The roof was cold, chilling his body to the bone. The fire in his heart scorched like a furnace in his chest, fighting the cold with its fury. He wanted—no, he needed to fight. It didn't matter who it was, he just needed to do it,
That's why he sat on the edge of this roof, legs dangling off the edge with a cooking knife in his left hand. If he was going to pick a fight, it was going to be against villains. Heroes help people, he couldn't fight just to fight. If he did that, he'd just be a villain, like Bakugo had been.
It had been days since he got his quirk, and it had been some of the best days of his life. His classmates didn't pick on him anymore. Hell, Bakugo even stayed away from him now… probably because the blond violently flinched whenever Izuku got near him.
But Bakugo deserved what happened to him. If you decide to be a villain, you run the risk of a hero coming across you. Kacchan suffered karmic justice, nothing more, nothing less. And sure, Kacchan might flinch when they get near each other, but villains usually flinch when they get near All Might. He hadn't done anything wrong in hurting Kacchan, he had just done what's right. And what is right is to defeat villains.
Which is what he was trying to do now. The thumping in his chest had been steadily going faster, his soul yearning for a fight. He had tried to ignore it, but honestly, why should he? He was a hero, and heroes beat villains. To be a hero, he needed to go and fight villains. It'd be stupid of him to not look for criminals to fight.
Unfortunately, there wasn't just a "find villain radar" that he could pull out to find where people were breaking the law. Or, at least, it wasn't available to him. That's why he was stuck, waiting for some miscreant to stir some trouble. Some hidden miscreant, for that matter. Getting caught would be really bad for him, even if he was doing a good thing.
The law wasn't always a good thing, and so he was seeming to ignore it… to stop people from breaking the law. Yes, yes, he knew it was backwards logic but who cares? He'd have the moral high ground, at least.that's why it wasn't always a good thing, it just often was good.
At last, he was driven from his thoughts by a loud crash. Was it wrong of him to feel excited by it? Whatever. He slid off the roof, rolling into the fall to smooth out the energy. His eyes had helped him learn a good thing or two.
The place the crash had come from was a small corner store, nothing too fancy or special. He sprinted over to it, leaving the alley that he had fallen into. Slipping a bag with holes in it over his head, he slammed the door open.
Inside there was yelling, two men screaming at a cashier. The first guy was short, with fingers that were opened like a chest. There was a glowing, purple, ethereal light coming from the opened tips of the man's fingers. The guy wore a hoodie with an All Might mask on it.
The other man was lanky, having little muscle on his frame. His head was a literal cloud of yellow fog, wisping and whooshing as the guy shouted in anger. His right hand was animated, extenuating the man's shouts, while his left was hidden from Izuku's view.
As Izuku entered, the criminals' heads snapped to him. And they laughed. "Pfft, the hell are you supposed to be?" Purple fingers said, laughing. "Some kind of vigilante? What kind of damn hero wears a shopping bag as a mask?"
Tall and lanky snickered. "All right, just 'cause of how stupid you look, I'll give you this one piece of advice. Don't try and be some kinda hero. Leave, man, and forget you saw shit. K?"
Izuku just shook his head, eyes glowing red. The lanky man sighed. "All right then, guess we doing this the hard way then." His left hand then came into view. "Get on the fucking ground, you stupid bitch! I gave you a goddamn chance, now here's your second damned chance! Get down or I take your fuckin' brains out!"
Oh. Fuck. The guy had a gun. A gun pointed at his head. A gun that was probably loaded. And it was pointed at his head. All it could take is for the guy to flinch and Izuku would be a splatter on the wall.
His heart clenched, his chest tightening up. Right, this was real life. This wasn't like with Bakugo, where his life wasn't at risk. He could die here. He couldn't stop for fear, he'd die,
Izuku shook his head again. "No."
The man's hands shook. "Fucking—this is your last chance! Get on the damn ground!"
The tall guy was scared, his hands proved it. They were all scared, they were all human. And like most humans, they didn't want to take a life.
Izuku took a step forward. "No."
The man's hands violently twitched. "I told you! Don't fucking test me! I'll shoot!"
Izuku stepped forward again, keeping an eye on Purple Fingers. Purple Fingers was sweating bullets. This was probably their first time doing this, they were like him. They were new.
"No, you won't. Put down the gun. Get on the ground." He said, glaring at them. Please, please just work.
