Denki's alarm blared promptly at 4:00am, just as it had every morning for the past three days. And just as he had every morning for the past three days, the blond boy lurched awake, stared at a (steadily less) unfamiliar ceiling for about ten seconds, then grinned, threw off his covers, and grabbed his phone to swipe off his alarm. However, unlike the past three days, he paused before flying to the agency bathroom to get ready for another day of patrolling and hero work because his phone was swamped with notifications.
"What the heck?" he mumbled, scrolling through the list. Most of them obviously came from the class's group chat, but there were quite a few from several of his favorite conspiracy blogs, not the least of which being a writer called 5PointstoGryffindor (apparently she was a huge pre-quirk age nut?). She had some great content; liked to write about the theorized Vigilante Network and some of the other craziness in Japan's underworld. The only weird part about it was the fact that most-if not all-of these notifications were alerting him of posts outside of their writers' normal update schedules. Impulsively, Denki clicked on the notification for 5PointstoGryffindor's latest post.
Vigilante Network's Secret Leader Revealed?!
Okay guys, at this point if you still read this blog it's beause you love all things vigilante seeing as that has become the main focus of my conspiracy theories. That also probably means you're pretty up to date with all the vigilante happenings around Japan already. Still, just in case you wound up on this blog because you heard about the infamous 'video' and don't actually know anyting about anything, I'mma give you a quick recap of the facts relevant to this discussion:
a) the number of criminals apprehended by vigilantes has gone up by approx. 143% in the last two years (approx. because police and pro heroes don't like to admit that someone's doing their job better than they can)
b) despite the significant rise in vigilante justice, the number of people arrested on charges of vigilantism in the last two years has dropped by about 54% (legit more than cut in half!)
c) naturally both of these statistics are connected
Basicallly the working theory at the moment (and believe me, all the data does point towards this being a working theory) is that at some point in the last two to three years, the various vigilante groups around Japan started working together, forming what I and other conspiracy theorists have lovingly dubbed 'the Vigilante Network' (and please don't me for being uncreative with that name; I think it sound bada**). It is unconfirmed at this point how they communicate and share information, with theories ranging from codes within social media to telepathy quirks to something as basic as a secret vigilante group chat, but one thing is certain: something changed in the last two to three years that caused the formation of the Network.
At this point, most conspiracy theorists have agreed that the most likely explanation is that some forward-thinking vigilante or possibly a small group of vigilantes put in the time and effort to reach out to the various high-profile vigilantes around Japan and assembled them into a cohesive unit. (Additionally, considering the drop in vigilante arrests, it's highly likely that this person or persons arranged some sort of training system to give new vigilantes a leg up on the streets, however that is a discussion for another day, or you can just look at my previous blog post on the topic here.) The important thing in all of this is what it boils down to, namely that there is a leader to this mysterious network. Previously, I theorized that the leader may in fact be the Gentle Criminal, who has become known for his increasingly elaborate videos about vigilante busts of criminal organizations from the Creature Rejection Clan to quirk-trafficking rings (down with quirk discrimination!), however after much debate, I have concluded it is much more likely that he is a relatively recent recruit into the Network (recent being within the last year). That still begs the question then of who the actual leader of the Vigilante Network could be. Well, last night at approximately 21:38, we may have caught a glimpse.
A pair of videos were embedded into the blogpost at that point. Curiosity well-and-truly piqued by this point, Denki clicked on the first one.
He had to admit that he did not expect the first thing he would see to be the unmasked face of the Hero Killer, nose chopped off-How the hell did that happen?!-and red eyes burning with a fanatic kind of fury while two police officers gripped him by either arm and half-dragged, half-carried him towards one of those high-security police transport thingamajigs. Although he had vaguely recognized the video as a clip from a news show, the realization that someone had actually managed to catch the Stain was enough of a shock on its own that he had to go back to the beginning of the video to hear what the newscaster was saying.
"If there's any piece of good news to come from Hosu tonight, it's that the police have confirmed the arrest of the infamous villain Stain, also known as the Hero Killer. The murderer is responsible for the deaths of seventeen pro heroes and the debilitating injuries of twenty-four others. However the most remarkable piece of information about his capture is the fact that he was not apprehended by a pro hero, but rather by a previously unknown vigilante. Details about their motives are still forthcoming, however the police have advised that if any civilians come into contact with the individual they should exercise extreme caution, seeing as this vigilante seems equally willing to attack villains and pro heroes alike. Their appearance has been described as-"
The video cut off there. Bewildered by this whisplash of information, Denki quickly closed out of the video and clicked on the next one. It opened with the same freaky picture of Stain without a nose getting dragged to a police cruiser, but he was a little more prepared for the sight and thus didn't have to go back to the beginning of the video to hear the narrator.
"The Hero Killer: Stain. Known for the deaths of seventeen pro heroes and the crippling of twenty-four others. But why did he do it? Why commit mass murder of pro heroes? Simply put, he became disillusioned with the fundamental decay in the values of hero society, which drove him to the belief that false heroes that did not epitomize self-sacrifice must be expunged in order to create a just society. And now, as though to prove his declamation of hero society, Stain has finally been defeated, not at the hands of a pro, but a mysterious vigilante that even the Hero Killer himself has recognized as worthy of the title 'Hero'."
