Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Once the sun goes down and the rest of Japan has gone to sleep, a figure rises out of the shadows to walk the streets on the dark side of town. The figure, a young girl no older than fourteen, walks with confidence down back alleys and side streets, her hands hidden in the large pocket of her midnight blue hoodie. Her combat boots splash through puddles of a mysterious origin and she wears a grin across her freckled face. This is clearly her territory, and she revels in her patrol through it. 

A scream cuts through the air and she is running. Down the alleys and back streets to the source of the sound. A large man with the head of a bull is wrestling a woman to the ground. The woman locks eyes with the young figure and she screams again, this time begging the figure for help. She doesn’t hesitate, running at a nearby dumpster and kicking off of it, using it as leverage to jump on top of the man. She grabs him by his horns and pulls . The man lets out a howl as his head is wrenched backwards. He releases the tearful woman below him in exchange for going after the smaller person currently kneeling on his back. The woman is smart enough to take the opportunity to run, leaving the girl and the bullman behind. 

The girl jumps off the man, doing a backflip and landing atop another nearby dumpster. The man growls, stomping and sliding his feet against the ground like he’s preparing to charge. The girl lets out a laugh like bells and drops her hood. The man’s eyes grow wide.

“What do you think you’re doing in my territory?” The figure asks, a laugh in her voice.

“Please, forgive me, Makaria! I- I was just-”

“You were attacking a woman in my territory. Do you know what I do to people who trespass on the rules that govern my territory, Watanabe?” The man grows pale at the mention of his name.

“How- how do you-”

“-Know your name? Oh, you poor thing, have you not heard? I know everyone who causes trouble around here. And your name has been circling for quite some time. It seems you have quite the mouth on you when you’ve had too much sake.” Her once smiling face turns deadly serious. “I’d say to run, but it’s too late for that.”

Watanabe tries to stand tall again, his face turning angry. “What are you gonna do? You’re just a kid. Your daddy might be-”

His words are cut off as a knife flies past his face, leaving a cut along his cheekbone and tearing through part of his ear. He immediately grabs at his face and ear, the terror back in his eyes.

The girl, Makaria, tilts her head. “That was a warning shot.” She is suddenly holding another knife in each hand. “Don’t you ever speak of my father again, you absolute worthless bastard. You’re not even worthy enough to speak my name, but I let it slide this once, and now you try to bring him into this? I was going to leave you with a heavy warning, but now you will really pay the ferryman.” A knife is suddenly impaled in Watanabe’s shoulder, another finding a home in his thigh immediately after. He tries to run but finds his way suddenly blocked by Makaria. She meets him head on, first kicking him in the gut before quickly following it with a knee to his nose as he bends over with a groan. He tries to falter back, but she’s at him in the next moment, twisting the knife in his shoulder before pulling it out. She then uses his thigh to leverage herself to go into a backflip, both shoving the knife further into his thigh with her foot before kicking him under the chin and knocking him on his back. He groans in pain, but doesn’t get back up. 

Before she can leave, a new voice enters the night air. “Vigilantism is a crime you know.” She turns to the mouth of the alley where a hero dressed in all black with a pale scarf and yellow goggles hanging around his neck stands, blocking her escape.

“So is being a rapist, but I feel like one of those things is worse than the other, so…” She shrugs and laughs.

“I can give you that one.” He nods before taking a step into the alley. She doesn’t move other than to lean casually against a dumpster. “So you’re the Makaria I’ve heard so much about.”

“I hope you haven’t heard too much, Eraserhead. It kinda ruins the whole mysterious thing I’ve got going on with the cops in the area.” She smirks.

Eraserhead takes another lazy step into the alley, his caution reminiscent of one trying not to scare off a stray cat. Which is probably the best way to approach this situation to be honest. Makaria watches him and wiggles an eyebrow. She seems to be enjoying herself, her body language staying casual and unthreatened. 

“It’s true that you’ve got the police scratching their heads, but I have a few connections in the area that are… let's say, fans of yours.”

“Oh, I have fans? Interesting. But I’m sure you’re not willing to reveal who these so-called fans are, are you?”

This time, Eraserhead smirks. “No, I’m not one to give up my sources.”

Makaria pouts. “Boo, oh well. Would you at least be willing to tell me what they’ve said about me?”

Eraserhead rocks his head side to side. “Maybe. Are you willing to bargain for the information?”

Makaria scrunches her nose. “Not really. If you had anything good you’d have already tried to arrest me.”

Eraserhead frowns. “And what would I be arresting you for?”

“Uh uh, Eraserhead! No information for free! Toodles!” Quicker than Eraserhead probably expected, she makes her way up the dumpster and flips over him before running down the street and into a side alley, disappearing from sight.

Eraserhead sighs before picking up his berber phone and calling in the man still groaning in the alley. “Yeah, I have a suspect for pick up at my location. A vigilante seems to have gotten here first, so send medical as well.”

—

“I met your vigilante last night.”

Hitoshi shoots up from where he had been lounging on the couch, all thoughts of watching cat videos on his phone while waiting to go to school gone. He looks to where his dad is walking into the kitchen, headed straight for the coffee pot. “You WHAT?!”

“Hitoshi, quietly, please. It is six-thirty in the morning.”

“You can’t just walk in here and say you saw Makaria and then tell me to be quiet about it! What happened?! Did she beat up a thug? Of course she did, she’s amazing. Did you arrest her? Please tell me you didn’t arrest her! I will never forgive you if you arrested Makaria!” Hitoshi climbs over the arm of the sofa and hangs on his dad’s arm as the man tries to pour himself some black coffee into his purple cat mug.

“I didn’t arrest her.”

Hitoshi releases his hold and flops down on the floor. “Oh, thank God! I was ready to disown you, I really was. Okay, you have to tell me everything! Did she look the way she’s described in the posts? Did you get a picture? Did you talk to her? Did you ask her any questions? Did she answer any questions? What was she like? Was she, like, really tough? Did she-”

“Toshi, please, I beg of you. I will answer your questions as soon as I finish this cup.” His dad goes back to sipping his mug of coffee so very slowly. 

Hitoshi stands and stares at his dad, biting his bottom lip to hold back his stream of questions. It lasts for about thirty seconds.

“Just tell me what happened, please! I will be silent for the entire ride to school and won’t even turn on the radio. Please!”

His dad looks at him for about a full minute before he sighs and sits down at their kitchen table. “Fine, sit down already and eat something while I explain.”

Hitoshi shoots a fist in the air, grabs a bowl of rice and some boiled eggs, and sits across the table from his dad. He eats slowly as his dad describes hearing the sounds of screams and racing across rooftops only to find the woman he assumes had been screaming running from the mouth of the alley. He climbed down the fire escape of a nearby building before sneaking his way toward where the woman had run. He describes how he saw a teen girl arguing with a wanted villain with a mutation quirk. He watched as they spoke, the villain’s face going from pale to flushed with anger before the girl pulled a knife from seemingly nowhere and threw it at the villain. He listened as she threatened the man before making good on her threat. He describes the beat down she gave the grown man before she turned to where he had been standing and he got a good look at her. He guessed at her identity, having heard a little of their conversation, and she just calmly held a small conversation with him before running off.

“I called it in and then finished my patrol.” Hitoshi’s dad finishes his coffee and gets up to get another cup as Hitoshi sits in stunned silence.

“That. Is. So. COOL! That sounds just like her! Oh, I can’t believe you saw the real Makaria! I have to tell my friends! They are not going to believe me!” While his dad finishes two more cups of coffee, Hitoshi opens up the private groupchat between himself and a bunch of other teens he met in an underground Makaria chatroom. He knows they’re all around his age because they’ve discussed homework on the chat before.

Sleep?DontKnowHer: You guys are not going to believe what my dad just told me!!!!

AllHailQueenie: Oh, spill the tea!!

IceBearDontCare: What Queenie said.

HowYouDoin: Spill that piping hot tea!!!!

M4sterm1nd: What did your dad tell you?

