Ashen Hero: Smoke

"Hey, Harry!" Sirius shouted, arms laden down with shopping and escorting three women.

Harry jerked his head, so fast, that his neck cracked, snapped and popped from the quick reaction. "Jiro, Shinso and Midoriya…stay here, in fact, call the police." He finally noticed his Godfather "Sirius! Call the police, ambulance…I think I've found a crime scene."

Sirius paused and turned to his companions "Ladies, I'm sorry to cut this lovely meeting short but I need to prevent my Godson from getting into trouble with the authorities."

Mitsuki snorted "Does your Godson actually listen to you?"

"For the most part, aside from when 'doing the right thing' surfaces. He can be rather bullheaded when it comes to that and if he doesn't think the required authorities do not arrive in an appropriate amount of time he takes it into his own hands."

"Let us help…we can't do much but we can work out how seriously people will take this call." With that, the Blonde headed over with a nervous Inko and a curious Mika.

Jiro turned "Mother! I wasn't…"

Mika smiled "You were too far up in your own head about an interesting young gentleman." Mika noticed the shoes and took in her daughter's companions and the same shoes Midoriya was wearing. Midoriya looked like he was going to die from cardiac arrest.

Mika gulped, she knew several quirkless people when she was growing up. Of those twelve that she knew, only five were still alive; the five who were alive worked with her and her husband in their recording studio as constant session musicians and sound engineers. Mika always felt awful, she'd managed to save five out of twelve but the seven she couldn't haunt her. "Harry-san, you shouldn't investigate."

"I shouldn't? I'm training to be a hero, the oldest rule of heroics; sticking your nose in other people's business. Besides we've called it in, which means I can investigate." With that, Harry moved into the alleyway. The shoes were still attached to their owners' feet, what he hadn't seen was the slight rising and falling of a few bags.

Harry reached out, as he moved the bags a thin arm lashed out catching him in the chest. He rocked backwards as a young girl jerked out of the garbage; she was in a right mess, Harry could immediately tell that she was suffering from starvation. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, are you okay?"

"Leave me alone. I deserve this." She replied bitterly

Harry's eyes narrowed "Now why would I leave you alone? What have you done? To deserve this? Shouldn't you be in school?"

She laughed bitterly "And be tormented even more? I'm not suicidal, although, that is a tempting thought."

This was bad. "Okay, now there are several ways we can let this play out, if you're willing to listen that is." Harry began but the girl beat him to the punch.

"What's your stance on the Quirkless?"

Harry turned white "If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not take revenge?"

"Shakespeare, right? Kami that's murder to study in school…wait, you're a Gaijin! A foreigner, you're from Britain."

Harry stood straight and performed a textbook courtly bow. Remus and Sirius had briefed him that he was a noble, Duke and a Marquis to be specific. "That I am. Although I'd rather be a hero than a Noble, anyway the nom de guerre is Smoke."

"Well then Smoke, why do you think a Quirkless Person like me should remain alive?"

"Because everyone who tells you that you're worthless, stupid and contaminating the gene pool are scum…Quite a few of my friends in Britain are either quirkless or have quirks that won't give them a chance to make it as a hero unless they're sidekicks…I want to be a Hero that the down and outs know they have one in their corner."

By now Death Arms had appeared on the scene as Harry coaxed the girl out of the alleyway. Death Arms turned to Mika "You called me because of a quirkless girl?"

Said girl paled and the teens looked at Death Arms with absolute horror. Then the temperature rose, Death Arms smelt the burning as he turned his jaw dropped. Coming out of the alleyway was the girl he'd been brought to either aid or deliver to the mortuary accompanied by what looked like a walking ash cloud. Smoke and flames were lapping at the teens' skin, which was turning grey "Jiro, Midoriya…whose the walking corpse?"

Death Arms bristled "A walking corpse…just who do you…"

"Someone who seems to be unable to go anywhere without having to clean the abysmal failures of an adult. As a Pro Hero, you disgust me." Harry snarled, his face fully obscured by the smoke. The words were forming into kanji as he spoke "It turns out you were not needed, after all, considering you're less than stellar attitude towards Civilians quirkless or not, why should I listen to you?"

Death Arms liked to think he was good at his job. Right now there was a kid who was disobeying the laws of the land. "Okay kid, cease using your quirk or be arrested for illegal quirk usage."

Everyone was unaware that Bakugo Mitsuki, Midoriya Inko and Sirius were recording the scenario as it unfolded. "And if I refuse? Because right now this is completely out of my control."

"Really?"

"Do you know how fucking angry I have to be to lose utter control of my quirk? Rhetorical question, three guesses…" Harry smirked as Death Arms charged forwards. He deftly handled the teen over to Midoriya as Death Arms rushed him, and in a swift move that appeared to be purely accidental, effortlessly tripped Death Arms and sent him sprawling on the pavement. With effort, Harry pulled his quirk under control not before leaving a burn on the Punching Heroes' arms "That'll heal…in a bit. Now run along and tell the police that everything is under control."

Death Arms groaned but quickly acquiesced, he had no choice. He knew he was in the wrong, he blamed this whole situation on himself; he'd been raised in a household where the Quirkless had been looked down on, coupled with the fact that he'd never met anyone who was Quirkless…he slowly got to his feet, as he looked around the teens and the adults were gone.

