Chapter 12: Hey! Watch Where You Point That Gun!
Izuku doesn't exactly know what one is supposed to do when one meets up with their friends—in his defense, he hasn't had friends in years, the last time he had friends, he still had to rely on his mom and their parents to coordinate playdates. Now, it's a simple don't go out when it's actively storming out anymore rule with his mom, and, he's let loose on the streets of Musutafu.
The streets have been feeling a little safter, as of late. Izuku can't tell if it's his own confidence growing (turns out being away from bullies for a few months does wonders for your own mental health), or if it's because of the actual work he's been doing as a vigilante. Musutafu isn't an unsafe city in the day, especially as he and his online friend—who is Shinsou Hitoshi, who he saved the other day, what the fu—agree to meet in an open, public place. Izuku's mom is the one who suggested it, and Shinsou's dad—the same journalist who gave him his vigilante names mall world—agreed, once Shinsou had asked.
But, like. What is he supposed to do when he 'hangs out' with a friend? He's never done this before!
Izuku tries to put on the nicest clothes he owns, but all he owns is hero merch and one nice white button-up shirt, so he throws on a simple Mirko shirt and a pair of shorts. The pale pink of his t-shirt looks good with the olive green shorts, and the only reason he knows that they'll look decent together is because one of his electives in his online school is a Fashion History class. Most of the other art classes were taken, and he needs one to graduate, but it's kinda interesting learning about clothing and stuff through his lectures. Satisfied with his outfit, he quickly heads out to the mall.
It doesn't take long to get where they agreed to meet up. Izuku's anxious and leaves early because, well, what-ifs started to fly through his brain faster than he could even think, and his core was humming louder than the thump of his heartbeat in his chest, so he arrives at the Musutafu Mall about ten minutes before they'd agreed to meet right outside by the fountain.
It seems like Shinsou is nervous, too, as Izuku can spot the boy nervously sitting at one of the benches, looking at something on his phone.
Honestly, Izuku's glad they sent awkward selfies to each other the night before so they'd know what each other was supposed to look like, even though Izuku technically knows already. He can just play it off, like, oh, yeah, I just really remember faces, and not, I'm the vigilante Phantom who saved you the other day. For some reason, the image of Shinsou's messy hair and violet eyes got burned into his mind after he saved him the week before, especially after he found out he saved Shinsou. He saved Shinsou.
It's still wild for him to think about.
Shinsou doesn't seem to have enough situational awareness, or is probably too invested in a cat video on his phone. Izuku takes a deep breath, in for seven, out for seven, before slowly approaching.
"Um, hello—"
Shinsou jumps up like someone stabs him, but he relaxes once he sees who it is.
"Oh, Jesus—sorry, I wasn't, um. I didn't see you there."
Izuku shakes his head, waving his hands nervously. He hadn't meant to scare Shinsou like that, it just— happens, sometimes. Even before he'd half-died, Izuku had learned the uncanny ability of quiet walking, and unfortunately had scared his classmates before in school multiple times on accident. "No, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!"
Shinsou looks at Izuku. They look at each other for a bit, before Izuku nervously laughs, breaking the tension.
"Uh, it's nice to finally meet you in person! I'm, um, Midoriya Izuku, but you probably already knew that—" Izuku awkwardly holds his hand out.
Shinsou stands, pocketing his phone, and takes it. He smirks. "Shinsou Hitoshi. It's nice to finally meet you in person, Mini."
Izuku smiles back. "Y-You too, Cat!"
"You're shorter than I was expecting. I see why you picked the name, Mini."
"H-hey!" Izuku crosses his arms. "I'm—I'm not thatshort."
"You kinda are."
(He is, unfortunately, short; so is his mom, and Izuku's father was an average-height. He's taken after his mom a lot more than his father, only really carrying over his father's curly hair genes and the freckles.
Electrocuting himself to half-death probably isn't going to help with growing any taller, either, probably.)
"W-Well, anyway, what do you want to do?"
Shinsou blinks at him, and then looks away. "I—I dunno, what do you wanna do?"
"I was, um, kinda hoping you'd know what to do. I've never hung out with a friend like this before"
"I haven't either."
Ah. Well. That complicates things. Surely one of them would have to take the initiative, and move, or something? After a moment of awkward-er silence, Izuku takes another breath. "Well, c'mon, let's go inside."
Izuku hasn't been to the Musutafu Mall all that often, aside from two specific stores (a basic clothing store and, of course, the huge hero merch store) but he knows it's where a lot of people his age tended to hang out. For one, people didn't have to typically spend money to exist in the mall. His mom gave him a bit of extra cash she'd had on hand to buy himself some lunch and maybe something small, if he gets a smaller lunch, but not much else.
It's a lot larger than Izuku realizes it is. He and Shinsou make small talk—not too different from their messages on the phone, but this time, they're in person, which makes it so much cooler—as they walk by the different stores. They both stopped to get small boba drinks, a brown sugar milk tea for Izuku, and a fruity dragonfruit tea for Shinsou.
"Yeah, the teachers at U.A. are very… interesting."
"Are the rumors true that All Might is teaching there?"
Shinsou nods. "Yeah. A bunch of press broke into the grounds the other day to get their interviews in." He sighs.
"Really?"
"Yeah." Shinsou takes a sip of his drink. They pass by Izuku's favorite store, the hero store, and they stop at the windows to peer in. "It was a mess. Even my dad thought they went too far."
Ah, right, Shinsou's dad—Shinsou Jun, who wrote the article that named Izuku's vigilante form. The name that had settled right into his core and felt right, felt like home. He's glad he didn't get stuck with a stupid name.
Still—a bunch of press breaking into U.A.? Something about that doesn't feel quite right. He isn't quite sure if he's feeling it within his core, or within his gut, but it doesn't make sense for the press to break into U.A., even if they do tend to go feral around any heroes within the top ten rankings. To recklessly get onto the grounds, knowing they could get in a lot of trouble with both the school and the law?
Something didn't feel right. Izuku takes a pensive sip of his drink, chewing on the boba pearl that shoots into his mouth.
They continue to do their loop around the mall. Nothing seemed to stand out to either of them specifically, but it's nice to be doing something outside with someone Izuku considers a friend, for once. Just chatting about their lives, and it comes to Izuku's mind that he doesn't have a very interesting life. He takes online classes, helps his mom out with chores sometimes, and that's it. His mom asked him to promise he'd find some sort of 'after-school' club or group to join, but most of them specifically exclude Quirkless people. Maybe he could find a part-time job somewhere that didn't suck to do with his daytime hours. Or maybe—
No. Daytime patrols as a vigilante would be too dangerous. He's fine with having underground heroes like Eraserhead on his tail, because underground heroes tend to be lenient when it comes to vigilantes, as long as the vigilantes stay in their own lane and don't turn down a path of villainy. And that isn't something Izuku plans to do too soon.
As they turn a corner in the mall, Izuku spots familiar people ahead, and freezes.
