It had been two weeks since Bakugo died, and Izuku was a man on a mission.
He needed to become the best hero he could be. Meaning he would need to train.
However, using quirks in public was illegal. Izuku's house was too small to practice in, he didn't own a backyard, and quirk gyms were way too expensive.
So he had to break the law a little bit, and so he headed into the most secluded place he could think of that also would serve as a good training ground.
The woods he and Bakugo used to play in.
While this place was filled with lots of painful memories if anything that only further motivated Izuku to push on and improve himself.
Of course, since he was doing this illegally, Izuku decided to go while wearing an All Might hoodie, one that could cover up his face in case he needed to hide his identity from someone.
This was good because Izuku had a lot of ideas and would be spending a lot of time in the forest.
The first one was, of course, working out.
Even if he now was super buff and had super strength, he wasn't a hundred percent sure that this was his limit, or that he didn't need to work to maintain his physique. Either way, he played it on the safe side and tried to do regular workouts.
The only issue being that with his new super strength, he'd need to find something extremely heavy.
At first, he tried trees. But they were too light. And he couldn't find any boulders big enough. He looked up how much super heavy weights cost, but it was safe to say they were out of his price range.
In the end, he had to come up with a creative solution. He would go into the woods, bind a bunch of boulders together into a giant ball of webbing, and lift that.
Once that issue was solved, there was the second most important thing. Accuracy practice.
His webs would be an extremely useful tool for combat, mobility, and rescue. And so to make the best use of them he needed to be able to shoot them quickly and accurately.
This was simple enough. All he had to do was web some rocks to some trees so they hanged off of them and then practice shooting webs.
It was after numerous practice sessions, that Izuku realized that the more webs he used, the hungrier he was at the end. And that he could eventually run out of webs if he used too much, or didn't eat enough to replenish them.
Let's just say that Inko was very upset with the fact that their food expenses would more than triple from now on.
The fourth exercise was a bit tricky. Web swinging.
Inspired by heroes such as Kaumi Woods, Izuku thought that if he could use his webs to swing from building to building or in this case tree to tree, that it would greatly increase his mobility.
The problem there was that while that sounded amazing, in practice it was extremely difficult to pull off.
He had to constantly control his speed, take into account his weight and trajectory, and have a perfect sense of timing otherwise he would either go slower than he would if he just ran, or he would fall on his ass or bump into a tree.
Although one thing that helped immensely with this was his spider-sense. Firstly it would tell him if he was ever going to bump into a tree, making it rather hard for him to do so unless he messed up horribly or reacted too slowly. And it would also tell him if any point he was about to web onto, was unstable and wouldn't support his weight, and would even guide him towards the best places to shoot his webs to keep from falling.
All this made the process go from nightmarishly difficult, to simply challenging.
Next was training one of his most useful powers, the spider-sense.
This also was a bit problematic at first, as it would require Izuku to be attacked.
Izuku's solution to this problem.
Run as fast as he could through a dense forest, dodging trees while playing puzzle games on a portable console.
That may have sounded like nonsense. But there was a method to the madness.
Now obviously since he had no friends, he couldn't find someone to attack him for training purposes. So by running headfirst through the woods at full speed, he would be able to, one, get adjusted to his full speed, and two, get used to dodging things, by moving out of the way of the trees.
The puzzle games were there as a distraction. Izuku figured that it would be a useful ability to train himself to focus on one thing while letting his spider-sense warn him of danger and allow him to dodge it. For example, if he needed to save someone while a villain was attacking him. It would also train his ability to dodge attacks without looking at them.
Now given that Izuku was very fast, the part of the woods he was running through was very dense, and puzzle games required a lot of focus, Izuku had failed to react to his spider-sense in time, and would run through a tree.
Thank goodness his counsel was durable.
Next was web experimentation. If he was going to be relying on his webs, he needed to know more about them.
Firstly, how long would the webs last? This was crucial to his future as a hero because if he tried to capture a villain or hold together a collapsing structure, only for the webs to fall apart after a few minutes, that would be disastrous. And on the other end of the spectrum, shooting out sticky webs that never went away would be extremely troublesome for the people he was trying to protect.
Fortunately, Izuku found that his webs lasted for about two hours. More than enough time for him to end a fight or evacuate an area.
