It was early into the night, and Deku was resting his legs. Traveling by rooftop was quick especially since he didn't have to worry about being inconspicuous, but it tired him out just as quickly. Deku didn't like taking breaks, but he could just imagine Izuku nagging him if he didn't.

He sat perched on the edge of a building, looking off in the distance. Across a few low buildings he could see some train tracks; they were from a small stretch of the subways that came overground. He was hoping to watch a train or two go by while he rested, but none had come yet. He let his head fall back as a wave of boredom came over him. He hated staying still.

He got up and walked the perimeter of the building to keep himself busy, observing the streets and alleys just below.

A line of vending machines grabbed his attention, and he made his way down to them. Eyeing the selection, his gaze lingering on the image of a Sprite can plastered across the front. Suddenly, he had an unexplainable craving for a Sprite. He patted his pockets. Right. No wallet. He looked back to the machine. The image of the can, dripping with condensation, seemed to taunt him. Now he really wanted a Sprite.

He gave the machine an experimental kick. Something rattled inside. He moved to the side of the machine and gave another kick. Nothing. He moved to the other side and, aiming for a panel that looked somewhat important, swung his foot into it. A clatter sounded from within, and a can landed in the shoot with a satisfying clang!

He reached in and pulled it out. A blue can with a Pepsi label. Deku shrugged. 'Good enough,' he thought, and made his way back to his perch. He made himself comfortable and got ready to crack open his well-earned soda when a strange sight fell before him.

A train came down the tracks.

This in itself was not odd, but what was odd was the large (and frankly, villainous) figure standing atop it, fighting two smaller figures.

The large one was ripping chunks from the roof of the train and hurling them around. The smaller ones were making an effort to dodge them.

Without a second thought, Deku stuffed the Pepsi in his pocket and leaped towards the action.

He made it to the tracks just in time, steel-soled boots clanging on the metal roof of the last car in the line. He took a moment to find his balance, crouching low as the train went around a bend. He observed the scene in front of him.

One of the smaller figures was familiar; a vine-haired girl that frequented Izuku's flower shop. Deku knew of her, but knew little about her.

The other smaller figure whipped around at his loud entrance. Familiar tired-eyes widened in recognition. The Hero (Eye-Bags, Deku reminded himself) turned back to the villain just as another chunk of metal was flung at him. He dodged and backpedaled. He now stood beside Deku.

"Hey!" he shouted over the roar of the train, "I'd say we have this handled but uh," another slab of metal was tossed at their heads like a frisbee, forcing them to duck out of the way. "We really could use some help!"

He looked. The villain was the size of Deku five times over. One of their legs was stuck through a hole in the train roof, hooking them in place as the train twisted and curved around corners. They had four massive arms and a single beady eye. Their skin was leathery and riddled with scars shown proudly on their bare arms. Their maw was filled with dark jagged teeth. Their form was so monstrous that Deku could not tell if they were a man or a woman or anything else about them.

"Listen," the Hero's voice beside him drew his gaze, "Vine's on evacuation and damage control. All the cars are empty. She's on the other side of that thing, so we have it surrounded, not that it really matters with all those arms. The villain is too pissed to talk, so my Quirk wont work on them. Backup's on the way, but we're not sure if they'll get here in time before the train goes underground!"

Deku nodded. "Got it." He signed, "Kick their ass but do it quickly."

"Uh, yeah. Pretty much."

Deku needed no further invitation. He charged forwards while the villain occupied themselves with a mass of vines. He cocked his fist back and flung it into the villain's gut… only for nothing to happen.

Confused, Deku sent another heavy punch. The villain didn't flinch. A single coal black eye turned to look at him, and Deku suddenly realized just how big they really were. With a snarl, two right-handed fists came down on him, forcing him to sidestep; and Deku had another sudden realization of just how narrow the train cars were. He shifted his balance and rolled a distance away.

The villain buried their clawed fingers deep into the smooth metal, turned their palms upwards, and tore off a large chunk of the roof. It brought it up to slam it down on Deku when a mass of vines wrapped tightly around its head. In a fit of rage, it swung its newfound weapon around. Many vines were severed and many more took their place.

Deku looked at the monster again. He felt a stinging on his knuckles and knew the skin had been broken. His punches weren't enough. He pushed back a feeling of inadequacy at that, and sifted through his options. If his punches wouldn't work, maybe his kicks would!

