A/n: (Thanks to Morbious20 for betaing this chapter!)

December

Swinging through the air at a swift pace, Izuku traversed the skyline of Shizuoka and took a deep breath at the sight of his home town that he'd left behind for over a month now.

Izuku wore his costume that he used to hide his identity during the fighting ring matches. If he wanted to be more low-key about his powers he HAD to be sure not to draw too much attention to his actual identity. Didn't want the HPSC to knock down his mother's door did he?

Speaking of his mother, she called him about 20 minutes ago telling him to go to the Bakugo family home and meet her there, someone wanted to talk to him and she wouldn't say who.

'It might be someone from the HPSC actually… I'm the only witness that they know of from that day, the only person they'd suspect to have had a hand…' that did little to ease his nerves, if he had helped Cellophane back then…

'No use dwelling on it now, I have to be better.'

He smiled when the Bakugo home came into view, bringing with it memories of brighter days.

Landing on the sidewalk, Izuku came around the corner and jogged over to the pathway leading to their home. He knocked twice and then shoved his hands into his warm pockets, after taking his spider-mask off, his outfit looked pretty normal and equipped for the winter, he even had a beanie on to warm his ears.

The door opened to reveal a gorgeous woman, her face immediately becoming warm. "Izu! It's been so long! Glad to see you!" She pulled him into a tight hug, Izuku smiled and embraced the shorter woman.

"Hey Aunt Mitsuki! But it's only been a month since I saw you, what's the occasion?"

"Too long! And look at you, you've had a glow up! I'll say you're rivaling Katsuki now in looks although I wish he wasn't always frowning, damn that brat." Izuku blushed at her words, laughing.

She squeezed his arm, "And you've bulked up to, been hitting the gym huh? Let me get your jacket for you dear." Izuku unzipped his jacket revealing his dark green thermal shirt below, walking down the hall as Mitsuki put his coat on the hanger.

"Where's mom, do you know Aunt Mitsuki?" Izuku forgot how large their house was compared to his old apartment.

"She's cooking in the kitchen dear, we're hoping you can sit and eat with us for a bit before heading back to your fancy new job and all!" Izuku nodded, why not.

After slipping off his shoes, Izuku walked down the hall and took a right towards the kitchen. Suddenly, his spider-sense activated and then deactivated in the span of a couple of seconds.

'The hell was that?'

Izuku turned the corner, entering the dining room, his eyes instantly shooting towards the figure sitting at the head of the table. That explosive blond hair and those blood red eyes, Izuku didn't flinch when Katsuki looked up from his book and narrowed his eyes at him, their first meeting in over three years.

"K-, B-Bakugo..." Izuku stated, standing in the entrance and locking his green with those red eyes that liked to narrow excessively.

"Nerd."

The kitchen got cold, the temperature lowering by several degrees while they made eye contact. Izuku found it surprisingly easy to preserve eye contact, his confidence had shot higher than the sky after weeks of combat and practicing with his powers. Izuku felt himself stand a little taller, slightly flexing his muscles under his skin tight thermal. A small part of himself felt a tinge of satisfaction when Katsuki's eyes slightly widened at his new physique, darting between his eyes and muscular form in disbelief. The explosive hero looked away with a sneer, turning back to reading his book.

Izuku held his eyes on his former best friend for a second longer, "B-been a while, huh?" All he got in return was a grunt.

Frowning, 'Fine, I guess he hasn't changed after all.' Izuku resumed his gait, slowing his pace and walking towards the kitchen.

Without blinking, Izuku caught the arm that was reaching out to grab him, not bothering to look down to see Katsuki's face.

The hero recovered quickly, his red eyes regaining their focus. "We need to talk later, nerd." So that's why he was here, he's the one Mom said wanted to talk with him.

Izuku shrugged, "Sure." Katsuki ripped his hand out of Izuku's grip, scowling. His thoughts running rampant, he mused to himself as his former friend walked into the kitchen and gave his mother a hug.


