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This fucking patrol route.
Eraserhead, or Shouta Aizawa, found himself chasing after a small figure clad in all green, or, as they're known in their police file, the vigilante Viridian.
This is the third time this week, and it's fucking Tuesday!
It's not that Shouta minds the... well, he has no idea about their age so he can't really call them a kid, but he does actually like the small vigilante. They're smart, resourceful, and so much better than his goddamn class at UA, who tend to equate asking for help to death. This kid (?????) only really seems interested in leading heroes to crimes, so Shouta supposes that, at the very least, the small vigilante knows what "teamwork" means. He shutters at the thought of the last teamwork exercise he had with his class. His class that's now four people smaller. God.
Viridian skids to a halt, gesturing to what looks like a mugging. From what Shouta knows about Viridian, the green clad mystic could've probably taken this crime down by themself. He feels a sudden wave of relief run over him at the thought of the vigilante that would rather take extra cautions to make sure he didn't die than stubbornly refuse help. This kid is great.
The takedown is quick and easy, and, while securing the perp who has a minor water controlling quirk that he had been using on the victim's blood and returning the stolen bag to the victim with bright, headache-inducing butterfly wings, he finds himself extremely glad Viridian went to him for help. That... could've been bad. Ugh.
Surprisingly, when he turns around, Viridian is still there. He assesses the vigilante, taking note of the pipes swinging from his hips. Well, at least they're not stupid enough to come out unarmed but it does seem like they're enough of an idiot to stick around a hero after being caught doing something illegal. Eh, no one's perfect. Still, not wanting to waste this chance (and definitely not wanting to use the opportunity to talk to the elusive vigilante to brag to the other heroes who've been caught up in the green menace's mess without ever hearing a word from them. Absolutely not), Shouta quickly latches quirk suppressant cuffs onto the villain, assesses the victim, calls the cops, and turns to the vigilante.
Who's now on the roof.
Sighing, Shouta follows after him, determined to have some sort of conversation with the kid, even if they just tell him to fuck off. Seeing the pro hero race up to meet him, Viridian lets out a squeak and tumbles backwards. Shouta raises an eyebrow.
"You leading me somewhere new or are you wanting to talk?" He asked the vigilante who paused for a moment, tilting their head as if listening to something. Probably the hero radio, if they're as good a hacker as the rumors say.
"Well, originally I was going to talk to you about some tip I got, but there's some drug deal happening about two blocks away, though it seems that Glimmer has it taken care of." The green figure says happily. This is the first time Shouta's ever heard the kid's voice but it doesn't even give clues to what gender this kid is, and that's assuming they aren't trans. All he can gleam from it is that the speaker is young enough that puberty probably hasn't hit yet. And that's assuming their quirk doesn't change their voice. Shouta groans.
"How do you know- wait, no, never mind, I don't want to know." He really, really doesn't. While working with Stendhal, he had heard enough gruesome stories to last a good few lifetimes. Thank god that asshole hasn't shown up in a while.
"What, do you want some sort of plausible deniability?" The vigilante before him teases, and if Shouta had to guess their shrouded expression, he'd say they were probably smirking.
"Well, that, and at this point, I've worked with enough vigilantes to know I really would rather not know how they get their information." Too many gorey, gorey details. Shouta would never get his relative innocence back. "Also, Glimmer can handle herself." He added as an afterthought. Viridian looks straight at him, probably smiling, but since most of their face is covered (another smart decision), he can't say for sure.
"Alright! You wanna hear the tip, then?" They say brightly. Shouta raises an eyebrow.
"Depends. What's it about?" He asks hesitantly. Viridian pays his hesitance no mind and plows right on ahead.
"Trigger!" Wait, what?
"How the fuck did you get a Trigger tip?!" How does this kid even know what trigger is? It's relatively rare, and the small level crimes they're involved in shouldn't have alerted them to the drug's existence. Shouta can feel a bit of worry start to pool in his stomach. Ugh.
"Awww, I thought you didn't want to know where I got my information." He wants to shake this asshole of a vigilante, which he might do. Depends on where this conversation goes.
"That was before you somehow got info on a case that's been cold for months." He tries to relay the importance of the issue to the vigilante, who shows no outward signs of emotion. That Shouta can see. God, stupid face mask and goggles.
"Touche! I got it from Grain." The green covered figure says happily. Shouta feels his heart stop at the name.
"The informant?!" He practically screechs. The kid laughs, the brat.
"Yup! He owed me one!" And does Viridian sound proud? Just who the fuck is this kid?!
"What the fuck, kid?! How did you get a favor from Grain?!" Shouta had tried to get some information from that slippery man way too many times and exactly none of these attempts worked.
