Before you begin...

This fic crosses the "Boku no Hero Academia" universe over with the character "Shadow" of SEGA's "Sonic the Hedgehog" universe. I "humanized" Shadow though, because that way he'll fit in much better with the rest of the protagonists.

This story takes place before season three of the anime and All Mights' fight against All for One.

Be aware of the fact, that I'm not a native English speaker. I'll appreciate any form of constructive critic regarding the writing style, tenses and my orthography in this story ;)!

Time to cut the chit-chat off for now. Let's get started!

Enjoy the read.

Chapter 01 - (In)Justice:

- A dark and narrow alleyway in the city. 2.45 AM. It's raining cats and dogs. -

"And who are you supposed to be?", asked a shady looking guys unfriendly voice in a most disrespectful manner. The person on the receiving end of his question, blocking the only way out of that alley, clicked with this tongue and replied to him in a cold tone. "None of your business", he stated. "As you won't see another day, I don't think that it'd make a lot of sense telling you my name. Cowardly low-life scum like you makes me wanna barf all over the place."

That insult flipped a switch inside the thugs' head and he instinctively reached for his loaded gun in the left pocket of his black coat. "Who the hell do you think you are!? Lots of big-mouthed assholes have gotten the 'lead treatment' from me for way less than you just said!" The thug quickly rose his left arm, taking aim for what he made out as the chest of the tall but slender figure that had just threatened him. "And I'm surely not going to make an exception for you!", he yelled as he pulled the trigger of his gun twice. The thick fog in the alleyway didn't allow him to see much, but as the tall silhouette was nowhere to be seen anymore, he was sure that he had successfully hit his target. That'll teach him a lesson. The criminal said to himself, relaxing his body. At least he died without making a fuzz. What a big-mouthed shit he was. Despicable. He further thought.

In the exact same moment, he was about to take a few more steps into the fog and checking out if the person in front of him carried any valuables, he felt an excruciating pain in his back and he screamed out in agony before a hand covered his mouth and slammed his jaw shut with an incredible force.

"Told you, you wouldn't see another day, didn't I", he heard the voice of the person he traded insults with before, say into his left ear. I-impossible, the criminal thought, I just shot this guy! Twice! What the hell is going on here? The slender person could feel how the thug before him was starting to panic and breaking out in cold sweat now. He was visibly exited, but no one besides himself could see the devilish grin on his face in the fog-covered alleyway.

Now trembling and feeling like he's about to pass out any second, the thug looked down on himself as the pain got worse and worse. His eyes widened in horror, as he saw the fist and a portion of the slender ones' forearm glowing in a yellowish tone and covered in blood sticking out of the middle of his upper body. "Now you know how those victims, you shot mercilessly point-blank with a rifle some years ago felt, huh? You were starting to think that no one saw you back then and you'd never have to take responsibility for that crime, right? Disgusting.", continued the taller person in a dark and sadistic voice behind him as he was pulling his fist out of the shaking criminals' body.

The latter immediately sank to his knees, coughing up thick globs of blood, as his lungs were ruptured by the tremendous force of the punch that had hit him in the back.

As the criminal was fighting death while letting out some agonizing noises it quickly became more and more obvious that he'd either soon be taking his last breaths before he would pass out from the massive blood loss caused by the hole in his upper body or suffocate because of his ruptured lung.

The slender guy stepped in front of the almost dead low-life, put two fingers under his chin and raised his head slightly in order to let their gazes meet. His already shocked expression became a manifestation of pure terror the very instant he looked into the slender ones cold, red, glowing eyes.

T-those eyes are going to haunt me into the afterlife. Ugh! Is such a stare even human!? "The name's Shadow by the way. Guardian of all, who cannot fight for themselves. Farewell."

The criminal coughed one last time as if he was trying to reply as the slender figure passed him by, mere instants before his upper body fell flat onto the concrete. As the rain was still falling heavily, the narrow alleyway was being covered more and more in a ruby-red color.

- U.A. Academy main building, the same day. 07.30 AM –

"Deku, w-wait up!" Isuzu immediately stopped in his tracks as he heard a familiar voice rapidly approaching behind him on the hallway. He turned around and waited for the girl behind him to catch up with him before greeting her politely with a sincere smile on his face. "Oh, good morning Uraraka-kun!", he said, "I didn't expect you here so early in the morning. How comes?", the green haired boy asked, scratching the back of his head sheepishly with his right hand.

"Don't tell me you forgot?", Uraraka asked startled. She took the slight blush on Midoriyas face as a "yes" and sighed. Strange. Usually he never forgets about such things, she thought. "We wanted to have a look at our tactics for today's team-training. Does that ring any bells, Deku?", the brown-haired girl asked.