He charged again and sent both heels into the villain's gut in a flying kick. He rolled when he touched the ground and looked to see the damage. Nothing.

Something coiled around him at the waist and yanked him back. Three fists buried into the train where he just stood. He landed roughly and looked to see the tired-eyed Hero muttering, "Christ, you really are a lunatic," as he unwrapped his scarf.

Deku stood and looked at the villain again. His kicks did little to nothing. His punches were shrugged off like playful slaps. Was he really going to have to use his head?

"Look, if you've got some secret awesome Quirk that could level the playing field or something, now's the time to use it."

Deku looked at him and shook his head.

"No? No, like, you don't have an awesome Quirk? Or no, like, you won't use it?"

"No I don't have a Quirk," he signed. The Hero gave him this look, and Deku really wasn't sure what it meant, but he didn't have time to mull over it. "I have an idea."

"O…kay… lay it on me."

"You distract them." He jumped down between two cars and fiddled with the door handle.

"I don't know what kind of plan this is, but I just want you to know that it's a terrible one!" the Hero called after him.

Did Deku actually have a plan? Not anymore than he usually did. That is to say, he knew that he couldn't do anything as it were. He either needed to get a new angle or, as the tired-eyed hero put it, level the playing field. Then he might actually have a real, solid plan. That said, plans weren't really his forte.

The handle gave, and Deku forced the door open. He ran through the first car, empty of people and void of damage. He tore open the door at the other end and balanced precariously in the space between the cars as he worked the next door. It gave, and he burst through. The roof was riddled with shallow dents. A few standing poles had been bent or snapped from the villain's rampage. Deku bounded and twisted around them, not slowing for a moment.

He came to the third car, and with it, the villain. The frame of the entire car seemed slightly warped. The hole-riddled roof was caving in, and at the lowest point, the villain's leg stuck through an opening; hooking around the warped metal to keep themselves in place. Deku carefully peered through one of the many holes in the roof. There, he saw the villain in question batting away thorny vines with two left paws while swinging their other arms wildly at something he couldn't see. Deku could make out some sort of rage behind their beady eye, which hadn't yet noticed him.

Deku dashed under the villain's leg and cocked a fist back for a mighty strike, but he paused. His fist hadn't worked on the villain's upper half; why would it work on the lower? His kicks wouldn't work either. He needed something else. He needed–

Just then, the villain snarled loudly, and a purple blur burst in through the window, landing on a heap on the floor. It was the tired-eyed Hero!

Eye-Bags picked himself up off the floor with a groan. He turned and noticed Deku. "Wonderful plan so far," he uttered.

Deku wanted to retort, but the Hero turned to glare up at the villain.

"They've started to throw shit at buildings as they pass by!" he yelled over the sound of the train through the open door, "Vine's just barely keeping up! We need to take them down or incapacitate them quickly, or a lot of people are going to get hurt. I'm doing what I can, but I can only distract them for so long before they get another lucky shot in. listen, we're still not friends, but if you have any suggestions–"

A clawed hand burst through another window, cutting him off. It grabbed around blindly. The tired-eyed Hero had his scarf wrapped around it in a flash, pulling it taught and keeping it in place.

Then, in a moment of uncharacteristic clarity, Deku had a solid idea. He whistled for the Hero's attention, and when he turned to him, Deku signed, "we need to…" he paused at a word he didn't know. Thinking for a moment, he brought his arms up parallel and rotated one around the other.

"What?" the Hero asked incredulously.

Deku pointed to the Hero's scarf, and made the motion again.

"Wrap it up?" the Hero guessed. Deku nodded frantically. "My capture weapon isn't long enough for that!"

Deku huffed. "Use her," he signed, and pointed through a hole in the roof, where the vine-haired Hero was keeping the villain's other three arms occupied. The tired-eyed Hero's eyes widened in understanding, but then his brow furled.

"She already tried that! The villain just broke through the vines! We'd need something stronger!"

"Use the roof," Deku signed. The Hero gave him another odd look. Deku walked over to the broken window. He made a motion with his arms, gesturing through the window and making a wrapping motion again.

Then, the Hero seemed to understand. "Thread the vines through the windows?"

Deku nodded. "Tie them to the roof."

