Chapter Text
The night was cold and wet, and Vireo was beginning to regret his decision to patrol tonight. His hoodie did little to protect him from the rain that had started, and instead it was clinging to his skin. The humidity wasn’t helping his hair either, which was trying even harder to escape the pins barely containing it. The only good thing about the rain was that if his hair did get out, it would look nearly black rather than its distinctive color.
Unfortunately, the rain didn’t seem to have stopped anyone else from going out to commit crimes. Below him, in what they probably thought was a well hidden alley, were five people having a lively discussion about drugs. And by lively discussion, Vireo meant all out brawl with shouts scattered in. Only the one carrying a briefcase, probably where the drugs were based on their limited conversation, wasn’t actively participating in the fight. Instead, he was standing at the end of the alley with a semi transparent wall in front of him.
Vireo sighed, but prepared to drop down. It would be best to pick them off while they were fighting each other. Which meant the guy holding the drugs was safe for now and would have to be left for last. If he was attacked and the drugs were taken, it was likely that the others would gang up on him to get them. Fighting four people at once was rarely a good idea.
Before he joined them though, he watched to see if he could get an idea of any of their quirks. The most obvious one was the mutation quirk that gave the criminal spines along his back and arms, though he couldn’t tell if they had another part to them, such as poison. Another seemed to have a strength enhancement quirk based on the steadily forming cracks in the pavement and the loud thuds with her every step.
The other two’s quirks weren’t quite as clear and could easily be unrelated. While the third could have had one which heightened reflexes, they weren’t something that couldn’t be gained through skill and experience. Vireo was living proof of that. The only thing that seemed to stand out about the fourth was her bright, rainbow colored hair. But it was just as likely to be dyed as it was to be a quirk.
Quietly, Vireo scaled down the alley wall, sticking to the shadows and, hopefully, out of the criminals’ line of sight. While the four fighting were preoccupied, the fifth who had the drugs, only really had to keep watch and would be on the eye for anything weird. From his lower vantage point, now hidden behind a dumpster, he began to plot how he wanted to deal with the situation. He’d have to attack the spiky guy from the front. The spines on his back caused too much of an issue and were a good defense for his blind spot. As much as he wanted strength and reflexes to continue fighting, and for one of them to beat the other for him, the best way for Vireo to beat reflexes would be through a surprise attack, meaning he’d have to fight them first. He also couldn’t just let the fight continue and hope nobody died in the process. The rainbow haired one was an unknown in all this. Even though she hadn’t shown a quirk, it didn’t mean that she didn’t have one.
He didn’t have much time to think. He’d have to attack Reflex first and try to knock them out as quickly as possible. Then he’d fight Strength, doing much the same as reflexes only with metal pipes, probably ending up using her as a shield against Spikes and hope that they aren’t poisonous. He’ll have to improvise from the rest since he doesn’t know how the other three will react, especially since he’s a vigilante.
Diving forward with his pipes read, Vireo aimed a strike at the back of reflex’s head, hopefully hard enough to knock him out, but not cause permanent damage. Strength’s eyes widened slightly at Vireo’s sudden appearance. Reflex, noticing her reaction, began to turn around, but not in time to avoid the blow to his head. That had worked surprisingly well, much better than Vireo could have hoped.
The reason behind that soon became apparent when a gray scarf wrapped around strength, pinning her arms, and was followed by a kick. The second criminal fell, her nose now bleeding, as Eraserhead landed next to Vireo. With two down, it was no surprise that the other three noticed the commotion. Spikes and Rainbow, who’d been fighting each other, paused briefly to turn and look at the newly arrived hero and vigilante.
“Get out of here,” Rainbow called over their shoulder at the guy with the drugs. He nodded quickly and turned to run off. The semi-wall stayed where it was, and Vireo hoped it would disappear soon.
“We had a deal!” Spikes roared, aiming a punch at Rainbow. He didn’t seem to get from all the fighting that maybe whatever deal they had was off.
Sharing a quick glance with Eraserhead, Vireo took off after the guy with the drugs. Eraserhead had a lot more experience and would be able to easily hold his own against the two left. Much better than Vireo would, especially with an unknown quirk in the mix. As he chased drug dude down the street, it became obvious that he didn’t know how to fight, or run, really. When he turned and saw the vigilante rapidly catching up to him, he threw another wall up behind him. The attempt was ultimately pointless.
Vireo jumped and climbed up a lamp post, using it to get over the wall. Leaping off the lamp post, he tackled the villain to the ground. The case clattered to the ground as the man coughed. A quick jab to his head knocked him out before he could try anything else. With a huff, Vireo dragged him over and zip tied him to the lamp post. It would work well enough for now. The main issue now was what to do with the drugs. He couldn’t just leave them sitting on the street. That was irresponsible and a terrible idea. And it wasn’t like he could bring them back to the fight with him or leave Eraserhead to deal with the last two villains on his own.
