Izuku's POV

It was late in the afternoon a week after his second meeting with Eraserhead that found him patrolling the city in civilian clothes. His focus for the last week had been on listening to the rumors. He wasnt well known enough to have an information network yet. It was something he was working on but it would take time to build.

Listening to the streets and homeless he was able to gather that there was a possible human trafficking ring. Rumors had it a group was willing to pay big money for anyone with a mental quirk. No one knew who exactly was looking for them but there was a specific homeless woman that they would have to talk to if they wanted to make a deal.

The money being offered was based on the strength of the quirk. Even at its lowest, however, it could change someone's life forever. For the moment Izuku decided to patrol the streets and listen to rumors in his regular clothes. No one would notice a child on their own in this part of town. If they did they wouldn't care about why he was alone.

Moving from one alleyway to the next he made his presence just barely noticeable. People wouldn't glance at him twice on the streets. Hiding his presence was a skill he picked up on patrols.

Powerful gods gave their humans a more powerful presence. This made Izuku hiding his presence difficult. The presence he currently kept was that of an average to weak god. It was practical and unnoticeable to those looking for oddities and power. Practicing carefully on and off of patrols made for long days. He slept very little and dark bags were beginning to form under his eyes. He just couldn't turn his mind off and it showed.

In this, he seemed to be a copycat of Eraserhead. The hero worked at UA as a teacher as well as an underground hero. Two peas in a pod so focused on trying to save others they were unable to take care of themselves.

A cry of pain drew the young vigilante's attention. Ahead of him two boys one with sandy brown hair and the other with purple hair racing towards him. They were being chased by a group of young adults that looked to be high school age.

Calling forth the partial transformation he allowed his arms and legs to become more wolf-like. With it, his senses sharpened and he could smell the scent of fresh blood on the purple-haired boy. He was hurt most likely by one of the teenagers chasing him.

Izuku rushed forward so that he was between the two boys and the group. For a moment the teenagers hesitated at the sight of a partial transformation.

Then one snarled, "Dont interfere brat. We dont want you. We want the two with mental quirks. They are going to change our lives."

Pulling a pen from his pocket he questioned, "Do you think you can get past me? I promise you, you won't like the consequences if you try."

Black flames spun around the lead boy with dark eyes. He snarled, "You're just a little kid who figured out how to force a transformation. What good could you do against me? I have been trained to use anima."

A fierce grin crossed his face as he drew upon his own element and let his true presence flex. Lightning coursed across his body and along the ground. It caused several of the teenagers to flee. Only two remained, the leader and a boy with grey eyes. The other boy looked too scared to run instead of using courage. Good, that meant he would only have to focus on one of them.

The leader lunged at him trying to catch him off guard. To bad for him that Izuku was expecting it. He swiftly sidestepped throwing the other off balance. As he tried to regain his balance Izuku landed a swift kick to the older boy's side. Fueled with the strength of his God and the element the boy was thrown back.

For a long moment the older boy didnt return to his feet. It was obvious that he was winded by the strike. His final goon however took off like a bullet escaping the fight rather than help his friend.

When the teenager returned to his feet he immediately started back in on Izuku. For his part, the green-haired boy simply ducked around the attacks. There wasnt an obvious quirk that he was using that would put the greenette at a disadvantage. Likely it was something embarrassing or useless in this fight. That would be why he was using only anima.

An extended arm cut off that train of thought a second later. It reached nearly three feet away from the main body. That would be the quirk then. It seemed that he had annoyed the other enough to use it.

A pattern began to emerge the teenager would use his quirk or his anima to make different attacks. Izuku was easily able to see through them. If the other had been using them together or in a less predictable pattern he might have been thrown off. When it came down to it though the teenager obviously was unable to think that far ahead.

As soon as he saw an opening he launched the pen with the full force of his anima at the boy. There was a sharp crack of bones breaking as it hit the boy in the chest. For a moment he thought it went too far and maybe he had killed the other. He never wanted to become a murderer and it was highly unlikely that anyone would believe a quirkless. Especially when a quirked teenager was the one dead.

To his relief, however, the teenager let out a pained groan from where he lay. Not dead then just broken ribs that would need to be treated. That Izuku could live with.

Izuku sighed as he watched the teenager slowly get back to his feet, "You should leave. You won't beat me as your god is weaker than my own. If you continue I promise you that you will need a hospital. I dont like human traffickers after all. It makes you a villain."

