On a comfortable cell deep inside a state-of-the-art prison, Shigaraki Tomura woke up to a new day of being extremely bored. His cell included a bed, a walled off bathroom and even a small sitting area, with a TV and a gaming console. Prison was somehow the best thing to happen to Shigaraki in quite a while. He could lounge around, play games to his heart´s content, he could request any book he wished. He had clean clothes, hygiene products, and best of all, the prison had fitted him with a special pair of gloves, that covered the thumb and two of his fingers, stopping a five-finger grip from dissolving things! The gloves´ inventor had even given him an hour-long explanation of the materials one of the Heroes had made for her, how through Quirk analysis she had designed the "babies", a fifteen-minute tangent about explosions, and another twenty minutes explaining the logo weaved in the material "Hatsume Industries".
But for Shigaraki, the best of the best were the visits he was allowed. One visit a day, All Might; Izuku Midoriya; Inspector Tsukauchi; the psychotherapist, the hero All for One had rendered quirkless, Ragdoll; the hero that had caught him at the Tartarus escape, Nejire Hadou. He remembered their first meeting with a small smile, things had changed a lot in a little over a year.
Tartarus was perhaps the best defended installation in all of Asia. It would have been much easier to steal a nuclear submarine and nuke a country, but then again, All for One on the loose was quite a bit more dangerous than a nuclear threat. Before being presumed dead after fighting All Might, All for One had been number two on international "Most Wanted" lists, just after the African warlord and villain Ndege Mweusi, who had created his own state in the heart of Africa and gone to war with the USA. On the third through sixth spots on the lists were different proxies and associates of All for One, on all continents.
Of those only one remained, a person only known as Pestilentia, operating in Europe. Shigaraki had tried getting Pestilentia´s help to bust All for One out of prison, unsuccessfully. With no help coming, Shigaraki used every resource he still had.
Kurogiri had been captured, so he had replaced him with the closest replacement Giran could find them; Ujiko. Shigaraki still had forty-three Nomus, but none were as strong as High End or the USJ Nomu. Dabi´s fire burned ever stronger, Spinner had become a strong warrior, Twice had much more control over his mind and clones, and Toga seemed to "remember" combat skills from out of nowhere. A short campaign of discreet robberies got them funds and weapons, and Shigaraki was able to hire enough mercenaries to finally assault the prison, from the Praying Mantis Private Military Company.
The attack took place on January 13th, at sunrise. Two helicopters filled with the shady American mercs Shigaraki had contracted would rappel onto the prison roof, covered by two attack helicopters, while an armoured vehicle attacked the bridge entrance. Another chopper carried the League of Villains, ready to exploit the diversion the mercs would create and get inside.
The battle started when the armoured vehicle rumbled on the streets, racing for the prison´s bridge. Its main gun, an anti-tank canon, firing at the security checkpoint with explosive ammunition. From a few miles out, the merc helicopters readied and flew out to play their part. In just a few minutes, the security force on Tartarus was engaged on the front and from above, police and heroes fighting fire with fire against the mercenary force. The call for backup had been sent immediately, and the heroes had to be on the way. As Shigaraki´s helicopter landed on the corpse-riddled roof of Tartarus, the League got to their positions. Mr Compress would take a forward position on a city building and stall the heroes´ air transports. Dabi glided down onto the bridge propelled by his flames, Spinner gathered a squad of mercs around the busted anti-aircraft guns of the roof, and the rest split to breach the inside of the prison. Toga and Twice would clear the top floors, while Shigaraki and Ujiko would melt the floors and clear the lower basement. The fighting was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. His quirk was not suited at all for a gunfight, so he shot at the police guards with a submachine gun, while Ujiko held a pistol. Melting holes into the floors, Shigaraki´s squad had made it half-way to the basement when Dabi radioed in "Shigaraki, the heroes are here, at least three teams. Endeavor, Lemillion and Deku…" the message was interrupted by the sound of motorcycles, cursing and Dabi´s flames. Shigaraki continued, deeper into the prison. He managed to sneak up on a guard, and, threatening him with disintegration, had found All for One´s location. Pleased at the guard cooperating, he had Ujiko send him into the river around Tartarus instead of killing him. "League, I have his location! We are five floors away!". The only answer was Spinner asking for help. "Toga, Twice! Get up there! Give us time!"
