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?

An interlude with Shigaraki ...

Shigaraki Tomura was not at all happy, but happiness came hard to him most days, so that wasn't exactly anything new. In fact, he can't even remember the last time he'd been properly happy, though he had some days when it was just him and his video games and Kurogiri doing something quietly in the background that came relatively close to what might classify as happiness to him these days.

But as of about two months ago, he found himself in a relatively 'grumpy' mood that simply wouldn't let up.

It all started the day they were supposed to attack the USJ. Or, well, he guessed it would be more accurate that it all started the night before they were supposed to attack the USJ, when one of the weaker Nomus went missing and they only later found out it was because a certain annoying (cool) Vigilante had captured it and left it to the police, but the real annoyance began not twelve hours later.

It was supposed to be easy, all things considered. Sensei's newest creation was perfect, made especially to fight All Might to a standstill, and Kurogiri himself was perfect to fight that other Hero. The third one was taken down so quickly Tomura even forgot about his existence unless Kurogiri mentioned him. The kids were all just low level threats, or so they'd thought because some of them turned out to be damned powerful. Maybe if Kurogiri had just separated them so they'd all been alone? Surely children that had only just begun their training couldn't be such an obstacle if they're left to fend for themselves. Oh well, a learning experience, if nothing else.

The most annoying thing was that their plan hadn't failed because of All Might. Hell that smiling fool hadn't even been there when his schedule had said he should have been! Such an irresponsible teacher, really. So much for the perfection of All Might.

No, the plan failed because Eraserhead had to just show up out of fucking nowhere and take down the whole hoard of common villains Giran had managed to collect for them as if it were nothing. The man was fast and turned out to have a pretty curious Quirk. Very useful. Except Tomura had been quick to figure out its limitations and weaknesses and the Nomu's sheer strength had been enough to take him down.

But Eraserhead had kept fighting until he finally lost consciousness, concrete cracked underneath his face, yet he was still breathing. Shigaraki had thought him cool for how he moves when he fights and that strange scarf of his, but even his shallow admiration gained depth when Eraserhead managed to save that frog girl and her two friends despite the Nomu pushing his head down, red specks coming from behind those curious goggles of his. He actually wasn't sure if Eraser's Quirk came from his eyes or if it was mental, but he had a time limit and his goggles definitely hid something besides his identity.

Still, Eraserhead had not been enough to defend those kids alone, but he'd been enough to buy time for other Pros to come to their rescue, All Might first among them. The blond oaf had definitely not been smiling when he saw the scene he'd walked in on and Shigaraki had honestly been afraid. For a moment. Then he'd set the Nomu on him and the battle between the two brain dead musclebound idiots began, a sight to see.

But something became obvious as the fight progressed. It took time and multiple hits, but the Nomu eventually buckled, which Tomura knew wasn't supposed to happen. It still healed and regenerated. It still had shock absorption, and yet, for some reason, it had buckled. It wasn't its strength or speed, either, and All Might can boast all he wants, everything and everyone living has limits. Nomu are not the living. And it had been fine before that. The Doctor would never let a failed experiment leave his lab. Which meant something had happened to his pet/servant/monster thing between stepping through Kurogiri's warpgate and fighting All Might.

He knew that his assessment was right by the surprise Sensei showed in his voice when he heard his creation was defeated. Sensei knew what it takes to fight All Might; Sensei wouldn't have made such a miscalculation. And yet the Nomu had lost.

Then Kurogiri reported what had happened, short and sweet, concise, and Sensei had listened quietly.

Up until Kurogiri mentioned the Vigilante and Tomura revealed he had a cool ability to cancel out Quirks. Though that hadn't worked on the Nomu the first time, so obviously it did nothing to mutation and transformative Quirks.

But Sensei's "What?" had him wondering if he'd missed something.

"Explain. Describe this individual to the best of your ability, Shigaraki Tomura."

