Chapter Text
As the wind blew through Izuku’s hair, his eyes remained fixated on the warehouse across the street from the fire escape he was sitting on. This was it. Everything else in Izuku’s mind was pushed aside for once. He was completely focused on this working out properly.
It had never been Izuku’s plan to get involved, or not directly at least, but here he was. Through the whispers, word of a minor underground group reached Izuku and from what he had gathered, they were violent. Underhand tactics and brute force were used mercilessly against anyone who stood in their way. It was only escalating further from there.
Izuku had waited for a while at least. He had kept an eye on the situation, hoping that some hero or officer would get involved and put an end to it, but nothing was being done. It seemed like it was just another issue being set to the side.
What choice did he have at that point? How could he stand by and watch? The truth was that Izuku couldn’t. Everyone needed help sometimes, so Izuku would be there to give it. He was in too deep now.
Through the connections he had managed to form over months and months of caution he had obtained information. As far as he was concerned, he knew everyone who was inside that building, along with the Quirks each person possessed. It would give him a necessary advantage, especially since he was relying on surprise to help him.
He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins, urging him to jump in. It was something Izuku couldn’t refuse. He glanced down at the warehouse below. He adjusted the hood so that it covered his hair, taking a deep breath and adjusting his mask before plunging onto the street below.
He landed in a crouch, pulling out two blades from his pockets and adjusting them so that they rested in his hand in a firm grip. There was no chance he’d risk having them knocked out of his hands. He’d learned that lesson the hard way.
His shoes treaded lightly on the concrete leading up to the building when he suddenly heard a single, small sound, and purely on instinct he ducked.
Within seconds Izuku had managed to figure out that this was the group's scout “Ears” in his mind, and it automatically gave him the advantage. It hadn’t taken a genius to figure out that the person with the hearing enhancer Quirk would be the first person Izuku would encounter, so Izuku had known exactly what to expect. They held a single knife in their hands. It made sense, as their Quirk was better suited for scouting in comparison to fighting.
Although, the advantages it could give in a hand to hand fight could be endless if trained right. Depending on the limitations of their quirk factor it could allow them to hear even the faintest shift in fabric, allowing them to anticipate the next movement and dodge accordingly.
Not now. I’ll have time for this later when I’m not actively trying to avoid being stabbed.
Izuku quickly jumped to the side as he saw light from the streetlight above gleam on the shiny silver blade. Izuku quickly shook his head. This was definitely not the place to be analysing Quirks, especially considering the fact that Ears was armed. He mentally berated himself for being an idiot and forced himself to push his full concentration onto the fight in front of him.
As he was circled he dodged and weaved, narrowly missing the blade. So long as he was concentrating the chance of him getting hit was low, especially when knives had become Izuku’s specialty with training.
The fight was dragging on for far too long for Izuku’s liking. The longer it went on, the more likely Izuku would grow tired and sloppier. He needed all the energy he could get to pull this off properly and he was wasting it before he even got to the door.
In a desperate move, Izuku brought his right hand around, making it look as if he were going in for a stab. This motion caught the attention of Ears and Izuku could see their gaze locked onto it, completely focused on the movement. This gave Izuku the chance to flip the blade around in his left hand, holding it by the spine and jutting the butt of the knife out to slam it into the chest of Ears. Within seconds of hitting the ground Izuku had managed to restrain them with zip ties. He did a quick glance around, tuning out the protests spewing from the mouth of Ears.
Ideas ran through his mind in rapid fire. All the ways the fight could’ve gone smoother, everything he could’ve done differently to be better, to become quicker. He knew their Quirk and he hadn’t taken full advantage of it. He could feel his heart beating faster and before he had the chance to hesitate, he pushed forward.
He returned the blade from his right hand back into the protective fabric of his pockets. A small smile formed on his face as he pulled out something in its place. It was small, but Izuku knew exactly what it would do if it worked, afterall, he had built it himself.
Before he had the chance to lose focus, Izuku ran directly into the warehouse. It was only then that Izuku realized he had been screwed over. In the two seconds he had before he threw down the smoke bomb in his hand, Izuku’s eyes widened from behind the red tinted goggles he wore.
