Trouble (SeroDeku)

Chapter 7

"Iz?" Hanta asked as soon as he answered the phone. He had never had the heart to delete the man's number from his phone, having assumed he'd gotten a new one over the years. He had clearly been wrong. 

"Hanta," Akira answered, her voice breathless from relief. Calling her brother was always a gamble on whether he would answer or not. He couldn't exactly take a phone call in the middle of a fight. 

"Akira?! Where are you? Are you okay? Why the hell do you have Izuku's phone?" 

The questions were spouted off one after the other, giving the young woman no time to answer before the next was asked. She couldn't help but roll her eyes, risking a glance at the villain still standing a few feet away. "He got me out, I don't know where we are," she said honestly, looking around at the buildings and streets she'd never seen before. It wasn't a nice part of the city, somewhere her mother had never allowed her to go growing up, one bad enough she'd never pushed the boundary, even as a rebellious teen. 

"Give him the phone," Hanta instructed quickly. He knew he shouldn't trust the villain, not after everything he'd done, but he'd gotten his sister back. Izuku had promised to get them back, and he was following through. Hanta wasn't sure what to make of the man anymore. 

Izuku rolled his eyes, Hanta's panicked voice loud enough for him to hear the command, even a few feet away. He held his hand out and Akira timidly placed the device in his palm. "Meet at the roof, I can already feel eyes on us." He didn't bother waiting for a response before ending the call. 

He was exhausted and wanted the day to be over already. 

"Come on," he said back to the woman, nodding his head in the direction he knew would lead to the roof he had first met Hanta on. Earlier in the day, he'd snatched a cardinal direction quirk, nothing fancy. He just knew which way was north. 

"Are you going to tell me why I was kidnapped?" Akira asked after a few moments of silence. She had tried to steel her voice, but it trembled slightly as she spoke. Her arms wrapped around herself, her eyes darting in every direction as they walked. Izuku had said someone was already watching them. 

"Not here," he said with a scoff. He had finally pinpointed where the prickling sensation of being watched was coming from. He quickly sent his flames off, turning to Akira for only a second. "Don't look." 

Akira, who had been tracking the fire, instantly turned back to him in surprise, just as an ear-piercing scream rang through the desolate town. Her eyes widened at the sound, physically unable to move as Izuku stared her down. "Wh-what was that?" she asked, too terrified to bother being annoyed at her stuttering. 

"A parting gift," he answered vaguely. "Let's go. You're brother's probably already waiting for us." He tried to keep the annoyance from his voice, but it didn't work. Akira had just been through one of the most traumatic events in her life, he was trying to make it easier on her. He wasn't doing a good job. 

When they reached the building, Hanta was already there and scanning the roads below for any sign of them. He leaped down, using his tape to slow his descent. Akira was immediately pulled into a tight hug, one she reciprocated with the same ferocity. "You're okay," the hero breathed, some of the tension in his shoulder easing at having one of his sisters back. 

"But they still have mom, and-" Akira started to ramble, the weight of what she had just gone through finally getting to her, making her crack. 

"Not for long," Izuku said, cutting her off. He wasn't a reassuring person, but he was trying. 

Both siblings looked over at him, neither letting go of the other. "Thank you," Hanta said softly, letting his eyes drop to the ground between them. He had berated Izuku earlier in the day, yet he had pulled off what none of the pros had managed.