Them. It's odd seeing Kacchan—Bakugou's—old friends without Bakugou around. But those boys weren't ever really friends with Bakugou. Not that Izuku can't imagine Bakugou having friends, and he's sure that one day, someone can befriend that prickly cactus of a human being, but the boys from Aldera Junior High (who probably all moved onto Aldera High) weren't his friends. They claimed they were for the power and prestige of being friends with the one student who would actually make it as a hero, who had the strongest quirk in class.
"--Midoriya?" Izuku doesn't even take time to think, he just grabs Shinsou by the arm and drags him into the nearest storefront. It's an old technology shop, but he's not interested in any of the tech. He's not alone, he can't just turn invisible, even though he really wants to, because as far as Shinsou knows, Midoriya Izuku is Quirkless.
There's a little spot right by the storefront window, where Izuku can see a sliver of mall outside of it. Nobody would
"Midoriya, what's wrong?"
"I—Sorry. Um." He sees the group of three boys pass by, loud and rowdy as usual. They've taken up a more delinquient style, not that Izuku is all that surprised. "Saw somebody I knew. And, uh…"
Shinsou's flickers his eyes out to the mall, and then Izuku. And then—oh, Shinsou gets it.
"No, I get it." Shinsou says, after a moment. "I wouldn't want to see any of my bullies anywhere, either. Especially now that I got into U.A."
"Wouldn't they leave you alone, now?" Izuku pokes his head out, making sure the group of boys are actually gone, before they start back on their walk. They're not even window shopping for anything, anymore—they're just walking around a mall like two weirdos.
"You'd think that, but, well…" Shinsou sighs. "They'd probably still blame it all on my Quirk."
Ah, right—Shinsou's Quirk. Izuku still doesn't know exactly what it is, other than it's what he's been bullied over for his whole life, and it's something that's seen as villainous. He's never wanted to pry too much into Shinsou's personal life, especially when they were still online strangers, but there's a resonance in his core that he recognizes as curiosity.
"If you, um, don't mind me asking—what is your Quirk?"
Shinsou stops walking, and chews on his straw for a minute. "It's, uh. Brainwashing."
"Brainwashing?"
"Yeah, I can, uh—take control of anyone who verbally responds to me."
"That is…" Izuku's core hums loudly, and he's honestly surprised that it's a sound that Shinsou can't hear. "…so cool!"
He clearly isn't expecting Izuku's reaction, and Shinsou's face freezes, brows furrowed. "I'm sorry—uh, what?"
"Brainwashing is such a versatile Quirk!" Izuku responds back. "Is it limited to only coherent responses, or are you able to control someone who makes a sound in response? Like, could you control somebody who laughs at your joke, or scoffs at something you say, or does it have to be a verbal response?"
"I, uh." Shinsou blanks. "I haven't thought of that, actually?"
"You should definitely try it!" Izuku replies. "Maybe you could take some pointers from heroes like Ms. Joke! I don't think her Quirk necessarily needssomeone to laugh at a joke for it to work, but I think humor is definitely a weapon you could use to your advantage in a fight. Maybe even study some comedians, too?" He glances over to Shinsou.
Shinsou is staring at him, mouth somewhat agape. If it weren't for the tight grip he has on his drink, Izuku's sure it would have fallen to the ground and spilled already.
"Uh, sorry. I really, um. Like Quirks. Y'know." Embarrassment-Shy-Awkward.
"You're fine, Midoriya. I—I mean, I've always known you like Quirk Analysis, but did you just pull all of that out of your head? Just now?"
Izuku shrugs. "Yeah? It's not like it's hard." He's never found analysis particularly hard. It's one of the few hobbies Izuku has stuck with his whole life, and it's something that he might have considered jotting down as a fake Quirk, once upon a time.
To pretend he just has a very minor intelligence Quirk, instead of nothing at all. It isn't like there weren't any Quirkless people who didn't do that, either accidentally or purposefully, but even if it's illegal, sometimes it's better in the long run to pretend you have a Quirk instead of being cast out as Quirkless forever.
"Midoriya, I don't think I know anybody who could just do that, except actual professionals." Shinsou adds. He glances down at his drink again. "Do you think you could, um, help me out with my Quirk a bit, sometime?"
"Help you?" The U.A. student? You have access to thousands of resources like that. Why would you want to go with me?
"Most of my classmates have Quirks that are physical. I'm already behind on them with that, and now that they know what my Quirk is and how it works, I don't know how I'm ever going to beat them outside of just normal combat." He explains. "I'm just… I don't want to fall behind."
I don't want to fall behind.
Junji Rei's voice echoes in the back of Izuku's mind again.
"Yeah, of course I'll help, Shinsou!"
✨👻✨
Don't get involved in Trigger, he's warned.
You're just a kid, you don't need to risk your life to stop a few drug dealers, he's told.
But, well, it isn't like Izuku is purposefully searching out Trigger dealers in Musutafu right now. Actually, it's quite the opposite; he would love to not deal with all of this. Izuku doesn't want to get too involved in Trigger deals, just the normal nonsense on the streets. Stuff that people could take without causing a huge nightmare with their Quirk.
Unfortunately for Izuku, it's either his rotten luck, or just a coincidence, that he's ended up involved in two separate deals going wrong so shortly after meeting the lawyer Junji.
It's not a huge surprise that a random villain-of-the-day got her hands on Trigger and sought out to create as much chaos as she could on the streets while she did something comparatively mundane-- a heist on a museum. He still can't figure out her reason for the heist, but while the heroes in the area—one of which being Endeavor, kinda cool—focus on taking down the three people she'd shot with Trigger-infused bullets, Izuku follows her quietly and invisibly into the museum.
Screw him, he's curious what she's after. Maybe if he sees what she's after, he can piece together her motive?
The villain is in a black skin-tight suit that obscures most of her features, except for her hair, which is done in an extravagant up-do. A hot pink Sakura flower is designed into the back of her suit, and she has a gun in the holster of her belt, and a vine-like whip on the other side. She didn't announce her name, and Izuku had never heard of her before, so she's either a subtle villain, or perhaps new at this.
Izuku follows her into an exhibit with old, early Quirk era books on display. This wing of the museum is dedicated completely to early Quirk era "artifacts", even if some of the items in the glass cases are only a few generations old, and don't look too much different from items Izuku could see for sale in the modern day.
"Aha!" She eventually finds what she's looking for, dropping down from the rafters where Izuku is following her.
It's a… book. The villain shatters the glass, not even bothered by an alarm getting set off, and picks up the book, leafing through a few pages. Izuku can't read it from where he's floating, a few feet above her, but, really, a book?
All the chaos—shooting three innocent bystanders with Trigger, causing them to go on a chaotic rampage through the city—for a book?
"You know, you could've probably borrowed this book out from the library, instead." Izuku says, shooting down and grabbing the book from her grasp as he turns visible.
"What the—you! You're that little kid vigilante, aren't you?"
"Yep! The name's Phantom. Don't wear it out." Izuku flies high out of her reach, and leafs through a few pages of the book. It's not even a published book—it's somebody's personal journal. "You're stealing somebody's diary?"
The villain grabs her whip, and it shoots out to grab the rafters of the building again. It's an interesting design choice, for a museum to have completely open rafters and vents, but Izuku's not one to judge interior design too much. She pulls herself up with it, swinging to kick at Izuku. She doesn't collide with him, but she does startle Izuku enough (he was notexpecting that) to the point where he drops the book, and the villain grabs it easily.
