Chapter Text
Izuku is late for work.
Again.
And as always, it’s not even his fault. Transit is down thanks to yet another villain attack but there is no way his boss is going to accept that excuse.
What does he take Izuku for, a fanboy?
...well fair actually, Izuku is a fanboy- but he’d never stop to ogle a fight when he’s got somewhere important to be! And definitely not when he’s already late!
What does his boss expect him to do- run to work?
Apparently yes and also, keep a spare suit in your office so you don’t stink up the place afterwards.
Asshole.
This is not where Izuku thought he’d be first year out of high school.
The way ahead is technically clear now, but considering the villains attacking are a group of five, and the backup for the only hero on scene has yet to arrive, Izuku isn’t going to make things harder on the heroes by trying to get through.
Even if he can practically hear his boss yelling at him already.
“This keeps happening because you insist on getting the signatures on foot! If public transit is down, you should just take a taxi instead!”
Just take a taxi. Just take a taxi! As if Izuku has the spare funds to lay the expense out while he fights with accounting about a petty cash reimbursement. And it’ll be a fight that’s for sure. Without a note from his boss okaying the deed in advance Aki would never allot company funds for the quirkless kid who’s apparently only good for coffee runs and hand delivering contracts to and from clients.
”They don’t even let you handle the filing Midoriya.”
Quirkist assholes the lot of them!
...Izuku is maybe a little bitter.
High school had been… somehow worse than middle school, even without Kacchan in his daily life. Being treated like he was useless -or even worse, like that made him mentally deficient, had gotten old real fast.
At least Aldera hadn’t automatically signed him up for remedial classes without even letting him take the tests first.
And they hadn’t talked to him like he had the mental acuity of a five-year-old either.
(They hadn’t talked to him at all but that was somehow better if this was the only alternative.)
This day has barely even started and yet Izuku is somehow already ready to be crawling back into his shitty little bed in his shitty little apartment. Why did he let his mom move to America again?
‘...because I was tired of being a burden on her and wanted her to be happy?’
And she definitely is happy if the sound of her laughter during their weekly phone calls is anything to go by. He could have joined her, Hisashi had made that very clear but…
Useless
Worthless
Deku will never amount to anything
‘I just wanted the chance to prove that I could make it on my own…’
His black briefcase of files suddenly feels like a heavy shackle in his grip. And it’s not even an exaggeration as the thing weighs significantly more than one would expect of a bag like this.
”It's practically bulletproof so even someone like you can keep it safe.”
Izuku lets out a long sigh.
He’s just. So tired.
If there was any other job willing to hire him, he’d quit this place in a heartbeat.
But who else would agree to hire a quirkless kid with less than zero credentials?
Up ahead a villain with four bulky arms lifts an empty car and lobs it down the street, while two of his four teammates head into a jewelry store. The car flies fast heading towards- a bus full of trapped kids, having previously crashed onto its side, oh no!
The sole hero that’s been struggling to hold them off, Twinjet- a speed hero who uses airblasts from her hands for offense, defense as well as mobility- lets out a panicked yell. Even if she pushed her quirk to the very limits to reach the bus in time, all she’d accomplish would be impacting with the flying car herself.
Where is her backup-?
A living shadow suddenly swells upwards into the shape of a large taloned hand and catches the car with ease.
A relieved sigh leaves Izuku’s lips as Tsukuyomi begins efficiently helping civilians out of the bus through a window while Dark Shadow provides defense.
‘Good, smart, but they can’t honestly expect Twinjet to defeat five villains on her own-’
Hawks flies past overhead and the civilians cheer in gratitude and relief.
Izuku allows himself a small bittersweet smile. Seeing Hawks around this area is inevitable but the sight of him always reminds Izuku that it is Hawks who is the number one hero now.
‘When Kacchan got snatched by villains while at the UA training camp, no one could have imagined it would lead to All Might’s death. The Symbol of Peace absolutely decimated his opponent- a villain later dubbed the Scourge of Kamino posthumously- though at great personal cost. I was probably the only one watching that knew why the villain kept hitting him on his side but All Might didn’t let something as trivial as an old injury stop him…'
'In the end he was right. Without a quirk, someone like me would never have been able to push past all of that pain and injury to make sure that the villain went down too... Hawks had only become number two after that, but then a couple months later there were hushed talks of a secret Endeavor scandal leading to his own announced retirement. Even a hero nerd like me hasn’t been able to find out what really happened. And the media’s been pretty harsh about it all, expressing on multiple occasions that they’d feel better with someone older like Best Jeanist or Gang Orca in the top spot- but honestly I think that’s ridiculous. This is Hawks’ terf and while the hero may still be on the young side his record is impeccable!’
Izuku’s lip twitches despite himself.
‘...im-peck-able... because he’s a bird…’
One hand comes up to cover his laugh.
‘No! No laughing Izuku! It’s not appropriate to make jokes during a villain attack! Even if the pun was… im-peck-able…’
He pinches himself on the arm to cut off the laughter.
‘Stop that you need to focus! The villains could decide to target us civilians at any moment, though I guess they really do revel in the attention so much that they would allow all the idiots holding phones up to survive.’
Just then, Hawks swoops and spins in midair, his feathers flying free towards the three visible villains while Twinjet blasts into the jewelry store to stop the heist.
