(7 Years Ago)
Izuku snaps to attention when he hears a banging on his bedroom door.
"Izuku! Get your ass out here!" Inko shouts.
Izuku, the obedient child he is, climbs out of bed and opens the door. He doesn't get the chance to look up from the doorknob when an arm reaches through and grips tightly around his wrist.
"You're going to be late to school, brat," she spits. "I don't want another call from that damn principal of yours saying you were tardy again."
A light bruise starts to form on the boy's skin as his mother kicks him out the door, barely giving him enough time to reach for his backpack. The reason he's always late is because of Kacchan. His childhood friend is always picking a fight. Izuku doesn't understand why Kacchan hates him so much. They got along just fine until after he found out Izuku was quirkless. Does not having a quirk make him that much inferior to Kacchan?
Izuku walks down the driveway and in the direction of the school. What a great start to my eighth birthday, he thinks, rubbing his hand over the fresh bruise. The school is pretty far from his house, but he has to walk because his mom won't pay for him to take the train. Today, Izuku decides to take a different route, one that he thinks might get him there faster.
Izuku passes a playground where Kacchan is picking on some other poor kid. He wonders what the kid did to offend the great Katsuki Bakugo. After Kacchan found out Izuku was quirkless, he told everyone at school and they shunned him. Izuku's dad left, too, though that was before he even turned two. His mom blames Izuku for his dad leaving. She blames him for being quirkless. She wanted her son to be a hero so she could leech off of him. It's a pity that the universe could give a rat's ass what the Midoriyas want.
Izuku makea a wrong turn and ends up walking down a sketchy backroad with a bunch of abandoned storage warehouses. There isn't anyone in sight so he makes the ingenious decision to check them out. The warehouses are almost all in good condition, just a bit overgrown with weeds and mold; some have a few holes in their roof. One of the warehouses, however, is surprisingly really nice. It isn't very big and everything is open so you can see if someone else is in there. Also, no mold! Izuku's mind starts running through all the things he can do to improve upon the place that he found. He could bring in some blankets and pillows, a mini-fridge, maybe a small desk-
Oh crap! He remembers he's supposed to be at school. His mom is going to kill him when she finds out he's late! Izuku swiftly exits the warehouse and sprints the rest of the way to school. He's twenty minutes late, which will earn him a call home. Shit.
The whole day Izuku dreads returning home. He's been late to school before, and the consequences are not pretty. If he's lucky he might be able to get away with scrubbing the bathroom or no dinner, but typically, he gets beaten until his mother is satisfied.
After class, Kacchan comes up to Izuku and steals his hero notebook. Kacchan flips through it, easily avoiding Izuku's desperate grabs for it, and tosses it out the window.
"Ha! How can you even dream of becoming a hero without a quirk you useless Deku? If you want a quirk so bad you could take a swan dive off the roof and hope you get one in your next life!" he laughs and saunters away. God, he's such a dick!
Izuku spends twenty minutes searching the ground for his notebook after Kacchan and his friends leave the grounds. It's a bit muddy and ripped, but not unreadable. He starts his walk home, mind wandering.
Maybe he should jump. That would sure show Kacchan. It's not as if anyone is going to miss him, anyway.
Out of nowhere, a mass of sludge rises from a sewer drain, ripping Izuku from his thoughts.
"You'll make a perfect skin suit for me to hide in, kid!" the sludge villain gurgles.
Izuku screams and tries to run away, but a thick mass of sludge surrounds him and starts rushing down his throat.
"Don't worry, I'm just taking over your body! It'll be easier for both of us if you don't fight back! It'll only hurt for a minute, you'll feel better soon!" he says menacingly.
He can't... breathe!
"Thanks for the help, kid. You're a real hero to me."
Izuku can barely move. His mind is getting foggy. He can feel sleep creeping in.
He's just about to lose consciousness when the villain suddenly slackens its grip. A familiar voice booms, "I AM HERE, to apprehend that villain!!!"
It's All Might!!!
The villain attacks All Might but the muscular hero pulverizes him with a single punch. All Might is about to take off, leaving Izuku on the ground, when the small boy grabs his arm.
Words start rushing out of Izuku's mouth.
"All Might, I'm your biggest fan! My dream is to become a hero just like you! Do you think I can become a hero even though I don't- I don't have a quirk?"
"Without a quirk? Sorry, kid. Some villains just can't be defeated without one. Why don't you become a police officer or something? Of course, the police course is kind of obsolete now that we have heroes. It'd be perfect for you!" he suggests. "Well, I must be going now! Goodbye, young citizen!" He takes off.
