Slinger was impressed, the boy in front of him was fast enough to not only avoid his bullet, but to completely deflect it with a casual swipe as he charged. His bat would've probably sent him through a wall if he hadn't jumped back. Two crates shattering in his place instead. "He's Triad scum." Slinger said to the boy as he fired off three more shots, each one curving towards one of the boy's limbs. But Metal Bat grabbed a nearby metal table and launched it at the man, the wrought iron denting under the force of the bullets before continuing on and forcing Slinger to dive away.
"I don't care about you fighting triads, I"ll fuck em up right alongside you." Metal bat called, leaning his bat against his shoulder as he casually walked through the warehouse, keeping an eye on the injured triad behind him, "but when you're in my town, you're not gonna be killing anyone else. Take that shit to Hokkaido."
"I'm thinking you an I could come to an accord." he called out as he reloaded the empty cylinders on his gun once more, peeking out from his cover to watch as the boy lazily strolled between the crates, "you and I seem to be on the same side, no reason to let a difference of opinion stop what could be a good partnership."
Metal Bat scoffed, "I don't' kill people and I don't compromise on that." he said blandly. "If you're gonna go around droppin' people then I want no part in it." suddenly, he kicked up an empty soda can and whacked it, the now crumpled disk of Aluminum shooting through the grouping of crates Slinger was hiding behind, forcing him to vault over and fire off two more shots at the teen, who swung and knocked both rounds off course; his bat came back up for another swing until Slinger held his hand up, letting his guns hang from his fingers by the trigger guards.
"I'm willing to discuss terms." he said, he needed local vigilante's if he wanted this branch burned.
The flashing lights of police cruisers had both tensing.
"Let's discuss this somewhere else?" Bat offered. Chambering his bat to the side.
"Yes, let's." he said, both took off as the doors burst open and police streamed in.
"FREEZE!" one shouted as they trained their guns on the two retreating vigilante's, "give yourself up Bad!"
"Bite me Nakamoto." he sneered, jumping from crate to crate towards the catwalk, Slinger helping him up as they took off towards a set of windows on the farside of the warehouse. Both flinching as shots pinged around them, "what the hell did you do that they're firing?" Slinger questioned.
"Probably has to do with all the bodies you've dropped." Bad snapped. His legs pumping harder as he leapt, crashing through the glass alongside Slinger. Both rolling to their feet in the alley and taking off.
"What's your beef with these Triads anyways?" Bad asked as they ran, diving down alleyways and slipping through abandoned buildings.
"Lets just say I have a score to settle and leave it at that for now." he said as they finally came to a stop. Both taking a few deep breaths to calm their racing hearts, "I can live with not killing grunts, but their boss. He's the only one I won't compromise on."
Bad stared at him for a few moments before slowly nodding, "I can live with that…for now." he huffed, standing up straight, "these Triad bastards have gotten bold in town lately. I was gonna drive 'em off tonight. Guess I don't have to do that anymore."
"They'll come back." Slinger droned as they both settled against the wall. Bunkering down to wait for the police presence to die down. "These triads are like cockroaches. Leave even a trace of their operations and they'll spring back up."
"That ain't my fight." Bad said, shaking his head, "I'll protect my home town from them, but I'm not about to go on a drug war crusade."
"Don't worry, I'll handle that." Slinger laughed, "and I'll try not to kill anyone if you Japanese vigilante's have a problem with it…you ever meet the Rabbit?"
Bad shook his head, glancing out the window as a cruiser slowly drove past,ducking his head as the floodlight on the car trailed over the window, "he's based in Shizuoka i'm pretty sure." he said, "does clean work, never met him though. What's your interest?"
"He's been hitting Triad spots as well." Slinger muttered, pulling a cigarette out and then pulling his bandana down. Letting the cigarette hang from his chapped lips but didn't move to light it just yet, "I wanna find out what he knows."
Bad nodded, "well, LIke i said, he's based in Shizuoka, sure you could find him if you go busting up triads like you did tonight, but i'd advise waiting, word on the street is Rabbit got savaged in that botched assassination attempt. He hasn't been seen in a few days."