Sleep?DontKnowHer: He saw Makaria on patrol last night! He actually saw her!!

Sleep?DontKnowHer: He actually saw her!!

Sleep?DontKnowHer: He said she’s suuuper sassy and a total pain to deal with!!

Sleep?DontKnowHer: I’m legit crying right now!!

AllHailQueenie: The true queen has been sighted!!

AllHailQueenie: That’s so cool, Sleep!

HowYouDoin: My true love has been seen with human eyes!!

IceBearDontCare: Hasn’t she always been seen with human eyes?

HowYouDoin: Not humans that I actually know!!

M4sterm1nd: Do you know Sleep’s dad?

HowYouDoin: No, but I know Sleep!

HowYouDoin: And that’s basically the same thing!

AllHailQueenie: We are getting off topic.

AllHailQueenie: @Sleep?DontKnowHer , you HAVE to tell us EVERYTHING!!!

—

Izu reads the groupchat and does her best to hold back her grin as she heads off to school.

Chapter Text

Izu makes sure to put her phone away as the building comes into sight. No one here knows who she really is and she’s okay with that. Really, she is! Would it be nice if her online friends were IRL friends? Yes. But she doesn’t need them right now. She can handle herself. 

She walks up to the doors and ignores the stares and jeers directed at her, holding her head high. She takes pleasure in knowing she could have all these kids on their backs in two seconds if she wanted. She smirks a little at the thought and that’s when some idiot decides it would be a good idea to try and trip her. She rolls her eyes as she tucks and rolls through the fall, popping right back up again and continuing her walk to the classroom. Will these idiots ever learn that they just can’t take her? She hasn’t directly fought any of them since her dad went MIA five years ago, but still, are their memories really that short?

Entering the classroom, she makes her way straight to her seat and pulls out her most recent notebook. It’s written in a code of her own design and details the quirks she encountered while on her patrols. She’s always been fascinated with the quirks around her even though the universe thought it needed to nerf her by not giving her one. Though being quirkless hasn’t stopped her from beating the crap out of the people who don’t follow the rules. 

The rules of her territory are not written down anywhere publicly, but they are known throughout the Shizuoka Prefecture, especially in Mustafu, and they are law among the villains who call the area home. They are what govern all villain organizations and independent villains alike, keeping order in the chaos. Villains are allowed to conduct business on her turf as long as they follow the rules. They can have their various drug deals, weapons trafficking, and the like, but no children are to be harmed, rape of anyone of any gender or age is banned outright, and all deals are to be conducted fairly. Cheating or backstabbing of any sort will result in the karma known to all as Makaria. She is not a hero, but she will enforce these rules to the death if she must.

Izu is so lost in thought about the quirk she is currently analyzing and the repercussions the individual faced after breaking one of her rules that she doesn’t immediately notice the approach of an unwelcome guest. Small popping sounds alert her to the boy now standing directly next to her.

“Hello, Kacchan.” She says with a sigh, slowly looking up from her notebook and glaring at the boy. “And what can little ol’ me do for the big bad future hero?” Her voice drips with sarcasm.

“You lookin’ down on me, Deku?!” His small pops of irritation become much larger pops of anger.

She looks him up and down. “Given that I am currently sitting, while you are standing, and that even if we were both standing I am at least twenty centimeters shorter than you, I’d say me looking down on you is pretty impossible.” She bats her eyelashes in a fake attempt at innocence. 

“Don’t get smart with me!” 

“But Kacchan! We’re at school! Isn’t the point to be smart?” She tilts her head.

“Why you-” He goes to let off a blast in her face, but Izu grabs him by the wrist and shoves his hand up into the air above her, forcing his blast to hit the ceiling. 

“Now Kacchan, you shouldn’t destroy school property like that.” She points with her free hand at the scorch marks left behind by his blast.

“You little-” He grabs her notebook with the hand not currently clutched in her grip and lets off an explosion, burning the book.

Izu’s eyes grow wide and her easy smile turns into an angry snarl. “You really shouldn’t have done that, Katsuki.” She looks up at him to see his face grow pale.

Unfortunately the teacher chooses that moment to walk in and scolds Izu for gripping onto Katsuki’s wrist. She orders them both to calm down and gives Izu detention for starting a fight. Izu huffs but releases Katsuki. Like that was even a fight. She could have done a whole lot worse, and judging by Katsuki’s reaction, he knows it too.

—

Izu is already irritated as she walks toward home after detention, so when she finds a giant crowd around the alley she usually takes home, her mood only worsens. Since she is so small, only one hundred fifty four and a half centimeters, she’s able to make her way to the front of the crowd. What she finds only makes her angrier.

The slime villain, Juba Haruto, suffocating the number one bastard, Bakugou Katsuki, who is in turn letting off explosions setting everything but Juba on fire. And the heroes are doing absolutely nothing. Izu cracks her neck before she swiftly ducks under the caution tape and around the useless heroes.

“Hey, Kid! Get back here! This is a dangerous situation!” She flips whatever hero said that off without even looking back. She gets close enough for the villain to hear her without the heroes also hearing her because of the explosions. At least Katsuki is good for something.

“Juba, what in the everloving frick frack do you think you’re doing?!” Izu is pleased to see the shiver of fear go down the villain’s gelatinous body.

“Makaria, funny seeing you here.” He attempts a chuckle which gives Katsuki a chance to breathe for a second. He uses that chance to stare wide-eyed at Izu. Well, crap.

“Don’t you even start with me. First you break the rules,” She gives a humorless laugh. “And then you use my name in front of civilians?!”

“I-I’m sorry! Please, hear me out!” He pleads.

She looks around before gesturing at him to continue. “Sure, why not. What possible reason could you have for your behavior right now?”

“All Might! He was chasing me! I had to hide! I needed a meat shield!”

“And you chose a freaking CHILD?!” She yells, no longer caring who hears her. “You are massive and you thought a child would be able to hold you? Really?!”

“W-well, I-”

“No. No. Nope. I’m not hearing anymore of this. Let go or I swear you will regret this lapse in judgment for the rest of your life.” She pulls her backpack off her back and prepares to grab the knives she has concealed inside. He may be mostly slime, but he has eyes.

Lucky for him, he lets go. Unlucky for Izu, All Might decides this is the most opportune time to act.

“NO FEAR, FOR I AM HERE!” He blasts in, sending renewed oxygen into the area and feeding the fires around them.

“Idiot! What are you doing?!” Izu shouts at the number one hero.

“No need to fear anymore, Child. I am here to take over. I’m sure this was very traumatizing.” All Might says before blasting Jobu and forcing him into some coke bottles for some reason.

Izu rolls her eyes but starts to make her way through the alleyway towards home.

—

“Who was that girl?”

“She got that villain to let go just by talking!”

“Who is she?”

As the crowds begin to question the appearance of the strange, green-haired girl, Bakugou Katsuki can only think of one thing. Midoriya Izu is the vigilante Makaria. He needs to tell someone.

—

“Our next story tonight, Officers are looking for this individual,” a picture of a teen girl with freckles, emerald green eyes, and forest green hair appears on screen next to the reporter. “She is suspected of being the vigilante Makaria and is wanted for questioning at this time. Her civilian name is reported to be one Midoriya Izu. If you have any information on this wanted individual, please call our toll free number…”

Chapter Text

It’s been six months. Six months since the news broke. Six months since she became a wanted person. Six months since she dropped out of school and ran to one of her dad’s safe houses. It’s been six months, and Midoriya Izu is bored. Don’t get her wrong, she’s still been going out at night to patrol, but her days have been spent hacking the various news and hero forums, chatting with her online friends, and that’s it. Nothing else to occupy her time.

She’s been lucky that there’s a grocery store nearby that delivers, so she hasn’t had to leave to get food during the day. She was able to get the electricity up and running by day two and the water was apparently never turned off, so she’s been fairly comfortable. But still so very bored.

It’s about three in the afternoon now, so she checks in with her friends.

M4sterm1nd: Being sick at home suuuucks!!!!

