Chapter Text
“Come on Blank, catch up he’s getting away!” Shinso sprinted and ran over trashcans and tried to keep up with his friend. Said friend was chasing a mugger down an alley. He had trained with him for some time now but still couldn’t keep up. That kid was a monster. But they were lucky, and the mugger ran into a dead end. He turned around and panicked.
“Leave me alone!” He screamed and pulled out a knife. Izuku jumped to the side and stretched out his leg. The mugger stumbled and Shinso managed to wrestle him to the ground. Izuku used the back of his knife to hit him over the head. The man was unconscious.
“Wohoo! Another victory for Blank and Hollow!” Izuku pumped his fists in the air and laughed. From above came a chuckle and Stendhal landed near the two boys.
“Job well done kids. Let’s tie him up and call the police. I think I can let you two patrol on your own now. You’ve become quite strong. But remember to stick to weaklings or call if there is any real trouble! Got that?”
“Yes sir!” The two shouted simultaneously. They were grinning under their masks. Finally, they were actually helping people. Even the public knew there were new vigilantes in town.
“Hollow, Quirk unknown. Gender unknown. White hair. Short. Wears a reflective black mask. Weapons include swords and knives. Very fast and nimble. Wears nondescript black clothing.
Blank, Quirk unknown. Gender unknown. Black hair. Short. Wears a reflective white mask. Weapons include a staff and a whip. Not as fast as Hollow, but still manages to outrun whoever chased him. Wears nondescript black clothing.
The two are always operate together. They used to operate with another vigilante named Stendhal but are now working alone.”
Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa sighed. New vigilantes. And they seemed rather young as well. This wasn’t good.
“Is that it?” The underground hero Aizawa Shota stared at the detective. “I mean they have been operating for a while now.”
“Yes that’s it. We believe that Stendhal mentored them, and they can work on their own now. We usually catch vigilantes after the first few times, but the longer someone is at large, the harder it gets to catch them. And we believe that Stendhal taught them all his tricks. That’s why they are so good. But based on the assumption that they are indeed children we need to bring them in. That’s why we contacted you. You have caught the most vigilantes. You are the best underground hero I know. Will you take this case?”
Aizawa sighed. He wondered if he could drown in the rest of his coffee. But no. He emptied the mug. It was cold. Disgusting. He sighed again.
“Kids, huh. Alright. I’ll take the case. I have nothing better to do anyway.”
“Didn’t Midnight and Present Mic ask you to be a teacher at UA with them?”
“Yeah, but that can wait. I think these two kids need me more.”
Izuku and Shinso have been vigilantes without supervision for months now. It was exhilarating. Sure they got hurt from time to time, but nothing serious. And they were not alone. They steered clear from the worst part of town and stuck to people they could handle. It wasn’t easy to walk by someone with a threatening quirk, but they knew they could call someone who would take care of it. Not the police of course. Or the heroes. They had tried once, when Stendhal wasn’t available. The police had cared more about why a kid was out at night then the actual robbery. Izuku had tried to call a hero, and he had laughed at him. Laughed. At a kid reporting a crime. Luckily Stendhal called back and managed to stop the robbery. But people were needlessly injured.
Izuku had beat himself up over that. What kind of hero would he be if he couldn’t save someone right in front of him?
But Stendhal had a long talk with him. People cared about him. They would be devastated if Izuku got hurt. And if he did, he couldn’t save people anymore. He showed him articles of heroes who got injured during work. And the last straw was Shinso crying, saying he couldn’t stand seeing Izuku hurt.
“Look kid. You have to remember. You want to save people. But the first person you need to save is always yourself. Always.”
And Izuku understood. He didn’t want to hurt the people he loved. So he retreated when necessary. Called for backup. And he felt, for the first time, that he was actually worth something.
One evening, the two of them took down another mugger. It was not hard. They had gotten rather good at their job. But that hadn’t prepared them for what came next.
A real hero. Underground, yes, but still a hero. Eraserhead. They knew him, of course. They actually liked him. Not as their enemy though.
Eraserhead was one of the only heroes they had ever seen at night in their area. Stendhal had told them about him, to stay away from him. Not because he was dangerous, but because he was good. He did good work, but that work included catching vigilantes. Which the two boys were. They had admired his work from afar. They did not want to see it up close. But life wasn’t fair.
The hero managed to catch Blank in his scarf and pulled them towards him. Hollow sprinted back and tried to cut the scarf with one of their knives. They actually managed to do that. His scarf was specially made. Must be a good knife. The two kids, and Aizawa was now sure they were kids, jumped back into the ally and assumed defensive positions. Hollow moved their right hand to their back pocket.
They looked like cornered animals. And that was never a good thing.
The pro hero raised his hand. “I just want to talk.”
The kids looked at each other. They did not relax. But they didn’t attack either. A start.
“My name is Eraserhead. Who are you?” He knew their names of course. But he needed more information. He did not expect them to answer.
“I am Hollow. But you probably knew that already. This is Blank. What do you want?”
A boy, Aizawa realized. Not even a teenager yet. The other person didn’t speak.
“Why are you vigilantes? You seem a bit young to fight crime. We can help you.”
