Chapter Text
A quirkless person can never be a hero.
Izuku sighed as he leaned back in his chair, throwing his wrist over his eyes. Grabbing onto All Might's leg might've been his worst decision in his life, but who could blame him? He just went through a traumatic experience and was desperate for someone to validate his life on this planet. But hearing those words echo in his skull, realizing that even the Number 1 hero didn't believe it could happen...
It broke him. So after All Might left, Izuku down on the city, tempted to just end it all right then and there. But the stupid explosions caught his attention, and he just had to dash over to figure out what was happened. Seeing Kacchan suffocating made Izuku freeze, unsure of what to do. Any other time, he would've rushed in, not thinking. Saving Kacchan would be worth getting hurt. But today, right now, Izuku's had time. Time to analyze his situation of life, time to analyze the quirk keeping his childhood best friend captive, time to know that he's dream to be a hero is impossible.
So he walked away. He walked the long way home, keeping his head down. He scrolled on his phone reading the news. Turns out, All Might saved Kacchan, and that he was going to be just fine. When Izuku did get to his house, he went inside, dropped his bag, and changed into some pajamas, with the intent of locking himself in his room for the rest of the day. So here his was, slouching in his chair, staring blankly at his closed laptop.
He shrugged, and opened it, firing it up. "Day can't get any worse, can it? Might as well get online," he mumbled to himself, typing in his password.
Immediately, messages starting flowing in, and notifications silently went off in the corner of his screen. Izuku quickly closed them all, realizing that this was the cause of him not checking in for a few days. Izuku was involved in many online forums and websites, and on everyone one of them he had a different persona. On his chess account, he was a genius, on par with NotARat, beating him several times in fact. In another one, he posted anonymous articles about a wide spread of many topics, from quirk theory to political talk to simple opinions, he was on top of everything.
But is favorite one to be on was called the Hell Hole. Anyone, from a civilian to an underground pro hero to a convicted murderer could log on and join the sight. Most people got together and created chat sites once they realized what everyone was like, and Izuku was please to say that he had access to quite a few of them. Including the one blowing up his computer at the moment...
<Ungodly Hours, that is>
Coffee=life: Does anyone recognize the person in this picture? unknown.png.
purpleOverlord: sorry...don't know 'em
kittycattycopy: their quirk looks familiar, but i can't remember
Sceamer: what's so special about them? they seem pretty normal
Coffee=life: privet matter, personal request. Just need to know if anyone's seen anything about him.
BurntBish: Why don't you just ask Alice?
Coffee=life: Who's Alice?
Screamer: Do we even have an Alice on here?
kittycattycopy: yep. kind of a lurker, only comes on when they feel like it.
BurntBish: They once came on and just told us our darkest secrets, one by one, in a privet chat.
purpleOverlord: scariest moment of my life :/
Izuku sighed as he watched the words flow up the page, with more an more discussions about Alice and their random habits and scariest moments. Izuku just lazily glanced up at his ceiling, before sighing again and scrolling upwards, clicking the png. Coffee=life sent.
He was met with the picture of mal with brown hair and brown eyes, wearing an extravagant grey three piece suit, whilst carrying what looked to be some kind of staff. It buzzed with red lightning in the frame, and Izuku zoomed in on it, taking in the item. It was clearly made for the guy's quirk, which was most likely an electricity emitter type. No wait... maybe absorption would be more accurate from the way the alley lights around him where out. And his eyes seemed to not reflect the red light, but to be filled with it. Izuku stared at the man for only a minute more before scoffing and checking his computer. BurntBish and kittycattycopy seemed to be going back and worth on about the worst chat lurkers they've ever seen. So, without a moment to spare, Izuku joined the conversation.
Alice: Minor criminal known as Scare Crow. Funnily enough, nothing about him is related to actual scare crows. He's quirk is electricity absorption, which he can take the electricity and turn it into red energy which he can only conduct with the help of a support item, which is why he uses a staff. He's actually been around for quite a while know, usually doing low rate crimes for some quick cash, but he's turned into a kind of vigilante, but not the good kind. He's the person who tries to send a message and only fails, leaving a large number of enemies in his wake, so he commits larger crimes in the hopes of loosing some of them. Be warned, the staff he has is extremely conductive, and he isn't pass killing.
A few seconds passed after Izuku sent the message, then:
Screamer: holy shit he is real
BurntBish: told ya. how's it hanging Alice?
Alice: Better than your sorry excuse for a life
kittycattycopy: damn duuuuuuuude. you just got roasted!
purpleOverloard: correction: getting roasted is what Burnt's father did to him. Alice flambéed his sorry ass today
Coffee=life: thanks for the info. really helpful
Alice: You're welcome
kittycattycopy: now watch us not see him again for an entire year
Izuku smiled as he stopped replying to the chat's messages. Talking to them was fun, especially BurntBish, but Izuku honestly preferred to just watch. The forum also didn't tell you when other people where online or off, so he spent countless hours just watching the messages fly through while no one had a damn clue that he was there.
His smile immediately dropped when he heard the front door open, and keys could be heard jingling. Izuku sighed for what seemed to be the thousandth time that day, and closed his computer, walking over to his door so he could meet his fate. He knew it wouldn't be good, especially since his mother hadn't called for him yet, which meant she was in a bad mood.
At least it was better than jumping off a roof, right?
Right?