I'm happy that I was able to finish this chapter earlier than expected, though I admit that this interlude is shorter than the others. This interlude is a bit different than the others you have all read so far, it is the first of an experimental line of interludes that I want your thoughts on how you feel about them. More info at the end of the chapter.

Big thanks to Qinlongfei for beta reading this chapter and making sure everything was okay.

With that said, let's get it started !

Interlude 6: Nightstalker's Rise

Itsuki has always had big dreams as a kid. What child didn't have dreams ? Many wanted to be firefighters, policeman, doctors, and many more...but what Itsuki wanted was something a bit more specific. Something he had wanted since he was a child.

He wanted to be a hero.

Itsuki had always looked up to those heroes in bright colors and fun costumes, using their extraordinary abilities the best they can to bring justice to the world: All Might, Nighteye, Endeavor, Best Jeanist...he wanted to be just like them.

And so he set his sights on going to the best hero school in Japan: UA High School.

The most prestigious hero school in all of Japan, hell arguably in the whole world. And Itsuki wanted to go there...

But dreams and reality don't always match up as he has come to learn.

" I'm sorry Itsuki but I don't think you would be a good fit for UA's Hero Course " His guidance counsellor, Genka Kunahito said with a sympathetic expression on her face.

" B-But why not ? " Itsuki said, hating how pathetically desperate his voice must have sounded.

" Your grades are pretty much perfect, you're physically active, its just-" Genka trailed off, but Itsuki knew what she was trying to say.

His ability was too weak. He knew that from the start. But he had hoped- or perhaps had been foolish and naive enough to believe that UA would be able to look past that and give him a chance. To give him the opportunity show them what he was really made of.

" But I can fight ! I can..." Itsuki rambled off, what could he do really with his ability ?

His Minor Aim Correction made him more accurate as long as he had a clear line of sight, that was true...but the pathetic simplicity of it and lack of versatility made it so weak that he might as well have been quirkless from the start. How can he compare to people who can create Barriers to protect others ? Inhuman speed to catch up and take down enemies ? Even people with accuracy quirks like his were leagues better than him, where they could hit a target from literal miles away without breaking a sweat.

What can he do really ?

" Itsuki...the UA entrance exam for the hero course is extremely difficult. I don't mean they are just going to make you vault over obstacles, they will make you fight automated robots and I don't think your ability will be much help in that situation. UA is very strict about their admissions as you know..." Genka said in a gentle tone, Itsuki could tell that she was trying her hardest to let him down gently.

Though he would have preferred if she had just been straight with him from the start and just told him the brutal truth of it all: That he had absolutely no chance of becoming a hero.

" You can try applying to other hero schools..." Genka said in an attempt to make him feel better, but it just made it worse.

Even other hero schools would expect their students to have somewhat of a versatile and powerful quirk. While some others might not be as strict as UA about their admission, they still held a certain standard for students. Any hero school worth going to had standards for their students.

Standards he couldn't reach. No matter how hard he tried.

" No I...think I understand Miss Kunahito..." Itsuki bowed his head, pressing his fingers to his temple to try to process all of this.

Genka looked at him gently, trying to bring the mood up " Listen Itsuki, I think you're a good kid and an even brighter student. You may not be able to be a licensed hero, but with your grades and family connections, you can do whatever you want. You can still help people by going into other professions like business, law, medicine or more ! You have a whole slew of options ahead of you "

Itsuki thought about it for a moment. He knew the truth in Genka's words. He was a straight-A student, his family was incredibly well off, he could probably get into whatever college he wanted, do whatever course he wanted, get virtually any job he wanted and live a long, happy successful life where he could help people in a different way...

But is that really what he wanted out of life ? To settle for some 'plan B job' that he can just barely tolerate ? Droning on the rest of his days with that aching feeling in his heart that he wasn't able to do what he wanted to do and instead just 'settled' ? Because the one thing he truly wanted to do was out of reach. Was he just being a spoiled entitled brat then ? He was well-off than most people, perhaps this was just the world's way of balancing things out by taking away his dream.

" Take some time to figure out and don't stress about it too much, you still have your whole life ahead of you..." Genka said kindly " Hang in there Itsuki..."