Denki gaped as ice exploded across his phone screen-Holy crap; is that Todoroki?!-chasing unsuccessfully after a monster-bat-thing with giant wings flying away with-
URARAKA?!
The electric hero-in-training almost paused the video right there and switched over to the group chat to figure out what the hell was happening, when he saw the unsteady camera view pan quickly upwards just in time to catch sight of a black shadow leaping towards the beast. There was a blur of motion, a burst of red, and seconds later, the monster was splattered across the asphalt and the shadow was catching his classmate in midair. The film cut ahead a little bit, and now Endeavor was on the scene, faced by a man dressed in black clothing and a red scarf, somehow still intimidating even though he was obviously tied up and forced down on his knees.
"You honestly think that any of these fakes could have defeated that creature so easily?" the man laughed.
"What the hell are you-! Wait, aren't you-?"
"This society is overgrown with fake heroes like you and petty criminals that idly wave their power around! They should all be purged, and make way for true heroes like him!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Everything I've done is to create a more just society! We will reclaim the word 'hero' and bring about a stronger world!"
"So you have a partner, do you? I presume it's whoever took down the monster. So then, is it that person trying to sneak away over there!?"
"Wait, Todoroki!"
"Stop-!"
Bright flames flew towards the black-clad figure that had saved Uraraka, only to somehow be thrown right back at the number two hero, apparently consuming him while the Hero Killer laughed in the background, "False heroes such as you will all be purged! Only those as worthy as All Might shall remain!"
The screen went blank after that, leaving Denki staring in shock in the darkness of his temporary room because holy shit did a vigilante just kill the number two hero!? Before he could lose himself in a total panic and melt the springs in his mattress with a wayward burst of electricity, he quickly flipped back to the original blogpost, quickly reading the next few lines.
Okay first of all: calm down, no Endeavor's not dead (unfortunately; the guy's a class A d***). However, the fact that this new vigilante was able to take him down so quickly and so easily definitely demonstrates his level of skill. I also want to add that the main reason I included that first clip is because it makes it explicitly clear that this new vigilante is NOT, as Endeavor assumed, the Hero Killer's previously-unknown partner. As a matter of fact, the Turbo Hero: Ingenium has posted on his social media that it was in fact this very vigilante that saved him from the Hero Killer when he was attacked a few weeks ago (see link to post here). As much as the media is painting him out to be a bad guy, Endeavor attacked first and the vigilante only responded in self-defence.
So with that clarified and out of the way, let's get back to my theory that this new vigilante is in fact the leader of the Vigilante-
A sharp knock on his door tore Denki's attention away from his phone, sending his heart jumping in shock. "Chargebolt? You up?" a muffled voice called.
"O-Oh, yeah! Just a minute!" he called back, quickly switching over to the class group chat. He may not have time to finish reading the post, but he was sure as hell gonna make sure his friends were okay before running off to be a hero for the rest of the day.
The agency he was interning with for the week mainly worked the early morning shift, so he'd been sent off to bed at 20:00 the night before, and he'd been so exhausted by the day's patrols that he'd done so without complaint (Seriously, if this was how early Blasty got up everyday to train, then he could understand why the guy went to bed so early. Didn't mean he was going to stop teasing him for being an old man, though). As a result, he'd missed a good portion of the messages his classmates had been sending each other about the progress of their internships, from Mina griping about how boring waiting for calls was to Kirishima gushing about how manly Gunhead Martial Arts techniques were. Then, a little before 22:00, the content of the chat changed.
Insert clever class group chat name here
Round Cheeks
[Location Sent] 21:12
Froppy
Whats going on Ochaco? 21:13
Bags
hold up since when were you in hosu? 21:14
Jacks
isnt there something about hosu on the news rn? 21:14
(Of course the moment Denki read that he had to engage all of his impulse control in not Googling Hosu to see what he could learn because he did not have time for that rabbit hole right now.)
Invisigirl Still Sounds Cooler
yeah it looks like those monsters from the usj are back 21:15
and gosh darn it blasty stop changing my name! 21:15
[Inivisgirl Still Sounds Cooler has changed their name to Still Invisible Girl! :P]
Froppy
Okay but seriously 21:16
Ochaco? 21:16
Im getting worried 21:16
Alien Queen 3 :P
im sure shes fine tsu 21:17
probs a butt dial 21:17
butt text 21:17
lol whatevs 21:17
Froppy
Maybe but Im still worried 21:18
A few more regular texts passing back and forth between the class, some chatter about Hosu-apparently the League of Villains attacked in the same night as this whole Hero Killer madness; say what?!-and someone asking if they were ever gonna get around to changing the nickname of the class chat, but no word from or on Uraraka, so Denki did the one thing he never thought he'd do: open a DM with the class's resident stoic pretty boy (Good thing Iida made us all exchange numbers back in the day).
[todoroki (halfnhalf)]
[You]
hey its kaminari 4:27
i saw the video of u with urarakain hosu 4:27
ru guys ok? 4:28
"Kid? Somethin' wrong?"
"Coming! Just getting dressed!" Denki yelled back, setting his phone aside, turning on the desklamp and whipping off his pyjama top. The message would have to do for now; it was all he had time for.