Hollow laughed. It was a dry laugh, with no humour in it.
“No. You can’t. but I do respect you, Eraser. We are vigilantes to help people. Because no one helped us.
Aizawa wanted to answer, but in that moment, someone attacked him from behind. It was the vigilante Stendhal.
“Run. I got this.”
And the two kids got away. Aizawa tried to stop them, but after a few seconds it was obvious he had to divert his full attention on the man. He was good. He must have had some kind of formal training. Possibly even a quirk that helped him.
One erasure later that theory was disproven. He kept up with the man, but his capture scarf was cut. He jumped back. He would probably win in and endurance battle. He just had to keep it up.
The two clashed again and again. Aizawa was sweating. He did not have such a fight in a while. But his opponent was getting slower. He could win this.
The vigilante jumped back. So did Aizawa. The two stared at each other. Right as the pro hero wanted to launch another attack, the vigilantes phone made a sound.
“And that’s the signal. It was fun fighting you, Eraserhead. Stay away from the kids please. See ya.”
He ran out of the alley. Aizawa tried to follow him, but Stendhal knew these streets better than him. He managed to get away. This day could not get any worse.
He returned home and started to write his report while the details were fresh in his mind. He sighed. A coffee was put down next to him. “Rough night?” his husband asked.
“Yeah. Thanks Zashi. Remember the kids I told you about? I found them. They managed to get away, but apparently, we failed them once. So they don’t trust authority figures anymore. They seemed so young…”
“I’m sure you will find a way to help them Shota. You always do. I gotta go to the radio station, see you in the afternoon.”
Hizashi Yamada, the hero Present Mic left their apartment. Aizawa stared into his coffee. It did not help him. He downed it, finished his report, and went to sleep. He did not sleep well.
Izuku was smiling. Why was he smiling.
“He was so cool! I always wanted to see his capture scarf in action! I wish I had been wrapped up in there. Toshi, what was it like?”
Shinso shook his head. “Yeah sure, next time we almost get captured by the heroes I’ll let you be in the hands of a pro. It was constricting and I was scared. Why did you even answer him? Now he knows stuff about us.”
“Oh come on, he’s so cool! And I had to stall for time until Akaguro arrived, it’s not my fault. At least he didn’t try to attack us again! If I had 20 percent more trust in adults, I might have actually taken him up on his offer!”
Shinso raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Pft, no I’m not stupid. But I wonder what would have happened if someone like him had found me, back when I was living on the street. He seemed like he actually cared.”
“Izuku…”
“I know. No point in thinking about it now. I am happy with the way things are.”
“You know, you never did tell me why you ended up on the street.”
“And you still haven’t told us about your quirk. I mean not that you need it, but still.”
Shinso frowned. Then he sighed. “Okay. I will tell you what my quirk is if you tell me why you lived on the street.”
He could see Izuku’s mind working. He could practically hear it. He knew the boy loved quirks. He had several notebooks full of them. It was interesting to hear him talk about them. He was rarely so enthusiastic. Despite that, he often shut up very suddenly. And apologized. Shinso reassured him that it was okay, but the boy seemed so said. It did not happen as often anymore, but he wondered who made the boy feel that way. Like he couldn’t talk about the things he liked.
“Alright. I am…my name is…was…Midoriya Izuku. I lived with my mom. She died in a villain attack. The heroes were the ones who caused most the collateral damage. I ended up in a foster home. They weren’t nice. I ran away. Tell me about your quirk.”
Well that explained much. Why he wanted to help Shinso so badly, why he didn’t like heroes, why he wanted to save people. He was glad he met the boy.
“Thank you for telling me that. I’m sure it wasn’t easy. Sorry I asked I just…I was curious.”
“It’s okay.” Izuku put his feet on the sofa and hugged them. He didn’t look up.
“My quirk is called brainwash. I can control people who answer my questions. Just simple tasks though, nothing that would require thinking.”
Izuku looked up. His eyes were shining.
“That is so incredible! Oh my god why didn’t you tell us this is amazing! You could ask people to leave the danger zone, you could easily apprehend talkative villains, you could calm people down and there are so many more possibilities! I have to write this down. How long does it last? What are the limitations? How many people can you control? Is it easier with certain people depending on their brain capacity? Can you get out of it by yourself? Do they have to answer your question or is it anything they say? Does it work in every language? Do they have to answer in the same language you ask? What about sign language, does that count? Is there a cooldown? Are there any repercussions for you? Like a headache or something maybe? Can you control me right now? I want to know what it feels like!”
Shinso was taken aback. No one had ever been nice to him after he mentioned his quirk. Especially not this enthusiastic. He should have known. Izuku is a great person after all.
“I have no idea. I haven’t used my quirk for years. Sorry.”
“That just means we will check everything you can do with your quirk.” There was a devilish spark in his eyes. “This will be so much fun. Of course you need to keep training and fighting without your quirk or people will figure out who you are, and our vigilantism will actually be illegal. But this will be great for emergencies! Oh I can’t wait to test all my theories!”
When Akaguro came home, he found Izuku running into a table. Repeatedly. Shinso was laughing at him. This wasn’t his problem. He ignored them and made coffee.