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?
A week after meeting All Might in one of the many alleys where he took care of strays as nothing more than a nameless citizen who just happens to have a 'Quirk-seeing Quirk' and found out some idiot was trying to sell Trigger again, Aizawa Shouta received a call relatively early in the morning while he was training his newest protege.
And the kid wasn't even from 1-A, though he did attend UA. As a Gen Eds kid.
The one that managed to get into the third round of the Sports Festival.
Shinso Hitoshi.
Aizawa had honestly gone to the Sports Festival for no other reason than to make sure the students of 1-A - 'his' students, apparently, as he was their Sensei - were doing okay after the events of USJ. They were young and tenacious, but they were still kids and they were human. Trauma might take some time to settle in and he'd wanted to personally judge their mental, emotional and even physical health to assure himself that he had, indeed, done at least a good enough job to make sure they won't be scarred for life. He had been extremely pleased to see how well they were doing in general and he cheered especially hard when he saw how well they were doing in the Festival, but he had also noticed several kids from other courses that could have also had prosperous careers as Heroes. If only they had a bit more of a drive, that is.
That's how he noticed Shinso in the first place. The kid had the drive, the determination, the sheer will power to survive what the world will throw at him, but he didn't have what Shouta had when he'd been in his place.
Shinso had trained his Quirk well enough, but his physical abilities were abysmal. Shouta had quickly - and far too easily; UA should seriously do something about their cyber security - hacked into the school's system and checked out his record. Good enough first grades, he supposed, but his physical readiness was not even half of what the Hero Course demands. His entrance exam results also weren't very impressive even for people who fight without a physical Quirk with their fists. Hagakure had made it into the Hero Course and even into the better class of the two! Hell, even Mineta had managed to get in and his Quirk was far from offensive, though it can be used to lay down traps. Tripping over robots until they fell and got smashed was a pretty good tactic, though the concept of the test wasn't just to destroy the robots. In fact, it is very clearly stated that they must be 'incapacitated', which included entrapment or simply turning them off, like Hagakure had been doing by sneaking up on them from behind and finding the off switch.
(She would definitely benefit from hacking. Shouta will have to ask her if she'd consider it. He'd teach her well enough that she will be able to get in, get out and hack into any system she might come across in her Hero work.)
Shinso was exactly like Shouta, though. Shouta had had twice as many villain points and rescue points. (That he'd also had a near perfect score on the written test was irrelevant in this situation.) But Shouta had prepared. Shouta had known from when he was little that he couldn't rely on his Quirk alone. Erasure only leveled out the playing field, brought his opponents to their base level, made them fight with their bodies instead of their Quirks. Shinso had relied on Brainwashing to get him through the Sports Festival.
Had he been teamed up with a quiet type like Tokoyami or even Todoroki, it's very possible that the first match would have been over and done with even faster than it had with Midoriya as his opponent.
(Although Shouta was kind of glad that it had been Midoriya, because when the kid had been a step away from going out of bounds, something had happened and Shouta had been the only one to notice Midoriya's fingers starting to twitch and glow. He hadn't hesitated for a second to close his eyes and activate his Quirk, ignoring all the distracting lights all around him and focusing on that supernova residing within the kid. That's when he'd seen them. He'd known Midoriya's Quirk was special from the moment he'd used it at the USJ Incident, but now he could clearly see it. One For All. And all of its previous wielders, huddled in the hall behind Midoriya, watching him, over him, helping him. Mere imprints of who they used to be but with enough personality that each had had their own expression. He'd seen them, just like the last time he'd seen them, but there was a new imprint, making it eight instead of seven like it had been that night. Then Midoriya's fingers were moved and the shockwave brought him out of Shinso's trance and the kid simply pushed the purple haired boy out. Shouta had felt both proud of Midoriya and sad for Shinso. He'd wasted one of his opportunities and the next Sports Festival was only going to be more impossible to win without proper training.)
Still, the kid had talent. Potential.