"…Okay, okay," he breathed, as if hyping himself up, "We can do that." and with that, he released tension on the villain's hand. The villain yanked their hand back out, bringing the Hero with it.

While he went to tell the vine-haired Hero the plan, Deku resolved to help from inside the train. He looked around to the rest of the windows. Most were cracked or damaged in some way, but still in their frames. Deku ran to one and gave it a solid strike. Hs fist clanged against it, but not much else. He ignored the throbbing pain in his knuckles and looked around for something to aid him. Then he remembered his trek through the previous cars.

He dashed back through the open doors, leaping over the connection between the cars. He spotted one of the poles, snapped at the bottom, and seized it.

He leaped back across the way and, firming his grip on the pole, smashed it into one of the windows. The impact left a large spider web crack. He smashed it in again. The crack split open, and the glass fell outwards. Deku moved on to the next window.

Again and again he smashed the windows. He bounced from side to side, up and down the rows, breaking them at random. As he did so, healthy green vined seeped in, threading themselves from one side to the other and stitching together in an intricate web. Deku danced around them, shattering windows until nearly the whole car was filled with them. He shattered the last window and hopped out, hanging onto the side just as the last bundle of vines burst in.

Deku clambered up to the roof and joined the two Heroes in admiring their work. He distantly realized the pole was still in his hand. Through it all, he hadn't let it go.

The villain was bound tightly to the roof, and the sagging of the structure made them look far smaller. It was almost comical, the way only their head poked out of the mass of vines. They still growled and struggled like an animal, and Deku idly wondered what made them so irrationally angry in the first place.

He approached the backs of the Heroes, his footsteps bringing the attention of the vine-haired one. When she looked at him, the satisfied smile on her face was dashed away, and replaced with what looked like a forced smile just as fast. Though, forced perhaps wasn't the best word. It was more like confusion overtook her, but she tried to keep her smile up out of courtesy.

"Oh! Greetings!" her voice was just as kind and gentle as he remembered from the flower shop. "Thank you so much for the help. My Hero name is Vine! May I ask yours?"

Deku blanked. She wanted a name? Not just his name, a Hero name. She thought he was a Hero. Shit. This again…

The tired-eyed Hero coughed before Deku could come up with an answer. "He… uh, doesn't have a Hero name. I don't think-?" he looked at Deku, who shrugged. "He's not… really a Hero…?"

"A civilian, then? If so, I have to say that that was quite reckless of you–"

"No, no! He's a–" he and Deku shared another look. "…well, he's a vigilante."

There was a beat of silence, where Vine seemed to be in thought, the tired-eyed Hero looked ready to crumble from awkwardness, and Deku began to sweat from the tension.

"I thought you said he was a Hero."

"No, I said he was help. You may have misheard me over the wind."

"I see." she said simply. "And, vigilantes, they are meant to be illegal, correct?" She addressed the tired-eyed Hero, but did not take her eyes off of Deku.

"What vigilantes do is illegal, yes."

"I see. And, Heroes, they would fall under law enforcement, is that right?"

"It… is our job to enforce laws, yes."

"Of course. And, being that we are Heroes, and he is a law breaker, would it make sense for us to bring him to justice?"

The tired-eyed Hero looked at Deku again, and it seemed like he was asking for something, but Deku wasn't sure what. Eye-Bags choose his next words slowly and carefully. "Under… normal circumstances… that would be the case, yes, but–"

"Are these abnormal circumstances?"

"Well–"

Metal creaked unsettlingly under their feet. A snapping sound cut through the air.

"What the–"

The villain roared. Flexing their muscles, they forced themselves up, vine and metal giving way to the movement. A large hand slipped from out of its vine binding and swung low. The two Heroes were too slow to turn around.

Deku didn't think. He moved. In an instant, he was between the Heroes, hooking his pole around their backs. He took a bounding leap back, bringing the three of them out of harm's way and sending the two Heroes tumbling. The monstrous hand slammed down where they had been a moment earlier. Deku lifted up the pole like a javelin and, summoning all of his might, hurled it down into the villain's hand. The silver blur punctured the villain's muddy tissue, scrapped against their heavy bones, and only halted when it pierced the metal roof below with a satisfying clang!