"...Thank you miss Kunahito " Itsuki bowed respectfully before leaving the room.

Itsuki spent the next day or so wholed up in his room, just walking and thinking, walking and thinking, walking and thinking-

He was certain he was going to go insane spending time in his room, pretty much subjecting himself to this isolation. The plasma TV in his room was on, acting as white noise to his mental distress.

He couldn't go to UA. His dream school...or really any other hero school that would have allowed him to become a fully licensed hero. He would never become one of those shining examples of herodom.

Sure, he can go to the UA tryouts and try his heart out to get in but...some part of already knew that he had no real chance. Not as he was now. He would just be humiliated at getting the crap beaten out of him by a bunch of robots, probably not even coming close to getting into the Hero Course. Only the best students...or rather the students with the best quirks get in.

Itsuki felt so filled with anger, hate and malevolence. Towards who, he didn't quite know. Maybe towards all the lucky bastards who were born with a powerful and useful quirk, that can apply it in ways that can help people on the field. Perhaps it was towards himself

Without a second thought, he grabbed his bag and threw it against the wall. Briefly feeling lucky that the sounds from the TV likely blocked any of the butlers or maids from overhearing him having a mental breakdown in his room. He barely held back the urge to scream in anger, not wanting to sound like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum in his room.

He sat back down on the bed as he steadied his breath, trying to calm down, covering his face with his hands as he tried to avoid crying. He didn't want to feel more pathetic than he already did.

Maybe...his guidance counselor was right. Maybe it was time to throw in the towel and settle for something else. His family was stupid rich anyway, his parents owned a whole damn conglomerate that had business deals all over the world. They even supplied hero support items to UA high school. He can take over after them and use his wealth to spread it to the people of the world, maybe doing more good than the actual heroes. Maybe that would be enough for him, just maybe he could be satisfied with just that...

That was what he told himself, to perhaps comfort himself after having his dreams shattered in front of his eyes. But he still felt hollow on the inside.

At that moment, he heard the familiar 'breaking news' coming from his TV and he turned his head to see a familiar face on TV.

All Might. His number 1 hero and inspiration was on the news, talking to a reporter.

" So All Might how does it feel after being the top hero in Japan for so long ? " The reporter asked.

All Might laughed heroically " Well, I must say that I am flattered that I am still ranked so high, to be honest I expected to have fallen a few points these last few years but its good to know that I still have many who support me !"

" What would you want to say to all those people who want to follow in your footsteps ?"

" Well, I would just like to say to all the young boys and girls who want to be heroes is this..." All Might flexed out his muscles in an almost comedic way " Work hard ! And stay in school ! Anybody can be a hero !"

Itsuki felt his body stiffen at that, turning off the TV because he didn't want to listen anymore.

Anybody can be a hero...

Those were the words that echoed inside his head, those were the words that once comforted Itsuki, made him believe he might actually have a chance, that he could have been someone who people looked up to, but he knew the truth now.

" That's a lie..." Itsuki said almost without emotion.

All Might can say such things because he was born with a powerful quirk, even heroes who were lower on the totem pole could use their quirk in some way that allowed them to be useful. How can somebody with a much shittier version of most Aiming quirks be a hero ?

It wasn't fair...it wasn't fair at all...

He felt his mind flood with dark thoughts on what to do now, feeling anger and hate in his heart as he despaired over his shattered dreams. He spent what was probably a few minutes but felt like hours until an idea came to mind.

An exceedingly stupid idea by most people, but still an idea.

Fine then...if he couldn't be a proper hero, than he would settle for the next best thing.

A vigilante then.

If the world was so damn unfair, than Itsuki would make it fair.

Come hell or high water.

Itsuki felt his breath hitch in his throat as he eyed his very first target for tonight, covered by the darkness of the ally he stood in which gave him a good enough view of what he was planning to do tonight. It took almost two weeks to find a proper target, but at long last he found it. A warehouse by the docks that was used as a hideout by a gang that dealt in illegal contraband, he just needed to take them down quietly and then he could call the cops.

He adjusted the straps of defensive vest he was wearing and utility belt. Being the son of one of the top companies that create hero support items meant that he virtually had exclusive access to some of their devices. Some basic tools like a grappling gun, a defensive vest, utility belt and some smoke pellets. He was lucky that Michael from R&D liked him enough to give them to him no questions asked.