Only no one saw it. It wasn't even Quirkist prejudices, as UA had none - if you don't count one asshole named Sensoji - but simply that none of them knew what to do with a kid like that. The Sports Festival had only ever had one Gen Eds winner and that had been Aizawa Shouta himself. They'd never gotten the chance what he could be, how he would train to make himself stronger, into a Hero. They had nothing to base their observation of his potential on because they weren't sure how this kid would work as a Hero.
Shouta himself could already see it, as he'd contemplated such a career for himself, once, a long time ago. Shinso, if he had the guts for it, would make a great Underground Hero. His Quirk kind of demands secrecy, though the kid was such a natural douchebag that Aizawa wouldn't be in the least surprised that he'd still be able to make people fall for his Quirk even if they knew its exact mechanics.
Still, even though Shouta had plans on making Shinso a proper Hero, Underground or whatever, he'd never expected the kid to purposefully find his way to Naruhata and wait around for him to show up. Three days in a row. He only knew it was that long, right after the Sports Festival, because he used to hang out for a couple of hours at the Hotta brother's cafe and had actually been ballsy enough to outright ask them. Civilian or Hero, by that time - USJ had made him kind of famous, after all, and the stunt he'd pulled at the Sports Festival had not been any help whatsoever - everyone should have known that no one in Naruhata was going to give away any information about Eraserhead. The Vigilantes of Naruhata were the only people on this Earth that knew Aizawa Shouta as well as Eraserhead, but they by no means knew those two were the same person. (How, to this day, Shouta will never understand. His 'disguise' didn't actually hide all that much.)
Then came 1-A and they actually know that.
And then came Shinso, who'd brazenly called a very sleep deprived Aizawa 'Eraserhead' as he was entering the Hotta's cafe and he'd actually looked towards the kid before he could realize his mistake.
Thankfully, Shinso wasn't out to get his real identity and reveal it to the world. Rather, he'd wanted Eraserhead to train him.
"I've seen footage of your fights," the purple haired boy had said, a determined gleam in his eyes. "They're considering my transfer into the Hero Course, but they're going to test me to see if I can keep up with the students of 1-A and 1-B."
"Then why ask me for help?" Aizawa had shot back as he sipped his coffee, eyes trained on the teenager sitting across from him, drinking his own cup of the nectar of gods. For insomniacs, anyway.
"Because I think your fighting style would suit me the most. And because you and I are in basically the same boat, Quirk-wise."
"I'm a Vigilante."
"You're actually a lot more respected than some Heroes."
Shouta had snorted and they'd continued drinking their beverages in silence. He could tell, at one point, that Shinso began fidgeting, for the first time openly showing how much this meant to him and not even the lazy felines surrounding him could distract or calm him.
Aizawa had simply taken out his phone and sent his standard code to the teen, watching as confusion set over his features when he checked upon hearing it ping. Aizawa finished his drink, gave one last pet to the pudgy, fluffy cat sprawled all over his lap and got up. Hands in his pockets, back turned towards the Gen Eds student, he made his way towards the bar, where he was supposed to have a word with the Hotta brothers about a bunch of kittens he'd found that might need a new home and some help in finding it.
He could practically feel Shinso's disappointment. He didn't need to see it.
He also didn't need to see his elation and excitement when he finally spoke up again.
"I'll send you a location and time. Find some gym clothes that don't shout 'UA student' and be ready. I'm not an easy teacher."
And so, here they were, Aizawa watching over Shinso building his upper body strength by climbing a rope to the top, over and over again, when his phone alerted him to a call.
From Yaoyaorozu Momo, one of his Problem Children.
Didn't they have their practicals today? Was she finished? He answered it anyway.
"Eraser speaking." Because he never knew who his students might be around. It's always a reminder to the kids that they need to be careful how they addressed him unless they were absolutely sure there was no one around them that couldn't figure out his real identity, which meant all of UA staff as they all knew who 1-A's 'Sensei' was, and the Pro Heroes they'd interned with. Probably their own parents, too.
"Sensei? This is Yaoyorozu." He was immediately tense when he heard how uncomfortable and unsure she sounded. That wasn't the Yaoyorozu he'd been acquainted with so far. Did something happen?
