Chapter Text
A little girl sat outside a convenience store during a rainy night, thin arms hugging her legs and gaunt face sitting atop her knees. Her Lady Nagant sweatshirt was grimy and starting to tear apart, barely being enough to keep her warm those past few days, let alone during a midnight storm like the one happening at that moment.
Her chattering teeth and empty stomach wouldn't let her sleep, so she decided to stay below the awning of a 24-hour convenience store to guard herself from the bone-chilling rain as much as possible, and also wait for any potential clients to beg for some money or, better yet, food. That way she could kill two birds with one stone.
Suddenly a lightning bolt blinded her, the scent of ozone filling her nose; the deafening thunder roared right after and she couldn’t help but cover her ears in fear. When it passed, her breath caught in her throat as she looked up to see one of the dried up trees in the abandoned park across the street now on fire. All the ruckus made the store clerk rush out of the building. Normally, she knew better than to sit right in front of a glass window, as it meant being shushed away. But life played against her that night, just as it had every other night before.
The owner got his cell phone out of his pocket and, as he was waiting for the receiver to pick up, he made eye contact with her, frozen in place trying not to be noticed. He grumbled in frustration—in a god-forsaken neighborhood like his, filthy beggars were an everyday sight and he was tired of shooing them away all the time. "Get out of here! You're going to scare my customers away!"
From his apron he pulled out that day's newspaper, rolled it and threw it at her as she scrambled to her feet and ran away like a scaredy cat, getting herself all wet in seconds due to the incessant rain. The girl made toward the park, where the flames were still fighting to stay alive despite the downpour. She looked down at her muddy shoes, barely held together with tape, and with a whimper her shaky legs gave in. Limp like a ragdoll, breathing laboredly, she had wasted what little energy she’d had. Laying sideways in the overgrown pasture with the stench of smoke filling her nostrils, she tried and failed to peek at the stars above.
What did I ever do to deserve this?
The girl could feel the heat of the fire calling her name, unspoken now for who knows how long. She crawled towards it, getting dizzier with every millimeter she advanced. Unable to shed any tears, her eyes burned, lit up by the wild, orange flames, but in just an instant everything seemed so clear. The feeling of helplessness quickly left way to a monstrous, boiling sensation she'd never experienced before, overtaking her entire self. As her blood buzzed with adrenaline, the girl picked up a rock, analyzing its shape and weight as she got up to her feet. She didn’t even understand what she was looking for, but somehow she knew deep in her heart that insignificant rock was more than enough. Locking her gaze on the clerk, the girl threw it at him with a strength her brittle body shouldn’t have been able to bear. The rock broke the glass so cleanly it barely made a crack, but the man moved at the last second as the TV remote slipped from his hand. Her makeshift missile hit the wall right behind him, embedding itself there for him to stare at as he got up; with a shocked expression he turned towards her direction, the remote falling again as they made eye contact.
She smiled for the first time in forever. It was a wicked expression, unnatural on a child, and it froze the clerk in place. She was about to burst out laughing, but suddenly her bones were made of lead and her sight turned blurry, making her fall back down on the scratchy grass. The harsh drops of water hurt her skin, now feverish and clammy. Shivering, she just laid there, numb, blind, with no urgency to move even as she heard a big tree branch breaking and falling right next to her. She didn’t care anymore.
Just end it all already.
And that’s when he showed up.
Walking slowly, the ominous figure stood almost as tall and slender as the trees around them, wearing dark, elegant clothes. His feet moved so smoothly, almost slithery, stopping right as she thought in a panic he would step on her, and he stood there covering both of them with his umbrella, studying her in silence for an eternity. She was trying to blink her blindness away, to get her body to answer and run away, both to no avail. He took in her frail figure, her run-down clothes, but he couldn’t care less about anything other than the situation he had just seen unfold with the store clerk.
He had never seen such levels of disdain from a little girl.
She was starting to get her sight back, barely able to make out a grin on his face. Now crouching at her side, he noticed two concentric circles surrounding her pupils, resembling an archery bullseye. They weren’t especially noticeable; just a few shades lighter than the rest of her void-like irises. His smile grew wider, now showing his sharp teeth.
Jackpot.
Finally, he spoke. His voice was melodic and sweet like honey. "Would you like to seek revenge on those who have hurt you?"
"Yes," was all she was able to let out.
