Author's Note
Just giving a bit of a warning, things get a little bloody in this chapter courtesy of Overhaul. Apart from that enjoy!
Kimi's POV
"And then what happened Kimi?" Eri asked, her eyes wide with excitement. I had been telling her story after story about Keigo, Aisawa, Mirko and Fatgum and for the first time I had seen her genuinely laugh.
"Then he took the kittens and said, 'I already have one cat, what's 2 more' and he kept Hikaru and Kaoru and raised them alongside his own cat." I smiled telling her the story of Aisawa adopting two ginger kittens that had been found wandering the school grounds.
"I like Mr Eraser, he's nice!" Eri smiled up at me. Over the past few hours I had wrapped us both up in blankets and rocked her in my lap whilst telling her stories of heroes and although my legs were numb, the happy grin on her face stopped me from getting up.
"Is he the one looking for you?" She asked playing with the curls around my face.
"He might be. But one person I know who is looking for me is the big silly bird!" I said tickling her arms and smiling at the giggles she emitted.
"Alright play time's over you two. Overhaul wants to speak with you newbie!" Snarled a mask covered thug who had unceremoniously burst into the room, causing Eri to flinch and clutch my arm instinctively.
"It's okay Eri, I'll be back soon can you give us a minute?" I asked sweetly placing a hand on his arm. This is gross but it's the only thing I can think of.
"S-sure I'll wait outside." He stuttered looking flustered.
"Okay sweetie when I go out I want you to try the door and if it's open I want you to run out as quietly as you can. The way out seems to be on the right side and up the stairs. Once you're out I want you to run to any store you see and ask the person behind the counter to call the police and you can explain everything that's happening okay? Don't worry about me." I said in a hushed voice once the Yakuza member was out of the room. Eri's eyes widened and a look of apprehension and fear spread across her face.
"But what if they take you somewhere else once I'm gone? What if they punish you?" She asked in the same hushed voice she first used when telling me about Overhaul.
"I'll be fine, don't worry. Just focus on getting out okay?" I said with a tight lipped smile. God, please let this work.
With a stiff nod from Eri I smiled, squeezed her hand and made my way out of the room to the waiting Yakuza member.
"Right this way miss." He smirked, his mask now in his hand revealing a forty-so year old face and and blonde hair slicked back messily. Eww.
The keys were in his right hand so I quickly looped my arm through his and began to walk down the corridor. The overpowering smell of cheap aftershave making me nauseous.
"So what does Overhaul want with little ol' me?" I asked feeling sick but mentally patting myself on the back when he completely forgot to lock the door and happily walked alongside me down the hall.
"I don't really know to be honest, he doesn't tell us everything. Y-you can call me Tai by the way." He smirked bringing up another hand to rub my arm. Creep.
"Nice to meet you Tai. Can I ask why you all wear those masks?" I asked eyeing up the beak in his hand.
"Overhaul has a thing about germs and he likes us all to wear these. Though it is a shame, it hides this handsome face." He said with cockiness,rubbing a callous hand over his oily weather beaten skin.
"Haha well it looks like we're here it was nice meeting you Tai!" I say quickly and make my way into the room in front of us before he can respond. God, I really hope Eri makes it out okay.
"Hey. You wanted to see me?" I said cheerfully sarcastic. Overhaul was stretched out leisurely upon a plush white couch, his sharp eyes angled lazily in my direction.
"I have some sad news for you." He replied indicating for me to take a seat on the stiff wooden chair opposite him.
Sad news? I've been abducted by the Yakuza and illegally experimented on, how much worse can it get?
"Your friend Kenji has disappeared. It's a pity, he was a great scientist but as you've seen we have others and I suppose it can't be helped." He said almost dismissively. Kenji has disappeared? I can't say I'm exactly concerned about his whereabouts given everything he did, but where is he? He wouldn't just leave after going through the trouble of getting me here, so was this Touya's doing? Or maybe Keigo's?
"He's not my friend and if you expect me to start mourning, sorry to disappoint." I replied evenly, keeping my gaze locked on his.
"You aren't as Kenji described you." He mused, his elbows coming up to slouch over the back of the couch, legs crossed lazily in front of him.
"I'm sure he gave you a truly flattering description. Honesty was always his forte." I replied quickly, the bitter taste of his betrayal leaking out with every word.
"He said you were weak and simple minded. But I think he underestimated you. Know that I won't do the same." He finished evenly, our eyes locked in a staring contest that I was determined to win.
"Overhaul!" Came a panicked voice from outside before the door was kicked in and a disheveled Tai burst through sputtering incomprehensible words.
"What do you want? I told you not to disturb me unless it was an emerg-" overhaul began.
"Eri's gone! She must have snuck out to the street, we have men out looking for her but she-" Tai rambled before Overhaul took off his glove, reached out and destroyed Tai in a gory explosion. Blood and matter flying and drenching my face and arms, whilst Overhaul stepped back with only a few droplets on his collar.
"Disgusting. This was your doing I presume? You'll be punished later I assure you..." he trailed off before leaving in an angry march towards the exit, a pair of Yakuza thugs coming to escort me to one of the holding cells they kept in the lower level of the building.