Secondly? If Izuku covered someone's face or mouth with them, could they still breathe? This was a tricky one because if the answer was no, and Izuku tested this out on himself...he could die. So instead Izuku put his webs over a fan to see if the air would still come out. Good news, some did, meaning that people would be able to breathe through them so long as he didn't overdo it.
Third would be figuring out what his web's weaknesses were.
Brute force. Ineffective. Izuku had tested stretching and punching his webs, trying to break them, and even with his strength this only resulted in him getting his hands stuck. In other words, unless he was fighting All Might, he really didn't have to worry about someone punching through his webs.
Blades. Mildly effective. Using a kitchen knife Izuku had tried stabbing and slashing through the webs. This actually provided results. However, it was hard and required that he used his full strength. By the end, the knife was unusable, much to his mother's dismay. In summary, Using blades would work, but they would either need to be very good blades, or the user would have to have strength similar to Izuku's.
Heat. Somewhat ineffective? Izuku's webs were pretty nonflammable. At least as best as Izuku could tell. He couldn't really do much to experiment with this other than trying to use a lighter to ignite them and dipping them into a fire. Ultimately his webs held up, but due to the limited nature of his test, he couldn't be sure. At the very least he could probably make a shield to block some flame attacks. But he was sure that someone like Endeavor could burn through them pretty easily.
Electricity. Effective. With a dangerous side effect. Using lighting was about as effective as using strong fire. Or at least Izuku guessed it was about that effective. But what was really important, was that they were conductive. Meaning that if he or someone else touched them while around electricity or a villain who could manipulate it, they could get shocked. Very important to keep in mind.
Water. Mostly ineffective. Webs were mostly unaffected by water, not dissolving or losing their stickiness when exposed to it. Although it should be noted that the range and speed of his web-shooting were limited underwater. And presumably, something like a water cutter would be able to cut through the webs.
There were other things that Izuku wanted to test, but due to his limited resources and space, he couldn't.
Next, Izuku researched support gear.
This was actually something that Izuku had kept a keen interest in for a while now.
Simply put, it was useful to understand what support gear was capable of, so you could utilize it as a hero.
Izuku's current interest was in two things.
Firstly, Boots.
One big issue with his sticking to walls ability was that it required Izuku not to be wearing any shoes or sandals or anything like that. And that could be problematic. People wore shoes for a reason, he could only imagine how many times he would cut his feet on things if he just went around barefoot. So he needed to find something that would both cover his feet, and allow him to stick to walls.
He had tried wall crawling with just his hands, but that he found was both slower and far more exhausting. And eventually, he wanted to try wall running.
Some gloves would also be appreciated.
Secondly, he wanted to experiment with his web fluid.
His mother had done a check-up on him and found that the thing making his webs were two glands near his wrist that held what they called web fluid.
He wondered if he could recreate this fluid, or extract it, and maybe use it in weapons.
But his support gear interest took a back seat.
Mostly because Izuku put his focus into his training, including his new acrobatics class.
Now, of all the classes Izuku could take. Why acrobatics? Why not some form of martial arts?
Well, the answer was simple. Because Izuku saw acrobatics as being more useful in the future.
With his flexibility, speed, wall-crawling, webs, and spider-sense, Izuku could potentially jump into the center of a warzone, and not take a hit. But that would all rely on his agility and acrobatic abilities.
And all this. All this training, all this experimenting, all these preparations.
Was only scratching the surface, of what he could and would do.
"Whew." Izuku took a long sip of his bottle of water, as he walked back home from the forest, through the city. It was late, and Inko would most likely be worried if he was out for much longer, after all, it had already gotten dark.
His body was hot from the intense training he had endured, and the hoodie he wore, did not help matters. At this point, he wanted to get home as soon as possible so he could take it off, and take a bath.
Unfortunately, life didn't like to make things simple for Izuku.
RIGHT! Person in danger!
Suddenly Izuku's spider-sense went off alerting him that someone was in danger nearby.
He looked right and saw there was an alleyway nearby.
There!
His spider-sense buzzed in a way that told him he was looking in the right direction. And without any hesitation, he ran over to the dark alleyway.
After a few seconds, he saw what his spider-sense was warning him about.
A woman was being held up against the wall by a bear-man. A literal bear man.
"Eh! You dare refuse me!?" The bear-man shouted at the woman. He was obviously drunk, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going to happen next.
"Please! Just let me go!" The woman begged, looking at the man with pure fear, her eyes begging for help.
"Shut up!" The bear-man said.
He raised his clawed hand in the air.