“Dammit” Izuku muttered under his breath, his voice barely a whisper.
Instead of the ten people he had been expecting to see, Izuku was met with over twenty. The number of different curses that echoed through Izuku’s mind probably rivaled the amount Katsuki swore in a day, not that Izuku would dare say any outloud. Before he even had a chance to recover from the realization of how screwed he was, the smoke bomb he had been holding was slammed to the ground.
The world exploded in a multicoloured disaster. It wasn’t as fun as Izuku thought it would be when he chose to add the colours. He quickly shut his mouth to prevent himself from inhaling it. He truly did not need to be inhaling random chemicals on top of everything.
There was no room for hesitation now, so Izuku immediately darted to where he had last seen the two people closest to him. They were the best starting point, as they were separated from the rest of the group. A fist wildy swung in the darkness, trying to swat away the smoke and Izuku didn’t have the time to react to dodge that one. He took a firm punch straight to his jaw, but there was no time for him to focus on that.
There. Right there.
He was sure that a wicked grin must’ve formed on his face underneath the mask. By punching wildly, they had given away their position and Izuku wasted no time in using that to his advantage. When the fist struck out again, Izuku quickly grabbed onto it. He’d be the first to admit that whatever adrenaline he had coursing through his body was the only thing that allowed him to do what he did next.
Something clicked in Izuku’s brain at that moment and he bent his legs right before locking his arms and throwing them above his head. Whoever he had managed to grab was slammed directly into the ground, the breath knocked out of their lungs.
A loud buzzing filled Izuku’s ears as he whirled around to look for the other person he was sure was nearby. Before he had the chance to spot them, something heavy hit his shoulder and it immediately exploded in pain. His eyes trailed down to the source, and sure enough his shoulder was definitely not supposed to look like that…
That was going to make things a little more difficult.
Through the constant noise playing in Izuku’s head, he could just barely make out the sound of something heavy and metal hitting the ground. It vibrated through the entire warehouse and Izuku knew that it was probably only a matter of time before the rest of the randos came running to the source of the noise.
I am really regretting the smoke bomb right about now.
In a move that was pure instinct from countless hours of practice, Izuku kicked his leg out in a circle. His foot managed to connect with flesh and from there it became simple. Izuku knew where they were now and as long as he himself moved around quickly and unpredictably, taking them down would only require seconds.
By the time he had actually managed to do that, something began to change. The smoke was thinning out faster than expected. It didn’t make sense to Izuku. He had tested their capabilities before and it was thinning too early. Figures scattered around the warehouse became clearer, now silhouettes. Izuku took that as his sign to work faster. He pushed past the pain in his shoulder and at some points it didn’t even feel real to be there.
It was unclear how much time had passed once Izuku’s eyes finally shot around the warehouse once more, searching for any movement that remained. The only thing that broke that intense concentration was the sound of a truck starting up.
They were trying to get away.
The second the thought registered in his head, he was moving before he took even a moment to think, running straight for the truck as one of the garages on the side of the building slowly began to open. If Izuku had money to bet, he’d guess that all of the remaining goods were stored in that truck.
The warehouse was large and Izuku simply couldn’t run fast enough to get to the other side in time to stop the truck. His left hand was positioned on his right arm, desperately trying to hold it still as he pushed forward, every step only further sending pain into his shoulder.
He was so close. He had almost done it. Victory was quite literally rolling away from him and in that moment Izuku’s hand that had been gripping the knife so tightly finally relaxed, and threw the knife straight at the truck.
In the past, Izuku had experimented with long range weapons. He had figured that the more versatile he was, the more useful he could be, but of course he had managed to fail at something as simple as that. It was something that had always been just out of his reach. The ideas never played out how he envisioned them in his head, but for the first time, as the knife sailed through the air and then sliced a hole in the tire, it did.
If Izuku could hear over the buzzing that was playing in his ears, he would guess that the tire was letting out a hissing noise as the air rapidly escaped from it. The truck only made it a little down the road before it stopped rolling all together. No one exited the truck to make a run for it, meaning that at least one person still remained in the truck.