"Yes, Sensei," he'd replied to the order before complying. "He's the Vigilante they call Eraserhead, relatively unknown but apparently infamous among criminals and villains. He fights mostly hand to hand and his martial arts skills are pretty cool. He also uses this strange scarf thing that feels both soft as wool and like metal, pretty long and agile and strong. He'd wrapped it around the Nomu at one point and it couldn't break free until he'd lost his grip and the Nomu just shrugged the scarf off. Couldn't tell much about his face, he was wearing yellow goggles and his hair - long, black - and scarf hid most of it anyway. He was wearing all black and had an utility belt with many pockets. His Quirk, from what I could tell, made his hair stand up when activated and it seems to mess with how other people's Quirks work. I can't be certain, but I thought I saw a light from behind the goggles at one point."

"You think it might come from his eyes? What was the color of this light, Shigaraki Tomura?"

"I don't know, it was impossible to tell, but I do know that it was no gadget or drug like people speculated. The color was red."

"Are you positive it was red?" Sensei had asked and Tomura had been confused because yes, he was certain. Had he stuttered? Had the connection broken and Sensei thought he'd heard wrong due to static or something?

"Yes."

"Hm." A pause. "Do you think he might have done something to the Nomu for it to have lost? Because the Quirks I put in its body were intricately woven into its being so that their combination would hold up against All Might's unwavering strength, especially as he should be considerably weakened by now."

"All Might seemed just fine to me," Tomura had spat bitterly, still lying on the floor and bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds that Kurogiri was now leaning over him trying to clean, stitch and bandage. It hurt like a bitch.

Sensei had then assured him that this defeat did not matter as long as he learned something from it and assured him he'd have many other chances to come before the connection was cut. Tomura had then spent days agonizingly thinking over and over in his head about what had happened. Then there was the UA Sports Festival and he watched those brats he hated so much make a spectacle of themselves like cheap whores, but he also watched how everyone behaved. The world of Heroes had been a bit shaken up by their bold attack on USJ and UA had been receiving criticism for still holding the Festival like nothing was wrong. The commentator was annoying, the ringleader lady was perverted, but there were some interesting kids with the potential to turn to their side if pushed right.

That 1-B kid that acted so superior but didn't even make it into the final round.

The bird boy with his imaginary shadow friend. He had a darkness in him.

Maybe even the Number Two's own son! He definitely looked like he had a dark past behind him! (Tomura dismissed him after his fight against Midoriya Izuku. Whatever those two had been yapping about during the fight had clearly changed something in the two-toned boy and he was no longer interesting.)

And, of course, the loud, explosive blond. The one that the Heroes slash his teachers tied to a pole, suppression cuffs on his hands and a muzzle in his mouth! And he was their champion! Yes, Tomura could see potential in this one. He would make a fine villain with that attitude, even All Might looked wary of approaching him.

And then, to the astonishment of all, Eraserhead himself made a bold appearance. The easy confidence, the way he criticized the Heroes, the way he defended those brats he'd saved that day, calling them his kids. The way he'd escaped, an entire stadium full of Pro Heroes unable to follow him or stop him or just do anything at all. So cool, so cool. Eraserhead wasn't like the Heroes, wasn't like the Vigilantes. He didn't follow mindlessly. He lead.

And that might actually make him more dangerous than Shigaraki had realized.

Not that he had much time to ponder the Vigilante once Sensei and Kurogiri got him involved with that bastard, Stain. The lauded, infamous Hero Killer. Shigaraki honestly wasn't much impressed with the man, because he was haughty and believed himself to be superior to Tomura because 'he had a reason for his killing' or some such bullshit. At the heart of it, Stain just killed the things he didn't like, as Tomura realized later after he cornered Midoriya Izuku and had a little chat with him in the mall. But before that, he'd gotten stabbed, threatened, considered and dismissed, he'd let loose three Nomu onto Hosu and watched them wreak havoc as the Heroes fought fruitlessly to stop them. In the end, it was some old guy in a yellow cape and Endeavor that proved to be the only ones even remotely capable of fighting the Nomus. They were weaker than the one they'd sent to fight All Might but clearly still more than strong enough to make even the Number Two struggle.

