Chapter Text
“You think you can outrun us Deku?! You’ve never been able to escape one of us! Get back here you quirkless freak!”
Izuku could hear his heart beating in his ears and he willed his legs to keep running. Can’t stop. Keep going. He catches sight of a small hole in the fence to his right and quickly scrambles for his new found escape route. He dives for the hole and tears his school uniform as he pushes himself through. Taking in his surrounding he decides he has two options, he can keep running and delay the torture, or he can hide. What’s the saying? If I do the same thing? Only different? Does that make me insane? Hearing the boys on his tail he decides to hold his breath and he jumps inside the dumpsters burying himself in the trash.
---
Katsuki had grown bored of chasing Zuzu home everyday years ago, but he knew that if he didn’t participate it would only end up worse for his old friend. So he indulged them when they had grabbed his shirt during the chase through the school. He begins to recognize the route they’re running and gets hopeful. He knew that Zuzu always took the same routes home and had spent last weekend making small escape routes for the nerd. Maybe he’ll finally notice them this time. Katsuki uses his quirk to blast himself to the front of the chase, leaving the extras behind. Come on Zuzu, get away. He rounds the corner to find the hole he cut in the fence stretched open. Using his quirk he blasts one of the nearby trash cans over the hole and waits for the extras to catch up.
“Where is the little twerp?! It’s a dead end. Where could he go?! Katsuki, did you see him?!”
“OF COURSE I SAW NOTHING YOU IDIOT EXTRA! I WOULDN’T BE STANDING HERE OTHERWISE!!!” Katsuki watched as the rest of his ‘friend’ group caught up. They were pissed to say the least. Pretty much destroying this small alleyway to find Deku.
“Hey! Over here! There’s a hole in the fence! He went this way.” The extras pry the gate open wider so they can all crawl through. Fuck. Katsuki follows through, hopeful the idiot had enough brains to run home.
---
Izuku sits in the dumpster for hours, terrified to stick his head out. He can hear footsteps outside still looking for him. At first one of the boys had jumped on top of the dumpster and nearly exposed his hiding spot. He pressed his ear to the side of the dumpster, trying to make out the words outside.
“...where the...is he...a Deku...there’s no way…..made it….here….tear this…..Katsuki …..get the fuck down….us” Kacchan?! Izuku froze. His old friend had never been one to physically harm Izuku but he never stopped it. He often overheard him agreeing with his classmates over his bullying. Izuku wraps his arms around himself and hopes for any chance someone would save him. Suddenly he heard the lid of the dumpster open and felt the trash container roll on it’s side. He feels himself being grabbed by the collar of this shirt. Terrified he shuts his eyes, only to reopen them to see the angry red eyes of his old bestfriend.
“Come on Katsuki! Blast the twerp! Show his quirkless ass where he belongs!”
“SHUT UP EXTRAS! I’M GETTING TO IT!” Kacchan grabs Izuku and pushes him against the chain link fence he had just used to escape.
“What a quirkless failure! So damn pathetic. I feel bad for you parents, they have a disappointment like you!”
“Honestly! You’ll never be a hero Deku! Waste of space and air. Come on Katsuki! Get him!” Izuku catches Kacchan’s eyes and sees a regret he never saw before. But before it can register he feels the burns from Kacchan’s quirk.
“IF YOU WANNA BE A HERO SO BADLY, TAKE A SWAN DIVE OFF THE ROOF AND PRAY YOU’LL BE BORN WITH A QUIRK IN YOUR NEXT LIFE”. Izuku can’t stop the tears that stream down his face. Using any strength he had left he flails out of Katsuki’s grip and slides back through the hole in the fence. This time never looking back.
---
Even though Izuku had already been at home safe for over 2 hours, he still couldn’t shake today’s words. Take a swan dive. Pathetic. Quirkless freak. Of course he can’t be a hero. If you can’t even save yourself how can you save others? Izuku stared at the heroes on his walls, knowing he will never be one of them. A Deku. Worthless. In anger Izuku goes to his closet where ke kept copies 1-10 of The Hero Analysis for the Future. His analysis of quirks was Izuku’s last desperate attempt to remain connected to the hero’s he loved. He had spent hours upon hours watching Hero fights and documenting his suspected strengths and weaknesses of his idols. Grabbing the lot of them he throws them at the floor and grabs one at random to destroy.
Hero: Eraserhead
Quirk: Erasure
Tech:
Capture Weapon - cloth made from steel wire alloy woven with carbon nanofibers. Seems to float along with Eraserhead’s hair when quirk is activated. Possibility of a secondary levitation quirk?
Eraser Goggles: goggles hide his line of sight, preventing enemies from effectively determining whose Quirk has been erased. Can Eraserhead’s quirk effect himself? Mirror? Reflective tech weakness?
Skills:
Hand to hand combat, Stealth, works with vigilanties due to underground status
NEED MORE RESEARCH?!!
Izuku’s eyes linger on the page. Vigilante. That’s not a hero...but they’re still saving people. Carefully, Izuku gathers up his notebooks and sets them back in the closet before sitting at his computer. What to search?
How to fight quirkless?
How to save quirkless?
Saving but not a hero
Heroes vs vigilante
That’s when Izuku saw it. The loophole he was looking for. He had never felt more thankful for quirkless descrimination.
According to the Japanese government, Vigilantism is defined as using one’s quirk in an unauthorized act of heroism.
Hope swelled in Izuku’s chest as he reread that sentence 10 times over. I can still save people. For the first time in a long time, Izuku fell asleep with a smile on his face.
---