Disclaimer: This is purely a fan work and I own nothing
Safe in his back up warehouse, Stain tuned the settings of an ancient machine, hoping to hit the right frequency.
The machine crackled, and I finally, he overheard the kid's voice, "I can't let him hurt you." Despite the crackling of the old radio, Stain recognized the voice belonging to Midoriya Izuku.
Stain smirked. "Must be talking to that partner with the pink hair."
He thought back to what he had yelled to the boy - impulsive anger had taken over him, but Stain just laughed it off. Killing innocents was below him, and he was more concerned with killing the present of Heroes. Still, Midoriya was becoming a pain in his side, and he had...urges to make the boy suffer. No, he wouldn't kill the kid's mom...but Midoriya was a mama's boy. Let's see him sleep now.
But something about this kid fascinated him. He was a seedling. He wanted to see how Midoriya grew. A Quirkless boy playing with toys, making an attempt to be a Hero. It was...not something The Hero Killer had seen before. It was when he decided to test the kid's mental fortitude.
"Well Midoriya. You have two weeks," Stain leaned back in his chair, "Show me what kind of Hero you are. And I'll see what needs to be done with you."
Day 1 - Saturday
Bright and early Saturday morning, Midoriya sprang out of bed from an uneasy sleep, and after a brief breakfast, he excused himself to head to the Hatsume residence.
"You're spending an awful lot of time with that girl from your class," Inko said, suspiciously. "I thought you were seeing the frog girl from the Hero course?"
I-I can't tell my mom I'm making weapons with Hatsume! Midoriya panicked. "I-it's complicated."
Inko frowned. "You better not be two-timing anyone, Izuku! I raised you better than that! Just because you're not a Hero doesn't mean you can be a lecherous scoundrel!"
"Th-that's not the case mom, I promise! We're working on Support Summer Course Work!" Midoriya blushed, frantically waving his hands around in front of him. M-maybe I'd have been better off telling her I'm a vigilante.
Humiliated, he grabbed his battle backpack (after what happened in the park, he never left home without it), and left his home to grab the bus, looking over his shoulder the whole time. It occurred to him that the time limit could have been a ruse or an angry outburst. But considering Stain seemed to have a flare for the dramatic, he wasn't going to take the chance. He would not risk his mother or any of his classmates getting hurt.
Making it across town, Hatsume once again threw the door open before he had even gotten on the porch. "Took you long enough! Come on, let's get to work!"
They hit the basement, and Hatsume unfurled a large blueprint roll.
"Hatsume, did you," Midoriya began, but she interrupted him.
"Yes, Midoriya, I slept. I went to bed right after I wrote down the ideas."
"Okay, good," Midoriya sighed. "What do you got?"
"Well, let's be honest," Hatsume began, pulling her goggles down, "You were a bit outmatched when it came to hand to hand combat. And by a bit, I mean a lot."
"Y-yeah," Midoriya agreed, rubbing the back of his head. "Not my best moment."
"He could get in close, he just had to avoid your fists, which didn't seem to be a problem. That's why..." Hatsume pointed to the drawing by the arms of the suit, "we put in two, foot-long spikes on each arm, mounted just below the top of the wrist. Extends your reach, and they can puncture walls so you can climb them with the help of your spider things."
"Versatile!" Midoriya smiled. "I like it, that will help keep him off me. Now, about the plates...he was able to get the few gaps between plates. I was thinking a thin layer of kevlar to catch any blades. It's the best we can do."
"I like it, we'll just have to make sure we don't cut off all the ventilation!" Hatsume beamed. "That should keep him from paralyzing you."
"Actually, I had an idea for a failsafe idea if he does manage to get some of my blood." Midoriya said, taking out a piece of paper and showing her some notes he scribbled down. "What do you think?"
The inventor's eyes sparkled with excitement as she read the plans. "Oh man, Deku Scrub, you are speaking my language! I AM INTO THIS! What are we standing around for?! We've babies to make!"
The two geared up all their items from Hatsume's workbench.
