Eri
Today was the day of yet another successful heist for the Volcano Thieves. It was practically clockwork at this point, and that was due to their unbeatable timeline for their robberies, as well as their bread and butter combination they used to take valuables.
First, the three of them would scout a place. Like a nice bank, for instance. Second, they'd wait a bit. Get a good read on the place and all that.
Third? Run the place down and take all they could with their combination attack.
Tsumuji Kazetani, aka Gust Boy. His quirk, Fan, allowed him to create powerful winds and strong-ish tornadoes by spinning his wrists.
He was their opener. He would cause as much chaos and destruction as possible in order to distract the heroes and police, as well as the people managing the place they would steal from.
Konako Haizono, aka Dusty Ash. Her quirk, Dust, allowed her to create ash-like dust from her body. Thus, the name "Dusty Ash."
She would create as much dust as she could, and then Gust Boy would again use his quirk to spread it around. They trained their quirks hard and thus were able to create massive, thick smokescreens that strengthened chaos, distracted and disoriented everyone, and bolstered their cover.
Maguma Iwata, aka Volcano, was the leader of this trio. His quirk, Eruption, allowed him to literally burn fat and use it to produce a lava-like substance and eject it.
He was responsible for smashing through any defenses their choice place of robbing had. And, as always, he excelled at his job.
They found each other by dumb luck and came together to form an unstoppable trio that would take what they wanted, whenever they wanted.
All of them had been through severe poverty and quirk discrimination in their childhood, and they understood each other's pain well. Because of which, and because they were each essential to their plans, they were fiercely loyal to each other.
Together, they became rich beyond their wildest dreams, ate the finest cuisines, and lived luxuriously. Their birthdays, which they never celebrated in their younger years, they celebrated together. Frequently, they would splurge a little and live how they always wanted.
They were walked on their wholes live, and as long as they lived, they would walk back on everyone else. They had no one, and now they had each other.
Today was their most successful heist yet. The Yaoyorozu Corporation was spoiled. They became one of the richest corporate conglomerates in the world by funding hero agencies around the world, primarily in Japan.
Though, they did other things. Like funding and selling technology like support items, all kinds of everyday essentials, and even jewelry, the latter being what the trio of Thieves stole today.
They ran away from one of the luxury jewelry stores the Yaoyorozu Corporation owned, which they picked dry, at top speed. Their [Fan] + [Dust] combination, as well as the screams of the civilians masking them perfectly.
"You know, Volcano, we should REALLY get a car or something!" Gust said as he ran and leaped with his friends.
"None of us can drive, remember?!" Volcano retorts. He was carrying the most valuables. And he was quite fast despite being pretty big. "Besides, cars can be tracked! And we're plenty athletic!"
"Yeah, but still!" Dusty adds as they all cut through several alleys. "There HAS to be an easier way to carry all of this good shit!"
"We'll talk more about this later!" Volcano says as they arrived and ran through another smoke covered street without issue. "For now, focus on running!"
Then, something unexpected happened. In an instant, a deafening thunderclap hits their ears, stunning them. In the next second, almost all of the smoke they made was gone.
Confused and shocked, the Thieves had wondered onto another street, where a stranger stood.
They looked like a traditional Samurai/Ronin from way back in the pre-quirk era. Old-looking and ominous black clothes, Tabi, Waraji, a Sandogasa, a red oni face mask that covered the lower half of their face, a large straw cape, and a sword, which was now unsheathed.
"Huh?" Volcano scoffed at the stranger. "Who are you? A hero?"
"My name is Samurai."
The thieves were startled by his unsettling and definitely-not-human voice. They chalked it up to it being a product of his quirk, whatever it was.
"Well, Samurai..." Dusty Ash spoke mockingly. "Your costume is a bundle of shitty rags, and you're up against three badasses. So just run along and..."
Samurai disappeared.
"W... Huh?!" Dust looked around, only to have a heel slammed into the side of her head, knocking her down and out.
Volcano shot a ball of magma at him, but Samurai vanished once again. Gust picked up his unconscious friend as he and Volcano looked around. All they could hear was the swift footsteps of their opponent. They couldn't see him.
"Shit! This son of a bitch is fast!" Gust said, sweating. "Is it a speed quirk or something?!"
"If it is, he's making Ingenium look slow." Volcano said. "Get close, Gust-"
Gust was kicked in the face, causing him to stumble away, unintentionally separating himself from Volcano.