When he takes over the company, getting his hands on hero equipment should be a lot easier.

Itsuki took a deep breath as his heart rate accelerated from what he was about to do- What he was doing was totally illegal and extremely stupid. But he had come too damn far to back out now. He had too much damn pride to go home and wallow in his self-pity for the rest of the night.

The young vigilante pulled his hood up and put on the balaclava to cover his face.

Now or never.

He had spent the last half hour watching the warehouse, seeing people come in and out. So far there didn't seem to be any guards on watch. Now he just needed a way into the warehouse so that he could take down these bastards.

He circled the warehouse and saw an open window, pulling out his grappling gun and shooting it up to the window, steadying himself as he is propelled upwards and grabbed onto the window ledge. He feels his arms strain a little from hanging on, but he pushes through it as he peeks into an office that was fortunately empty. Pulling himself through the window, he as quiet as a mouse let his feet touched the ground.

Breaking in. Successful. Now to find out where these douchebags are.

He exited the office and found himself on what seemed to the second floor that led to a catwalk that gave a great view down below. Itsuki crouched down as he moved on the catwalk, as he heard voices coming from below the catwalk just below him. Peering over the edge, Itsuki could see 10 criminals off-loading crates and talking, is this a drug deal ? Looks like he arrived in the knick of time.

" So these things are the good stuff right ? Not some chinese copy shit?"

" Yes sir, these are some high-quality chemicals and firearms you requested. They sure as hell weren't easy to get past customs I tell you " One of the men said with a smirk " Now our payment ?"

" Half first. You get the rest when you deliver the rest of the chemicals and guns "

This wasn't all of it ? Then when was the rest-

" Hey ! Who the fuck are you !?"

Itsuki felt his heart-rate jump up a 100 paces as he turned his head to see a guard having walked up to the stairs onto the catwalk and spotted his sorry ass.

He didn't have time to think as he immediately dropped a smoke pellet down onto the scumbags below to throw them off, hearing their cries of surprise and curses. Itsuki turned to the guard who spotted him and saw a pistol in a holster.

" Shit !"

Itsuki cursed as the man pulled the gun out, the distance between them too far for Itsuki to go for a melee attack with his electric baton. Without a second thought, he shot his grapple gun into catwalk and jumped over it down below.

Not sure he would call this an improvement but he was thinking on the fly. As he felt the pull of the grapple on his belt, he used that momentum to swing down...right into the oncoming path of a crook who was too busy choking on smoke to avoid him.

Itsuki pulled his boot back and slammed it right into his jaw, knocking out a few teeth and sending him spiraling to the ground screaming curses as Itsuki landed and detached the grapple.

For a brief moment, Itsuki felt proud that he managed to do some damage to these assholes but then quickly remembered the situation he was in.

He turned his head to see the smoke dissipating and all the scumbags eyes turning to him.

" Get this son of a bitch !" The leader screamed out.

Itsuki felt his mind move faster, perhaps as a response to the shitty situation he had found himself in. Some of them had pulled out guns from the crates while others seemed to activate their abilities, which likely outclassed his. But he didn't have time to feel fear, now was the time to think.

" Kill him !" They pointed his guns at him and pulled the trigger.

He quickly took cover behind a metal pillar as they opened fire, gunshots ringing through the warehouse and echoing in his head. The world was suddenly so fucking loud that he could barely think-

But he had to think. Thinking was the only way his sorry ass was going to get out of this alive.

Itsuki considered his options- he only had a few smoke pellets so he had to make them count, his only methods of attacking were his electric baton and these assholes were packing firearms. He needed to break up the tide of bullets for even just a moment so he can start laying out these assholes !

He reached into his utility belt and pulled out a smoke pellet, waiting for the gunfire to slow down before throwing it at them

Without a second thought he ran back out of his cover and straight at the nearest scumbag, his electric baton already out and crackling with electricity. He swung the baton into the face of the man and it connected ! He screamed in pain as electricity and blunt force hit him.

" Stupid fucking kid !"