Izuku stands there for a minute, stunned. His dreams crushed, just like that. If the number one hero himself doesn't think he can be a hero, there really must be no chance.
With a heavy heart, Izuku resumes his walk home. He's about a quarter-mile from his house when he catches a glimpse of a giant pillar of smoke rising from up ahead. Izuku starts to run to see where it's coming from. His feet carry him back to his house, which also happens to be the house that's gone up in scorching hot flames! Fire trucks and policemen line the street. Izuku feels his heart drop as he listens to the fireman's radio: We found the body of Inko Midoriya. She isn't responding. We think it's excessive smoke inhalation. There is no sign of her son, but he should be presumed dead. There's no way anyone could survive these flames.
Izuku's mom is dead. His mom is dead! What is he supposed to do now? He's only eight! he can't go into foster care. Nobody will adopt a quirkless loser like him. Izuku only has one option. He escapes the commotion of the street and runs in the direction of the abandoned warehouse he found earlier. He drops his backpack and curls up on the concrete floor. Izuku hated his mother, but nobody deserves to go like that. He hugs his knees closer to his chest and wipes away the tears he didn't give permission to fall. Why didn't the heroes save her? Now Izuku is pissed at his mother and the heroes. Would they have saved him if he was in that fire? Probably not. He's poor and quirkless, the scum of society.
Izuku will show them. He'll show them all that he can become extraordinary even without a quirk! Heroes are tainted by money and fame. Izuku only wants to save people. He'll be better than any hero, he'll be a savior!
(Present Day)
Izuku wakes up around seven in the afternoon to start his daily patrol. He usually only operates during the hours of the night to reduce the chance of being captured by heroes. Or, worse, the news. Due to this, the people have given me him his vigilante name, Tsuki, meaning 'the moon'. Izuku has been watching over the poorer parts of the city for about five years, taking on low-tier criminals and working his way up the ladder. Now he can take on villains that even the pros have difficulty with. And all without a dumb quirk.
Izuku still lives in the warehouse he found seven years ago, but now it looks like more of an apartment than a dingy garage. Most of the stuff he owns was found in the garbage, but it's all in pretty good condition. He managed to get electricity and water by hacking into the city's department of public utilities. Also, now he has a whole computer setup to monitor villain activity. Izuku made himself an assortment of gadgets to aid his vigilanteism. Through much trial and error, he's managed to become very stealthy and a good fighter, but gadgets make his life much easier.
Izuku pulls up his hood, activates his voice-changing mask, and starts patrolling the neighborhood. Crime rates have dropped significantly since Tsuki hit the streets. The heroes still follow the same patrol routes as they used to, now not only trying to catch criminals but the notorious vigilante as well. Stupid heroes. Can't they tell he's helping them!? The most they can do is bring Tsuki in for questioning because technically, he hasn't done anything illegal. Vigilantes can only be charged if they use their quirk, and, well, he doesn't have one.
Tsuki makes his way through the city by roof hopping. It's faster than ground level and lets him see what's going on around him. He hears a scream to his right. He jumps off the roof of a relatively short building and hits the ground running. Tsuki spots a woman and two children cornered in an alley, a masked man with a knife hovering over them. He doesn't stop running until he lands a sidekick to the man's ribs. He goes flying into a bunch of trash cans. Tsuki ushers the woman and children out of the alley and faces the criminal.
"Come at me!" he growls, the voice changer making his voice deeper than it normally is.
The man charges at him, revealing three more knives set between his fingers. Tsuki's still unsure of what the man's quirk is so he has to be careful. The armed man swipes at him, but the vigilante easily dodges.
"You're pretty slow for a villain!" Tsuki taunts.
He sweeps the man's legs and watches as he lands hard on his back, knives flying from his grasp. The man isn't down for long, however, and shakily stands up. He holds out his hand. The knives fly into it. He must have some sort of magnetism quirk. Luckily, Tsuki makes all his gear out of aluminum alloy so he doesn't have to worry about the man stealing any of his stuff. Tsuki charges at the man again, dodging another slash to the face, and punches the guy in the gut. The man keels over and Tsuki hits him in the temple, knocking him unconscious.
"Well, that was fairly easy."
Tsuki ties the man to a street light and alerts the police of his location. He drops a note and vanishes when he hears sirens.
Tsuki is back on the roof moments later and continues his patrol. He watches to make sure the woman and children get home safely. About half an hour passes by without incident. He decides to take a little break and wait for the evening villain rush to start.
It's about ten o'clock at night when Tsuki resumes his patrol. More higher-rank villains should be out by now. The vigilante glides from roof to roof, scouting the alleys for trouble. He come across a beast-like person robbing a 24-hour convenience store. He drops down from the building and enters the establishment calmly.