Still without thinking, Deku grabbed the nearest blunt object. From his pocket came a small, deep-blue tin can held firmly in his left hand. A silver Pepsi label glinted in the pale moonlight. With his right hand, he grabbed the pole, now sticking upright out of the villain's hand, and swung his momentum around. The can blurred in a wide arch. It connected to a single beady eye with a sickening splurging noise.

The villain slid off of the pole, forgetting the pain in their hand. In a flurry of movements that blended together, Deku tucked the Pepsi back into his pocket, yanked the pole from its place in the roof, took it in both hands in a ridiculous batters stance, spun his whole weight on his heel, and–

CRACK!

The pole smashed into the villain's jaw. Several teeth rained down off the side of the train car on the streets far below. The villain wobbled in place, disoriented. Their jaw wobbled just as much, flapping loosely from their movements. They tried to catch themselves with their hand, stumbled, and fell down heavily – right on their broken jaw. They did not get up again.

"Huh," Deku thought aloud to himself, "guess I just had to hit 'em harder."

He looked over his shoulder to the Heroes. Eye-Bags was quietly muttering, "what the hell". Vine was still on the ground, her face nearly as green as her hair.

Far behind them, Deku spotted a distant figure rounding a corner and running towards them. Deku suddenly remembered Eye-Bags saying something about backup coming. And if they were anything like Vine, he was about to have two heroes on his ass who were very unhappy with him being there.

He gave one last look to the two Heroes in front of him. "Whelp," man, he sucked at goodbyes, "see ya."

And with that, he leaped off the side of the train towards the nearest building. Catching himself on a drain pipe, he slid down til his feet touched the ground and ducked into an alleyway.

-=0O0=-

As the police detained the villain, Hitoshi reflected on the night. First the green-hooded vigilante had shown up again, and helped them take down the villain. Second, said vigilante had looked him in the eye and admitted to being Quirkless. That complicated things.

Being underground meant Hitoshi was very familiar with Hero, Villain, and Vigilante laws. And it really was amazing how many old laws were established and just never changed. That included the old law that defined a vigilante as someone who uses their Quirk to do unregistered Hero work. Now, statistically, no Quirkless vigilante had ever been detected, and realistically, Quirkless involving themselves in the underground world were few and far between.

Of course, there was the possibility that the guy knew about the old vigilante laws and had lied about being Quirkless. But, Hitoshi reasoned, if that were the case, he wouldn't have rushed in immediately and denied himself the argument of self-defense. As it stood legally, the man had committed assault against another person, making him a perpetrator of a villainous activity.

This all left Hitoshi in a tricky spot. He couldn't lawfully call the guy a vigilante, because he didn't have a Quirk. He couldn't morally call the guy a villain, because each time they had run into each other, he really had helped out.

In the end, Hitoshi decided he wasn't going to do anything. Sure, he would give his honest report, and he would still file a Vigilante Sightings form when he got back to the agency, but he wouldn't be the one to mark the guy's file as Quirkless. He'd let the poor sap who eventually did arrest him open up that can of worms.

After he and Vine had given their report, the two said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, leaving Hitoshi to finish the rest of his patrol alone.

This led him to where he was now, perched on a rooftop above the elevated train tracks, following a hunch. There were very few sightings of the green-hooded vigilante, but they were still centralized around southern Mustafu. The fight on the train had brought them all pretty far north, meaning the vigilante needed to get back to their main patrolling area. And the best way to get back would be the way they came.

A south-bound train rounded into sight. There, sitting on the back of the roof of the final train car, was a green – almost black in the dark lighting – hooded figure.

Hitoshi thanked his intuition and jumped onto the train, landing with practiced silence.

"Hey," he called out. The vigilante turned to look at him. They still held onto the pole, which was resting horizontally in their lap. He saw them reach for it, clearly startled. "Woah, woah," Hitoshi held his hand up in a show of peace. "Relax. I'm not here to turn you in, if that's what you're thinking. I just want to talk."

The vigilante looked at him for a very long moment. Hitoshi could derive nothing from the look behind his shadowed mask. Just as Hitoshi was about to say something to break the silence, the man set his pole down at his side and scooched over to make room. Hitoshi hesitantly took a seat next to the man.

They sat there on the end of the train for a while, watching the world go by and stretch out to the horizon, or bend around the corner of a building. Eventually, Hitoshi found the words he wanted to say.

"So," he began, "I guess I should start by thanking you." He paused. "...Again. Seriously, if you hadn't helped out back there, a lot more people would have been hurt."