Ituski turned his head just in time to barely dodge an attack, jumping backwards to avoid a punch that impacted the ground instead. Itsuki saw that the man's arms had turned into stone, his quirk most likely.

" Holy shit ! " He barely had time to dodge the next attack which came in form of flames almost slashed his head off, the woman wielding some kind of flaming claws that fortunately didn't cut him...but they did catch his mask on fire.

" Shit, shit shit !" Itsuki cursed as he instinctively threw the mask away, revealing his face.

His hesitation and panic made him an easy target, as he felt a sharp pain impact his bottom left shoulder...and a gunshot ringing out.

" Fuck !" Itsuki cursed as he gripped his shoulder and stumbling back trying to catch his balance. Itsuki could see a hole in his defensive vest. Looking up he quickly spotted the guard from before had shot him with his gun.

Itsuki had just been shot. He didn't feel any bleeding which meant it likely hit a plate and stopped the bullet from tearing through... but it hurt like fucking hell !

His mind tried to ignore the pain as the woman with flame claws tried to slice and dice him again, only for him to barely dodge, trying to parry her away with his electric baton. He jumped out of the way as the stone arms guy tried to hit him square in the face and likely take a few teeth, he managed to get another swing of his baton in the face of the stonie guy, but it did little in the way of permanent damage.

What he did not expect was for a third man to run straight up to him and punch him square in the chest, sending him flying into the wall and making his torso erupt in agonising pain.

"...Ow..." Itsuki muttered as he was pretty sure he had broken a rib or two.

When he looked up again, he was surrounded...a man pointed a pistol at him while stone hands guy and flame claws bitch stood off to the side.

Fuck.

" Would you look at this shit...this asshole is just a kid..." The criminal laughed upon seeing his face and it grated his ears " Guess you really should have stayed in school instead of playing hero, huh ?"

Itsuki said nothing. He wasn't going to beg for his life, he wouldn't give these scumbags the satisfaction.

" Quick dicking around. Just kill him and get rid him, he could have called the cops before he came here and I don't want to take that risk " The leader stated coldly.

" Fine. But it hardly seems fair for all the trouble he caused " The criminal cocked his pistol and aimed it at him " Say goodnight 'hero'..."

At that moment, Itsuki saw his life flash before his eye- Was this really it ? Killed in some abandoned warehouse in the middle of wherever the fuck, murdered by some nameless scumbags. Not even being killed by a true villain...

Is this really how it ends ?

His momentary existentialism thoughts were interrupted...when the face of the man who was pointing his gun at him, exploded in blood...as a projectile went clean through his head and impacted the wall next to Itsuki.

What ?

" What the fuck ?!" The flame claws woman screamed, before two more gunshots ran out. Followed by flame claws bitch and stone hands guy falling to the ground, blood leaking from holes in their heads.

Itsuki turned his head at the bullet that almost hit his head...only to see that it wasn't a bullet.

Hair ? What the fuc-

His thoughts were interrupted by the screams of the criminals who were in shock as the man who shot Itsuki in the shoulder was thrown from the catwalk with a knife imbedded in his chest.

Itsuki looked up at the catwalk and saw a figure standing at the top, armed with some kind of rifle.

A hero ?! No, wait another vigilante like me maybe ?

Itsuki didn't have time to ponder or think about his good fortune as the figure turned her attention to the remaining criminals-

" Shoot her ! Shoot her now !" The leader screamed in shock and terror as the figure opened fire again.

Landing three clean headshots on the criminals before they could return fire.

7 down four to go.

Itsuki wasn't content to sit on the sidelines and just watch. Without thinking Itsuki quickly grabbed the pistol out of the dead man's hand. Having no experience with firearms, he likely was handling it like an ameteur but it was better than nothing.

The gun felt cold in his hands, and it was a lot heavier than he was expecting but if he wanted to be part of this fight than he had to do something while the figure was pinned down.

Itsuki summoned what little strength he had left and pulled himself up and flanked the enemy, aiming his pistol at the remaining criminals...and opening fire.

The gunshots and recoil of the gun hit much harder than he expected and he ended up stumbling back a bit

The bullet didn't hit any of the gang members, not that it was supposed to since it was meant to get their attention and it did as they turned their sights to him.

And they also pointed their guns at him.