After a few more moments of silence, he picked her up. Everything was still a blurry mess, but she could make out his short, black hair, his tan skin, his thin metal glasses; he wouldn’t stand out much in a crowd of people. But as she kept staring at his face, the girl noticed something more, something that would soon be the bane of her existence, though she had no idea at the time.
His bronzy, serpentine eyes almost seemed to glow.
And it was hypnotizing.
———————
10 years later
———————
Izuku found himself in a tight corridor behind an abandoned warehouse, uncomfortable in his ridiculous disguise and clumsy in the unlit night. The adrenaline coursing through his veins made it difficult to be stealthy, which was more important than ever since they couldn’t use their quirks in this secret (and very forbidden) mission to rescue Kacchan from the League of Villains. Higher up in the building was a barred window, too tall for any of them to reach. Todoroki carried him on his shoulders and commanded Iida to do the same with Kirishima, trying to look inside the warehouse, only to quickly realize it was too dark for any of them to distinguish anything.
Thankfully, Kirishima had brought a night vision scope.
As the red boy inspected the room, Izuku unsuccessfully tried to take a peek too, straining himself when he was startled by his classmate's gut-wrenching gasp. Kirishima staggered on top of Iida's broad shoulders, who luckily was able to grasp him tightly so he wouldn’t fall.
“What’s wrong? What can you see?” Todoroki’s voice was laced with desperation.
“In the back, on the left… Midoriya, look in the back on the left!” He panted in a panic, handing away the binoculars without even looking at him. Izuku quickly searched for whatever he was supposed to, and his heart sank at the sight.
“No way… Are those all… Nomu?!”
He was horrified, remembering how hard All Might had to fight to defeat just one of those creatures, and now there was an army of them?! Maybe they were weaker, like the ones from the attack on Hosu, but they were still massively dangerous nonetheless… As he kept looking at the monsters, completely paralyzed by fear, Kirishima called for everyone’s attention. To their right, a truck started slowly flying up and, after a brief moment of confusion, Midoriya realized it was Mount Lady using the car to kick down the very warehouse they were peeping into.
The force of the impact made the group of students fall to the hard floor, but they quickly staggered back up to get a glimpse of the situation; now it was Yaoyorozu and Kirishima held up by Midoriya and Iida respectively. They could see the freshly destroyed building and a group of pro-heroes consisting of Mount Lady, Gang Orca, Best Jeanist and Tiger from the Wild Wild Pussycats, all of them getting ahold of the Nomu inside. The latter one immediately ran to a capsule where his teammate Ragdoll was locked in and picked her up. At first, Gang Orca made to help him, but as he looked around, another pod caught his attention. Immediately, he ran towards it.
At the other side of the wall, the students decided it was now time to go away and leave the situation to the professionals, even if they were worried for their classmate. The heroes were there, so it was all going to be okay.
…Right?
“Take Ragdoll out of here, we need to move fast!” Gang Orca instructed the feline pro-hero while approaching the suspicious capsule. He looked through the glass only to find out it was a girl, around the same age as the kid they were trying to get back from the League. Many questions came rushing to his mind, but he tried to push them to the back of his mind for later. He carefully took the girl out and wrapped her up in a towel, letting out a sigh of relief as he inspected her and realized she was breathing at a normal pace and, unlike Ragdoll, she didn’t seem to be in a state of shock. She even seemed peaceful.
At least before she gave a sudden gasp and started screaming and screeching, swarming her arms and legs around, trying to free herself from Gang Orca’s hold. “Let me go! Please, let me go!” Nearby, the 1-A students froze in their place as they heard the terrifying sounds. The Aqua Hero kept holding her tightly, even as she stared unblinkingly at him, her eyes glossed up and crazed. “He’s going to kill all of you! All of us! Go away now! Leave—!”
“It seems you have taken something that belongs to me…” A deep and eerie voice was heard before any of them could react to the girl’s pleading, its owner now ominously approaching the pro-hero. Gang Orca stepped back, stopping at Tiger’s side as the girl shivered and whimpered uncontrollably. "It's too late now," she whispered.
“Sorry, Tiger. Ragdoll has always had a good quirk. It was the perfect opportunity, so I took it. I am planning to do the same with the child, since I depleted a lot of what I’d stocked up after my body turned into this...” The figure became visible as it came out of the shadows, everyone fixing their eyes towards him, unable to look away even if they wanted to. Oh, because they wanted to; the sound of his voice was frightening, but his powerful presence stuck them in place. “...So I would appreciate it if you could give her back.”