The villain swings again, and twirls into the air to land on the rafter. Her movement in the air is mesmerizing—Izuku's pretty sure that sort of experience would come with being a trapeze artist in a circus, or something similar. Her movements are too graceful. "I'm not one to question what my clients ask for. I just grab it, cause a little chaos, and get out of there."
She's not grabbing it for herself, then. "Oh, you're a thief-for-hire?"
"Curious little thing, aren't you?" The villain asks with a smirk, ducking as Izuku shoots out for her, trying to grab the book from her grasp again. "I'm not surprised you haven't heard of me before. You can call me Sakura, little kid."
Sakura, huh? It doesn't give Izuku any hints towards her Quirk. He turns intangible right before she could grab him with her whip. That has something to do with it, for sure. Perhaps some sort of plant manipulation ability?
Also, youch. Izuku's gotten used to the villains and thugs he fights underestimating him for being a kid, but it still doesn't mean it doesn't hurt any less. But they're supposed to be trying to hurt him, so, well, at least he can tell them when they get arrested, yeah, you were really mean, you did a good job in villain!
Her whip shoots out again, before it stops mid-air, and goes slack. Sakura's face scrunches up in anger, as shooting it out again does nothing. "My Quirk…?"
No Quirk. That means—Izuku spots him, hiding in the shadows. Eraserhead! Izuku figured the hero would be around at some point during the night. It's not like Izuku has the guy's patrol schedule memorized, or anything (see: he totally does, but it's not for a creepy reason, it's so Izuku can keep an eye and make sure the underground hero isn't getting too close to Izuku's home, for obvious reasons).
Eraserhead shoots out his own capture weapon towards Sakura, but she ducks out of the way of it, and starts running alongside the rafters, towards the opening she'd made in the skylights moments before. Eraserhead shoots after her, and Izuku isn't too far behind, staying close to the pro as he does. It's far enough that they might be able to catch up.
The hero grunts at Izuku. "What did I tell you about getting involved with this stuff?"
"Hey! I'm technically not getting involved in the people who were hit by Trigger, so I'm not involved with Trigger!" Argue with my logic, I dare you. Izuku wants to say, but they've got to focus on the issue at hand, not banter.
Sakura is able to use her Quirk again for a second when Eraserhead blinks, and she takes advantage of it, by whipping herself further ahead on the rafters. She's already almost to the skylights she shattered to get in. Eraserhead and Izuku aren't too far behind, but they're far enough that the capture weapon isn't able to reach her.
How can I go faster? Izuku wonders, his eyes glancing around the space he's in. Turning intangible means he won't have to deal about weaving around the bulky vents around them, and maybe if he turns intangible, he can get rid of the air that is resisting around him as he's flying? Well, no time for thinking too much on whether it'd be possible, time to try it out. Izuku turns intangible and pushes himself just a little bit faster. The lack of resistance in the air means he shoots out faster than he's ever flown before, and Izuku is able to reach the shattered skylight and land on the rafters in front of Sakura.
She skids to a stop, and turns, but Eraserhead is across from her. Behind her is the back wall of the roof, and to her left is the direction they'd just come from, which is also risky.
Eraserhead activates his Quirk again, his dark hair floating into the air, and Sakura flinches. She doesn't hide it very well.
She grunts, and reaches for the other thing on her belt. The gun in its holster. "Fine. I was hoping to save the last one of these, but this'll make an easier escape."
She still has more bullets. Izuku's brain thinks faster than his body for a second, and then, his body acts on its own.
Everything happens in slow motion. Sakura grabs the gun, and aims it towards Eraserhead, who blinks and drops his own Quirk. She pulls the trigger, and Izuku flies into its path.
He'd been shot before, but only once—the bullet was easy to pull out of him, and once he got it out, Izuku's body healed as fast as it could. He didn't even need to worry about figuring out how to stitch himself back up when he got home from patrol, by the time he stumbled into his room at four in the morning all Izuku needed to do was wrap his arm up in some gauze, and the wound had scarred over by that afternoon, and faded completely the next day. His fast healing wasn't the main reason Izuku's brain immediately went to taking the bullet for Eraserhead. He just didn't want to deal with a pro hero that got drugged up on Trigger.
Though, he doesn't quite know what Trigger would do to his own body.
The bullet rips through the air and clips Izuku in his stomach, right where his intestines would be. The pain immediately explodes, and Izuku falls.
Well, I guess I'm about to find out, Izuku thinks, grimly. At least it would give Eraserhead time to catch Sakura. Trigger can take a minute or two to hit in the systems of people with Quirks, but Izuku didn't know what that'd mean for someone who had the strength equivalent of 100 Quirks in his body.
He doesn't hit the ground, though—he hears Eraserhead's capture weapon shoot out and it wraps around him instead, though, it isn't constrictive. What?
Izuku glances up, as Eraserhead pulls Izuku up through the open skylight and onto the roof.
"Shit. Look, kid, it's going to be okay—"
Izuku blinks up at Eraserhead, as he's set onto the roof. The capture weapon unwinds around him, and folds back around Eraserhead's neck. The pro hero is already kneeling down on the ground with Izuku. "B-But Sakura—"
"Sakura is a thief who has gotten away from hundreds of robberies, and will no doubt be making another one soon. She can be caught another day." Eraserhead explains. It's not the most logical reason, but there's a twinge of fear in the pro hero's eyes.
Ah, right. Probably the strongest thing anyone has ever seen has gotten hit by Trigger. No doubt everybody is afraid of what's going to happen.
Speaking of that. It's definitely been long enough for Trigger to kick in, hasn't it? Izuku doesn't really feel all that different, except for the pain exploding in his midsection. He winces as he tries to sit up all the way; Eraserhead helps him lean back up against a turned-off air conditioning unit.
"Phantom. Listen to me, alright? We're going to need to get that bullet out now. We can't let too much Trigger get into your system."
"O-Okay. Um." It's hard with the elbow braces on, but Izuku wiggles out of his hoodie quickly. The light gray t-shirt underneath is already soaked with ectoplasm from the gushing wound, which is just a little bit to the left of his belly button. "Ouch. That's gross."
"You're bleeding green." Eraserhead deadpans. "Is that normal?"
"Yeah. I think so?"
"When was the last time you've been to a hospital?"
"Um." Izuku shrugs. Another shock of pain goes through his body. Oh, yeah, he'll definitely be out of patrol for a few days. "Doesn't matter. It's a bullet we're trying to dig out, right?"
Eraserhead grunts, but says nothing. He reaches into one of the small utility bags along his belt, and pulls out a small battle first-aid kit. Izuku would imagine that typically, keeping a bullet in a wound is the best option until they can actually get him to a hospital, but two things are different. One, Izuku is not, and never will be, going to a hospital. If they find out about his whacky anatomy and existence, well, somebody might try and put him under lock and key, or maybe the Hero Commission—either way, no thanks. And, two—the bullet supposedly has Triggerin it, and the faster they can get it out, the less Trigger will be in Izuku's system.