"AGH-! Fucking...!"
"You are incapable of activating the combination you use to escape, as I have knocked your partner unconscious." Samurai states objectively.
"Are you finished?"
Gust held his face. He was clearly in pain, but he stood strong regardless.
"FUCK YOU!"
He extends a hand. Samurai, in a blur, appeared behind him. Gust and Volcano heard him sheath his blade. And, suddenly, Gust fell. He couldn't stand.
"You are incapable of moving via your legs, as I have slashed your left Achilles tendon." Samurai spoke in a calculated manner, ignoring Gust screaming.
"Are you finished?"
Volcano fired at Samurai multiple times, but he easily dodged every magma blast with relatively little effort. Then, in a blur, he was gone again, and Gust collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
"You stand alone against an opponent too fast for your perception. At any moment, I could knock you unconscious with ease. Or simply kill you, but that is not my goal."
"Are you finished?"
Volcano looks around. Gust was unconscious and unable to run properly, Dusty Ash was unconscious, and, like Samurai had said, he was just too fast. Either he'd be incapacitated, or he'd use up his quirk and THEN be incapacitated. Either way, there was no winning here.
"Yeah..." Volcano said through his teeth. "I'm done. You win."
Samurai sheathed his sword.
"Then I am done here."
Samurai vanished.
Volcano grimaced at his unconscious friends as the police and several pro heroes cane to arrest them. He stared at where Samurai was and had nothing to say. All he could feel was anger.
*
Izuku, as usual, sat alone at his lunch table. It had, quote, the "Deku Touch," so no one wanted to be near it. A hand belonging to a certain blonde slams on the table in front of him.
"What are you watching, Deku?"
Not at all startled, Izuku kept watching whatever he was watching on his phone, ignoring Bakugo entirely.
The blonde seethed. "I'm fucking talking to you, you worthless bastard!"
He tried to reach out and grab his phone. But he was on the other side of the table, so all Izuku had to do was move back a little to make Bakugo fail to reach.
Angry, Bakugo got up and walked around the table. Now, people were watching and snickering at Izuku's expense as Bakugo grabbed him by the collar. Izuku deadpanned, not even looking at him.
"You..." Bakugo briefly noticed an odd and tiny blinking red dot in Izuku's uniform. He, however, brushed this off. "You think you're hot shit just because of your grades, huh? A few perfect scores and all of a sudden you think you're too good to look at me?"
'A few dozen perfect scores.' Izuku mentally corrected as he checked the time. He still doesn't look at or speak to Bakugo.
Izuku was surprised his grades weren't tampered with by the staff at all. He never got anything less than perfect scores and literally anything put in front of him. He wasn't cheating. He was just that good. And he knew Bakugo hated that.
As Bakugo was about to continue berating him, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.
"We'll have a chat later, Deku." Bakugo shoved him, and he walked away. Izuku finished eating and left as well.
*
"Hey, Deku!" A 'kind' girl with short brown hair and eyes called to him during class.
Izuku instantly knew not to trust her and whatever she wanted due to her using that nickname Bakugo gave him.
Today was, in fact, Valentines Day, so the teachers were a little more lax with lessons and the like. It was nice. This period, there was no work to do, so Izuku used this time to study a little, even though he didn't need to.
Izuku silently acknowledged the girl, making her blush. 'This again?' He thought.
"E-Erm... here!" She, with a smile, handed him a letter with a heart on it. She scurried away, making a few 'oohs' come out of his classmates.
'Like I'd fall for this again.' Izuku thought neutrally but with a hint of bitterness.
This happened last year, and last year, he almost had paint dumped on him. So yeah. This was probably what Bakugo was referring to when he said they'd 'chat later' during lunch. Whatever they had planned this year, he had no interest in learning.
'Who'd be romantically interested in someone like me anyway?'
He flushed the letter down a toilet in a bathroom.
*
Izuku was genuinely surprised when he found another love letter in his locker.
'What?'
He took a look at it. It was blue with swirls on it, and the heart keeping the letter closed was blue as well.
This was unexpected. Two? If the first one was given to him by a (likely) Bakugo crony, who put this one here?
Whatever. He didn't know, and he didn't care. Assuming it was yet another fake confession, he tore it up and threw it on the ground.
The one that put that letter there, a girl with floaty blue hair, was watching from down the hall. She nearly crushed the part of the wall she was holding.