Katsuki was floored several times in the span of a minute, a new shock coming constantly. His former friend had changed, shifted, he was unrecognizable from the muttering welp he'd seen three years ago. They were even the same height now, and Izuku had never been able to maintain eye contact with him, never.

'What the hell happened?' If he gave Izuku that glare three years ago the welp would've instantly conceded into a stuttering mess, now?

He had a physique like a veteran hero, and the reflexes of one too. Katsuki had fought Stain as a mere highs-chooler, but Izuku's speed just now was beyond even his own, and he was a full fledged pro. His former friend was an enigma now, and Katsuki didn't know what to make of it.

He couldn't focus on his admittedly delicious dinner, too busy glaring at the nerd who'd caught the attention of the entire table. It didn't make sense to him why his own parents cared about some nerd visiting more than their own son, just because he was working with a world class inventor. Whenever Izuku spent the night in the past when they were kids, the two always ate up his innocence and praised him like he was layered in gold, was nothing ever good enou-…

'Shut up…'

"So Izu dear, how's it been working with David Shield of people?" His mom had only glanced his way a few times during dinner, more focused on the quirkless useles-, no.

'Not useless, I won't say that, I'd be insulting Gearhead.'

"O-oh well, it's been as good as I could hope for, David is a really great guy and I feel like I could trust him with my life, but he's a little sassy when he's cranky…" The older adults were eating it up, his words catching them all in a trance so easily, like their son as a hero wasn't something to be celebrated. The nerd was already pissing him off.

'He has to be hiding something…' The whole reason he was here was because he needed to know the full story behind Cellophane's death, Sero's death. And if this nerd had anything to do with that-

"Katsuki! Quit frowning at the dinner table, aren't you glad to see your friend?" Mitsuki snapped at him from the right side of the table, her eyes turning white in anger.

Meanwhile, "I'm sure he's just stressed about hero work honey…" Katsuki's doormat dad spoke, his nerves rising.

"Did I make it wrong Katsuki? Don't worry about my feelings if you don't like the food dear." Even Aunt Inko was looking at him, but the only gaze he fully noticed was the one with two worrying green eyes penetrating through him.

"Are you okay? Katsuki?" The nerd asked him with those same worrying eyes and tone from all those years ago.

Shooting up from his seat, Katsuki intensified his glare. "Thanks for the food Aunt Inko, but I think me and… Izuku… We need to have a little talk." He gestured towards the balcony exit, where Katsuki could question him without prying eyes like he came here to do in the first place.

The sliding door slammed after the explosive quirk user left the room, leaving the rest of them in silence bar a small sigh from Masaru.

"You want me to talk to him, Mits?" It was rare he stood up like this and volunteered but they'd been working on it over the past few years.

Izuku raised his hand, "He's the one who wanted to talk to me, I figured, If he wants to talk I'm fine with talking to him."

"Sorry son, we tried to have a friendly dinner and I didn't want to stress you out…" Izuku grabbed and squeezed her hand softly.

"It's fine mom, I'm a grown man now, I can handle this." The Midoriya matriarch felt like crying, seeing her son come so far from what he used to be.

Mitsuki was seething in the corner with her husband, "Damnit, why can't Katsuki be more like Izuku. He never causes trouble and treats Inko like a queen!" Masaru sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Katsuki is his own person dear, y-you know he got a lot of his bravado from you right?" Another sigh.

"I know, but I tried my damndest to humble his ass before he went out into the world so he wouldn't start off like I did." Her eyes trailed to their guest, her unofficial nephew.

"And even though he's in the top five heroes…"

"There is always someone stronger, meaner, tougher, one day Katsuki will learn that." Izuku walked through the sliding door, closing it shut.
"And I don't know how he will react to that person."


Before he could even turn around, "You're different, nerd."

"You noticed?"

"Yeah, what the fuck happened? You hop on a roid cycle or something." Izuku could feel the venom laced in his breath…

He laughed.

