Paths Of A Hero
Summary: Hero or Vigilante? What is the difference? It used to be black and white, a boundary so sharp cut that many have found themselves in pieces just for approaching it. So why is it blurring now, as Eraserhead tries to keep his head low while unwittingly gaining 20+ kids, at least three Pro Hero friends and seems to have caught the eye of All Might himself, all the while his past is persistently trying to catch up to him?
"You've looked better," a voice greets and Iida Tensei can't help the chuckle that escapes him, knowing who his visitor was even before he looked towards the window. There, standing on the ledge with the white, semi-transparent hospital curtains only partially blocking him from view, was the familiar black form of Eraserhead, capture weapon snug around his neck and iconic yellow goggles in place.
"I see security is rather slack despite me being the victim of an attempted murder. By Stain, no less," he says with irony and his old friend - as reluctantly as they've started out, snorts, dropping from the window into the room on feet as silent as death's prowl. Eraserhead had always moved like a cat, all easy grace and deathly silence. Tensei remembered when it used to drive him insane how easily the man could come up behind him or sneak away at the drop of a hat.
The early stages of their 'working relationship' were rocky, as Eraserhead would come to his aid but Ingenium would then try his damnedest to capture and arrest him. Of course, he'd never succeeded, despite technically being faster than the Vigilante. But, well, Eraser had more maneuverability as corners and wider or narrower, longer or shorter streets made no difference to him when he could just swing whichever way he wanted with that capture weapon of his. And that's not mentioning the fact the guy could scale a ten story building in a couple of seconds. Ingenium has simply never worked with a flying Hero or had a sidekick that could fly. Grave oversight, now that he thinks about it, but he's not overly sure if even that would have been of any help in apprehending the man.
He's heard enough stories from Hawks or Ryukyu to know Eraser always had a backup plan ready, no matter which Hero(s) he's running from.
They were just damn lucky he's a Vigilante and not a villain.
"How are you feeling?" The secret worrywart asks and Tensei takes a moment to consider before answering truthfully. He'd just be taking up Eraserhead's time when he'd called the man all the way to Hosu for a completely different reason.
"The painkillers keep the worst of the aches at bay, but that's not really what bothers me. No Hero worth their salts hasn't avoided being acquainted with at least a few dozen hospital beds, after all. What's bothering me, though, is that I can feel my Quirk in my veins but I know I can't use it. Not if I want to keep my legs from exploding. Stain was very throughout when he destroyed the engines. I ... I also haven't told the doctors yet that I don't really feel my legs from the knees down. They know I'll never be able to walk again because too many of my muscles and ligaments have been torn and cut up, but ... I think I have some serious nerve damage, too, and I don't know what to think about that. Should I tell my parents and younger brother? They worry too much already as it is ... "
"So Ingenium truly is, once and for all, retired from Heroics? What a loss for this community," Eraser says solemnly and Tensei wants to smile at his very strange friend but can't find it in himself. He can keep up a smile for his brother, because he doesn't want Tenya to worry even more, but Eraserhead would see right through it so why bother, anyway, right? Save the smiles for his fretting family.
"I wouldn't say that," he corrects gently, finding it in himself to grin in pride when he thinks of Tenya in his Hero costume. "My little bro will soon enough be zooming around the streets, all white, shiny armor and powerful engines, carrying the name Ingenium and doing it greater justice than I ever could. He has the makings of a Hero that I could only envy."
"Yet you worry enough to call me, a Vigilante, to keep an eye out for him in this city."
The older Iida brother sobers instantly. "It is because he respects you as much as he respects me that I ask this of you, my friend. I know my brother; he's been acting like he's taking the news of my injuries and their lasting effects okay, but I see the despair, the anger and the hatred in his eyes and I worry. I worry that he'll do something that he will regret for the rest of his life and that will ruin his dreams to become a Hero. If I were to bring my worries to anyone else, they'd take him out of the internship program immediately, but he needs this if he wants to be a Pro one day. But he also needs guidance and since I can't provide it," he shrugs as best as he could without causing himself any undue pain. "Well, I can't think of anyone else better than you."
