Rens' father storms in, "Get up kid we're leaving NOW" he growls. This is the first time they've had to move because heroes found the house since her mom died 'on accident' a week ago. Or so her father had claimed then again his laughter on the phone directly after the incident, coupled with the fact that her father only kept her around and alive for her quirk because it helped him not get caught made Ren question how accidental the whole thing was. But those thoughts were quickly forgotten in a mad rush to stuff her things into a bag, anything left out of the 5-minute pack would be destroyed. Then they're out the window and down the street before Ren freezes a frantic look on her face as she desperately tries to get back to the house.
"I left Silver in there I need to go back!" Ren says in desperation golden eyes on the verge of tears. Silver is the only toy she had ever gotten, and had belonged to her mother long ago. The tattered stuffed wolf is the only thing that keeps Ren going in her impossibly sick and twisted world of constant terror. So when her dad keeps dragging her along she feels a deep pain it's almost like losing her mom all over again.
"no you brat we're not going back! Now be a good girl and use your quirk to cover our tracks." He shouts glaring at Ren he can't believe he was saddled with such a whiney crybaby of a kid. When Ren doesn't immediately use her quirk he squeezes her wrist tight making her whimper in pain.
"I said... use... it... brat." There is danger in his tone like Ren is one wrong word away from joining her mother, it sends chills down her spine.
"yes papa," Ren looks down at the ground almost like if she looked at it hard enough she could vanish using her quirk to manipulate the shadows in the house and tear it down, with her beloved stuffed wolf still inside but she wouldn't cry, couldn't cry in front of her dad. His mouth quirks up into a smile and he stops squeezing her wrist patting her on the head.
"Now that's my girl, hide us as we walk." Ren shakes her head sweating from how much effort taking down the house had taken.
"I can't, too tired..." She says weakly she'd only had her quirk for a year and her stamina is only slightly higher than any other 6-year-old, so it really should come as no surprise to her father but his face darkens getting a dangerous look.
"Looks like you need a bit of persuasion, five minutes then you'd better hide us or else..." He lets the threat trail off ominously. Ren nods tiredly a minute passes then another and another but every time she tries to use her quirk it still makes her feel like she's about to puke her guts out. The look on her father's face says that Ren really doesn't want to find out whatever that 'or else' meant but she can't use her quirk, Ren feels desperation building but her attempts continue to be in vain. Five minutes have passed now and she looks up at her dad, terror is evident in her expression.
"Papa please I'm sorry I-" The words are cut off and replaced by a bone-chilling scream. Ren's vision begins to swim as the pain brings her to her knees, she looks at her left arm where the pain is coming from and sees hundreds of cuts on it from her dad's quirk.
"I did warn you brat," he goes off on a long rant but Ren hears none of it, quickly falling unconscious because of the blood loss paired with agony. "useless child" he mutters throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He is far from gentle with her as he tosses her roughly into their new home for the next little while until the heroes find them again, an abandoned apartment complex.
Once he chucks Ren into the abandoned apartment and makes sure she can't get out when she wakes up he walks off to commit various crimes and grab a drink, Ren hasn't eaten in almost three days but he doesn't care if the brat wanted food she should have thought about that before disappointing him. He sees a random civilian and uses his quirk to cut them up so much that they die almost instantaneously. "Still sharp," he chuckles before making himself look terrified. "Time to go mess with some heroes." He runs making sure to keep that fake look of terror on his face as he forces himself to cry. "There's a dead person in an alleyway" he sobs out to the random hero he'd found. He's learned the best way to avoid suspicion on him is to murder someone and then go pretend to care, putting on a show for some hero, plus it's hilarious when they start asking him if he's okay or comforting him.
The first thing Ren feels when she wakes up is the pain in her arm, though it has dulled significantly. She looks around the room and sees her bag, shakily standing up to try and go over to it, but she only gets three steps in before her legs give out. Ren whimpers it's clear she can't walk so instead she begins to crawl, still bleeding heavily from her arm which isn't helping the situation at all. When she reaches her bag she grabs some gauze messily wrapping her arm as best she can. Once she's done with that she pulls out a blanket and pillow, both heavily stained and worn down but better than nothing if only slightly. Ren sighed carefully pulling out an old photo her mom had saved from her teenage years, Ren would be dead if her father caught her with it but it was comforting nonetheless the big building behind her mom as she stood proudly in uniform. "Night Mama... and someday, I'll see that place." With that little promise to the picture the same one she makes every night Ren falls into an uneasy sleep, without Silver this is going to be a very rough night.