"Is everything alright, Yaoyorozu? Are you okay?"
"What? Oh, no! I'm fine, Sensei, no need to worry, I promise!" She hastened to reassure him, but he wasn't so certain she was fine.
"You don't exactly sound like it."
A pause. The girl was clearly considering what she was going to say and what she wanted to keep to herself. Shouta waited, though he kept an eye on Shinso in case the kid lost his grip and needed rescuing. Finally, he heard 1-A's Vice-Rep take a deep breath before she spoke up again.
"We have the practical exam today," she started and the Vigilante hummed to let her know he's listening. "We were supposed to fight robots, but the Principal decided to change the test at the last second. So we're fighting against teachers instead. In pairs. I got paired up with Todoroki-san." Well, shit. The two students who got in through recommendations? That had to be intentional. Though whether it was because it was well thought-out or just because, he couldn't tell until he learned who made up the pairs in the first place.
Sure, if Aizawa had been their actual teacher, he'd probably do the same, but he had a strong, good reason. Just based on this conversation with Yaoyorozu, he could see that her confidence was shaken, probably due to the Sports Festival. She'd been taken out in the first match by Tokoyami because she couldn't decide on a game plan fast enough while Todoroki, for better or worse, didn't hesitate much and had made it all the way to second place. Had received the most offers for internships too, according to what the little gremlins told him when he'd visited them during said internships.
Shouta would put those two together to teach Todoroki about what it takes to be a Hero besides brute strength - cooperation, planning, caution - and to teach Yaoyorozu to rely on herself, to trust in her own judgment. She was a smart girl, the best student of 1-A academically speaking. Her Quirk demanded that she keep studying. She was in relatively good physical condition, though she should probably work more on speed at the very least.
But she had a problem similar to Shouta's at around her age.
She overthinks.
Shouta had needed a good friend - from the Hero Course, a classmate, perhaps, in another life - to tell him he could do anything he put his mind to. Shouta had needed a desperate situation to force himself to believe it and to realize said friend had been right. (He tried not to think of clouds and laughter and kind eyes and friendly smiles, a shoulder to lean on should he ever need it. Not of falling debris, collapsing buildings, a behemoth looming over him, children crying, dust and blood and sirens in the distance, no Heroes around; just him. He couldn't afford to be lost in those memories. One of his students - even if they're not really his students - needed him.)
He wouldn't want Yaoyorozu to go through the same thing. He'd want to be the one to teach her that in a safe environment, because her future career and life might depend on it.
Surely whoever was pitched against them could do it instead? Midnight, maybe? If it's Nemuri, he can call her right now and-
"Against Sensoji-sensei."
And fuck his life.
He groaned out loud, not caring if either of his 'students' heard him, because Sensoji would only make the situation worse. Shouta remembered him, back during his only Sports Festival. He knew his stance on non-offensive Quirks and he'd taken great pleasure out of knocking him out for it, back then. (Or any other time he was unlucky enough to run into him while out on the job.) It didn't even matter that Mister Blaster was very Anti-Vigilante. Even if he wasn't, Shouta wouldn't trust him with something so delicate. The guy was all brawn, no brain, though he didn't have much brawn either.
"Sensei?"
"Sorry," he mumbled when her uncertain voice came over the phone again. "That's just my instinctual reaction to the mere mention of that man. Is there any particular problem about this? I mean, did either of them say something to offend or hurt you?" Unlikely in Todoroki's case, but he wouldn't put it past that bumbling, arrogant, explosive fool.
"No, Sensei, it's not like that. It's just ... I'm not sure I can do this."
Ah, there it is. Well, if she's going to outright say it, then Shouta can move right in and fix that. "And why is that?"
