Chapter Text
Izuku would have loved to yell “Where are we going!?” or perhaps “Why are you kidnapping me!?” but, 1. he was wearing a mask, so his voice probably wouldn't travel too far, and 2. Hawks kept randomly whooping and taking tight turns, and Izuku's stomach felt like it was going to empty out through his feet.
Otherwise, the trip was going wonderfully. Izuku had even made a plan. A great plan. The plan was: land, drop the villain-containing water bottle at Hawks' feet, and make a break for it.
On second thought… this was not a great plan. But it was a plan—and Izuku was somewhat confident he could ad-lib it if he had to.
The cloud-scraping roofs of business buildings gave way to slightly shorter residential complexes, and Hawks evened out from his terror-inducing dodging of skyscrapers.
“Coming in hot!” Hawks whooped, and suddenly they were swooping down gently onto the top of an apartment complex. Izuku stumbled as he landed, but just barely. Hawks was, predictably, good at setting people down.
The man in question ruffled his wings down to his back and flashed Izuku a grin. It might have been somewhat reassuring, if Izuku wasn’t currently trying to battle a wave of acid out of his throat and back into his stomach.
Oh wait! The plan.
Hawks started talking just before Izuku could shove the water bottle towards him.
“Sorry for the quick grab, kid, but you looked like you were in a bit of a pinch down there!”
Izuku blinked.
“Good job taking down that villain! I didn't see much of it, obviously, but it looked like you did alright for a rookie.” Hawks flashed him a thumbs-up, before immediately waving his hands around like he was trying to erase the gesture. “Oh wait, no, that's not what I meant to say—”
Izuku’s death grip on the water bottle loosened. Was Hawks... helping him? Complimenting him?
…Did he think Izuku was a hero-in-training?? There was no way.
Hawks’ wings flared slightly, and Izuku immediately went back on alert. The hero looked more serious.
“But I won’t lie—that was dangerous, kid. I would tell you to reconsider your life choices, but who knows if you'll listen to me. Jumping into the middle of a daytime fight like that? Glad you stepped in, don't get me wrong, but there's a reason most of you guys work at night. There's better ways for you to help people than stepping into the middle of a high-profile fight, alright?”
“Uh,” Izuku squeaked. There was a hero—a new hero, but a good hero nonetheless—talking to him. He still had no idea what was going on. “Okay?”
The plan!
“Um, please take this!” Izuku bowed and thrust out his water bottle.
“Oh, yeah!” One of Hawks’ feathers detached and floated lazily to snag the water bottle from Izuku’s hands. Izuku knew he was gaping, but this was so cool! He was seeing a real hero’s quirk in action!
Hawks casually grabbed the water bottle out of the air. “Thanks!”
The tension in Izuku's shoulders relaxed, marginally. Hawks would take care of the villain. Now onto part 3 of the plan: get the heck out of here.
Hawks unfolded his wings before Izuku could make a dash for the stairwell.
“Alright, kid. Hopefully this is the last time we meet like this. Stairs are unlocked, so you should be able to find your way down pretty easy. Peace!”
Without another word he launched himself off the building. Soon he was a speck amidst the billowing clouds.
Izuku slowly looked back at the stairwell. He was... free to go?
Had Hawks kidnapped him to get him out of being reprimanded by the heroes, and then just... let him go?
This was not going how he had imagined at all.
Painfully making his way to the stairs, Izuku creaked open the rickety metal door and began his trek down. This was maybe the best outcome he could have hoped for. Reaching the bottom, he pulled out his abused phone and checked the map.
His location was about 10 miles farther from his apartment than it had been before.
Izuku groaned. Time to get back on the subway.
Izuku was a block away from the station when he spotted a small, somewhat rundown-looking pharmacy huddled amidst the quiet street. He looked down at himself. His knee had stopped bleeding, but was still pretty ragged, and through his torn gloves he could see blood on his skinned hands.
He was running low on antibiotics.
The bell on the door jingled as Izuku walked in, scanning the aisles for the first aid section. The cashier, an old man with feathery antennae and eyes Izuku couldn't see through his bushy eyebrows, barely looked up from his book as Izuku walked past him.
The first aid section was at the back. Izuku squatted down to compare their three brands of antibiotic ointment. The cheapest one was probably fine—the ingredients were the same between all three. He was just debating grabbing a pack of large bandages when the bell jingled again, much louder. Heavy footsteps, fast, sounded from the front of the store.
“Open up the cash register!” A man's voice demanded.
Izuku's head snapped up.
Seriously?
He set down his antibiotics, slipped off his backpack as quietly as possible, and began to creep up his aisle, staying low.
“Alright, alright,” a creaking, soft voice replied. “No need for that, just a moment, I need the key.”
As he slid past the medical tape, Izuku contemplated hiring an onmyōji. Giran could probably find him one—and it would be nice to finally learn whether or not he was cursed.
