I blink down at the girl in surprise at the same time that she blinks up at me and stumbles backwards. I take in the plain beige hospital gown she's wearing, as well as the silver hair that covers her back in a tangled mess. Of course, there's not even any need to mention the single horn on her head, especially how it's surprisingly sharp, when my eyes fall on something far more important.
Her arms and legs are covered in bandages.
Good thing that there's not only a pro hero in our group, but four students learning to become ones as well! Though I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one among us that has much experience dealing with hurt children.
I immediately crouch down, holding back a hiss when it puts pressure on the cut in my side. At least it's shallow, I think to myself. I make sure to hide it from the kid just in case she's the type to feel guilty about such accidents. She clearly doesn't need to be feeling that right now when she's already clearly afraid.
"It's ok, nya," I meow softly at her as I extend my arms in a half hug, making sure that I don't actually touch her since I don't know how she'll react. And true to my caution, when she notices my arms moving, she tenses up, only to relax just a smidge when she realizes that they aren't closing around her.
"Mew don't have to worry. We won't hurt mew." On the periphery of my vision, I catch sight of Nyamuri making motions at the others and whispering instructions. But when she pulls out her phone to presumably call either an ambulance or the police, I move my tail to brush her arm. When I have her attention, I make a small motion with my head to tell her no. Though she looks uncertain, she decides to trust me, causing me to let out a small breath of relief as she puts her phone back in her pocket.
Meanwhile, in my air hug, the girl has calmed down somewhat from the panic that she'd been running in. Now, she's looking up at me with wide eyes. Well, looking at a certain part of me with wide eyes.
As I slowly lower my arms, I twitch my ears and let out a purr as her eyes light up. The corners of her lips twitch upward for a brief moment, but the smile they were meant to be doesn't form. It does seem like the twitching moved to her hands though, seeing as she's fidgeting with them.
"It's ok if mew want to touch them. Mew can even touch my tail! I promise that it's nice and soft, nya." She giggles at my cat talk, and while she's distracted I move my tail in front of me and brush it against her horn, surreptitiously wiping away the bit of my blood that got on it. What I didn't expect was how much she flinches away at the touch.
She scrambles away from me, literally falling over herself to get away. Now on the ground, she scrambles backwards with tears welling up in her eyes. It's a shock since normally petting my ears or tail are enough to calm any kid. But her stuttered words are enough to give me an idea of her reaction.
"D-d-don't t-to-t-touch me! Y-y-yo-you'll disappear!" I hold out a hand to stop the others from rushing to the sobbing girl, who obviously has an intense form of trauma associated with touch. Either related to her quirk, or a traumatic experience. Most likely both, I analyze.
As unfortunate as it is, I've come across a few kids whose quirk's initial activation had devastating effects on either those around them, or their surroundings. Far from uncontrollable, it's more the unexpectedness of the quirks that cause them. Not much can prepare a parent when their kid's quirk makes them suck away all the air around them when they get scared.
It's a good thing I have just the thing for dangerous touch-based quirks!
I summon a defense cat in its covert form, the chonky fluffy thing appearing right between my bent knees. It immediately goes over to the girl's side and sits down next to her hand. She looks at it from puffy eyes, the occasional hiccup slipping out as I tell her about it.
"I can nya cats like these whenever I like, but they're always temporary. So mew don't have to worry about making them disappear because they already do that!" I make sure that my voice is filled with as much excitement as I can without leaving its calm cadence. The key to keeping a panicking child calm is by showing that you're in control of the situation and aren't worried. Even if you think that their horn didn't come out clean and caused more damage than you thought.
But that's a concern for later. Right now, what's important is how the girl's sobs have been reduced to the occasional sniffle as she hesitantly looks at me. "Re-really? My curse won't hurt it?"
I ignore the sharp inhales from the others, simply nodding my head. She doesn't touch it immediately, her arm moving back and forth a few times as if unsure of my words. But a hidden gesture from me has the cat lean towards her, its fur brushing against the tips of her fingers.
Her hand jerks back, a scared expression on her face. But seeing that nothing has happened to it, and it's sitting perfectly still once again, she gets a bit of confidence and touches it with her whole hand.
I give her a soft encouraging clap as she starts to fully pet it. "Soft..." She mutters quietly. I take note of how nothing has happened, which means that her quirk is more than just simple touch activation. Still though, just in case I summon a mage cat in its covert form, just in case it activates and the defense cat 'disappears'.
