Strays (WHM)

Part 17

"What's with the sour look?"

Recovery Girl, who had flown in first thing in the morning, eyed the girl she was responsible for training who leaned against the wall of the hospital room. Three boys were laying down on separate beds, in various stages of recovery. The girl's face was partially hidden by long bangs, but it was clear she had a lot on her mind. Her wounds healed quicker than anyone else's, and she had snapped to consciousness in a panic.

"Go, you're going to infect the room with that dark mood," the old woman shooed Senji out, while the brown-haired boy stirred restlessly.

"Not like I have anywhere else to go right now, quit," Senji protested.

"Hm. Go fetch the boy's siblings, then. They'll be wanting to see him by now," the woman barked an order, shoving a piece of paper into Senji's hands and slamming the door shut.

"Fine," Senji growled. She glanced at the paper, and followed the instructions toward the hotel they'd been staying in. Endeavor and his crew had taken the kids there, with someone on standby in case they were targeted again.

...

"Idiot! I'm used to him getting all messed up, but you? Seriously? How's that an indisputable win! And you, quite tearing up your damn arms! Todoroki, for real, learn some damn CQC already holy shit!"

Rody's joyful reunion with his siblings was overshadowed by the angry shouting from the other side of the room. The younger children flinched, clinging to their brother while Senji ripped into her classmates. The blonde one shouted back with equal force, while the freckled boy tried to diffuse the situation. There was a tiny older woman, who thwacked the loud girl across the tail with her cane to silence her fury.

"Don't forget, girl, you're supposed to be stopping that from happening. Instead, you ended up with just as many holes as the three of them! And now you're scaring the other patients with that outburst!," the woman shouted.

"Ow-what?!"

Senji spun around, just then noticing the cowering children beside Rody. Her face went red, and she quickly lost steam and turned into a blubbering mess under the range of stares from them. Rody laughed loudly, startling the kids, while Senji excused herself from the room again. She was met at the door by Endeavor, who seemed to have aged considerably over their short stay outside Japan. She slunk back into the hospital room, followed by the hero and his sidekick. The other three from Japan, who had been bickering on their own, went silent on Endeavor's entry.

"So," his voice reverberated off the walls, making everyone flinch. He studied the faces of everyone present and cleared his throat.

"To start with, you all rushed into different situations well outside your jurisdiction. Then, two of you got targeted by the police and were labeled high value criminals," Senji and Izuku flinched at that, both fidgeting sheepishly. Endeavor continued, "Shoto, and Bakugo. You two went after them, and all of you ended up saving massive amounts of lives. However, you all acted on your own. Without proper authority, performing many questionable acts. I should have all your licenses revoked!"

Shoto tried to speak up first, but couldn't find any words to excuse their actions. The rest of the group remained silent, while a heavy atmosphere clung to the walls. The lights overhead hummed loudly, and the minute dragged on for an eternity. The pro hero cleared his throat again, with some nudging from Recovery Girl's cane prompting him on.

"As a recompense, instead of letting the authorities have their way. And because the accusations were covers for a villainous organization's own ends. You'll be doing some community service once you're all healed up."

"Huh?!," Bakugo shouted loudly. The others shared his confusion, to an extent, but he practically flew into a rage at the idea. Before he could go on his own tangent, Endeavor motioned toward Senji and the small family on the bed behind her.

"Someone went especially rogue, and caused some unnecessary property damage. So you'll be fixing that up, in order to allow them to return to their home."

"What...exactly did you do?," Rody mouthed to the girl. Senji grinned nervously, refusing to make eye contact.

"You'll all be cleared for release tomorrow," Recovery Girl chimed in. She plopped onto an office chair, thumbing through their charts and waving at Endeavor. He took Rody's siblings with him, ordering Burnin' to escort them back until their guardian was released. Senji sank into her own hospital bed. The others dozed off pretty quickly, their energy all used up for the day, while she fidgeted with her phone.

Recovery Girl made one final pass around the room. She would be returning to Japan in the morning, once she finished all her paperwork. She pulled the curtain around Senji's bed closed, pulling up a chair. Senji knew what that meant, and started sweating profusely despite the cold air blowing through the vents.

"You used it again," Recovery Girl started, pointing toward her neck. Senji frowned, looking away.

"Sorry. It's..."

"It was caught on camera, too. Whole world's seen it now. You're going to have to make a statement about it at some point, or deal with a whole new range of rumors," the old woman prattled on. Her tone didn't lean one way or the other, just stayed flat. Senji glanced over at her, but her expression revealed nothing as well.

"I've seen what's on the news. And online. Guess I'm a pretty shit healer," the girl laughed at her own joke. Recovery Girl hopped down from her chair, walking to the edge of the bed. She extended her lips to the girl's cheek to administer one final round of healing. Senji's face flushed, she really hated the nature of the woman's quirk sometimes.

"Make sure you rest up. Worry about the press later," with that, the old woman made her exit. Senji tossed her phone aside for the night and let herself drift off. The faint beeping of various monitors and machines, along with the low hum of the hallway lights. It was all too familiar, and lulled her into a cold, dreamless sleep just like so many times before.