Chapter Text
Midoriya was completely and utterly fucked.
It wasn’t exactly clear when it’d gone all wrong, but he guessed it to be just before he’d been separated from Tsukauchi.
It wasn’t exactly deliberate, but it was pretty damn close.
The pair had been called to Hosu, their help was needed with the dictionary definition of a sensory overload unfolding in the city. There were other officers among them, but the majority of them had gone to do their own thing, scattering themselves with little hassle.
Tsukauchi and Midoriya had been attempting to remove the civilians from too close a proximity of Endeavour’s fights, knowing full well that the man worked better with nobody around; except from the press, of course.
Midoriya was just about done with fishing people out of newly-made rubble when a hero’s call interrupted his focus.
As soon as the relatively well-known man was within audible distance, his yells made more and more sense.
Midoriya kept a close eye on class 1-A, he had been since he heard that Bakugou would be in it, he memorised the students’ names, just in case a situation like this arose.
So when he recognised the name being called by the searching hero, he found himself a new task, possibly more dire than the one he’d just completed.
Sending a haste message to Tsukauchi’s phone, -which he knew the detective had on him at all times- he ran just behind the hero, checking every alleyway they passed on the off chance the older male had missed something.
His eyes lit up, almost literally, when the flash of polished metal caught his attention from across the road, a decent amount of distance away from where the water hero was looking.
His mind only caught up with his body once he was directly in front of the alley’s entrance, which was far too late to attempt to draw a professional to him.
Keeping his footsteps as light as possible, so they barely grazed the ground, he crept up behind the more threatening figure, hand twitching for a weapon before he realised that the sound would alert the man of his arrival.
He cursed internally, but continued making his way closer, and closer, and closer. He was practically standing directly behind the tall person when he noticed a third body, slumped down in a corner, barely alive by the looks of it.
Unfortunately, a quiet sound of surprise slipped past his lips, and much to his dismay, the armed male spun around, knives skimming his arms, just barely drawing a small bubble of blood.
His eyes widened, pupils contracting into pinpricks as soon as the face clicked with a stored name.
“Hero Killer..” He whispered, gaze flickering between the criminal, student and hero who were all looking at him.
“Oh shit.” He hissed, pulling his arms behind his torso in the hopes of shielding himself from the killer’s quirk.
It was purely luck that the wounds were shallow enough to’ve left no stain on the blades.
“W-who are you?” Iida asked, words slurred from the pain.
“Never mind that, you moron.” Midoriya huffed, attempting to think up a decent plan.
His eyes scanned the alley, soon finding purchase, the self-proclaimed hero’s face finding a match in his mind.
“Native..”
His sight switched back to Stain.
“I understand Native, with his whole cultural appropriation, but a kid, really?”
The murderer shook his head.
“He’ll only grow up to be like the others.”
Midoriya rolled his eyes, carefully snagging the alarm button on the back of his belt to alert Tsukauchi of his location.
“You honestly think that a teenager who was trying to avenge his brother will suddenly transform into a racist, money digging ass?”
He stepped closer. Stain drew his blade closer, pointing it at Midoriya.
“And what makes you any different, officer?”
Noticing Stain’s eyes latch onto the small taser in his belt pocket, he slowly flipped open the pouch and pulled it out, chucking it forwards.
The Hero Killer followed it with his stare, still half focused on the boy before him.
“You think I don’t know how corrupt the police force used to be? You think that just because I’m young, I don’t know discrimination when it spits in my face?”
He sighed intentionally.
As long as Akaguro kept his eyes on Midoriya, there should be enough time for Iida to get the taser and knock him out.
“Stain, what do you know about the life of a quirkless?”
Something flashed in his eyes, a hybrid of shock, understanding and realisation.
“Why are you helping the people who never saved you?” He spat, raising an eyebrow in the ghost of a threat.
“BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE DID!” Midoriya cried, vision fractionally blurred.
“You can’t act like heroes are the only ones meant to save people! They’re human..”
“Every fucking day ..” Midoriya hissed.
He stared Akaguro in the eye.
“Every fucking day of my childhood, I thought that the shit that happened to me was normal. I thought it was normal, to be locked in the cold with nobody but myself.
Teachers never saved me, no-one did. It was never explained to me that it wasn’t normal to be deprived of clothes and left in the dying light again and again for acting like a fucking kid.”
He rose to the challenge in the killer’s wide stare.
“Threats were normalised in my household, ‘Sometimes I just want to throttle you,’ ‘I’ll smack your heads together,’ And not once was I told that it was wrong.”
He shook his head, diving out of the unpleasant memories.