"I-is that what you think? No I haven't, and I don't plan to." Anymore muscle and it would slow him down in the air.

Katsuki clicked his tongue, "And your stutter, you used to stutter even at a basic question, did you finally get laid?" Izuku sputtered at that one, his face flushing and eliciting a dark chuckle from his former friend.

"Ahh, that isn't it then huh." Izuku took in a breath, his face getting more serious.

"I-I know you didn't bring me out here just to mess with your parents and ask about my life, what do you want Katsuki?" Izuku questioned with a steady voice, but on the inside his nerves were slightly on edge.

"You stopped calling me Kacchan."

"Y-you stopped calling me Deku, we aren't kids anymore."

Katsuki grumbled at his reply, "You never know-"

"What do you want?" Izuku interrupted, annoyed.

The hero clicked his tongue, "I want to know about Celloph-" Katsuki felt his eyes widen as the man before him simply interrupted again.

"No."

Izuku wanted to laugh at the expression Katsuki put on after being denied, "No… The fuck do you mean no?" Izuku gave a small laugh, Katsuki didn't believe he heard him right.

He gulped, "I-I said no." And with a moment of silence, Izuku felt the tick off his familiar spider-sense fire off.

It took all his power to ignore it.

In a split second, Katsuki slammed him into the wall. Instantly holding up a charged smoking palm to his face, Izuku's eyes widened in fear; Katsuki smirked at his obvious expression of terror.

"You think that because you're jacked now and a hot shot inventor that you've suddenly overcome your defect? You're still quirkless, still physically weak." He increased the pressure, pushing him against the wall harder.

Izuku's face was shadowed, he wasn't expecting Katsuki to revert back to his old ways… It was disappointing.

"Right now, I'm Ground Zero the number 4 hero, and you're a random quirkless civilian who was involved in the death of another hero, you don't fucking have the right to remain silent." Izuku's sweat glistened down the side of his face which was lit up dimly by the orange glow emanating from Katsuki's palm.

His shadowed face refused to move, a few seconds passed without movement between the former best friends. A chilly wind blew through, eliciting an icy shiver from Katsuki, surprisingly, and blowing Izuku's hair along its trajectory which further shadowed his face.

"Let go..."

It was spoken so quietly, hardly a whisper and more of a breath. Katsuki raised an eyebrow, his pearly white teeth visible in his smirk. It was just like old times, the nerd was too scared to fight back, the old status quo was back and Katsuki was glad to finally have some sense of normalcy.

"What was that?"

"I said…"

His words were more audible this time.

A tight grip wrapped around the explosion quirk user's wrist suddenly, eliciting a gasp of pain from the red eyed man.

"I SAID, LET GO!" Izuku squeezed tightly, his iron grip instantly shattering the blond's wrist and eliciting a grunt of pain. Dropping to the floor and quickly leaning over to resist the crushing grip, Katsuki quit flexing his quirk and used his left arm to dig at Izuku's to no avail, his grip was closed shut.

"Hng!"

'H-how the hell is this happening, he's quirkless! Why am I… Why am I so weak!' He refused to cry in pain, even if his body was shaking from it.

"Y-you think that because you're a hero you have the right to push people through the mud and stomp them out? That sounds more like a villain to me, and Cellophane sacrificed his life to keep ME safe, yet here you are acting like a thug again Katsuki!" Izuku's face was red in anger now, righteously he ignored the gasps of pain emanating from his former friend as he kneeled on the ground trying to escape his grip and pull away.

Izuku reigned in his anger slightly, "I-I'm not the same as I was before, I have people who genuinely care about me now… And I refuse to be kicked around like a pebble!" Izuku pivoted on his heel and threw Katsuki against the wall, the impact eliciting a large banging noise.

"I'll fucking demolish you Izuku! Let go before I blast your shitty corpse to smithereens!" The hero tried to get back up, yet failed.

"Do it then! Prove me right! You're no hero!"

