I'd been five days, five days since he'd quit, since he'd died. He'd been going ever so slightly stir crazy with nothing to do, but he had no desire to go back. Not yet. Midoriya absentmindedly tabs through the clothes hanging in his closet, listing the colors in his head, tallying them up just so he has something to do. He pauses between a black hoodie and a white pullover, eyes catching on something on the wall behind them. Izuku pushes them aside, trying to get a better look at what it is.
The name Kogane Gizō stares back at him in a bold, red font, the header of a homemade missing persons poster.
That's right, he thinks, staring at the name with a growing sense of... something . You're still missing. They have you too. He shoves the clothes further to the side, taking in the man's smiling face in the picture his sister had used. He can see the man's arm slung around the shoulders of someone just out of frame, a thin sliver of their arm the only part of them not cropped out.
There are people that care about you, people that want you back.
The thought startles the fifteen year old.
He'd spent the last five days doing everything but going on patrol. That first day after his death had left him reeling. He'd hadn't simply almost died. That man had killed him, had taken his life, had plucked him out of existence like one would decide the fate of an ant they'd caught in their kitchen.
Fear was perhaps one of the most straight forward emotions one could experience, because you can always tell when you're afraid. Even if you can't decipher what is causing your fear, you always know that it is fear that you're experiencing.
And, if anyone knew what fear was, it was the fifteen year old Midoriya Izuku. He'd grown up running away from his best friend. But, within the last year something had changed, he had changed. The boy was still running. He'd never stopped running, but his sprint had changed directions. He had stopped running from his fear and had begun to run towards it if only for the sake of those that he saved while doing so.
Midoriya had thought that he'd learned to overcome his fear, but here he was cowering in his room like he was five again and Bakugou had just turned on him for the first time.
At his sides, his fists clench.
Kogane Gizō was still out there, Eri was still out there, still waiting to be saved, to be rescued.
What the hell have I been doing? Hiding? Cowering? Because I lost? Because I died? The word scares him, death scares him. But, he's not dead, not anymore. He's alive, breathing, still able to fight.
Fear was a strong emotion. It had the ability to incapacitate, to kill. But, since when has he ever been one to give up in the face of fear? He was a vigilante. He was Musutafu's vigilante. He's
There are still people to save.
faced hundreds of villains head on night after night. Piper had taken on countless thieves and rapists and murders and had lived to tell the tale. He would not let one man erase his accomplishments, erase the lives of the people he'd saved. Midoriya refused to let one one man destroy all that he had worked so hard to build.
"It's been months since I first met her," Midoriya murmurs, eyes roaming the back of his closet. "And, if I'm just now being approached about her that must mean I was getting close, right?" The wall of information stares back at him without answer. "The info from that one post... It'll lead me straight to them. I just need to be more careful."
But, he can't risk simply wandering around the area again. Doing so could mean a permanent grave this time. He glances back at his computer before striding towards it, typing in his password and immediately pulling open the link to the post. Izuku scans through it again, looking for the user that had first mentioned the house.
Midoriya pauses at the name, an amused huff of air escaping him. He taps on their account, quickly starting a direct message to send to them.
Mirokus-Right-Thigh-Muscle: No worries
Do you live in the area too?
SmallMight: Hey so this might seem pretty random but That blue house you mentioned in that one post for Pied
Piper, what block is it in? I think I know what house it is but I want to be sure so I can steer clear
SmallMight: Yeah, there's this super sketch house that I pass everyday and I'm worried it might be the one you mentioned askdfjlskdfj if it is I want to stay as far away as I can
Mirokus-Right-Thigh-Muscle:
Bro I feel you on that one
But I think it's block eight?? I could be wrong
It's right next to that corner lot with the 2 story white house, you know the one with the roof all caved in?
Mirokus-Right-Thigh-Muscle: BRO LITERALLY DO NOT
Mirokus-Right-Thigh-Muscle: Np man! Stay safe!
SmallMight: KSJADHFJAKSDF THAT'S TOTALLY THE HOUSE My friends and I pass by it a lot and they've been trying to dare me to go knock on the door since for awhile jdshgfasdlkjfalksdjfalk
SmallMight: Asdjkhfadsklfj literally NEVER Thanks for the heads up though! Definitely going to
take a different way home from now on
Midoriya pushes himself away from the computer, checking the time. It's only nine o'clock, but he'd heard Inko turn in half an hour before, and when he presses his ear to her door he can hear soft snores coming from her room.