"Well, Todoroki-san and I started out our year here at UA the same, but he's so much better than me. It's not even been three whole months and the difference in our power is so obvious-"
"Let me stop you right there, Yaoyorozu." Normally, Shouta would listen her out till the end, but there were just a few things he couldn't let slide. "First off, your Quirks are completely different in nature. Todoroki has a composite Quirk that affords him both offense and defense. You, on the other hand, have a manifestation-type Quirk. Your Quirk's strengths aren't the same as an offensive Quirk's. Todoroki packs destructive power, while you have variability. If the two were to be compared from a specialist's point of view, however, your Quirk would be deemed more powerful, both at the beginning of your training in the Hero Course and today. Second, you actually have much better control over your Quirk than Todoroki does, since he hadn't been training his hot side for most of his life. It's stunted the Quirk's growth and development and will need serious training to make it as strong as his cold side. Third, just how is Todoroki better than you? In my humble opinion, you too have improved greatly, at about the same pace. At least from what I've seen."
"Todoroki-san is braver than me-"
"Oh? Did you run away from the villains attacking you and your classmates during the USJ Incident? Because I am pretty sure I remember Jirou and Kaminari complementing your quick thinking and bravery during the fight."
"He has more experience-"
"He'd interned and lived with the current Number Two Hero, Yaoyorozu. He'd been exposed to Heroism longer than you, even if he hadn't participated. And Heroes with kids usually train said kids, either as self-defense should an enemy target them to get at the Hero or because they expect them to follow in their footsteps. You've decided to be a Hero all on your own, the first of the Yaoyorozu to do so, right?"
"Well, yes-"
"And if we're going to combine your two examples of why Todoroki is 'better' than you, then you should really learn to look at it as it is. Todoroki doesn't hesitate. He just throws himself headfirst into danger, usually without a solid plan in place. Or, if he has a plan, he doesn't have much of a backup. The Stain incident is proof of that. He came to help with only a location told to Endeavor as a reassurance that experienced Heroes would be there to-" And here he had to take a deep breath so he could actually tell this lie. "-save them from the Hero Killer. He could have died. You are a bit slower to react, that's all, but that's because you overthink."
"But didn't you just say that one needed a good, solid plan before taking action?" The girl asked and Aizawa could just picture her fiddling with the phone in her hand or even biting her lip uncertainly for questioning him.
Aizawa was actually pleased that she'd dared to do that, as it meant not all of her confidence had been trampled over by her insecurities. He dreaded to think what would have happened had he not made Uwabami take her and that orange haired girl from 1-B to do actual Hero work instead of acting like celebrities. Yaoyorozu's confidence would be almost entirely destroyed. If she's willing to question him, then she'll make Todoroki actually discuss a plan together instead of letting the boy run around doing all the work.
"That's true, yes, but you're not focusing on the right wording. I said overthink. Thinking through a plan is necessary, even if it's a plan you make on the fly, but overthinking things makes you hesitate. Makes you trip yourself up and set yourself up for failure from the get go. You can't do proper Hero work like that, Yaoyorozu. You have to be confident in yourself and the decisions you make. You're a smart, strong girl. One of the most competent kids I've ever met. Just because you had a streak of not ideal luck doesn't mean you're not Hero material. Take it from someone who'd seen dozens of Heroes blunder dozens of times, over the years. And remember: you shouldn't compare yourself to others. Everyone has their own way of doing things and yours is not wrong. You just need to be more confident and- Are you crying?" He cut off, alarmed, when he heard hitched breathing and what sounded like a barely suppressed sob. "I-I didn't mean to upset you." Fuck.
"T-thank you, Sensei," Yaoyorozu said before the man could apologize further. Her voice was thick with tears, but even then he could hear a smile was stretched across her lips. "T-that's ex-actly what I n-needed to h-hear." And she was still crying but Aizawa could now, at least, be sure that she wasn't upset anymore. He sighed in quiet relief. These kids are going to be the death of him. "I-I need to go now, S-Sensei. Todoroki-san and I will be sure to update you on how we did."
"Sure, kid. Just a piece of advice?"
"Yes, Sensei?"
He grinned in a way Shinso had told him was terrifying. "Hit him where it hurts."
"Yes, Sensei!"
