Chapter Text
“The product should be able to roll out by tomorrow.” The brown haired man hummed into his phone, other hand holding a cigarette as he leaned lazily against the building wall. A picture of ease, as if he wasn’t doing anything illegal in Musutafu, a well known city that housed the most notorious hero school in Tokyo.
it wasn’t all that surprising villains choose to do evil things, but to do them so close to heroes was likely to beg for something to go wrong.
However, in this case it wasn’t a hero the man needed to worry about. It was actually the cat currently sneaking into the propped open door the man was leaning next to. Speak black fur kept the cat undetected, paws softly padding on the concrete ground while piercing black eyes scanned the hallways.
Kurayami ducked into a dark room, taking in the many cages lining the walls she couldn’t help but feel a little confused.
Where could they be hiding the drugs? I’m sure the men mentioned it would be here tonight before being shipped out tomorrow at midnight.
The cat gave a small puff of surprise when a dark form shifted in the cage nearest to her. Fur rose along her spine at the sight of a tiny boy, no older than 6 years curling tighter into the corner of the cage. With a quick rescan of the room Kurayami realized with a sense of dread that the product the man had talked of wasn’t drugs….it was people.
I have to save them!
She made to move to the cages when heavily footfalls caused her to hide beneath a nearby table, wide eyes watching as a man with no hair and a bat swinging lazily by his side, walked into the room.
He scanned the room before making his way over to the cage the shaking little boy was in.
I need help…this is too big for just me.
With that Kurayami made a promise to be back before quickly sneaking back out of the room and down the hall. After rushing out of the door the black cat dashed off into the dark alleyway across the street, before using the dumpster to jump up to the aluminum fire escape.
Making her way across rooftops before finding herself at the familiar apartment building she hid her bag that kept her gear safe.
The black cat form suddenly began to stretch as fur rippled and seemed to grow before smooth out until the fur morphed into smooth alabaster skin. Black long hair trailed down the back of the teenage girl that took the place of the cat. Kurayami quickly pulled her black cargo pants on, followed by the black long sleeve sweatshirt and black flight jacket that looked like it had seen better days. Combat boots followed, stuffed with ease as they were well worn
Quickly she pulled on a black face mask that covered from the bottom of her eyes down her neck and into the jacket. The girl finished off her look by pulling the hood of the sweatshirt over her head. The hood was large enough it dipped slightly giving her more coverage, leaving only her piercing black eyes the only noticeable feature.
Kurayami then quickly took off, quietly she began to make her way across the rooftops of Musutafu already a plan of action shaping in her mind.
A hero…a hero who wouldn’t just put the young girl into custody as soon as the cat vigilante opened her mouth.
Eraserhead…He should be patrolling tonight. Hopefully I find him skulking above the world tonight. I don’t have much time!
Images of the shaking children in the cages she had left behind haunted her mind as she traveled through the night.
It took roughly 3 hours before she saw the hero who Kurayami had run into a few times throughout her time on the streets.
The man was an amazing hero, always willing to help those around him without praise or recognition.
Even me…a monster…
Shaking the thoughts from her head she leapt to the rooftop where Eraserhead currently perched, his eyes scanning the world below him even as he gave a small nod of recognition to Kurayami.
“ah, wasn’t expecting to see you tonight Kuro.” The older hero droned, his usual bland tone softened slightly at the young vigilante. After years of trying to get the vigilante to open up and trust him he could tell there was still a long way to go.
The hooded figure fidgeted slightly before finally taking a step forward, her pale fingers flashing in the moonlight catching Eraserheads attention. His eyes widened at the sight of black clawed fingers, and he couldn’t help but spin towards the vigilante. Instantly he could tell something was wrong, simply for the fact that the girl hadn’t put on any gloves before coming to meet him.
“Eraserhead…I need help.” The serene voice of the vigilante caused the man in question to straighten up and place a hand on his scarf unconsciously.
“What is it, what happened?” He stepped forward scanning the young vigilante trying to find any wounds through the layers and layers of clothes covering the small girls form.
“I found something…children being sold in building over by old man Hiroto’s shop. I thought at first it was drugs so I scoped out the place but no! There were children in these little crates! They look so tiny, and…and I left them. I had to! I couldn’t do it on my own!” The soft panicked voice of the vigilante seemed to shake and once more Eraserhead found himself at a loss.
For the last three years, since he’d met the vigilante they had always been quiet and soft spoken as if afraid to be loud for fear of being disciplined. He had watched as they flinched anytime he’d reached for their shoulder to pay them a job well done, or the time they’d huddled in on themselves when a villain had called them a beast.
Instinctively he knew the vigilante had likely grown up in a ‘heavy handed household’. Something he could relate to inexplicably. For years he had slowly gained the smaller forms trust, even able to finally share late night meals with the vigilante.
“Hey hey! Kid! It’s alright, you did the necessary thing to get those kids help. It would have been irrational to think you could take something like that on by yourself…”
He tried his best to remind the girl she was doing her best and was relieved to see the tension in her shoulders ease a little.