A few hours into the work, Deku stopped to check a text, and smiled as he saw the selfie Tsuyu had send of her and Uraraka at the pool.
-I really do wish you could be here or go to camp with us. I'm excited to see you when we get back!-
The photo filled Midoriya with a renewed sense of vigor. He had no doubts in Tsuyu or Uraraka's combat ability, to be sure, but if he could help it, he'd never let the Hero Killer get close to anyone he cared for ever again. This was his new mission, and he couldn't let them, his mom, Power Loader, Hatsume, or anyone down.
-You too, Tsu! I hope you have fun at camp :) Text me if you can, if not, just have a good time.-
"Hey, get off your phone, Scrub! We have kevlar to install!" Hatsume yelled from over the noise of her power drill.
"Right, sorry Mei!"
It took the rest of the day to weave a thin layer of kevlar between each of the plates to give a protective barrier to snag any knives that could make it in the cracks, although it wouldn't stop the katana if Stain managed to shove it through the plate. Afterwards, they only had time to calibrate the aim of the palm-mounted flamethrowers before Midoriya got an angry phone call from his mother summoning him back home.
"Ugh, can't she just let you stay here, we're wasting valuable time!" Hatsume groaned.
"I-I d-don't think my mom would like me staying at your house," Midoriya stuttered, "f-for obvious reasons."
Hatsume blushed slightly too, "Right right, I get it. Anyway, get your butt over here tomorrow as soon as you can."
He nodded. "Alright. Have uh..." A mischievous smile spread across Midoriya's face as he finished, "have some good dreams."
"SHUT UP!"
Day 2 - Sunday
Alarm blaring, Midoriya groaned as he rolled over. It was Sunday, and while he should be sleeping in, he pulled himself out of his bed. He could sleep when Stain was behind bars.
He grabbed some fruit from the fridge, scribbled a note to his mother, and stumbled out of their apartment to the street so he could once again head to the Hatsume residence.
As usual, she had the door open before he could knock, and this time handed him a mug of coffee.
"I don't drink cof-," he started, but she held a finger up to his lips.
"Drink the caffeine," Hatsume commanded.
He did, and the two set to work, this time testing the suit to make sure it wouldn't overheat from their new additions. They had worked to re-ventilate the suit, and after a few hours of test runs, it seemed to be properly airing out even during strenuous, heat-producing actions
Returning to the basement, they installed his wrist-spikes, making them spring loaded, and ran several tests on them to make sure they would not fly out of the suit or activate unless Midoriya flicked his wrists in just the right way.
"Make sure when you use them growl and say," Hatsume took her best brooding pose, "I'm the best at what I do, bub."
"I would never say that!" Midoriya laughed.
With that done, Midoriya turned to the workbench to build a few more glue grenades. "I wish he could make the projectile systems on the arms faster, he dodged everything."
"Any more pressure in those tubes and your grenades risk exploding on your back," Hatsume replied, "I'll see what I can do, though. If there's one thing I know, it's explosions."
"Don't worry if it's too risky. I need to get some good shots on him," Midoriya replied, "Maybe focus on the thing we talked about yesterday."
"Awesome, I was excited for that!" Hatsume half-shouted, giddily running to a corner where she had dismantled a bunch of old radios and other such items to begin building the modifications, "Stain won't know what hit him!"
"That's the plan!" Midoriya agreed from across the room.
"Hey, speaking of..." Hatsume said, unscrewing a few plates to get to the central processing and wiring, "It's cool we're making this better, but how are we supposed to find Stain again? The tracker was a dud, we know he's not going to return to the same warehouse."
"I have...some ideas..." Midoriya replied. "But first there are a few additions I want to make on the suit that may take a few days..."
Hatsume turned to him, grinning. "MORE additions?! Deku Scrub, you are making this the greatest summer break a girl could hope for!"
He laughed, "W-well, I'm glad you think so. Why don't I make some more coffee?"
"I'm down for that, I'm going to be here awhile." Hatsume beamed, "Sleep is for the weak!"