Now he was outside All for One´s cell, the strongest thing he had ever seen. Beyond the glass, his sensei smiled. But as they approached, sentry turrets descended from the ceiling, red laser beams aiming. Shigaraki felt like it was a quick time event, as the adrenalin made time slower. He jumped out the way just in time, as the sentry gun´s multiple barrels spooled and fired, shredding the mercs to pieces. Ujiko had managed to transport away, and radioed in "Shigaraki, I´m useless down there, I´ll go with the others."
Now alone, Shigaraki had to deal with the sentry guns before he could melt sensei´s prison. The solution to the problem made him feel he had God Mode on: he would melt the ceiling, walk up to the turrets from above, and melt them. A short while later, he scratched his neck as his smuggest smile ever graced his dry lips. The guns were melted slag. His right hand went to the polymer wall separating him and All for One. The material was strong and resilient, but his quirk ate through it like a hot knife through butter. Finally, he had made a man-sized hole through the wall, all five meters thick. All for One had a set of turrets trained on his head, but moving around carefully, Shigaraki melted them one by one, as their targeting system was complex, but completely focused on sensei. All for One´s restraints came off, and sensei was free at last.
All for One´s mangled head looked up at the turrets and said, "Took you long enough, Tomura." The villains made their way up two levels, until they came upon the first hero team unto the breach, UA´s Big Three: Lemillion, Suneater and Wave Motion. Suneater sprouted tentacles, and Lemillion charged All for One. The supervillain had walked in obvious show of muscle atrophy, but engaging multiple quirks, engaged the heroes. Shigaraki charged the female hero, trying to close the distance, but the hero´s shockwaves were powerful and precise, and he couldn't get close enough. The hero could only have been a few years younger, but he felt she was almost toying with him.
Shigaraki quickly looked at All for One, just as a massive energy attack came from the supervillain, knocking aside the heroes he had been fighting and sending Shigaraki crashing onto one of Wave Motion´s own shockwaves. The clash knocked the air out of Shigaraki´s lungs, and he felt some broken bones. The female hero was on the ground a few meters away. Shigaraki felt someone pull on his shirt and saw All for One´s face up close. He started speaking "Dojo. Sword. Hand. Decay. Sky. Action. Cherry Blossom. Death. Activate."
Shimura Tenko was at home, playing with his dad, with his action figures. Twelve-inch tall figures, representing extreme sportsmen and heroes. On his right hand, he had his favourite, Señor Acción, the sports champion and secret agent! His dad had his friendly rival, Speedsman. Their extreme snowboards were some pieces of a cardboard box, that they surfed down the living room couch. It was Saturday, and Tenko´s mom had gone away. As Señor Acción won another slide down Sky Storm Mountain, Tenko heard the doorbell ring. "I´ll get the door daddy!" he yelled and rushed to the door. He opened it and saw a man in a blood-soaked dark suit, with a scarred and bruised face that looked somehow like a hero´s face should look. But the eyes scared Tenko, and then the man smiled. Tenko was frozen with fear. He was a bad man. He tried to yell for his dad but could only make a sad whimper that barely made a sound. Dad yelled from behind Tenko "Stay away from my son!", and his strong arms carried Tenko away. Tenko managed to yell, hoping the neighbours could hear "HELP!".
Dad took Tenko into a room and locked the door. He grabbed a bo staff from behind a bed and got into a fighting stance. He looked back at his son, and said "I love you, son. Never forget it." The entire wall was pulled away by the stranger, his right arm had grown immensely. Tenko was afraid! Daddy had no Quirk! Where were the heroes? A bo staff was little match for the stranger, who had wrapped dad in glowing black chains that sprouted from his fingertips. The chains tightened, with a horrible crunching sound. The stranger dropped dad just in front of Tenko and knelt before the child.