Then he realized three UA brats had managed to capture Stain without any Pro help. Now that had been interesting. He'd only noticed because he thought he'd seen a shadow moving across the rooftops and following it he'd realized it was Eraserhead once again rushing to the brats' aid. Eraserhead had ended up being nothing more than nanny and sentry regarding Stain, but he'd been the one to save Midoriya Izuku when the flying Nomu had snatched him up. Stain had been the one to kill it, but Eraserhead had saved the kid, ultimately. Eraserhead had been the only one able to move since Stain had started gushing killing intent.

Stain ended up being arrested anyway and Eraserhead had disappeared once more. Shigaraki hadn't heard a word of him since, though Giran had gotten a tip off that the Vigilante had been tracking him for some time now. Then Eraserhead arrested another sentry Nomu and Shigaraki realized that, more than the Heroes, Eraserhead was the one to watch out for.

Now, over two months since he'd first encountered the Vigilante, Shigaraki was in a 'meeting' with his newest recruits as he tried to think up a good plan to attack the Hero Course students during UA's customary summer camp.

Now, Mister Blaster has proven to be a non-threat and any of the League of Villain's new Venueguard Action Squad would be more than capable of taking him down, even Mustard if he weren't to use his Quirk at all, but Sensei had managed to get information on who else would be there with the UA teachers. Vlad King has a decent record of successful missions and his Quirk was pretty good, but Toga Himiko would be an unsuitable opponent for him. The more he bled, the more weapons he had at his disposal and he wouldn't even be able to bleed to death, so fatal wounds would only be a hindrance, given Toga only fought with a knife. She's decent at hand to hand and probably used to do gymnastics, but this was a Pro they were talking about. That wouldn't be enough to take him down. And his Quirk would probably nullify the effects of her Quirk, so there's really no point in sending Toga. She'd be more effective against the students themselves.

Instead, perhaps Dabi would be a good match against the Blood Hero. Tomura absolutely despised the burned man who seemed to think him a brat despite them being roughly the same age, but he can't deny that his fire Quirk was powerful. Powerful enough that it hurt even him, if the burned patches of skin were anything to go by. Dabi was actually their only real long distance fighter. Mustard was just a kid who wouldn't be able to save his life without the little old fashioned gun he'd somehow gotten his hands on, so if anyone could bypass his poisonous gas, he's done for. Dabi, though, could fight both up close and at a distance. It'd be best to team him up with Twice, the schizophrenic. The more Dabi clones they had running around setting things on fire,the bigger the chaos and the bigger are their chances to fulfill this mission without a hitch.

Most of the rest of the Venuguard will be on capture-the-kids duty and they'll be lent a Nomu to prevent anyone from interfering from the sidelines. Class B kids were of no real interest to them. Some had pretty good Quirks, but they weren't as strong as 1-A. (And Tomura really didn't want to subject himself to that blond kid that looked like he had rabies.) Kurogiri was, of course, their entrance and exit, Mr Compress was on containment duty and Big Sis Magne, Moonfish and Spinner were going to team up against the other Pros, the group of Heroes called the Wild Wild Pussycats.

Now, Muscular was there as a deterrent in case All Might were to show up, as unlikely as Sensei said that was, but he was also a deterrent in case Eraserhead comes along. Though the question remains: can Eraserhead's Quirk affect him? The Nomu at USJ had seemed unaffected but then Sensei had insinuated that the Nomu should have been capable of withstanding All Might's assault. The Nomu had only come into contact with Eraserhead beforehand, not counting Midoriya Izuku punching him in his attempt to get Tomura away from the frog girl. Midoriya only had superstrength.

Eraserhead was proving to be more troublesome the more Tomura had to get involved with him, or rather Eraserhead had to get involved with Tomura. And all because, what? He wanted to be a Hero? Then why wasn't he? Why be a Vigilante? Surely someone of Eraserhead's skills could have gotten into an Hero Course he wanted. Tomura's ready to bet his left hand - and all of his family's hands - that Eraserhead was even cooler than he'd seen so far and his right hand that the man will continue to be a nuisance to him and his League in the future.