Day 5 - Wednesday
Midoriya texted Hatsume that morning to let her know he was going to be a bit late. When asked why, he told her and she understood completely.
He grabbed a different bus, and after a short ride, made his way over to the graveyard, stepping in front of Bakugou's memorial. From his pockets, he pulled two small cans of soda. "Brought you your favorite, Kacchan."
He set the can gently down on top of the grave. Cracking his open, he took a sip. "You had weird taste, Kacchan. It's a bit too sweet for me."
Midoriya took a deep breath and sat down next to the grave. "I'm sorry I haven't been back since the Sports Festival. To be honest, part of me wonders if I let you down by not killing the Sludge guy. I feel like...I feel like it's what you would have done."
The wind rustled Midoriya's bushy hair. "I guess I'm not you though. I'm sure you'd remind me of that if you were here. In the end, I did it my way. Hopefully...hopefully that's enough, and you can be at peace."
Taking another drought from the can, he sighed, "I wonder what it would be like, if somehow we both made it into UA. Maybe we would have learned how to get along better again. I'm not sure. I miss you, Kacchan. I'm sure you'd punch me for that. But I miss how things were when we were little. Before we fought on the playground that day."
Midoriya looked at his phone. He supposed he should get going. He and Hatsume had big plans for tonight. "Oh...I saw your mom the other day. She came over to visit my mom. She's...she's been doing a lot better since they found your body. I hope...I hope that makes you feel better, wherever you are. I should go though. I'll be sure to visit soon."
A strong gust of wind blew the can off the grave and into Midoriya's shoulder, causing the teen to burst out laughing. "Fine, you ass, I won't visit TOO often."
As Midoriya made his way down to the basement, he was greeted by the all too familiar sight of Hatsume's grinning face. "Hey Deku Scrub! How ya doing?"
He noticed her tone was slightly gentler than usual; as he got to know her, he found she was occasionally, able to be tactful. It just took great effort. "Great! So where are we?"
"I finished that speaker system you started yesterday - good job, by the way," Hatsume answered, "and I finished the main project." She pulled her goggles up. "Are you sure about tonight?"
Midoriya nodded. "I'm positive. It's the best way to rattle him. And I found the best place for it."
Hatsume beamed. "Okay. Let's run a few tests, and get you out there tonight."
Midoriya and Hatsume both pulled down their goggles. They were in for a long night.
Midnight rolled around, and Midoriya stood, full suit, on top of a roof next to the seediest bar he could find on the dark web.
"You got the specs, Mei?" He asked.
"Of course, your intel was right," Hatsume said over the comlink, "no security cameras, no sprinklers, and a regular bust location. We don't know what kind of Quirks the guys in there might have, but you're insulated against electric attacks. Be ready for anything."
"Alright. Wish me luck." Midoriya replied.
"Luck is for chumps and you don't need it," Hatsume retorted, "Go kick some ass."
Midoriya jumped down in front of the bar and kicked the door off the hinges, resulting in a crowd of about twenty angry looking men and women turning on him.
Point his flamethrowers at the crowd, he yelled through the speakers on his shoulders. "One of you knows where Stain is. Whoever tells me doesn't get their ass kicked."
This was enough to set off the bar of criminals. A man with bull horns charged him, head down, to plow him through the wall. Using the power stabilizers in the suit, he grabbed the bull by the horns, literally, pivoted his hips and threw him through the weak glass window. Turning back to the rest of the patrons, he sighed. "Next?"
About five ne'er-do-wells drew guns and fired at the boy, who just rolled his eyes as the bullets harmlessly bounced off his armor and the bullet-proof glass that had been installed on his visor. He fired two glue grenades, encasing all five of them and another surrounding four people in a thick sludge, immobilized and guns jammed via the thick goop.
"Okay, so is anyone going to take me up on my offer to talk?" Midoriya asked, walking towards the bar. The bartender leapt from the bar, and his fist turned into a boulder as he lunged. Impressive as it was, Midoriya had better instincts, and was able to grab the man's head in his hands and slam him face-first against the bar, knocking him out.