He snorted and ended the call. By this time, Shinso was climbing down, so he decided it would be a good time to have a break. "Here," he called out, tossing a water bottle towards his new ... apprentice, he guessed could be the title Shinso held. The purple haired boy caught the bottle, his reflexes having improved somewhat since they'd started a little less than two months ago. "Catch your breath. You're doing good so far, but don't overdo it. If you feel like you're straining yourself, just tell me and we'll move on to a different exercise. There's no point in going over your breaking point."
"I thought you said the point was to take me to my limit, Plus Ultra?"
Shouta huffed at the teen. What is it with these kids and hearing only parts of his advice and/or instructions? They're going to give him gray hairs, he swears. "I said to your limit, not break through it. Besides, limit and breaking point are two very different things and there's a load of difference between those two points. If you go beyond your breaking point, you're just going to hurt yourself and possibly undo all that you've accomplished so far. Muscles can take only so much strain. They need rest to grow, too. And we don't want to stunt your growth, either. You're tall for a kid your age, but you still have a long way to go. Overworking yourself will only negatively affect your health."
"Says the man that hasn't had a decent night of sleep in a week, lives off of coffee and jelly pouches and works night and day, be it on the streets or behind your screens." Those violet eyes regarded him suspiciously. "Did you actually get any sleep in the past seven days, Sensei? How are you even functional? How do you even have time to train me every other day? I swear you're pulling more hours than there are in a day."
Shouta frowned at Hitoshi, not liking being called out. "A nap two days ago, about three hours. I'm an adult. By drinking a lot of coffee and occasionally eating a big protein bar. Didn't you know? I'm magical. And this is seriously important." Shouta hated Trigger. Not only was it illegal but highly available, it was also a gamble of luck because the dealers sold both a safe and unsafe version of the Quirk-enhancing drug and you never know which one you got until you come down from the high - either dead or alive. Or, occasionally, just Quirk-crippled for life. It had taken him, the Vigilantes of Naruhata, the police and Fat Gum a lot of effort and about a year of non-stop investigation before they finally took the ring down and yet someone was, once again, going around selling the drug. The Hotta brothers used to be dealers before they met Eraserhead. Now, they were his confidants and partners in taking down any drug rings that might spring up in Naruhata or the surrounding wards. Drugs are an evil they can never fully vanquish, but cutting them off in the bud prevented the development of serious cartels. It was nothing new, honestly, but what worried Shouta this time more than any of the other attempts to start a drug ring in Naruhata was that it was Trigger and that the main dealers, so far, have turned out to have a connection with the Shie Hassaikai, an old yakuza.
Yakuza were extremely rare these days. Organized crime was, in general. Wherein, once, the mafia was the strongest underworld organization that could pluck strings all over the world, had thousands of devoted followers and connections and power between politicians, businessmen, military and police as well as among criminals, today they were practically extinct, or edging it. That's why they tended to stick to a code of 'honor', which differed from the region they used now. In China, for example, selling weapons is unacceptable while America does that and drugs. Latinoamerica still preferred human trafficking and Vietnam's famous for their sex brothels. In Japan, however, the yakuza have sworn off of drugs on the pain of death, the Shie Hassaikai especially.
And yet rumor has it that they're not only dealing in Trigger now, they're also, apparently, trying to create a new Quirk-cancelling drug. The test runs they're selling now are effective for only a few hours, which can be devastating enough if a Hero is hit on the job, but the end result is something that permanently destroys the very Quirk factor carried in DNA. The inspiration? All For One's ability to take away Quirks and Eraserhead's fighting style. They're, apparently, trying to figure out 'what he is using' to stop people's Quirks from working. They didn't know it was his Quirk and not a drug or a machine and he'd prefer it to stay that way, but regardless, the reason why this was taking place as his top priority is because he'd, inevitably, been the inspiration.
He'd managed to get a sample from one of the dealers he'd caught red handed and had begged the Detective investigating the yakuza to send the bullet-like injection for testing and he's still waiting for the results. He has no doubt that they won't inform him - it's not Tsukauchi or Tsuragamae; what's worse, this guy's used to working with Sir Nighteye and that guy doesn't like Eraserhead in the least - but that's not exactly going to prevent him from seeing the results. The police are a piece of cake to hack.