“Stop! Don’t move!” Gang Orca yelled, turning the girl away from the villain as much as possible. But whoever was talking didn’t stop his marching, completely out of the darkness now as Best Jeanist tied him up. The hero fully understood why the girl was in such a frenzy when the unknown man tore apart his restraints as if it were nothing.
And before anyone could do anything else, the world disappeared in an explosion.
She gasped, struggling for air as she felt every fiber in her body scream in pain. Sniveling, the girl tried opening her eyes, but was soon blinded by the fluorescent lights above. She tried to cover her face, only to find out she was restrained. She could hear the ever-faster beep of a machine and, after a few moments of adjusting her sight, the girl realized she was in a hospital. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in one.
A terrible migraine was wreaking havoc in her head, while her body seemed to weigh double what it did before, but that didn’t stop her from trying to break free from the cushioned cuffs holding her down, loudly growling in pain as she tried to slip her hands out.
“Oh dear!” She turned around to find a small old lady approaching the bed with a concerned look on her face. “Please calm down, sweetie, you’re safe here.”
She frantically looked around the sterile pale green room as the lady checked her vitals and called out the other staff. “Can you please let Sho—Eraserhead, oopsie— know the girl is awake?”
“Eras—?” She blurted in a panic, but her throat was so dry a coughing fit took over her. The nurse held up a glass of water with a straw in it, and the girl cleared her throat after clumsily drinking it all up.
"So. You finally woke up," a monotone voice spoke before she could ask anything.
Immediately going into flight mode, the girl tried to wrench herself free once more, screaming in desperation when the cuffs wouldn’t budge. The nurses fluttered all around the room to finally inject something into her IV; some kind of sedative, she concluded as she unwillingly calmed down. Her mind was still somewhat clear, but all the fight had abandoned her body.
She turned to where the man had sat down, right next to her gurney, locking her black eyes into equally inky ones. He probably looked rougher than she did, she wagered with contempt. His long, messy dark hair fell unceremoniously over a weird scarf around his neck that covered the bottom half of his face, leaving his bloodshot eyes as the center focus.
“I never expected the infamous Eraserhead to look like shit.”
Yikes. Her mind wasn’t as clear as she had thought. She wasn’t able to feel scared, though, so she just let out a hoarse giggle instead.
“I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you. The fact that you know who I am doesn’t do you any favors.”
Even drugged, she wasn’t stupid enough to keep laughing.
“Where am I?"
"You are in UA’s infirmary. We brought you here around a week ago after Gang Orca found you in an unconscious state while performing a covert operation at a warehouse located in Kamino Ward.”
That was a lot of information to take in. Her body trembled violently as her mind processed what Eraserhead had just said, and the head nurse carefully laid another blanket on top of her.
So she was currently at UA, the greatest hero school of the country and probably the world. No biggie. She groggily turned her head toward the window as tears stung her eyes, despising the feeling of being trapped for the millionth time in her life. There was no way Eraserhead or any other hero in this place wasn’t going to lock her in jail once they’d find out who she was. She would most likely never see the light of day again. A sense of doom filled her chest and, staring at the clouds, the girl yearned to fill her lungs with the faint scent of cherry blossoms one more time. Just one more time. It didn’t matter, though—this was probably the end. She'd probably wound up in a place nearly as frightening as Tartarus.
“We’ve been keeping you here while we get some information about you, but so far we’ve found nothing.” He glanced at her intently before continuing. "Would you mind telling me a bit about yourself?"
"Yes, I would mind, actually," she spat. She was all bark and no bite and she knew it, and she felt pathetic about it; but still, she couldn’t help it.
"Fine, but I can't take off those restraints until I'm certain you won't try to escape and hurt somebody." He got up from his seat. "If you feel like talking, just call my name. I'll be outside."
Taking off the cuffs? Was she not in trouble?
"Wait!” She cringed at her eagerness. “If I tell you what you want, will I be able to go?"
"No." Obviously. Eraserhead stared at her again, analyzing her reactions. "The League of Villains had interest in you and we need to keep you safe from them. Or stop you from continuing to work with them, whatever the case."
