Retribution ((TENYA IIDA X OC: NEXT GENERATION))

Chapter 2

I sat in my home office that night after putting the kids to bed, continuously scrolling through the file of the recent Reo case with my chin resting in my palm. I had been sitting here for almost three hours now, zipping through the dozen reports I had to complete before morning.

I leaned back in my seat and sighed whilst glancing toward the house phone on the edge of my desk. I was tempted to call Riptide for an update on the mystery caller from earlier that day, but willed myself against it, figuring that there was really no sense in worrying over a prank caller with too much time on their hands.

Or, at least that's what Iida assumed it to be once I filled him in on the situation. However, the amount of time it was taking Riptide to get back to me was concerning; once she was instructed to do something, she always had it completed within the hour. For her to take this long just wasn't like her.

I reached a hand out and took the phone off it's receiver. After dialing Riptide's personal number, I hit 'talk' and pressed it to my ear.

The landline rang three times before she answered.

"Hey," she spoke breathlessly. "Still no update. The guys in the tech lab say that the trace to the caller is blocked."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, feeling an anxious sick settle in my gut.

"They can't find whoever called us," she replied, sounding just as tired as I felt. "But they'll keep trying to crack it until we find them."

"Keep me posted," I requested, brow narrowing as I thought. "And be alert."

"Ditto." She replied, and with that she hung up.

I let out a loose sigh as I retracted the phone from my ear, and physically jumped as my personal phone began to ring. I turned my head slowly to look at the device — of which was face down on the desktop — hoping to decipher who was phoning me so late before taking a look at the caller ID.

Finally, I plucked the mobile off the table and glanced down at the screen, and — as expected — the ID read 'Unknown.'

A glare solidified on my face, and I irritably answered it.

"Hello?"

Breathing.

"Who is this?"

Again, no answer.

"What do you want?"

The line went dead.

I blinked, looking back at the screen as I held the phone out in front of me. Whoever it was had to be the person from earlier today, and they were clearly smart enough to trace my personal number — unless, of course, it was someone I knew; a prank caller like Iida suggested.

'You could never be too careful when it comes to anything.' He had said, and Bakugou said the same not three hours before. I sighed, dragging a hand down my face as I leaned back in my chair.

"Mom." The sound of my son's voice made me jump, and upon looking up, I saw Kuro standing in the doorway.

"Oh," I sat up, smiling. "What're you doing up, sweetie?"

"I heard a weird noise..." he trailed off as he yawned and rubbed his eye.

My brow twitched at that, but I sighed and arose from my seat anyway, beckoning Kuron to follow me out of my office.

He did so sleepily, trailing slowly behind me as I led him back up the stairs. The door to his and Shiro's room was cracked open, and I quietly took Kuron by the hand to get him to his bed without tripping over the toys they had neglected to pick up before going to sleep.