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?
Summer break had started for UA students and staff but the Hero Course always had some extra activities or chaos going on. Shouta knew this from past experiences shared with him by Midnight and Mic, but he had thought that he'd be too busy this year for such nonsense.
After all, he had informed the Hero fledglings that he'd be extremely busy and that they really shouldn't call on him unless it was a dire emergency.
So he was just a little bit annoyed when he got a call from Kaminari the literal night before he was going to enact his plan to raid the Shie Hassaikai hideout, reviewing his plan and making contingencies for various situations that could go wrong. He contemplated, for just a second, not answering at all but then sighed and put the phone to his ear. "Eraserhead."
"Aizawa-sensei-" He nearly reprimanded the boy for saying his name at all, especially with that moniker added on, but the electric blond was speaking again before he could get another word in. "You said you know how to hack, right? I mean, you helped me out during my internship, remember?"
"... What is this about, Kaminari? Are you in trouble? Where are you?" Fuck the raid, if one of his kids needed him now, he'll just postpone it for a few days until the next perfect opportunity arises. Ongoing crisis above future ones and all that. Besides, the Shie Hassaikai were struggling to get the financing they needed to continue this project and that's not going to get any easier now that rumors are going around that their boss is bedridden and his adopted son, Kai Chisaki, is taking the reins to try and keep the afloat. Shouta has time, but he'd still rather not waste it.
Good thing helping his students is not a waste of his time.
"Um, yes? We're on I-Island-"
"We?" Oh, he did not like the sound of that.
"Hi, Sensei," came the synchronized greeting from Midoriya, Bakugou, Kirishima, Uraraka, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Iida, Mineta and Jirou.
Shit.
"Oh gods, what did you do?"
"Hey, I resent that!" Kaminari immediately replied but let out a pained yelp that was probably a result of Jirou's earphone jack smacking him. "Hey! That hurts!"
"Just focus on the damn problem, shitty pikachu!"
Well, trust Bakugou to know his priorities.
"What's going on?"
Thankfully, Iida took it upon himself to explain the situation, Midoriya filling in the blanks.
"Okay, so, let me get this straight," he said as he rubbed at his forehead. "You all somehow ended up going to I-Island without knowing that you may run into each other there or that others were even going, were supposed to go to some fancy party that was a part of an event that is starting soon when villains came out of literally nowhere because I-Island has always boasted a security system the likes of Tartarus. Then said system was overridden by the villains, every Hero and civilian present has been either quarantined or restrained by the security drones, including All Might, and the villains have the party goers at gunpoint. Meanwhile, the only reason you lot weren't caught in said sticky situation is because you were late for the party and no one is aware that you're all still free to move about as you wish. And, finally, the goal of the villains is to get an abandoned project made by Prof David Shield, which is a support item that does, what, exactly, Midoriya?"
"Uhm, it ... enhances the power of a Quirk?" An unfamiliar female voice answered instead of the Hero-nerd, sounding a bit unsure. "My name is Melissa Shield. Deku-san and the others told me I could trust you, but I don't honestly know much about that project of my father's."
Great, now Shield's daughter was in on this, too.
"How, exactly, did All Might let this happen?" He wondered more to himself but the others heard him and tried to defend the Number One Hero. "Rhetorical question. I know he's not perfect, but this is also a bit too much. You Problem Children always end up in some sort of trouble. So, what do you need me for?"
"Kaminari-san said that you know how to hack, Sensei," the green haired teenager answered immediately. "We know we can't fight the villains by ourselves - there's simply too many of them and they have hostages-" Well, at least they've thought that through instead of just jumping into it without thought. "And the only way we can actually help at this point is to free them, but to do that Melissa-san told us we need to reach the central computer, which controls the entire island's security, which is a hundred floors up from where we are and the whole place is in lockdown and even if it wasn't, they're monitoring everything so we can't exactly use elevators-"
Aizawa took a deep breath to stop a headache from forming as Midoriya muttered and muttered on and on in his ear. Yes, he appreciated the extra information on how well thought out their plan of action was - so much better than Iida, Midoriya and Todoroki just jumping into the fight against Stain; probably Yaoyorozu's influence, so clearly she was doing great after the practical exams about a week ago. He'd definitely been proud of his students, even though a few of them hadn't passed the test at all - but he was already tired from a long week and even a bit stressed. Finding out his Problem Children were, again, in a difficult and dangerous situation with villains involved was seriously making him contemplate to just snatch all of those kids up, stuff them onto an airplane and leave them on a tropical dream island or something where they would be safe once and for all. He could even buy it; he's definitely got the money needed for it.