He's going to hit her!
Izuku ran at the bear-man, and jumped and kicked him in the face, knocking him a few feet away from the woman.
He quickly turned to the woman. "Run!"
The woman stood there frozen for a minute, before doing what Izuku said and running out of the alley.
Or at least she tried to.
"Gah!" The woman tripped and fell, before clutching her legs in pain.
It was then that Izuku noticed several bleeding claw marks lifting her legs, and the bottom part of her dress had been torn in several places.
Damn it! He must have been assaulting her for a while. I doubt she can get very far with those kinds of injuries.
"Rah? Hey! You get back here!" The bear-man drunkenly got back up and gave a drunken charge towards the woman. His intoxicated mind seemingly not even noticing Izuku was there despite him literally kicking him aside.
With the huge, intimidating bear man coming towards him with his sharp claws out and ready to do some damage, and his spider-sense blaring, Izuku panicked.
And punched the attacker in the gut.
Hard.
"GAH!" The bear-man went flying back, the punch literally sending him through a nearby brick wall, and knocking him out.
"Oh...Oh no." It was at this point that Izuku had realized what he had done.
He committed vigilantism. Again.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!" Izuku quickly zipped his hoodie over his face, hiding his identity just in case. Crap! Crap! I can't believe I did that again. What if someone saw me! What the woman tells...wait...the WOMAN!
He turned around, remembering the injured woman behind him, his rescue instincts kicked in.
Izuku kneeled down to her and started wrapping up her wounds in webs.
"W-What is that?" The women asked with both curiosity and slight disgust.
"Webbing. I know it's not pleasant, but it should work well to keep the blood in and the inflections out." Izuku told her.
? Behind y-
Izuku froze for a second. Two new things just happened. Firstly, his spider-sense detected something unknown, and then it just stopped. No, it didn't stop, it was turned off.
That freezing was a mistake. As suddenly he was wrapped up in some kind of long scarf.
What!? Izuku was scared. His spider-sense just got turned off, and now he was being attacked!
So, he reacted.
He flexed out of the scarf's hold, his immense strength breaking the bindings apart with ease.
Then without wasting another second, he charged towards the direction where the attack had originated.
Only for him to stop and freeze again, when he realized who was attacking him.
It was Eraserhead.
Now he knew why his spider-sense disappeared.
That knowledge was about the only comfort he gained from this revelation. Because honestly, Izuku would have rather it been a villain attacking him.
Because now, a pro hero, had seen him commit vigilantism...again.
"S-S-so...I don't suppose y-you'd consider le-letting me off with a warning?" He knew it was a stupid question. But it was about the only hope he had. As it seemed like everything was lost. All the work he did, the pain he went through, his promise to Kacchan, all of it would become meaningless if Eraserhead wanted to take him in.
"No," Eraserhead said.
And that was it. With one word, all of Izuku's hopes and dreams were crushed.
But as typical, when one entered the stages of grief. They started with denial.
"Please. I just wanted to save this woman! She would have been seriously hurt if I didn't do anything!" Izuku argued, his tone thick with desperation. "I had to!"
"Vigilantism, illegal quirk usage, property damage. Most likely excessive use of force in self-defense." Eraserhead listed off the crimes Izuku just committed, all in his uncaring deadpan tone. "And also, destruction of a pro hero's support item."
"I thought I was being attacked by another villain!" Izuku shouted out in defense of his action.
"Regardless. You broke the law. I'm taking you in." There was no room for argument here. Eraserhead showed no empathy, no sign of pity or understanding. There were no exceptions to the law to him.
No...no...no, no, no, no, no, NO! Izuku was now hyperventilating, his body spasming slightly with pure panic and fear. It can't end like this! I promised him! I promised!
Eraserhead didn't move forward. Because to put it simply, he was unsure of how to approach.
The kid broke his capture tool. Not like he escaped it, or wiggled out of it. He broke it with pure strength, something that shouldn't happen. That meant this kid was absurdly strong, and possibly out of his league.
Of course, normally he'd use his quirk to level the playing field, but he had been using that the entire time, and it didn't stop him from breaking his capture tool. Meaning this kid had a mutation quirk, and that his quirk was completely useless here.
Well, at least I can give my eyes a rest. Aizawa thought as he deactivated his quirk.
His target was obviously a child, and they were very obviously panicking.
And when someone panicked, they typically did something stupid. Meaning he'd have to watch out for a sudden-
FWOOSH!