"Guess that means I'll need to get lucky." he chuckled, "don't worry, I'm sure i'll find him, I doubt someone like him would get taken out that easily, or that quietly."
"Probably." Bad glanced out again, before looking at Slinger, "he's the reason I do this you know," he confided, knocking his bat against his boots, "I got kicked out of Ketsubetsu for my temper. They didn't like me roughing up some of those blue bloods they had attending there. Thought I was done until I saw that kid making moves and taking down criminals. Made me wonder why I was sitting at home feeling sorry for myself." he glanced out again, and then stood up. "Come on, the heat should be down enough for us to slip through."
Slinger followed, finally lighting his cigarette as they darted between alleys once more. "Why not just try another hero school?" Slinger asked as they went, "I'm sure any number of them would take you."
"Nah, following rules ain't my style." he scoffed, "and why should I need a license to help? If it's so important I'm sure all those 'well trained and licensed' heroes will catch me soon."
Slinger laughed. "That's the kind of attitude I can get behind." he said, "now, where can we hunker down for the night?"
WVWVW
Bakugo wouldn't leave him alone.
Not that he'd tried to attack him again, in fact he hadn't been physically hostile towards him since their spat a few days ago. But that didn't stop the glares and the silent following (stalking) that the blonde now did in the name of watching him.
"You'll slip up, and when you do you shitty deku-" The boy had quietly threatened ominously one day as they left school.
"I have no idea what you're talking about Bakugo." he said plainly, stopping at the curb just as Melissa came sliding in on her scooter, "I'm just a lowly lab assistant, trying to survive in this corporate world dominated by powerful women."
"And this powerful woman has three projects and an essay to write, so later blondie!" Melissa exclaimed as soon as Izuku sat down, taking off through the streets before the angry blonde could say anything. "He still trying to find proof?" she asked.
"Yep,and he's refusing to give me a moment of peace until he has it." Izuku groaned, practically slumping against her back as she made her way to the warehouse, "he followed me all the way to my apartment yesterday, only left because Mom tried to invite him in."
"Why would she do that?" Melissa wrinkled her nose in disgust, "I'd rather have a muddy pig in my house, at least the pig will have manners."
Izuku chuckled, "she and his mom are best friends, we used to be as well until he got his quirk and decided he was better than me."
Melissa shook her head in annoyance, "one of those huh?" she grumbled as they got closer to the warehouse, easily moving between traffic, "funny that his quirk didn't matter in the end when you dislocated both arms."
"I think that's the only reason he hasn't tried that again." Izuku muttered as they finally pulled into their hide away, Izuku jumped off, heading towards the bay where their current project still lay half finished, "If he wasn't being so annoying about it i'd say we could suit up tonight, but I'm paranoid he's gonna get a picture or something."
"Probably for the best." Melissa sighed, looking at her console, "Triad's still keeping quiet, and the hero's presence is still a bit elevated."
Izuku hummed in agreement as he looked over the carapace of the self-driving car that Melissa had begun construction on. It wasn't very big-only slightly larger than a common golf cart-but it was long enough that it could carry a prone Izuku, and the hydraulics in it allowed it to pick him up even if he were unconscious; and with an electric engine four times as powerful as the one in his bike, it would easily get him to safety long before any heroes or Triad hit men could track him down.
Melissa called it the Jack Rabbit, Izuku hated that his ill-fated name had become a brand and wanted to name it the honey badger out of spite. Melissa vetoed that suggestion.
It made him wonder who was really in charge of their superhero team.
His musings were interrupted as a familiar chime echoed from the computer, "you still have my twitter up?" Izuku asked, walking over as Melissa sat down and opened the app.
"It's secure, and you're actually pretty popular right now." she said, showing him his profile, Izuku groaned at the bio that read, "I'm more of a midwestern hare" "you had to pick my least favorite quote?" Izuku asked.
"It's one of the few quotes you have." she said with a shrug, "and who cares anyways? The public loves it! Look!" she clicked the messages tab and revealed dozens of unopened message requests, "Most of them are well wishes-that I am cataloging so you can read later-some requests to do podcasts and other such interview type things-I figured you wouldn't want to do that but I let them know if we even think of entertaining it then they'll have to guarantee anonymity-and a few are requests to look into things."