" What the-! You little shi-" The criminal couldn't even finish his sentence as the figure shot him clean through the side of the head.

The figure leaped down and landed on one of the criminals, who couldn't even scream before they had their throat slit. It was at that moment that Itsuki could see that the figure wasn't holding a rifle-their arm was a rifle ! And that the figure was a woman too !

He didn't have much time to ponder on it as the remaining two criminals looked terrified and ready to retreat.

" You bitch ! You'll pay for that !" They raised their guns to shoot, only to realize that they were empty.

The leader was reloading while the last lackey tried charging the woman. It did not end well.

The lackey's arm turned into a blade and tried slashing at the woman, who only dodged and sidestepped the attack. Before going for the knees and knocking the lackey to the ground, before stabbing a blade through his throat.

The leader had finally reloaded and pointed his gun at the woman.

At that moment, Itsuki didn't have time to think- he couldn't think.

All he could do was act.

He held up his pistol and took aim at the criminal's head...his ability activating and making his aim much better.

And pulled the trigger.

So many things happened at once.

The gun went off. The bullet hit the man in the back of the head. Itsuki fell back on his ass from the recoil of the gun.

And like that it was over.

Itsuki took a deep breath as he approached the woman, about to thank her when he felt a sharp pain in his sides reminding him of his injuries.

" I needed that dealer alive..." The woman said, her voice low and hard to discern what emotions were in it.

Itsuki looked up for a moment and he felt himself shocked as he recognized the face of the woman who had saved him.

" L-Lady Nagant ? " Itsuki sputtered in shock.

Lady Nagant was a highly reputable hero, one that had an amazing quirk that allowed her to function as a long-distance attacker from 3 kilometers. She is considered the best sniper in the entire country

Why the hell was she here ? And why did she kill these guys ? Technically speaking, heroes were allowed to use lethal force if there is no other option...but she went straight for the kill.

" What are you doing here ? " Itsuki found himself asking without careful consideration.

Lady Nagant looked at him for a moment before turning her gaze.

" I was sent here to intercept a shipment from these assholes. This guy-" Nagant pointed at one of the dead criminals " Was believed to be the middleman for a much larger organization. For what he wanted these weapons and chemicals, we don't know and now we'll never know..."

Itsuki felt briefly bad for disrupting Lady Nagant's investigation until she turned her gaze to him.

" My turn: What the hell is a kid like you doing all the way out here ?" Lady Nagant asked and her piercing eyes told him there was no point in lying.

"...I wanted to be a hero " Itsuki said quietly.

" There are way better ways to become a hero. Why go vigilante ?" Lady Nagant responded curtly.

" My quirk is too weak to get me into any hero schools, so if I wanted to be anything close to that, this was the best I was going to get..." Itsuki said with a hollow chuckle.

Lady Nagant was silent for a moment before continuing " What's your quirk ? "

" Minor Aim Correction. I can hit anything as long as I have a clear line of sight...its nothing really flashy..."

" Have you ever tried training it ?"

" With like bows and stuff...but never with guns or anything like that " Itsuki answered weakly, though some part of him knew where this conversation was heading and he needed to get it over with.

" Are you going to arrest me ? " Itsuki asked already imagining what would happen.

He might get a light sentence since he was a minor and this was a first time offense...but he had just murdered a man. Albeit in arguable self defense of another person and that complicated things especially. The judge may attempt to move for charging him with 3rd degree murder and he could get at least a few decades of prison at the minimum.

Lady Nagant didn't answer him right away, instead finding the ground more interesting.

" You know, officially I'm not supposed to be here...and I'm not supposed to leave witnesses either..." Lady Nagant said and Itsuki felt his heart stop.

What ?

Then his brain caught up and it made perfect sense- Why she had no hesitation ending the lives of these scumbags and would likely have no issue ending his own.

Itsuki subtly held the gun behind his back, readying to aim...

"- But since we're the only two here and you're an unknown...just leave " Lady Nagant continued much to Itsuki's surprise, her voice almost sounding sad" Go home kid..."

That was it ? He was just supposed to go home and quit ? After everything that had just transpired in the last hour, all the build up and anticipation...just to end in him giving up on his first night ? After he had just murdered a man ? He was just supposed to go home and forget all this ever happened ?