"First off, you have no clue if I'm a kid or not. Second, nothing too illegal, I assure you! I found his cat for him!" His fucking what?
"You found his- you know what, I don't care. Can I get the tip now?" Shouta hisses out. Viridian snorts. This fucking kid.
"Awww, Eraser, no please?" The vigilante teases, presumably smirking. Shouta glares.
"No. Give me the tip." He barks out, causing Viridian to laugh. They pull out a file from... somewhere and hold it out towards him.
"Alright, fine. Here." Shouta grabs the manilla folder and opens it. Inside is some sort of cipher? He isn't completely sure.
"What's this?" He asks finally, gesturing towards the paper. The vigilante shrugs.
"The code that Trigger suppliers use to tell each other when the next drop will be." Holy fuck. "I know the police have picked up a few of the messages but haven't quite managed to crack the code yet so hopefully this will help." This is a fucking gold mine of information.
"Grain must really love his cat." Shouta mutters, still inspecting the cipher. Like holy shit! If this was traced back to Grain somehow, he's be fucking murdered. Then resurrected and murdered again and again until whoever runs this operation feels satisfied.
"I know, right? He was such a cute kitty, too! Wanna see a pic?" Shouta wonders for a moment if he should question why the kid has a photo of an illegal informant's cat. Instead, his urge to see a cute kitty overwhelms his common sense.
"Oh?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. Viridian snorts.
"Wait, hold on a second." They say, pulling out their phone. They then tap a few things into the small screen before Shouta's own phone lets out a ding. He thought he left that on silence? "There!" He fishes out his phone and opens it to see a picture of a stupid-looking orange tomcat from a blocked number. What?!
"How the fuck did you send that to my phone?!" He nearly shouts. Viridian probably gives him a smile.
"Plausible deniability!" They say sweetly. Shouta groans.
"That- okay, first off, no. Second, I swear to god I'll arrest you right here." He threatens. The vigilante snorts.
"Awww, you're no fun! Welp, I gotta go! See ya!" They try to jump off the side of the roof but, before they can, Shouta sends out his capture scarf and yanks the kid to him.
"Hang on a minute!" He nearly shouts. The kid's eyes, that he can finally see now that he's up close and goddamn, those are big eyes, empty of all emotion.
"You don't want to do that." They say slowly, still tangled in the capture scarf. Shouta raises an eyebrow.
"Why not?" He asks. The kid levels him with a flat look before quickly cutting through the capture scarf with a suddenly appearing knife and jumping back. They then dangle a small black box in their hands a few feet away from Shouta's face. "How the fuck did you get that?!" He shouts at the sight of his phone in the vigilante's hands. The offending party just clicks their tongue.
"Aww, don't worry about it! Is 'Loud' Present Mic?" What the fuck do they want Hizashi for?!
"Hey- don't touch that!" Shouta tries to protest. The vigilante laughs.
"Taking that as a yes! Hold on a moment." They start typing something into Shouta's phone, presumably to Mic. Shouta can't help but feel a rush of fear at the thought of the two talking. For Hizashi or himself, he can't quite tell.
"Kid!" Once again, Shouta tries to protest. Viridain looks up, probably smirks, then continues typing.
"You don't know if I'm a kid. Is it logical to call me that without knowing for sure if it applies?" They tease, gaze not leaving the buzzing phone. Ugh. Of course Hizashi answered.
"You're like. 150 centimeters tall." Shouta tries to reason. The kid lets out an obviously fake gasp.
"It could be my quirk! Or a medical condition! Or just me being short! Or some complicated disguise!" They list snarkily and Shouta has to hold in a snort. This kid.
"Your voice sounds like it hasn't hit puberty yet." He keeps trying to reason. There's a voice in the back of his head that's telling him it's a useless endeavor, but whatever.
"Did you not just hear what just I said? You know, for an underground hero, you're very close minded." This kid is fucking snarky. Not for the first time that night, Shouta wonders how much better his current class would be if they had someone like this with them. Those brats are annoying.
"The fuck does that mean?!" Shouta will deny to this day that he was whining. Viridian will disagree strongly.
"Underground heroes tend to be more open minded, generally stemming from their experiences. You have a so-called 'villain's quirk', so you probably faced some sort of discrimination before. That's generally true of most underground pros, while aboveground pros tend to have life handed to them on a silver platter because of their so-called 'hero's quirk'." The kid points out. They're... right.
"You sound like you speak from experience." And they do, but Shouta really, really hopes that's not the case. Even if it's just to spare a few people from his homicidal rage.
"Well, I can honestly say I've never faced discrimination for my quirk, but I have faced something similar!" That feels like some sort of clue, but the kid has had his phone for way to long and Shouta doesn't have the patience to decipher it.