AllHailQueenie: Aw, Master! You’re still sick?

M4sterm1nd: Yeah :( 

M4sterm1nd: I now live only for these talks, Queenie

M4sterm1nd: Without them, I shall truly perish.

Sleep?DontKnowHer: You’re being dramatic.

M4sterm1nd: How dare you try to minimize my pain, Sleep!!!

M4sterm1nd: I now curse you to never sleep AGAIN!

Sleep?DontKnowHer: Sleep? Hmm, never heard of her ;P

IceBearDontCare: Hey, Sleep, Has your dad found Makaria yet?

Sleep?DontKnowHer: Smooth transition Bear.

Sleep?DontKnowHer: But no

Sleep?DontKnowHer: Which I’m actually super glad about!

Sleep?DontKnowHer: I’m all for just letting her live her life.

M4sterm1nd: Here Here!

AllHailQueenie: Exactly!

HowYouDoin: Yeah, leave my wife alone!

IceBearDontCare: Since when is Makaria your wife?

HowYouDoin: Since the first time I knew of her!

HowYouDoin: She just doesn’t know we are in a committed relationship yet.

Izu huffs a laugh as she stares at her screen.

Sleep?DontKnowHer: If and when you ever meet her, please let me be there. 

Sleep?DontKnowHer: I will *pay* to see her reaction to you.

AllHailQueenie: I bet she laughs in your face!

Sleep?DontKnowHer: That’s probably a safe bet.

IceBearDontCare: I agree with them.

HowYouDoin: You guys all suck! 

HowYouDoin: Master is my only friend now!

M4sterm1nd: …

M4sterm1nd: I bet she beats you up.

HowYouDoin: TRAITOR!

AllHailQueenie: lol

Sleep?DontKnowHer: lol

IceBearDontCare: lol?

Sleep?DontKnowHer: Yes, Bear. 

Sleep?DontKnowHer: Good Job.

IceBearDontCare: lol lol lol

Izu laughs at her chaotic friends and changes topics to what they all talked about in school that day. Their conversations drift through mundane things, school, parents being nuts, Bear saying some suspicious things about his dad, but eventually everyone but Izu and Sleep sign off to go to bed. Izu doesn’t mind though. Sleep was the first person she invited to join the groupchat she’d made and he’s probably her closest friend on here. Which is very ironic, she knows, given that his dad is the guy chasing her. They continue talking for another two or three hours before even he signs off. Now alone again in the small safe house, Izu decides its late enough to go out.

She heads into her room and throws on her favorite hoodie, the one that used to be her dad’s and has the secret knife sheaths in the front pocket, and pulls on a pair of black workout leggings, the kind with the really good pockets that hold your phone and keys while you exercise. SHe heads to the door, her combat boots waiting for her, and heads out the door.

This particular safe house is on the edge of her territory and borders her dad’s, so it’s convenient and sentimental. She locks the front door and begins her journey further into the city. The walk is nice, and she enjoys the crisp air as she runs down side-streets, joy filling her chest. She parkours between buildings and onto dumpsters, just enjoying being out. She hears a scuffle down a nearby alley and decides to check it out.

When she gets to the right-side street and to the mouth of the dead-end alley, she finds what looks like a drug deal gone south. There’s white powder everywhere and a burly guy beating down a smaller man. She looks it over and decides she might as well get involved.

“Oi! What exactly is going on here?”

“None of your fu-” The burly guy’s words die in his throat when he turns to look at her. “I mean, I’m sorry ma’am. This guy, he said he wanted to test my product before paying my usual rate. I cut it open just a bit, just for him to get a taste and he grabbed it from me! He spilled it everywhere,” He gestures to the powder on the ground, “and then said he wouldn’t pay me a dime for ‘bad crap’! He called my product crap! My boss is gonna be pissed if I don’t get the money I promised him.”

The smaller guy seems to come to and looks over at Izu. “Y-You’re that vigilante, right? Help me! He’s a drug dealer! Beat him up and help me!”

Izu tilts her head. “But you were planning to buy drugs from him, were you not?”

“Well, I- that doesn’t matter! He’s a criminal! A villain! Grab him!”

“Hmm, well it looks like you’re both criminals here. Drug dealer,” she gestures to the big guy, “drug buyer,” then to the smaller one on the ground who is starting to try and get up. “I’m not sure what you want me to do.” She looks at him, batting her eyes at him in fake innocence.

“Wh-What?! You’re a vigilante! You’re supposed to beat up the bad guy!”

Izu looks at the larger man. “Kataoka, right?” The man nods. “You work for Mori?” Again, the man nods. “Tell him what happened and tell him Makaria is handling it. If I can get any funds from the guy I’ll let him know directly. If I can’t,” she looks at the smaller man. “Well, Mori knows how I work. He’ll get his money or his pound of flesh either way.” She looks back at Kataoka and gestures toward the mouth of the alley with her head. “Go on.”

“Thank you, Ma’am!” And he’s gone.

“Now, you must be new to my territory.” She gives the smaller man who is still struggling to get back on his feet a cheshire grin.

“Your territory? I thought this sector of the city belonged to Mori?”

“Oh, it does. But you see,” She takes a lazy step toward him. “I own the whole Prefecture. So you disrespect my rules, there is no higher man or woman who can save you. I am as high as it goes.” Her face turns serious as she stalks toward him.

“What rule did I break?! I just got in a simple argument with some lowlife drug dealer! That doesn’t have anything to do with you!”

“Rule number three of the underworld of this prefecture is No Cheating and No Backstabbing. You went back on your word to buy from Kataoka and, even worse, you destroyed his product so he can’t sell to anyone else. You hurt his relationship with his boss. If it weren’t for me, his boss might kill him over this. But you claim to be innocent?” She laughs, but it’s manic and filled with malicious intent. “You’re not innocent. You stand accused and guilty of being a backstabbing liar and that just won’t do. To keep the underworld of this great country functioning smoothly, it’s up to me to make sure those guilty of crimes against the underworld are rightly punished.”

“What are you gonna do? You’re just a little girl! You can’t-” His words are cut off as a blade slides into his shoulder. Before he can move, Izu is on top of him, twisting the knife as he screams.

“Oh, no. Screaming is not allowed.” She grabs a nearby dirty rag and shoves it in the guy’s mouth. “Be a good little bastard and take your punishment like a man.” She whispers cruelly.

—

Tsukauchi walks into the hospital room to interview the victim of a brutal attack the previous night. One Naito Fuku. Witnesses claim he was caught in a drug deal gone bad, but no one is willing to talk further than that other than to say that he apparently deserved what he got. Looking at the man in the bed in front of him, he’s not sure what the man deserved to warrant what’s been done to him. Along with various deep stab wounds where the knife was obviously twisted, the word LIAR was carefully carved into his left forearm and the word BACKSTABBING into his right. The assailant apparently got away, but with all the wounds he suffered, this assault had to have taken hours. 

“Nurse, is he up for questioning?”

The woman looks over at the man and then back to the detective before nodding. “All of the stab wounds missed vital organs, so he’ll live, but there isn’t much we can do about the scarring. He should be coming out of the anesthesia now, so it would probably be best to talk with him before the pain sets in and we have to do another round of pain meds.”

“Thank you.” Tsukauchi walks over to Naito’s bedside. “Excuse me, Mr. Naito, sir. I am Detective Tsukauchi of the Mustafu precinct. Can you tell me what happened?”

The man looks over at him and his eyes grow wide. “I was wrong. I should have just paid and left. But I didn’t have the money. I thought I could just get a good taste and then cause a fight and leave. I thought… I thought… but I should have known better. I shouldn’t have trespassed on the demon’s territory.”

“Who is this demon? Did you recognize your attacker? Was it the dealer you tried to buy drugs from?”

“No! No, I can’t tell you! I can’t tell you! They’ll kill me! They’ll kiLL ME!!” The heart monitor begins beeping rapidly.

“Who will kill you, Mr. Naito? We can protect you if you just give me a name.” 