Energize was waiting for him when he stepped outside. The young pro had electric blue eyes and hair that stuck straight up in the air and a blue jumpsuit to match, one of the classic kinds that made it look like you were wearing your underwear on the outside. It even included obnoxiously bright orange accessories (boots, cape, mask, belt, gloves, etc.) with a few red highlights, along with a circle in the middle of his chest stylized to look like a sun. As ever, Denki had to fight back a snort at the sight of the incredibly loud outfit because it was just so… so perfectly him.
The pro had an energy absorption and release quirk that let him take in light, heat, sound, and other ambient sources of potential energy, which he could then release in kinetic bursts, augmenting his speed or strength. His quirk was potentially dangerous for him though, since the energy he took in was stored as body heat. Take in too much, and he wound up with an awful fever or even heat stroke. Release too much, and he could easily get hypothermia. Either way, it could incapacitate him for the rest of a fight.
Yeah, there was a reason Denki had requested to work with this guy (take that, Jirou I can too be smart!).
"There you are, kid!" Energize grinned. "I was beginning to worry you mighta fallen in or somethin'!"
"Aw come on, I'm not that much of a klutz," Denki grinned back, and Energize laughed boisterously in turn. Seriously, the guy had way too much energy for this early in the morning. Well sure, Denki had a good bit of energy too, but that was mostly because he was crazy wired and excited to be doing actual hero work out in the field. If he had to get up this early every single day of the year, he would not be this excited about it.
"Come on, Chargebolt, let's get some breakfast and then we can hit the streets!"
"You had me at breakfast!"
Another laugh, and Energize led the way down the stairs of the agency towards the breakroom, where Denki knew from experience his sidekicks had already laid out an array of foods both traditional and very junky.
It was glorious.
"Oh! Chargebolt!" the secretary squawked as they entered the breakroom-literally; she had a mutation quirk that gave her a bird head and crown of cockatoo feathers; maybe she was related to Present Mic?-scrambling to put her phone away. Denki only caught the last few seconds of whatever it was she had been watching, but it was enough to make a guess.
"Was that the video about the Hosu vigilante?" he asked curiously.
She seemed startled, her orange eyes widening comically as she turned her head towards him. "You've seen it?!"
"Yeah, this morning. Apparently, a couple of my classmates were involved somehow."
"WHAT?!" the woman screeched, the sound amplified by her mutation.
"That doesn't sound good. Do you need to give anyone a call before we get going, Chargebolt?" Energize frowned, reining in his usual enthusiasm.
Denki hesitated, but eventually shook his head. "If anything serious had happened, I think our sensei would have informed us, so no news should be good news, right? Anyway, I've already sent one of 'em a text. Hopefully he'll reply in a few hours."
"Well alright, if you're sure," the pro shrugged, snagging a cream-filled donut and shoving about half of it into his mouth in one go with a contented hum, sending the filling spilling out of both sides. Denki snorted and grabbed an apple fritter for himself, settling onto the barstool at the counter.
"Wha's goin' on in th' back room?" he mumbled with his mouth full as he heard a pair of voices arguing.
"Mm?" Energize blinked, swallowing his oversized bite "Oh. It's just Nogitsune and our manager," he sighed.
"Who?" Denki frowned.
"Oh right, you haven't had a chance to meet him yet. Nogitsune is the head of the underground division of our agency. Apparently he let some unauthorized quirk use slide and the police found out about it so the agency is getting put under the magnifying glass and the manager's pissed about it."
"Oof. That's rough," the electricity-user winced.
"It's not the first time," Energize sighed. "Nogitsune's always been lax about enforcing quirk usage laws. I mean, I get it in some ways; if a person's quirk isn't doing any harm, then it seems kind of unfair to limit its use, you know? But at the same time, some quirks are just inherently dangerous. That doesn't make them good or bad, sure, but it seems unfair to limit the use of some quirks and not others, you know?"
Denki considered. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense," he nodded thoughtfully, taking another bite of his breakfast. "S'funny, usu'lly when I think of quirk laws, I think of vigilan'es."
"Well that's a whole other set of issues," Energize chuckled, grabbing a yogurt-thing. A parfet? Is that what they were called? "I mean quirk usage, yes, but there's also the safety of both the vigilante and the villain to consider, as well as messier legal issues like property damage and potential murder charges."
"Murder charges?" Denki blinked.
"Of course!" the secretary lady squawked. "Like the Hero Killer, for example. He might have seen himself as a vigilante bringing justice to the world, but he was still going around killing people, and he wouldn't be the first vigilante to take things further than the law would agree is appropriate or necessary."
"Yeah, I get it," the electricity-wielder winced, taking a long draft of orange juice. He couldn't help but think of Wraith, who had taken down that bat-monster thing in a matter of seconds and left its blood splattered on the asphalt. Would he be accused of murder, too? "Hey, Energize?"
"Yeah kid?"
"If you were trying to save someone, and the only way to do it was to kill the villain trying to hurt them, would you do it?"
Energize blinked, electric blue eyes wide in surprise, a chunk of yogurt-covered melon halfway to his mouth before he lowered his spoon and turned his thoughtful gaze towards a speckle on the countertop. "I don't know," he replied honestly. "There's a part of me that hopes I would, but there's another part of me that really hopes I wouldn't. I guess… I'll just have to see when I get there."