"I wasn't working with them," she spat in a venomous, shaky tone. Eraserhead slightly narrowed his eyes in response. "I was sold to them. They kidnap people with useful quirks to experiment on them, but from time to time they let themselves spend a little on someone whose quirk has been trained and worked on so All For One can have it. Why buy an untrained puppy when you can get a veteran who already knows how to do the job?"
The girl stared at her tied hands, biting her lip until she tasted blood in an attempt to soothe her anxiety; whatever sedative they’d given her wasn’t strong enough.
It was the first time she had said all of it out loud—not that she’d had much of a chance to discuss her feelings with her captors, though. She didn’t remember much, but the fact she'd been sold like a product seemed to be tattooed on her soul. To the League, to All For One, to he who had promised to protect her all those years ago—to all of them she was just something to be squeezed out and tossed away like trash afterwards. Life had never been easy on her, and she'd grown accustomed to it. But if the heroes hadn't rescued her… That would've probably been it. The end.
It was a tough pill to swallow, to say the least.
"What will happen to me now?" She inquired in a hushed voice. A deep emptiness settled in her chest, and she decided it was no use trying to act as anything other than what she was anymore: prey. Wounded and beaten prey, laying belly-up as she waited for the coup de grâce.
“That depends on many things.” He applied a couple of eye drops as he continued. “Do you remember your name? Your quirk? Where you come from?”
She didn’t want to talk anymore. All she wanted was to curl up under the blankets and hide from the world for the rest of her life.
“Aiko. Bullseye. And…” She looked away from him. “I don’t know.”
“Bullseye, huh?” Her blood rushed to her cheeks as she heard the recognition in his voice. It was over. “I never expected the Viper to be so young.”
“Don’t you ever call me that!” Tears burned in her eyes and she was shaking all over again. He didn’t react at all, not even the slightest flinch. Of course not—she was just a silly girl chained to a hospital bed. Aiko swallowed down a sob, trying to hide her face in the pillow so he could not see her cry.
She opened her eyes to peer through the window. Outside, the sky was a beautiful, vibrant mix of lilac and blush tones. Dusk. Just like it had been that day. She tried to remember how or when she got there, to the warehouse, but her mind was a foggy mess. Aiko wondered if those memories would ever come back to her, and if it would be worse if they did or not. She could only remember the feeling of fighting tooth and nail as she was dragged into a cell, not even able to scream because she’d been gagged. The hot pain of betrayal, both from her own mind for not being able to recall and from knowing that the person she loved most had given her up for money, ran through her veins like molten lava. How could he do that to her?
“What happens now?” Aiko croaked out.
“I’m not going to lie, I’ve spent much of my time tracking down the Dokuhebi Clan and its upper ranking members, including you. But like I said, I never expected you to be a kid.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes.
Aiko started to feel numb, detaching herself from the situation; it was all too much. "I’ve hurt a lot of people, I will never deny it. But I also didn't enjoy doing it, not one bit. You need to believe me, I never saw a way out, I didn’t know what to do. The Dokuhebi Clan…” Her cold fingers dug into her palms. “I was one of the oldest girls there.”
One could probably cut the tension in the room with a knife at that point. Eraserhead still had a poker face, most of the nurses seemed confused, but she could see a hint of horror in the old lady’s small eyes. She was probably the only physician there with intel on the case.
She'd never spoken about the Clan with anyone outside of it before, how much the things she allowed to happen broke her heart. There were days where she didn’t feel human at all. And yet, not once had she ever tried to run away. You could blame it on that twisted love-hate relationship with her even more twisted father figure, or on her desire to protect her sisters, a lot of them who were dependent on her. But for Aiko it was plain unforgivable.
“You’re just a kid. It’s the adults’ job to make sure nothing like this ever happens,” Eraserhead broke the silence; there was compassion in his voice, something no one had ever offered her before. “What if I told you there is a way to bring down the Clan? Would you take the chance?”
Something in her stomach fluttered; it was all so surreal. It felt warm in the empty space where her heart should be, but she was also confused as to what she'd done to get this kind of treatment—this couldn’t be the way the heroes dealt with every villain they caught. Certainly it had to be because he wanted her quirk and skills, just like everyone else before him. Still, she let herself indulge a little. “What do you mean?”
“Do you still have your quirk?” He eluded her question, and the logical part of her brain said I told you so to the sentimental one.
