Wisp and All Might were once again patrolling the city, sailing through the sky at almost impossible speeds.

  Working alongside the top hero had really helped Wisp improve his quirk's control and power in order to keep up with the pro. He was able to match All Might's top speed in the air utilising his Dark Cloak pushed to it's very limits.

  He couldn't generate nearly as much pure physical force as All Might, but he could stop it instantly with a Detroit Shield. All Might's Detroit Smash caused 10 of the 12 layers to be destroyed, the 11th cracked beyond further use, and the 12th fractured slightly. Izuku was also pushed back several meters by the shockwave, but didn't fall over.

  Wisp's reputability had become somewhat similar to that of All Might's over the past two months of working alongside the Symbol of Peace. Most petty thieves surrendered at his presence, not even trying to run or fight back. Actual Villains took a bit of struggling before they gave in, but most knew it was futile to fight back against All Might's personal apprentice.

  Soon enough the mere mention of his name would stop villains in their tracks just like All Might's.

  An rumble in the distance alerted the heroes to an ongoing villain attack.

  "I shall deal with that Young Wisp!" All Might said. "Keep watch to make sure it's not a distraction!"

  "Aye aye sir!"

  All Might kicked the air and shot off like a bullet towards the dust clouds, leaving Wisp to scout around the area.

  This had been their go to routine the past two months. One of them goes to deal with the incident, the other remains behind to keep an eye out for other villains willing to take advantage of the distraction.

  It often wasn't needed, the fact that All Might or even just Wisp were sighted in the area would make most villains hide away.

  I'm the few cases where it was necessary though...

  Wisp dropped out of the sky, landing silently in the alleyway. He reached up and removed his cold steel mouth guard, smiling at the small girl standing before him.

  Izuku knelt down to reach her eye level, his small smile still present on his face.

  "Hello there. What's your name?" He asked gently.

  The girl just stared at him, her whole body trembling slightly. Now that he was closer, he could see the clean bandages wrapped around her arms and legs, and the tattered hospital gown she wore. The little skin he could see was dirty, and her silvery-white hair was long and matted, tangled behind her head in a mucky knot.

  "My name's Izuku. I'm a hero, do you know what those are?"

  The girl nodded, the trembling more subdued now.

  "Are you hurt anywhere? You're a little mucky, did you run away from home?" He asked.

  She'd obviously gotten those bandages recently, they weren't covered in the same amount of dirt and grime as the rest of her. Either she wrapped them herself, or she was being neglected, or abused.

  Again the girl nodded, this time less hesitantly.

  "Do you want to come with me? I-"

  "Ah Eri, there you are!"

  Izuku looked up at the voice, his gaze sweeping over the newcomer's appearance. He had close cropped brown hair, and shining golden eyes. The lower half of his face was covered by a long, beak like mask. He wore a green jacket with purple fur trim around the collar, and white surgical gloves on each hand.

  'Eri' took the last few steps over to Izuku's kneeling form and grabbed onto the front of his costume with both hands. She was trembling even harder than before.

  "Please.. don't send me back.." she whispered.

  Izuku frowned minutely before looking back up at the newcomer.

  "Hello sir! Do you know this girl?" He asked, plastering a pleasant smile onto his face.

  The man nodded, his own fake smile narrowing his eyes.

  "Yes, thank you for finding her Hero. Eri is my daughter, she'd just run away after a scolding, I'm sorry if she bothered you."

  Izuku placed a comforting hand on the girl's head, patting softly. To his surprise, there was a small horn on her right temple buried beneath her matted hair.

  "Not at all, I'm happy to help! But uh.. I have to ask about the bandages Mr...?" He said apologetically.

  "Chisaki. Kai Chisaki. And it's alright, children are quite clumsy you know, and things get a little rough when they try to play hero, understand?" Chisaki asked.

  Izuku laughed, not finding the situation humorous in the least.

  "Don't I know it! I remember getting roughed up all the time playing heroes with the other kids! But I always made sure to give the arrogant villains a bloody nose in return!" He chuckled, getting to his feet with Eri held securely in his arms.

  Chisaki tugged on his right glove, pulling it just off of his hand.

  "Well, if you just return my daughter to me we can be on our way." He said.

  Eri tried to move back to Chisaki, but Izuku kept her in place, smiling at the man.

  "I don't think so sir."

  Chisaki's eyes narrowed, his fingers flexing as he pulled the glove away completely.

  "And why would that be?" He spat.

  Izuku looked over the man's shoulder as a crash rang through the alleyway.

  "Because he is here!" Izuku exclaimed, a grin spreading across his face.

  Chisaki paled, spinning around to face.. an upturned dustbin with a small cloud of smoke drifting beside it. The smoke moved, forming four distinct shapes.

  BYE!

  Chisaki's eyes shot down as he felt something grab his ankles, holding him in place. There was a thin layer of dark smoke swirling just above the ground, which had condensed around his feet.

  By the time he'd freed himself, Izuku and Eri were long gone.

___

  Izuku soared above the city, the tiny white haired girl cradled against his chest as he pressed a finger to his ear, turning on his comms.

  "Sir, I ran into an.. incident."

  "What is it Young Wisp? Do you require assistance?"

  "No, it's fine. I ran into a little girl in an alleyway. She's covered in dirt, and has bandages on her arms and legs. I'm currently en-route to the nearest hospital, I can give you a proper report there."

  "Very well, I shall meet you there soon Wisp."