"Anything tangible?" Izuku asked a bit too eagerly.
"Not really," Melissa sighed, "a couple of them were involved in gang activity, but it was so low level I just forwarded it to the police with a note."
"Do I want to know what you put on the note?"
"Nothing bad." she promised. "I only let them know the source wanted to remain anonymous and that Cyber sends her regards."
Izuku laughed at the smug look the girl gave him, "I guess it's not too bad." Izuku sighed, sitting down next to her, "what's come in today?"
"Um, nothing much, again, well wishes and requests for podcasts. I'm wondering if we should-wait, what's this?"
Izuku's eyebrow raised as he saw a set of coordinates and a request for a team up,
Jade Rabbit,
You probably don't know me but my name is Ghost Spider. I'm a vigilante in Tokyo who's been tracking some leads on corporate espionage involving some big names and am finding myself in need of backup. I can't explain much, but they've got connections to your friends the triad from what I can tell.
If you decide to team up then we can meet up here to discuss things on saturday.
"who's ghost spider?" he wondered aloud.
"No idea, but the coordinates are pinging on an under construction High rise in downtown Tokyo," Melissa muttered, "not telling what kind of trap it is."
"Could be triad." Izuku admitted, "but it could also be another vigilante in need of help."
"It's up to you." Melissa said, "until then, we could head out tonight-"
'-not tonight," Izuku interrupted, "Bakugo's gonna suspect I'll go out tonight and will be looking for me."
"He's gonna be looking for you anyways." Melissa pointed out, "it's not like he knows where this place is."
"And if he figures it out?" Izuku asked, "if he somehow figures out how to follow the scooter and can watch the warehouse?"
"It's a risk we'll have to take." Melissa sighed, "if you want we can wait another few days, go back to it after meeting up with this 'ghost spider'."
"...I think that'll be the best option." Izuku said, "besides, we both still have homework for actual life we need to get done."
Melissa snorted, "fine, but then we work on the jack rabbit, have to make sure if you're in danger we can get you out fast."
"How it'll do that from atop a skyscraper is anyone's guess."
"Laugh it up now bunny boy," Melissa chuckled, "it'll do your taxes by the time i'm done with it!"
WVWVW
Inko Midoriya knew her son was up to something.
He'd been gone almost every evening for the past five months, the last two weeks he'd managed to come home at a decent hour; exhausted and pale and very distracted.
It worried her, she knew she wasn't always the most supportive when it came to what he wanted to do with his life; even after he'd found that bow and she'd given her tentative support for him to learn how to use it, she'd found it hard not to remind him not to get his hopes up, that he had an entire countries worth of students to contend with and he was…lacking.
Not that it would've done any good, she mused to herself, Izuku had gained a stubborn streak through the course of his training, and a competitive one at that.
She looked fondly at the trophy her son had won only a few months ago, coming in first overall during a state championship. He'd ridden that high for months and the gilded trophy sat in a place of honor by her husband's service awards.
But that was still overshadowed by her son's absence even after that championship. Some nights she found him returning well after two in the morning. Reassuring her that he'd lost track of time training and that it wouldn't happen again.
But it did happen again, and again, to the point that Inko would stay awake most nights until she heard him walk-and many times limping-in, usually after 1, sometimes after 2, just so she knew for certain he was okay.
She had burned to bring it up with him. To demand to know what he was doing and why it was taking so long for him to do it. But her nerves failed her every time for one-very simple-reason.
Her son was happy.
That wasn't to say he was depressed before all of this, she'd like to say her son was a well adjusted young man with a goal that kept him driven in everything he did. Just training kept him in high spirits most of the time.
But it was a heavy thing, a weighed happiness that seemed conditional, and it wasn't hard to see why that was; she knew Izuku was being bullied at school. Inko was more perceptive than Izuku gave her credit for and he-in turn- was a very bad liar. But any attempt on her end to try and find out who's parents she needed to yell at, Izuku would clam up. He'd refuse to admit that anything was wrong; even going so far as to tell her he'd never been happier even as he was treating the day's scrapes and bruises.