The monitor begins beeping even more rapidly and at least five nurses and two doctors rush in, shoving the detective to the side.

“NO! NO! I CAN’T!! NO!” The man screams as the nurses begin administering sedatives.

Whoever did this is one sick man, Tsukauchi thinks to himself.

—

Izu laughs as she runs across the street to the next back road. She’s almost made it all the way to her old home without a single incident needing her attention. Sure, she ran across a few drug deals, but she just said hi before moving on. It’s been a great night, so she should have known it would all end terribly from here.

Just as she is leaving one alley and is headed toward the next, a piece of cloth grabs her around the waist and pins her arms to her sides. She is then lifted into the air and up to a nearby rooftop. Once she’s been pulled over the ledge she looks up and finds Eraserhead staring down at her.

Well Crap. 

Again.

“It’s taken me a while to find you again, Makaria.”

“Yeah, that was kinda the point.” Izu grumbles, still very much tied up.

Eraserhead chuckles, which is just… weird. “Are you going to behave if I let you out of my capture weapon?”

“I don’t know, are you gonna behave if I decide to jump off this roof?”

“Tied up it is.” 

“Great.” She grumbles again and tries to wiggle to see how tight the restraints are. They’re pretty solid, she’ll give him that much. “What is this made of? Is it like a metal alloy that just behaves like cloth? It’s tight and seems to follow your directions almost like reading your mind. Is there…” She looks up at Eraserhead. “Is there nanotech in here?!”

“You know, I don’t really know. A support course gremlin made it for me in second year and I never really asked any questions. You learn early on to not ask them questions if you ever want your free time to stay free.” Eraserhead kneels down in front of her. “No one’s ever asked me about the makeup of my capture weapon before.”

“Then you must deal with a lot of idiots.” She says, still struggling in the aforementioned weapon. She sighs when she gets nowhere.

“But you’re not, are you?”

She looks up at him and gives him a look like, ‘Are you really asking me that?’ before going back to struggling in the weapon. She eventually gives up and looks Eraserhead in the eyes. “Well, you’ve got me, so now what?”

—

Izu twiddles her thumbs as her hands rest in cuffs on the table. She’s leaning casually in her chair and just waiting for someone to hurry up and get in here. She’s already listened to the good cop, the bad cop, and the violent cop. All very enriching experiences as her casual position at the table did not change and her lips did not move other than to smirk. She does have to say though, the violent cop was hilarious. He banged the table, threw a chair, and got right up in her face and she didn’t even blink an eye. Just stared right back at him and did her best to hold back a laugh. It was really cute how he tried to scare her. She’s survived worse than his little hissy fit. 

Finally the door opens again and Eraserhead enters. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days as he walks in and takes a seat in front of her. They stare at each other calmly for at least twenty minutes, neither seeming bothered by the silence. Izu decides to give him a break since she at least respects this one (1) person out of everyone else here at this precinct.

“So, Eraserhead, what can I help you with this beautiful evening?” She clasps her hands together and leans forward toward the tired man.

Eraserhead sighs. “It’s more what I can do for you, Kid.”

Izu leans back again and rolls her eyes. “First, don’t call me ‘Kid’, okay? It’s patronizing and only I can be patronizing, and only when it’s completely necessary. Second, I was doing just fine before that dumb kid had to go and blab my civilian name to everyone and his awful mother, so unless you can fix that, thanks but no thanks. I’ve had all the ‘help’ I can take.”

“I’ve got a deal for you that you might want to consider.”

“Oh yeah? And what deal might that be?”

“Go to UA and become a proper hero.”

Izu looks him dead in the eyes and starts laughing. “Oh, that’s a good one. Really! You really had me going for a second there.” When his face becomes even more blank, she continues. “Yeah, no. The answer is a resounding nope from me.”

“Look, Makaria, from where you are right now, you’ve got two choices. You can either take the deal that is being offered to you on a silver platter, or you can go to prison for the rest of your life.”

“Hmm, yeah, uhm, I’m gonna have to pick option two, thanks. Take me straight to jail.” She lifts her cuffed hands in the air and motions toward the door.

Eraserhead sighs again and she laughs a little before setting her hands back down on the table. When Eraserhead doesn’t immediately speak, Izu tilts her head in moderate concern. Not for him, but rather what thing he isn’t saying and how it’s going to affect her. Because if he isn’t speaking and is instead looking more exhausted by the second, she’s sure she isn’t gonna like whatever he says next.

“Actually, I lied. I wanted you to at least feel like you had a choice, but you don’t.” That feeling she had in her gut worsens. She knows she is not gonna like his next words. “Principal Nedzu has already worked it out with the police and the hero commission. You will be joining Class 1-A of the hero course when the new school year starts. Your time at UA will serve as your probation from a legal standpoint. You will be assigned a teacher whom you will stay with given that a search of your previous home showed no adult presence. You will-”

“No.”

Eraserhead sighs again. “Makaria-”

“No. No. No. No! No! NO! I will NOT be a hero! I refuse! You can’t make me!” She begins fighting the restraints that bind her. She can feel the metal of the handcuffs cutting into her skin and she doesn’t care. She pushes her chair back and stands, backing into one of the corners as she continues to try and escape the cuffs. Her breathing becomes labored and her eyes become clouded with tears. She can’t do that. She’s not a hero and she never will be. A dark shape makes its way toward her and she backs further into the corner, her back now flush with the concrete wall.

“Breathe, Makaria. You need to breathe.” She recognizes the voice, but her mind is too clouded to register who it belongs to. “Follow my breaths.” She sucks in some air as a hand grabs hers and holds them to a chest. She feels the chest rise and fall and she tries desperately to follow along with it. “That’s it. Keep it up. When you’re ready I’m gonna have a medic come look at your wrists.” A medic? No, she’ll just get the doctor to… but she hasn’t seen the doctor since her dad… where is she again? As her breathing continues to even out, her vision clears and she sees Eraserhead kneeling in front of her. She focuses her attention on his face, taking in every aspect of it. From the darkness of his eyes to the paleness of his skin to the little freckle he has near his left eye. He must notice the shift because he leans back a little. “Glad to have you back with us. You think you can stand?”

She nods and he pulls her up slowly. Her legs shake, but she’s able to get back to her chair at the table. The moment she’s sitting, a medic of some kind pops in through the door and heads for her. Eraserhead silently takes off her cuffs and the medic begins disinfecting the cuts in her skin. They place some gauze over the wounds and then they disappear. Eraserhead doesn’t put the cuffs back on her.

“You okay to talk now?” She nods a little without looking at him. “Okay good. I won’t ask about your reaction since that seems like a touchy subject.” She looks up at him through her lashes and raises one eyebrow. “So what I am going to do is finish listing the aspects of this deal. As I said, you will be staying with a prohero teacher from UA and they will be responsible for escorting you to and from the school, as well as anywhere else you wish to go. Including your patrols.” She whips her head up. “Yes, you can still go on patrol as long as you’re either wearing a tracker or with me.”

“Tracker. I’ll wear a tracker.” Her throat hurts, but her voice is thankfully clear. “No offense, but I can only do my job if my people can trust me. If you’re there, my credibility will take a hit.”

Eraserhead nods. “Understandable. We will get you a tracking anklet as soon as possible. Until then you’re stuck with me.”

“Yeah, you and your Sonboy.” She laughs to herself.

Now it’s Eraserhead’s turn to whip his head around. “How do you know about-”

“I don’t know his name or anything, just that you have a son. We’re in a groupchat.”

Eraserhead rubs his face with one hand. “Of course you are. I’ll introduce you to him in the morning. As for right now, let’s get you processed and get out of here.”

Chapter Text

It’s about six in the morning when they finally make it to Eraserhead’s apartment. He carefully unlocks the door and opens it as quietly as he can. Izu follows behind him wondering why he’s being so quiet. She is well aware of Sleep’s poor sleeping habits and that he is usually awake at this point after only going to bed at two in the morning.

