"Normal" - speaking
'Italics' - thinking/ writing
(Bold) - author speaking/ author notes
<Normal> - calling/ audio
(Normal) - texting
(Third POV)
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Speeding into his room, his new laptop in his hands, Izuku hops into his makeshift bed. He would be lying if he said he wasn't exited to dive into the world of black market dealings.
Almost immediately after opening the laptop, a blinding startup screen lights up the dark room. Izuku shields his eyes.
"Damnit, I hate it when start screens blind me like this."
The login screen of the popular software tech company, Styro circuits, is shown at the top of the screen. Izuku clicks a link directing him towards a sign up screen.
While he thinks of an email to create, a small black envelope pops up in the bottom right corner of the screen. It shakes to get the receiver's attention.
Only a little reluctant, Izuku clicks on the dancing icon.
A page is pulled up. It's looks similar to a generic email app in dark mode. Only one message sits in the inbox.
The sender introduces himself as Giran, welcoming Izuku to the dark market. In the short text, he mentions that the hub that Izuku now has access to was created, and is monitored by the same team that created the interior security the laptop holds.
A small button was added to the bottom of Giran's email, the words 'Accept Invite' sitting on top.
Izuku happily accepts the invite to the private network.
The screen buffers for a second, before a new page is pulled up, a welcome screen. * The welcome screen being the websites logo in the center, a burgundy masquerade mask with a scar-like tear on the left eye.
Beside, and above the logo are kanji, spelling welcome, and what Izuku assumes is the name of the dark website, Scar Circuits.
The background of the welcome screen is a gradient of a scarlet, and a black circuit board.
The welcome screen fades to the home page, the same color scheme as the previous screen.
A small pop up shows up on the top right corner. Inside is a long explanation, and direction on how to properly use the provided amenities.
The lengthy text includes the steps on how to successfully make money on their site, and how to interact with other users.
The first few paragraphs explain the way transactions are to be completed.
It explains that all completed transactions will be completely wiped from the the site to prevent any post from being traced back to the buyer or seller. The text also promises that all users are granted full anonymous browsing with the help of Data Anonymization technology.
Cryptocurrency seems to be the single currency that is used, letting other users from around the world be able to transact money easily.
Listings including hit-man for hire, fire arms, military grade weapons, and quirk enhancing drugs are just a few of the many categories the site holds.
Users also have the option to give feedback to the developers. Specifically to inform them if a buyer or seller didn't hold up their side of a trade.
The greenette looks through the latest assassination listings.
Most targets wanted dead are pro heroes with politicians sprinkled in. The higher up in the ranks a hero sits or the more influential a person in the politics business sits, the more the job pays.
Izuku clicks on the most recent job posted. The listed target is the pro hero Spring Jump.
"She's a pro hero that's been gaining popularity somewhat quickly if I recall," Midoriya mutters to himself.
'The reward for this job is ¥1,150,000 in cryptocurrency...' *
"I remember reading an article online about a successful drug bust she helped out in... I also took her order at the café once or twice. Not that it mattered anyway.'
The requirements below the target state that the assassination must be completed by next week, and with zero witnesses.
"Intriguing."
Izuku accepts the listing without a second thought, a giddy smile on his face.
Izuku shoves his laptop off his lap before snatching a new notebook out of his duffle bag. He labels the fresh notebook.
'Hero A'
Izuku pauses writing, remembering his recent actions.
'Wait, no... this isn't a hero analysis notebook...'
Izuku crosses out his mistake.
' ̶H̶e̶r̶o̶ ̶A̶ ̶ Assassination Target Analysis.'
Izuku flips to the first page, pencil in hand. He starts by writing down all the information on Spring Jump he could think of off the top of his head.
'I would say her quirk sits in the mutation category...' "Majority of her legs are actual springs," Izuku mumbles to himself, scribbling down his thoughts. †
After a few minutes of uninterrupted writing, Izuku completely fills the first page of his notebook with all the possible weakness, and strengths the pro hero may have.
'Her quirk, if used well, can work well in both outdoor and indoor spaces...'
'I'm sure I could kill her fairly easily, but that kind of mindset could get me killed,' Izuku continues.
Using his laptop's default search browser to look up Spring Jump's current standing in the hero ranks, Izuku gets a sense of the level of her strength is at.