"What is your Quirk?" he asked with a voice that felt somehow familiar but was also completely alien. Tenko heard himself speak, with no control "I-I d-don´t have a Qui-irk". The stranger´s eyes twinkled at his response "We can´t have that, oh no. I will give you one." A black limb extended from the stranger´s back, like a spider´s leg made of obsidian, and the limb stabbed Tenko in the neck, directly in his spine. Cold fire burned through his body as the appendage sent a wave of energy into him. He lost control of his body and a seizure started. Tenko felt his leg muscles cramp and tense in painful ways, while his arms flailed wildly, hitting himself in the face and body. He could feel a warm and wet sensation and felt water dripping down his leg. He cried and screamed. And then he was dropped down on the floor, falling on his left knee. He screamed again. The stranger grabbed Tenko and placed him in front of his dad. The chains had wrapped around dad´s mouth too. A flash of light caught Tenko´s attention, as the stranger had snapped a photo with a polaroid camera. He shook it a bit to reveal the photo and left the room. He had a pair of knives and a permanent marker on his hands. He scribbled something on the photograph and stabbed it on the wall behind dad.
"Do you want to help your daddy?" asked the stranger. Tenko nodded, he had to save dad! "Then you will help me stop his pain" two more spider legs appeared from the man´s back, held Tenko´s hand, and brought it close to dad´s face. Then Tenko´s hand touched. And daddy yelled in pain. Tenko´s hand moved forward. He tried pulling back, but the spider legs were too strong. Dad was in pain, he was dying! Tenko´s hand was killing daddy! He tried to grab the obsidian limbs with his left hand, but the stranger caught his arm at the wrist, and brought his left hand to dad´s face too. Tenko tried to close his eyes, but tiny spider legs caught his eyelids and kept his gaze focused on his dad´s eyes, as his face dissolved.
Dad had stopped screaming, Tenko had not. He was released, and tears filled his eyes. He tried to hold his dad´s body, but it melted to his touch. The body twitched and dad´s left hand covered Tenko´s face. It felt safe! The rest of the arm melted around the hand, and soon the hand became rigid. Strong hands pulled him away. Nothing remained but dust and the hand on his face. The stranger removed the hand, and took out his camera again, snapping another instant picture. Again, he scribbled something and nailed it to the wall with a knife. The spider legs held Tenko close, by the wrists, as the stranger walked out the house, and into a nearby alley. He pointed at the house, half its wall crumbling down. On cue, two heroes arrived; a massive blonde titan of a man with strange hair and blue eyes, and a strong hero with grey hair and a yellow and white outfit. The bigger hero broke down the wall and rushed inside, followed closely by the older hero. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" yelled the hero, his mighty voice carrying over to Tenko´s ears.
An obsidian spider leg stabbed Tenko in the spine again. "All Might did not arrive on time to save you, Tomura Shigaraki. He can not save people, only spread the violence. What happened today, he caused it."
After a few minutes, Tomura stood up in the alley. Something horrible had happened! He had a Quirk, a horrible Quirk! He had killed his dad! Tomura was afraid, terrified, he ran.
Shigaraki woke up on the futuristic corridor of Tartarus, his arms restrained behind his back, as the hero Wave Motion patted his back, trying to calm him down. He had been crying, he had lost the hand for his face, his throat was hoarse from yelling. He broke into tears again, repeating over and over, between sobs "I surrender". The hero helped him sit and hugged him. The simple action, that little bit of empathy, of humanity, had almost made the world right again. When he finally ran out of tears, he managed to say "You saved me. I know who I was. I know I was Tenko Shimura." She had smiled at him, and said "Well, I am Nejire Hadou, nice to meet you!".