“Hey, Dad. You’re back late. What happ-” A teen boy comes around the corner and stops mid sentence as he takes in Eraserhead and Izu standing in the entryway.

“Hitoshi, Midoriya Izu. Makaria, my son Aizawa Hitoshi.” Eraserhead gestures between them before abandoning them both to go looking for more coffee.

“Hey,” Izu waves at the boy.

“Makaria is in my house… The Makaria is in my house… The groupchat won’t believe me!” Hitoshi goes for his phone when Izu interrupts him.

“Can we not tell them yet? I was kinda planning to surprise them later in person. You know, see HowYouDoin’s reaction when he finds out it was me the whole time.”

“It was you the whole time?! Who are you?!”

“Oh, right. Sorry. I’m Mastermind! It’s great to finally meet my best friend in person.” She reaches out a hand to him but he seems to have just blue screened.

“I’m Makaria’s best friend… Wait, I’m your best friend?”

She lowers her hand. “Uh, yeah. Being me doesn’t really lend to close friendships. Plus, I’m quirkless, so even in my civilian identity I was seriously lacking in the friend department. Is that… Is it okay that you’re my best friend?” The foreign feeling of being unsure of herself fills Izu’s body. What if he’s mad at her for never telling him? It’s not like anyone shared their real identities other than small bits and pieces, which she shared too, but maybe he is still angry. Being a villain enforcer that appears like a vigilante to the outside is kinda a big thing to hide from one’s friends.

“No, it’s absolutely great that I’m your best friend! Especially since you’re kinda also mine too.” He gives an awkward laugh and rubs the back of his neck.

“Are you two just going to stand in the entryway all day or are you gonna come and get some breakfast?”

The two friends startle at the sudden outburst from Eraserhead, but then they laugh and head further inside, discussing each other's nights, Izu’s being a tad more eventful than Hitoshi’s.

—

It’s two agonizing weeks later that she gets to pick up her tracker. Apparently they special ordered it from PowerLoader and he wanted to make sure it was absolutely tamper-proof before handing it over. Izu didn’t care. This tracker meant she could have her freedom back, even if not fully. She’s been cooped up in the Aizawa apartment for so long without patrolling that she’s going stir crazy. 

“Now, this should be almost everything proof, including water and heat, but you should still be careful. I tried to make it as inconspicuous as possible given your, ahem, circumstances.”

“Can we hurry up and get this thing on? I wish to be free! ” 

“Quit being so dramatic.” Eraserhead rolls his eyes at her.

Izu sticks her tongue out at him and then sits down in a nearby chair to allow PowerLoader to attach the device to her left ankle. She has to admit that he did a good job on it. It just looks like a metal cuff, easily hideable in her combat boots. Once it’s locked on, she hears a mysterious whine and then it tightens ever so slightly, molding to the shape of her ankle. Even better.

“If you even try to take it off on your own an alarm will sound and at least five proheroes will be on you in seconds.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’m just glad this means I don’t need a twenty-four seven babysitter anymore!”

Both PowerLoader and Eraserhead shake their heads, but Eraserhead has a small smirk on his face.

—

Izu sneaks out the window of the apartment, being careful not to make a sound. She promised to wear the tracker, but she never promised to tell anyone if and when she decided to leave. She’s able to get out without alerting the other occupants and makes her way down the nearest fire escape. The moment her feet touch the ground, she’s off.

She makes her way as far as she can, running as fast as she can, before she slows down to take in the scenery around her. She knows these streets like the back of her hand, so she’s not concerned about getting lost. She walks for about an hour, strutting through back alleys and in general just taking in the night air, when she hears footsteps approaching her.

“Well well well, what do we have here? A little girl has come out to play?” She recognizes the voice and rolls her eyes.

“Hello, Nakahara.”

“Makaria?” The man’s eyes blow wide as she turns around to face him. “Where have you been? Word on the street is that you disappeared two weeks ago and never returned.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I was a little tied up with civilian stuff. But I’m back now, and that’s all that matters.” She glares at him in warning.

“Yeah, well how can we be sure you didn’t get pinched?” Two more thugs come out from where they’d been hiding further down the alley.

“Hello Eto, Godo. Nice to see you three haven’t changed much.” She mutters loud enough for them to hear.

“For all we know, you’ve turned informant for those hero snobs!” Before Godo can blink, Izu is at his throat with a knife.

“Don’t you ever assume I would turn my back on what’s mine by birthright to work with those idiots.” She presses the knife ever so slightly further into Godo’s throat, a line of blood beginning to bead up. “Or do I need to teach you guys a lesson right here, right now?” She looks over to scan the two others.

“No ma’am. We hear you.”

“Yeah, whatever you say.”

“Good.” She gets off of Godo and looks at Nakahara. “Keep those two in line, will ya?”

She turns to leave when she feels a hand on her shoulder. She had been hoping he wouldn’t be here, but looks like tonight was going to be a rough night.

“Get your hand off of me, Toyama. This is your one warning.”

“No, I don’t think I will. I don’t think you’re as scary as you think you are. I mean, how do we know that you ain’t lying through your teeth?”

She sighs, this is gonna get messy.

—

The sun is just rising when she sneaks her way back through the window only to find Eraserhead staring at her from the couch.

“I was going to ask you where you have been, but now I’m more concerned with why you’re covered in blood.”

She looks down at her Dad’s hoodie to find it torn and looking more purple than blue. Her hands are also stained red and her knuckles are throbbing. She’s pretty sure she has a bleeding head wound and her lip is definitely busted. “Meh, most of it isn’t mine.”

She turns to try and head for the bathroom, desperate for a shower, when Eraserhead stops her. “Yeah, I figured that. What happened?”

“Nothing you need to worry about. No civilians got hurt and the people who did are still breathing.”

Eraserhead sighs. “While I’m glad you didn’t kill anyone, I still need to know what you were doing last night.”

She looks him in the eye. “My job.” She then turns back around and heads for the shower she needs. As she walks she looks down at her hoodie and sighs, hoping she’ll be able to fix it and get at least most of the blood out.

—

Today is the day that Hitoshi is supposed to take the recommendation exam for UA, and since Eraserhead is a teacher there, he has to go too. Izu tried to stay behind, but that was shot down real fast. So here she is, sitting in the observation deck watching some dumb obstacle course race. At least she knows two of her friends are down there. Obviously Hitoshi, but Bear mentioned taking the recommendation exam in the chat last night and she’s interested to see if she can guess who he is.

“Ah, Miss Makaria, I’m so glad to see you in attendance today.” A small white animal hops up onto the seat next to her.

“I assume you’re Nedzu, the one who made it so I’m forced to attend this stupid school.” She doesn’t look at him, continuing to watch for Bear and Hitoshi.

Nedzu laughs. “Yes, well it was either come to my school or have the commission come after you.”

“What would the commission want with me?”

“They have a few contacts in the less savory parts of Japan and your name seems to pop up quite a bit down there. Then when your civilian identity was revealed, well, it was only a matter of time before they found you and took you to some nasty, nameless facility to torture you for information.”

Izu huffs a laugh. “They’d definitely have their hands full with that one. I can handle torture.”

Out of the corner of her eye she sees Nedzu scan her over. She’s wearing a long sleeved blue and black flannel over a plain white tee and some ratty jeans. “It’s a bit warm today, is it not?”

She smirks, knowing what he’s asking without him having to say it. “Don’t want to scare the kiddies. Besides, I’m used to it.”

—

AllHailQueenie: I got in!!!! My letter came today and I got in!!!

Sleep?DontKnowHer: That’s awesome! @HowYouDoin, what about you?

HowYouDoin: Hold on, I gotta open the letter!

HowYouDoin: What in the All Might?!

HowYouDoin: I got in too!!!

IceBearDontCare: So that’s all of us except for Master?

M4sterm1nd: Nah, I’m going too. 

AllHailQueenie: That’s all of us!

AllHailQueenie: Quick!

AllHailQueenie: Send a pic to the chat so we know eachother the first day!