She thought things would continue like that until her baby went off to Highschool. But things had changed. Five months ago her son had come home with the largest smile she'd seen since he was five, and walking with a confidence she hadn't ever seen in her son. The light in his eyes alive once more with a fiery determination that stunned her.
she'd asked him what had gotten his spirits up. And all he'd said was that he'd found a new training regime and that he would definitely be ready for UA in two years. And she would be happy to leave it at that if it weren't for the late hours, the injuries he wasn't letting her see-he'd never stopped her from seeing an injury before, why start now?-and the distant look he'll sometimes get on the rare nights he doesn't stay out until the wee hours of the morning.
With a sigh she placed the final plate she'd been mindlessly drying for the last twenty minutes onto the rack with the others, staring into the now empty sink.
"Maybe I'm looking too far into it." Inko mumbled, wiping the excess water off the surface of the counter before wringing the towel out and hanging it on the edge of the sink, "Izuku's a good boy, he would never do anything bad." she shook her head, turning and marching towards the living room with determination, "I'm going to trust my son, and I'm going to watch tv!" she said with a bit of finality, flipping on the tv almost at the same time her phone started ringing, with a squeak of surprise she dropped the remote and pulled her phone, turning her back on the tv as it began to play a talk show, "hello?"
"Inko?" the surprised voice of her husband greeted her on the other end of the line, i'm surprised you're awake at this hour."
"Good morning to you too, Hisashi," Inko giggled quietly as she looked at the clock, 9:34, not as late as she usually stays up these days, but definitely late for what her husband remembers, "I'm waiting on Izuku to get home."
"He's not home yet?" he asked in worry, "shouldn't you be more worried?"
Inko's smile dipped a bit, but she forced herself to sound chipper, "oh, he's been staying out later these days, he's really putting his all into getting into UA."
"Ah, now I get it," Hisashi chuckled, his voice lightening a bit, "kids gonna go far with that mindset, but remind him rest is just as important; he doesn't need to burn himself out."
"Oh I know it," Inko chuckled, "luckily he still listens to his momma. Now, why are you calling? Did something happen?"
"Sorta, bossman said he needs some security help back home." he began, "I won't be in Shizuoka-i'll be up in Aomori-but i'll be able to head home at least a few weekends while i'm here."
Oh Hisashi, that's wonderful!" inko gushed, "you haven't been home in ages! I know Izuku will be so excited!"
"Try not to spoil the surprise," he said, she could practically hear the grin in his voice, "I wanna see his face when he walks through that door and sees me."
"I won't, when are you relocating?"
"Here in about a month, getting some things finalized here in the states…it'll be good to see you again koko…'
Inko felt her heart well up, "I know, I've missed you, Hisashi." she murmured.
"I'll make sure to set aside a day for just us." he told her confidently, "until then, you two stay safe, tell Broccoli kid that I'm proud of him."
"I will, I love you Hisashi, stay safe." she said, waiting a few moments until the line went dead before she hung up, smiling quietly to herself, maybe things will get better when Hisashi comes home.
"-still no sign of the Jade Rabbit."
Inko looked back to the TV, her eyes widening at a picture caught of a small figure jumping between two rooftops, hood hiding his eyes and bow pulled taut and ready to lose a weird looking arrow.
She'd heard of the jade rabbit, who hadn't? But she hadn't realized just how small he was.
"For those of you just tuning in; welcome to Hero Highlights, I am your host,Kodama Osamu, and the topic of tonight is the Jade Rabbit," the he declared as Inko settled into her seat, "a recent addition to the small vigilante scene, the Jade Rabbit is shrouded in mystery. He exploded onto the scene five months ago, his first night netted him an impressive haul, five muggings stopped, two robberies thwarted and an assault in progress that left the attacker reeling. And his scorecard only continued to get more impressive as he took to other prefectures and wards upon the back of his trusty bike." The picture changed to a video of the rabbit darting between traffic, passing by two heroes as he managed to stop a truck full of armed robbers before flying down the street. "With the veridian vigilante making a name for himself he took to larger marks and bigger prey, culminating into a spectacular showdown between himself and Triad hitman Double Down AKA Jeremy Tell that ended with Tell In chains and the triad routed. Since then the rabbit has gone to ground, many speculating that the rabbit was injured in the fight with the A-Class hit man. Could this mean a potential end to the Rabbit's rascally escapades? Well, here with us tonight is a scholar who has worked many years with the HPSC, he has a PHD in crime analysis and a specialist in vigilantism. Please welcome, Seta Iwao."