"Although, I'm not sure how flexible her quirk is."
'... I don't have that much insight on how far she's trained her quirk, and how well she can utilize her power in battle,' he thinks, watching a badly recorded fight between said pro hero and some other villain with a candle wax quirk.
"I'd rather find out for myself... in person."
-The Next Morning-
Izuku sits on the roof of a convenience store, his legs dangling over the edge.
He checks the time on his phone, the glare of the rising sun making it hard to see the screen.
Looking down you can spy his target, Spring Jump, in a heated battle between a villain with carbon steel arms that was caught attempting to mug a civilian leaving the convenience store.
Both the thug and the pro hero look a little disheveled. The fight didn't seem to be going anywhere, and awed spectators have started gathering, filming all that they could.
Spring Jump turns her head to the crowd, waving like a princess to her people, before zoning right back into the fight.
Using her surroundings to her advantage, Spring Jump catapults herself off of the building behind her.
In mid air, two, black, strap, compression mechanisms, latched onto each of her springs, compress the coils like a slinky.
The villain sees the attack coming, and shields his face, making an x with his metal arms.
Spring Jump breaths in, getting ready to shout.
"JUUUMP LOOCKK!!"
The springs in place of her legs release. The sheer force of Spring Jump's released coils knock the villain's arms into his face. Two large cracks form beneath his feet.
Despite the knock back, he stands his ground.
The mugger drops his arms, revealing a bloody and crooked nose.
"Oohf, that's definitely broken," Izuku comments.
He looks back at Spring Jump, who makes it hard not to notice she's in pain. The pro hero grunts, grabbing her left foot, the one she used to strike the villain with.
"Damn support shoes don't suppress the impact at all," she mutters, dropping her foot.
Winded, the small time villain doesn't take any chances, and bolts down the sidewalk, speeding away from the scene of his crime.
Some people in the crowd enjoined Spring Jump to go after the thug.
The pro hero begrudgingly accepts the command, and springs into action. ‡
Izuku follows the two, running from roof to roof, just as he had done so in his training.
The man with metal arms swerves left into an alleyway to catch his breath, the adrenaline of the fight beginning to wear off.
The alleyway he stands in, is one in-between two tourist shops, about the same height. The path between the two shops contain a chain-link fence at the back, barbed wire at the top, giving the metal armed thug an idea.
On her way to catch the perpetrator, Spring jump helps up the few people the mugger pushed to the curb while making his escape.
"Surprisingly kind..." Izuku mumbles, two buildings ahead of her.
'It's to bad she's wanted dead,' He continues, catching up with the villain on the run.
Using some passerbys knowledge on where they saw the mugger flee to, Spring Jump bounds into the alley.
A whip of barbed wire slashes at Spring Jumps right arm, tearing through the fabric of her sleeve and into the meat of her arm.
Spring Jump stands stunned for a moment, just staring at the small thorns lodged in her arm.
The villain holding the other end of the barbed rope, rips the wire out of the pro hero's limb, flinching as she releases a loud, dramatic, and pained scream. She drops to the ground, on her knees, blood beginning to leak out of the many gashes.
Taking the pro hero's lack of pain resistance to fair use, he sprints to the fence at the back of the alleyway. He drops the barbed wire he had torn of the top off the fence earlier, and steadily climbs over.
Upset and in pain, pro hero Spring Jump blurts out a sound that Izuku could only describe as an angry grunt and yell mixed together. Blood is leaking out from in-between her fingers that press against her deep wounds.
'She's only got a few cuts, but she looks about ready to pass out,' Izuku says in his head, noting her eyes, that dart in every direction except her wound.
Spring Jump looks defeated, her head hanging on her shoulders; a pained, and frustrated expression on her face.
"If I didn't stop to help up those stupid civilians I could've caught him," she growls, standing up.
Izuku stands as well, his eyes flickering like a green fluorescent bulb.
'The train to Naruhata's gonna arrive soon. I should leave now,' He thinks, quickly.
Izuku looks back once more, before speeding in the opposite direction.
-Aldera Junior High-
A spiky blond haired student trudges trough the school gate, an aggressive frown on his face. A yale blue shoulder bag swings loosely on his arm.
He doesn't bother acknowledging the other students weak greetings, his need to assert superiority outshining any social actions.