Denki nodded slowly, then smiled ruefully. "Ah, sorry, didn't mean to get all… philosophical er anything."
"No, it's fine," the pro hero chuckled gently. "It's not a bad thing to ask. After all, if you really want to continue down this road, such questions may not always be rhetorical." Denki shivered slightly at that thought, but didn't have time to dwell on it, because a moment later Energize plunked his empty cup on the counter and announced briskly, "Right! Let's finish getting ready and get this show on the road!"
"Yes sir!"
Patrol was pretty quiet that morning. They headed out around 5:00 and meandered through the dark streets, nodding politely to the salarymen that had to get up extra early for long commutes into the city. The sun rose slowly, steadily brightening up the sky over the next hour or so. As more people ventured outside to continue their day and the streets grew steadily more crowded, more people started to recognize Energize, too, waving and saying hello. The man would always beam right back, a bounce in his step as he waved and eagerly introduced them to his intern.
It was around that time that Denki heard his phone chime and instinctively went to grab it before hesitating and glancing towards his mentor. "Nah it's fine," the man chuckled, waving for him to continue. "I get it; you're worried about your friends. Go ahead and peek, a'ight?"
"Thank you, sir!" Denki grinned, quickly tuning out the world as he swiped up on his phone screen and clicked on his messaging app.
[todoroki (halfnhalf)]
[todoroki (halfnhalf)]
yeah, we're okay. 7:05
we're in the hospital. 7:05
[You]
what?! what the hell happened! 7:06
[todoroki (halfnhalf)]
uraraka needed stitches and iida is getting an x-ray. 7:07
[You]
iida was there too?! how did u guys get hurt?! 7:07
[todoroki (halfnhalf)]
we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. 7:09
the hero killer attacked us and a pro hero. 7:09
then wraith showed up, beat the hero killer, saved uraraka, beat endeavor, and left. 7:10
[You]
wraith? 7:10
that the vigilant? 7:11
the news didnt say 7:11
[todoroki (halfnhalf)]
yeah that's him. 7:12
sorry i have to go. police want to talk to us. 7:13
[You]
ok 7:13
glad your alive 7:13
call if you need anything 7:14
[todoroki (halfnhalf)]
thanks 7:14
[You]
no prob bro! 7:15
Relieved, Denki closed out of the DM thread and pulled up the class group chat, typing out a quick message for the class's benefit.
[Pikachu]
hey 4 peeps who saw the vid uraraka todoroki and iida r ok 7:16
just in the hospital 7:16
ok that soundd bad but|
"Bwah!"
Denki yelped in surprise as a body crashed into him with enough force to send the both of them tumbling to the ground and knocking his phone out of his hand before he could press send on his last message. Not that he really noticed because his brain had suddenly decided to register that he had a dark-skinned young woman with wide golden eyes, ombre hair, fox ears, and a tail soft enough to put even Ojirou's to shame lying on top of him!
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" she yelped in a panic, flailing wildly as she practically leaped away from him. "It's my quirk; it's passive, so I can't really control it or the side effects, I swear I didn't mean to fall on you oh my gosh this is so embarrassing!"
"No, it's fine!" Denki squawked back, his cheeks burning because damn this girl was attractive, especially with the way her face was flushed and she peeked out between her fingers.
"Chargebolt? Everything alright over here?" Energize called, walking back to the pair, his head tilted curiously to the side as his eyes swept briefly over the girl.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Denki called immediately, scrambling upright and offering a hand to help the girl as well. "U-Um, are you… hurt at all?"
"No, I'm not hurt, and anyway, I'm used to it," the girl sighed, accepting his hand, the heat in her face slowly draining. "Clumsiness is just an unfortunate side effect of my quirk. I'm always falling down stairs or tripping over nothing. It's given me more than my fair share of bruises, let me tell you. Oh hey, aren't you Energize? Co-leader of the Élan Hero Agency!"
"Yeah, that'd be me! You're remarkably well-informed, miss!"
"Well, it's kinda in the job description for a future reporter, you know?" the girl grinned, revealing slightly elongated incisors. "I'm really glad I ran into you, though! I've been wanting to talk to you for the past week! See, I run a blog about Japan's vigilante activity and with the recent attention your agency has gotten on quirk laws I was hoping I could inter-"
A crash cut the girl off, shortly followed by a sharp series of screams. It would seem that some idiot had decided to rob a nearby convenience store, little knowing that a pro hero was literally right across the street.
"Sorry miss, this'll have to wait! Chargebolt, with me!"
"Yes sir!"
Together they raced after the wannabe villain, a guy (or maybe a girl?) with ridiculously long hair that they could apparently manipulate at will, considering that they were using their hair to clutch the cash register of the store they'd just robbed. They weren't terribly fast, but they still tried to redouble their pace when they realized they were being chased, yelling something that was lost to the wind, but that was probably a cliche villain trope like 'you'll never catch me alive' or something.
"Cargebolt, I could use a power up!" Energize suddenly called. Denki's eyes widened, then he grinned.
"Let's do it!" he yelled, letting his electricity sweep over his body in a wave of gold. Energize reached out to grab his shoulder, his bright blue eyes flashing briefly, then for an instant he seemed to vanish, his speed spiking with the rush of electricity crashing through his body, only to reappear as he tackled the villain to the ground.