"So while we could just get Melissa-san up there, we thought maybe it would be faster and safer if you could, indeed, do it while we were still in reach of Pro Heroes in case things go bad."
Ah, so Midoriya was finished. Guess they were now waiting for a response from him.
"You seriously want me to hack I-Island? One of the supposedly most secure places on Earth? The mechanical island full of genius inventors who've created a security system the likes of which only Tartarus, the prison of the most dangerous criminals in the world, has? That I-Island?"
"W-well-"
"Sounds fun," he cut Kirishima off when the boy tried to justify their apparent absolute belief that he can do literally anything he puts his mind to. (He'll have to contemplate that at a later date. No time to dwell on past traumas now, is it? Not between this and tomorrow's raid.) "Give me, hm, five minutes," he estimated as he already pulled up a program to search for I-Island and connect him to the private server. He's actually done this, once, some years ago, for shits and giggles and to see if he can really do it. And then he'd watched the so-called top scientists of the world running around like headless chickens trying to kick him out of their system while eating popcorn. It was some of the best entertainment he'd had in months at that time.
"You actually expect me to believe that you can hack into I-Island in five minutes, sir?"
Shouta snorted. "Look up the name Aizawa, Ms Shield. I think you'll find all the answers you need from there." He made a triumphant little sound. "Ha! I'm in."
"Didn't you say you'd need five minutes?" Mineta asked in something like freaked out awe and Shouta snorted again.
"Well, yeah, to override the system and start it up again, sure. That takes a bit of time because I need to bypass a lot of encrypted firewalls that prevent just anyone from putting the island on lockdown and bypassing the authorization codes and alarms and the such, which is easy but time-consuming. And the system itself will need a moment before rebooting, so, yeah, about five minutes in total. I'll also check the security footage and other measures to try and figure out how these villains even got in. That place should be as secure as Tartarus, but clearly it isn't."
"Clearly, if someone can so easily hack us," grumbled the American and Shouta rolled his eyes.
"Missy, I could hack into Tartarus when I was ten. Believe me, I-Island is a piece of cake. Oh, here are the security systems! Let's see what we have in their memory files. Communications, deliveries, arrivals and departures, all that nonsense," he mumbled to himself more than to the kids as his fingers moved over the keyboard quick as lightning. Program after program, lines of code one after the other, flashed across his screen as he worked. Some, he altered, others he deleted or simply removed from the sequence to be returned later, after he was finished and ready to leave the system. He didn't have to worry about leaving a 'signature' because that was one of the first things Ashou taught him how to never develop and the laptop he's using is untraceable, made specifically to his preferences - that had been expensive but definitely worth it - and coded by him personally.
He finished the command that would override the system and watched as the bar steadily progressed towards full, before turning his attention to the security files. It's not that the I-Islanders weren't allowed to contact the outside world, but it also required special permission, since they're dealing with some seriously confidential and dangerous research over there. By all means, Shouta could be shipped off to live there, too, if his paper got too much recognition, since it touches a topic of Quirk evolution no one seems to have considered before that is actually absolutely revolutionary, but he has no desire to live the rest of his life confined to that fake paradise.
Still, the point was, every outside communication was monitored. Which means he could see them here, in these files. He came across an email from one Melissa Shield to All Might, of all people, but he guessed it made sense the two would know each other given how many years Shield had spent as All Might's first ever sidekick while the man had been heroing in America. But the name Shield kept cropping up the further he searched, though this time it was David Shield and an unknown burner phone and ... Prof Shield's assistant to that same number?
Shouta immediately cut to the security feed in the main computer room, where the most sensitive projects were also kept since it was, supposedly, the most secure place on the island, and sure enough, there Shield was, working at the main station. Unlocking the vault holding the project Midoriya and Ms Shield had mentioned. Only neither Shield nor his assistant, one Samuel Abraham, were being held at gunpoint. No, the villains there were calm and relaxed, as if ...
Shouta ran facial recognition on the villain's leader and continued doing research, including trying to recover the phone calls Shield and Abraham had been making, ignoring the conversation he could hear going on from the other end of the phone as the kids discussed between themselves what they should do now. The Vigilante had more important things to focus on, because as soon as his program finishes and he lets the security system restart itself, chaos will ensue on the mechanical island and he is entirely too far away to protect the kids if this turns out to be as messy as he has a feeling it is. Thankfully, he's always been rather good at multitasking.