Vireo squinted at the case for a few moments before shrugging and picking it up. He’d had worse ideas before. Besides, if it came to it, the case was basically a blunt weapon. So long as Spikes didn’t tear through the metal, it'd probably be fine. Wouldn’t be good if he simultaneously destroyed evidence and spread unknown drugs in an alley they were fighting in.
As it turned out, he hadn’t needed to worry about any of that. When he arrived in the alley, Eraserhead had already knocked out the remaining villains and was finishing up handcuffing them. In lieu of an actual greeting, Vireo held up the metal case. “I got the drugs.” Eraserhead’s eyes glowed red behind his goggles as he looked up, hair floating up above his head. “There’s also a guy zip tied to a lamp post just down the street. Thought you might want to know that.”
“Vireo,” Eraserhead gritted out. “Vigilantism is illegal. So is interfering in hero work and using your quirk on others.” The hero didn’t make any move toward him though, instead letting his quirk drop.
“Right,” Vireo responded, rocking back on his heels. He could hear faint sirens in the distance. Eraserhead had already called in the incident, it seemed. Probably while Vireo was getting the drugs. “Well, this was fun.”
“Problem child, this is illegal.”
“Uh huh,” he nodded, glancing down the street as the sirens got louder. “Catch!” Chucking the metal case full of drugs at the pro hero who was probably supposed to be arresting him, Vireo took off down the street and onto the rooftops.
Eraserhead was barely able to let out a surprised “What” before the case was flying at him. It was one of Vireo’s more dramatic exits, but he couldn’t afford being arrested by the police. At least Eraserhead wouldn’t be chasing him. He’d be stuck at the alley until the police showed up. That was one thing Vireo liked about the hero. He cared more about making sure that the villains were arrested and civilians were safe than capturing a vigilante that had only ever helped the heroes.
He paused on the roof of a building not too far away and watched the guy he’d zip tied to a lamp to make sure no one got away while they waited for the police to arrive. As expected, Eraserhead stayed in the alley, only glancing out to check on the fifth guy. Once he was sure that everything was under control and none of the villains would be escaping, Vireo continued on his route. It was still early, or at least not yet too much past midnight, and even though he really didn’t want to be out in the rain, Eraserhead was caught up at the moment. Somebody had to make sure the streets were safe, and if Eraserhead was busy, then Vireo might as well take up the slack.
Chapter Text
Izuku was surprised he didn’t wake up with a cold the next day. The rain had persisted the entire night. By the time he made it home water had soaked all the way through his hoodie and his skin was wrinkly. His pipes had slipped out of his hands numerous times and he could have sworn a lake had formed in his boots. Somehow, miraculously, despite all of that, he woke up feeling no different than usual. He was tired and his muscles were sore, but that was normal for after a patrol. He didn’t have a fever and his nose wasn’t running, so he figured he was fine.
That was all well and good, because he had a cafe to run, no matter how much he wanted to sleep for a few more minutes. It wasn’t making him any money. If anything, the cafe was probably costing him some on occasion. Whatever he did make was canceled out by the cost for ingredients and rent. All of his expenses were paid for by the analyst work he did. While he had been analyzing just about everything since he was a toddler, it wasn’t until he was about fourteen that he actually got paid for it.
After certain events and several long nights of searching, he’d found a reputable site which hosted analysts, contractors, ghost writers, and others who could be independently commissioned. What was great about it was that unlike other similar sites, it didn’t require a lot of information to sign up. That was great for Izuku, because at the time he was a minor who, legally speaking, shouldn’t be running a business. It was also great, because he doubted anyone would trust a fourteen year old quirkless child with anything important, let alone pay him for analysis.
In fact, the site didn’t even allow you to put in your name or sensitive information. Instead, it asked for an alias. Several hours of deliberating and one latin dictionary later, Izuku had decided on Quaero. It was latin for “I seek” or “I inquire” and he thought it fit. He also didn’t have any other ideas. It wasn’t like he could use Deku. Nobody else would willingly choose to call themselves that and it was far too recognizable for if- when- certain people became heroes.
It was a few years before he was able to interact with any heroes. He hadn’t even known that the site was mostly dedicated to heroes before he got the email informing him of the change in his account status. Apparently, the publicly available portion of the site was a cover. The main purpose was to provide heroes with access to trusted analysts, connections, and secure communication. On the bright side, heroes paid more and being a professional account brought more civilian customers.
Izuku groaned as he rolled out of bed and stretched before heading down to the cafe. He grabbed a coffee and a muffin from the day before for breakfast, then went about getting the shop ready. Pastries had to be baked fresh each morning and ingredients prepped for throughout the day. Unfortunately, the Green Valley wasn’t as popular or well known as other cafes nearby, so business was almost always slow. That did mean, however, that he could spend more time working on analysis.