Fuck. That.

" Kid ?" Lady Nagant said again to get his attention due to his silence.

Itsuki didn't reply to her, instead walking to the body of the leader Nagant talked about and searched his body, looking for one item in particular.

" What are you-"

Itsuki didn't listen to her as he found what he was looking for. The leader's smartphone. People's these days just couldn't live without phones, so its likely this will give them a lead. Itsuki carelessly held up the dead man's fingers to the scanner of the phone to unlock it.

" Thanks asshole..." Itsuki said as he scrolled through the phone's messages and contacts. Lady Nagant watched him with mild interest.

" There's a lot chatter on here about meeting up again at another safehouse...I think this is an area code " Itsuki said holding up the phone for Lady Nagant to see.

" Huh, impressive work kid..." Nagant said, her face showing that she was impressed.

Lady Nagant's expression turned to one of thought as she looked deep into his eyes and thought to herself.

" You know, the responsible thing would be for me to tell you to go home and never try this stupid thing again...but I see that look in your eyes. You're going to do this again no matter what, right ? "

Yes.

" Then you might as well do it the right way..." Lady Nagant finished.

" I'm going to give you choice...you can go on your way to try and strike out on your own, until a villain gets a lucky shot on you and you bleed out to death in the streets..." Lady Nagant held out her hand to him " Or you can take my hand and I can show you how to actually make a change in this stupid world..."

Itsuki did think about it, this was the opportunity of a lifetime. Being trained by something who specialized in long range combat was like a dream come true.

It took him all of 30 seconds to decide what he wanted. He already knew.

He took Lady Nagant's hand and lifted himself up.

" What's your name kid ?" Lady Nagant asked him.

" Itsuki Kawasumi...but call me Nightstalker..."

" Well then Nightstalker, come on, let's get you fixed up first and then we can talk about your training..." Lady Nagant said as she helped him exit the building.

And the rest was history.

Gotta be honest, I was actually planning on including a short scene at the end of this chapter where Itsuki met Idol Rabier but I decided to cut it out since I didn't think it would have flowed well with the main purpose of this chapter, which was meant to showcase Itsuki's backstory and how he became who he is today in the main story.

I gotta say, I did love seeing people theorize on Itsuki's backstory and how he is able to kill people so easily without any remorse or hesitation. Hope this interlude answers some of those questions !

I remember some people theorizing that Itsuki was trained by the Hero Killer Stain, but I figured Lady Nagant made the most sense here, since I can't see Itsuki getting pointers from a guy who's entire rep is that he kills other heroes. And considering Lady Nagant's whole backstory of being an assassin for the Hero Commission and her whole sniper motif...she was the only logical choice.

Itsuki backstory is essentially a flipped backstory of Deku's whole shtick in a lot of ways. But instead of being quirkless, and getting extreme plot contriving lucky and have a powerful quirk practically handed to him on a silver platter by his number 1 hero, Itsuki's quirk is so weak he might as well be quirkless, and there's no one there to bail him out by giving him a free ticket to being a hero just because he has the heart of a true hero or some other Shounen manga bullfuckery. He ends up going outside of the law and gets beaten to hell, only gets a reluctant apprenticeship from someone after he shown that he has something his 'mentor' could use.

So yeah, hope this chapter helps put Itsuki's character into a bit more perspective.

But anyway like I said at the beginning of the chapter, this is what I would like to call a Memory Interlude. One that focuses totally on exploring a character's backstory and better fleshing them out, without focusing too much on the main plot of the story now. Would you like to see more of them ? Let me know in the reviews.

Now let's answer some reviews, shall we ?

To Caspian123:

I know, I already answered this in a PM to you, but this answer is more for everyone. Yes, 'Percy the Black' is the same Percival Fredrickstein von Mussel Klossowski De Rollo III, also known as ' No Mercy Percy' and yes, Azula from ATLA as well. Those two would be perfect fit for Agents.

To EXCUBITORE:

Yeah, you're definitely right for hoping Outsider interacts more with his Agents. For such an important character, he doesn't really appear that often in this story. Hopefully I can rectify that later in this arc.

With that said, I will see you all in the next one.

Angel Out.