"There are a lot of people better for that role than me."
"Are there? Funny, because from what I've heard, it was Vigilante Eraserhead that had appeared out of nowhere like some comic superhero and saved the day. Or at least protected the student's of Tenya's class until the actual Heroes arrived. You, All Might and Thirteen ... You did your best and took a lot of damage because of it."
"Mister Blaster was there, too."
Tensei waves the other off. "Kudos for trying, but Sensoji hadn't really done anything but make himself a liability. The kids ended up having to protect him, not the other way around. I've read all the reports, Eraser, and Tenya himself had told me the whole story in horrifying detail. It's you those kids respect now more than any other adult figure in their lives baring maybe All Might himself, but he is the Number One Hero we've all grown up loving and admiring, so that's kind of an unfair competition right there. Though, that might have changed." Tensei grinned teasingly at the embarrassed huff that came from his visitor. "Oh, yeah. I've seen the footage from the awards ceremony at the end of the First Years' Sports Festival. I watched it with Tenya and we were both very impressed. That was gutsy. Also more showy and impulsive than I thought you had it in you."
"Believe me, that's as far as my impulse control would allow me to go. I nearly yelled at that idiot during Bakugo's and Uraraka's fight when he'd started booing a kid doing his goddamned best in a competition. And it's not like Uraraka herself was complaining but was rather taking it like a champ. Seriously, some people are just illogical."
The injured Pro couldn't help but laugh out loud at that, a full on, deep belly laugh. Seriously, Eraserhead could sometimes be quite hilarious when he grumbled about how 'illogical' or 'irrational' people and Heroes villains can be. His views were never wrong, given he rationalizes them himself, but when he delivers some big thought with such a deadpan tone it sounds like a joke and just compels you to laugh. But then you think back on his words and start looking for the signs and then you see it. Eraser never jokes. No matter how funny some of the things he says sound, he never jokes.
"Yeah, I guess I can see it that way, when you look at it," he agrees with a few more chuckles. "A very you view. But you're just proving my point, you know."
"What point?"
"That there's no one better for the role that I am asking you to play."
"Tensei-"
"Look, Eraser. I may not know what you really look like nor do I know your name or history, but I do know that there is no one better on this damned continent, at the very least, who is better at dealing with kids than you. No one. You're simply a natural." Eraserhead goes suddenly and unexpectedly very tense. Tensei can't, for the life of him, figure out why because it's not exactly a secret that Eraser's good with kids like no one's business. He's almost famous for it among the Pros and policemen that don't try to arrest him on the spot. "And Tenya and all his friends and classmates trust you and you just keep doing things that reaffirms that trust. So I trust you to keep a proper eye on Tenya and, should it happen, stop him from making a stupid mistake. He trusts you and he will listen to you if you tell him not to do it."
"It's not about telling him he shouldn't do it," the other man says after a pause. "It's about him realizing why he shouldn't do it. If I just tell him 'No', that won't stick. One day, a coworker, a friend or a loved one will be injured or worse. Maybe I won't be around when it happens, so who will tell him 'No' a second time? And it will only be worse if it happens when he's a Pro. The name Ingenium is already associated with the Hero Killer. If your brother were to exact revenge on someone in the future, this incident will no doubt be brought up and your entire family will be dragged through the mud, disgraced and ridiculed. Worse yet, the faith in Heroes in general will be rocked. Don't you remember a few years ago when Endeavor's oldest son suddenly disappeared from the hospital after his Quirk nearly burned him alive? We had All Might to stabilize the situation by simply being an example of all a Hero should be." Tensei couldn't see Eraser's eyes because of his goggles, but he could have sworn the man rolled them anyway at that last bit. Well, Eraser never had agreed with the way the media hounded the Number One Hero nor the reckless way he approached most situations. "Will your brother have All Might, should the worst happen?"
"I have a feeling All Might's not going anywhere anytime soon, my friend," he said in a half-joking tone.