Nejire had helped him up and gently led him to the outside. A repair crew was placing a metal bridge extension over a hole that had been burned off, the surviving mercenaries were in cuffs and being led to armoured police vehicles. Less than a third were still alive. Nejire led Sigaraki to a heavy helicopter, a military model with two rotors. Sitting aboard it was Dabi, covered in Eraserhead´s restraining straps, his hands inside a coolant container, connected to a switch that a young hero with a costume reminiscent of Eraserhead´s held, his eyes daring Dabi to make a move, so his hands could be frozen.
Two closed bodybags were also there, secured to the chopper´s floor. Next to them, a stretcher held Spinner, an IV connected to his reptilian arm. He was unconscious and covered in nasty burns. Mr. Compress was held similarly to Dabi, his good hand immersed in a sleeve of a purplish liquid, his mask by his side, slashed by gigantic claws. Shigaraki felt a pang of pain, he was guilty of his friends suffering, two of them were dead, another could be dying. And all to save the man who had destroyed his life, erased his childhood and killed his dad? The guilt was almost unbearable. He turned to the blue haired hero and asked "W-who…" before being interrupted by the number 1 Hero, Endeavor, who walked out of the cockpit towards the villain, saying "The teleport one and Twice. The police ended him."
The intimidating hero towered above Shigaraki and his eyes were full of hatred. He unlatched Shigaraki´s cuffs and fastened him to a set of chains that dangled from the ceiling, securing his wrists at an angle so he could not touch the cuff or chain. A few others came into the helicopter, filling up the space. One was the police officer Tsukauchi, who took Endeavor aside to talk; another was a nurse who checked Spinner´s condition quickly. Then the three UA students Shigaraki knew would be here; Izuku Midoriya, Shouto Todoroki and Katsuki Bakugou, the latter of which was even angrier than usual "…the fucker got away! My power, your power, it was useless!" his hands crackled with small explosions. Beside him Midoriya had a look of cold rage and frustration, Todoroki looked a bit more resigned, but just as furious. Bakugou punched the wall, denting the metal, but then noticed Dabi "You are still alive, you shithead? You owe me a fucking bike! It was A GODDAMN HARLEY! You know how hard it is to get one in Japan? Of course you don't, shit-for-brains!" He raised his hand to blow up the tied up villain, but was caught by the purple haired Eraserhead wannabe´s restraining binds, "I don't want Scarboy´s brother´s brains all over me, mate" he said, in a smug monotone. Admitting his defeat but losing no anger, Bakugou turned to Endeavor and said "Your shitstain son owes me a Harley!" before storming out. Endeavor included his son in conversation with the detective, and Deku approached Shigaraki and Nejire.
Deku looked more concerned than angry, and said, "What happened to you, Shigaraki? Mirio told me what happened with All for One just now, how he left you behind and you started shouting." Before Shigaraki could answer, Nejire said "All for One said something, and it seems something snapped in his mind. We should get a psychiatrist, Deku, I don't think the same Shigaraki left Tartarus."
"The Mei is ready, Izuku!" said a pink haired girl behind the hero, appearing at a distance even Shigaraki, who had been raised pretty much by a smoke monster villain, could tell was not the polite distance in Japan. "You named it after yourself?" said the green hero, an incredulous smile on his face. "Why yes, of course! It is the mother of all my babies! And I´m the mother of all the babies! And I wasn't going to name my VTOL after some other scientist, I discovered the element in the fuel myself!" As the girl talked her eyes shone excitedly; Shigaraki thought she was clearly insane.
A few heroes remained, Endeavor, his son, Tsukauchi the detective, the purple haired student, and Nejire, who sat close to Shigaraki. He felt weird about her presence, in general he didn't like people and people didn't like him, but she just sat there like he was normal, humming to herself a pop song. Shigaraki envied her calm state of mind, he had just gambled everything to save a man who had destroyed his family and ruined his life, he had lost the closest thing he had ever had to friends, and now he would most likely never see them again if they separated them in prison. He thought back to how Kurogiri had pretty much raised him and he felt much more guilt; he hadn't even thought about freeing him instead.