"If you wanted some TicTacs you could've just asked!" Tsuki says snarks
The beast turns around and its eyes widen. It's been a few years since Tsuki's debut as a vigilante so he's pretty well-known.
"Ts-Tsuki!" The beast drops what they're holding and tries to run out the door. That wasn't very smart considering Tsuki is still standing right in front of it. He knocks it out with one punch and it shrinks back into its natural state: a skinny man with claw-like scratches all over him. Tsuki was honestly hoping the man would put up more of a fight.
"Tsuki, thank you!" the store manager bows. "Please, is there anything I can do to repay you?"
"There's really no need to repay me. Taking out these criminals is pay enough. Have a good night!" Tsuki drags the skinny dude outside and ties him to a street light like the last. The vigilante is kind of bored. Why is nobody putting up a good fight!? He alerts the police, drops a note, and takes off once again.
---
The police called Musutafu's resident sleepy underground hero to inform him that the vigilante known as Tsuki has struck again. They put Eraserhead on his case a few years back, trying to get him in for questioning. Everything about him is a secret other than he only operates under the shroud of darkness.
Eraserhead reaches the alley where the police are gathered, arresting a criminal. One of the detectives hands the hero a note:
Name unknown, quirk: magnetism, weapon of choice: knives. Careful with this one, Eraser!
-Tsuki <3
Eraser snarls and swears to himself that he will be the one to catch the bratty vigilante responsible for forcing him to cut back on his naps.
"Eraserhead, we just got another report of a criminal tied to a street light near a small shop. It sounds like Tsuki," a detective informs him.
"On my way," Eraser grunts and beelines in the direction the detective pointed to. The shop isn't very far away and the hero gets there quickly by using his capture weapon to swing from street light to street light. Lo and behold, there the criminal is, tied to a street light. There's a note resting on the guy's lap.
2 Tsuki, 0 Eraserhead. Better pick up the pace or there will be no more villains left!
-Tsuki <3
That cheeky fucker.
Eraser unties the villain and drags him back to the station. Tsuki is right, though. The vigilante has been capturing more criminals in a few hours than a pro does all day. Soon the people will start losing their faith in heroes. Maybe that's what Tsuki is going for.
---
Tsuki stops several more robberies, kidnappings, and assaults bringing his tally of captured criminals to a whopping thirty-six. Eraserhead is going to lose his shit! At times, it's really annoying to have the hero tailing him all the time, but lately, he enjoys the chase. They've come into contact several times throughout Tsuki's career, but they always end the same: Eraser telling Tsuki that he is going to bring him to the police station, and Tsuki eventually escaping him. It cracks the vigilante up to see how frustrated the poor guy gets. Imagine if he knew it was a fifteen-year-old kid who keeps evading him!
It's about four in the morning when Tsuki decides to head back to his warehouse. He's halfway home when a red feather shoots by his face. Thanks to his reflexes the vigilante was able to dodge it, or else his shoulder would have a razor-sharp feather embedded in it.
"What's up you oversized chicken?" Tsuki taunts, turning to face the hero slowly. His cheeks are puffed out angrily at the vigilante's comment and Tsuki can see Eraserhead is next to him as well, his quirk activated.
"Don't strain yourself Eraser, your quirk doesn't do shit against me," he says, cheerfully.
Eraserhead's hair and scarf go back to resting on his shoulders. He seems confused.
"Wait, you're telling me that you have a mutant quirk!?" Hawks shouts.
"I don't think so," Eraser muses. "I think he's saying he doesn't have a quirk..."
"Oh. I thought you knew that." The vigilante blushes under his hood and shrugs. "Damn. Guess my secret's out now."
"Well then, this shouldn't be too hard!" Hawks says and shoots toward Tsuki, sword-like feather in hand.
"Hawks, wait!" Eraserhead shouts.
Tsuki smiles and runs right at the hero flying toward him. Before Hawks can grab him, Tsuki slides on his knees to go under his attacker. The oversized chicken wasn't paying attention to where he was going, so he flies right into a chimney.
"That doesn't count as attacking a hero!" the vigilante yells to both heroes.
Hawks is still in shock from ramming headfirst into a chimney and Eraserhead is preoccupied with calling in backup so Tsuki takes it as his opportunity to run. He's about three roofs ahead of them before they realize their assignment took off.
Tsuki has run the streets of Musutafu millions of times so he knows the city like the back of his hand. He even made some of his own secret passageways here and there. Tsuki drops into an alley and pushes aside a panel of fencing. He slips through and weaves in between houses until he reaches his warehouse. The vigilante had lost Eraserhead and Hawks in the alley. He really wishes he could see their faces!