Rens' sleep is plagued by nightmares that regularly wake her up in a cold sweat, one particular nightmare throws her for a loop, a memory of the night her mom died. Her mother had been cooking dinner when her dad had come home slamming the door in furry Ren had no idea what was happening when her mom handed her Silver and said to hide in her room. She did as she had been told closing the door seconds before her father started shouting it was mostly muffled by the door though some words Ren could make out like snitch and traitor a loud noise then silence but the quiet was the worst part. The next day when Ren had gotten the courage to leave her room she saw some blood on the kitchen floor and heard her dad laughing over the phone about how since she had a powerful quirk he hadn't needed her mom anymore. After that nightmare, Ren can't fall back asleep.
"Well, I should change the bandages..."She looks through her bag and winces, looks like she's out of gauze and bandaids and pretty much everything she would need. Ren hears noises from another room, and it sounds like her dad is talking business with some other villains. "I wonder if he'll feed me or at least give me more supplies since people are over," she says to no one in particular.
She sits in her little nook just spacing out until a snippet of conversation from the other room catches her attention. "I would love to meet your daughter if we plan on sharing assets it only feels fitting, does it not?" An unknown female voice says from the other room and Ren feels a wave of relief though she can almost sense her father's groan since his partner probably wouldn't take too well to her current state between the near starvation and injuries.
Rens' father comes into the room grumbling under his breath about how much of a waste this is. "Come on brat let's get you presentable." He cleans and bandages her arm giving her a protein shake to drink.
"remember if she asks you weren't hungry from anxiety and that's why you look underweight if you blow this for me you're dead, got it?" Ren nods vigorously happily drinking her protein shake, it tastes putrid but even the grossest of things taste like five-star cuisine when on the brink of starvation. "Remember the rules right?"
Ren nods, "Happy face, no telling them about Mama, and no complaining." Her father smiles patting her on the head.
"Good if you do everything right I'll get you a sketchbook." Ren doesn't like drawing but the thought of having something that's completely hers is something she likes a lot so she puts on a big fake smile, she's going to convince this lady that he is the best dad in the world. With that they walk into the room there is a woman who looks to be in her late 20s and a... monkey she has to blink a couple of times to make sure her eyes aren't playing tricks on her. Yes, it is in fact a talking monkey wearing a suit.
"Nice to meet you!" Ren says politely both guests are villains she knows that much but something she had learned long ago is not all her dad's allies hate kids, some adore them and some just act like she doesn't exist.
"oh hello, nice to meet you, what's your name little one?" The woman says as she sips her tea and gives Ren a warm smile, Ren likes the lady she seems nice not at all like Rens' father, Ren really hopes he doesn't kill her like he did his last business partner.
"My name's Ren miss!" Ren says happily this is rare for Ren so she cherishes every word spoken instead of screamed at her.
"Such a polite girl, would you like a cup of tea? you're just adorable!" Ren wants to accept but knows her father would probably get mad at her if she did and indeed he speaks up with mild annoyance in his tone.
"I would appreciate you not offering things to my daughter Nova." He says trying to keep himself from yelling at the brat it wouldn't do any good to ruin his business because the brat was too likable and he, unfortunately, needs help to deal with the heroes that are on his tale, especially that infernal newbie hero what's his name? Gang Orca he thinks that's it.
"Oh come now Razor, the poor girl looks so shaken, tea would do her some good!" The woman whom Ren now knows is Nova pouts seems that she loves kids, and Ren breathes a silent sigh of relief that means as long as he's working with Nova he can't hurt her too much.
"Fine, I suppose the bra- I mean Ren can have a cup if she wants." Nova notices the near miss but doesn't comment instead handing Ren a cup of tea that seems to appear out of nowhere.
"Here you go dear" Nova smiles and sits back it's clear that this is Rens' queue to leave so they can get back to talking business so she quickly thanks Nova for the tea, hurrying out of the room and back to her little nook. She sips the tea it's warm and tastes much better than anything she is ever allowed, she has to keep herself from greedily gulping it down savoring every single sip.
Some time passes until Ren hears Nova saying goodbye then she and the strange monkey leave. She hears her dad grumbling after they leave until he comes to her. "well I suppose this is yours then" he grumbles tossing a sketch pad and pencil at her. While the brat is annoying she is what sealed the deal with Nova so with great reluctance he rewards her.
"Thank you papa" Ren tucks the items in her bag not wanting to risk a repeat of the circumstances that lost Silver. She is very cautious with her few possessions.
"Now get up, you had a shake plus some tea time to train your quirk so you can hide us next time." Ren tenses up but nods getting to her feet he grabs her wrist making sure she follows him to the temporary training room he'd set up.
