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Part 5 of For The Want Of A Nail
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Published:
2021-09-02
Updated:
2023-01-08
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62,657
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35/?
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Shadows: The Horror Movie Heroes

Summary:

Izuku Midoriya and Hitoshi Shinso are never going to be the kind of heroes that make civilains think ‘oh, thank god we’re saved,’ when they arrive at the scene. There's too much prejudice against them, so a kid with a villain quirk and one with no quirk at all are never going to be able to inspire that sort of trust.

So instead of becoming heroes that bring hope, they decide to become the next best thing.

The kind of heroes that make villains think, ‘oh, fuck, we’re screwed.’

This fic has a discord.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes and other works inspired by this one.)

Chapter 1: Fear as a Weapon

Chapter Text

Izuku couldn’t breathe. 

“Sorry kid.” The sludge villain squeezed a little tighter. “I didn’t know All Might was in town, I can’t afford to stick around.”

Izuku’s vision started going dark and he clawed uselessly at the villain. This was really it, wasn’t it? He was going to die. Reluctantly, he stopped fighting, slowly giving into fear and dread as the rest of his air ran out. 

“Detroit….Smash!!!”

Izuku heard a terrified scream from the villain before he passed out and the next thing he knew he was getting slapped awake by All Might. Wait…

“All Might?!” Izuku sat straight up. “You saved me?! Of course you saved me! I...thank you for saving me, I have a notebook...will you please…”

All Might gave a booming laugh and handed him his notebook, “Already done, my boy! My apologies for letting you get caught by that villain! Back in the day, he would never have even reached the sewers! Now if you’ll excuse me I must be on my way!”

“Wait!” Izuku reached toward him. “I have so much to ask…”

Kacchan was right. Izuku was an idiot. He’d realized that All Might was about to launch off, but he’d grabbed onto his leg anyway. He knew how far All Might could jump! He knew every statistic there was on him! He knew how dangerous that was! Why in the world had he done that?!

As soon as he noticed Izuku, All Might started shaking his leg, “Come on, kid, I get being a fan, but this is too much!”

Izuku clung on even tighter, “If I let go now I’ll die!”

“Oh…” All Might blinked like he hadn’t even thought about that and grabbed Izuku’s collar. “Right. Just close your mouth and eyes kid. You look gross.”

Izuku did as he was told and after a few seconds, he felt a jolt as All Might landed. Immediately, all the terror-fueled strength he’d hadn’t known he’d had left him and he collapsed onto the ground, “I’m alive!”

“Barely.” All Might huffed. “What was so important that you did something so stupid, kid?”

“I…” Izuku pulled himself to his feet. “I needed to ask you a question.”

“Well, kid, out with it.” All Might prodded. “I don’t have all day, you know!”

Izuku took a deep breath, “It’s just...my whole life, I’ve wanted to be a hero, but everybody says I can’t. So, uh, is it possible...even though I’m quirkless, can I be a hero like you?!”

Sometime while he was talking, smoke started filling the rooftop and by the time he gathered his courage to look, All Might was...gone? Izuku screamed.

“It’s still me kid, don’t be so dramatic.” All Might groaned and lifted up his shirt to show Izuku a large scar. “This is a scary career kid. You fight powerful villains head on long enough and...well, this injury was just one guy. So can you be a hero kid? Not without a quirk.”

All Might kept talking, but Izuku was too focused on holding back his tears to hear any of it. At some point, All Might pushed past him and after that, there was really no point in staying, so Izuku forced himself to get moving. He’d really just been lying to himself all these years, hadn’t he? 

Izuku didn’t really know where he was going. Probably home, since there was no point in going to the villain fight he could hear going on in the distance, now that his notes were useless. If even All Might said it was impossible, then it was true. He couldn’t be a hero. What was he going to do now?

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he almost didn’t hear the commotion in the alleyway. It wasn’t nearly as loud as the fight in the distance, but it was still enough to get his attention. Now that he was paying attention, Izuku could hear punches being landed and someone yelling about a villain and before he knew it, he was walking toward the fight on autopilot. It must be a minor villain, probably with a weaker quirk. The ones with stronger quirks usually drew a crowd and most of the heroes were probably at the other fight, so even if he was still going to be a hero, there really wasn’t any point in watching. 

He found himself rushing to the alley anyway, only to skid to a stop as he realized it wasn’t a villain fight at all. A group of kids his own age was clumped around a few ringleaders, who were either pinning down or beating up their current victim, a lanky kid with purple hair and...well, it was most likely a verbal quirk, considering that the bullies were bothering to cover his mouth. If it had been Izuku, Kacchan would have just let him scream. 

“Why are you even thinking of applying for UA?” One of the ringleaders sneered. “You’re a villain and that’s what you’ll always be! Why would a school like UA even think of letting someone like you be a hero?!”

So the kid had a villain’s quirk. Izuku winced sympathetically. That was pretty much as bad as being quirkless in a lot of people’s eyes. Somebody landed a punch to the kid’s gut and he let out a muffled grunt. Izuku couldn’t help himself. He’d stood between Kacchan and the other kids so many times that his feet moved on their own and he took two steps forward until the kid saw him. Instead of looking at him with hope or gratefulness, though, the kid just shook his head sternly and shook his head. Izuku froze. 

One of the bullies snarled, “What are you looking at, villain?