"Wha—what? You can't be serious, we have the weapon here! You get down! I'm serious, I will shoot you! Just—just comply!" The tall guy seemed desperate at this point.
Izuku stared into Purple Finger's eyes, sending an idea through. Surrender. And as his eyes commanded, Purple Fingers obeyed.
"I'm—I'm sorry dude! I can't do this no more, man!" Purple Fingers knelt down, putting his hand behind his head.
"What the—? What the fuck, man?! We have the weapon here, why would you just—?" Lanky seemed lost for words, gaping at his kneeling partner. He then turned back to Izuku, pointing his gun at him.
"I don't know what the hell you did, but this is your last chance! I'm going to shoot in three..!" The man said, seemingly steeling his nerves.
"Just give up, man! We don't gotta do this shit!" Purple said from the floor.
"Yes, man." Izuku looked Lanky in the eyes, sending a command through. "Drop your gun."
As ordered, Lanky did it. The gun fell to the ground, skidding to Izuku's feet. "Now kneel."
And so the man did. Like he was some kind of king, both men kneeled before him. A more prideful person would revel in it—and who was he kidding, he kind of was! He beat two villains without even having to throw a punch!
He knelt down and picked up the gun. He had watched some videos on how to use one but he didn't know what type of gun this was, besides the fact that it was a pistol. That shouldn't matter, though. With mastered ease, he pressed the release button on the left side of the grip and pulled out the magazine. Then he pulled the slide back, taking out the bullet loaded into the chamber.
"I'll be keeping this, I don't think you'll be needing it in the future, right?" He said, staring them in the eyes and implanting a new order. Become a good person
"R-right, man!" Purple and Lanky said, nodding their heads.
Izuku awkwardly smiled. "Great! That's good, avoiding doing evil is good to do. Now, how about you return anything you've taken to the cashier, yes? I, ah, don't think he likes being stolen from?"
The cashier spoke up for the first time. "Yep, yeah! I rather like my money to not be taken."
"So we have it settled." Izuku nodded. "You guys will, uh, return the money, right?"
Purple frantically nods, the tips of his fingers glowing. From the tips pours out the cash—and that was a cool quirk. How did that work? Did it connect to a pocket dimension located within his fingers? Actually, would the pocket dimension have to even be in the fingers? It could probably be anywhere and have a portal connected to the tips. Or maybe it isn't a pocket dimension at all! It could beaportallocatedwithinthetipsofhisfingersthatteleportsitelswhereormaybeitsshrinkingit mutter mutter mutter.
"It's a pocket dimension."
"Huh?" Izuku said, looking at purple fingers.
"You were muttering—uh, sir." The guy said, looking away.
"Oh. Right, thanks." He really needed to learn how to stop that. It could get him in trouble one day.
"So, now that that's settled." Izuku asks. "Why were you robbing this place?"
Lanky growled, annoyed. "Cause rents too damn high, man! We can barely afford food at these bullshit prices. We need money."
Izuku titled his head. "But how would committing a crime make it better? Suppose you got caught by a pro hero instead of me. You wouldn't be worrying about your rent for the next few years, quirked crimes get you a minimum of three years. Or even if you did get away with your crime, you'd just get motivated to rob someone else. You'd eventually get caught—you'd be in jail, your record ruined. Is that really want?"
Purple shook his head. "No, man, but we gotta eat, ya know? Shits too expensive, dude."
Izuku cringed. It was truly an unfortunate world they lived in. "I can't give you, ah, monetary advice. You can probably tell I'm too young for that. No words I can say will put food on your tables, water in your bellies, or a roof over your head. My words are meaningless, really. But, I believe those who suffer get blessed—hell, I've lived that. Suffer, struggle, and maybe you'll succeed. Or maybe you'll fail, but that's life. You have a long future ahead, don't throw it away because of your present pain."
He turned and started walking away.
"Wait!"
"Hmm?" He turned back.
"You're just letting us go? Just like that?" Lanky asked, confused.
Izuku scratched his neck, hand slipping below the bag over his head. "One thing I've noticed is that we are all people. It's pretty easy to forget that we're all people and it's really hard to treat others like it. Ultimately, you two haven't had any real effects on this store or myself. I'm not going to do anything to you, and I imagine if you apologize to the cashier, he won't either. After all, we're all people. We fail, as that's what it is to be human. We all need correction, some just more harsh than others."
He turned back around and walked away.