There was a clank and a clatter. Izuku peeked around the edge of the shelves. Two figures—a large man with ram's horns curled around his head, and a slightly smaller man with disturbingly long fingers—loomed over the front counter, their backs to the aisles. Long Fingers had a gun. Ram Mutation was so shredded he probably thought he didn't need a gun.
“Open it now!”
Well, at least their quirks were pretty obvious. He hoped.
Izuku crossed the open space in two definitive strides and roundhouse kicked Long Fingers in the head. The man dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Unfortunately, Ram Mutation had a fast reaction time. Izuku's foot had barely touched the ground when the man’s hand clamped around his arm. Izuku aimed for a straight kick right to the stomach, but before he could blink he was hurtling away.
CRASH!
Instinctively, Izuku curled into a ball, tumbling painfully out onto the sidewalk. Getting thrown through a window—that was a first.
His entire body aching, Izuku stumbled to his feet amidst a shower of glass. A particularly painful twinge in his arm drew his attention to a shard of glass sticking out of his bicep. He pulled it out with a hiss.
A comically loud snort drew his attention back to the completely destroyed window. Ram Mutation had apparently decided he wanted to fight Izuku more than he wanted that money right now. Izuku set himself in his fighting stance as the man jumped through the empty hole of the window.
Dramatic. He could've gone through the door. It's right there.
Izuku shook himself. Not helpful, brain!
The man was clearly fast, strong, and experienced. It was starting to look like Izuku had landed himself in an old-school brawl.
The man stomped his foot, remarkably like a real ram about to charge, and lowered his horns. Izuku blinked. Was he about to get a lucky break?
Sure enough, Ram Mutation charged.
It was too easy. As Ram Mutation closed on him, Izuku jumped—and spring boarded off the man's shoulders into what was now known as his signature flip. The man, already canted forward and off-balance, face planted. Izuku landed with a little hop.
In the moment that the man was still on the ground, Izuku rushed forward, grabbed an arm, and pressed it back at an unnatural angle for a full-body bind. Ram Mutation howled.
For a second, Izuku debated knocking him out. That felt a lot like kicking a man when he was down, though, and while Giran and Iguchi absolutely advocated for that, Izuku chose to consider his options first.
He looked back over his shoulder into the store. To his surprise, the old cashier was already coming out. In his thin, wrinkled hands he held a roll of duct tape.
“Thank you, young man,” he said. Behind him, Izuku could see Long Fingers still on the floor, now handily bound with duct tape.
“Could you put his hands together please?”
Izuku startled into motion. “Oh! Yes!”
Ignoring the protesting cuts all along his body and the cursing of the fallen criminal, he manhandled Ram Mutation into a better position. The cashier got to wrapping. He was surprisingly mobile for his age, and adept at avoiding the struggling of the downed criminal.
“There we go,” the cashier said as he struggled to rip off the end of the duct tape. Finally he got it free and smoothed the end down with a little pat.
Ram Mutation was now thoroughly trussed up, and could barely move his arms or legs.
The cashier looked up, and Izuku caught a glimpse of his eyes for the first time.
“Now, did you want to buy something?”
Izuku looked back into the store. Long Fingers was dazedly blinking awake, but seemed too out of it to tell what was going on.
“Y-yes, um, I did. I was looking for… antibiotics?”
The cashier nodded and hummed as he puttered back into the store, completely ignoring the man on the ground.
“Well, on the house, sonny. All free, all free. My daughter will be very happy I had someone to help out.”
“Um.” Izuku followed the man in, wincing as glass crackled under his shoes. “Are you sure?”
“Of course, of course.” The man had disappeared behind the counter, and now came out of the back with a broom taller than himself and a dustpan caked in dirt. “Anything you want, sonny, on the house.”
Izuku floundered helplessly as the man began sweeping up glass.
“Do you need help with anything?”
“No, no! Grab your things! I've called the police, they'll be here soon. No need to worry.”
“Ah—if you're sure. Thank you.” After a second of hesitation, Izuku ducked back into the first-aid aisle to grab his backpack, the antibiotic ointment, and the package of large bandages, which he would now definitely be needing. On second thought, he also grabbed a bottle of pain medicine.
He held them up as he ventured back out of the aisle. “Thank you again! I'm taking these. Are you sure you don't need any help?”
“No, no!” the cashier said, more insistently. “Go on, sonny. Clean yourself up! Blood all over the place! You must have a hard head. Don't get into any more fights on your way, okay?”
Izuku bowed sheepishly as he left. “Okay! Sorry about the window. Please stay safe.”
As Izuku stepped over Ram Mutation and made his way down the block, he caught the cashier muttering— “just like her, worrying, worrying…”
Izuku smiled a little and then winced as a wash of pain broke through his adrenaline-addled brain. Ugh, he was going to hurt later.
He looked down to assess the damage, and groaned. His favorite jacket was totally ruined.
Right about then, the clouds finally decided they had conspired enough, and the heavens opened. Izuku watched in growing horror as the first few drops stained the cement in little scatterings of dots, before rain began pouring down.