The facial recognition came back with results soon enough. As did the recorded phone calls both scientists had been making. And then Shouta hacked into Wolfarm's phone and ran diagnostics on his most recent call history, tracing the numbers until he found one leading back to an undisclosed location in Japan, Tokyo.
Shouta managed to recover a bit of the conversation and his blood froze as he recognized the voice on his end.
Fuck.
"Midoriya, listen to me." The kids shut up the second he spoke up. "The security system will be back up in less than a minute, so I have very little time to explain everything, but I will be sending you the information I found and I need you to show it to All Might or any available Pro Hero from Japan you might find over there. Preferably someone who doesn't hate, well, me. Ms Shield, know that I have nothing personal against your father when I say that this whole thing has been orchestrated by him and his assistant. Shield was expecting fake criminals to come and hold people hostage so he may steal his life's work and continue doing it elsewhere, away from the government's prying eyes, while his assistant didn't believe the project should be discarded or used for only one purpose. I'm sure Midoriya could figure out what that one purpose is, if he knows how much Shield cares for his old partner."
He heard the greenette gasp and the others try to question him, but Aizawa was not done but his program almost was. They were running out of time before the action starts.
"That's not all." Silence, again. "Wolfram, the leader of those villains, is in league with a very dangerous criminal known as All For One, All Might's nemesis from a long time ago that everyone presumed dead. It is only logical to presume that he either really wants Quirk Amplification Device or he really wants to hit All Might where it might hurt the most. In short, stay out of the fight that's about to start unless you have no choice. And don't tell the US Heroes who helped you get all of this. Eraserhead out."
He didn't actually sever the connection; he had to keep listening in to make sure the kids stayed safe and he did so until, finally, the last of the villains was handcuffed without a hitch. Unfortunately, with the villains, David Shield was arrested, too, for endangering the civilians and scientists currently on the island. No matter how All Might tried to smoothen things out, Shield was going to be serving time, big time. Shouta bit his lip and wondered if the Number One Hero will hate him after this. The kids were only asked not to tell the American Heroes about him, not All Might and the man was smart enough to guess who would be the only person they could call in time of need, even if Eraserhead was not known for being a hacker.
He guessed he could worry about that when the blond is back in Japan.
For now, he had a yakuza to take down once and for all, all the while avoiding All Might's only other Vigilante-hating sidekick.
Fun.
00000
Eraserhead was no more than one of the many shadows of the first minutes of dawn, before the sun even began showing itself on the horizon, as he watched over the compound belonging to the yakuza. He watched as the men went in and out, all sleepily shuffling about either because they'd just woken up or because they'd spent a long night standing watch. The perfect time for an ambush. Shouta wanted this over as quickly as possible because he knew Fat Gum and Suneater had the night shift and will still be awake, maybe even on duty at this time so he'd already sent the UA's Big Three shy boy an alert about suspicious activities at this exact address.
Amajiki will no doubt by now have informed Fat Gum and Lemillion, which meant the police and Sir Nighteye were minutes away from being informed, too, which meant he had a mere fifteen to twenty minutes before they stormed the place.
But that's okay. Eraserhead's used to having to work fast and make faster exits. He already has sent Tsuragamae - his preferred go-to detective - an outline of his findings, which should be enough to write up an arrest and search warrant, but he'll be leaving a report as well. This is big enough that Eraserhead can't keep the information to himself, even if he wants nothing more than to burn every scrap of information on these Quirk-destroying drugs right here and now. He doesn't trust the government with such power in their hands.
Just as the guards at the entrance to the compound changed and sounded off, Eraserhead finally made his move. The guards, old and new, didn't even see it coming. He took the radios off of them, tied them up and left their weapons out of reach. For good measure, he let Erasure come to life for a brief moment before feeling his hair settle back down around his shoulders. That ought to hold them for a while, at least until the police or Pro Heroes come by to tag 'em and bag 'em.
The Vigilante made it into the house in much the same fashion, taking down any guards and tugs without alerting anyone else of his presence. He knew these were just low level henchmen and that the so called Eight Bullets won't be as easy to get past, but as long as he has the element of surprise and doesn't let them use Trigger on either themselves or him, everything should be fine.
He wasn't worried about security cameras - he's been in this place's systems for days; not only does he know exactly where every camera is and what it sees, he had also taken the precaution of reprogramming the main server to edit him out of the image the second the camera registers him - nor about getting lost - he also had memorized the layout of this place as well as downloaded a map on his phone in case he needs references the further down he goes. This is the sort of shit he's been doing since he was eighteen. The first few years of his Vigilante work were pretty vanilla and then he'd found the type of missions rare few Heroes, underground or not, could do as well as he does it. He'd stopped dozens of criminal rings and organizations just by sneaking around and then alerting the appropriate muscle and/or firepower in the Pro community, but this time he knew he couldn't wait for backup.