The helicopter flew and headed north. Shigaraki wallowed in regret and self-pity, but eventually his thoughts turned to anger, towards All for One. He had moulded Shigaraki into a tool for his own revenge against All Might, supposedly training him as a successor. But it turned out he had been the revenge himself; the innocent grandchild of All Might´s mentor, turned into a shell of a human being, a killer, a villain. It disgusted Shigaraki to think about all the fabricated grudges All for One had slowly created in him, with just a few suggestions. He had been prepared to fight the world for the man who had killed his family, seeking the approval of a monster. "Detective, I must speak with you!" he said, in the loudest voice his throat could muster, and the officer approached him. "What is it?" he said, with distrust. "I want to confess. I want to speak with Deku and All Might. And if possible, I want to help you bring All for One down. I now see what he made me become, and I want to help."
The cell door alarm brought Shigaraki back to the present. The door opened and in came his psychotherapist, the ex-hero Ragdoll, now the civilian Tomoko Shiretoko. Her smile was just as bright as when she had been a hero, and her clothes were just as colourful. After being kidnapped and stripped of her Quirk, she had worked hard to finish her degree in psychology, so she could help All for One´s victims. And after Shigaraki´s confession, she had known he was a victim too, and had volunteered to rehabilitate him. "Hello Tomura! How are you doing today?" asked the therapist, positively beaming. Shigaraki smiled, an actual smile, not the creepy smirk he had before. It had been good, this time, and he had never felt better. And, if his calendar didn't lie, on Friday Nejire would come to visit him. He was excited and nervous, the blue-haired hero´s visits made him feel weird and happy. Yeah, life was pretty good.
Izuku Midoriya sat in a café on the Musutafu ward, a nice place Shouto had recommended. Before him sat a man with greying green hair, with glasses and unkempt stubble. He had approached Izuku earlier in the week, asking to come to his graduation, as his father. The complete stranger said he was Hisashi Midoriya, and had breathed a small puff of green fire to prove it. Izuku had not known how to react and had instead asked the man to meet on Thursday. Afterwards, he had ended up talking about it with Kacchan, of all people, the angry teen knew just how angry Izuku had to be about his father showing up after all this time and expecting to be welcomed with open arms. Bakugou had actually been surprised and very pleased to hear Izuku say "Fuck" for the first time. But in the end Izuku had come to talk to his father.
"I don't even know what to say to you, father. I don't know if I should be happy you are finally here, angry that you were never there when I needed you, when mom needed you…I don't even know who you are, mom removed your photos when I was seven." Izuku could barely control the tears threatening to flow freely. He did know one thing, though; he did have a dad, and his name was not Hisashi Midoriya, it was Toshinori Yagi.
"I guess I should have been here" started the elder Midoriya, but Izuku wasn't having any excuses today "I have broken my bones fifteen times throughout my high school! I have fought villains, I helped capture All for One! All for One, you know what that means? Not even a phone call, not even a text! A simple e-mail saying: "I am proud son"! Anything!" now the tears were flowing. Hisashi tried to comfort his son, to hug him, but Izuku recoiled from his touch "I needed someone to be my dad. And I found that person. I…I am not here to invite you to my graduation or to have a place in my life. I don't even want answers for why you did this. I just want you to go back to whatever you were doing. But I do want to ask you something, call it a favour; I want you to talk to mom. She may want to know something, I don't. The dad I have chosen is proud of me, and that is all I need to know."