AllHailQueenie has sent a picture

Sleep?DontKnowHer has sent a picture

HowYouDoin has sent a picture

IceBearDontCare has sent a picture

AllHailQueenie: Master!

AllHailQueenie: It’s your turn!

M4sterm1nd: I don’t want to ruin the surprise.

M4sterm1nd: You’ll know me when you see me.

Sleep?DontKnowHer: That is so cryptic

AllHailQueenie: What does that even MEAN?

M4sterm1nd has gone offline

Chapter Text

“I refuse.”

Eraserhead rubs a hand down his face. “You have to wear the uniform.”

“Yeah? What are they gonna do if I don’t? Expel me? I sure hope so!”

“You’re a student of UA, you have to wear it.”

“Yeah, I’m a student, against my will !”

He sighs. “What are you planning to wear instead?”

“I’m so glad you asked!” She turns and re-enters the room she has been using, returning a few minutes later dressed in a tight, long sleeved black shirt with a white t-shirt over it that says antihero in black kanji. She’s also wearing the uniform skirt with tattered black tights, everywhere there is a hole in the tights you can see fishnets peeking out. “See? Simple but to the point!”

Eraserhead sighs. “Can you atleast carry the jacket with you?”

She scrunches her nose. “I mean, I guess?”

“Good, then let’s go.” 

Hitoshi just stares at his dad and Izu, watching the entire conversation with pure mirth written on his face. Izu winks at him and he bursts out laughing.

They do eventually make it to UA, much to Izu’s disappointment. Eraserhead leads them upstairs to the teacher’s lounge. Hitoshi and her sit on the couch closest to the doors and read through the groupchat together, telling their friends that they are already at the school, Hitoshi because of his dad and Izu because of mysterious reasons she won’t tell anyone. 

Once it hits ten til class starts, the two teens get up and head for their classroom. There is some commotion happening at the front of the room as they walk in. Izu goes to investigate while Hitoshi decides to wait for their other friends. As she nears the source of the yelling she finds a blue-haired boy yelling at Katsuki about his feet being on the desk. When the boy notices her, his face seems to turn red.

“Why are you not in the proper uniform?! Don’t you know it’s a disgrace for a hero student to-” She completely ignores him, eyes on Katsuki as she walks closer, bypassing the blue boy and going straight for her target.

He sneers at her for a moment before she’s finally close enough. Then she punches him square in the nose. “That’s for outting me to the entire country, Dickhead!”

Katsuki holds his bleeding nose and stares with wide eyes at her. She hasn’t punched him that hard in almost five years. But she’s pissed.

“What are you doing?! As a hero student, you should show some decorum and self-control! It is a disgrace to these hallowed halls for you to-”

“Would you shut up already? I really don’t care. I don’t even want to be here right now.”

“What-”

Izu doesn’t even wait for him to respond before she starts heading toward the other side of the room in search of her friends.

“Sleep! It’s you! And you found HowYouDoin and Bear! But where’s Master?” Izu smiles as she hears what must be Queenie shout from where Toshi and the others are standing near the door.

“I’m right here!” They all turn around and everyone but Hitoshi bluescreens.

“Makaria?! Master is Makaria?! What the heck?! Oh my gosh! Oh. My. Gosh. I’m dead! I’m so dead and this is heaven!” Queenie is the first to come back to her senses and she starts cheering.

Izu laughs. “You can just call me Izu during school hours. We are friends after all.”

“I’m friends with Makaria…” HowYouDoin comes to next. “Wait… You know! You know everything! Oh no…” His eyes grow wide as the others laugh.

“Now that I know, it makes sense.” Bear finally states.

“So… what are all of you guys’ names?” Izu looks at each of them.

“Oh! I’m Ashido Mina, but call me Mina!”

“I’m Todoroki Shouto.”

“Kaminari Denki, but you can call me whatever you want.” He tries to wink at her but it just makes her laugh.

“Okay, Kami.” He smiles, so she assumes the nickname is okay.

Suddenly, Izu feels a presence behind her, and she looks to find a yellow sleeping bag inching into the room. She can’t help but smile as everyone else notices. The thing stands up to reveal Eraserhead.

“It took you eight seconds to notice me. Do better next time. Now- Why are you bleeding?” Eraserhead notices Katsuki still holding his bloody nose.

“She punched me!” He points at Izu who shrugs.

“And I’d do it again. He’s the dick who blew my cover. Also, I hate him.”

Eraserhead rubs his face and looks up at the ceiling before looking back at her. “Detention this afternoon, Makaria.” She shrugs again, unbothered. He turns to face Katsuki. “Go to the nurse and then go to the locker room to change into this,” he holds up a P.E. uniform, “so you can meet us outside.” Katsuki does as he’s told, glaring at Izu the whole time. “Everyone else. I am Aizawa Shouta, Pro Hero Eraserhead, and I will be your homeroom teacher this year.”

“Mr. Aizawa, sir! She’s not in the proper uniform! She needs to-”

“Thank you, Iida, but I am already aware of her status. For everyone who doesn’t recognize her from the news, this is Midoriya Izu, Vigilante Makaria. She is here-”

“Against my will!”

“-to learn to be a legal hero just like all of you, but she has some special case things that are private and will therefore not be discussed. Now, grab a gym uniform and meet me outside.” And then he just leaves. 

The class begins talking immediately as they walk to the locker rooms. Izu ignores the chatting and immediately goes to a stall to change, leaving her long sleeve shirt on under the gym uniform top. She’s the first one to leave the room and make it to where Eraserhead is waiting on them. Well, first for the girls. Unfortunately, Katsuki is already out there when she arrives. She starts to go for him, but Eraserhead uses his weapon on her, and she’s forced to stand at his side. She sighs but allows it. Eventually they’ll have a combat class, right? Then she can beat him up to her heart’s content. 

Once everyone arrives, Eraserhead starts giving some kind of speech about the irrationality of not using quirks on physical tests or something. Izu isn’t really paying attention. Instead, she’s scanning the crowd of students and trying to predict their quirks based on their appearance alone. It’s a fun game and she’s quite enjoying herself when she hears the magic phrase.

“Last place will be deemed to have no potential and will therefore be expelled.” While everyone else complains and gets upset and anxious, Izu feels a grin slide into place on her face. “Except you. You’re not getting out of here that easy.” She turns to find Eraserhead looking at her. 

“Ugh, fine!” She grumbles with the rest.

Throughout the different tasks, Izu feels like she does pretty okay. She doesn’t have a quirk, so she doesn’t do fantastic on any of them, but she definitely does better than she did in school. Beating a personal record is better than nothing. When it gets to the end and the scores are posted, Izu wants to scream.

Her name isn’t even on the scoreboard.

The invisible girl starts crying because she’s in twentieth place, last for the class, but Izu doesn’t really care. Why weren’t her scores counted?! She actually tried! She hears a class wide groan when Eraserhead announces he isn’t actually gonna expel anyone, but she’s too pissed to care. While everyone else heads back inside, she storms over to Eraserhead.

“Why wasn’t I counted in the results?!”

He looks down at her. “I figured you didn’t care, so I left you out. Are you telling me now that you do in fact care about the things we do here?”

Izu rolls her eyes at the clear ploy and saunters her way back toward the locker rooms. This is turning out to be just as infuriating as she thought it would be. Great.

Chapter Text

Switching out her antihero shirt for one that simply says psychopath, Izu makes her way to UA with Eraser and Hitoshi. They of course reach the school before the other students, so Hitoshi leads her to the teachers’ lounge where they sit on a couch and chat for a while. Izu keeps an eye on the various heroes milling around the room though, agitation sitting in her gut. Being so close to her dad’s enemies and not being able to do anything about it makes her skin crawl. What would her dad do if he knew she was here? Probably tell her to identify their weaknesses. The random thought makes her smile, an idea forming in her mind. Maybe she shouldn’t view this as a punishment, but as an opportunity. These heroes have no idea who they’ve allowed into their sacred halls. So maybe she can take advantage of that lapse in judgment. Oh yes, it’s all coming together. 