Instead of that, what Izuku decided to do was run away. Or rather, jump away.
The green teen hopped onto the roof and started running away.
Eraserhead considered chasing him but figured it was futile. The kid was obviously faster and more agile than him, so chances are by the time he got on the roof, the kid would have already lost him. And even if he did catch him, his chances of actually subduing him were small at best.
So, rather than attempting a pointless chase, he went to go attend to the obviously injured woman.
Later, at the Midoriya household.
Inko was already worried about her son...well not just because of Katsuki's death, most right now because it was late, and he had yet to return.
She reassured herself that he was fine. Izuku had been coming home late for a while now. Not quite this late, but still late.
And with his new quirk, he had a way to defend himself if need be.
"He's fine," Inko muttered under her breath as she set the table. "He's fine."
CRASH!
And then Izuku burst through the door in tears, sobbing as he ran at top speed to his room.
Oh, dear.
In Izuku's room.
After quickly isolating himself in his room, Izuku proceeded to sob. Again.
"WHYYYY!" Izuku shouted out in a combination of despair and rage. "WHY! Why does this keep happening!? Why do I keep running into villains!? Why can't I just help someone with getting arrested!? GAH!"
In a fit of anger, he punched through his wall, his fist making a hole right from his bedroom into the hallway.
It was over. Even if he had managed to hide his face, he still had shown off his quirk. His strength, speed, and webbing. If he tried to go to U.A. and used his quirk to pass the practical exam, then it wouldn't take Aizawa, who was a teacher at U.A. long to figure out the kid with the same quirk, body type, voice, and height as the vigilante that escaped him, was the vigilante that escaped him.
Maybe if it was another pro hero that saw him, he could hope that they would just forget about him, and not go through the trouble of reporting him to the police and setting up a profile for him.
But Eraserhead? No chance! He was strict. Strict and thorough, he didn't let even the tiniest thing go completely. And there was no chance that this would be fully forgotten anytime soon.
"Kacchan!" Izuku sobbed out. "You only died a couple weeks ago and I already failed! I failed!"
For hours and hours, Izuku just continued to sob, until he ran out of tears.
Inko had tried to come in, but she quickly realized that right now, he should be alone.
And so eventually, that left Izuku with the question. What now?
He couldn't give up. That simply isn't an option. He made a vow on Katsuki's grave. Bakugo's last request was that he become the best of the best.
Izuku didn't know how he was going to get past this. But he would. He had to.
"Aghhh! Why!?" Izuku wracked his brain for a solution. "Why!?"
Izuku kept shouting why, but he didn't really know what he was shouting why for.
Because in the end, he didn't really regret what he did. That woman would have been either killed or greatly injured had he not stepped in. Sure he wished he could have taken the guy down with less force, and less property damage. But if the situation happened again, Izuku would jump in and rescue a person in danger, all over again.
After all, the last time he tried waiting for the heroes, Kacchan died.
"Ugh...Vigilantism." Izuku said out loud.
He understood why it had been outlawed. Untrained vigilantes had caused tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of casualties over the years. And who knows how much money in property damage. The law should be entrusted to thoroughly trained men and women, who were given the best education on ways to not only apprehend villains but save the lives of those around them.
Illegal quirk usage was a problem. Bakugo had used his quirk to try and fight a villain, and all he did was end up setting everything on fire.
This is why vigilantism was typically treated pretty seriously, and nine out of every ten vigilantes were apprehended.
Of course, there were exceptions. Vigilantes of exceptional skill, power, and popularity, were sometimes never caught, with some of them even becoming...pro heroes.
And that is when Izuku got a very, very dangerous idea.
We can see where this is going.
Now let's talk about what happened with the spider-sense. As you may have noticed, there were question marks there instead of words. This is because Izuku has never experienced Aizawa's quirk before, and thus the spider-sense didn't know exactly what was happening, it just knew that something was happening and that Izuku should watch out for it.
Also, Eraserhead's quirk does not affect Izuku's strength, speed, and webbing, as those are mutations. Whereas the spider-sense is something separate and can be classified as an emitter quirk.
Lastly, I know a lot of people are going to point out that Death Arms should know who Izuku is if he becomes a vigilante, and that will be addressed. Trust me. And yes, Aizawa heard his voice, but that's not a lot to go off of, and that will also be addressed later.
Anyway, that's all for now true believers, please review, and have a nice day.