“My parents didn’t do their job, so why don’t you go after people like that. The people who actually deserve it.” Midoriya felt a single tear pool in his eye and descend down his cheek.
Akaguro looked mildly uncomfortable at the sight of the crying teenager.
“How was I supposed to know it was wrong? The teachers always taught us to call childline if we were being abused, then proceed to never tell us what abuse actually was.”
A few more tears joined the original.
“It took most of my life to realise it was wrong. Yet, I’m one of the lucky ones.”
He sniffed, pulling his gaze up from the ground.
“There are so many kids out there suffering because of dumb things out of their control, yet you go after people who just want a well paying job?”
Sparks of defiance fluttered around his eyes.
“All you're doing is creating role models out of shit people. If you kill Native, people will say he was amazing, they'll ignore his shortcoming as to not speak ill of the dead, that’s all you did before.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Midoriya saw Iida’s hand twitch promisingly.
“Even if that weren’t the case, killing them just means that they don’t have to suffer through punishment. Prison isn’t designed for rehab, not anymore.”
Midoriya was well aware that his face didn’t match up to his words. He wasn’t asking to be crying so much, but it was convenient for guilt tripping.
Another round of saltine droplets leaked from his eyes and he took a calculated risk.
A shittily calculated risk, but calculated non the less.
Giving a heaving sob, he launched himself into the murderer’s arms, without so much as a whispered prayer.
Akaguro flinched in surprise, but stepped forwards, wrapping his arms around the emotionally worn child.
They stood like that for a few seconds before Iida finally overcame the quirk and jabbed the taser into the tough skin of Akaguro's calf.
The murderer's muscles seized up, contracting and relaxing around the teen.
Midoriya attempted to gently lower the older male to the ground, but the taller's spiked boots caught on each other.
The pair tumbled down, with the older on top.
A burning pain bloomed from Midoriya's lower torso, it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.
"Fuck…" He groaned, arms too weak to push the body off of himself.
Iida didn’t immediately notice his predicament, offering him a hand up lacking the knowledge that, no, Iida, Midoriya can’t fucking take that, he’s a little bit hurt.
"A-ah! Thanks, but I- uh… It seems that when he s-daggered, he stab-bered me.”
Iida’s eyes widened at the carefree tone of voice the downed teen used, inappropriate for the situation at hand.
As if a switch was flipped, the hero in training reacted.
"I apologise for not noticing sooner." He bowed slightly and his brow furrowed.
"However, you shouldn't have stepped in. This wasn't your business."
Midoriya raised an eyebrow.
"Do you think Native feels the same way towards you?"
Iida paused.
"Pardon?"
"Well, seeing as we're both currently bleeding out, I think he's pretty frustrated by your priorities. Speaking of bleeding out, you probably should stand back."
A confused look passed over the teenager’s face, but he complied after a moment of hesitance.
Mere seconds later, a worried detective burst around the corner, heaving deep breaths.
"You," He huffed, pointing a shaky hand at the downed boy, still wedged under the murderer.
"Are so grounded."
Midoriya blinked.
"Ah."
Iida gawked.
"I'm afraid we may need an ambulance."
Tsukauchi sighed.
"You were doing so well!"
Midoriya rolled his eyes.
"I know!"
He flicked the Hero Killer with his free arm gently.
"Bastard." He huffed.
Tsukauchi carefully and painstakingly levered Akaguro off his the kid.
“Next time, I’m giving you a bulletproof vest.”
Midoriya groaned.
“I don’t need a damn vest. You know I hate them.”
Tsukauchi gave a dad sigh.
“We both know you wouldn’t have a say in the matter.”
The teenager cursed under his breath, unable to deny the truth.
“Screw you too.” Midoriya hissed.
The younger pulled an arm of the body up, attempting to slide the man into a bridal carry, but his plans were thwarted by the detective snatching him from his grasp.
“You get your people carrying rights back when you’re not stabbed anymore.”
Midoriya let out a disgruntled ‘merp’.
The small group began to make their way out of the alley, with the murderer restrained with a concerningly simple pair of handcuffs which probably wouldn’t hold if he awoke. But nobody had to know that.
Almost instantly screams grew in volume, no longer able to be drowned out by determination.
Midoriya swore he could've seen Stain's eyes flutter slightly, but dismissed it as a mistake.
The curious selection of people moved further out, into a more open place.
They'd only just begun to turn in the direction of Tsukauchi's car when a loud shout of, "Duck!" Shortly followed by a high pitched screech pierced their ears.