Izuku quietly rushes back to his room, throwing on actual clothes and slips the only part of his vigilante costume that he'd actually kept, his contact, into his hoodie pocket. The boy grabs his shoes at the door, and slips out onto their apartment's small balcony, tugging them on before climbing down like he'd done countless times already.
Midoriya knocks quietly on Reo's window, hands beginning to shake when he thinks about making his way back into that neighborhood. Tsukauchi opens the window, a surprised look on his face as Izuku kicks off his shoes and slips into the room.
Reo returns to his seat, falling into his desk chair as his eyes drift shut. "I haven't seen you in almost a week. How've you been?" The two had obviously kept in contact via text, but Midoriya had been adamant that they avoid the topic of his vigilante persona, and after seeing how terribly distraught the boy had been the teen had no choice but to oblige the wish.
Midoriya's brows furrow in the slightest as he takes a seat across from him. "Not great to be honest. I'm better now though." Tsukauchi peeks his eyes open, freezing when instead of an undiluted green he finds pied eyes boring into him. Reo straightens himself at the sight, full attention taken by the vigilante that sit across from him.
"You're back then?" But, it's a stupid question for the older boy to ask, because he can see that a fire has returned the other's heterochromatic depths. Tsukauchi's smile rises with the sight, and falls with the fifteen year old's next words.
"I'm going back."
Reo doesn't exactly know how to react to the news, a startled "what" slips from his lips.
"There are people still out there that need to be saved, people who are being held by the Precepts. If there's even the slightest possibility that they're in that house then I have to go back."
"Absolutely not."
This time it's Midoriya's turn to be startled by the other's words.
"That first night after you met that girl, you told me that you called my uncle and that you'd be sharing any information you got with them. You told me that it was for her sake," Reo says quietly, "But, the moment you get actual information," he whispers, "you charged in head first." Midoriya can hear the rage building in his friend's voice until it finally snaps, "Did it never occurr to you to call the police ?! Did it never occur to you to think ?!"
"I was thinking!" The fifteen year old fires back.
"You died Midoriya!" That quickly shuts the younger boy up. "You died because he killed you! You went in to try and find her without a plan and without preparation and without telling anyone, without telling me. What would've happened if that man hadn't decided to bring you back? Huh? You would've disappeared without a trace! Maybe I would've never found out about what happened to you or maybe Piper would've ended up dead on the news. And, your mom would come to me asking where you'd gone and I'd be forced to tell her that you'd probably died fighting some dangerous criminal because you're a vigilante. And all of that would be on me because I let you." Tsukauchi takes in a shuddering breath. "Midoriya, he killed you." Reo pushes himself up, taking the fifteen year old by the shoulders. "You were dead. It's only because of a whim of his that you're even alive right now." There's desperation in the teen's eyes, something there begging the other to understand. "You didn't see the look on your face when you came crawling through my window that night. You were terrified. You were broken."
The newfound fire in Izuku's eyes flare to life, rearing at the words. "That girl is out there! She's terrified! She's broken. She went back with the people who've been hurting her just to protect me!" Midoriya's voice cracks, his eyes raging like twin wildfires, one a fiery vermilion and the other a scorching emerald.
Tsukushi's hold tightens. "You said that all he did was touch you Midoriya. That's all it took for him to take your life." Pain wells up in the seventeen year old's gaze, his features soften, but twist with hurt. "I can't let you die again." But, the boy knows his friend, knows that he's just as scared to die as Reo is to lose him, knows that Midoriya would put aside that fear if it meant saving someone. But, Tsukauchi searches his pied eyes for something that would tell him otherwise. He finds nothing.
The two bask in silence for a moment, the only sound between them their heaving breaths.
"Even so," Midoriya whispers, head bowing and fingers clenched around the fabric of his pants, "If she's there, I can't leave her alone."
Tsukauchi deflates, drained of his anger. "Then don't." The vigilante looks up, startled.
"Take it to the police. Take it to my uncle. He'll send people in to get her. You don't know how many villains are cooped up in that house. You wouldn't stand a chance alone."
As much as the words hurt, the more Midoriya thinks about it the more he realizes that his friend
is right, painfully so. He wouldn't be able to do this alone. He'd only come into contact with two of the group's members, and thus far he's lost miserably to both of them. One hadn't even been a fight.
