Izuku POV
Sitting in my room, I tinkered with the black boots that I've grown accustomed to wearing on my nightly patrols. They were metal tipped and packed a hell of a kick when needed. Though, for tonight at least, I was more concerned with the bottom of the shoe. The man at the shoe store that I'd gotten these from told me that the shoes were hollow in the bottom to counteract the added weight from the metal and to allow swiffer movements.
The hollowness also gave another added bonus.
Taking out a switchblade that I'd swiped a few months ago from some common street thug, I carved a hole into the bottom of the shoe, one just big enough to hold the collapsed bow staff that I'd made a while ago. I wasn't planning on using the staff in fights, not when there were much more efficient and less violent approaches to this, but I knew that it would come in handy if one day I were to run out of tranquilizers. I put a little hatch on the bottom of the boot. It was the kind that you'd find on the bottom of children's toys to hide the batteries stored inside.
Sliding the boot and its matching pair on, I stood up, shaking the shoe harshly. The boot didn't so much as make a sound, the hidden weapon staying securely in its new home. A small trickle of warmth made its way to my chest at my small success.
Good, cause this would've been a really shitty waste of my time and shoes if this had failed.
I liked how it was hidden in a way that no one would ever think to look for it, where no one would know to miss it until it's too late.
Where no one would know to miss it...
I felt my body go still, my mind screaming at me the way that it does when I finally find the tool that I'd spent an hour looking for laying out in the middle of the room for all to see.
Muggers tended to grab the men and women off of the street that were walking out at night alone, the ones that no one would remember the face of on the street or think to look for when the stranger suddenly wasn't there anymore.
Walking with a newfound purpose, I made my way to the computer, going to the search engine faster than I ever had before. I searched around online for enough time that the sky outside of my window started to get light, something that I didn't really bother to pay any attention to.
"I was right..."
It was the first time that I didn't want to be right.
There were always cases online of people going missing in big cities like these, but most of those people had people. There were people to mourn them and draw attention to their sudden disappearance. Signs and crappy posters get put up in the nicer store windows, people begin to pay attention to the others decorating the street.
They had people.
That's why the ones that don't are the easiest targets.
There were too many reports online of coworkers going missing that were only reported days after the soul was gone. Some of the cases, the others around them only seemed to notice that the person had gone missing at all when they came back seemingly changed in some fundamental way. But I figured that there were probably many cases never even created because those around them thought that they just left.
Whoever was doing this was targeting those that didn't have anyone to miss them, which threw things like randsum and other typical abduction motivations out of the window.
Something made Tsubasa special, the same thing that made them all alluring marks other than the easy availability of most of the targets themselves.
But what?
—-
Aizawa POV
The detective's words were heavy on my mind as I went through my normal patrol route. The night had a cool touch to it despite the season, one that seemed to be rejecting me just as much as I was right now.
Capture the vigilante and bring him in.
Those were my orders.
Capture the boy that's shown all too many signs of suicidal tendencies. A teen that is slowly trusting me, one that I told, all but promised, that I wouldn't try and arrest.
A heavy sigh escapes my lips. Of all of the things that I've been conflicted about during my life, this is one of the things that seemed to be tearing me apart more than ever.
Icarus clearly needs some kind of help, the fact that he was out alone at night risking his life was enough of a red flag without even throwing in whatever the boy thought that he was doing the other night trying to take on three people at once. But arresting the teen could only serve to hurt him more, and it would definitely put a mark on the boy's record.
Sometimes I really don't like my job.
It's been about a week since the meeting with the detective. A week where the small vigilante hasn't shown his face even once. It wasn't uncommon for us to go a few days without seeing one another, even if only seeing one another in passing, but a week was on the line of pushing irregular.
Something dark twisted in my gut at the thought of what the Problem Child could be getting himself into this time.
I don't want to catch him, but maybe if I did I could see about getting Icarus some help along the way.
The thought was the only thing that kept me searching for him that night.
—-
Izuku POV
After doing continuous research for the past week, I decided to go out and patrol. I wanted to put my boots to the test to see how well they held up against jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
The answer was well.
The hatch stayed securely in place throughout the night as I ran, the bow staff inside of the boot never made a sound. The new weight felt a little weird at first, but I put it on my dominant foot for a reason.
I was heading home when I felt someone start to tail me. The presence was barely noticeable,someone used to not being noticed by others, but after being on edge all night from my research, I noticed.
Pausing on a random rooftop, I waited for the shadow to catch up, turning to face whoever it was.
Scarf in hand, the pro hero landed silently on the roof before me, his eyes glowing an angry red as the hair stood up tall. There was a somber look on Eraserhead's face, as if he was being forced to do something that he didn't want to.
"Eraserhead," I called out, staying where I was as the air around us grew thick.
"Icarus," the man started, his voice colder than I've ever heard it, "you need to come with me."
I couldn't help but stumble back at the other's words, surprise taking over my movements.
"You said you wouldn't," my voice was thick with more emotion than it had in it for a long time now as my breaths came in at uneven gasp, "you promised."
The hero sighed, pulling his capture weapon back to get ready to throw it. "I know kid," his voice was laden with something akin to regret, "I know."
The capture swung out at me, something that I just barely avoided since I knew it was coming. I turned quickly, sprinting away from the man as he chased after me, the hero becoming the living embodiment of all of the rules that I'd broken over the past eight months.
I ran and I ran until my breathing became too unsteady to be called breaths anymore, then I ran some more. My feet took me far away from the hero, leading me to the beach that I visited every weekend for scraps, hiding myself upon the piles while my brain struggled to keep up.
I was right back where I was only months ago, hiding among the trash as someone stronger than me chased after me. A quirkless nobody that somehow managed to lose the one of the two people that seemed to almost believe in me. That wanted to help me.
I stayed there until don came and then I stayed some more.
—-
Lugging my tired body home, I snuck in through the window, collapsing onto my bed as the light cascaded into the room as the sun slowly rose. I felt my body curl in on itself as the memories of the night flooded through. Being chased through the darkness like an animal, hiding from someone I'd never thought I would have to hide from.
I didn't leave my room that day.