He started to leave, but Hisashi said "Wait, Izuku. I heard what you had to say, would you please do the same? If you still want me out of your life I can respect that. I know I have been a father in little more than name, and I could never excuse my behaviour, but I would still like to know the man that you have grown up to be, son. If you could give me a chance, maybe not as a dad but at least a person who would be there for you…that is all I ask. A chance to earn your trust, even if I could never earn back your love." Izuku sighed, this reminded him of all the times Shouto had spoken to him in confidence about his family´s issues. "I would be hypocrite If I didn't even give you a chance, I´m sorry about that anger. We could chat today, but you will have to buy me a good dinner, I´m missing out on the fresh katsudon from Saitama´s, I was going there with my friends before this came up." He was still weary of the man, but he seemed not to have an ulterior motive other than getting to know his son, so Izuku thought he could at the very least get dinner from him.
Settling for a nearby steak restaurant, Hisashi and Izuku picked a booth and ordered some cuts of meat, a rather fancier dinner than most Izuku ever ate. Hisashi immediately started asking questions about UA, about his budding hero career, about his friends. "So how did you end up choosing the Deku name? Doesn't it mean useless?" Izuku explained the whole story; Kacchan´s bullying, Ochako changing the name´s meaning, how he and Kacchan had ended up earning each other´s respect again, and how they were friendly rivals at the moment. "So, your other friends are Endeavor´s son, the new Ingenium and Uravity?" Izuku explained that he was on friendly terms with everyone in his class and a few on others, and added Tsuyu Asui and Hitoshi Shinsou to the "best friends" list his father had inferred. When prompted for the All for One story, Izuku had excused himself out of saying the whole tale by implying it was mostly confidential, but he could say one thing: "I punched his ass to oblivion and a villain turned good to help us stop him, for good." Hisashi understood the hero´s privacy, so he did not pry anymore on the subject, so instead he chose to ask "And how about the girls, son? Do you have a girlfriend?" Izuku felt a bit flustered to think about that, his first kiss had been with a wanted villain after all, and he couldn't exactly say that, so instead he said "Well, I had a bit of a crush on my friend Ochako, but we…we drifted apart. I kinda also liked Mei and Camie and Mina and Tsuyu for a while…but I kind of want to concentrate on being a hero and college right now" I dodged a bullet there. Hisashi started talking, but Izuku´s phone started vibrating, and the ringtone blared music "I KEEP MY IDEALS…" he answered the phone quickly, without checking the caller, out of embarrassment of his loud ringtone in an upscale restaurant.
"This is Izuku Midoriya. How can I help you?" A voice answered in English, with a broad Texas accent "Sorry son, I barely understand Japanese, but they tell me your English is pretty good. I´m calling from America, is this a good time? We didn't really check for the Japanese time zone before calling."
"Ah yes, it's just 9 P.M. here."
"Good. Listen son, I´m with the US government, on one of the intelligence agencies, All Might can tell you more. Ask him about Texas Red, that's me. Now, I want to tell you that you are not in trouble, but this here phone links you to a criminal we just caught, so it might be best if you gave us a hand. Help us, help your little friend, and we´ll all be pretty happy! Oh, and she keeps repeating that she knows her rights and demands we let her call you. I don't wanna go over specifics on this phone, so we´ll contact you on the morning. Remember to ask All Might, son."
"I´m sorry father, but a friend is in trouble. I have to go, but I think we should do this again." Putting the rest of his steak in his mouth, Izuku started texting All Might. "Dad, do you know a hero called Texas Red? They just called me, they said they caught someone who wanted to see me." The answer was almost instantaneous "Of course! He was a good friend when I lived in America! He is an honourable man, so you can trust his word. Did he tell you who it was?"
"No, but I think I know…"
"Son, don't worry…we´ll see what we can do when they call. At what time will they contact you?"
"They said the morning, so I guess we can all have breakfast together while we wait."
"That would be perfect, my boy, I´ll see you and Inko tomorrow"
"Goodnight, All Might"
"Goodnight, hero!"