The vigilante grabbed his attention. "How many?" he signed.

Hitoshi chortled, "you mean how many did you save?"

The man shook his head. "How many people were already hurt?"

"Oh. Well, there were fifteen injuries on the train, and two of them had to be taken to the hospital. Don't worry! I saw them, and they looked fine for the most part!" He reassured the vigilante after their head whipped towards him. "No one was hurt after we got everyone off the train though, we have Vine to thank for that."

The vigilante hummed curiously, though over the sound of the train, it could have been Hitoshi's imagination. "Did people thank her?"

"Yeah. It's funny, to. She gets all flustered when so many people crowd her like that."

"Did people thank you?"

Hitoshi shook his head. "No… I think most of the people there didn't know I was Hero at all." The man gave him a look. "Don't worry about it. It's just part of being underground. No one gets into it for the recognition."

"...They should thank you."

"Why are you so adamant about this? You didn't get any thanks either."

"That's different. You seriously deserve it."

"You don't?"

The vigilante did not respond. He reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out the can of Pepsi. It was dented on one side, and some dark substance was smeared along the bottom edge. He wiped it down on his pants and handed it to Hitoshi.

"Uh…"

"It's thanks."

"For…?"

"Saving my ass."

Hitoshi snorted at that. He had pulled him out of harm's way back there, hadn't he? "Well, you're welcome, but I'm not drinking that. I prefer my soda from the bottle… and not covered in eye-goop."

"Suit yourself," signed the man, and Hitoshi watched in horror as he literally peeled the can open. He ripped the top all the way off and tossed it away. As if that were a completely normal thing to do, the vigilante casually lifted his mask enough to take a sip.

"I knew it. You're a lunatic. No sane man would ever defile a perfectly good Pepsi like that."

"No sane man would turn down a perfectly good Pepsi, either."

"Touche. By the way, you do know what my Quirk is, right? I know you can talk, so you're clearly signing on purpose to get away from it."

"Yeah… mind control, right? You do a good job at hiding it."

"Thanks. But you know, it only works when I ask a question. If you just say something after me, my Quirk won't trigger."

The vigilante paused. "Really?"

"Hah! I knew I heard you talk! I was starting to worry that I was hearing things."

"Oh, and I'm the crazy one?"

"Shut up."

The vigilante shickered.

Hitoshi took a moment to step outside of himself. He, a Hero, was sitting on a moving train, having a casual conversation with technically-a-vigilante about which one of them was crazier. What a world.

"Well, I'm glad we can actually hold a conversation now."

"Yeah," he could hear the smile in the man's voice, "we don't have to play charades under a rampaging villain anymore."

"I actually thought we handled ourselves pretty well back there. We make a halfway decent team– all things considered."

"You think?" the man asked in a tone that told Hitoshi he agreed.

He nodded. "Speaking of which…" Was he really about to do this? Screw it, the guy seemed trustworthy. "That guy you took care of for us, that Trigger Mule?"

The vigilante nodded to show they remembered.

"He gave us the location of the hideout of a pretty big Kingpin around here. A group of undergrounds like me are planning a raid in a few days; there'll only be a few of us, but I understand if that's a bit too risky for you. If you do show up…" Hitoshi took out a slip of paper and a pencil from his belt. He scribbled down an address and handed the paper over. "I'll convince them to let you help out."

The vigilante took the slip hesitantly, looking transfixed at it. "Why?" he uttered.

"Because something tells me you'll just find a way to intervene otherwise. You're always popping up when I least expect it. For a while there I thought you might have a cockroach Quirk. Seriously. You've been a real pain in my ass these last few months."

Tha man huffed. "I'm not that bad."

"No, but the paperwork is."

Hitoshi got up and stretched his legs. He should probably be the first to get off so the vigilante doesn't think he's following him or anything.

"Whelp," he really needed to get better at goodbyes, "be seeing you around, Cockroach." And with that, he snagged his scarf on a passing building and let it take him away.

Behind the tired-eyed Hero, on a train speeding away from him, the green-hooded vigilante sat looking at the paper for a while before eventually tucking it into his pocket. He took one last swig of his Pepsi, secured his trusty pole in his hands, and bounded away across the rooftops. The night was still young, and they both had plenty to do on their patrols.