Izuku was fuming with anger, repressed for so long. His ears were ringing while he watched the blonde haired man struggle to stand up, his wrist damaged severely. He wanted to hurt him more, wanted to make the so-called hero suffer for all the years he'd spent tormenting him. His fists were shaking, his eyes wobbling in anger like an emerald inferno threatening to spill out.

But…

His mind flashed back to what David said to him not so long ago.

"With great power, comes great responsibility."

Those damn words again...

Izuku released the tension in his fist, his body quitting it's mass production of unrelenting fury.

"What the hell is going on!" Mitsuki roared as she entered the balcony, her face going pale as she saw Katsuki leaning against the wall, clutching his wrist and glaring at Izuku.

"What the hell are you two doing!" She stormed over to Katsuki, grabbing him by the ear and tugging him. Izuku sighed and softened his gaze.

"Fucking let go! He broke my wrist!" Mitsuki stopped pulling, unable to believe her ears.

"And what did you do to him?" Katsuki sputtered.

"Why do you always assume that I did something you hag, I'm a fucking hero!"

"Because you always start shit! You're one of the most proactive heroes in history, Katsuki. I do my research as much as you think I don't, you idiot…" Katsuki was speechless, he couldn't deny it either, that's the part that always hurt the most.

She was right.

"I-I'm sorry Aunt Mitsuki, things got carried away and I lost my temper. I'll pay for any of the medical costs." Izuku looked down to the floor in shame, this was the second time this week he'd injured a hero.

"Don't worry about it, the big bad hero over here won't need any special private treatment." She glared down at the fallen man, his eyes glaring down at the ground.

"I need to go." He still had unresolved tension in his body, the type of tension that one would feel before getting into a real fight… Izuku was still shaking from the adrenaline flowing through him.

"That's fine dear, just don't be a stranger okay? And say goodbye to your mother, we'll handle this brat." Masaru was peeking his head out the door as Izuku neared, the older man stepped back inside and let him pass through without a word.

"I have to go mom." He hugged her tightly, the short woman sighing sadly.

"I'm sorry things ended this way dear, I should've known things were rocky, I thought you guys could make up and be like before…" Izuku smiled down at her tearful expression, she was obviously stressed.

"It's fine Mom, I promise… Soon I'll get you out of here, and then you won't have to worry anymore, I'll hire a maid." She laughed, her tears falling off in droplets.

"I'll see you soon."

"Stay safe, honey."


The wind crashed against his masked face, seeping through the fabric and cooling his face from the smoldering anger he'd experienced moments ago. Swinging high into the sky, Izuku released his grip on the web and created a new one during the descent, swinging himself forth at increasing velocity.

Landing atop a building, Izuku did a vault over a ventilation box, the green eyed man performing several feats of athletics at high speeds across the skyline, jumping from one building to another with increasing fervor until he reached the main street. Side flipping over the edge of the building, the webslinger latched a web onto the edge and swung himself over onto the side of the building in one smooth motion.

Resting against the building, Izuku tore off his mask, using it while performing athletics, was nearly unbearable considering the weave of the fabric. He let out a deep breath of the winter Tokyo air, his brows furrowing.

'Darnit, It felt good at the time to hurt Katsuki like that but now I've given him even more reason to be on my tail, no quirkless person can break someone's wrist like that!' He critiqued himself.

'But, it did feel deserved, a hero like him… What does being a hero even mean? I don't know, all our lives we're taught being a hero means serving our country and being special enforcers of the police, but there has to be more...' He sat against the building, letting the chilly breeze blow through his hair as he thought.

'What is a hero…'

"Why does a government contract give someone who has power the right to use it? What's so useful about a piece of paper…" The only thing stopping him from being a hero as he used to dream about… Was a piece of paper he didn't have.

'What makes a hero responsible, is it just their power, is it their urge to protect civilians? What is the point?' Izuku shook his head solemnly and looked to the streets below, covered in a light layer of snow.

His spider-sense suddenly and without warning erupted in his head.