The worst part was that they had no real known weaknesses to exploit. Giran couldn't find shit about the man and targeting 1-A can work only so many times. But Eraserhead was on their tail, that much was clear, as he'd known to go to USJ the day they had attacked. It was only a matter of time before someone like Eraserhead found the bar or, worse yet, one of the Nomu factories. Yet Sensei was doing nothing about the Vigilante, just telling Tomura to go on as planned, to continue making the League grow.

Shigaraki huffed as Kurogiri finally sent everyone off through one of his gates. He didn't like that most of the new Vanguard were Stain's followers, Spinner and Toga especially, though he guessed Dabi was the most dangerous one of them all. Muscular was strong but he'll be satisfied if Tomura just lets him kill things and Mr Compress was a former thief or con artist or something. His priorities differ. Magne is in it for gender(?) rights and freedom and Twice is just crazy. He couldn't give two shits about why Mustard was there and Moonfish had similar reasons as Muscular, though he's, apparently, a cannibal. (If that sicko looks at him like that just one more time, he'll end up in an ashtray. Just try him. There's only enough space for one insane member of the League and Twice has already fulfilled it. Though, it's not like they don't already have overcapacity of that, too, what with all the other members. Tomura swears Kurogiri is the only sane one. And yes, he is self-aware enough to know he's not completely right in the head himself, something that couldn't be said for some people.)

Dabi, though ... He said he follows Stain's preaching but there's a look in his eyes that does not match Spinner's and Toga's.

Shigaraki has no doubt Dabi wants to destroy the Hero society, but his reasons are his own. He isn't about Real and Fake Heroes like Stain's usual followers, but rather he wants to destroy it all. He doesn't complain about rules nor does he preach about a more just society. He doesn't want to just kill and destroy, though he clearly enjoys it. No, Dabi seems to have a specific goal in mind, one that he's been nurturing far longer than Stain's been active. Tomura knows he'll have to be weary of that one.

"Shigaraki Tomura," he was snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Kurogiri's voice. He looked over to his partner/guardian/butler/servant/caretaker, only to find the mist construct of a man already staring at him intently. Or, well, with the same intensity he's always looked at him, really. Kurogiri seems to have only one setting and that's ... whatever this is. Loyal to Sensei to a fault, subservient to Tomura, fulfilling his every whim, protecting him, providing for him and the such. Kurogiri had started off as little more than a caregiver slash guard but as he grew and Sensei molded him into his successor, Kurogiri seemed to gain new roles to play. Transportation remained his main role, as did looking over Shigaraki, but now Kurogiri was expected to fight, too, despite his Quirk only sometimes being good for a fight.

Shigaraki would never admit it, to anyone, not under the pain of death, but it terrified him to think that the purple mist man could one day be taken from him, be it in the form of an arrest or death. Kurogiri has been his only constant for far too long. He'd probably go more insane than Twice and/or Moonfish if something were to happen to him, despite his own threats thrown at the bartender every no and then. Kurogiri was the one person in this world he'd never try to decay.

"What?"

"What do you plan to do once the target is brought here? I doubt the boy would be happy or complacent."

"Did Giran bring what we asked?"

"Yes." Eerie yellow eyes glanced towards the indestructible chair and the suppression cuffs they'd bought from the dealer. "Will this not send the wrong message, though?"

"It will send the right message," Tomura countered as a grin split his face. "He'll realize that the way the Heroes have treated him this whole time isn't very heroic and then we'll let him walk around free, no restraints, as we explain to him why he'd be better off with people who actually understand him and won't judge him." He stopped grinning, going back into what that fucking burned chicken nugget dared call his 'emo-mode'. "Besides, whether he joins us or not isn't really important. The main goal will be achieved the second they take him. It will not only tarnish UA's reputation as the second incident they couldn't prevent and the second time they couldn't protect their own students despite being lauded as the best Hero school in the country, it will tarnish All Might's reputation and even disrupt the belief in the entire Hero system. If we get a new follower, that's just a bonus. Whether he joins us or we kill him doesn't matter. Both scenarios will weaken our enemies."