"Get off of me!" the villain howled, their hair extending suddenly to wrap around Energize and try to toss him aside. Fortunately though, by that point Denki had managed to catch up, and he was still electrified.
The villain's body lurched, hair releasing the hero student's mentor in an instant as the golden energy swept over him, causing him to go rigid. "That's enough, Chargebolt!" Energize called a moment later, and Denki was quick to shut his quirk down.
"Well. Not a bad day's work," he grinned, feeling a little dazed, but not completely short-circuited.
"Yeah," Energize laughed. "Nice job-"
"Hey- Whoa!"
Denki yelped when, for the second time that day, he was bowled over by a ball of energy and fluff. Before he could really register what had just happened, he heard a BANG! a crack! shouting, and the distinctively meaty thud! of a fist on someone's jaw.
"Are you okay?!"
"Y-Yeah," Denki managed weakly, staring into golden eyes while a bright red, flipping soft fox tail brushed over his cheek. "What… What was-"
"Chargebolt! Are you hurt?!" Energize called, rushing back to his intern. The fox girl quickly rolled off of him (again, his mind supplied helpfully), allowing the pro hero to help the electric boy to his feet. "There was someone with a ballistics quirk, probably the hair guy's partner. You weren't hit, were you?"
"No. No, I'm fine! Thanks to…?"
"Sachi! Yoshino Sachi. And really, you don't have to thank me, it's just my weird quirk."
"I'm grateful to you for saving my intern, but you really shouldn't use your quirk without a license, miss," Energize reproached her with a gentle laugh.
"Oh, no, not like that! See, the fox stuff has nothing to do with my actual quirk; that's all just vestigial mutations from my dad's shape-shifting quirk. My quirk is actually passive; it's called 'Serendipity'. Basically I'm a complete and total klutz but somehow every time I take a spill or have some kinda accident, it winds up with good consequences, like falling on Chargebolt and getting to meet you and then stalling you just long enough to be right there for a villain attack and making you drop your phone so that when I tried to return it I could knock you out of the way of that bullet-that kinda thing. It's kinda cool, but it's kinda annoying too, you know? Oh speaking of, here's your phone back!"
"That's freaking awesome!" Denki laughed, accepting the device. "I guess thanks for taking a spill for me. And thanks for giving me back my phone!"
"No prob! Oh and BTW you have great taste in blogs," she winked. "Anyway, I've actually gotta run, but I hope to hear from you! Oh, and I'll come by the agency to request an interview some time, Energize!"
The girl ran off without another word, her fox tail swishing behind her as she disappeared into the crowd. "Well. That was interesting," Energize frowned thoughtfully, pulling out handcuffs for the hair guy.
"Yeah," Denki agreed absently, tucking his phone into his back pocket. "So what's next?"
The rest of patrol wasn't nearly as exciting, neither was filing paperwork when they got back to the agency. Quirk training was kind of cool, though; they'd been working on helping Denki get more precise with the amounts of electricity that he was giving off, as well as figuring out exactly at which point he short-circuited so that in the future he could try to raise that limit. By the time he got to bed that night, he was ready to pass out immediately, but he decided to take the time to flip through the class group chat just in case.
When Denki first unlocked the screen, he was a little surprised to discover that it had been opened to his contacts, and even more surprised that a new phone number had been added to it. When he saw the name that it was under, the teenager actually choked in disbelief.
[5PointstoGryffindor ;)]
[You]
Sending your number to myself so i have it! 7:22
[5PointstoGryffindor ;)]
i meat what i said abut texting me 7:48
but i juice your on patrol 8:37
name wasn't a plank fyi 10:24
hey what's your handle on me blond? 11:13
then i can prom it 11:15
guess i gotta Wraith for you to respond 13:32
[You]
holy crap your 5PointstoGriffindor?! 19:56
[5PointstoGryffindor ;)]
eye look who reptiles!19:57
and yep! legit whats your handle and ill send a shut out in the comments 19:58
[You]
oh 19:59
ah 19:59
its real dumb 20:00
[5PointstoGryffindor ;)]
so? 20:01
purple think mines dumb 20:01
[You]
uh pikawhoo!783? 20:02
[5PointstoGryffindor ;)]
done and done :) 20:04
[You]
holy crap you actually did it!? 20:06
[5PointstoGryffindor ;)]
toldja i was legit 20:06
[You]
i just hope you know your incredible 20:07
i have been a fan of your work for year 20:07
[5PointstoGryffindor]
aw thanks! 20:08
it really means a lot! 20:08
[You]
i havent finished the latest but what do u have planned for next time?! 20:09
[5PointstoGryffindor]
oh pal get a load of this 20:10
.oOo.
Denki's fingers flew across his phone screen as he marched up the hill to UA after a long week of internships. Anytime a person moved in front of him, he simply stepped around them, laser focused on the task at hand, locked in one of the most intense combats he had yet experienced.
[5PointstoGryffindor]
no your still not following 7:39
[You]
what am i not following?! 7:40
knuckleduster obviously as a strength quirk 7:40
[5PointstoGryffindor]
not necessarily 7:41
all of his arrests have evidence of bludgeoning damage but not beyond what a regular fistfight would give 7:41
on top of which there is never other unexplained injury 7:42
im pretty sure hes quirkless man 7:42
[You]
im still not buying it 7:42
its just not likely 7:43
he might be hiding a quirk 7:43
but i doubt hes quirkless 7:43
[5PointstoGryffindor]
im not gonna say your wrong 7:44
but your wrong 7:44
"Dude, who are you texting?"