"I think so… I feel the same as before they took me." How did it feel to not have a quirk, though? Was she supposed to feel its absence, kind of like a ghost limb? Aiko was so lost about everything going on.
"Well, we can run some physical tests when you recover. Thankfully you have no major injuries, just a few bruises here and there from the explosion. Your body might be significantly weaker due to being under cryogenic sleep for a while, but nothing that can’t be reversed with hard work." He studied her for a few moments. "That is, if you agree to stay here at UA and cooperate with the investigation on the Dokuhebi Clan."
The girl furrowed her brows, twisting her mouth in confusion. “Huh? Stay here as… a student or a prisoner?"
Was there really any difference, though? She didn't want any of those options. Besides, there was no way in hell they would ever let her study at UA, or anywhere else for that matter. It wasn't a lifestyle meant to be experienced by people like her; Eraserhead was probably fucking with her mind, giving her false hope so she would give in easily to the interrogations. She almost preferred Tartarus now—at least that way she could be sure of what awaited her.
"The decision falls entirely on you. You could either prove yourself trustworthy, give us the information we want and help with the case, or be difficult and be treated as such. A rational person would pick the former, but I've come to learn most people don't follow logic. Especially teenagers."
This couldn't be true. It was way too easy. Aiko wondered if she was hallucinating.
"And if I cooperate with you and be allowed to study here, where would I fit?" She asked with skepticism. The alarm bells were ringing in her ears; this dude was not being serious.
"Depending on your physical test results, you could be enrolled into General Studies or even the Hero Course—a student from my class has just dropped out due to all the villain attacks they’ve had to endure, so there is a free spot. If everything I’ve heard about your abilities is real, you could be a great addition to UA." Aizawa remained neutral as her own face demonstrated her stupefaction. "Let me be very clear before you get any wrong ideas: we are not extending this opportunity without reason. You have information we don't, so it would be a fair transaction—we offer you protection and a new life if you help us catch the Clan and the League in return."
She stared at him with her mouth agape.
“You said you knew who I was—who Viper was,” she deadpanned.
“Yes, and I also know you only did what you did to survive,” he came closer, lowering the volume of his voice, “and it would be a different story if the victims had been innocent civilians, trust me.”
“Still—”
“A true villain would never feel remorse for any of it. Don’t you think it’s better to become a hero capable enough of stopping the Clan and delivering justice to all the people they've hurt, than to admit defeat and letting guilt consume you while you rot in a cell?”
Aiko was tired, a knot in her throat making her incapable of vocalizing how her sins didn’t deserve forgiveness. And yet, a part of herself, a tiny part in her heart she'd tried to get rid of since she could remember, implored her to take a chance on being happy for a change. There it was, an opportunity to finally turn her life around, to start anew and do the right thing. Who in their right mind wouldn’t accept an offer like that? Was she really unworthy of redemption? Would she never forgive herself for what she’d been forced to do?
Her eyes burned once more with the tears she'd blinked away all her life, her pain so big she couldn't afford to feel it if she wanted to keep going. Finally, there it was: a glimmer of hope. A hero. Something Aiko never dared to dream about ever again after being left to fend for herself at such a young age.
“Okay." Her wobbly response resounded in her ears. She hadn't heard such vulnerability in her voice since she was a kid.
"Well, I'll be back in a few days to run the tests. You’re lucky to have arrived here right when UA is getting dorms, so you’ll have a place to stay and we will be able to keep a close eye on you." As he got up, Eraserhead locked his gaze on hers. “If it wasn’t clear by now, this is a deal. Some of us believe in rehabilitation, but it doesn’t mean we will let everything slide. As long as you show signs of improvement, we will take care of you and give you the necessary tools to better your life—but at the first sign of trouble, you are out. Do you understand?”
She nodded and he made way to the door. Only when it closed did Aiko realize she was now alone in the room; at some point the nurses had left. She wiggled her toes, still feeling like she was in a dream.
It was done. Just like that, Aiko was now on the way to becoming a UA student. How bizarre were the ways in which the universe worked sometimes. And yet she didn't question it, this new path of hers feeling so foreign and yet so befitting. Her childhood dream, her escapism tool when things got too dark. Destiny had guided her through hell and back to get to this point, to achieve this objective and help those who were in similar positions to hers. It was an honorable mission, even if she was pretty reluctant about it.
But it wasn’t like she had another choice.