The King of Heroes: Null/Virtue

Dominance

Izuku turned six before he was next invited to see the Virtue Lord. His mother was the one to receive the invitation.

"It could be another trick from the council!" Inko protested fiercely, wanting to defend her son from more of the council's schemes. After all, they'd already exposed her boy to slavery, so there was no telling what else they would try.

"It's from Himiko's family," Toshinori said, doing his best to calm Izuku's mother. "I've met them. They were essentially nobodies until the pregnancy. Look, they even call it a 'playdate' between the kids. The council would definitely word it differently."

Rumi nodded. "We'll be with you and Izuku anyways. Everyone will be safe."

Izuku cringed at that. He had been on plenty of missions in his life, that were supposed to be easy in-and-outs, that turned into huge problems. He knew that anything could go wrong at any time. Thinking everything would be safe was the easiest way to get assassinated, that was something Izuku knew for certain.

Izuku was pretty sure nothing would happen. Not with all the adult Onyx there. You'd have to be insane to try anything in broad daylight in front of vicious warriors like Rumi or Kaina. Regardless, he just didn't like that line of thinking that everything would be okay.

"Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst." That was what Rampage always told him before missions. "If you're not hoping for something, then what's the point in waking up?"

"Do we have to accept?" Inko asked.

"Well... no, but they are meant to be married. They're gonna see each other sooner or later."

"I don't care, we should be worried about his safety more than-"

Enji held up his hand, gently interrupting Inko. "I understand your concerns. With all of us there, there is no risk of the council trying some underhanded method. So no sneaky tricks. In broad daylight, the chance that an invader gets into the Virtue house undetected is extremely improbable. Even supposing they get inside, they'd have to be incredibly stealthy. No other Lords are capable of such stealth, so we'd feel them coming, and nothing aside from another Lord or several Onyx could defeat us in head-on combat. Even in the worst case scenario, we'd be okay." Izuku preferred 'Endeavor's' examination of the situation far more than Rumi's, and it seemed like Inko did as well.

"I know this is your son," Enji said, lowering his voice. "Trust me, I know what you're feeling. But there needs to be common ground between being so protective that they're scared of dying every waking moment, and being so encouraging that they don't understand the danger. You were the one who wanted him to have a more normal life, right? What could be more normal than a playdate at his age?"

Inko huffed, crossing her arms. "Okay... as long as we keep an eye on them."

Toshinori smiled. "Of course."

*******

Izuku felt like the president when he and his family landed at the Virtue Lord's house. Enji had to carry Rumi due to her disability, but it all worked out since she was a pretty slim figure compared to his massive frame.

Surrounded by the five and his mother, Izuku was reminded of an escort mission during his past life. Protecting someone else wasn't really in his wheelhouse, so he had trouble protecting them from the black ops team that was trying to kill them.

"I wonder what happened to that guy..." Izuku thought about the leader of that black ops team, a young man with cracked skin and white hair who frequently was at odds with Izuku and Project Vishnu. Neither of them managed to kill the other, despite Izuku having a ton of enhancements and advantages. As far as Izuku knew, he died before the black ops team did. "Maybe he's still alive on Earth, he seemed like a pretty well-meaning person..." Izuku thought of himself as the villain in his previous life, which would make everyone else the heroes.