"What now!?!" The webslinger looked around to see if anyone was trying to attack him, his eyes catching some commotion below.

Cars were getting knocked aside and into buildings, as an armored bus slammed through the streets of Tokyo violently. Izuku felt his mouth gape as he watched the carnage in horror , anyone caught in the crossfire of that thing would die instantly… And the two figures surrounding the bus moving at high speeds didn't seem to have it under control, Izuku felt terror inject itself into his heart as the world slowed to a crawl.

'What… do I do.'

'There isn't a clear cut answer.'

'One option, I can help and risk being caught and jailed. The other option?'

His eyes widened.

"I'll let tragedy happen despite having the power to stop it, again. But I'll be safe."

The world returned to normal speed, Izuku could see the bus right below him at street level, crashing through cars and ignoring traffic laws… He had a choice right here and now, how else would he answer his question on what a hero meant? How else would he figure out what this responsibility he felt was? The webslinger slipped on his fuzzy red spider mask.

He had to move.

His body shook, as if it was anticipating something. For the first time since running from Cellophane and Stain, his mind felt perfectly clear on what exactly he had to do at this point in time.

Damn the consequences.

BOOM!

Fragments of glass scattered through the air, Izuku had taken flight!

In a free fall, Izuku's nerves shot up by a degree of infinity.

'Breathe Midoriya, it's time to put these powers… It's time to put them to good use!'

Swinging down and over traffic, Izuku surfed the air for a moment before shooting out web after web to keep up with the high speed bus.

Thwip!


At closer inspection, there were several guys inside using their quirks freely. "Some kind of freakshow going on in there!?" Izuku heard the voice of one of the presumed heroes chasing the rampaging vehicle, he sounded young… maybe a few years older than he was. The 'hero' wore a matt black combat hoodie with pants to match, armor plates littered across his body covered his vital areas. But what really piqued his interest was a weird blue glow emanating from his hands and feet. He seemed to be able to slide across the ground at immensely high speeds, Izuku was fascinated to say the least.

But he had to make his presence known, "Hey! I-I want to help out?!" He yelled out to the two under him, the other with an armored body that looked like a knight mixed with a race car. He was running conventionally at high speed as well; His name was Ingenium and Izuku knew him well. The two figures turned to look at him, both covered by their respective masks or helm.

"Is this newcomer another one of your vigilantes, Cruller?!?" So this was the local vigilante...

"I don't think so little bro, thought he was with you!"

"Not with that outfit, he looks to be a common citizen!"

Izuku groaned, these two bantering back and forth while the bus was rampaging across the city did not paint them in a good light.

Releasing his web line, Izuku shot out a twin pair of webs towards the top of the bus, pulling himself down at high speeds and latching down onto the roof of the bus with a bang. Izuku quickly scanned his surroundings.

"I need to get inside to stop it!" He crawled ahead to the front of the bus, the windows were slightly protected but otherwise he could see through it clearly.

The Cruller was helping people out of harm's way with his speed and propulsion quirk, "Wow you can stick to surfaces too?!?" He exclaimed as he noticed the webslinger sticking to the window of the car, causing the bus driver to swerve over a lamppost in his fright, Izuku felt the forces of momentum and gravity trying to fling him off.

Regaining his balance, Izuku cocked a fist back "Careful! That window is bullet proof, we've already-" Izuku crashed his fist through the thick plated window with ease, tearing it off and leaving the armored speedster speechless.

"Hey! You got a death wish punk?" The driver roared out with a guttural voice, his body completely green.

"Me?!? You're the one driving through the city like a madman!" Izuku exclaimed from underneath his mask, green eyes widening as the driver raised his fingers towards him.

"Eat lead freak!" The webster held up the bullet proof window in front of him as a shield, only to see three rows of tic tacks flying towards him.

"That's your power?"

"Don't laugh at me!"

"I'm not!"