***Time Skip***
My blood spread out like a crimson blanket across the cold concrete, seeping out from the multiple head wounds and open gashes on my arms, legs and back. Overhaul had given them orders to punish me as they saw fit and that apparently meant inflicting as much physical pain on me as they can muster. With every kick I began to lose consciousness and yet the happy thought that Eri got away made me smile, only serving to fuel their anger.
"Laugh now. You won't be laughing when Overhaul gets back!" One shouted before landing another harsh kick to my abdomen. I had curled up into a ball in the centre of the barren room but it did little to shield myself from their blows. Overhaul may come back, but he'll come back empty handed. Eri will get away. She'll be safe and once the heroes hear what she has to say, so will I. And then I'm going to kick Overhaul's ass for what he did to Eri.
"Enough." Came a rough voice behind us. My eyes were swollen and puffy with tears but I could still make out the lean figure of Overhaul in the doorway.
"There you are. Don't worry Eri is home safe and sound. She said it was all her idea but I'm not inclined to believe her."
My heart ached at his words. They got her back? This was all for nothing?
"Don't worry I'll make the pain go away ... and then I'll bring it back. Let's see how long you can last shall we?" He said with a clear smirk evident in his voice. Before his bare hand made contact with my arm.
*** Time skip ***
I don't know how long I had been asleep. The smell of my own blood still hung thickly in the air and my body still felt ridged from Overhaul's quirk. I had lost count of the amount of times he broke my body and repaired it, but the sharp feeling of every single one of my cells being destroyed still played over in my head in a sick loop.
"You're awake." The voice I despised the most said as his footsteps echoed through the empty room.
"I must get someone to clean up in here, it's filthy. It's a nasty business, what happened earlier but it was necessary. You had to be punished for what you did, though the aftermath was rather regrettable." He said eyeing up the pools of blood that still lay in the centre of the room.
"I was originally going to keep you and Eri separated. You can't exactly be trusted to be a good influence on her. But she seems ... unhappy." He said, coming closer to look at my face with clear disgust.
"Oh yeah because you're so concerned with her happiness ... asshole." I growled back, my throat dry and aching.
"You can call me whatever you want but she's less likely to run away if she's happy. That's where you come in."
"You can see Eri again ... as long as you keep her happy and don't encourage her to do something stupid like run away."
"So you want me to lie to her to make your life easier?" I sarcastically smirk back, though the movement makes the pain in my jaw worse.
"In a way I suppose. Though if you don't we may have to punish Eri the same way we punished you. Pain is an excellent deterrent." He said standing up and getting ready to leave the room.
"Fine! I'll do it. But if you lay a hand on that girl, the deal is off." I manage to shout out, despite the pain in my chest and the fact I was lying through my teeth. No way in hell am I going to play happy families here and convince Eri this isn't sick, but I'm not about to let them put her through what they did to me over the past 24 hours either.
"Good, glad you are starting to think clearly. Get her cleaned up and bring her to Eri." He said to one of the guards, indicating to me with his head.
The next few minutes were hazy, being cleaned up by strangers whilst my ears rang and my head spun. But within hours I was guided back to the familiar room and thrown in only to be greeted by a distraught looking Eri.
"K-Kimi! When I got back you weren't here and they-they wouldn't tell me where you were and I was scared and they wouldn't tell me what happened and Overhaul was so angry!" She sobbed, hot tears soaking my new T-shirt as her shoulders shook heavily.
"Shhh it's okay, it's okay sweetie. I'm fine, they didn't hurt you did they?" I asked pulled her back to see her tear stained face.
"No but I saw them. Heroes. They were on the street but he was going to hurt them so I had to turn back. I'm so sorry Kimi, I couldn't do what you said..." she trailed off, the hope she had in her eyes when she mentioned heroes being lost completely at the thought of Overhaul and her failed outing.
"It's alright, there was nothing you could have done. Tell me about these heroes, what were they like?" I ask trying to cheer her up.
"One was called Deku and the other was blonde and had a big swishy cape!" She gushed, her sad demeanor quickly vanishing with the memory.
"Did this Deku have green hair by any chance?" I asked thinking back to Midoriya, I could have sworn I heard Bakugou refer to him as that before.
"Yeah, and he had freckles too!" She said nodding quickly at my question and I couldn't help but smile. This is great, if Midoriya knows about Eri, UA will definitely investigate and we'll be out of here in no time.
"I know Deku, he goes to the school I work at!" I smile watching her eyes widen at the news.
"Does he know Mr Eraser?" She asked, Aizawa had quickly become Eri's favourite and questions about him were something I'd become accustomed to over the past few days.
"Yeah, Deku's in Eraserhead's class and he's super smart. Don't worry Eri he'll make sure to get help." I smiled pulling her in for a hug and keeping my voice low so that the guards outside the door wouldn't hear.
"Can you tell me another story Kimi? One about Deku?" She asked as I played with her long hair once again.
"Hmm okay, how about his time in the UA sports festival?" I grinned as we lay down and I began to tell her all about UA and her new personal hero, Deku.