The set of Eraser's mouth was grim. "He's only human, Tensei. He's been at this for longer than any other Pro active today, but even he's got his limits."
'And one of them is you, isn't it, Eraserhead?' He almost says, recalling that All Might had been at that meeting where they were ordered to arrest this man on sight and that the Number One had reported two sightings of the Vigilante. Was Eraser right? Would All Might have been capable of catching him if he were just a few years younger? But All Might always looked so invincible, like he could do anything!
Wait ...
Is this another one of those things that Eraser could see because he's an outsider that other Pros are simply blind to because they're Heroes and stick 'within the box'? It wouldn't be the first time. There were plenty of times the Vigilante had discovered various crime lords he couldn't take on by himself and had simply delivered information to the Heroes he believed most suitable for the job or those he trusted enough not to just brush him off because he wasn't a trained Pro Hero. How many lives had been indirectly saved by the man now casually leaning on the wall beside the open window? Tensei himself had to learn the hard way that Eraser was more professional than even he himself could claim and he took his job very seriously.
Eraser was perceptive to things none of them could hope to ever see. There were too many instances where Pros had taken months researching something only for someone to run into Eraser and the man to tell them the answer they were searching for right off the bat. Simply because he ran in different circles.
The Underground Heroes especially loved him, the rare few that Tensei had had the pleasure to work with. (All through recommendations by this very same Vigilante, too.)
Was this a situation like that? What did Eraserhead see when he looked at their beloved Symbol of Peace?
How did he see past all that incredible, awe-inspiring, amazing, terrifying power and see a mere human?
Just who was Eraserhead? A question many have asked in the past fifteen years and yet no answer was forthcoming to this day. At this point, he was more unreal than All Might!
"Look, I'm not saying I won't keep an eye on your brother," Eraser says after a long stretch of silence. "I don't know how or why but I somehow found myself entangled into those kids' stories and I, quite frankly, have also found myself hesitant to leave it just yet. Call it shared trauma type of bonding or whatever. It doesn't matter," the man continued as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "I'll probably be for them even when they don't want me to anymore, for as long as I can. I just think they should have better role models than a Vigilante."
"If you must know, Eraser, I often found you to be my role model." He smiled tiredly when he thought the other shot him a confused and shocked expression. Kayama and Yamada had always been better at reading the parts of this man's expressions that they got to see between all the hair and the folds of the capture weapon and the goggles. "Don't sell yourself short. You did for those kids more than any Pro ever has and it's not even your job."
"Thirteen and All Might also almost died that day."
"But it's their jobs," counters the bed-ridden man. "They were trained to do that. They signed up for it. They receive a paycheck, no matter how little that part matters to them. They're Pro Heroes. You, on the other hand, despite your nighttime ... escapades, are just a civilian, still. As much a civilian as those kids. Maybe even more so, after all the official training they've received. Sure, you have more experience, but they have official, professional training. Tenya, for that matter, has been receiving training by Quirk experts our family hired and by myself and our father since the moment he decided he wanted to be a Hero. That Todoroki kid has probably been training since his Quirk manifested, knowing Endeavor and his obsession to surpass All Might. If they were at USJ, they were no longer 'just civilians', Eraser. They were future Heroes. In all actuality, they should have been protecting you, not the other way around. Thirteen and Mister Blaster, especially."
"Thirteen is a rescue Hero. They don't fight nearly as often as regular Heroes do," the black-clad male defended the other near-casualty of USJ. "And Mister Blaster isn't exactly suited to fight by himself."
"You know that's not exactly true-"
"He's not suited to fight by himself because he doesn't know how," Eraser cuts off in an annoyed glower. "Those kids were just lucky I was literally passing by at the right time and that there were only two serious threats present in that group of idiots."
"Two? The two that escaped?" Because he was pretty sure there was a third guy who'd nearly fought All Might to a standstill. What was his name, again?