Tsuki takes off all of his vigilante gear and walks over to his computer. Izuku records the route he took and how many villains were in each area. He makes sure to always pay special attention to the areas with the most criminals, but he has to change his route daily so the heroes can't predict where he'll be.
Izuku logs off and gets ready for work. Besides his job as a vigilante, he also works part-time at a small coffee shop. He puts on my work outfit, brushes his hair and teeth, and heads out. This time Izuku walks on the sidewalk because jumping from roof to roof would attract too much attention. He also uses an alias in public because Izuku Midoriya was supposed to have died in a fire seven years ago. Now he go by Arashi Hodaka.
"Hey, Arashi! I gotta go, can you cover my shift, pretty please?" Hiro, Izuku's coworker, asks.
"Fine." the boy smirks and rolls his eyes teasingly.
"You're the best, man! I'll make it up to you!"
"Don't worry about it," Izuku smiles and waves to his coworker who's already out the door.
Izuku takes his spot behind the counter and gets everything set up for the morning rush. Hiro was supposed to cover him during his break, but it looks like Izuku will just have to handle the lunch rush, too.
The doorbell rings and without looking up, Izuku, on autopilot, says, "Welcome! Please take a seat anywhere and I'll be right with you!"
"Thanks, kid," an all-to-familiar voice says.
Izuku's head shoots up and his eyes widen to see Eraserhead and Hawks walking toward a table near the counter. His heart starts pounding against his chest violently. What if they recognize him?! He tries to remain calm as he walks over to their table. How would a normal person act in this situation?
"Hi! Can I take your order?" Izuku asks. That was way too bland. These are real-life heroes! He has to be convincing! "I've gotta say it's really super cool seeing you both here in person! I never thought the number three hero would come in here as well as an awesome underground hero!"
"Awww, hear that Eraser? He thinks you're awesome!" Hawks says, teasingly.
Eraserhead grunts. "Can I get an extra-large black coffee and a bagel, please?" Eraserhead asks.
"Of course!"
"How boring, dude. I will have a caramel frappuccino and a double chocolate donut if you please," Hawks says.
"Okay! I will be right back with your orders!" Izuku walks back behind the counter and tries to slow his heart rate. That was stressful! But, they don't seem to suspect anything.
"I can't believe that guy escaped us, again!" Hawks says. "And without a quirk, no less. How can someone be so unstoppable without a quirk!?"
"Lots of training," Eraserhead says. "Also lots of trial and error. I bet this guy has had his fill of run-ins with nasty villains."
"Has there been any more luck with uncovering his identity?" Hawks asks. Izuku holds his breath.
"No, not really. We know he's male and below average height. He might be young or just short so that doesn't really help. He moves like a ninja and is always two steps ahead. I have a feeling we won't figure out who he is until he tells us... or messes up big time."
"Here are your orders!" Izuku chirps, and puts their stuff on the table with shaky hands.
"Thanks," Eraserhead says and looks the small boy in the eyes. Izuku's breath hitches for a moment while Eraser scrunches his eyebrows as if he is staring into his soul. "If you need anything else, tell me!" he says and rushes back behind the counter.
More customers start entering the shop, giving the boy a much-needed distraction. He moves around nonstop, making and passing out orders. The whole time he can feel Eraserhead's stare. Nah, he's probably just being paranoid.
---
Eraserhead thinks that barista kid looks awfully familiar. He's pretty sure he freaked the boy out by staring, but he can't help it. He has definitely seen him before, but where? Eraser studies the barista's movements as he twirls around the cafe. He's confident he's met this boy somewhere, but for the life of him, he can't remember.
"Yo, Eraser! Stop staring at the kid! I have another patrol to go on, and you have school," Hawks says to tired hero.
"Yeah, I know." Eraser flags down the boy and asks for the bill.
"Thank you, come again!" the barista says cheerfully as he and Hawks exit. Ugh, this is so frustrating!
"Hey, Hawks. Did that kid look familiar to you?" Eraser asks.
"Nope! I think I would've recognized that green hair anywhere! Why? Do you know him or something?"
"I don't know."
"Either way, he makes a damn good frappuccino! We have to come back soon!" Hawks says.
Eraserhead merely rolls his eyes as they part ways. Most of the time, Eraser patrols early at night and then takes a nap, but recently he's been working double-time to cover for other heroes. He only gets to sleep between classes during the day, which is about an hour altogether. Simply put, the hero feels like death.
"Why the fuck did I become a teacher?" he mutters under his breath. "I want to sleep!"