Denki looked up in surprise, blinking at Sero as they stepped through the gates of UA together. "Hm?"
"You've, like, hardly said a word the entire way from the train station," the dark-haired boy clarified. "Legit bro, what has you so distracted? Did you meet a cute girl on your internship or something?"
"Ah, well…?"
"Wait, seriously?! Man, I was just kidding!"
"Well, I mean, she was cute, but it's not like that, man!" Denki protested awkwardly, scratching his cheek. "I mean for one she's, like, several years older than us, and for another she's just, you know, not interested. But she's super cool to talk to! She's a conspiracy blog writer and her content is awesome!"
"And that would explain why you've been texting her nonstop since we met up at the station," Sero sighed wearily. "Dude, you seriously have an addiction."
"What? It's cool stuff!"
Denki did put his phone away when they reached the classroom, but only after telling Sachi that he'd gotten to school and wouldn't be able to talk for awhile. The entire class was abuzz with conversation when the two of them walked through the door, all talking about the insanity that had been their internships. Mina was gushing to Jirou about how jealous she was that the spunky rocker girl had faced actual villains-Jirou's awesome; she should seriously give herself more credit-while Tsu-chan off-handedly mentioned that the agency she'd been with got a tip about a bunch of drug smugglers they'd taken down-Now that sounds pretty badass!-while Kirishima pestered Bakubro with questions about what it had been like to intern with Mirko-One of the top ten heroes in Japan; dang, bro!-and Aoyama tried to rope anyone who would listen into watching the first cut of the advertisement he and Uwabami had apparently starred in-Nobody cares, man.
"If you just wanna pester someone about the top ten, then go pester Half'n'Half!" Bakugou yelled, his temper finally snapping.
"Hey yeah, Endeavor and the Hero Killer!" Kirishima realized, twisting in his borrowed seat towards two of the people that Denki most wanted to eavesdrop on, if only to grill them for more details to send to Sachi: Todoroki and Iida (it seemed that Uraraka hadn't arrived yet, nor had Yaomomo now that he scanned the room more carefully). "Glad you guys made it back alive-seriously! By the way, where's Uraraka?"
"She's with Recovery Girl," Iida explained simply, his mouth set in a grim line. "Sensei wanted to give her one more check-up before clearing her to return to training."
"You guys were lucky that vigilante guy showed up and saved you!" Satou called, moving towards the pair to join the conversation.
"I know, right! I bet that was so cool! I wonder who he is?" Hagakure mused.
"Who can say?" Todoroki murmured quietly, a far-off look in his two-toned eyes.
"I think he must be the leader of Japan's Vigilante Network!" Denki piped up, grinning as he hopped up on one of the desks.
"Japan's what?" Todoroki frowned, although the fact that he was asking at all betrayed at least a little interest in the subject.
"The Vigilante Network! I mean, there's no official record about it, but vigilante work has gotten a heck of a lot more organized in the past couple years or so, and where there's a network there's a leader! So, who better to take down the fallen vigilante than the vigilante leader!"
"I could see it," Iida admitted quietly, earning startled looks from several of their classmates and an even broader grin from Denki. "Wraith did seem to have a great deal of knowledge regarding the Hero Killer."
"See? Wraith! Even his name sounds like it belongs to a shadow leader!"
"Okay… Well anyway, have you guys heard what the media's been saying about the Hero Killer? A lot of them seem to think that he was somehow connected to the League of Villains. Can you imagine how frightening it would have been if that creep had been there when they attacked the USJ?" Ojirou shuddered slightly.
"That would have been a nightmare," a familiar voice called by the door.
"Uraraka!" Iida cried instantly, a weird combination of worry, guilt, and relief twisting his expression. "Thank goodness you made it!"
Denki turned towards the door as well, where Uraraka and Yaomomo had finally arrived, the latter munching on what appeared to be dried soybeans. (That seemed strange. Had Yaomomo not had time to get breakfast that morning or something?)
"Of course I made it. I told you I'm fine, Iida-kun," Uraraka smiled. She sounded tired, but her bubbliness would not be suppressed, it would seem.
"Hey, she lives!" Kirishima grinned, although the expression looked just the slightest bit strained. "You okay to get back to the grind today?"
"You better believe it. And I bet I could still whip your butt in a match, Kirishima-kun," the brunette smirked.
The redhead blinked, then burst out laughing, his infectiously bright attitude, lightening the mood in the room considerably (Like seriously, I wonder if Yaomomo would make me some sunglasses?). "I dunno Uraraka, you were right about Gunhead being an awesome teacher. I think I could give you a run for your money now!"
"Is that a challenge Red Riot?"
"You think you can handle one, Uravity?"
"Sit down, all of you."
Denki scrambled to his seat along with the rest of the class as Aizawa-sensei walked through the door, dressed like a hobo like usual and holding a stack of forms. "Congratulations on surviving your internships," their homeroom teacher sighed, seemingly pointedly not looking towards the three in the room who had been in actual mortal peril. "Now, with all the insanity you lot get into, I have an announcement to make:
"UA will be establishing a dorm system. You'll all need to take letters and permission slips home to your parents."