So, the Americans had Himiko Toga. His only other friend on the other side of the law was Tomura, and he was locked up securely; Himiko had disappeared after All for One´s worldwide broadcast, just before they caught him and Shigaraki killed him. A month after that, Izuku had received a midnight call from an unknown phone, and had heard her voice on the other side, as terrified as when a cement wall had pinned her down during the typhoon in Okinawa. She had asked him to listen to a gruesome story, she had lost consciousness and woken up a month later, the blood of unknown people on her hands. She had dreamt about some sort of school near a nuclear facility, where some people tied her to a chair and brainwashed her. At the end of the dream, she died in a nuclear explosion. She repeated over and over that she was sorry for hurting Izuku, she said that her mind was always telling her what to do and she had always thought it was her own thoughts, but it had been programmed by people, bad people. Izuku had ended up spending the night just talking at his phone, trying to get the villain girl to calm down, telling her happy stories. When he had finally heard soft snoring from the other side of the phone, he tried to sleep.
He was extremely tired, but he was even more confused about his feelings towards the villain than he had been after saving her in the typhoon. They had shared more phone calls throughout the year, sometimes just to chat, at other times when she had psychological breakdowns. Himiko told him about how she was compelled to kill a list of twenty-five targets, their names and locations appearing in her nightmares. She told him about everything she learned about her past from the nightmares, whenever she was lucid in her dreams, she tried gathering as much information as she could about the place that had ruined her mind. She had to kill her targets herself or risk endangering more lives, she said, mourning every kill when she vented with Izuku. Three weeks earlier she had stopped calling, so Izuku guessed she would soon be done with it and maybe would turn herself over and get the help she needed. But now, she was a prisoner in America. Izuku knew he wanted to save the girl, he felt protective of her, he wanted her to be happy and safe. He wanted to talk to her about happy things, to see her smile genuinely. He felt stupid for being attracted to a villain, he knew she had been obsessed, in what was not exactly a healthy way, with him before Okinawa, but after that and after every phone call he had felt real friendship, and a part of him wanted more, he had been ashamed to tell All Might one day. The retired hero had not known what to tell him about that, but had told Izuku he had his support, always. Izuku had drawn the line on telling his mother about having a crush for a girl who had previously tried to stab him and drink his blood, though.
Arriving home restless, he switched on his tablet and started researching Texas Red, the hero who had called him. A lot of information regarding his hero years was available, but oddly, nothing in the last eight years. The second he found the hero´s Quirk, his Hero Analysis notebook was in his hands, and he scribbled on every detail.
Currently sixty-five years old, Texas Red´s real name was Holden Johns. The cowboy theme had made Izuku think at first of his teacher at UA, Snipe, but their quirks were rather different; Snipe´s quirk allowed him to control the trajectory of his bullets, while Texas Red´s Quirk, Dead Eye, allowed him to slow down his perception of time in order to accurately aim and shoot in what seemed to be inhumanly fast speeds. A lethal and a tranquiliser rounds revolver were always on his belt, for different kinds of enemies. He had worked closely with All Might and David Shield during All Might´s American years, being a friend and ally to the superhero.
Texas Red had been quite famous on his own as well, taking down the Outlaw Villain: Gunfighter, a cop killer and the mastermind behind multiple bank heists, on a televised duel at high noon. The cowboy hero had been deadly with the big iron on his hip, ending Gunfighter´s spree. He had also dismantled an entire drug cartel on his own, led the evacuation of a city caught by a gigantic tornado (with no casualties) and had even exposed a spy conspiracy on the high command of the US military.
So, to sum up, a reliable hero, powerful but also deadly when needed, ruthless and implacable, but also known to be a gentleman to all, men, women and children.
Next Izuku researched the possible intelligence agencies Texas Red could be working for; the FBI, CIA, the NSA, maybe another for the State Department or perhaps Military Intelligence. After a quick read, he pretty much discarded them as options, it had to be something more secretive. Satisfied with his new knowledge, Izuku bookmarked a few sites on American heroes and turned the tablet off. He laid down to sleep, graduation was just two days away, and the graduation party a day after that. He was excited to finally graduate as a hero and move on to greater things. Soon he had drifted to sleep, dreaming of dancing with a girl with yellow catlike eyes and a fanged smile.