Chapter Text
The sound of explosions was all it took for Izuku to know he was done for. He hadn’t left the school fast enough, resulting in one Katsuki Bakugou to hunt him down for sport. It was like a game between the two, a game of survival for one and a game of hunting for the other.
As Izuku practically ran towards the front doors of the school building, weaving and dodging through the remaining few students, he could hear the gruff voice of his former friend calling after him.
“Get back here you damn nerd! You can’t run forever!”
Katsuki shouted after him, the sound of explosions following after mere moments. The teachers wouldn’t punish him, that much he knew. He knew he got away with a lot of things, considering he was the best. Everyone feared him and his powerful quirk, after all. He was a hero and that damn nerd was a villain.
Izuku continued to run, but was unable to escape. He had barely made it out the doors when he was grabbed by the back of his shirt, feeling the strain against his neck as he was yanked backwards. When he fell to the ground, he could already feel an ache forming. His first instinct was to cover his face with his arms, which was apparently the wrong thing to do as Katsuki aimed to kick his side. He let out a pained yell, looking up and around for help. The remaining students had fled, and any teachers that had walked by had simply ignored the situation at hand. He felt angry at this, but that wasn’t something he could focus on now as new burns were marked into his right forearm. He felt the small explosion, smelling the burning of his own clothes and skin mixed with a sweet caramel scent. It was sickening, especially since he had once loved the smell of caramel.
His beating had only lasted a mere fifteen minutes or so before Katsuki got bored of him. With a final kick, the blonde took a step back.
“Just do us all a favor, Deku. Hell, do yourself a favor. Kill yourself.”
He said it in an almost calm voice, glaring down at the beaten and bruised male on the ground. He had always felt as though Izuku was less than. A mere pebble he could kick out of his way. When Izuku didn’t respond, he scoffed, leaving the young man on the ground alone.
Izuku felt angry. He was in pain and bitter, especially since he had to wait a few minutes to even sit up. He wanted to cry like he usually would, but for the first time, the tears wouldn’t come. He just felt numb as he sat there, eventually having to force himself off the floor. Standing up was a pain in the ass, but having to walk with probably bruised ribs was a whole other feat.
He began his trek home, slowly but surely, with a bitter and metallic taste in his mouth. His mind was both blank and completely full of thoughts, malicious as they were. He didn’t want to hurt anyone, but no one ever cared if they had hurt him.
As he passed through a tunnel, he heard a rumbling from below. He stopped as he looked around, only for something -someone- to shoot through the grate on the ground. He yelled in surprise and stumbled back, ready to flea but too shocked to do so.
“Perfect! A perfect meat suit, just for me! Stay still, this will only hurt a little bit.”
The sludge man said, rushing forward. Despite Izuku attempting to run, he was caught instead. Sludge was immediately being shoved into his mouth, causing him to tear up. He felt as though he couldn’t breathe, continuing to struggle and claw at the sludge. He couldn’t have cried out for help even if he had wanted to..
Just as he was beginning to lose his consciousness, he heard a familiar booming voice.
“Fear not! For I am here!”
It was the last thing he heard before falling unconscious, feeling a rush of wind around him. When he woke up only minutes later, it was to someone slapping his face. He winced and whined, lazily covering his face with his arm. That was, until he recalled what had happened. Izuku quickly sat up as he tried to ignore the world spinning around him, wanting to ask his hero a question.
“I thought I lost you there, my boy! But now that I see you’re alright, I’ll be off now.”
All might had said, attempting to take off. Izuku didn’t even care about an autograph at the moment, the question burning in his mind as he stood and rushed to grab the hero.
“Wait-!”
He had shouted, but it was too late. He was hoisted into the air, the ground no longer beneath him as he clung to All Might for dear life. It wasn’t until they landed that he had the chance to speak again. But, his hero had spoken to him first.
“Do you have any idea how reckless that was just now? If you’d have fallen, you could have died, young man. Use the stairs to get down, I really must be off.”
“Wait! I’m sorry, please! I- I have to know! Can someone like me.. can someone quirkless ever become a hero?”
He had asked, looking at All Might. He hadn’t expected their meeting to turn this way, but he had hoped to have his dreams encouraged by at least one person in his life.
“Quirkless, you say..? I’m afraid not, my boy. Hero work is too dangerous without a special power to have as back up. Perhaps you could be a police officer, or something similar.”
Hearing those words from the one person he had ever looked up to stung. It felt like a knife to the heart as he looked at All Might. Not a single word was said afterwards, as the hero took off. Izuku simply stayed on the roof, trying to process what was going on or what had just happened. He didn’t even care when he heard the loud explosions on the other side of town, not bothering to check out the latest hero fight. Instead, he sat down, questioning his existence.
All Might was right. A quirkless person could never be a hero.. Katsuki was right in telling him he was useless, to just do the world a favor and end it all.
He had every intention to, until he had a different idea come to mind. A plan of revenge sounded far more suitable than a plan of death. He might not be able to protect anyone, but he could become a menace to society instead.
Izuku made his way home, taking the much longer route. It was getting dark by the time he had entered his household, his mother no where in sight. The only thing to tell where she had gone was a note, letting Izuku know that she had left for work. She worked thirds, after all, as a nurse. It was the only reason Izuku knew how to bandage his own wounds other than countless tutorials online.
He had spent nearly ten minutes trying to get his shirt off to get cleaned up, the whole thing taking nearly an hour over all. It was a tedious task, but something he had to do rather often. But once he was done, he went to his room, gathering his beloved notebooks. He was trying to plan for everything, to cover up his tracks for what he wanted to do.
He had heard of websites where people could theorize about the heroes or the villains, discussing their quirks and possible daily lives. Personal information about heroes were often leaked to this website, after all, but it was ridiculously hard to try and get it shut down.
He had to make a new account, attempting to be discreet about what he was going to do. The watcher, he called himself. A fitting name, considering that’s what he had always done. But now, he felt as though he had a purpose. It didn’t take him long to make his first post, talking about a new hero that had recently debuted. Multi Hue, a hero capable of making weapons out of random colors. She was able to rip the color right off the item, leaving it crystal clear.
He wrote about her quirk, how easy it would be to beat her and how. He was detailed in it before adding a few extra things, like how she could improve on certain aspects of her fighting style and such.
Once he was done, he hit post. He proceeded to do the same with three more heroes before logging off, his hands trembling. He couldn’t believe he had posted that, and so easily too. He completely shut off his computer before turning in for the night, trying to ignore the posters of the hero he had once respected.
He didn’t sleep much that night.