People being people seems so simple, yet it really is a strange idea, isn't it. A person who kills a family of 5 is just as much of a person as every family member they killed. Every psycho, every sociopath, every rapist, killer, and murder—they are all people. Twisted and demented, but people. Disgusting people, but people. It's just weird to think, isn't it?
People like to say a person can be a monster, can be inhuman. But really, is that not just indicative of human nature? That humans are capable of great good and great evil, yet they are still human at the same time. There are no monsters, just humans, and that is so much more terrifying than any beast under the bed or monster in the closet.
He wasn't going to be fighting monsters as a hero, he was going to be fighting humans. Humans with lives; with hopes, aspirations, and dreams. Desires and ambitions which led them to evil and crime. To be a hero he'd have to be a villain. There was probably a little kid out there who cried in fear of All Might, terrified of what he might do to their mommy or daddy. It's quite the world he lives in, isn't it?
His aimless walking had led him to an alleyway, and he just leaned against a wall in it, pulled off his head-bag, and laughed. If this is what one, just one night fighting "villains" did to him, what would another do? It was so easy to forget that he would have to fight humans and not monsters, that he wasn't being the good guy by being a hero. He was only one man's good guy as a hero.
He wanted to be the good guy, but his heart still thumped in his chest. It yearned for a fight. His blood itched with the burning desire to spill it, to beat someone till they were black and blue and bloody. To beat a person, a human with ambitions and desires and hopes and dreams, a person so much like him to an inch of their life. To cut their aspirations short, to make them suffer for society's joy.
And he would do it, he knew he would. To fight was his purpose—he'd never be a hero. A true hero can't sacrifice one life for a couple of others, that's not a hero. So he'd never be a hero. He'd be Izuku; a fighter and a brawler, a person who beats people to an inch of their lives and revels in it.
He would also be Izuku the hypocrite. He had told Bakugo he'd never be a hero, yet here he was, the same as Katsuki. A human with dreams of grandeur. And he knew he'd boast about becoming a hero, because he'd developed an arrogant streak since he got his eyes. He was Izuku the False Hero, that's who he'd be.
"Oi! Weird-ass kid! Want a good time?"
Izuku looked up, crinkling his features in disgust. The guy who asked him this must've been in his mid thirties. He was balding with black hair and golden eyes. The man dressed like he was middle class, with clothes that were fairly new but not overly expensive.
"Gonna respond?" The man said, speaking with nasty, yellow teeth. His golden eyes shone.
He really didn't want to. "What do you mean by a good time?"
The man grinned with his disgusting teeth. "I think you know what I mean."
"I'm a minor."
The guy didn't miss a beat. "So? It's never stopped me before. Just look into my eyes, you'll find that you agree."
…mind control?
Izuku felt the urge to puke—and to punch this guy. He was going to punch this guy. A filthy right cross slammed into the man's face, cartilage crunching and bone breaking.
The scumbag screamed, clutching his face that gushed blood. Izuku did not stop, he wanted more. The guy promised a good time, right? Well, it was a good time for Izuku. This filth wouldn't be having a good time.
Izuku's left hand battered into the man's right side, impacting right on the liver. The pedo gave a sharp exhale, crumpling over into a ball. Retching sounded, the man trying to puke.
He was not done. The symphony started, the war drums pounded and begged for more, for blood and carnage, for a dance. And he provided, slamming his foot into the man over and over. The kidneys, the chest, the groin, he hit everywhere. It was not a fight, it was not even a battle, but he felt alive.
Spitting, he turned the man over and stared at his golden eyes. Forget me and change your wicked ways. His eyes ordered this, pushing it into the man's very soul, rotted and blackened as it was. The pedo soon passed out.
Izuku searched the body for a phone and called an ambulance. Couldn't do for this guy to die—that'd be too easy. Everyone was a human, a person. And some humans did terrible deeds and so deserved terrible punishments. And if they don't like their punishment? Tuff, they shouldn't have done terrible deeds.
The walk home was, surprisingly, rather cheerful. His body was littered by blood and he looked like a maniac, but his mood was pretty good. He had done two good deeds today; sometimes villains deserve to have the piss beaten out of them and sometimes villains deserve to be treated with kindness.
Makes sense, the world was a nuanced place. He'd just have to be a villain to be a "hero", just like All Might, just like Endeavor, and just like every "hero". Heroes don't get things done, villains do. It's just that some villains are state sponsored and act for the most popular interests.