  Izuku arrived at the hospital and pushed through the door, with Eri still cradled in his arms.

  He was immediately approached and led through to a small room with a single bed. Eri would not allow the doctors to touch her, so Izuku needed to unwind the bandages on her limbs as the doctors and nurses watched on.

  Izuku scowled to himself when her arm was uncovered revealing many wounds, old and new. The vast majority were puncture wounds from a needle, but there were a few straight surgical scars criss-crossing her forearm.

  Eri's other arm and both legs were the same, covered in vast amounts of scar tissue and fresh wounds.

  One of the doctors used his quirk to disinfect the most recent injuries, and another used her quirk to heal them. They couldn't do much about the older scars, so most of the healers left the room.

  "The door over there leads into a bathroom, please make sure little Eri is all cleaned up. She will need to stay in the hospital for a while so that we can keep watch over her, but so long as she is looked after properly, Eri should be just fine. As you are the only person she'll even let get near her, you'll have to remain here with her to ensure her checkups and treatments go smoothly." A nurse told Izuku.

  The greenette nodded, getting to his feet with Eri still in his arms.

  "That is fine. Someone should be here soon to get a report from me, please let him up." He informed her.

  The nurse nodded and left the room, leaving Izuku and Eri by themselves. The greenette carried the girl into the adjoining bathroom and set her down on the closed toilet seat. He turned to the bathtub and twisted the taps, filling it slowly with warm water. The teen put his gloves aside and picked up one of the bottles set on the rim, pouring a decent amount of pink liquid into the water.

  Izuku turned to Eri, who was staring at the bubbles as they filled the bath. He pulled the ragged hospital gown over her head and picked the girl up, dunking her into the bubbly bath. He picked up another bottle and dumped a good amount onto her matted hair, tangling his fingers through the messy locks and rubbing the shampoo in before rinsing it all out.

  He repeated that around three or four times to make sure her hair was properly clean, then picked up a flannel, soaked it in water, and rubbed her face with it.

  Izuku smiled when he pulled the washcloth away from her face.

  "So there was a little girl hiding under all that dirt!" He joked, earning the barest hint of a smile from Eri.

  Once the tiny girl was all cleaned up Izuku picked her back up and set her on the bath mat, taking a fluffy towel and dumping it over her head before drying her long hair furiously.

  The quietest giggles came from beneath the towel before he pulled the top back, letting her smiling face pop out.

  He stuck his tongue out at the girl playfully, picking up the bundled up child and carrying her through to the main room and setting her down on the hospital bed. Izuku held the new hospital gown up over Eri's head and dropped it over her, letting the girl wriggle herself into the garment.

  "There we go, you're all cleaned up!" He exclaimed, tossing the towel onto the floor and spinning around with Eri in his arms.

  Izuku set the silver haired girl down and combed his fingers through her messy hair, straightening and untangling it slightly. There was a quiet knock at the door, which Izuku smiled at.

  "That's probably my boss!" He whispered to Eri. "I'm going to go and talk to him, but I promise I'll be right back, ok?"

  Eri held onto his costume, staring up at him with big crimson eyes.

  "You promise?" She asked quietly.

  Izuku thought for a moment before reaching up and tugging his mouth guard away from his neck, handing it to Eri.

  "Here, hold this for me. It's the most important part of my costume, so I'll definitely be back, I promise!" He smiled.

  Eri nodded, holding onto the piece of equipment like it were a teddy bear, her eyes never leaving the greenette.

  Izuku stood and walked over to the door, opening it and giving Eri a smile.

  "I'll only be five minutes!"

______

  Toshinori Yagi was a rather optimistic man. Even in his emancipated form, his smile rarely left his face. He tried to think the best of everyone he met, including the villains he faced, and hardly ever lost his temper.

  But right now, Toshinori Yagi was angry. No, he was FURIOUS. How dare someone hurt a little girl in such a way, and in the very city he himself patrolled regularly! What kind of disgusting, evil piece of shit did that?

  "I promise you this Young Izuku. Should you ever find the man that did this again, the fury of All Might will be on your side." He said to his apprentice.

  The greenette nodded.

  "He has a touch based quirk, but not five point contact. Possibly some kind of matter manipulation, as he seemed comfortable at the idea of fighting me at range. The only reason he's not already rotting in a cell is because I didn't want to endanger Eri, and I didn't know how his quirk would affect my smoke."

  Toshinori nodded.

  "A wise decision. I too would have prioritised little Eri's safety over apprehending the villain." He said.

  The hero thought for a moment.

  "There's only a week left of your internship. Use this week to look after Eri, see if you can find anything out from her."

  He raised a hand at Izuku's intake of breath.

  "I'm not saying to pry for information, just ask sometime if she wants to talk about it, or if she minds answering a few questions. Eri has already been through a lot, for now our job is to make sure she lives happily from now on."

  The hero in training nodded in agreement. They parted ways after another moment, the greenette returning to the hospital room while the blonde headed back to Might Tower to begin his investigations and reach out to some old contacts.

_____

  Izuku opened the door and peeked inside.

  Eri was laying on her back, the steel mouth guard still wrapped in her embrace like a lifeline. The teen smiled, entering and closing the door quietly, heading to the girl's bedside and shifting the covers.

  Izuku finished tucking Eri into the bed and sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs beside the bed.

  He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking a long pull. They weren't addictive, but it had become habit to light one when he had nothing to do.