But he hasn't felt anything yet but the pain from the gunshot. So, maybe—
Eraserhead doesn't need to even dig through Izuku's abdomen to find the bullet. It's a solid, non-ectoplasmic item lodged in Izuku, and he just needs a moment to turn intangible, and it drops to the ground right under him.
"Uh. Here's the bullet?" Izuku picks it up. It's covered in ectoplasm, which will definitely dissolve over time once it's out of his body. Hopefully it won't corrode the bullet itself. Izuku would feel bad if he accidentally destroyed the evidence.
Eraserhead takes the bullet carefully, sliding it into a small plastic baggie. He definitely splurges for the highest quality bandages for his first aid kit, and the gauze is wrapped tightly around Izuku's midsection quickly. Izuku drops the shirt, and tries to ignore the thumping pain in his stomach, but he can feel his core already starting to loudly hum as it starts to work on healing the wound.
"Alright, once we get you to the hospital, we can get you the antidote, and…" Eraserhead pauses, and looks down at Izuku. "How are you feeling with that?"
"Uh, no different than normal, I guess?" Izuku replies. He sticks his tongue out to the hero. "Ish my tongue black?"
"It's not." Eraserhead says. "Well, you're past the window for the kick-in, so either this bullet didn't have Trigger in it, or… You know what, no, I'm not even going to consider that idea. C'mon, kid, let's get you to the hospital."
"No! No hospital!"
"You've been shot. You're going to the hospital."
"No, I'll be fine." Izuku replies, sitting up. He ignores the pain that explodes in his abdomen again, but it's not as intense as it was moments ago? "I heal fast."
Eraserhead blinks at him, and then pinches the bridge of his nose. "Of course you do. But you still should get checked out—"
"And, what, get caught for vigilantism? Thanks for the concern Eraserhead, but I'm not that dumb." Standing is a little tricky, and floating is a little harder. "I'll just sleep it off, I'll probably be fine by the end of the week."
"Phantom, wait—"
But it's too late. Izuku disappears, ignoring the painthat explodes in both his core and his stomach, before flying off home as fast as he can. At least Eraserhead gave him really nice bandages. A lot nicer than the stuff Izuku has in the first aid kid in his bathroom.
✨👻✨
"Good evening!" Hirata Ani likes to think of herself as quite punctual, once she completes a job for a client. She arrives at the dinky bar in Hosu after sticking around for just a moment to watch the remaining chaos from the three civilians she shot with Trigger. Endeavor was on scene, and he'd burned one of the poor souls pretty severely.
Oh, and that vigilante kid. Phantom. She wanted to see what sort of damage he could cause on Trigger, but she didn't want to stay too late. She had a job to do, after all.
The gentleman made of void—Kurogiri, he had been introduced as—and the man-child Shigaraki Tomura are both sitting at the bar. Shigaraki is drinking some sort of non-alcoholic mocktail, not one that Ani can recognize.
"You're back, already?" Shigaraki asks.
"I like to get my jobs done fast and efficiently." Ani explains, setting the gun down on the bar. "I would have liked to keep the Trigger bullets, they were quite handy."
"You used all four?"
Ani nods. "Had to. That little Phantom punk got in the way." She pauses. "I wonder how he's doing now." She did feel a little bit of guilt for shooting a child, but, well, that pro-hero Eraserhead was right with him. He could get the little gremlin the antidote quickly, and he'd probably have to go to the hospital, so that'd be one less vigilante on the streets.
"Well, no matter. You got the item Sensei requested, didn't you?" Shigaraki ask, scratching feverishly at his neck.
Ani drops the thick journal on the bar, next to the gun. "I don't know what your boss wants with this old journal, but got it in one piece."
"Perfect." Kurogiri speaks before the man-child can. "We will have the remaining funds deposited in the account you gave us tomorrow morning."
"Are you sure you don't wanna join our raid party, Sakura?" Shigaraki adds. "We could use a rouge like you."
"I told you before, Shigaraki. I'm a thief, I'm not a fighter." Ani retorts, crossing her arms. Her Quirk, Whip, could be used pretty effectively for fighting, but she never saw the point in fighting. If she could be quick, get in and out of a place, why would she need to fight? "I'm not against working with you all again, though. If you have anything else you need me to swipe, you've got my contact information.
"We will pass along the sentiment. Thank you for your work, Sakura." Kurogiri says. "I am sure our master will contact you if we need your assistance again."
Ani was sure about that, too.
Chapter 13: Oooh, What Does This Button Do?
Izuku was hoping that Trigger wouldn't affect him at all. If it impacts Quirk Factors, and Izuku's core is 100x a Quirk Factor, then by all accounts, it should work similarly to Quirk-suppressants. Hardly impact him, if anything. Maybe it'd be just a little, five-second boost that he wouldn't even notice, because he's already high on the ghostly equivalent of adrenaline as he gets out of Eraserhead's sight.
But of course, since it's Izuku, it's gotta be weird.
Once he gets into his apartment again, making sure his mom is still asleep before he detransforms, Izuku checks on the gunshot wound in the bathroom. Despite changing, he's still covered in a bit of ectoplasm. Not all of it changes to blood when he transforms, it seems, but ectoplasm comes off easily, so he's not too worried. What shocks him the most is when he unrolls his bandages, there isn't a wound.
Um.
What?
There's not even a scratch or a dent where the bullet tore through his stomach. A bit of dried ectoplasmic goop is caked into his skin, and it would be an easy thing to wash off, but there's not a single mark where he'd been shot.
Which is… That's interesting. He unwinds the bandages completely before wrapping them in a wad of toilet paper and dropping them underneath the trash already in his bathroom's trash can. While his mother's salary wasn't much, in comparison to most other people's, it could at least afford an apartment with two bathrooms, which was good for Izuku and his vigilantism. He could take the trash out unsuspiciously in the morning and his mom would be none the wiser about his nightly activities.
Now that he's at home and can breathe though, Izuku does notice something odd, too. There's no fatigue or sleepiness taking ahold of his brain after a long patrol out. He's just as awake and alert as he was before his patrol, or like he'd slept in a little later on one of his non-patrol nights. In fact, it feels more like Izuku downed a cup of caffeinated tea or coffee, with how awake he is.
Trigger? He wonders, as he changes quickly into his pajamas. Of course, Trigger wouldn't work on someone without a Quirk Factor. The drug attaches to the Quirk Factor through some science (which Izuku is probably going to look up now, he's curious) and increases the strength of a person's Quirk with the downside of it being too strong for a person to handle. He imagined that Trigger would affect him similarly to any Quirk-suppressants he'd dealt with from the police force—it would barely work on him, and if it did, Izuku would be able to get away without it getting too dangerous. It would have to be a hundred times' stronger to actually affect him.
But maybe… Izuku crawls under the covers of his bed, but he stares up at the ceiling, his mind running miles at a second.
The night that he had gotten involved in the first Trigger deal, he hadn't kept too close of an eye on the drug in the case, after getting Junji Rei's story. The only thing he could remember about Trigger is that the small vials were green. They weren't ectoplasmic green, or if they were, they didn't have that signature glow that Izuku quickly got used to after getting shot twice already on patrols, but the fact that they were green itself, couldn't be a coincidence, could it?