Which is of course when Four-Arms throws another car at Tsukuyomi and the two villains beside him pull out what look like heavily modified guns.
Izuku’s mind races even as Four-Arms begins a heavy assault that Dark Shadow starts to struggle with while Hawks is forced to wheel around in the air as a hail of bullets is sent his way.
‘If they’re using guns that means most likely their quirks aren’t useful for this situation. Hawks’ original position allowed him to block the sun from shining directly onto Tsukuyomi’s quirk which is an unavoidable weakness during the daytime hours as some of his old sports festival battles have shown. Ordinarily Tsukuyomi himself wouldn’t remain stationary like this either but with him needing to help every single person climb out of the bus through that one window he’s a sitting duck!’
His lips start to twitch at the reflexive, ‘You mean a sitting crow?’ but Izuku immediately forces the laugh back down this time. He needs to think.
‘So Dark Shadow no longer has time to drop the projectiles they’re catching as it would take too long to make sure that there’s no one else in the way. The stack in their grip is growing and they’re clearly starting to strain. Tsukuyomi looks like he’s saying something to them but he’s also not looking up from the civilians who need him, which- that’s an amazing amount of trust in his quirk as well as coolness under pressure! Truly the mark of a great hero who actually survived the multiple villain attacks on class 1A! It’s so- Focus Izuku! Alright! Here’s what I know: Tsukuyomi and by extension Dark Shadow are sitting… crows… unable to abandon their position. And while I couldn't be sure before, it really does seem like the villains are now deliberately keeping Hawks from casting his shadow over Tsukuyomi- logical given that UA’s sports festivals are mass broadcasted for anyone to view and the whole ‘Go Plus Ultra’ thing means most students aren’t holding back from showing their true powers- which, what the fuck UA? You telling me not a single analyst sat down and said “Hey! Maybe we shouldn’t do this since it gives villains front row seat to weaknesses? And” -OH MY GOD I’VE REACHED NEW HEIGHTS; I’M RAMBLING MIDRAMBLE!’
He slaps his hands onto his cheeks to get back on track- forgetting momentarily about the reinforced briefcase still in his hand.
Ow.
Izuku ignores the strange looks he’s getting and retraces his mental steps to see what it was that he’d almost discovered.
‘Dark Shadow targeted. Straining. Hawks being kept away by bullets (and man somebody needs to deal with that at some point because fired bullets don’t just disappear, what goes up must come down, so someone somewhere could be getting shot by this right now)- wait. That’s the key! They’re keeping Hawks away which means they know he was covering for Tsukuyomi which means they know Tsukuyomi’s weakness! Four-Arms has enough strength in each individual arm that only two of them are focusing on the barrage on Dark Shadow while the other two are keeping Hawks’ feathers from landing any hits to stop him. But none of them are aiming the guns at Tsukuyomi or even at the crowd. Is that because if they let up on Hawks even a little, he’ll take them down? But this situation isn’t sustainable, sooner or later they’re going to run out of bullets. So what’s the play? What’s the play? Are they banking ha it’s not a bank it’s a jewelry store- NOT THE TIME on the two villains in the store managing to take down Twinjet in time to come back into the fray so they can reload?’
Out of the corner of Izuku's eye he can see the people nearest to him shuffling away, as if his mumblings are frightening. And isn’t that something, that his rambling thoughts muttered aloud are somehow scarier to them than their proximity to a literal battlefield.
Four-Arms rips a nearby stop sign from the ground and it comes up along with a solid chunk of concrete. He swings it wildly before throwing it and Dark Shadow is forced to stretch upwards to avoid the hit.
Leaving them, and their pile of projectiles… directly… over… Tsukuyomi…
Izuku’s eyes widen as the pieces finally slot into place.
He is the only one watching for it and so he is the only one to notice when one shooter shifts her gun to her right hand so she can start to pull her left glove off with her teeth.
Light peeks through from underneath, her skin seeming to glow and shine, and Izuku realizes that this was the plan all along. In but a moment Hawks will see it too and then he’ll swoop down to save his sidekick and they’ll both be buried under the heavy pile of everything Dark Shadow is holding when the quirk is made to shrink down into nothing.
Everything else has changed but one thing remains the same.
Someone is in trouble right in front of him and his feet move on their own.
‘Oh good.’ Izuku thinks somewhat hysterically. ‘I’ve graduated from backpack to briefcase.’
And then he is twisting for momentum and letting it fly, the reinforced bag slamming into the distracted villain's head with a satisfying thunk that immediately takes her out of the equation.
Things wrap up fairly quickly after Izuku brains the trump card villainess with his briefcase. Four-Arms is immediately distracted by his teammate getting knocked out, and with a mighty heave Dark Shadow buries him in everything they’d been holding instead. Izuku approves of the irony.
The remaining shooter tries to run but without the rain of bullets keeping Hawks away he doesn’t get more than a single step before he too is taken down.
With the immediate danger passed, Tsukuyomi and his quirk climb into the bus to help the very injured civilians leave and Hawks swoops into the jewelry store to see what was keeping Twinjet.
Izuku quickly heads over to retrieve his fallen briefcase, which is when he sees all the phone cameras pointed his way.
Fuck, he is so fired.