Midoriya turned, just in time to get a face full of leathery skin, talons digging into his side not dissimilar to a bird's own.
He squeaked as he was tugged upwards, head at such an angle that he couldn't see his mentor's face.
Lightly cursing, Midoriya reached for his belt before remembering what Iida used to take the Hero Killer down.
"Shit!"
The ground was getting further and further away every second. He kicked and twisted, hoping to dislodge himself from the sharp claws holding him, but his efforts were fruitless.
A few new screams of surprise and concern met his ears and an additional weight landed above him.
Midoriya had never wished stronger to be able to see who it was, but it wasn't needed, as the Nomu had frozen and was now heading, too quickly for his liking, towards the ground.
"S-Stain.." He hissed, holding back the urge to bite the arm that wrapped around his waist and prevented him from getting crushed.
The Hero Killer set him down behind him and a sense of bitterness swept across his tongue.
He wasn't even worth paying attention to.
"Endeavour.."
In the heat of the moment, he hadn't even noticed the fire wielder's appearance.
"You fake." The murderer hissed, placing his back foot lightly on Midoriya's spine, much to his dismay.
A thick aura spilled from him, freezing the 'heroes' in their tracks.
"If I don't fix it.. If someone isn't stained with blood,"
Although the moment was really, really inappropriate, Midoriya had to hold back a snicker at the pun that wasn't really a pun.
"If I don't restore the ideas of heroism.." He trailed off, glancing down at the momentarily floor-bound officer in training.
"Come, just try me, you fakes!" The pure hatred in his words sent shivers down multiple spines.
"The only person allowed to kill me is a true hero!" His left hand gestured to Midoriya, who recoiled as if burned out of nothing but surprise, a forgotten memory rekindled.
He took a step forwards, removing his foot from the teenager, who, in retaliation, kicked him in the back of his knees.
Stain's head hit the floor with a surprisingly loud 'bonk'.
Midoriya hopped up and nudged his unmoving body.
"He's out cold!" He called.
The pain in his abdomen that had receded to a dull throbbing grew more intense, and his vision began to dim slightly before suddenly turning pitch black.
"Oh shit." Was his last thought before his body hit the ground, overlapping with the other unconscious form.
When Midoriya woke up in the hospital, he wasn’t surprised. It was far from the first time he’d been.
The thing that surprised him was that Iida was on the bed next to him. That meant that not only was Midoriya allowed a bed, but he was in the same ward as a hero student.
The pair were the only ones in the room and a pang of disappointment struck through him.
He wondered briefly if the detective had bribed the hospital to let him have a relatively fair stay, wondering what they would do instead of having him on the floor.
He looked around a bit more, and as his eyes swept back to Iida, he found the teenager staring at him.
He blinked twice.
“Hi..”
Iida didn’t respond, but he averted his gaze.
Midoriya wondered if he’d zoned out and didn’t mean to stare, he was guilty of the same things.
“Uhm.. How- How did you come across Stain?” He asked, attempting to cool the heated atmosphere.
“It’s not your business.” The taller responded, turning away.
“Sorry..” The apology was mainly out of habit, but he found himself glad that he was at least trying to keep up a friendly conversation.
A comforting silence fell upon the duo like a light blanket, welcomed and warm.
Whilst Iida did Iida things, Midoriya set himself the task of seeing how many cat pictures he could spam to his every contact.
He was only fifteen images into Tsukauchi’s contact, embarrassingly his only one, when a quiet knock came from the door.
Without waiting for a response, the stranger came in.
Midoriya held back a gasp as his higher-up’s partner in crime walked in.
Panic began to pool in his stomach, disrupted by another person entering. This one, however, was much more wanted.
“Tsukauchi-San!”
The man rolled his eyes at the un-needed honorific, but didn’t do much else.
The officer with the dog head opened his mouth.
“Thanks to you two, and our detective, we’ve successfully restrained Stain and had him taken to Tartarus. There is, however, the issue of legality in his take down.
We know that you, Iida, were the one to come across his first. Despite prior instructions not to engage with any villains, you did so anyway. Midoriya, you failed to inform a proper officer of your whereabouts.”
Midoriya let his head fall to face his knees.
“We managed to identify the Hero Killer as thirty-one year old Akaguro Chizome, also known as the vigilante Stendhal.”
Midoriya cursed.
“I knew he seemed familiar.”
The officer raised an eyebrow.
“So you know of him?”
“Yeah, we had a couple of run-ins when I was younger.. It’s a long story..” Midoriya trailed off.
Pulling two chairs from beside the wall, the relatively new new-comers sat down.
“We’ve got time..”