His thoughts threaten to drag him further down, but he resists them, clinging onto the sight of his friend's eyes that glow like amber. "Your uncle," Midoriya starts, the two words coming out like a choked gasp as he surfaces from the inky well of his mind. "Where does he live?"
Reo looks stupified by the question. "What?"
"Everything is a little hazy, but that man," Izuku continues, "I remember that he mentioned something about having read a police report on me." Reo's hands gently slide off the boy's shoulders as he takes a step back, seating himself back in his chair. "But, stuff like that should obviously be sealed to the public which implies that they have access to police records. Whether it was simply a one time thing or not I can't risk leaving any physical trails for something like this."
Reo listens quietly, understanding settling in. "So, you want to talk to my uncle directly?"
Midoriya nods his head. "Exactly. So, where does your uncle live?"
Reo lets out a bone deep sigh. "Just so you know, I don't agree with this."
Midoriya lets out a soft laugh, gently lifting the mood. "Oh come on, don't you think it'll be funny? I kind of wish someone would record it. I can already see his reaction."
"I think it's an unnecessarily stupid and dangerous way to go about things," the older boy huffs, slowly relaxing. "What if he recognizes you or something? Or what if you get caught? His quirk might be a glorified lie detector, but he's still a trained police officer you know."
Izuku nods, seriousness slipping back in. "You're the one who told me to take it to the police, but I'll be careful. He might be a trained officer, but I'm also trained a vigilante, remember?"
"When I said take it to the police, you and I both know I didn't mean for you to show up outside of my uncle's apartment."
A mischievous grin stretches across the fifteen year old's face. "Who said I was showing up outside of it?"
Tsukauchi immediately blanches, ready to jump again and shake some common sense into the other boy before Midoriya breaks into peels of beautiful laughter. Reo hadn't realized how desperately he'd wanted to hear that sound. His friend's face is lit up with a genuine happiness that Tsukauchi hadn't seen in so long.
"I'm joking! You should've seen your face!"
Reo's lips curl into a gentle smile. "Please don't tease me like that."
"These are the repercussions of your words, Tsukauchi. Take responsibility please," Midoriya says with a laugh.
Reo lets out a low, groaning chuckle as he drags his hands down his face. The seventeen year old was glad to see how brilliantly the light in Midoriya's eyes had reignited. Even though those stars were prone to flickering, they were there, roaring with life.
It was because of their return that the two friends had regained some semblance of normalcy, their
light banter proof of that.
I'm glad you're back . Tsukauchi doesn't say it aloud, but Midoriya can see the words shimmering in the older boy's amber eyes.
The fifteen year old sends a silent message of his own. I'm sorry for worrying you.
Everything wasn't back to normal. Readjusting would take more time. And, at this point, if he ended up running into that man again Midoriya has no idea how he'd react, doesn't know if he'd be able to handle seeing him again so soon. But, for now he puts on a brave face, a smile rivaling that of All Might's pulling at his lips. It's a little wobbly at the edges, but seeing it puts Reo's heart at ease.
He'll be alright. It'll take some time, but... He'll be okay.
Tsukauchi puts on a smile of his own as he spins in his seat, turning back towards his desk to grab the item he'd been working on. The teen tosses it to the other, Midoriya fumbling to catch the thin, curved gadget. "Take this at least. It's supposed to be for class, so I'll need it back, but it'll work for tonight."
Midoriya sends him a questioning look.
"It's a compact voice modifier, meant to hook into your average face mask. It's got little hooks on the back that you can sink into the inside fabric to keep it in place." Reo lips curl into a small smile at the awe he spies on his friend's face. "I made it with you in mind, but it would be pretty bad if you got punched in the face with that thing on, so I've been working on some other designs. Please don't lose it, my grade depends on that."
Midoriya's eyes glow as he takes in the device, fingers prodding gently at the hooks he'd mentioned.
"It's pretty basic right now, it only has two options. Multi voice is the one you'll need to use." Izuku looks up, curiosity shining in his eyes. "What's the other one then?"
A mischievous grin creeps across Reo lips, his response coming out with a laugh, "Autotune."
Naomasa steps tiredly out of his car, locking it behind him. With the sudden disappearance of Piper he in theory should have been able to go home earlier. But, with his disappearance came a minuscule uptick in criminal activity in the area. It wasn't much, but it was enough to be noticeable.