Could Trigger be ectoplasm-based? It's what makes the most sense; Izuku's theory of the formation of Quirks is sounding more and more likely as he learns about his own ghostly nature. Normal Quirked people would have a bad reaction to ectoplasm due to their small, 1/100th of a core rejecting ectoplasm, but Izuku? Izuku has a core.
He makes his own ectoplasm, he's a whole generator at this point for his own natural energy, so if Trigger was somehow ectoplasmic in nature—
I should test this, he thinks, closing his eyes. But how? Should I—
No. Stupid, idiot, dumb brain. Izuku is not going to use the remainder of his money from the beach cleaning to purchase the most dangerous drug on the streets to use on himself. What if something goes horribly wrong, and he just lucked out this time and didn't actually get Trigger in his system, or if the thief Sakura was lying about there actually being trigger so she could get away? He can't be stoppedby normal heroes. Izuku isn't sure he can actually be killed anymore, at this rate.
But how else am I supposed to know what it actually does to me? The curiosity in him shifts, a bit, and his core churns at the thought. What if it's what healed me?
That'd be ironic.
Trigger, the most dangerous drug on the streets, being able to heal Izuku.
… Knowing his luck, that'd be exactly what it does to him.
✨👻✨
"Oh, geez, Shouta. What wrong side of bed did you wake up on this morning?"
Shouta ignores Hizashi's snide comment when he walks into the staff office the following morning. He's got the largest to-go cup of coffee on the market in one hand, and graded papers from his Ethics class underneath his other arm that isn't even set to be handed back until the end of the week. He's sure his eyebags are darker than normal, and he'd hardly brushed his hair before he left his apartment that morning to get to his day job.
He'd been up too late, tormented with thoughts about Phantom. It didn't seem that the kid had too much Trigger in his system—or maybe, thanks to his weird anatomy, it didn't affect him at all, which doesn't make sense, because Trigger affects a Quirk Factor in the same way that Shouta's own Quirk does.
"I don't have a Quirk," Phantom had told him, once.
If he doesn't have a Quirk, then—what else could he have? What else could he be?
"Didn't go to bed." Shouta responds with a huff. He's glad he keeps a spare sleeping bag in the staff office for days like this. He could get to 1-A, make sure his kids don't cause too much chaos during homeroom, and nap until lunchtime. He sets down the coffee cup and the graded papers on his desk.
"You look like you just rolled out of your grave. No offense, Shou." Hizashi's incessant nicknames aren't even annoying him this morning. That's probably a bad sign.
"Just a case." Shouta responds. He's not sure that there's any rule to him sharing information about the Musutafu Phantom's case with other heroes. Typically, cases that involve villains or vigilantes are an open book for any hero, limelight or underground, to read into, to get the most feet on the ground to stop the vigilantes. Only civilians weren't able to access some of that stuff. But the daytime heroes weren't going to pursue vigilantes who mostly acted at night, and the underground heroes wouldn't even go too far in these cases unless the vigilante started to become a threat.
All Phantom had done so far was—well, all good stuff. With abilities like his, he could be a formidable villain, especially given the fact that Quirk suppressants don't work. They didn't know what his weaknesses were, or if he even had a weakness. But Phantom's case is a little different, a little more sensitive, due to the fact that they might be dealing with a minor committing acts of vigilantism, which makes the case a very specific case indeed. It's not that Shouta can't share more information; he doesn't want to, because Shouta knows that if any of the big-time heroes get involved in the case, someone is going to get hurt, badly.
"Ugh. I know how bad cases can get sometimes. If you need anyone to vent to, you know I'm here, right, Shou?" Hizashi smiles—a genuine one, not his usual, over-the-top, too bright to be real smile—and pats Shouta on the back, gently.
And Shouta knows, that, yes, he technically does have friends. Hizashi, Nemuri and even Tensei would all throw down whatever they're working on to help him. Bringing Tensei in on the Phantom case might not be that bad of an idea, he had to deal with Crawler for a whole until they were able to finally get him into a program that would "rehabilitate" him (and also work on getting him a proper license so he could be a proper hero), so Tensei has the experience. Nemuri might be able to help, too, if Shouta wasn't sure that Phantom saw the act of breathing as merely optional. Tsukauchi might not even object to them being brought on.
Eh, he'll ask them about it later.
He has a group of twenty students to wrangle together. They've got a field trip next week, and Shouta was dreading it a little bit.
✨👻✨
Trigger Experiment No. 1 (Hopefully I only have to do one for now)
Hypothesis: Trigger is a form of synthetic ectoplasm.
Results:
After using Trigger following a minor injury, it completely healed me and gave me a bit of a boost of energy. After a bit of research, I have discovered Trigger's official drug name is "Ectopinephrine", which is a synthetic ectoplasm based off of human adrenaline. Knowing how most people react to being injected with ectoplasm, it seems like it makes sense?
Of course, I can't do a molecular comparison. I don't have the equipment, and even if I did, I don't know how long I could keep my own ectoplasm stable outside of my body long enough to get a good look at it. Maybe one day I'll be able to actually figure it out, but I shouldn't use Trigger for minor wounds like this. I'm healed, feel like I've had six cups of coffee to drink.
The larger the wound, the less I'll probably feel the energy boost, probably? Seems likely.
I don't want to do any more experimentation like this, but I think I can safely conclude the following;
Trigger is a synthetic ectoplasm. I am able to use it to heal myself up in a pinch. Keep a vial of trigger in the bottom of my first aid kit. If I ever were to get hurt enough, I can use Trigger to keep myself alive. Or as alive I could hope to be.
I really hope my mom doesn't find this notebook.
✨👻✨
"Eraser-san! How're the kids treating you?"
Shouta would normally have to resist the urge to groan upon hearing the voice of the vigilante Phantom, but right now—he couldn't be happier. It'd been a few days since the kid had gone radio silent on his end, and nobody had heard from Phantom since he'd gotten shot by Trigger. The only reported interaction was from a Trigger dealer, who said a kid who looked like Phantom approached him asking for Trigger, but he couldn't remember much of the interaction due to memory issues. Because of course.
But the vigilante appearing out of the blue right in front of Shouta—as much as it makes him nearly drop his coffee out of surprise—settles something that'd been bubbling underneath his skin for the last few days.
"Phantom. You've been gone for a bit. Are you alright?"
"Wh—huh?" The kid freezes mid-air, arms drooping. "Um. Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"The last time anyone had actually seen you, you had been shot with a bullet laced with Trigger." Shouta explains, setting his coffee down. He's sitting on the ledge of a building—actually taking a break for once, Hizashi can't get on his ass for taking a break now—but he pushes himself up to be on eye-level with the child vigilante. The problem child. "And you pointedly refused to go to the hospital."
He looked fine—in fact, Phantom didn't even look like he had been shot just a few days prior.
"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about that."
How do you almost forget about being shot? Shouta thinks, and then stops, remembering all the times he can't remember even getting shot or being stabbed until after the perpetrator got arrested, and he realized he was bleeding. Nevermind. I'm an exception here, obviously.
"Did you get help for it, or are you on your own?"