"I feel like that means something, but at this point, I just want my phone back. Give it." Shouta holds out a hand. Viridian sighs and stops texting. Finally.
"First off, you totally could've gotten it by now if you wanted to. And second, I'm going to throw it as far as I can so you can't follow me!" Shouta can feel his eyes widen as the kid winds up for a throw before letting it loose, the phone landing a good 30 meters away from them. Fuck, that was smart. "Look, look! Wheee!"
"Fuck- why would you do that?!" Shouta nearly shouts, looking frantically in the direction his phone sailed off in. At least it's well insured. And nearly indestructible. And not his only one.
"You might want to go get that, Eraser. After all, you don't want some villain getting their hands on all the numbers stored in there." And there lies the problem. Ugh. Shouta glares at the vigilante.
"That was cruel!" He nearly shouts, throwing out his capture scarf to tie it around the kid's wrist. They squawk, already pulling out a knife from seemingly nowhere. Maybe that's his quirk?
"What- hey! Fuck you, Eraser! Present Mic's so much cooler!" The kid shouts as they slice through the capture weapon again. And those are expensive! At least, they're expensive for Shouta's agency.
"How do you even know him?!" Shouta finally asks. The kid laughs. Because of course they do.
"Ask him! You guys certainly text enough! He replies fast, you know. You guys must be close!" Shouta suddenly finds himself wishing the kid was little bit less perceptive. Ugh. How do they know so much?!
"That... kid!" Shouta whines, much to his dismay. This fucking kid! Viridian shrugs and dusts themself off before jumping to the edge of the roof.
"Go get your phone, Eraser. I'll see you when I see you! Make sure to get good use from that code! I rescued a whole cat for that!" They say, waving cheerfully. Shouta sighs.
"God- fine!" As he finally looks away from of the slippery vigilante, the kid bolts in the opposite direction they threw the phone in. Sighing, he swings over to pick it up. Luckily, it was undamaged, but still. It let out a chime.
>Loud
Don't go too hard on him, okay, listener? Hope to see you soon!
Groaning, Shouta opened the message and scrolls up a bit. The first text is from Viridian.
>sleepy cat
Heyo, it's Viridian! Just ran into Eraser, and I gotta say, you're so much more fun than him!
Fucking asshole.
>Loud
Thanks listener! Does he know you have his phone?
>sleepy cat
He does now. Using it to make sure he doesn't catch me. Nice usernames, by the way!
>Loud
Thanks! And you know he could take it back from you at literally any point?
Which, yeah, he could've. But! Kid!
>sleepy cat
Of course! He's just under the impression I'm a kid, though, and he has a soft spot for kids, huh?
This kid knows him way too well.
>Loud
Oh, for sure. Are you a kid?
Shouta finds himself snorting at Hizashi's "subtle" attempt at prodding the vigilante. He's tried to get information from the illusive vigilante so many times that it's nice to see someone else doing it.
>sleepy cat
Nuh uh. Not telling! Welp, gotta go now. He's getting pissed!
>Loud
You should keep my phone number!
This fucking dumbass. Who tells a vigilante that they can have their phone number!? Also, what vigilante would be dumb enough to give a pro hero their phone number!?
>sleepy cat
Lol, already memorized it! Won't use it unless it's an emergency, though, because you could definitely track me down through it
Smart kid.
>Loud
Flattered you think so! You said something about going?
>sleepy cat
Oh shit yeah! God, I hope this phone is shatterproof. Bye!
Finally caught up, Shouta sighs.
>sleepy cat
how tf do u know viridian
Hizashi types. Then erases. Then types again.
>Loud
Hello to you too! Did you catch them?
Snarky little shit.
>sleepy cat
you think id be texting u if i did?
now how tf do u know them???
>Loud
We met earlier today! They lead me to a robbery!
Why the fuck was Viridian out during the day? Whatever, doesn't matter. It's not like Hizashi would know anyway.
>sleepy cat
whyd they take a liking to u then
>Loud
Hell if I know! They're pretty cool, tho
Shouta really hopes they don't meet again. That much chaotic energy in one place? No thanks.
>sleepy cat
theyre a little shit is what they are
wait did they talk to u?!
>Loud
Uhhh yeah? Is that weird?
Is that weird?! Is that weird?!!
>sleepy cat
theyre famous for not talking to anyone!
>Loud
They talked to you!
>sleepy cat
once!! after knowing me for months!!!
Hizashi, ever the asshole, just sends back a laughing face. Shouta groans. God. And now he's gotta finish patrol.
Unbeknownst to the erasure hero, a small, green clad silhouette peers at him from around a corner. Noticing the hero finally swing away, the figure lets out a small chuckle before slipping away once more. After all, there's always more heroes to pester!