"I want you to manipulate your shadow to destroy everything in this room you have two minutes if you don't finish, there will be no dinner for you." Ren gulps that's a lot in not much time she counts a dozen items. But knowing arguing is fruitless and only entails pain, she holds out her hand using her quirk to call out to her shadow manipulating it and turning it solid. The shadow darts out easily severing 1... 2... 3 things but then it slows down the effort of keeping it solid weighing heavily on her 4... 5... 6 she starts shaking and her legs give out, her quirk was never meant for this kind of use manipulating the shadows is something trivial but making them solid... it hurts digging into her whole being, especially when using her own shadow.
"Only halfway what a pitiful excuse of an attempt." Her dad sneers dragging her to her feet he goes and replaces the items she had managed to destroy shoving some water at her.
"5 minutes then you try again." a cruel smile grows on his face. "This time you're losing breakfast tomorrow if you fail." He sets a timer for five minutes, laughing when Ren spills the water in her rush to drink it. Five minutes go by far too quickly and soon Ren is trying again desperate not to lose breakfast tomorrow after already losing dinner privileges for tonight.
"You have two minutes, your time starts... now." As soon as those words leave his mouth Ren reaches out to her shadow, this time she closes her eyes aiming for the shadows of the items, and when she feels like her legs are about to give out she doesn't collapse sitting down carefully so she won't lose control of the shadow. 8... 9... 10 just two more to go. Her breathing is shakey, hands shaking as her father begins to count down the last thirty seconds 11... 12 She collapses in relief she has finished with two seconds remaining.
"Well, would you look at that?" He's happy with her because she listened to him, even though in all likelihood that kindness will only last a few minutes she basks in it. Mama had always said to never listen to Papa and whenever Ren had gotten hurt before or overexerted from the 'training' she had been there to help but not anymore now Ren is on her own with him and it's like walking on eggshells, very sharp eggshells that could cut her to ribbons. He waits a couple of minutes before dragging her to her feet.
"Now you're going to try and hide from me for half an hour if I find you... how would you like your right arm to match your left?" And there goes the illusion of an ounce of a heart Ren thinks as she nods not wanting to risk anything that could be taken as a complaint or defiance, he turns around and starts to count down and Ren runs but he only gives her 15 seconds. Ren has to use her shadow to cover her as she crawls looking for somewhere, anywhere she can hide. There's a loud creak from a floorboard and Ren scrambles to get away as she hears her dad's laughter. "oh you make this too easy brat."
He comes into the room but Ren has just barely managed to push herself up against the wall covering herself in shadows and carefully heading to the doorway he'd just come from. It is a very close call, and Ren feels the exhaustion from using her quirk for a substantial period setting in. Ren makes it out of the room finding a place to hide so she can drop her quirk and rest for a little while. It's just like hide and seek with Mama she keeps telling herself trying to calm down, but there's a tiny voice in her head that says except it's not, Mama would tickle her when she found her, If she was found now though... Ren shudders at the thought of her right arm getting cut up like her left arm had been only a day prior.
Ren gets a couple of minutes of rest before she hears her father getting closer she uses her quirk to cloak herself in shadows shivering she had hidden in one of the kitchen cupboards despite her fear of heights, he knows that so hopefully he wouldn't check it, she's terrified of heights but shes ten times as scared of him. He walks into the kitchen checking under the counter but he doesn't check the cabinet. "I highly doubt the brat hid up there," he says to himself leaving to check the rest of the apartment. She can hear his growing frustration at his inability to find her she has zero indicators of time in the cupboard so she waits for the blare of the timer he had undoubtedly set to lord over her when he found her how good he was. Rens' father always assumes his success is inevitable, it makes him overconfident and is the one reason he is certain she isn't hiding in the cupboard, even though in reality she is.
"Ugh where is that stupid little brat" he growls still never once checking the cupboard of course when thinking of a hiding spot Ren hadn't been being clever and analyzing her father she's only six! No Ren had just chosen a small space where she could keep her breathing quiet that wasn't in direct line of sight. Her father's agitation peaks, how can I not find her?! he wonders as the timer goes off and he smashes the off button disappointed he won't get a chance to practice his quirk on the brat who makes his life so hard.
"Fine brat you won you can come out now!" Ren climbs out of her cupboard and walks over. He begrudgingly tells her good job and hands her a protein bar for lunch. Ren quickly eats it ignoring the best-by date which is a year past, and the fact it tastes worse than dirt at least it's better than nothing and she remembers that she won't be getting dinner tonight.
"I'm going on a pretty big heist tonight don't try to leave, and I don't want to see you when I get back, okay brat? your sorry face will ruin my mood." Ren nods going to her nook with her new sketch pad and pulling it out what her dad would never know is how deviously clever the six-year-old was being, not drawing something but teaching herself to write.