Izuku ducked behind a dumpster as the bully turned his head. The kid obviously didn’t want him interfering, not that Izuku could do much good anyway, but still… After a few seconds, he peeked out, but made sure to keep to the shadows as much as he could so he wouldn’t be seen. The bullies were looking around nervously and even though they’d turned back to the kid, they had obviously been thrown off their rhythm. Interesting...

“Do you think he somehow called for one of his villain friends?” One of the lackeys hissed. “What are we gonna do if he calls for backup?”

“He didn’t call for backup.” A ringleader insisted, but Izuku noted with surprise that he didn’t believe it. “The villain doesn’t have any friends to come help him in the first place.”

Izuku frowned. He at least had Kacchan, even though he wasn’t quite sure if that counted as friendship, but from the sound of it, this kid didn’t have any friends at all...that must be so lonely! There must be something he could do to help…

The bullies were still nervous and a couple had started shifting like they were about to bolt. Izuku had to stop himself before he started muttering. They were that thrown off just by the suggestion that back-up was coming? What were they so afraid of? Was it just that they didn’t know what might come? If they knew who was hiding, they wouldn’t be scared at all, so that fear of the unknown must be part of it. What if they thought he had a strong quirk? Would they be more scared or less?

One of the bullies glanced around the alley before huffing and shoving the kid to the ground, “Whatever, I was getting bored anyway. Don’t even bother applying to UA, villain.”

The kid glared after them and Izuku ducked back behind the dumpster as they stalked out of the alley. He waited until the last one was gone before running toward the kid, “Hey, are you ok?”

The kid rolled his eyes. “Just peachy.” 

“Oh, I, uh, I have a first aid kit!” Izuku swung his bag off his shoulder and started digging through it. “I have badges and burn cream and…”

“Don’t bother. I have my own.” 

The kid was already kneeling next to his own backpack and within a second he’d pulled out a first aid kit just as intense as Izuku’s, “So, you’re obviously pretty beat up too. What do they hate you for?”

“Oh,” Izuku’s face fell, “I’m, uh, I’m quirkless…”

All of a sudden, Izuku’s brain felt fuzzy and his arms fell limply at his sides, his fingers barely managing to hang onto the strap of his backpack. The kid refused to look at him as he started bandaging his bruises, “Go away.”

Izuku couldn’t say he was very surprised when his body started obeying on it’s own. Brainwashing would explain why the other kids were calling him a villain and why they were covering his mouth, since it seemed to activate with a question. That was such a cool quirk! He really hoped that kid ignored his bullies and tried for UA anyway because he would be able to save so many people someday!

It took a few blocks to qualify as away enough for the quirk to deactivate, and the moment he had his brain back, Izuku sighed in defeat. There was no point in turning around and trying to find the kid again, he was probably long gone by now, but Izuku had ended up wandering in the direction of the other villain fight, so he might as well stop by there now. It didn’t take him long at all to find the crowd, but instead of catching the tail end of the clean up, the fight was still going on. That must be one strong villain!

“How long has that kid been in there?”

“I dunno, but if he’s still alive, he hasn’t got long.”

The villain had a hostage? What was the villain’s quirk? Was it something with fire or...Izuku finally elbowed his way through enough of the crowd to be able to see the villain and he gasped. The sludge villain must have escaped the bottles that All Might shoved him in!

This was his fault. If he hadn’t grabbed onto All Might, he wouldn’t have dropped the bottles and even if for some reason he had, then he would have still had just enough time left to recapture him! Izuku cursed himself and pushed a little closer. Was the hostage even still alive? Izuku had felt like he was going to die after only a few seconds!

The hostage was struggling weakly at this point, but considering all the fires the heroes were fighting, he must have some sort of fire quirk. Izuku leaned forward as he saw a tiny bit of flame burst from one of the victim’s hands...no! It was an explosion! 

“Kacchan!” Izuku yelled and almost started running before he caught himself. That kid earlier was right. If he went out there right now, he’d just be an extra victim for the heroes to save, but...there had to be something he could do! All Might wasn’t coming, he was all out of energy for the day, but...well, actually the villain didn’t know that, did he? 

In spite of himself, Izuku smiled. The sludge villain was terrified of All Might, just like those bullies had been scared of him when he’d hidden behind the dumpster...well, more scared of the idea of him, but still...They’d given up rather than risk fighting against an enemy they couldn’t beat.

A half-baked plan already in mind, Izuku took a big breath and yelled at the top of his lungs, “All Might’s at a fight just down the street! He’ll be here any minute!”

The crowd started chanting All Might’s name and the villain instantly tensed, torn between taking over his hostage, who wouldn’t be a very good disguise at this point, and making a run for it. Izuku elbowed his way to the very front of the crowd. He just needed to give one final push. 

The villain was looking around frantically for All Might, so it didn’t take long for his eyes to widen in recognition as he spotted Izuku in the crowd. Izuku gave his best, most confident smile as he called out, “Well? Do you really think you can escape the number one hero again? Really?” 

The villain hesitated for one final second before expelling Kacchan onto the pavement with a squelch and making a run for it. The heroes rushed him instantly, no longer having to avoid hurting Kacchan or risk getting caught in one of his explosions and it didn’t take long before the sludge villain was once again in custody. 

Izuku weaved his way back through the crowd before Kacchan could see him and made his way home deep in thought. He’d asked All Might if a quirkless kid could be a hero like him, and the answer he got was true. Izuku would never be like All Might, he wouldn’t be able to bring hope the way the symbol of peace was, but...he thought back the way the bullies and the villain had run away. 

Maybe he could be another kind of hero instead.