There was a split second of stunned silence while everyone waited for their sensei to declare it was a logical ruse. Then the shouting started.
"Seriously?!"
"Is this because of the Hero Killer attack?!"
"When will this transition happen?"
"This is nuts!"
"Will this raise tuition costs?"
"What a mad banquet of darkness."
"Quiet!"
The class fell still as Aizawa's eyes flashed warningly. The guy seriously had a killer glare (Like if looks could actually kill, his body count would be higher than the Hero Killer's. Legit).
After a final, warning look around the room, their sensei's hair settled back around his shoulders, his world-weary air returning in an instant. "Yes, we really are going to be transitioning into dorms. No, this isn't because of the Hero Killer attack, but it did speed up the plan's approval process significantly. No, it won't raise tuition, and the plan is to have the dorms built and everyone moved in within the next two weeks. Before that happens, I'm going to be meeting with all of your parents individually in order to explain details and answer any questions they may have."
"Um?" Uraraka began, nervously raising her hand.
"We'll set up a video call with your parents. They won't be required to travel here, nor you there."
The brunette lowered her hand.
"For now, Jirou, pass these around. They're packets containing information on the planned dorm buildings, permission slips for residency, and time slot requests for me to meet with your parents. Once they've been passed around you can do study hall or whatever until your first class."
"Holy crap this is insane!" Sero hissed as he took his packet from Jirou. "Are the teachers that freaked by this whole Hero Killer thing? I mean, the guy's been arrested!"
"Well, sensei did say that they started working on this before the Hosu attack," Kirishima pointed out.
"Yeah, it's probably more about the League of Villains than the Hero Killer," Tsu-chan agreed thoughtfully. "I mean, Deku's already attacked one person in our class individually. At least by bringing us all inside the school, they'll be able to protect us if we get attacked again."
"Still, is it a good idea to gather everybody in one place when they have a warp quirk on their side?" Denki frowned.
"I overheard Power Loader and Cementoss talking about some upgrades they made to the UA security systems a few weeks ago. They shouldn't be able to sneak in like they did at the USJ again," Jirou commented off-handedly as she passed a packet to him.
"I'm actually excited about the idea of dorms!" Mina grinned, spinning in her seat. "It'll be like a giant sleepover every single day!"
"Huh. Well, I guess that could be fun," Denki mused, glancing through the packet he'd been given. Some sort of cover letter, a page for signatures, basic floorplan, contact info, yadda yadda-pretty standard format for 'new policy' announcements.
He couldn't help but wonder what Sachi would make of this. She was almost certain to have a theory or two.
Outtake:
[Ghost0015 created group "Operation Burnout"]
[Ghost0015 has added you, TeaConnoisseur, LuvBug652, YokaiQueen, Thearchitect, Hood675, Misting54, KnucklestheEchidna, 5PointstoGryffindor, DoubleTrouble64, and pumpkinnutella to the group "Operation Burnout"]
RockCandy
Burn? F*** yeah sounds fun! 23:10
Ghost0015
We won't be doing the burning, Ice. 23:11
And you need to clean up your language. 23:11
RockCandy
That not f****** fair! 23:12
TeaConnoisseur
Oh, are we about to learn what has kept Phoenix-san so occupied of late? 23:12
Ghost0015
TeaConnoisseur, yes, when everyone else gets here, and please pass all info on to LuvBug652 La Brava if she's unavailable. RockCandy, you really do need to clean up your language; there's a little girl involved. 23:13
RockCandy
D*** never took phenix for a pediphile 23:13
YokaiQueen
Wait what? 23:14
Ghost0015
YokaiQueen nobody's a pediphile. RockCandy stop spreading weird rumors. 23:14
YokaiQueen
Gotcha. So who are we waiting on? 23:15
RockCandy
F*** you 23:15
YokaiQueen f*** Wraith not you 23:15
YokaiQueen
Charming 23:16
RockCandy
Thanks 23:16
Ghost0015
Clover, Atium, Hood, Knuckleduster, Archie, La Brava (maybe) and a couple new recruits 23:17
RockCandy
I still think Archie is a s***** name23:17
Thearchitect
i have been summoned 23:18
RockCandy how dare you 23:18
RockCandy
Triple dog sir 23:18
Thearchitect
f you 23:18
Ghost0015
Guys refer to my earlier commentary. Anyone els that hasn't commented but is actually online please respond. 23:19
RockCandy
Oh please the f****** kids not on the chat 23:19
Hood675
Here 23:20
Misting54
here? rly? is this grade school? 23:20
KnucklestheEchidna
Here. 23:21
Also why am i and echidna again? 23:21
Misting54
inside joke 23:22
Ghost0015
Don't worry about it. 23:22
KnucklestheEchidna
We'll now im very worried 23:23
5PointstoGryffindor
Its a referee for and ild game; don worry a bit it 23:24
Ghost0015
5PointstoGryffindor Clover the difference in proof-reading between your texts and your blog posts truly astounds me. 23:24