Shota frowned as he walked to UA, feeling too tired to deal with his students. The universe seemed to have it out for him that day. Patrol the night before had run longer than usual as he had to chase down several criminals at the very end and fill out paperwork afterward. To make matters worse, the coffee machine at home had broken that morning and the cafe he usually went to was closed for renovations. He was tired and caffeine-free, a combination you never wanted to be when dealing with hyper, overpowered teens that constantly wanted to show off.
He'd seen a cafe a few times on patrol that wasn't too far out of his way, but he had no idea if it was open. He'd never passed it on his way to UA before. All he knew was that it wasn't open at 2am or part of a chain. The coffee could be terrible for all he knew, but so long as it was better than what was in the teacher's lounge, it would do.
He let out a small sigh of relief when he rounded the corner and saw light illuminating the sidewalk outside the cafe. A small bell chimed as he pulled the door open. The cafe wasn’t very big, small enough to be cozy but not cramped, and had a few tables and chairs scattered around. The barista, who had previously been hunched over some papers, stood up quickly with a smile. “Good morning! Welcome to Green Valley Cafe. What can I get for you?” the barista, Midoriya according to his name tag, asked as he slipped the papers under the counter.
“A large black coffee,” Shota replied. He didn’t need anything fancy, just caffeine. Midoriya nodded, ringing him up before starting to make the coffee. As he waited, he busied himself by considering what the papers Midoriya had been working on were. He seemed young, no more than twenty though likely a year or two younger. It was too early in the morning for him to be a high schooler since classes started in less than an hour. He could be a university student with afternoon or evening classes, in which case the papers were probably homework or class notes. They could also be related to a hobby. If the lack of other customers was anything to go off of, it was probably slow early in the morning and he had time to kill.
Shota didn’t have much longer to think about it as Midoriya returned with his coffee. Even if the coffee ended up not being good, it was at least quick. “Ah, thank you,” he said as he took the coffee.
“Of course! Have a good day, Eraserhead-san,” Midoriya said, freezing almost as soon as he did, seemingly realizing what he’d just said.
Shota paused for a moment, surprised at being recognized, before recovering. “You too, Midoriya-san.” He left the cafe and continued on his way to UA. He’d have to go back to keep an eye on Midoriya. It was very rare for a civilian to recognize him, especially since the only civilians who saw him were the ones he saved. For a barista he’d never seen before to recognize him, something had to be up.
He took a sip of the coffee. It could have been how tired he was, but the coffee was delicious, better than what he got at the other cafe. He hoped that Midoriya ended up being a normal civilian, if only so he could keep getting coffee there.
Izuku slumped over as soon as Eraserhead was out of sight. He hadn’t expected to see the hero so soon, especially not in his cafe. It was just last night that he’d run into him on patrol. Last night when he chucked a metal case at him and was sassy. Why had he done that? Admittedly, it wasn’t too out of the ordinary for him, but that was as Vireo. He didn’t expect to run into the hero Izuku.
What if he recognized his voice? He didn’t have any way to disguise it. Eraserhead knew that VIreo was young, regularly calling him a problem child. Without the mask and hoodie covering his features, it would be even easier for him to guess his age. He had to know that Izuku was in the right age range to be Vireo. Since Eraserhead was a hero, it wouldn’t be hard for him to look up and find out everything about him. Where he lived, where he went to school, the fact that he was quirkless- oh, right.
Eraserhead thought Vireo had a quirk. A random quirkless civilian he met would be the last person he suspected of being a vigilante. It was unheard of. Even if said civilian was the same age and height as the person he was looking for. And honestly sounded really similar- you know, a panic attack probably isn’t the best way to start the morning.
Taking a few deep breaths, he stood back up and pulled out the analysis he had been working on. There wasn’t any baking he had to do and working on analysis would hopefully get his mind off the interaction. Besides, the more analysis he could get done, the better off he’d be.
Most of his income came from the analysis commissions, instead of the cafe which wasn’t making any money, especially since he was renting the space. He started the cafe as a front so that it looked like he had an actual job and wasn’t getting money from seemingly nowhere. That way, if anyone was looking into either Vireo or Quaero, he wouldn’t appear suspicious. They were less likely to look into a supposedly normal citizen. Of course, if they looked at his bank records, they’d see the secondary income, but he was probably already doomed at that point.
Eraserhead was the only hero that actually knew he existed, so there weren’t many that could investigate him. As far as he knew, at least. Unfortunately, Eraserhead was probably one of the best underground heroes out there and the worst possible hero to know about him with the exception of Nighteye and Nezu. And he was doing it again. He shook his head and focused back on his analysis. It’d be a bit before another customer came in.
unknownoir on Chapter 1 Sun 25 Sep 2022 04:06PM UTC
Comment Actions
gaymedievaldruid on Chapter 2 Sun 02 Oct 2022 08:07PM UTC
Comment Actions
CaeAbyss on Chapter 2 Sun 02 Oct 2022 08:41PM UTC
Comment Actions
BlackyDemon14 on Chapter 2 Sun 10 Mar 2024 12:22AM UTC
Comment Actions