It forms in front of me, mystical looking swirls patterning its fur to show its role. It walks up next to the defender and the girl immediately transfers one of her hands to that one with an incoherent happy noise, causing me to smile. It's always nice seeing kids getting along with my cats. There's just something... right, about the sight. Like it's meant to be that way.
And that's what I want. For my cats to be a sight of joy and relief for all the children who've been forced to experience what the world has in store for them far sooner than they were meant to. For them to look at my cats as a source of safety. A source of comfort. That's why I want to be a hero, even with my admittedly negative view of the profession. To help them. To help kids like this girl.
Thankfully the Cult is firmly in place to provide support to these kids. And in this girl's case, she doesn't even have to be rescued from some villain organization!
That positive thought is immediately thrown in a burning dumpster when a panting man in a casual suit runs out of the same alleyway the girl came from. When his eyes alight on her, he heaves a loud sigh of relief, which is the only reason I know he even did it since he's wearing a bird beaked mask over the lower half of his face.
"Eri!" At the sound of his voice the now named girl flinches, her hands shooting back to her chest as if physically repulsed. I sigh, glaring at the man from my still crouched position.
"Who might mew be?" I ask him with an edge of hostility. The fear on Eri's face is clear, which means her situation is worse than I thought.
The man doesn't show any reaction to my tone, simply walking forward in a hurried manner. "I'm Eri's caretaker. I'm lucky that you guys kept her here! I'll be able to get her back before the boss realizes that she ran off!" The man's relief is practically palpable.
He turns to the girl and his voice becomes firm. "Eri, we need to go back to the house. You wouldn't want Overhaul to come out and get you personally. Right?"
She immediately pales and rapidly shakes her head. "Good, because neither do I. But if we get back before he realizes that you ran away we can both avoid being punished." Her small frame is shaking from fear, and even my own wariness shoots up a level.
Not from this man himself, but rather from this Overhaul. Obviously it's a villain name, though I suppose that there could be some weirdos who would name their kid that. I doubt it though. But besides how obvious his name makes it that he's a villain, I haven't heard of him before, which is concerning.
See, the Cult took care of every villain organization that dealt with children. And I do mean every organization. To the point where other villain groups started informing us whenever another one popped up. Not out of respect or moral goodwill of course, but because if we find out that someone is connected with the new group, we'll claw them apart as well.
Simple self-preservation.
But I don't remember hearing about any organization that has beaks as part of their uniform. Which would mean that they're new, but not only does the guy give off the air of a veteran, but he's casually just threatened a pro hero, though not directly. Even though he doesn't know the rest of us are hero students, Nyamuri is pretty easy to recognize out of costume, so there's no way he doesn't know who she is. But he's clearly confident that Overhaul wouldn't have any problems dealing with her, or the repercussions.
So clearly not new, nor inexperienced.
Which means that they've managed to hide not only from the Cult, but from every other minor villain organization that fears us. And that's not even counting the heroes. Which leaves one simple truth.
They're dangerous.
Eri gets up and trudges towards him with her head down, but I obviously won't be leaving things as is. Even if we can't just take her as the others clearly want, I can do something.
I dismiss my two summons, putting aside the pang I feel at Eri's cry at seeing them disappear. But I don't let it last long as I resummon them to reset their timers, as well as an additional active spy cat. "Since she's a fan of cats, how about letting her mrow around with these guys?"
His eyes crinkle in what I'm guessing is a frown. "Sorry, but the boss is a massive germaphobe. Which means no animals anywhere close to the house."
I wave his concern aside. "They're not real cats, so they have purrsotively no germs of any kind since they're made out of energy. That also means no buying food or drink." I speak over the noises he makes trying to interrupt. "Mrow than that, they have a limited lifespan. Two of them disappear in two and nya half hours, while the other lasts only eight days."
I peer at him as his eyes flick between me and Nyamuri. He's uncertain, clearly wary of us, so I give him the final hiss to claw my place into position. "Obviously both mew and her father would want her happy, for purrsitively no extra work. Unless-"
I pause and place a finger on my chin in mock-thought. "You lied to a pro hero and her students regarding your connection to this little girl, nya? I'm purrty sure that's a crime."
With a noise of frustration he throws his hands in the air. "Fine! Fine, we'll bring them along. But if we have to do anything to take care of them, we're tossing them out at the first opportunity."
I let my smirk fit across my face. "Don't worry, they won't cause any problems, nya."
That's the Cult's job. It's been a while since they've gotten to hunt~.