Now, it's the waiting game and all Shouta can do is indulge it. Thankfully, he has things that will keep his mind off of it, for the moment, at least. Like training too curious, too mouthy Gen Eds students who remind him all too much of himself and no, it's not just the perpetually tired look in his eyes. Shinso had been given as little of a chance as he himself had, but Shouta had managed to fight for his place in the Hero Course by himself, even though he'd never gotten to actually attend it. Shinso was being given another chance to prove his worth but he needed help. Help no one at UA, apparently, knew quite how to provide, so the kid had sought him out.
Shouta was tempted to tell the kid about his own experiences but figured it would be more like rubbing salt in a wound than actually motivational. And it might even get the wrong message across. Shouta had, after all, in the end decided to throw away his hard earned chance to become a Hero and instead settled for being a Vigilante. He didn't want Shinso to go down that path. He wasn't like Shouta. He hadn't been on the run since he was five turning six. He wouldn't have the money to support such a lifestyle. Shouta had no actual job under his belt, not for a lack of trying but because he couldn't imagine himself being anything but what he is now. He's sustaining himself purely on the money he'd cleared from his old mentor's account.
Aizawa Ashou, or Hal as most of the world may know him, had been an incredible hacker and had robbed many people blind in a matter of seconds. With a Quirk that amounted to being technopacy - though he couldn't control machines, just coding in programs - there was literally nothing and no one that could stop him, until he felt sorry for a street urchin, took him in and taught him his ways. Shouta never felt guilty for reporting the man in and he knew Ashou would never feel betrayed or hateful towards him. Ashou had known of his desire and determination to become a Hero since day one and had even been supportive. Said Shouta was the one Hero he wouldn't mind being arrested by. Shouta often felt like he'd let the man down by becoming a Vigilante, but Ashou had always been such a carefree guy that he didn't doubt the man would still be proud of him anyway.
Ashou had only cared about Shouta sharpening his computer skills and Shouta was just glad that the man had been so insistent and throughout in his teachings. Especially as it meant Shouta got access to Ashou's account and rained it of all the money. It would just go back to the state where politicians can then use it for their own goals. As it was, Shouta was so filthy rich that he could make a whole damn lake of cash and he didn't even use much of it. In fact, if he were to stop donating to orphanages, child medical facilities, schools, programs to help the homeless, libraries and just about any charity he could find, Shouta would have enough money to sustain his current lifestyle at least fifty times over.
If he were indeed an ambitious evil mastermind, Shouta had enough finances to probably go up against the biggest villain of all time. And he'd win, too, but that's not what's important here.
Hal had been one of the richest people in the world, no matter how dirty the money was since it was all stolen, and yet he had lived a relatively simple, humble life.
Hal had also not liked kids but, apparently, he saw something in Shouta that made him take him in. They'd met when he was eight, when Ashou had bought the little street urchin lurking in front of a bakery some of the goods and left him a handful of cash that would sustain him at least for a week if he used it wisely. That could have been that, had Ashou not literally been cornered by a group of thugs just around the corner because he was 'taking too long to fulfill his end of the deal' and their boss got twitchy about it. Ashou was a hacker. He'd never once had to fight in his life, so there was no way he could have resisted. They'd grabbed him, using their Quirks, and tried to drag him away but suddenly found they couldn't.
They then found themselves knocked out by an eight year old with a dirty plank of wood he'd picked up from the garbage cans nearby in his hands, eyes blazing red and hair waving up over his head. It had been the least he could do after the man had shown him such kindness, after all.
Hal had snatched him up and powerwalked them to his home and let him stay the night to repay him for saving his life, but somewhere between making them actual lunch and Shouta asking questions about a text he was reading from Ashou's coding books, the hacker had decided he'd let him stay. A week later, he'd even decided to teach him how to use computers and it became a downward spiral from there, right into the hacker rabbit hole.