The remaining patrons ran for the door, so Midoriya turned and froze the exit with a block of ice from a cryogrenade, and with the rest of them rounded up, he deployed another round of glue grenades, sticking them in place, the entire bar rounded up.
"You guys are rude." Midoriya griped. He turned to see the man with bull horns stumble to his feet, so he shot one last glue grenade out the window and froze him in place as well.
"Okay, new game." Midoriya yelled over the shouts of confusion. "Anyone with any intel about Stain doesn't have to have a run in with the cops tonight."
His offer was meet with nothing but yelling and cursing. "Anything on facial recognition?"
"Wouldn't you know it, all of them have warrants out," Hatsume quipped into his ear. "Can't imagine why they wouldn't want to cooperate..."
"Well, guess that means we go with Plan B," Midoriya shrugged, hopping out the window. He turned back to the group of low level thugs he had just busted and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Have fun in jail?"
Day 6 - Thursday
From Hatsume's living room, the two Support Students sat on her couch, sipping coffee and eating cold pizza, watching the news report of their, "field test."
"And in news of the Hero Killer Stain, who had was reportedly sighted near the red carpet premiere of, 'Ain't No Mountain Lady Enough,' is once again making headlines, but not for what he's done now - it appears he's been called out again by a mysterious Vigilante." The news lady reported with a fake smile.
The camera panned over to a shot of the bar that Deku had raided last night, now taped off and surrounded by police cars.
"Police were called to the scene of what looked to be an all out bar brawl, resulting in the capture of twenty wanted felons and fugitives, all caught in a weird, strange glue." The reported continued.
"The best part about the glue is that the only people who know I use it are you and Stain," Midoriya said, leaning over to her, "so they can't trace it back to me from the Sports Festival or anything."
"Don't be a gloryhog," Hatsume rolled her eyes, smiling nonetheless, "though it does feel pretty cool knowing we took down twenty villains using nothing but our babies. Suck it, Quirks!"
The clinked their mugs together as they watched the rest of the newscast.
"The identity of the vigilante is unknown, however he did leave a note that reads: The beatings will not stop until Stain is captured. Courtesy of Mt. Lady." The newscaster read.
"Nice touch giving credits to out to someone we know Stain hates." Midoriya added. "That's was an even better idea."
"Well, we can't take the credit for it," Hatsume beamed, "And it will piss him off more if Heroes he thinks are fake are getting undeserved credit for busting bad dudes."
"We reached Mt. Lady for comment, and this is what she had to say," the news reporter continued, surprising the two students. They didn't think she'd give a comment. The two teens leaned forward to listen.
"I mean, I suppose it's flattering," Mt. Lady huffed, "but I definitely don't shoot any gross goo out of my body. I can only assume whoever did this is a big fan of mine and has impeccable taste. But if there are any vigilantes out on the streets using their Quirks unlicensed, rest assured, I will bring them to justice, because that is my job as a Hero!"
"Oh look! Look in the background!" Hatsume pointed, causing Midoriya to lean forward to squint, "It's Mr. Power Loader! He's with her!"
"No way!" Midoriya laughed. "Think they're dating for real?"
"That would be the craziest thing!" Hatsume laughed as well. "Maybe he won her over."
The news moved on to other topics, so the two decided it was time to get to work, and went down to the basement, admiring their work on the suit. "You build more glue grenades, and I'll check the Deep Web for rumblings on Stain?" Hatsume suggested.
Midoriya nodded. "Yeah. See if you can find another bar or small time place for me to topple again tomorrow if no one has any sightings. I don't know if we'd have him rattled already, but we need keep the pressure on to find him before our two weeks are up."
"What if he sees through this? We need to have a way to for sure drag him out." Hatsume replied. "Don't you have to leave soon, by the way? Where were you and your mom going?"