His body felt numb as he finally managed to catch up. Without missing a beat, Izuku rushed to the driver's side door, and yanked it open, only to be met with the sharp smell of gasoline and a mean looking man who held a cigarette between his lips. The smile the man had on his face sent shivers up Izuku’s spine. It was a smile that Izuku was all too familiar with. One that refused to lose.
That explains why he didn’t run. He doesn’t care. He’ll blow it up so long as it means he gets to win.
In that moment the cigarette dropped, Izuku could feel time slowing down around him. Thinking about it logically, the man wouldn’t have had enough time to pour much gasoline. It was a pathetic attempt to avoid being caught, so really he would be the only one injured or worse. There was no wind in the night air and the flame would either be reported or die out before any if the surrounding buildings would catch on fire. No one would be affected except the man and the goods in his truck.
Yet Izuku was already moving, yanking the man out of the truck and launching the both of them straight to the floor, creating as much distance as possible. The small explosion that happened propelled them forward, sending them both rolling and flipping across the hard pavement..
Izuku bit his tongue as hard as he could to keep himself distracted from the increase in the throbbing pain in his shoulder. He pushed himself to his feet, quickly assessing the situation to ensure that it was safe. There was a warm glow lighting up the street, sending a plume of smoke into the night sky.It was probably a good thing that everything in that truck was burning. As long as it wasn’t being distributed.
By the time Izuku had managed to get it together, he could already hear sirens blaring in the distance, presumably to check what the heck was going on. Most of the evidence was luckily still unscathed in the warehouse, so Izuku just had to hope that the law would be able to handle it from there.
He clutched his right arm, doing his best to hold it in place to keep it from getting jostled as he finally took his leave and exited into the night.
Katsuki walked into the classroom, his backpack slung over one shoulder and his hands shoved into his pockets. It was already stupidly loud in the classroom thanks to all the extras who didn’t know when to shut up.
His eyes trailed to the two extras who always seemed to follow him around and his gaze immediately hardened into a glare. They seemed to be reminded of the message Katsuki had sent to them a few days ago, quickly distracting themselves by pulling out their assignments. His face remained in his usual scowl, but he felt the slightest hint of satisfaction. It had only taken a few pops of his hands to get the message across.
He sat down at his desk, his feet coming up and resting on top of it as he leaned his head back lazily. His eyes were fixated on the door, completely focused on each person who walked into the classroom. The chatter only got louder and Katsuki could feel his agitation rising even higher. He found himself about five seconds away from shooting up and yelling at everyone to shut up when a video playing on someone's phone caught his attention.
It wasn’t like he was nosy or anything, he just wanted to know what the hell had everyone so loud, so out of the corner of his eye, he peered at the screen and listened closely.
“Early Saturday morning a minor group of criminals were taken down by one person single handedly, resulting in over a dozen arrests…” the news lady began, her voice smooth and clear as she spoke.
“For a long time, citizens have been aware of the danger circulating around at night and it seems more than ever that crime is at its peak. During the early hours the streets are cold and empty, except this morning they weren’t. A small fire was reported by locals for authorities to check out and once they did, they made a shocking discovery…”
“...The entire group that had been tormenting the streets at night were found subdued and restrained with nothing out of place.”
“...CCTV from around the street managed to capture footage of the mysterious force that managed to accomplish…”
Katsuki’s head turned to fully look at the phone that was blasting the report even as he tried his best to look uninterested. He was met with some crappy black and white footage.
Seriously? Could they not have gotten something better?
The video played, showing a figure that almost managed to blend in, fighting outside of a large warehouse. It was hard to make out what weapon they were using, but they moved effortlessly and managed to take down the person they were up against, despite the size difference.
When the figure managed to take down the other person, the footage jumped ahead from the same perspective, this time showing off what looked to be smoke of all kinds of different shades exploding out of the warehouse. The footage managed to get even crappier from there, but from what Katsuki could make out, there were at least fifteen different people, all of whom were taken down one by one.
There was then another jump to a truck swerving down a deserted street, exiting from a different side of what Katsuki assumed to be the same building that the other videos had shown. The movement of the truck quickly died out and the same figure that had been shown in the previous clips darted out and chased after the truck.