“What’s got you smiling so creepily this early in the morning?” Hitoshi raises an eyebrow at her, smirking.

“Nothing, just got an idea.”

“Care to share?”

Her smile widens. “It’s a surprise.”

“Well if that isn’t absolutely terrifying.”

“Don’t worry, you and the gang are safe… for now.”

Hitoshi just rolls his eyes and changes the subject. They continue talking until about ten til class, then get up and slowly make their way over. When they get in, Izu is disappointed to find that the seating chart on the board has her sitting behind the number one bastard. Rolling her eyes, she plops into her seat and does her best to stare a hole into her desk. If she just ignores him, maybe everything will go fi-

“How are you even here?! Shouldn’t you be in prison or something?!”

Well, if he wants to start something, then who is she to stop him.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but they decided my coming here and being a “real” hero was a better punishment than prison.” 

“That’s a load of crap if I’ve ever heard any! Why are you really here?!”

“Why are you so thick? I literally just told you. It’s not my fault you’re too dumb to know the truth when you hear it.”

He grabs at her shirt. “Why you little-” He tries to blast her, but she directs his hand away causing him to leave scorch marks on the ceiling… again.

“Haven’t we done this little song and dance before? I distinctly remember telling you to stop destroying school property.” She smirks at him, completely unconcerned with his fist in her shirt.

“You don’t belong here! You’re just a useless, quirkless joke! There’s no way you’ll make it through the first heroics lesson without going home and crying to your daddy!”

Izu rolls her eyes. “You are literally the one who blabbed about me being Makaria. You, literally, watched me get that sludge villain to let you go just by threatening him. I literally BROKE YOUR NOSE yesterday. What part of any of that makes you think I can’t handle myself?”

Before Katsuki can say anything else, Eraser enters the room. “Bakugou, detention after school today.”

Katsuki looks pissed. “She started it!”

“That’s a lie! She was just sitting there, Sensei!” Kami stands up for her.

“Enough! Bakugou, you have detention today, don’t make me make it a week’s worth.”

“Tch, whatever.” He lets go of her and huffs, turning around and sitting down hard in his seat.

Eraser sighs and heads to the front of the room. He makes a few announcements and then curls up in his sleeping bag and goes to sleep. Izu turns to Hitoshi behind her. “Seriously? Is he asleep right now?”

Hitoshi smiles. “Yep, and he will be for all of homeroom.”

“All of homeroom?”

Hitoshi quirks an eyebrow at her tone. “Yes, why? What are you planning?”

Izu smiles. “Oh, nothing.” She then takes to observing her surroundings. Two vents near the ceiling, one above Shouto’s desk and the other at the front of the room. Smiling wider, she stands, everyone else having begun having excited discussions amongst themselves, and walks over to Shouto. “Hey, Bear, think you could help me with something?”

Shouto looks up at her with a blank look. “Sure. What do you need?”

“Think you can get me up to that vent?” She points above him.

He nods. Without a word, he stands and boosts her up to the vent. Izu uses a small knife she had hiding in her boot to unscrew the vent front from the wall. With a little more maneuvering she’s able to make it all the way inside. She crawls through the vent, looking into the other classrooms and doing her best not to laugh. She makes it pretty far before she eventually gets bored and decides homeroom is probably over by now. For all the misery it has caused her, she has to admit she does actually miss being in school and learning, so she decides to head back. She makes it all the way back to room 1-A and drops in just as Ectoplasm opens the door for Math class.

“Wha- Miss Midoriya, were you in the vents?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She winks at Shouto and makes her way back to her desk, sitting down calmly and being ever the diligent student.

Ectoplasm seems to decide that he’ll leave her for someone else to deal with, because he just moves on with beginning his introduction to Math class and their first Math lesson. It’s actually pretty challenging for Izu and she finds she enjoys it. After Math, Present Mic comes in for English and then they have a History lesson with Cementose before the bell rings for lunch.

Izu spends the lunch period laughing with her friends and enjoying a free meal from Lunch Rush. Apparently Eraser is paying for her meals here, which is nice. She’d probably just steal some lunch if he didn’t, so she’s not really bothered. She notices Shouto doesn’t talk much, just sitting next to her and eating his cold soba. 

“You okay, Bear?” She whispers to her friend.

“Hmm? Yes. Just not used to eating with other people.”

“Don’t you have like three older siblings though?”

“Only two now,” he says without a change in tone, “but we never really eat together. Father is too busy training me.” Now that gets him to change his tone. Izu remembers him saying something in the group chat about his dad’s aggressive training regime and how much he hates the old man for it. Something about him needing to surpass All Might or something. Whatever the reason, it’s stupid and causes Shouto too much stress, so Izu automatically hates the bastard too.

“Well, you’ve got us now. And if the old bastard gives you too much trouble, just send him my way and I’ll give him a piece of my mind, ‘kay?” Izu does her best to give him what she hopes is a soft smile.

He returns the smile the best he can and nods. That’s good enough for her for now, so she returns to eating and listening to Mina describe some insane shopping trip she went on recently.

After lunch is heroics, which means combat, which means she can beat up Katsuki, so she’s actually pretty excited. At least until the teacher is late for class.

“Did you hear? An upperclassmen said that All Might is teaching heroics this year!” 

Before Izu can turn around and interrogate whoever said that, the door flies open and in walks the world’s biggest buffoon and her enemy number one.

“I AM COMING IN THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!”

Now, it’s important to note that Izu doesn’t have finite proof that All Might is the reason she hasn’t seen her dad in almost six years, but she is absolutely positive that All Might is the reason she hasn’t seen her dad in almost six years. Why else would he have gone MIA from her unless All Might did something to him? So to say that she is very much not happy to see him is an understatement. 

“Nope. I’m not doing this. I’m out. Goodbye to all, it was very nice meeting you, but I’m done.” Izu stands up and begins marching toward the door.

“NOW, WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE PROBLEM YOUNG LADY? YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE! IT’S TIME FOR FOUNDATIONAL HEROICS! WE ARE DOING MOCK BATTLES TODAY!”

All Might reaches out for her, placing a hand on her shoulder as she tries to walk past. She immediately throws his hand off and glares up at him.

“Don’t you ever TOUCH me AGAIN, you overgrown windbag! I HATE you! Do you hear me, you absolute bastard? I HATE you!” And then she is storming out of the classroom without another glance at her classmates or the man that ruined her life.

She’s not sure where she’s going, but she doesn’t much care. Wandering the school is far better than being in the same room with that idiot. She eventually finds herself outside the Teachers’ Lounge and decides she might as well hang out in there until school ends. Opening the door and trudging in, she’s met with the shocked glances of multiple heroes. She doesn’t pay them any mind and just flops down on the couch her and Hitoshi had used this morning.

“What are you doing in here? You’re supposed to be in foundational heroics right now.” Of course Eraser is in here. Great.

“I’m not doing it and you can’t make me.”

Eraser rolls his eyes and folds his arms. “Don’t be so dramatic. You’re here to become a legal hero, so you legally have to attend foundational heroics. Now, why are you not in class?”

She glares up at him. “No one told me he would be teaching.”

“Who? All Might?” Eraser sighs. “I know he is a bit of an idiot at times, but he is the number one hero. I’m sure he can’t be that bad-”

“Not that bad? Not that BAD?! That bastard ruined my life ! I hate him and there is nothing you can say that will make me tolerate being in his presence.”

That seems to give Eraser, and all the other heroes in the room, pause. “Why do you hate the number one hero?”

Izu rolls her eyes and glares at him some more. “Didn’t you hear me? He ruined my life.”

“Yes, I heard that much, but how did he ruin your life?”

Izu sighs. How can she put this without telling these heroes about her dad’s greatest weakness and long held secret? “You know how you found me all alone with no parents or guardians?”

“Yes…”

“He’s the reason. I have no substantial proof, and the proof I do have is circumstantial at best and very personal, but I know it’s his fault. You don’t have to trust me on anything else, but trust me on this. All Might is the reason I have no parents left.”