The teenager flinched before growling, "Those with mental quirks are going to be villains anyway. What is the use of letting them go when we can make money off of them?"

Izuku turned his head to the side as he replied, "Heroes and villains are two sides of the same coin. Your acts currently would make you a villain. Helpless children are not meant to be sold off like animals. Dont let me see you around here again."

The teenager scampered off not looking back at him. It wasnt until he was out of sight that Izuku allowed the partial transformation to fade with a sigh. He may have put on a brave face but that partial transformation took a lot out of him. As he was struggling to find food he did not have enough calories in his system to support unnecessary changes like that.

Still, if he had he wasnt sure that the teenagers would have left to begin with. There was a good chance that they all would have stayed and that would have been too much for him alone.

Izuku turned around only to find the two that had been running behind him. Two sets of eyes were wide with surprise. One was purple-eyed and the other was a deep blue. He expected them to keep running when he stepped in.

The purple-haired boy questioned suspicion clouding his eyes, "Why did you help us? Are you going to try and sell us too?"

"That would make me a hypocrite considering my profession," snarked Izuku lightly as he checked them for injuries.

Thankfully neither boy looked injured in any way. He didnt have any of his medical supplies on him. They were back at his abandoned garage. Meaning they weren't here if he needed them.

Confusion crossed the boys' faces but it didnt take them long to figure it out. When they did the blue-eyed boy almost trembled with excitement.

He exclaimed, "You're the new vigilante, Lykos that patrols the poorer districts of Musutafu. Why are you out so early?"

The purple-haired boy scoffed, "There's no way he's a vigilante Kavar. He looks younger than us. Like a mild wind could push him over."

Izuku folded his arms over his chest and glared at the other boy as he bit back, "Yet it was I who ran off your pursuers. I haven't been around for long but I am working on becoming a great vigilante. Someone who protects those who can't protect themselves. This was just one more step in a case I'm working on now."

Denial would get him nowhere. The one called Kavar already figured out that he was Lykos. Seeing his use of anima had likely given it away.

He didnt know this other boy's name but he could feel the suspicion rolling off of him. Was definitely not someone who trusted easily if at all. Either way, it wasnt really his place to interfere any further. These kids wouldn't have the information he needed. Keeping them with him would only put him at risk. There was also the chance that they could go to the police. He doubted anyone would believe that a nine-year-old was the vigilante that evaded heroes and police alike.

Sighing he moved to go around them and resume his patrol. Instead, Kavar grabbed his upper bicep just above where his sleeve was. It was as if he was avoiding skin contact. Something to do with his quirk?

The boy practically demanded, "You can't leave us here. If you're truly the vigilante Lykos take us with you."

Come again? Why would he want to let two kids stay with him? He was not swimming in free time to spend with these two. They should just return home and forget this ever happened.

Turning back he asked coldly, "Why would I take you with me? Being a vigilante is not an easy life. Taking on the added burden of two others who can't fight is not something I'm interested in. It would be best for you both to get home and try to keep your quirks to yourselves. On top of that, your friend doesn't even believe I'm a vigilante. Go home."

The purple-haired boy looked away his shoulders tightening with anger. It may hurt them to hear that but he couldn't feed himself. They needed the harsh truth if they were going to survive this world. A truth he had known since he was four years old. All men were not created equal. Anyone who said differently was an idealist or a child. The sooner these two learned that the better off they would be.

Kavar's shoulders slumped as he said, "We can't return home. Those kids were from the nearby group home that we all share. If we go back there they would just try again or one of the other kids would. It's not like the adults would do anything to help. They would probably try to sell us themselves."

Well shit. He heard of the horror stories of the foster care system. It was broken and many children who came from it went on to be criminals. Their lot in life only got worse from the moment they were dumped into the system.

Letting them go back to that or for them to try and make it on their own wouldn't work. They would end up freezing or starving to death. The garage wasnt much but it had plenty of room to fit more than one person.

Finding food would be easier with more people. Damn it he really shouldn't be considering this.

Sighing he said, "I still don't like the idea of you staying with me. My situation isn't much better than your own."

"Anything is better than that group home," commented the purple-haired boy, "If we stay there or try to make it out on our own in the streets we will die or worse. Will you help us?"

"Yes," he said a little unwillingly, "I will help you but you have to pull your own weight."

"We can do that."

Izuku made a note to get the name of the group home from them later. After this case was done he could start investigating them. If what these two said was true then a lot more kids could be hurting because of them. And they just might be the lead he needed to capture the human trafficking ring.