"I—no, I didn't get help, but not for the reason you thought!" Phantom waves his hands in the air nervously. "By the time I got back to my ap—back to my house, all was well! I told you I heal fast."
Even the fastest healing Quirks couldn't fix up a bullet wound like that overnight. Phantom even raised his shirt to show, look, no wound, no scar, nothing to prove it, which did settle his nerves a bit more, but it still didn't make sense. It's hard to tell if and when Phantom lies, because it seems like everything he says has both a lie to it and a grain of truth mixed together.
He's lying about not having a Quirk, obviously; but he's telling the truth about it, at the same time. Someone must have raised him to believe his Quirk was something else, something inhuman—and if Shouta got his hands on them—
Whoa. Whoa. No need for him to get too attached to the vigilante right now. He needs to stay logical about everything, even if Shouta wants to take Phantom out of the streets and shove him into a U.A. uniform so he can at least learn how to be a hero properly, if he so badly wants to do this.
"I am going to trust you this time, but if you get hurt while you're out here, come find me, alright?" Shouta says, picking up his coffee before he accidentally knocks it over the edge of the roof. "If you don't want to go to a hospital, I can take you somewhere else if you need it."
"Aw, really? You do care, Eraser-san!"
I need you to trust me, Shouta thinks. I need you to trust me so I can stop you from risking your life like this right now. I need you to trust me.
"Anyway, you never answered my question! How's your class this year?"
"They are… Fine, and none of your business." Shouta is curious to know how exactly Phantom knows that he's a teacher. It's not like it's exactly public information. While he doesn't have a secret identity as Eraserhead, formidable underground pro-hero, the staff page on U.A.'s website doesn't list all of the staff and teachers, due to privacy concerns. He's sure he's not on there, or he's going to have to go hunt down the principal to see if anything changed.
There is a possibility—an ironic possibility—that Phantom is a U.A. student. Perhaps someone in General Education? Vlad does have a girl in his class, Shouta's blanking on her name, whose Quirk is Poltergeist, a medium-strength telekinetic Quirk, but unless she hasn't registered the truth about her Quirk legally, there's no what that Phantom is that girl. But there's a possibility he's a student nonetheless.
But it doesn't make sense. If he is a student, why is he risking his life out at night as a vigilante? Even if he is a General Education student, it doesn't make sense why he would take that risk.
"Fine?" The vigilante lands onto the building, next to him. "Wow, mighty praise for Mr. 'I Expelled My Entire Class Last Year'. There's no issues, at all?"
"How do you even know I teach?" How do you even know I expelled my entire class?
"I have my ways!" Phantom says, very clearly smirking underneath his mask.
Well, that explains absolutely nothing. If Phantom isn't a U.A. student, he must be friends with one of them. Hopefully as a civilian, though, knowing his class, Shouta wouldn't be surprised if any of them were brave or stupid enough to befriend a vigilante.
"I said, none of your business." Unless you join them, one day, Shouta wants to add, but keeps his mouth shut, taking a sip of his coffee. "Is that all you need from me?"
"Actually, no, I wanted to show you something!" Phantom said, pushing himself back up into the air.
Flight Quirks are incredibly rare in this day and age. Some heroes, of course, could fly as a result of their Quirk—All Might can take huge leaps and cross over cities in seconds without breaking a sweat, current number-three hero Hawks is, obviously, a bird heteromorph, so his wings help him fly. But a Flight quirk with no strings attached, like with Phantom, where he can just disregard the laws of gravity, something like that has to be registered somewhere, right? With how easily he does it, maybe the police search needs to narrow down on anti-gravity Quirks as well. Even if it's mistaken to be a small floating ability, it could be a clue.
Phantom floats back a few feet, before landing on the ground again. He stretches out his arms in front of him, and closes his eyes tightly, focusing on… Something. Shouta's not entirely sure what he's doing, until he sees it. It flickers a bit, but eventually, a solid dome made of some sort of green energy (the same color as Phantom's blood, the color that's been haunting Shouta's dreams a bit since the kid got shot) materializes around him.
"Cool, huh?" His voice echoes strangely in the dome as Phantom drops his arms, and lets the energy dissipate.
Shouta tries to ignore the awful feeling forming in the pit of his stomach. Phantom's clearly excited to show him this. "How in the world did you do that?"
His Quirk lets him walk through walls, disappear, and fly. We thought we were looking for an atomic manipulation Quirk, but—is it possible it's some sort of energy-based Quirk? But that makes no sense, either way—what is this kid's Quirk?
"I just closed my eyes, and—"
"I'm not asking you literally, kid." Shouta clarifies. "Your Quirk— what exactly is it?"
"I told you, Eraser-san, I don't have a Quirk."
Shouta rolls his eyes. This again. He's sure they're dealing with a kid who was told his mutant-type Quirk made him something other, something inhuman, his whole life, and Phantom's probably internalized it. But maybe it'd be better to play along with it? "Okay, sure—you don't have a Quirk. Then how are you doing all of… this?"
"That's easy. I'm a ghost!"
But ghosts—they don't exist, Shouta wants to say, but again, this seems to be something that Phantom has deeply internalized. "You're a ghost, then. But what does that have to do with the energy shield you just made?"
Phantom takes a second to think about it. "I actually haven't taken a second to think about that, yet. But I guess—the shields are clearly based off my own ectoplasmic energy, so maybe it's not just specifically shields then, maybe it's just a subsect of manipulating my own ectoplasmic energy instead?" Phantom turns on his heel, his back facing Shouta for a second. "I wonder…" He stretches just his left arm out this time.
Shouta approaches slowly, but he keeps a little distance between himself and the vigilante. What is Phantom doing?
Before he can ask anything, a burst of light explodes from the palm of Phantom's left hand and hits the brick of the building next to them. Luckily these buildings are abandoned and vacant, or an unfortunate scorch mark would have been left in the side of someone's apartment complex.
And it's smoking. Whatever energy Phantom had just shot out from his hand hit the brick building next to them and left a small, smoking crater. In the brick.
Holy shit. What kind of powerhouse is this kid? He might be stronger than All Might.
"Yes! I was right. It's just basic ectoplasmic manipulation, then." He leans forward, a bit. "I probably shouldn't use that attack on humans, I really don't wanna know what that could do to someone's skin."
Well. Shit.
Shouta buries the feeling in his stomach again—his gut is telling him it's fear, which is reasonable. The Quirk Singularity Theory has been around for a few years now, debates on whether Quirks are going to be one day too strong for a mortal body to handle are getting tiring at this point, but he feels like when he looks at Phantom, Shouta can see the theory in real life. But Phantom's body is built to handle all the Quirks—
Oh, god. Could Phantom be an experiment, sent out by villains? Clearly if they were looking to cause chaos, it isn't working, given how incredibly helpful Phantom is as a vigilante. But maybe he'd escaped from experimentation, and that's why he doesn't recognize he has a Quirk, and thinks he's something other?
But who could put so many Quirks into a small child, and why would they do that?
"Eraser-san? Are you okay?"