"And what if that Vigilante shows up?" Giran, who had just entered the bar, asked, smoking his cigarette in an unconcerned manner. "It would be foolish not to expect it at this point. He's been there for those kids every single time. A colleague of mine from the US just told me Eraserhead hacked I-Island for them."

"... What?" Deadpanned the youngest of the three.

The information broker snorted. "Yeah, I almost didn't believe him, but he got the message Eraser sent."

"What are you even talking about?"

"You seriously didn't hear about the incident at I-Island? I thought it would be right up your alley." The man shrugged,taking another puff of his cancer stick. Tomura hated the smell of cigars. It was disgusting. Smoking could lead to lung cancer, half a dozen blood anomalies, brain damage if you're seriously unlucky and it often causes shaking fingers and as an avid fan of games, Tomura swore he'll never smoke. He's decided a few years ago that if he ever needs to 'take the edge off', he'll just go out and turn something into dust. At least homicide only harms others and not yourself. "Apparently a group of criminals was all but invited by Prof David Shield and his assistant to take hostage of the whole place so they could steal some Quirk-enhancing device. One thought them to be fake criminals, the other knew them to be villains. Anyway, they somehow managed to use I-Island's security against them and everyone was put in quarantine and all the present Pro Heroes were captured as though they were the intruding villains. What no one knew was that All Might had, apparently, supposedly, brought some 1-A kids along for the ride to enjoy that Expo event they hold every year but they weren't captured and, well, one of the kids called Eraserhead."

Tomura almost grimaced in sympathy for the overseas villains. If those kids were involved, they wouldn't have stood a chance against the Vigilante. "He seriously managed to get onto I-Island and hack into their systems without anyone arresting him? So cool."

Giran suddenly gave a nervous, very unsettled laugh. "If only. Eraserhead was reported to have been active in town the next morning, local time. Took down that pathetic yakuza trying to redistribute Trigger. No, Eraserhead didn't go to I-Island. He hacked into their servers from a distance. He didn't have direct access. He did it remotely. And he did it, as analyses showed, in less than five minutes."

Well, fuck. Shigaraki was no computer genius but he definitely knew that the security on I-Island was topnotch, matching the security of Tartarus prison, which has some of the most dangerous inmates in the whole entire world. And Eraserhead could hack into a system like that without having direct access to the system? Tomura now hoped Eraser actually finds the bar and not a Nomu factory. He'd no doubt be able to get any and all information on the computers, even if they were wiped clean. "I didn't know he was a hacker."

Giran snorted. "Neither was anyone else. Get this, though. My colleague has an informant who got the chance to see the analyses made by the scientists on I-Island afterwards of the method used to crash their firewalls and take over their system. The compatibility is less than 3% but the line of coding is so familiar to any hacker or programmer worth their salt that he immediately said it looked like Hal's work."

"Hal, the infamous hacker who robbed all sorts of people for billions of dollars?"

"That's the one."

"Isn't he already twenty years in jail with no access to any piece of technology based on coding?" Kurogiri questioned and Giran nodded.

"Yup."

"... Fuck. Seems everyone's playing the successor game, huh." It was the only possible explanation. No one would be able to hack into a system like that in conditions like that unless they'd been taught by the best programmer slash hacker in the world. Hal's life story isn't exactly public knowledge, but criminals and villains know some of it. Started off as an ordinary student looking to start an IT company of his own, apparently got hate for his Quirk helping him 'cheat' through MIT, returned to Japan with stolen information and robbed bank accounts of dozens of people, went into hiding and started his own little black market dealing. Had the best business because his prices were actually relatively affordable unless you're asking for something special but he was picky and always looking for a challenge. "Weren't there rumors that he suddenly had a kid, just a year or two before he was arrested, and that said kid was the one that ratted him out?"

"Rumors with no evidence to support them," Giran waved him off. "Besides, Hal had always been very openly asexual. Said he'd rather stick his prick in an electrical outlet than in another human and that he'd rather let a elephant hump him than be on the receiving end of sex."

Tomura grimaced. "I hesitate to ask how you know."