He'd known from the second he learned they were making Erasure-like drugs.
The fact that they had hostages only made waiting even more impossible.
He wasn't sure how many thugs he'd taken down before he finally came across one of the Eight Bullets; Hojo Yu, to be precise, with his Quirk Crystalize. He'd just walked out of what seemed to be a cafeteria. Shouta still had a drop on him and combined with the use of his Quirk, the bald man went down fast. Shouta took out the handcuffs he'd stocked all over his body and the light, flat-looking backpack on his back and tied him up. For good measure, he, too, got to experience Erasure, even if he was already knocked out. Soon after running into that guy, he ran into two of his friends. Toya Setsuno and Soramitsu Tabe were almost a challenge, but once their Quirks were erased, Shouta had no worry. Though he did have a bit of a chortle with how startled Tabe seemed when he bit into the capture scarf and found he couldn't chew through it. Toya's smug expression falling right off when it didn't matter that he managed to catch one end of the weapon was also priceless.
Shouta's auxiliary Telekinesis Quirk was what the capture weapon was made for. It was especially strong and agile when Shouta touched an object. He didn't really have a range of how far an object he was manipulating could go once he has it in the grasp of his power, but it has to be within arms reach at the beginning if he hopes to catch it at all. Toya could try to use his Quirk as much as he wants. Shouta's was stronger, at least where the capture weapon was concerned. Kronos-sensei had made it literally for Erasure's auxiliary Quirk.
When he ran into Rappa, his cover of secrecy was finally blown but by then, he was so deep into the underground facility that it would have been impossible to stay hidden for long. Then, as the muscle-bound, battle-hungry moron tried his best to punch a hole through Shouta despite his strength being erased, the hallways began to shift and change and Shouta knew he couldn't play with Rappa when Mimic was using his Quirk, especially on such a big scale.
Shouta knew Trigger has finally gotten involved and that just made him even more keen to kick Rappa in the balls, tie him up real fast and use it on his surroundings. The shifting stopped immediately and Shouta found the man now stuck in a wall like a bad phasing joke. He knocked him out, put Quirk-hindering shackles on him and left him to hang, literally.
He ran into a few more thugs and the rest of the Eight Bullets, but he didn't exactly stop for any of them. No, he'd hacked back into the security cameras and saw three men running towards what he knew to be an emergency underground exit and one - an ordinary thug - rushing to meet them there, though he seemed to be carrying something.
Something that set Shouta's blood on fire and made his eyes blaze, eliminating the burn and he knew ...
He knew that they were no longer facing the Aizawa Shouta that had wanted to be a Hero.
No, they were now facing the Aizawa Shouta who had defended Tasomiya, the Aizawa Shouta that would not stand by as he watched children get hurt.
This wasn't Eraserhead.
Aizawa was an avenging angel as he caught up to them and descended upon them with a vengeance no Pro Hero has ever witnessed from him.
The thug went down first, but they were already in Overhaul's sight. The man chucked his gloves and immediately touched the ground, making spikes sprout like flowers in spring. Shouta grabbed the thug's precious burden and even the thug himself, as undeserving as the man may be in his eyes right now, dragging them up into the air, towards the ceiling, with the help of his capture weapon. Bullets started flying towards them, but Eraserhead's capture weapon, when combined with his auxiliary Quirk, was not just the best offense, but also defense, as the scarf-like metal weapon sprung in front of him and his cargo, creating a shield of swirling cloth. Shouta unwrapped the other end of his weapon and used it to swing further and further away, but Overhaul's assault kept following them on the ground. He clucked his teeth and shuffled his burden around in his arms until he could take out a couple of grenades and threw them at the ceiling several feet behind him. As soon as a moderate explosion blew a hole in the ceiling of the hallway, Shouta hauled them up through it, escaping Overhaul's attack. He found an empty room to deposit his precious cargo in, not even having time to tie up the thug, before he had to go back because Overhaul and his two remaining lackeys have made it to beneath the hole.
"Who are you?" The one in the black poncho with the gun said, his voice projecting and ringing in Shouta's ears, but whatever it was meant to do besides annoy him, it had no effect on him. "You're not compelled to confess and repent?"
The Vigilante snorted. "The only one who should be repenting is you."
