Monster

5 | Rescued

"But?"

I looked up at him. "My quirk. I can turn things to dust with all five fingers and I don't want to harm my brother. Do you have any gloves or something?"

"Do bandages work?" He pulled out a roll of gauze, as if he had it restocked for every mission.

I nodded. He walked towards us, unwrapping some of the gauze. I held out my free hand, allowing him to wrap three of the fingers (including fingertips) since the quirk didn't work without all five fingers touching. I knew it'd be easier to just hold one finger off, but I didn't want to risk it. This was my brother after all.

After he did that, I switched Zu over to my other arm to allow him to wrap my other hand. It took a few minutes, but after a while, we were ready to leave.

Zu was nearly asleep, gripping onto my shirt as he rested against my chest. The hero, whom I learned was called Shota Aizawa (hero identity: Eraserhead), stood on my left while the girl, Jirou, stood on my right.

We were walking down the many hallways of this place, some looked weird which I guessed was the cause of a quirk. I didn't know who though.

My biggest concern was Overhaul, in all honesty. I knew how much he favoured Zu and me, considering how much he had used us over the years. He favoured Zu for being his number one lab rat, the child perfect for testing his new quirks and solutions. And me because my quirk was perfect for his plans, whatever they were. I knew my quirk could destroy things, but I didn't know what that could be useful for.

I decided to speak up. "Sir,"

Aizawa looked at me. "Hm?"

"Um," I stumbled over my words again. I took a deep breath. "Chisaki favours me and Zu so he might try to take us back."

"How does he favour you?"

I looked down, calming myself at the sight of Zu, asleep. I looked back up. "He used to use Zu as a lab rat, like a test subject for all his new quirks and solutions. He's always favoured him for that aspect since we got here."

He nodded. "And, you?"

"He used to take my blood every week, sometimes every three days. He kept saying my quirk was useful, that it was going to make him a lot of money. I never understood what he meant."

"What do you mean, 'he used to'?"

I stammered. "Uh, well, a few days ago Overhaul stopped coming to our room and taking us to our experiments. They had stopped for a bit, giving us time to rest. I didn't know why. His underlings wouldn't tell us either."

"Hm," he hummed. "He might've known about our attack. Although.." he thought for a moment, "did you know about Eri?"

"Eri?"

"Yes, she's a little girl we met a few days ago. She bumped into Mirio, a hero-in-training, which led to our discovery of Overhaul's base." he explained. "Did you not know of her?"

I shook my head. "No.. he never mentioned another subject."

"That might have been why he left you two alone. He had a back-up. What did you say your quirk was?"

I looked down. "Decay. I can destroy things when I touch them with five fingers."

He hummed again. "He could have manipulated your quirk to destroy the quirked parts of cells. Though, that's only a theory. But, he could have left you two alone if your quirk wasn't working like he wanted it to or if he wanted to hide you two away from society." he said.

"He's always kept us hidden. We had to change bases a few years ago because the heroes were too close to finding us. I wouldn't be surprised if he still wanted us hidden." I explained.

Jirou tapped me. "Is he okay?"

I smiled. "Yeah, he's just asleep. He gets exhausted with these kinds of things."

"What things?" Aizawa asked.

"Um, things.." I trailed off.

The hero didn't pry, accepting the answer. I was grateful for that. I didn't know if I'd be able to explain the things that Overhaul had done to us over these years without going into panic mode.

The things they had done to me weren't even that bad compared to Zu. Some things were too difficult to talk about, others causing him to break down and cry for hours. I felt bad for him. I felt bad that I couldn't protect him. I felt bad that I couldn't help him.

"You okay there, uh.. I hadn't gotten your name." Jirou rubbed her neck awkwardly.

I looked away. "Overhaul calls me "One", but Zu calls me "Tenko"." I thought for a moment. "Call me, "Tenko". I feel more comfortable with that."

"Alright, Tenko." she said, testing the name on her tongue. "Yeah, that works. Anyway, are you okay?"

I nodded. "Just.. anxious, I guess." I smiled at her. "But, I promise I'm fine."

"Great," she smiled back.

We made it out.

Eraserhead fought one of the underlings, using that scarf (which I learned was his capture weapon) and his quirk. It was similar to mine in a way, and yet it wasn't at the same time. He could make quirks disappear for a period of time by looking at someone. It ends when he blinks though.

The Jirou girl was super cool too. She could use those things on her ears (which I learned were called "earphone jacks") to listen for sounds. It was like enhanced hearing, in her own words. She said it was how they discovered us.

She was really kind as well. She said Zu could keep the headphones for now as she had spares in her dorm. She apparently also suffered from sensory issues concerning sound, as she couldn't handle loud high-pitched sounds.

I don't know why but I really liked these people. Aizawa was like a father to me, checking up on me and Zu consistently on the way back and not prying too much. I honestly wanted to thank him for that. If he did pry, I probably would have broken down.

Jirou, however, was like an older sister to Zu. She was constantly checking he was okay, and the way she acted with him in our room seemed really gentle, compared to how the underlings treated us. She was really sweet, and I'd have to thank her for that at some point.

Zu had been asleep since we left the room. I guessed he was recovering from the newly-injected quirk, which seemed to be taking massive tolls on his body. I made sure he was okay the whole time, anxious that he'd be in pain without me knowing. All I could feel though was a sort of high temperature.

I looked up at the sky, differently-shaped clouds dotted about. Different heroes were walking back and forth, some on stretchers due to the lengths of the fight. Aizawa and Jirou were still beside me, refusing to leave my side for some odd reason.

"Even though Overhaul is being restrained, he could escape if he had good physical strength. We're just making sure that he can't take you back." the hero told me when I asked.

I nodded, resorting to sitting down. Zu still had the headphones on, sleeping soundly against my chest. He had gripped my shirt tighter since we escaped that room, probably needing the reassurance that it was me and not another person.

I was glad we escaped. Now we could be free from that hellhole, from Overhaul, from the pain, just like we wanted. Now I could tell Zu that we really did leave. That we managed to escape his grasp.

I smiled at the boy in my arms.

We were finally going home after so many years.