"Just thinking of the paperwork I have to do when I get off my patrol." Shouta replies quickly. It's only a bit of a lie—he does have paperwork to fill out, and tests to grade. At the look of Phantom's panicked face, he adds, "Nothing about you this time, Problem Child. It's a quiet night, why don't you call it a night and get home?"
"Okay, yeah. I've probably been out—uh, yeah, I can call it a night!" Phantom stumbles over his words. "Have a great night, Eraser-san!"
"Get to bed, problem child!"
"I will, and—oh, wait, you work at U.A., don't you?"
"…Yes?"
"I meant to tell someone about this when it happened last week, but all this Trigger stuff took over my life. Uh, I got asked by some villain guy out at a bar in Hosu to join a team he's making to kill All Might. Obviously, I said no, but I just wanted to pass that along."
Kill All Might? Well, many groups get up in arms to try and take down the number-one hero every day. The threats aren't really that serious. Shouta's seen what the man can do; even as injured as he is now (and now that Shouta knows this, too), he hates to admit it, but it's impressive, and even though All Might is weaker now, he's not weak enough to be taken down by a group.
Still, a group that had asked a vigilante to join is concerning…
"Thanks, kid. I'll pass it along." Tsukauchi's going to get a very long call after this.
"Okay, great! See you later, Eraser-san!" Phantom takes off into the night sky like a bullet. He's visible, still, which makes him look like a shooting star arcing across the clear night sky.
Hopefully they're getting a little closer to uncovering Phantom's identity now.
Chapter 14: Let's Crash a High School Field Trip!
As the second week of the new school year rolls around, it's time for what Shouta has been dreading the most. The field trip.
Of course, he didn't see much of this sort of action last year. He helped chaperone Vlad King's field trip to the USJ the previous year, but it was mostly self-sufficient. Once Thirteen got ahold of the class, he and Vlad watched from the observation decks as they led class 1-B through the different simulations. It was less of a practical demonstration, and more of a tour.
This year, though; Shouta actually has a class. That he needs to watch over. He actually has to do his job. It doesn't help that most of the U.A. staff is still on edge after the media break-in a few days prior.
It reeked of something. One section of the tall wall that surrounds campus had been completely decayed; dust by the time Shouta discovered it, hours after the last journalist was rounded up by the police officers and taken away for questioning. The vultures stomped through the moment they could; as comedic as it was, it caused such a massive headache.
He glances over his class as they shuffle onto the bus. Yayorozu was an excellent class representative, and Iida Tenya was, while overbearing, a great vice-representative. Class 1-A hadn't had major pitfalls so far, or any pitfalls that Shouta was aware of, though he had been keeping an eye on Mineta Minoru after hearing some unsavory rumors about his attitude around his female classmates.
Shinsou Hitoshi, his little protégé, even though he would never call the boy that, was fitting in as well. A little awkward and shy, he'd found himself surrounded by Uraraka Ochako and the aforementioned Iida Tenya. A strange group of friends, but there was a familiarity to it that made his heart ache.
No. He should focus. He sits in the seat at the front and closes his eyes. Not quite a nap—he's still able to overhear conversation behind him.
"I don't think Bakugou will be a very good hero." Tsuyu Asui speaks her mind, always. Shouta is baffled by the bravery of her blunt statement and has to stifle a chuckle under his breath with a cough.
"What's that supposed to mean, frog-face?" Bakugou Katsuki yells.
"See?" Tsuyu says, casually, unafraid of the blond's insults.
"I'll take you on!"
"Please, you'll fight anyone." Despite the bristling of the blond boy and his explosive personality, he doesn't really own the class like he thinks he should. Kirishima Eijiro says the last statement.
"I'll fight you, too! I'll take you both on!"
"You already have, bro!" The bus erupts into laughter. Not all of it is nervous laughter.
"Keep it down." Shouta says, clearing his throat. "We've got five minutes until we get there, and I don't want to have to ask again."
The bus goes silent. A few awkward mumbles and yes, sensei, echo through the crowd. Shouta keeps his eye on Bakugou, who glares back at him.
That might be a problem.
Most of his class is rather good. There are doubts, of course, with some of his students. Yayorozu Momo needs to be more assertive. Todoroki Shouto seems to avoid using half of his quirk, to his detriment. Shinsou needs to break out of his shell more. Bakugou Katsuki is… well, pretty similar to his Quirk. A rather explosive personality. Mineta Minoru is very obviously not cut out for the hero's life. It'd be nice if the boy dropped out before Shouta had to expel him, expelling students is a lot of paperwork, and then—
No. Shouta shakes the thought away. Though, he can't deny how beneficial having Phantom join Class 1-A would be on both ends. Phantom could still learn how to be a hero, could focus on all the good he can do in the world, without worrying about getting dragged into Trigger drug deals gone bad, getting killed for recklessness, and his record could get wiped clean.
That is, if Phantom would ever consider it. The vigilante seems to have distaste for many things with hero society. Not so much on the rumored Hero Killer's level, but it was pretty high for a vigilante, all things considered.
Shouta is the first one to notice when they arrive at USJ. USJ—the Unforseen Simulation Joint—is a marvel on U.A.'s campus. Well, technically, it was a sister campus to U.A. The building was a good few miles out of Musutafu, but still close enough to U.A. that one could conceivably walk to USJ if they wished to, only about five kilometers away from the main campus. The entire facility is run by U.A., but rented out by other schools for rescue training for their own hero students. One of the many ways U.A. is able to keep up with its students without bleeding money, among other things.
He shuffles off the bus before his students, meeting Thirteen at the front door. He hadn't seen the Space Hero, Kurose Anan, since the school year started, but even though their face is obscured by their helmet, Shouta can still see the confusion from them.
As the students try their best to follow Iida's instructions to get off the bus in an orderly fashion, Kurose looks at Shouta. "Wasn't All Might supposed to be here?"
Shouta sighs. Ever since he learned the truth about All Might, and his deflated form—a requisite for any staff members at U.A., once the number one hero had been hired—it felt like a headache on top of a headache. Of course the number one hero in all of Japan, the symbol of peace himself, had a limit with his Quirk, now, and was slowly getting weaker. "Idiot ran out of time earlier."
"Senpai, that isn't very nice." Kurose says, crossing her arms. "But, well—I suppose he was only going to stand back and watch, so his presence isn't required. If the students get into any trouble, we should be able to help them out ourselves."
Yeah, Shouta was expecting that. His class was a troublesome bunch of hell spawn. Whatever they had fed this generation, he wanted no part in, no thank you—he's definite that Phantom is around their age as well, given that he acts pretty identical to Shouta's students.
Eventually, Class 1-A groups up in front of the USJ doors, and Kurose can start her usual speech as they walk in.
If only he'd known what were about to happen.
✨👻✨
This is a bad idea, this is a bad idea, this is a bad idea! Izuku's thoughts couldn't stop screaming at him, as he held his breath. Even though he doesn't need to breathe in his ghost form, it still felt like one small mistake, one small mistep, and the villains around him would realize that he wasn't supposed to be here, and start attacking him instead.
When that man—Shigaraki, Izuku learned easily—approached him a few nights into Izuku's school year, offering him a job to get back at the symbol of peace, Izuku wanted to brush it off as a random wannabe villain that wanted to kill All Might. There'd been many of them before, and will be many until All Might eventually retires (which, Izuku wished desperately, was soon), and probably after it, as well.