He pushes the door open, to be greeted by two other students. One with charcoal grey hair, shaped like an upside down V.
The other with darker grey hair, but cut short and with a undercut; Both wearing their black school uniforms.
"Hey, Bakugo. Did you study for the test?" V hair asks.
"... What am I kidding, of course you did, you're at the top of class," he says mockingly, answering his own question.
Katsuki Bakugo cranes his neck toward the one mocking him, an all to familiar pissed off sneer gracing his face.
"Hahh?!" He spouts, using his quirk to create mini explosions in the palm of his hand, threateningly.
"Whoa, chill. I'm just going off what you said in class a few months back."
"... About how your the only one in this shitty school that could possibly get into U.A." V hair reflects, glaring at undercut for quietly laughing at his narrow escape from a second degree burn.
"A day before Deku we-"
Katsuki cuts him off with a death stare. The kind that you'd get from the only family member that survived a home invasion, by your own hands, during your official trial.
V hair shuts up, and retreats behind his fellow classmate.
Katsuki clicks his tongue, before shoving his way to the first class of the school day.
-Your Hero Academia Café-
It didn't take long for Izuku to realize that Your Hero Academia Café was more of a bar than a café.
The back room is always stocked with multiple shelves of different varieties of alcohol, and mixers, yet there are barely enough coffees and creamers to sustain an entire café.
It's never busy in the morning, which explains the unusually low stock on actual café materials.
The atmosphere is fairly calm and peaceful, a few pro heroes that are either about to start patrolling or have the day off, sit in different sides of the room.
Two sit together, chatting with one another.
Izuku stands behind the café's counter, restocking the necessary materials for his shift.
He flinches as a loud knock from the entrance door sounds in the room.
He looks up to see the doorman opening the sliding peephole like how he does every potential customer.
Izuku goes back to his job, as the overly enthusiastic knocks seem to be a common trait in heros.
It wasn't surprising to hear the heavy, metal door slide open, neither was the sudden stop in chatter as everyone looks toward the sound of the door opening, but the unintelligible babbling and stomping was a first.
Preparing for the worst, Izuku looks toward the sound.
An older looking guy, maybe in his late fifties, without a shirt and shoes, stands in the doorway. The most obvious thing that is noticeable about the man is his grey-tone skin.
At first it looks like it's vibrating, but apon closer inspection his skin is actually pulsating in and out, thickening, and thinning. The skin around his face shifts dramatically as it increases in width, making his eyes look sunken in, more than should be possible.
He's clearly not in a mature state of mind as he's stepping back and forth, all while contorting his arms in random positions.
Of what you can make out of his rapidly fluctuating face, he looks paranoid, yet at the same time, unaware.
Izuku looks at him attentive, while the doorman looks disgusted.
The man with pulsating skin, and vacant eyes seems to have a abrupt change in mood, and charges forward, gurgling his spit.
The mute doorman simply moves in front of the uninvited one, blocking both the intruder, and Izuku's view of the scene.
The doorman not being that wide, Izuku can vaguely see the face, and left arm of the intruder.
Extreme panic seems to set in as the intruder stiffens, and grabs onto his dead, orange hair. His eyes widen, and his mouth opens.
No sound comes out.
"What..." Izuku mutters.
A mix of anger, paranoia, and the impending doom of death swirls in the skin manipulator's head, which only makes his quirk act up more in self defense.
Instead of just increasing and decreasing the thickness of his skin, it begins to ripple dramatically.
His panicked expression drops, and his eyelids droop.
The doorman steps to the right, out of the way of a collapsing middle aged man with weird ass skin.
He lays there, unconscious, but dying, quick.
If this happened a little less than six and a half months ago, Izuku wouldn't hesitate to run over to help the man, but people change, and they often become the person they said they say they would never be.
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* This is how I imagine the welcome screen of Scar Circuits (I made it myself in Procreate)
† ¥1,150,000 is equivalent to about $10,000.
‡ To give a better visual... Spring Jump's springs extend from the middle of her thigh and to the middle of her calf, on both legs.
§ Intend your puns, weaklings.
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I would love any feedback, like ideas for future chapters or any grammar, spelling or punctuation mistakes!
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Kill count - 0
Word count - 2607
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