RockCandy
Okay wtf? 23:25
Thats worse than Archie 23:25
At least his s***** name sounds a little liek his quirk 23:26
Thearchitect
again 23:26
f you 23:27
5PointstoGryffindor
Hey is take had to do with me signs it's a reference to return McCloskey said she'd dumb luck in the first Harry Potter movie and it totally goes with be e weight;! 23:27
RockCandy
The f***? 23:28
5PointstoGryffindor
Oh btw Ghost0015 we need to talk abut elan add i foul someone to and to the lisp 23:28
DoubleTrouble64
what the h*** have i gotten myself into 23:28
Hello everyone! Excited to be working with you! 23:29
Ghost0015
5PointstoGryffindor duly noted. I'll DM you later. 23:29
And hello, DoubleTrouble64; happy to have you. 23:29
RockCandy
Oh hey fresh meat 23:30
DoubleTrouble64
I'm honoroed to be a part of the group! 23:30
who the f*** just called me that?! 23:31
Misting54
translation: hey it totally has to do with my quirk its a reference to when mcgonagall said sheer dumb luck in the first movie and it totally goes with my quirk. dont worry 5PointstoGryffindor i gotchu but i thin he meant clover not your handle 23:31
RockCandy
How the h*** did you understand a f****** word of that?! 23:31
5PointstoGryffindor
Misting54 Tanks! RockCandy cover totally has to do with my when! 23:32
Misting54
RockCandy our social media handles dont need to have a reference to our quirks and who cares what our names are 23:32
also welcome to all the newcomers and ignore ice we all do 23:32
RockCandy
Oi 23:33
pumpkinnutella
Here! 23:33
So sorry I'm late!? 23:34
What've I missed?! 23:34
RockCandy
Other new person 23:35
We need to talk about your name 23:35
pumpkinnutella
? 23:36
Ghost0015
pumpkinnutella Welcome to the team, Shadow Dancer. 23:36
RockCandy
I take it back 23:37
Thats a bada** name 23:37
Ghost0015
Hush, Ice. 23:38
Getting right into it, Phoenix and I need yourbhelp to save a little girl. 23:38
Can we count on all of you? 23:39
Okay so apparently doesn't allow the use of the 'at' sign...?
Anywho, OH my goodness this chapter got SO much longer than I intended it to be. But in my defense, Kaminari is a really fun character. He's so smart about some things but so dense about others and the contrast just astounds me sometimes.
Anywho, meet the Vigilante Network, aka a whole ton of OCs with a few slightly-altered canon characters thrown in! I wish I could have introduced more of them sooner, but they're kind of hard to sprinkle into the story with the switching POV situation. I love these guys, though. I've had so much fun developing quirks, backstories, personalities, etc. and I hope I've managed to do them justice in this brief little intro! Feel free to ask me any questions about the people you see here, but I reserve the right to avoid spoilers. That being said, I will be giving these guys some action in the next few chapters. :)
Speaking of, what did y'all think of Sachi/Clover/5PointstoGryffindor?! I am going to be having so much fun with her little passive quirk, so don't worry; we will be seeing more of her in the future. :) Here are the kanji of her name:
Sachi: 幸 - sachi (happiness, good luck) referring to her quirk
Yoshino: 吉 - yoshi (lucky, good), referring to her quirk, and 野 - no (field, wilderness), kind of referencing her vigilante name (Clover)
Honestly with the name of the class 1-A group chat, I just couldn't be bothered to come up with anything clever. I'm open to suggestions if y'all have any! BTW these are everyone's nicknames for future reference (at least for now, cause Bakugou's nicknames aren't always super flattering; some have already been changed, if you couldn't guess.)
Aoyama Yuuga - can't stop twinkling!
Ashido Mina - Alien Queen 3 :P
Asui Tsuyu - Froppy
Iida Tenya - Iida Tenya
Uraraka Ochaco - Round Cheeks
Ojirou Mashirao - Obligatory Plain Guy 1
Kaminari Denki - Pikachu
Kirishima Eijirou - Weird Hair
Kouda Koji - Snow White
Satou Rikido - Sugarman
Shouji Mezo - Tentacole
Jirou Kyoka - Jacks
Sero Hanta - Elbows
Tokoyami Fumikage - Emo Bird
Todoroki Shouto - Halfnhalf
Hagakure Tooru - Still Invisible Girl! :P
Bakugou Katsuki - King Explosion Pomeranian
Shinsou Hitoshi - Bags
Yaoyorozu Momo - Ponytail
Also for future reference, these are the places some of the students interned; most of them are the same as canon, but some are notably different:
Kaminari Denki: Energize (OC)
Aoyama Yuuga: Uwabami (I couldn't resist after his performance with Hatsume)
Uraraka Ochaco: Gran Torino
Bakugou Katsuki: Mirko
Yaoyorozu Momo: Fatgum (hence why she has taken to eating snacks in class)
Kirishima Eijirou: Gunhead
Tokoyami Fumikage: Hawks
Todoroki Shouto: Endeavor
Jirou Kyoka: Death Arms
Shinsou Hitoshi: Eraserhead
Asui Tsuyu: Selkie
Iida Tenya: Manual
Everyone else aren't specified in canon, but assume that they went to the same places.
Next up, we'll be getting that chapter I promised from Baku-kasan's POV. :) We'll see you guys October 19th! 'Til then, go beyond! PLUS ULTRA!