"Nomu and that Warpgate guy, Kurogiri, one of the two that had escaped. The other one has a pretty dangerous Quirk, but he himself is deranged, not dangerous. He acts like a child not allowed to play their favorite video game. Actually, I'm pretty sure that's how he views the world."
"Scary. Do you think he's really the leader?"
Eraser hesitates before shaking his head. "I'm not exactly sure, but I don't think so. I've been ... investigating this 'League of Villains' even before their first public attack. It's actually thanks to that that I was there at all, to help those kids. Nomu wasn't actually the first guy I saw with an exposed brain."
"You mean to tell me there's more of those guys out there?" Maybe he should just wrap his little brother up in bubble wrap and hide him somewhere so he can keep him safe. Fuck family traditions and heroism! He just wants his brother to be safe! The Hero Killer was one thing, but those brain guys were just the first sign that the world was turning on its head!
The Vigilante before him hesitated again and Tensei knew it couldn't be anything good if Eraserhead hesitates twice. "Actually, I'm not too sure they're even human anymore. I don't think 'Nomu' is that guy's name," he put an almost shaking hand underneath his goggles. (Was he contemplating taking them off?) He lowered his hand before he even touched the yellow support gear. "I think it's a term to call a multitude of ... bioengineered living, breathing, Quirked weapons or servants. That one at USJ was made to fight specifically All Might. I don't know how many more there might be, how they're made, who makes them, where and why or what purpose each of them may potentially hold. What I do know, though, is that something more is going on here and no one is aware."
"You are!" Iida pointed out almost hysterically. "You could do somethi-"
"What, Tensei?!" Snapped the Vigilante. "I could do what!? I don't have anything solid, for heaven's sake! I'd just be proclaimed the boy that cried wolf and then when I finally do get something concrete, they won't listen!" 'They' obviously being the Pro Heroes and maybe even the police. "Especially not after the UA Sports Festival! They'll just declare it a cry for attention! When have I ever wanted attention!?"
"Have you already tried telling anyone?" It sounds almost like he's saying all of this from experience.
Eraserhead stiffened. "Not this. I was in a relatively similar situation once, a long time ago. Many people nearly got killed. I owe a lot to my fellow Vigilantes."
Tensei winced at that, almost positive he knew what event the Vigilante was talking about. Just three years ago, Eraser had brought to their attention a possible attack aimed at the Tokyo Sky Egg. He hadn't had anything concrete at the time, just his own word because time was of the essence. No Pro had taken him at his word, despite years of instances proving it otherwise that Eraserhead wanted anything other than to help people. Tensei was ashamed to say he had been one of the Heroes Eraser had come to, only to turn him down because he had no concrete evidence. His reason (excuse?)? Eraserhead hadn't given him any solid evidence that an attack might happen and Ingenium couldn't risk his own neck because a Vigilante told him so without proof to back it up. Eraser had been considerably colder towards him after that, for nearly a whole year.
Perfectly understandable.
Had it not been for Eraserhead, the Crawler and a few other Naruhata Vigilantes, the Sky Egg would have definitely fallen because they were the ones that eventually alerted the Heroes celebrating Captain Celebrity's retirement party and got them involved in the shitshow going on just outside. And then there is the fact that Eraserhead had hunted down Detective Tsukauchi to make the man call All Might to the scene.
It was a mess and a half, but had it not been for the Vigilantes ... Well ...
"I see your point," he conceded. "But what are you going to do about this?"
"What I always do," Eraser replied as he turned around and walked back towards the window. "You just rest up. I'll deal with it." And with that, the man disappeared just as the door to his room opened to admit his nurse, probably there to check on his vitals and give him his evening medication. She didn't seem to think anything of the open window, when it had, in fact, been closed the last time she'd been in here and he'd had no official visits nor had he pressed the call button.
Tensei just sighed and tried not to think about it, any of it. It was all in Eraser's hands now and if anyone knew how to handle themselves and such a shitload, it was Eraserhead.
All Tensei could do was heal to the best of his ability and try not to worry about his brother too much.
He, too, would be safe in Eraser's hands.