Izuku felt like facepalming, this wasn't what he expected when he decided to become a vigilante, if he was going to regret his impulse he'd better do it soon. In the split second of thinking he had, Izuku realized that the bus had an empty interior, bar for a few quirked villains looking at him with disdain in their eyes.

"Stretch! Get em off us!" Izuku felt a hand wrap around his ankle, throwing him to the side of the bus.

"Crap!" Izuku was still holding on to the bullet proof glass, his body vibrating as it scraped across the ground.

A gloved hand wrapped around his own, "Dear lord you're a durable one aren't you? Be more careful and get rid of that window." Ingenium pulled him up and used his own momentum to launch the webslinger back into the air.

Thwip!

"Right right, erm, where?" Izuku looked around as he swung, where would he drop this off without hurting anybody?

"Use your quirk!" Was the last piece of advice the hero gave him before blasting forward in a trail of blue flame faster than anything Izuku had ever seen.

"Right…" He thought for a moment as he swung to keep up with the bus, his brain working overtime to properly decipher what exactly he could do with his 'quirk' to make sure the glass wouldn't hit-

He blinked, looking up at his webs and noticing how they functioned by sticking to whatever they attached to.

"Oh."

He then tossed the plane of glass against a building and shot a glob of web at it, sticking the pane of glass in place.

Pumping his fist in the air, Izuku reminisced about his short term victory before jumping forward off the side of a building and continuing his pursuit. The Cruller was following the bus from the side but then backed away, his eyes widening.

Ingenium stood ahead on the road, blue flames billowing from his engines. With a single step- "RECIPRO TURBO!"

The sound barrier broke, and Izuku felt the shockwave from all the way behind the bus oscillating throughout his body. His eyes widening behind his mask as he watched the armored speedster tear across the ground at incredible speeds before leaping into the air, wind funneled and heated up around the tip of his outstretched foot as the pro hero shot across the street.

Moving through the broken window, time slowed down to a crawl as Ingenium traveled through the bus like a bolt of lightning, faster than the eye could see.

Shooting out the backside of the bus and launching out pieces of steel, Ingenium skidded to a stop, smoke coming from underneath his boots as he heated the concrete below with friction.

Izuku shot a web towards the debris and pulled. Sticking the steel pieces to a wall with another glob of web.

"Cruller! This is our chance!" Blue flames burst from his exhaust, the Vigilante nodded and sped to the front of the bus, while Ingenium chased from the back.

Izuku watched from above, his mind racing at the sight of this cooperation from a hero and a vigilante…

A vigilante, he'd never even considered the prospect.

The Cruller propelled himself through the front window, landing on the floor of the bus behind all the thugs who were distracted by the blown out back of the vehicle. The driver scowled, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Get his ass boys! We have to keep moving for as long as we can!" The group of criminals turned back, each one scowling.

"Hey fellas, kinda erratic today huh!" The cruller said, a smile hidden behind his mask.

"Get em!" The cruller jumped into the air to dodge heavily outstretched arms, his fingers emanating a blue glow as they contacted the roof.

"Cruller! I'll take the rear!" Ingenium landed, his leg instantly coming down to kick a thug towards the back, his attack alerting them to his presence.

The vigilante used the momentum from his quirk to help power his kicks in an odd sort of fighting style. Hanging, his soles shot out in a swipe to meet the stretchy hands of one of the thugs.

"Man, your quirk is kinda annoying, no offense!" The cruller was formerly known as the nice guy.

Moving forward, the hooded vigilante dropped down into a drop kick on the villain known as "Stretch." His soles did little damage, but with blue light emanating from them, he used the repulsor aspect of his power to knock the crook down and move himself away.

Landing with a small flip, the Cruller latched himself to the ground once more; using his trademark sweep strikes, the vigilante quickly dispatched the crooks in a flash.

With a smile, of course.


Izuku did his best to mitigate property damage with his little amount of experience, but most of his attention was on the fight inside. While taken by adrenaline, he felt the urge to step in and help but… He was transfixed by their teamwork, even though the Cruller was a well known Vigilante in this area, Ingenium prioritized working with him to save innocents.