"Like I said: very openly asexual. In the beginning years of his, uh, career, people tried to throw sex slaves at him in an attempt to gain his favor and he'd tell every single one of those foolish would-be-clients that his price remains the same and that exact same phrase. People eventually got the message. Though I do know of someone with a Quirk that allows them to transform into a robot for about an hour a day tried it again anyway. Bad move on their part. Hal apparently screwed up their mind to the point they no longer knew what was up and what was down. You don't have a robot-transforming Quirk and piss off a person with a technopathy Quirk."

"They got what they deserved, if he'd made his stance clear before." Personally, Tomura would just acquaint annoying, persistent assholes like that with all five of his fingertips and settle for washing his clothes of dust, but he guessed the infamous hacker didn't exactly have that option. His way was still kind of badass. "What are the chances Eraserhead was Hal's apprentice or something?"

"Both very likely and very unlikely," replied the man as he finally finished his smoke. "Eraserhead's such a goody goody that I doubt he'd ever willingly associate himself with a criminal but the kind of skill and that exact type of code that had been used, well ... He's either a very good copycat or, indeed, Hal's student."

"Why did anyone even contact you about this, anyway?" It seems a bit strange that Giran would receive information about what had happened in America, even if it was because something as monumental as a Vigilante from Japan hacking into I-Island.

"Because a lot of people abroad now want the hacker that'd done this. My colleague didn't actually know, it was Eraserhead. They tried tracing the signal and it bounced all over the world in thirteen other countries, twenty cities from each, twenty four locations in each city. So my colleague hadn't tried to get more precise information but had, instead, called me to see if I knew the voice from the message since Japan was one of the thirteen countries. The second I heard '1-A's Sensei', I knew who we were dealing with."

Eraserhead was really just so cool!

Too bad he's turning out to be too big of a menace and will need to be eliminated. Hackers were the worst. Hackers that can fight and have a Quirk-canceling Quirk were just a nightmare and a disaster waiting to happen. As cool as Eraserhead was, he's becoming more and more of a threat. He's clearly good enough to track and tail Giran without anyone noticing until now. And the fact that he's kept hunting Nomu indicates that he has a problem with the League, too. He's an enemy.

"Let's hope he shows up, then," Shigaraki grins, feeling a bit of manic excitement ignite in him. They could either kill him on the spot or ship him off to the highest bidder in the US and wash their hands of him once and for all. And the rest of those 1-A brats would be left all the more defenseless and shaken without him. The streets would also be safer for villains and criminals to go about their business without the infamous Eraserhead patrolling in the night. "The sooner we deal with him, the better."

And that's when the TV flashed on, Sensei's voice coming over the speakers. "Do not 'deal' with this Eraserhead individual, Shigaraki Tomura." Said young man stiffened and turned around to look at the old TV set despite knowing that, as always, the screen will have no signal, no image, let alone the image of his mentor. "I believe I have unfinished business with him. Should he turn up, he is to be captured and brought to be alive and unharmed. Spread the word to your new followers. Immediately. Have I been understood, Shigaraki Tomura?"

"Yes, Sensei," he replied dutifully but sullenly. And he had just been looking forward to getting rid of the menace, cool as he was!

Sensei let out a half pleased, half contemplative hum. "I'll leave it to you then, Kurogiri." The audio cut off.

Tch, figures he'd expect of the bartender to be Tomura's impulse control. It's as if he thought him to still be that stupid, naive child, Shimura Tenko, that he'd found that day on the streets and extended a helping hand to. Tomura was not. Whatever shreds of innocence or naivety might have still clung to him when Sensei had found him and took him in, it's all gone by now. Tenko is dead. At this point, Tomura suspects he even enjoys killing more than Sensei does. Maybe not as much as Muscle or Moonfish, but definitely more than Sensei. Toga ... Toga's a weird one and he doesn't want to compare himself to her and he still isn't sure what to make of Dabi, exactly.

"Guess I need to call that trashfire now and update the newest orders. Tch. Damn Vigilante."

Still, if Sensei wants Eraserhead's Quirk all for himself ...

So cool. So cool, Eraserhead.