That seems to sober Eraser up. He just looks at her for a while as she tries and fails to get her anger under control. Deep breathing doesn’t do anything for her. What she really needs is to hit something. 

“What if I come with you and make sure All Might doesn’t interact with you?”

“...What?”

Eraser sighs again. “Like I said before, as part of the agreement that got you here, you legally have to attend all classes for the heroics course. That being said, I can tell that All Might is a major trigger for you and you shouldn’t have to be subject to someone who has hurt you so deeply. So, what if from now I attend all heroics lessons where All Might is the main teacher and you are under my authority and not his? Then he can’t say or do anything to you and you can just ignore him without getting in trouble. It isn’t a perfect plan, but it’s the best I have for now.”

“You… You’d really do that for me?”

Eraser kneels in front of her. “You are one of my students now and a member of my household until you graduate. Of course I would do this for you.”

It’s Izu’s turn to sigh now. “Fine. But if he even looks at me funny, I am ending his bloodline.”

“Okay. You better go suit up.”

“I don’t have a hero suit though?”

Eraser just smiles.

—

As it turns out, Eraser and Nedzu did in fact make her a hero suit. Izu opens the case to find a pair of black leggings with three pockets down each leg, a long sleeved shirt made from some sleek kind of material and a combat vest with pockets all over it. She has three sheaths for knives and a metal bat that attaches to magnets in the back of her vest. She has to admit she looks pretty killer. 

She’s obviously much later to training ground beta than everyone else, but it only takes her a second to get caught up. While Eraser mutters something to All Might, probably letting him in on her “special circumstances”, Izu talks with Hitoshi and gathers what exactly is happening as Shouto and his partner take down their adversaries on the big monitors. Once Shouto wins the game single handedly for his team, All Might calls a win for the heroes and Eraser lets her know that she’s on the villain team with the blue haired boy from the first day, and they are against the hero team made up of Katsuki and some chick named Uraraka. Since they were an uneven team, they were going to go last, but now that she’s made it, they are the next to go.

To say Izu is now ecstatic would be, well, accurate. She finally gets to hit something and it’s Katsuki’s face. While Blue Boy goes upstairs to guard their “bomb”, Izu waits on a lower floor for the heroes. She hears Katsuki bash his way through the door and her smile grows. She only has to wait another minute before both heroes come flying up the stairs, Katsuki using his loud explosions and Uraraka chasing after him yelling about how they are supposed to be working together. Idiots. While Katsuki is distracted, she clotheslines him in the throat with her bat as he tries to blast past. While Katsuki is effectively down for a few minutes having to catch his breath, Izu focuses her energy on Uraraka.

“You know, villain is the perfect role for me.” She grins mischievously at the brunette. 

“Wh-What do you mean?!” Uraraka looks a little scared by Izu’s expression. Good.

“Well, I am technically a villain given that vigilantism is illegal, right? So it’s just fitting I get this role today.” Izu lies through her teeth.

“R-Right. Well, you won’t win today, Villain!” Uraraka seems to be assuming that Izu is just pretending for the sake of the game. A good assumption on her side, even if it’s wrong.

“Come at me, Hero.” And come at her she does. Uraraka tries to take away Izu’s gravity, but Izu is very adept at avoiding five-point quirks and ends up getting Uraraka off balance. With a kick to the brunette’s back, the girl falls and Izu is able to grab her and tie her hands behind her back with the capture tape. “Don’t even try getting up.” She whispers in her ear.

Blasty finally catches his breath at this point and abandons his teammate to go after the weapon. Izu follows after him at a decent speed and manages to grab his leg, throwing his balance in the air off and forcing him into a wall. But Katsuki has fought against Izu before, so he isn’t as easily bested. He tries to get the upper hand, punching her in the lip, but she takes the hit in stride and punches him hard in the face, rebreaking his nose. They continue like that for a while, each taking and avoiding hits in turn. Izu is having a great time though, just getting to pound on Katsuki without a teacher stopping them. In fact, two teachers are condoning the fight. How fun! 

Their back and forth lasts for another five minutes before All Might’s voice rings out. “VILLAIN TEAM WINS! PLEASE REPORT BACK TO THE OBSERVATION DECK FOR FIGHT ANALYSIS!”

Katsuki turns from glaring at a speaker to glaring daggers at Izu. “You were toying with me, weren’t you?! You just wanted to distract me so I couldn’t get to the bomb!”

“Uh, duh? Why else would I not have just put you down like the dog you are, Kacchan?”

“Why you little!” Katsuki uses an explosion to rocket toward her, where she is ready and avoids the powered hit, causing him to explode the wall behind her. She then roundhouse kicks him in the back, forcing him to fall through the hole he just made in the wall. This of course angers him further, so he flies at her again, where she avoids again and then punches him in his already broken nose. They keep fighting until Katsuki’s explosions stop and Izu is wrapped up in a capture weapon.

“We said to make your way to the observation deck, Problem Children.” Eraser then drags Izu behind him as Katsuki follows looking very much beaten and not happy about it.

“AH, YOU’VE ARRIVED! GOOD! NOW, WHO CAN TELL ME WHO THE MVP OF THIS ROUND WAS?”

Izu tunes out whatever else is said, glaring at All Might as he “teaches” the class. He critiques her fight against Uraraka and how she shouldn’t have toyed with Bakugou. But she was playing the villain? Why wouldn’t she abuse her knowledge of them? So she says just that.

“Hello, I was supposed to be the villain in this scenario! Of course I would use both of their weaknesses against them. A real villain isn’t gonna fight fair, so why should I have? In fact, why should any of us?”

“IT IS A HERO’S JOB TO BE BETTER THAN THE VILLAIN, NOT TO STOOP TO THEIR LEVEL.”

“It won me the fight though, didn’t it?”

“THAT IS BESIDE THE POINT-”

“Whatever.” Izu rolls her eyes, done with this conversation. “Can we move on now?”

While everyone else does in fact move on, Katsuki going to the nurse to get his broken nose looked at and Izu being told she will go only after Katsuki has returned so they can’t fight in the hall or nurse’s office, Shouto walks up beside Izu.

“What’s up, Bear?”

“You did very good in your match.”

“Aw, thanks, Bear! You did great too. I especially liked how you covered the whole building in ice!”

“But All Might said I should have included my partner more. That I went too far.”

“Well, he’s an idiot, so I wouldn’t put too much stock into what he says. If you are clearly more powerful than the other people you're working with and against, why not use that?”

Shouto looks thoughtful at her words.

“Oh, and Bear?”

“Hmm?”

“Why is half your body covered in ice?”

His expression grows dark. “I refuse to use his fire.”

Use his, what? “What are you talking about, Bear?”

Shouto looks around and then gestures her to follow him to a quieter area away from everyone else. Once they are sure no one is listening in, he begins explaining. “My quirk is half hot, half cold. I can make fire with my left and ice with my right. Have you heard of quirk marriages?”

Izu does not like where this is going, but she nods.

“That’s what my father did with my mother. Her quirk is Ice and you know what Endeavor can do. He wanted to create the perfect masterpiece to defeat All Might and take the number one spot that he could never attain on his own. My oldest brother died trying to be what my father wanted. My other two siblings were cast aside as failures. But I am seen as perfect by my father. The abuse was so bad for my mother that she poured boiling water over my face because I reminded her of him. I was seven. I haven’t seen my mother since. I refuse to use his quirk. I will become number one with only my mother’s power.”

“Oh, Bear. I’m so sorry.” She reaches out and hugs the boy. He’s stiff under her affection for a good minute before he seems to melt, and a little literally melt as the ice on his left side begins to pool below them. She doesn’t care about the melting ice though. “I completely understand you not wanting to be like him in any way. It makes perfect sense and I am so sorry. But I want you to know, if you ever want to be free of him and his power over you, if you ever want to be free to use your fire in the way that you want to, just let me know. I can help you be free of him, if you just say the word.”

His arms slowly reach up and wrap around her. “Thank you. I will.”