By now a Patrol Car had finally arrived "Death Arms! What's the situation?"

"I found what I thought was a body, turned out they were alive. They were wearing these bright red shoes…I…didn't react quick enough when she ran off. I think she had brown and blue hair and was wearing a non-descript middle school uniform…I followed her footpath for a bit and found several teens running after her. Two of the chasing teens had purple hair, one had headphone cables from her ears…"

"Right and the other purple-haired kid and the two unidentified ones?"

"Black hair and pale skin for the first teen and the other was Midoirya Izuku…I've had dealings with him before."

Harry ducked down another alleyway with the adults and teens following him "Right…this is going to look extremely dodgy. I've beaten up a third-rate hero, we've absconded with a girl who happens to be quirkless…"

"Do you have a plan? My name isn't "girl!" It's Sato Himari. Smoke, do you have a plan? Or even a concept of a plan?"

Harry grinned "Right, Shinso and Jiro along with Midoriya and my Godfather, Jiro's Mother and Midoriya's are going to head to Izuku's apartment nonchalantly. You all bumped into one another when you got off the train. As for us Sato, we're going to teleport to my apartment where there's hot food and a shower. Then I'm going to need to ask some pointed questions and get some answers and from there…"

Mika cut in "Kick in some doors and make human red paint?"

"I'm not going to confirm or deny such potential actions…besides it's not going to be me. When this works, it will double as both a vigilante attack and cause some mass hysteria."

"What do you need?"

"Some green hair dye, long-lasting stuff and Sirius, I need the Purple and Green suit."

Sirius paled "You do remember the last time you used this outfit in your Third Year, you got yourself put in the hospital by Hermione."

Harry chuckled "Totally…worth the money for the dare."

Kyoka paled "You're going to run around dressed as THE JOKER! As in one of THE WORST, if not THE WORST OF THE WORST Villains of all time?"

Harry merely grinned "In Britain, this is known as black humour…besides it's not the first time I've done this. I've told you about the Ghostface debacle and this one…in fact, it reminds me to tell you about the Death in the Family and Battle for the Cowl stunts. That was fun, the detentions were worth it."

Everyone stared at him "Are you insane?" Mika asked, eyebrows raised.

"Have I given any indication that I'm not? Now…let's get moving." With that Harry grabbed Sato they vanished in a plume of smoke to rematerialise back in Harry's hallway. "Go ahead shower is straight ahead, you'll find some clothing; granted in my size in one of the cabinets."

Himari followed Smoke's instructions and found herself in a pristine shower, she wasn't sure what she was expecting, but considering Smoke evidently lived alone it was surprising that there was very little sign of what she would call 'teenage slobbery'. She shrugged, for better or worse, she was in a rather safe place; although the thoughts of selling out her parents to him felt oh so satisfying.

She finished in the bathroom and pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, both of which engulfed her. As she pattered back down the hallway, she heard Smoke clattering around the kitchen. To her surprise she saw him pulling out minced beef amongst other bits "That was quick."

"Feels weird, being out on the streets for 48hours and then being brought to a home…it's odd; plus I have the very distinct feeling that my staying here is dependent on an unseen set of requests."

"You're good. The unforeseen requests as you put it, is I want information so I can exact some sweet, sweet, justice on those who wronged you."

Sora locked eyes with Smoke "I give you information on my abusers, you sort them out and I get to remain here."

"More or less…I am playing a lot of this by ear…so Sora Himawari, do you take my offer?"

Sora stopped, before nodding. The smell of food beginning to cook permeated the house; she was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell going. She looked through the peephole before opening it slightly allowing the teens and Sirius in. Smoke's Guardian looked rather shaken "Harry, are you sure you want to do this? This is nuts! If you get caught then it's going to be hard for me to defend you…"

"Then I'll quote the quirkless defence laws that are still valid…Any hero who didn't intervene in a persons moment of need is no hero, you're merely a villain, one created by the society they are sworn to protect…Well it sucks for everyone if I'm the hero they've got to protect them."

Sirius chuckled "You've got your mother's exact temperament when it comes to heroics. Your father was pretty much 'this case, this villain' and no other. Your mother was more about 'To Villains, this may concern'."

Harry shrugged "Thanks, for that, please Sirius, I'm trying to be my own person; as much as I appreciate you comparing me to my parents…I…"

Sirius nodded "I understand, I think, you don't wish to be compared to people who are deceased and you never had the privilege to know. For this Joker stunt, just know, I'm extremely proud of you, righteous retribution is a nebulous thing but this is…for the right reasons."

It turned out the Himewari family didn't live that far from where Harry lived, Harry decked out as the Joker, found himself grinning madly as he eavesdropped on the collective of families. In his pocket of his trousers, and in his ear were a set of audio recordings all of which were streaming live to his apartment. "Mr. J, this is control, you're good to go. Your vocal detection software counts eight adults minimum and four teens."

"Anything on their quirks? Not that knowing quirks really matters when Lady Crow and Lady Bar start voicing their displeasure." Harry replied before he knocked on the door. He closed his eyes, counted to ten, opened them. No longer were they emerald green and full of laughter; they were dark green and glittered with malice, he wasn't Smoke or Harry Potter, He was the Prince of Crown, the Clown of Hate, the Ace of Knaves and he was here to play.