...

Tsukauchi ordered, "You and Eraserhead go after the dealers. I'll provide cover fire."

Eraser denied as Izuku looked over their cover again, "That's a terrible idea. We won't even get out of cover before they put bullet holes in us."

Izuku heard the distinct sound of a weapon being reloaded. Not waiting to listen to the two adults argue Izuku spun on his heel and rose. One hand was back to throw his a knife at the reloading drug dealer. As his knife left his hand a searing white-hot pain flared in his shoulder. This caused him to hiss and stumble.

Luckily his knife had already left his hand otherwise it would have thrown off his aim. That could have been disastrous for he threw it so that it would stun the drug dealer. There were a light thud and a grunt of pain as Izuku fell back undercover. At least his effort had paid off.

Only for a familiar blue haze to envelope the world around him. Without thinking he got out from the cover and prepared for an attack. Next to his leg was a small Slither and instinct kicked in. A hand grabbed his bow staff from his belt and extended it. The Slither lunged at him and he blocked it with the staff.

From the detective, he heard, "What the hell? What is that?"

Izuku didn't answer. The Slither hissed with agitation and pain coming into contact with the iron staff. When he looked up he saw that Tsukauchi and Eraser were staring shocked. That was when he realized that they weren't frozen in time. For whatever reason, his quirk had enveloped them all. Did that mean?

Screams erupted from behind him answering that question. Yes, the drug dealers were a part of it too now. Great. Just great he had to protect them all from Slithers.

Using his bow staff he vaulted over their cover and began to take out the small swarm of Slithers that surrounded the dealers. Almost immediately they focused on him as he was a threat to their meal. Swinging his staff he caught one in the chest flinging it back. As he turned he swatted a second back.

Each movement had been practiced over and over until it was instinct. Fighting Slithers and Darklings had become a natural part of his day. It was fighting people that scared him. He didn't know how far was too far. It was why he typically only patrolled while his quirk was active.

As quickly as it had come the blue haze was gone. Izuku staggered feeling drained. Vaguely he could feel something warm run from beneath his nose. The world around him returned to its usual state. Slithers and Darklings were thankfully gone.

"Note to self," he laughed painfully, "Don't get hit by Trigger."

Neither Tsukauchi nor Eraser were very amused by the comment. However, they were busy with tying up the traffickers who didn't dare resist. They were too terrified from what they had witnessed. Not that Izuku blamed them. Your first time in Zero Hour was terrifying. Even more so when you don't know how to fight the creatures who rule it.

Using the distraction he slipped out and headed home. Exhaustion from using his quirk back to back if only briefly had his vision blurring. He was barely able to make it in through his window. There wasn't even enough energy left in him to change out of his vigilante gear.

It would be several hours before he would wake again having missed his alarm for school. Sunlight streamed into his room from the open window. Groaning he rolled over to scrub at his gritty eyes.

After a few moments, he sat up and began to peel off his gear. He would have to be more careful about his late-night activities. It had been far closer last night than he felt comfortable with. Izuku knew it was always a risk continuing his work so close to the hour but to protect Tsukauchi and Eraser it was worth it. If he had not been there last night they could have been killed before help arrived.

He didn't understand why he felt driven to look in on the two. Every time he went out he checked on them. It never failed. Most of the time he would leave the coffee or files. Just something to say he had been there.

A hiss of pain escaped him as he pulled off his jacket. On the top part, there was a tear from where the bullet grazed him. Pressing gentle fingers around the wound he decided it would need stitches. Thankfully he would not have to dig a bullet out. He shuddered at the thought. If it had been more than a graze there was no telling how long they would have been stuck in the Zero Hour. An hour? Two? He didn't want to find out.

With some difficulty, Izuku was able to change into clean clothes. From there he went into the bathroom and stitched the wound and dressed it. Next would have to be tending to the rip in his jacket. Great.

...

It was late in the afternoon when he and Aizawa met in his office. After the chaos of the previous night, both men needed time to process. Zero had finally shown himself and they didn't understand how. It had to do with his quirk which was obvious.

Aizawa said after taking a sip of his coffee, "What are we going to do about Zero?"

Naomasa tapped a finger on the file they had made on Zero. It wasn't a thick file. Most of it was just reports on the criminals brought in. The rest was speculation on what the vigilante's quirk. They thought it must be a sort of invisibility quirk. It was the only thing that made sense considering before last night no one had seen him.

When they asked about using his quirk to get them out he said he was out of time. It was

The quirk was something completely different. Those creatures that they had seen were monsters. They had attacked indiscriminately including Zero. Creatures that looked like a shadowy version of a snake. Zero had not hesitated to jump in and attack them.

It had only lasted a moment or two before the blue haze and creatures were gone. Naomasa and Aizawa apprehended the dealers as soon as they recovered from their shock. By the time they had the suspects secured Zero was gone. A further search of the warehouse found the bullet that carried trigger.

There they found blood on the bullet where it grazed Zero. They processed and put the blood in the system. With any luck, they might get a hit on their vigilante. Though Naomasa didn't think they would get lucky. Zero was smart and it was unlikely he was in the system.

Honestly, Naomasa answered, "For now we wait. That's all we can do given the circumstances. It is unlikely that Zero is in the system. That quirk though..."

Aizawa looked at him seriously, "You sensed it too then?"

Naomasa nodded. Oh yes, he sensed it. There was something about that quirk. It was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Putting a description of it in the system had brought up nothing. Dead ends after dead ends. Except something was moving in the back of his mind. A memory that he should remember but couldn't quite find. Maybe it would come to him later.