He'd told Eraserhead last week that this is going to happen, but the pro-hero didn't seem to feel the sense of urgency. And he's not sure why they would, given the fact that All Might has probably dealt with many death threats every single day since he'd first debuted, but there was something not sitting right in Izuku's core. And it wasn't just the curiosity driving him, this time, Izuku didn't know what it was, but something felt wrong.
Over the last week, things had started getting more… concerning, too. He doesn't like diving into the underworld around Musutafu that much, even though he knows he should as a vigilante it's his responsibility to help people, and he's trying to see how he can bring some of these low-level villains out of the darkness and into rehabilitation programs, but he'd overheard someone talking about an offer of a lot of money to go with the man Shigaraki, and, hey, Izuku hadn't been offered any money!
What the hell, man? That is so not fair! Maybe Izuku would've been more interested in listening to the leader Shigaraki's plans if the man had started with the offer of payment first.
Well, not that Izuku would've taken it-- he didn't wish for the hero to die. It'd be a bit hypocritical of Izuku, of all people. All Might is just a bit of a Quirkist, but who isn't in this society?
So Izuku made an executive decision that day. Most of his online classes were a breeze to get through, and he was weeks ahead, so he could skip one dayand figure out what Shigaraki was up to. What his plan was to "kill All Might". It was an infiltration mission. Izuku would sneak in, figure out what Shigaraki was up to, and pass the information on to the police and other heroes.
It's his first time, though, and he's nervous, and even though Izuku's keeping it together and keeping himself invisible and intangible, he still feels like one small move is going to out him, and he's going to have an army of low-rate villains at his neck ready to kill him.
Well, maybe not kill. Just briefly incapacitate him. Izuku isn't quite sure if he can die again—but those are issues for future Izuku to panic about. Now, he needs to focus, as the warp-man from before expands, and the low-rate villains begin pouring through to the other side.
Izuku's gotta focus.
This isn't just a meeting. No, no, no—it's something much worse.
Shigaraki has gathered an army. And, with very little plan, he's already sending them on an attack.
An attack? To who? But where? He grabs ahold of a scarf of an unsuspecting villain, holding tightly as they follow their friends through the warp gate villain, and to the other side.
It's…
Izuku feels everything in him run cold. They come to in a small plaza, where there's a pleasant little fountain for decoration. Paths spread out in every direction, to small enclosures. He recognizes this place. He's at the USJ—the Unforeseen Simulation Joint—just a few miles out of Musutafu. Part of U.A.'s campus, where they focused on teaching rescue work.
And right up the stairs, by the main entrance, is a class.
They're attacking a class. Izuku lets go of the scarf of the villain, pushing himself quietly into the air, above everything. The small class is outnumbered by the villains, at least ten to one, not even including the two teachers, who are—Shit, this is Eraserhead's class. Shit, shit, shit.
Which means—Izuku spots a spiky-haired blond in the back, with large grenade gauntlets around his arms. Give it to Bakugou to keep the idea he had when they were kids about the large, sweat-containing gauntlets. Izuku hopes he'll never see the wrong end of those things. He also spots a familiar mess of violet hair. Shinsou, too.
Can't this get any worse?!
The warp villain settles down into his more humanoid form, the shape Izuku remembers from the bar the other night. Shigaraki, covered in the weird hands (Izuku doesn't even want to ask about that, he didn't have those hands before), crosses his arms, as he looks on the crowd.
"Thirteen and Eraserhead? That's odd. We were informed that All Might was supposed to be present today as well." The shadow villain's voice booms across the plaza.
Plan to kill All Might. Yep, this is the worst. Izuku's eyes flicker from the villains, to the two heroes, and the students behind them.
"Where is he?!" Shigaraki yells, scratching violently at his neck. "I went through all the trouble of bringing the cavalry, I got everyone gathered and ready to go, and he doesn't even show his face." He pauses and takes a deep breath, and speaks at a normal register, tilting his head to the shadow villain. "Kurogiri, I wonder if he'll come if we kill some kids."
Alright, well. Izuku came here to just do some information gathering. He wasn't expecting a full-out invasion on U.A.'s grounds.
But, hey. Izuku's not a vigilante for nothing. And with Eraserhead so outnumbered—he knows that Eraserhead has taken on many before, he's seen it in action and it's so cool!—surely the pros won't mind an extra helping hand to deal with this issue.
Eraserhead jumps off the steps without hesitation, shooting down into the main plaza to deal with the villains. Thirteen—oh, so cool, Thirteen is here! Wait, focus, Izuku, focus—backs away with the students, pushing them back towards the entrance. The two pros communicated between themselves without words what the plan would be; Thirteen would get the students to safety, Eraserhead would take on the cavalry and buy them time. So cool!
Speaking of entrances. Izuku ought to make his now, too. He lets himself become visible again and drops to the ground in the middle of the fighting, creating a small impact crater in the process. Two villains by him go flying into others, and a few of the group turn to face him.
"Hey, asshole! Watch what you're—" One of the villains starts, but Izuku doesn't stop, instead; he runs to the villain and decks them right in the face with his right hand.
It starts off a chain reaction. A few villains near him try and jump him, but they're not thinking through a strategy very well. The fortunate thing about this situation is that Shigaraki's army is nothing more than a collection of low-level villains and thugs who are in it for the money. Some might get gratification out of killing and fighting, too, but the majority of them are in it for the money, and there's no plan to it, other than being the distraction. The bait. The bodies for Shigaraki to climb atop on to get to his end goal.
We're going to kill All Might!
Izuku easily goes intangible, and the three villains go flying into each other. Pathetically easy knockouts.
"W-Wait a second, that's—"
Izuku disappears, easily weaving through the crowds of villains, before getting to Eraserhead's side. A villain is going for the pro's back, but Izuku reaches out and pops out an ecto-shield behind him, appearing seconds later.
"Hey, Eraser-san! Need a hand?"
Eraserhead grunts. It's one that's a little full of surprise. Izuku is sure he's thinking, You're here? What the hell? Luckily for Izuku, reading minds is not one of his specialties. That'd be too much for him.
(That he knows of. He's trying to ignore the possible empathetic abilities growing from deep within his core.)
"Should I even be surprised you're here?" Eraserhead grunts, as his capture weapon wraps around the legs of a villain charging him, and he swings her around, knocking away three others in the process.
Izuku ducks under the villain, creating another ecto-shield and pushing it towards a large group of them, knocking them away easily. "Well, I didn't intend to come here, if that makes it any better!" He responds with a toothy grin.
They fall into sync pretty quickly, despite only having worked in a few fights like this. It's easy to pick up on Eraserhead's little quirks and glances. Though his Quirk doesn't quite work on Izuku, he does feel a little pinprick on the back of his neck every time Eraserhead glances his way with his Quirk active. A small, nonverbal warning of look out, here it comes, behind you.
They're still outnumbered, the two of them. Surrounded, on all ends.
It's too easy for the warp villain—Kurogiri, he heard the name—to disappear.
Shit—the warp villain!