The crowd politely clapped as a man made of white granite walked out in a clean white suit, he offered a polite handshake to the host, "good evening mr. Iwao, how are you?"
"Doing very well, thank you." Iwao greeted, settling into his seat as the host leaned forward.
"Now Seta-can i call you Seta? Seta, vigilante's aren't anything new in this day and age; we've got a dozen of em meandering around from here to Akita, so what makes the Jade Rabbit special?"
"Well Osamu, the jade rabbit differs in the way he operates," he began, "many vigilante's tend to go the way of the underground hero, keeping to the shadows to limit the risk of being discovered and arrested; they want their names out of the paper, and the eyes of heroes looking at the villains and not a vigilante who may or may not have capture that person; The Jade Rabbit is special in the way he not only takes down criminals, but he does so publicly-proudly even, he's been caught on video multiple times at this point and even as a twitter account."
"-yes, therealjaderabbit, where he broadcasted a taunting message to a triad hitman." Osamu said, "Now, why would a vigilante want to be so public? I mean you'd think a public and known vigilante would be caught dead to rights by today's heroes."
"Many are." Seta admitted, "the lifespan of a vigilante's career is short, there are only a handful who last longer than a few months, and even fewer who can last past a year. I'm sure everyone has heard of Knuckleduster, who's still active in Naruhata due to a loophole in the laws."
"So how is the Rabbit staying ahead of the manhunt?" he asked, "surely we have the people with the right quirk?"
'Sadly this isn't a question of the right quirk." Setasaid, "with how fast he is-and the time in which he's active-the cops and heroes are hard pressed to keep up with him. And he's a lot more resourceful than anyone gave him credit for."
"Oh yes we all saw the video of him getting away from our number 8 hero Mirko, word on the street is she's vowed to be the one to bring him in."
"And I wish her luck in that." he said genuinely, "there is a team set up whose job it is to find him and detain him peacefully, but if the number 8 hero can do it first then by all means."
"And what about the rumors that the Jade Rabbit is an underage teen?"
Inko felt her heart skip, her eyes zeroing in on the new picture they put up, this one the hood was pushed back a bit, revealing a domino mask and freckles as he stood posed atop a roof, a flashlight spotlighting him against the bricks.
"I wish I could say different, but yes, from the testimonies of Double Down and two civilians who were on the scene of their fight, we can confirm that the Jade rabbit is underage."
The crowd went wild at the implications of an underage teen fighting and winning against A-class villains, "you're telling me, a kid who's old enough to join UA is out here matching heroes in terms of arrests?" Osamu asked excitedly.
"Yes," Seta said with a bit of hesitance, "it's one of the reasons it was so hard for them to catch him in his opening months, and it's embarrassing to say that confidence has carried him through the last few months. I don't know if he'll return-but if he does it'll be with experience few others his age have."
"And what would you say to him if you could talk to him now. "
"I'd tell him to retire while he's still in good health." Seta said, looking at the camera, his gray eyes seeming to pierce inko's soul, "you've done good work for one so young, but it's time to leave the job to the professionals, you can join them again when you're of age."
"Thank you very much for joining us Seta, we'll conclude this segment with the only video known of the fight between Double Down and the Jade Rabbit, given to us by amateur reporter Medea Ororos."
Inko turned the tv off and shook her head, the thought of such a young teen going out to fight crime was abhorrent to her, she didn't know what she would do if Izuku had ever done something like that.
Those freckles were familiar.
Inko shook her head furiously, "getting yourself worked up by wild theories won't do you any favors Inko." she muttered to herself as she stood up and padded to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea, it was crazy to think Izuku would be the Jade Rabbit. No matter how familiar the freckles were.