Midoriya flicked his finger excitedly the instance he remembered. "Ha, knew it! Thank you. I had something bugging my mind the whole way to U.A., but I just couldn't put my finger on it anymore. Silly me. I guess I shouldn't have stayed up for so long yesterday but I really couldn't help myself and just had to analyze and take notes on Kacchan's new techniques. He never seizes to amaze me with his skills.", the curly-haired boy stated excitedly. "C'mon let's head to the forum. It should be pretty empty at this time of the day, so we'll easily find a free seat", Deku said, his smile getting bigger and bigger, "and we'll be able to catch the latest hero news!" "The forum it'll be!", the girl behind him said.

As they arrived at U.A.'s forum, they noticed that it was unusually crowded. It was not unusual at all that several 3rd year students, whose lessons begin earlier in the morning, had already gathered in there, but that the vast majority of the teachers also being there was indeed unusual. Intense muttering could be heard in the hall and the two first-year students started to wonder what it may be all about. As they were approaching Aizawa-Sensei to ask him what the big deal was, they whole crowd was abruptly silenced by principal Nezu shouting "Quiet everybody. They'll start any second!".

Uraraka and Midoriya looked at each other with a puzzled expression on their faces. What could've been so important, that even the principal himself had come here? Mere instants later, the daily news' jingle already rang in their ears. The News? At this time of the day? Usually they won't start before 8.15 AM. What in the world has happened? Midoriyas muttering was interrupted by the sudden appearance of All Might next to him, the latter putting a hand on his shoulder greeting him with his usual big smile and a "thumbs up" as he clearly didn't want to speak up and upset the principal.

Uraraka, Deku and All Might shifted their attention to one of the huge flatscreens in the forum and began to listen to what the news-reporter had to say.

"Good morning everybody. We're broadcasting live from 7th Avenue where just minutes ago a wanted murderer, has been found dead by police agents in an alleyway. The killed delinquent, who had been suspected to have murdered several people mercilessly using a shotgun. Thanks to a face-changing quirk the suspect was able to fool the policy and several heroes countless times, getting away unpunished. As it seems, the suspect met his own end in a not less horrifying way than his victims did. The two police agents reported, that he sported a massive hole in his upper body and was completely blood-drenched. His guts were scattered all over the place and he had a terrified expression on his face too. Whatever he must have seen before he passed away must've been unthinkably shocking to him.

The asassin is very likely equipped with a power-magnification quirk, 'cause whoever slaughtered that man must have done so with overwhelming bare-fist power. "

The reporter stopped for a second, lowering his gaze to the ground before he returned to his original pose. "Today marks the third time in this year on which a criminal who killed his "targets" in gruesome ways, met a fate like this. It is also the third time the police found a pitch-black business-card next to the killed individual with the phrase "Now this low-life knows how his victims must have felt. Justice has been served." written in red color on them. As of now, there is no sign of the Vigilante responsible for murdering the wanted criminals. All we know for now is, that he or she shows up somewhere in the city and brings criminals to wicked, untrue justice. Hugh Brabblefuzz of Channel 6, your trusted hero news broadcaster, over and out. "

In just 5 minutes, Dekus facial color had turned from a healthy shade of pink to almost paper white. He had unconsciously covered his mouth with his right hand, as he often does out of a reflex when he's shocked. This time though, he also had to prevent himself from throwing up. The footage the channel had shown a little while ago and the thought that some crazy "murderer-murder" with a very fucked-up idea of justice in his mind was still running around freely, were a lot to handle that early in the morning.

Following an exchange of gazes with a not less terrified Uraraka on his right side, he tilted his head to the left-hand side, only to realize that All-Might had already left the forum. A gut-feeling told Midoryia not to follow his mentor this time. He needed to take a few deep breaths to get grounded with both feet in reality again. The sound of a well-known voice did the rest. "L-let's have a seat, Deku. We do still need to prepare ourselves." "Oh, r-right", Midoriya said, shaking his head a few times from the left to the right, still regaining his composure, "we wanted to go over our team tactics. Sorry, I guess I got carried away a bit by that news report. Let's have a seat over there, OK?", the green-haired boy asked pointing his index finger at a comfy-looking set of chairs and a table on their right-hand side.

- U.A. Academy, Teachers' Meeting Room 01, 07.50 AM –

"Thank you all for coming in such short notice. As all of you already heard todays' news report, I guess the reason behind this gathering is self-explanatory, right?", asked a fluffy and cute looking white animal while sipping a cup of tea.

"You can bet it is, Nezu-san.", All Might replied almost instantly.

"Since you know the most about guy, I suggest that you take the lead of this meeting. Is that OK for you?"

"Works for me. I'll do my best, Nezu-san." The No.1 hero stopped for an instant in order to close the room's shades and activating the sound-insulation so not a single noise could escape the room.

"The information I'll share with you now has been entrusted to me many years ago. It has a grade-10 governmental confidentiality score, that's why none of it can leave this room and the reason why only the elite of U.A. teachers have been assembled here. Everyone who wishes rather not to see this information shall leave now." As expected, no one even attempted to get out of his/her chair.

"Very well. You have made your choice. I'll start the presentation now."

Yellow letters on black ground appeared on the big screen. They read "PROJECT: SHADOW"

- End of chapter 01 -