He watched them fight, Ingenium was an efficiently quick combatant with menacing kick boxing skills, and the Cruller? Where to start, his fighting style was unpredictable, and insane.

It was exciting.

His spider-sense flashed, warning him of impending danger.

"What now? Isn't the bus enough?" They'd entered the outskirts of the city with less civilians, but a few still hadn't evacuated this specific street.

And then he saw.

A child, no older than 10, was starting to cross the street with music in his ears. He was deaf to the world.

'... Oh no.'

Izuku swung quickly, the last of the crooks had been taken care of by a combination of the martial skill of Ingenium and the insane movements of the Cruller.


10 seconds earlier.

"You're even better than big bro was, little bro." The Cruller complimented him, running to the front of the bus.

"Mhm. I won't even dignify that a response."

The Cruller pulled on the arm of the driver, "Come on man, stop the bus already, the gigs over." The driver chuckled.

"Can't stop, the brakes are shot, we're supposed to die at the end of this anyways, might as well go out in a blaze of glory..." The Cruller muttered a soft curse, ignoring the webslinger who'd landed on the front of the bus again.

"Darn, how do we stop this thing! The brakes are shot!" He roared back to the armored hero, damnit!

"The brakes are shot?" Izuku heard the Cruller yell out, he turned back around to the child crossing the road, he'd just been about to tell them to hit the brakes. Izuku felt dread taking him.

'I'd have to reach the kid at my top speed but… At that speed I could easily shatter every bone in the boy's body due to momentum and transferred force… But that depends on his quirk and physical proportions, but I can't discern that at this range!'

'What do I do…'

His eyes widened behind his mask, 'There is one thing I can do, I haven't reached the true limits of my strength but off estimating… I might be able to do this, and if I can't…' he gulped, his ears deaf to Ingenium's cry of shock at the sight of the child in the road.

'I'll finally be a hero, at least.'

Wasn't this one of the reasons one would be a hero to begin with? To lay down their life? To sacrifice for the greater good… EVERYTHING?

"I'll stop it myself then!" Izuku's words barely had time to register with the vigilante and hero.

"Are you insane/crazy!" Cried the two men vastly more experienced than him, Izuku ignored the two in favour of his own instinct…

Izuku took three steps before leaping off the bus, landing directly in front of it and preparing to stop it's momentum. His lungs inhaled as much as they possibly could.

SMASH!

The vehicle crashed into him with a shockwave, the force shattered all the small glass planes covered by armor, the force knocking everyone to the floor instantly.

The concrete gave away under the pressure of his stance, with his back pushing back against the bus with all his might. Izuku pushed with all his might against the bus, it's momentum against his resistance.

"HNNNNNNGH." Izuku roared, his body shaking and his breath misplaced. His green emerald eyes were locked onto one thing only, the innocent child who'd die if he wasn't strong enough. Another person dead because he was too weak.

No...

"I."

"WILL NOT…"

"LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN."

His muscles SURGED.

The bus was slowing, slowing, slowing. And with a final stomp to the ground, Izuku roared with all his might and stopped the bus in its tracks mere inches from the child, the wind pressure from the momentum finally causing the child to notice, his eyes widening.

Then, the driver went flying out of the window.

'Oh shi-'

Thankfully the driver was caught by a tail, a new hero had arrived onto the scene. Izuku breathed finally, turning his head to see the countless thugs including the Cruller and Ingenium squashed against the other window with comical expressions. Izuku laughed, his adrenaline spiking up his excitement, he was shaking.

"M-m-mister, you saved me…" Izuku snapped out of it, looking down to the child who'd fallen on his rear in fright mere inches away from the smoking crumpled vehicle.

"I… I suppose I did." So this was why, Izuku realized. He looked into the eyes of this kid, those innocent eyes, to see such a light extinguished so needlessly…

How could he ever permit such a thing?