Purer Than A Sunrise

VII

(Y/N's POV)

    The next morning came bright and early. However, I was more or so woken up by a car engine running and Deku shouting "Villain!" I sat straight up, recoiling in pain from my side injury, and Deku did the same, grasping his chest. I came to him.

    "Easy, don't over-exert yourself," I told him. "Come on, let's find out who it is." He nodded.

    He grabbed the case and we inched our way to the opening of the cave, only to find Rody stepping out of an old Volkswagen truck.

    I stepped out with Deku. "Rody?"

    He turned to us. "Oh, sorry, did I wake you guys?"

    "Where'd you get a truck?" I asked, coming to greet him.

    "I kinda borrowed it. Just thought that we might want to drive instead of walk. I even wrote an IOU in the name of the World Heroes Association. They'll understand." He turned to the truck, patting the rusted metal body. "I wish they had a Cessna. We could've flown straight into Klaid that way, no problem."

    "Like an airplane?" Deku asked. "You can really fly something like that?"

    "Only in my dreams, friend," Rody said, climbing into the truck. "Get in you two."

    I smiled and jumped in, sitting between Rody and Deku. Rody seemed to flush red when I sat next to him but smiled it out instead. I was a bit confused by that, but I just sat and investigated the old car. Then, we pulled away from the cave and made our way to the paved road. The truck was pleasant but a little bumpy on the road. We traveled all day, and into the night, talking about who knows what. But we drove on through the hillsides and country of Otheon.

    "Question," Rody said, breaking the silence, glancing at Deku as he drove.

    "Yeah?" Deku answered.

    "Once we figure out the case's secret, I can go home, right?" He asked.

    "That should be fine." He responded, then thought for a moment. "Oh, your little brother must be waiting for you at home, huh?"

    "Yeah, with my little sister."

    "What about your parents?" I asked.

    "Mom died after she had my sister, so it was up to my dad to take care of the kids. He did a pretty good job there for a while raising us while juggling work. Then he suddenly just up and disappeared one day." Rody said, seeming unfazed.

    "Disappeared?"

    "You know that group called humarize?" I shook my head.

    "I do," Deku said. I looked at him with a puzzled expression. "They're a terrorist organization." I nodded, getting the idea.

    "After the people in town found out that dad left to become a member, things got worse for my family. My friends started ignoring us, we got kicked out of school and out of our house and I couldn't find anyone who could hire me for honest work."

    "So that's why you deliver 'goods' to people?" I clarified, using air quotes.

    He nodded. "Yeah. It's pretty much the only job that I could find with enough money to hold us up and provide for us. It's not the best job, that's for sure. I hated doing it. I always felt as if I was doing wrong, which I was. I just didn't know how to stop and find a better, more reasonable, and legal job. So I stuck with it. And it got me here." He said.

    Deku sighed. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that trouble, even today. That's horrible."

    Rody sighed, keeping his eyes on the road. "At first I resented and hated my dad, but not so much anymore." Then he smiled. "I don't have time to think twice about him. Now my little brother and sister are the most important things to me. I just want to create a decent future for those kiddos." He then pulled out his locket and passed it to me and Deku.