In a spartan apartment, a figure laid on a couch asleep. A TV droned softly in front of the couch, bathing the black clad man in muted colours, the light battling the darkness in the room.
He shifted in his sleep, disturbing the yellow sleeping bag that rested atop him, a grey scarf loosely hanging around the man's eyes.
A phone rang abruptly, the piercing sound shattering whatever semblance of peace the room had.
The man jerked into alertness, sitting up violently. The gray scarf fell off, revealing blood red eyes. Still evidently not fully awake, the man groped around him, finally finding the source of the ringing.
As he brought the phone to his ear, he turned his exhausted eyes to the TV screen. They widened.
"I'm on my way."
Minutes later, the spartan room was again empty, the TV still softly blaring.
On the screen, a small boy was clutching a smaller girl close, facing down a giant.
"I will be a hero." Izuku murmured to himself, repeating it under his breath like a mantra. The boy was pushing himself far past his limits. Even as he walked away from the shaft he had created with his own immense power, his legs shook with fatigue, and his shoulders hunched ever lower.
There was a scream, a gurgle, and a furious roar behind him, but Izuku ignored it, forcing himself to keep going. He clutched the injured girl closer to him, her whire hair tickling his nose.
"I'm going to get you out of here." Izuku told the girl. She looked at him fearfully, her widened terrified eyes telling him all he needed to know of what she thought of that.
To be fair, Izuku wasn't quite sure how he was still functioning either.
The roar sounded again, this time much closer, and Izuku felt, more than heard, the girl scream out in fright.
Izuku shifted, pivoting on his feet to protect the girl with his body. Death was nothing new to him, but he doubted the girl would be nearly as inclined to it.
A massive fist caught Izuku in the chin, and Izuku died, again.
Eri was terrified and confused. She rested on the boy's chest , feeling his warm arms wrapped around her, and the rapid beating of his heart.
She cried silently, tears trailing down her cheeks as she witnessed her would-be rescuer struggle on. Whatever strength he had been using to repel the bad man had evidently left him.
She shifted her head up and rested against his shoulder so she could look behind them, hoping against hope that the bad man wouldn't be coming.
She heard the roar, and she screamed. She pressed her face into the crook of the boy's neck, silently sobbing.
'I'm sorry,' she thought. 'He's going to kill you too,' she thought. 'And it's all my fault'.
Rough concrete suddenly scraped at her skin as she fell to the ground. She turned around, and watched the boy defend her with the only shield he had left, his body.
Eri could only watch helplessly as a massive fist connected with the boy's chin.
A sickening crack was heard, and the boy collapsed to his knees, and then finally to the ground.
Even then, there was no restraint, no mercy shown. The boy was pummelled further into the ground
"Please." Eri mumbled quietly, watching the boy that had rescued her be driven further and furrher into the unforgiving concrete. "Please, stop it!"
"This is what you get Eri!" The man roared, driving another fist into the unmoving boy. "You're cursed! This is what happens to the people who try to help you!"
Eri could only look down, her vision blurring. Red and blue lights began to blare around them, but Eri ignored them, looking at the hand coming now to reach her.
"Come on Eri. We have more work to do."
When Eri hesitated, the man sneered, raising a hand and gestured around them. Only then did Eri notice the blue clad men and women around them, silhouetted by the blaring lights. "Do you want to kill them too, Eri?"
Eri forced herself to go up, walking to the offered hand. She had killed one person tonight already. She closed her eyes, sure that the hand was about to wrap around her. Maybe she was really cursed.
"That's a first…" A rough, stentorian voice was heard from the pavement.
Eri snapped open her eyes, only to see the massive figure of the badman blasted back, a surge of green lighting flashing brilliantly.
Suddenly feeling a bit of hope surge within her, her eyes turned to the crater, seeing her rescuer walking out of it, somehow appearing unharmed.
"Haven't been beaten to death before" The boy finished, rolling his shoulders.
The beaked monster roared in anger, and Eri watched, hands clenched over her lap as the boy fought for her.
He returned the monster's roar with a howl, green electricity again flickering over his extremities as he stood his ground, standing before her.
Izuku breathed lowly, watching the bastard who'd tortured him and the girl behind him piece himself together.
His neck still ached. His quirk was annoyingly specific when it came to resisting causes of death.
Still, he thought as he issued his challenge, howling as he let his bioelectricity coat his hands, it was nice to know that his neck was impervious to being broken like that again.
"This is a stalemate, boy." The monster laughed. "I can't be killed, and neither can you. Give it up."
Izuku clenched his fists, feeling supernatural strength surging through them again. They glowed a faint green.
"Even if you can't be killed." Izuku spoke, his voice sounding almost sepulchral. "You can still die."
Izuku took a step forward. "Let's see how many times it takes until you crack…" The boy whispered, something deeply unnerving lurking within his eyes.
The massive and malformed giant stiffened, looking down at the boy, creating a nearly biblical scene, reminiscent of David and Goliath.
Rain gently began to fall, raining around the two combatants.
Izuku, when asked, would never know who charged first, or who through the first punch.
Al he remembered was him extending his hands as he caught a fist, the concrete and asphalt fracturing underneath as the two momentums warred.
He recalled winning the contest and forcing the man back. He recalled leaping atop him, driving fists wreathed with green lightning into what passed for a face over and over again.
He didn't recall how long he did that for. All he could recall was the steady patter of the rain, the pounding of his fists, and his furious screams as he returned several years of abuse in full.
The next thing he remembered was a glowing red eyes, and a comfortable black arm wrapping around his shoulders, pulling him into an embrace.
He recalled a rough and fatigued voice.
"Kid, you won, he's done. Let go."
I apologize for my inactivity as of late. Currently life's been very chaotic. Wrapping up my degree, and in the process of joining the Canadian Forces. Following a pretty heavy physical regime, work, and university haven't left much time for me to do anything else.
For now, this little 1.1k chapter is the best I can do. I'll try my best to update my other stories, I do have a chapter in the works for Sword and Shield, I've been working on that when I can, but it's been slow. I'll try get it out within the month at least.
Sorry.