He ended up staying with the infamous cyber criminal for two years, learning all of his tricks until Shouta could easily be called the second best hacker in the world, second only to Hal and his technopacy-like Quirk. Hal had even helped Shouta create a new identity for himself, gave him his own surname so Shouta would actually be someone instead of a no-name kid. He owed a lot to Hal, but he'll be first to admit that he'd never seen the man as family.
Shouta didn't even know what family is, so it's not for a lack of liking the man or vice versa. In fact, he knows Hal looked at him as much of a son as Kronos-sensei did. Shouta does his best to stay in some form of contact with Ashou, the least he could do for the man that had saved him from the government. Shouta would have been like Hawks had Ashou not taken him off the streets when he had, just a puppet on the Hero Commission's strings, or would be dead by now, probably. Ashoua, unknowingly or not, has been protecting him for years just by creating a fake identity for him, by keeping him off the street.
Ashou certainly enjoyed the messages Shouta sent to him in Tartarus. A bit of an extreme measure for a mere hacker - Ashou had never even hurt a person - and ultimately useless, should they ever let the man escape their sight for one second. Shouta could hack into Tartarus since he was ten and he didn't have Techopacy. Ashou, if he knew how to disguise himself or if he decided to wreck hitherto unheard of chaos, could get out of there by simply hacking into Tartarus' systems. It would probably set the other prisoners free, too, most of whom had been robbed by him at some point, no doubt, but Hal could do it even without that drawback. He wasn't the best hacker for nothing.
Shinso didn't have that kind of background or skill to fall back on, not like Shouta did. He had always been just a regular kid with a pretty useful - or villainous, if you're an asshole Quirkist - Quirk. He didn't have that ingrained instinct to fight, he had to learn it. And Aizawa will teach him to the best of his abilities.
Just as he was about to tell Shinso that they can get back to training if he had no more nonsensical questions, his phone beeped, signaling a message had arrived. He frowned as he pulled it out, wondering who could it be this time, only to be even more surprised when he saw it was a message from the police. Opening it, he felt himself tense when he saw it was actually the results of the bullet-injection he'd sent, as of now dubbed Deleater Shot, apparently.
And as he read through the analysis, he felt his blood grow ice cold.
"Sensei?" He vaguely heard Shinso call but he couldn't focus on that. No, all he could focus on was the 'found traces of blood in the sample' part of the report that he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of.
Shie Hassaikai wasn't just selling and making dangerous Quirk-affecting drugs. They were making them through human experimentation, by apparently taking the blood from a living breathing human being. Someone who had a Quirk even remotely similar to Erasure. And Shouta had very little doubt that the person was in their hands willingly. The amount of blood that would be needed just to make test shots, let alone a proper finished product ...
"I need to go. I'll probably be on radio silence for the next week or so, so don't freak out," he said quickly so Shinso can't protest or question him. "Keep doing the basic exercises I've shown you and work on your stamina. See you in a week."
"Sensei-"
"This is important, Hitoshi," he cut him off, making the boy pause because Shouta didn't actually use his name lightly. "Someone out there is doing something that could affect the world as a whole and I need to stop it now, before it spreads and it's too late. I'll be back, so just ... Wait for me? Okay?"
"Yeah," the boy said with some hesitation but nodded anyway. "Yeah, I'll wait. You just be careful, alright? You have students now, you know. You can't just ... leave us hanging."
"Don't plan on it, kid," was his parting words before he took off, springing into the nearest alleyway and easily scaling the building even without the help of his capture weapon, which he is yet to take out of his bag. He's good at parkour, so he doesn't need it in this part of town, where the buildings weren't too high and were mostly the same height.
He needed to get back home, to his computer, where he can start tracking the Shie Hassaikai, find plans of their base, learn their schedules and routines and plan the best possible raid without involving the police because, weakened and near extinct or not, the yakuza always had a way of getting moles in the police force and this was simply not something Aizawa could risk or just leave to the Heroes.
Not that he needs them. Not for this, no matter how many cronies they might try sending his way. This was actually just up his alley.
If they want to play with erasing Quirks, then he'll gladly show them just what Erasure can do.