… Izuku thinks to himself, I want to smile like that…