The detective's mouth stretches into a yawn as he makes his way towards his apartment building. Bleary eyes taking in a hooded figure sitting near the building's door. They're curled into themselves, knees pulled to their chest, hands wrapping around their shins, and head tucked into their knees.
Naomasa approaches slowly, making a bit of noise as to not startle the figure. The man puts on a light tone, "Did you get locked out?"
There's a moment of silence as Naomasa pulls to a stop just in front of the hunched figure.
"Detective Tsukauchi," the name comes out distorted. The sound like a multitude of voices all speaking at once, but the words are no less clear because of it. When the boy looks up Naomasa
knows exactly who it is, his pied eyes glowing beneath the dim fluorescent lighting of his apartment building.
"Piper," Naomasa exhales the name like one would a breath. The detective takes a step back as the boy pushes himself up from the sidewalk.
The vigilante dusts himself off and it's only then that Naomasa recognizes the distinctive dark vermilion of the boy's spiked boots and encompassing utility belt that he hadn't seen from a distance. "I was wondering when you'd show up. I got sidetracked by a very inebriated college student who wanted a selfie and was worried that I'd miss you." Midoriya's eyes catch on the man's hand as it reaches towards the phone in his pocket. "Please don't."
Naomasa pauses, hand stilling. He has a lot of things that he wants to say to the boy standing before him. He wants to ask why he'd become a vigilante and wants to tell him that he could help if the teen would just give him a chance. But, he knows that both responses have a possibility of sending the boy running. So, he sticks with something simple, "How'd you figure out where I live?"
Even the quiet laugh that escapes the vigilante comes out distorted. "For some reason I was expecting a different response from you." His eyes crinkle at the corners, a hidden smile curling beneath his mask. "But, I can't deny that you seem like the type to get straight to the point. I won't tell you how I found out, just know that it's not in anyway that anyone else could."
"I can't say that makes me feel any better."
The vigilante shrugs. "Nothing I can do about that I'm afraid. But, as you could probably guess I'm not simply here to annoy you." The fifteen year old's smile falls, pied gaze hardening. "I'm here because of the girl."
Naomasa's eyes widen in surprise. "You found her?"
The boy nods grimly. "I think so. At the very least it's somewhere that they could be hiding her." Midoriya slides a piece of torn notebook paper from one of his pockets, handing it to the detective. "I showed up in person because I believe that the Precepts have possible access to police reports, so please use discretion with the information I'm giving you."
Naomasa looks down at the piece of paper. It's not a complete address, but it has everything down to the block number and house description.
"I have reasons to believe that she's being held there." The detective looks back up. "What kind of reasons?"
The vigilante stiffens slightly, eyes seemingly haunted by something. "Sources and..." the boy trails off, "personal experience." His eyes glaze over for only a moment before Midoriya is shaking the memories off again. "I was going to survey the area and ran into a man, he had one of those beak masks, so I'd assume it was another higher up. Don't––" the boy pauses, swallowing around a lump that had formed in his throat, "Don't let him touch you. I was going to go back alone," he says quietly, "but, someone made me realize that I wouldn't be able to." He looks the detective in the eyes, resolve hardening in their depths. "But know this Tsukauchi-san, if you don't move soon then I will go in alone as originally planned. A little girl's life is on the line here Detective. Please don't let her down."
partae_
[Video: clearly drunk college student, words slurring, "Broskis~ Look who I found! Ayyyyy! Bro say hi!" A clearly uncomfortable Pied Piper waves at the camera, his voice in autotune, "HiiiIIi~ EveryyybodYYYYY~" The college student turns to stare at him wide eyed, Piper stares at him equally as surprised. The vigilante speaks again, autotuned laughter coming out, "WhaaAAAaaat the heEEeeell~"]
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partae_ bros last night I went out drinking and everything feels like a total fever dream. I hardly remember anything but I was going through my phone this morning and I found this video and I'm so confused askahajsjak
#PiedPiper #vigilantes #ImSoHungover view all 83 comments
hawks.edits BRO YOU MET PIPER????
partae_ Evidently LMAO
VigilanteNewscape Hello! Would it be alright if we dmed you about being able to use this video
for one of our stories? You'd be credited of course! _partae_ BET BRO JUST HMU
Alien_Queen THIS DUDE IS A LITERAL MEME I LOVE HIM _partae_ I KNOW RIGHT??!?