"Kai-sama," the one in the white raincoat-like garb, supposedly Chronostasis, says to the man with a jacket whose collar is lined with the garrish purple 'fur' or feathers or whatever that is. "Leave him to us-"
"No, Chrono," Chisaki cuts him off, sounding almost ... pleased? Shouta grit his teeth and tried not to clench his fists to visibly display his rage and unease. He can't lose his shit now. The source of the Deleter Shot bullets needs him to stay calm, so he can get them out of here in one piece. "Don't you recognize him?"
"Overhaul-sama?" The other one, with the voice-based Quirk, questions, and Overhaul gestures grandly at the black-clad Vigilante.
"My loyal followers, meet Eraserhead."
'Shit. So he does know who I am. Does he know my 'Quirk-stopping fighting technique' is actually due to my Quirk? I can't let a man like him find out about Erasure.' He didn't say anything even as the white one took off his hood and mask to get a proper look at him. This man gave off a bad vibe, but Shouta wasn't scared. Hell, he didn't remember a time if he'd ever been truly frightened. There had never been anything that could truly scare him, even when he was little and especially as he grew up and got stronger. Learned to fight and defend himself, be self-sufficient, learn what he wants to be.
It comes with Erasure, he would guess. There's little to be scared of with a power like that under your belt.
"I'm impressed that you've managed to get this deep inside our hideout, Hero," the last was said mockingly and tauntingly and Shouta rolled his eyes behind the safety of his goggles. "However, you won't make it out alive if you don't return my things to me."
"She's a human being," he bristled, already even more enraged than when he'd first seen the small, white haired girl with bandages around her legs and arms, carried by the thug unconscious one level up. It's as he'd feared. That girl, somehow, had a power that had a similar effect, at least in the long run, as Erasure. And this man, this utter monster before him, along with his two lackeys, only saw that powerful, terrifying power and not a person.
Oh, how bitter it tastes to see your own past experiences haunt another child. He didn't even bother to wonder where the little girl's parents are. As far as he was concerned, the only way a child could end up on an experimenting table is if the parent has given their consent or if they are dead.
This is why Shouta has spent his whole life on the run and in hiding. This is why he couldn't return to UA when he saw government-licensed vehicles parked in front of UA upon managing to escape his kidnappers fifteen years ago. They'd found out that he was still alive and they wanted their failed project back. But Shouta had never been Hawks, who they'd found vulnerable and childish. Shouta had learned from before turning five that his power is what people will want and that's why Ashou and Kronos never found out about the true extent of Erasure, about it. Shouta couldn't afford to tell them.
This girl, perhaps six or seven years of age, was now going through the same thing only there was no greater villain who'd learned of her power and had come to take her away. There's no Hero to save her from a villain like that, like the man in front of him.
Only him, only Shouta.
And boy, is Overhaul going to wish it had simply been All Might Detroit Smashing him by the time Shouta's finished with him.
It was an open secret: Eraserhead won't stand for child abuse. That was the one offense that made him turn brutal against those he fights. And Chisaki has just trampled all over that one trigger and all of his worst childhood memories.
Shouta had to let the world bleed red before he blinks.
(No matter what his birth parents had said about him, he is not a monster, he is not evil, he is not a villain.)
"So it is a Quirk," Chronostasis breathed and Overhaul let out a delighted, deranged laugh, going on into a cliche villain monologue about how he was going to overthrow All For One and the League of Villains with this new power and how he didn't even need 'that Eri' for it. Shouta took this time to take out a clean sheet of paper and start jotting down his report, as he was kind of on the clock, here. It took a while for the yakuza to stop prattling about how this is going to write their names down in history and make them rich and famous and Shouta only noticed when he heard sounds of frustration coming from below. He looked up from his half finished report to regard the three men in boredom. "What is this?!" Overhaul demanded, enraged and frightened, as he kept touching the ground and yet nothing happened.
The other two had no better luck and Shouta let them continue trying until the black-clad one started shooting at him again. He glared in annoyance - not that they'd actually see it behind the yellow goggles - even as his capture weapon easily deflected the bullets like one would see in a movie. (Hey, what good is an auxiliary Quirk if one does not train it to be as useful as the primary/main one, right? It's only logical.) Sighing, he tucked the pen and paper away before giving his full attention to the three bastards he wanted nothing more than to dropkick straight into hell.
"What have you done?" Asked the horrified Chronostasis and Shouta let himself grin in a dangerous way.
"You've wanted to see what it is like if one had the power to erase Quirks, did you not? Well en-fucking-joy."
And then he drop kicked them.
All in all, a good day's work.