"Not for a few hours, I promised my mom I'd be home for dinner. She wants to go to that little sushi place on the outside of town. I love it there." Midoriya said. "And I'm worried about that too. But how do we trap him?"
"The only concrete thing we know is his Quirk works on you for two minutes, and that he's got it out for most Heroes who aren't All Might. Specifically, Mt. Lady and Power Loader for now," Hatsume hummed as she thought about it. "We've got to be able to use that for something, but we don't know what they're doing day to day."
"I'm sure we can figure it out," Midoriya said, beginning to mix the chemical compound for his glue grenade, "Stain always seems to know where a Pro would be. Maybe we can find the schedules of the Pros he's killed on old Deep Web archives or something?"
"I'm all over that." Hatsume replied. "You got a list."
"Yeah, it's in my back pocket, just gimme a sec, my hands are covered in gunk - AH!" Midoriya yelled.
Hatsume, ever the impatient one, just walked over and stuck her hand in his back pocket, grabbing the list and making him turn beet red. "Got it!"
"You're going t-to m-make me mess up this b-batch!" He objected, "w-warn me next time you do something like that!"
"Time is of the essence, Izuku!" Hatsume laughed. "Hey, you been doing squats?"
"C-cut that out!"
Dinner with his mom was exactly what Izuku needed, although, she did convince him to leave his backpack. She took him to his favorite sushi place, and sitting across from her, he felt at ease. He hadn't allowed himself to feel at ease since he had stopped Stain from killing Mt. Lady. It was nice, he had forgotten what it was like to be a normal teenager for a minute.
"So...tell me about this girl who's been taking you from me the whole week," Inko teased her son.
Izuku's face burned. "M-mom, cut it out! Hatsume and I just build stuff together."
"Mhmm," Inko hummed in a disbelieving tone, "so tell me why her and not any of your other classmates."
Izuku paused and picked at his roll. "Hmm...fair question I guess. Well...I guess...I trust her with my inventions? And she trusts me with hers? And when we're together we give each other really good ideas. Like...we kind of inspire each other? And she has this energy about her that's really admirable, it makes me excited to see what our work can do. Maybe it's..."
"You're starting to mutter, dear." Inko laughed.
Izuku blushed again as he saw his mom absolutely beaming at him. "D-don't give me that look!"
"I can't help it, you should see your face when you talk about her." Inko laughed once more, more heartily that time. "You sound absolutely taken with her, sweetheart!"
Izuku rolled his eyes - and that's when he saw him.
Stain.
Stain was right outside the shop.
Looking. Right. At him.
Izuku dropped his chopsticks in shock. With his full attention, the Hero Killer gave him a small, seemingly non-threatening wave, before turning and running off.
"I uh..." Izuku stammered, "I-I have to use the restroom!"
He stumbled out of his seat and made a mad dash for the door. Looking up and down the empty street, he saw no sign of the villain. He peaked around the corners. Nothing not a trace.
Shaken, Midoriya walked back into the shop, sitting across from his mother, wordlessly. He looked up at her and nearly choked. He couldn't let her come to harm.
"There you are!" Inko sighed. "I'm stuffed. You want to take the rest home?"
Izuku just nodded. He had lost his appetite.
As soon as they were in the car he texted Hatsume to make sure she was okay. She answered right away, unharmed. He sent her a detailed message about what happened.
-Are you sure you saw him? Maybe your mind is playing tricks on you.-
Izuku scowled at his phone, but he understood why she might think that.
-No. I know what I saw. I don't get it.-
-Well, who did you talk to about sushi? There was no way he'd just be there at random- Was Hatsome's reply.
Izuku's eyes widened.
-Just you. Mei, he bugged the suit! He bugged the suit when we were fighting! He's heard everything we've talked about the whole week!-
-OH SHIT! SHOULD WE TAKE IT APART?! Don't make me take apart the baby, Deku Scrub-
Izuku's hands trembled as he hastily replied.
-No. Find the bug but leave it. I have an idea.-
A serene, somewhat deranged smile formed across his face. Izuku knew exactly how to trap Stain now.