A few minutes later Izuku was home, clothes splotched with motor oil and covered in grime.
"What on earth happened to you?" she questioned as he meandered into the house, glancing at the clock that read 10:05
"Was helping a friend with her projects, one was a car of some sort." Izuku sighed, pulling some things out to make himself a sandwich, "sorry i'm coming home so late, i got distracted."
"It's alright sweetie." she hummed, then shot him a mischievous smile "so who was this 'friend' and why did she need your help?" She asked teasingly, causing her son to tilt his head in confusion.
"She's a friend." he said again, "and she asked me for help, of course i'd help her."
"And does 'she' have a name?"
"M-Melissa." he stuttered.
"And does Melissa typically need your help?" she prodded, her smile widening when her son seemed to realize what she was saying.
"S-she's hired me as an a-assistant of sorts." Izuku mumbled quietly, his cheeks blushing ever so slightly. "She's wanting to go into the support course, so i'm helping her with, you know, heavy lifting.
"Well I hope you're treating her like I taught you!" Inko said with faux sternness, "we can't have your girlfriend thinking I raised a brute!"
"Ew mom! Gross!" Izuku blanched in typical thirteen year old fashion, his nose wrinkling in overexaggerated disgust, "Melissa isn't my girlfriend! She's-she's Melissa!"
"And that means?" she prodded.
"I…well…I'm gonna go take a shower." he said quickly, leaving his sandwich on it's plate as he beat a hasty retreat, his mothers laughter following him.
Inko shook her head with a giggle, that's what was distracting him, a girl and her work. Nothing bad, or law breaking. Just typical thirteen year old things.
She had nothing to worry about.
WVWVW
Melissa yawned as she walked into Toshinori's apartment/her apartment. She knew Toshi was in Saitama on some business, so she had the whole place to herself; honestly she'd of stayed in her workshop if she hadn't ran out of clean clothes.
She looked around the nice two bedroom apartment. It's sleek modern design spotless thanks to the cleaning lady toshi had hired. A takeout bag sat on the otherwise pristine counter; a note pinned to it.
Hey kiddo, figured you'd be hungry so I ordered some takeout for you, your favorite.
Toshi,
Melissa smiled as she opened the bag and pulled out a double cheeseburger deluxe, a large order of curly fries following, with her mouth watering she walked towards the microwave, "thank you toshi." she cheered to herself as she began warming up the food. She turned around and hummed when she saw the light on the answering machine blink red. With a shrug she waltzed over and hit the button.
You have, one new message. The machine said and Melissa grabbed a pen and paper soshe could write down the message.
"Good evening Toshi, this is Naomasa, I was hoping I could talk to Melissa about that mugging she was apart of about six months back. We think it might have something to do with the Rabbit, if you could call me back-" Melissa immediately erased the message, her heart thundering in her chest, her mind running through everything she knew about Naomasa and his quirk.
I didn't see Izuku at all when he saved me, but will that matter now that I know he's the Jade Rabbit? Will his quirk buzz on a technicality? What if he finds my answers suspicious if I try to structure my answers to be non-answers? What if-her thoughts were interrupted as the microwave beeped, with half a mind she walked over and pulled the food out, grabbing a soda and some ketchup for her fries and sat down at the table.
Part of her wanted to ignore the call, leave it off until Toshinori gets another call so he can explain away his ancient answering machine as the reason for not receiving it.
But wouldn't it look suspicious that it had erased it on its' own? As far as she knew it didn't have any problems that would indicate it would do so; what if toshi was suspicious? She knew they couldn't handle All-Might, Izuku had barely gotten away from Mirko and as much as she liked to up play his skill, she knew it was because they'd surprised her.
With a contemplative hum she bit into her burger, groaning at the taste, "i'm over thinking this." she mused, dipping her fries in the ketchup before crunching down on them, "he's probably just gonna ask if i've seen him, if i stick to the truth he won't have a reason to ask more questions."
A few minutes later she was finished with her food and walking towards her room, phone in hand.
Even if she wasn't worried-and she definitely wasn't-she still had to warn Izuku. Better to be prepared to bug out then be caught unawares after all.