Much to Katsuki's annoyance, it was impossible to make out whatever the hell happened in the thirty seconds before the truck fucking exploded. At the same time of the explosion, two figures were sent flying across the concrete of the street.
“Oh my gosh!” one of the extra's exclaimed before the rest of the class devolved into even louder chatter that made it impossible to hear the rest of the commentary over the footage. Katsuki scoffed, his head returning to the lazy gaze that was fixated on the door.
“People online are going crazy discussing…”
“I heard they’re calling him Rabid because he fought like a wild animal after he set off that smoke bomb…”
The conversations continued, but Katsuki paid them no mind. It didn’t matter to him what some wannabe was doing. Besides, it wasn't even that impressive.
By the time the bell had rung, Katsuki came to the realisation that Izuku had never arrived for class.
Aizawa walked into the station. It was way too early in the morning and he could’ve been doing a number of other things, but he wouldn’t leave Tsukauchi hanging.
He had received a message from the head investigator right at the tail end of his patrol, requesting Aizawa to head to the station to discuss an issue that had appeared. Aizawa knew that it was his job to follow up on these types of things, so he had no choice but to head to the station.
He walked into the familiar building. The heating was on in the background, casting a warm atmosphere throughout the relatively empty building. Aizawa walked straight past the front desk, accustomed to the layout at this point. The officer who was sitting at the front desk looked as if they were either bored out of their mind or completely drained, but they still managed to give a polite nod of greeting as Aizawa walked past.
Aizawa knocked once on the door, waiting for a few moments before crossing his arms. His face buried itself into the capture weapon around his neck. He waited a few moments before growing impatient and knocking again, his arms crossing.
The door finally opened and Aizawa’s eyes quickly took in the sight of Tsukauchi, the eye bags and the way his hair was messed up on his head. Aizawa didn’t bother wasting time with a greeting. He walked straight into Tsukauchi’s office, sitting down on one of the chairs that Tsukauchi gestured to with a loud sigh.
Once Tsukauchi sat down in the office chair across from him, he finally spoke up. “I need your help.” he states simply. Aizawa waited for him to continue, fixating his onyx eyes on the man in front of him.
“You’ve seen the news reports lately, haven’t you?” Tsukauchi inquired. “Rabid?” He added.
Aizawa’s mind flashed back to the news report that had played in the background of his living room earlier that day. He hadn’t been fully paying attention to it, as he was focused on grading the papers his students had written so that he could get it back to them before the winter break.
“No, I haven’t been paying attention to them.” Aizawa answered honestly.
Tsukauchi nodded in understanding, typing something out on his computer, likely pulling up a file. After a few moments he turned the screen around, replaying a news clip. It depicted a small figure fighting like an absolute beast against someone who was larger than them by at least a foot.
“The media has been eating up this story. A wild fighter who managed to deal with a problem the city has been facing” Tsukauchi explained, turning the screen back around. “And something tells me that this isn’t a one time thing.”
“What do you mean by that?” Aizawa asks after a short pause, his voice dry as ever.
Tsukauchi set his elbows down on his paper covered desk, clasping his hands together to gather his thoughts. “The station has been receiving calls reporting minor crimes for months now, and they always gave a location to go to. I honestly believe there’s a good chance that this is the same person. An escalation.”
This seemed to help Aizawa catch on. “You’re telling me you think this ‘Rabid’ person is a vigilante?” he asked plainly, earning a firm nod in response from Tsukauchi.
“I’ll say it now, the station doesn’t have the resources to pursue this properly. The crime rates in Musutafu are higher than ever after the incompetence displayed during the Sludge Villain attack. There’s little to no information on the situation at hand and I can’t spare the officers I have to work this case and find it.” Tsukauchi explained, exhaustion leaking into his voice.
“So what you’re saying is you want me to keep an eye on this ‘situation’” Aizawa responded flatly, sitting up slightly straighter in the chair he was sitting on. He knew that if he didn’t do it then the situation would grow out of hand and only spiral further, so what choice did he really have?
“Glad you understand.” Tsukauchi replied as he took a quick sip from the coffee mug on his desk that had been long forgotten.
Aizawa let out a long sign once again, but he knew what he had to do. He knew that if he didn’t do it then no one else would. “I’ll handle it.”