*
Izuku, just to be sure he wouldn't encounter Bakugo and his annoying ass cronies, took a different route home. On his way there, Izuku took something off of his uniform.
It was a tiny camera, one he made personally. He took it off and inserted it into his phone's charging port. Moments later, it was ejected, and Izuku pocketed both devices.
A little more footage of Bakugo's actions never hurt. He already had more than 100 gigabytes of pure Bakugo dick-headery, along with a little... bizarre words and actions of their teachers.
Soon, this would all be over.
Like he'd be stupid enough not to get any hard proof of him being wronged.
*
Upon arriving at his stupidly huge home, Izuku took an electric scooter down his front yard, admiring the path and the abundance of trees in the forest-like area. He casually parked his scooter near his front door and entered his home, stretching in the middle of his large living room.
"Hey, Metal Sonic! Samurai!"
Izuku's most prized robot and his masterpiece, Metal Sonic, appeared at his side in just a few moments. He was his first hand-made creation.
And then Samurai appeared a little later, still obscured by his ronin-like vigilante costume. He came a good while after Metal.
"Metal..."
Izuku took off a few more tiny cameras hidden in more nooks and cranies of his uniform and even his hair. There were about a dozen, which he hands to him.
"Take these and upload the footage on them to the super computer."
Metal took the cameras and left.
"Samurai," Izuku looked at his other robot. "I watched your performance during lunch. Keep up the good work."
Samurai bows before taking his leave. Izuku sat on the couch, bored out of his mind. He had a LOT of free time. So much free time, it hurt. and it would only get worse after he graduated.
He didn't need to work. He didn't even need to go to high school. He could live here comfortably for the rest of his life. But that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted to help people. But he didn't want too much attention on him either, which was why he made Samurai.
Samurai was the first iteration of Hero Robot. Or, to be more accurate, Vigilante Robot. He was a test run of sorts. If this worked, he would make more.
But was that all he wanted? To sit here in his house and to be consumed by crippling loneliness, surrounded by nothing but metal and robots?
Despite how he denied it, that idea was unpleasant. But it wasn't like he could associate with other people or anything. He was quirkless. Quirkless and a waste of space. A fact his classmates religiously shoved in his face.
He got up after a few minutes, changing into casual clothes and a dual colored hoodie.
"Metal! Put my uniform in the wash, please." Izuku commands, and Metal followed. "Samurai! Shadow me. Just in case."
Izuku went out for a walk, and Samurai vanished. He was proud. He had speed, stealth, and precision down to a T.
*
It was beginning to get late out, and no one was around. And, despite his best efforts, Izuku couldn't clear the conflict in his head. He didn't want to be alone his whole life, but he didn't want to associate with people either. What was he to do? Suck it up and make a choice?
Izuku was caught off guard when a small someone bumped into him from behind.
'Huh?' Izuku glanced back, being startled by a little girl in bandages and rags that bumped into him. 'What the?! Who-'
"Don't let them get me!" The girl begged, shaking. "Please! T-They‐!"
"I'm so, so sorry!" A fake-apologetic voice shouted from down the sidewalk. Two men in facemasks made their way to him.
"Eri!" One of the suspicious men chided. It was annoying how forced his act was. "What have we told you about recklessly running off by yourself?"
"Eri?" Izuku asked, making sure they didn't see his face clearly by fake scratching his head.
"Yeah, her father hired us to be her guardians and escorters because she kept getting herself hurt, thus, the bandages." The man said, visibly sneering under his facemask.
Izuku picked up Eri. She clung to him desperately, believing that, like everyone else, he'd hand her over.
And then Samurai appeared, kicking one of the masked men in the face, drawing the other one's attention.
As Samurai beat the hell out of the masked men, Izuku took off with Eri. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as a rare feeling pooled in her. The feeling of hope.
Izuku ran all the way home. His legs were tired and felt like wet noodles, but he didn't stop until he was in the safety of his house.
'I should look into working out some. I'm too reliant on my technology...'
Izuku hits the floor.
"M-Mister!" Eri said worriedly, staying close to his side.
"Metal!"
Metal Sonic appeared, scaring Eri. She backed away but kept close to her savior.
"Water, please."
Metal leaves and returned with a cup of lemon water. Izuku drinks it and sits up, exhausted but mostly reinvigorated. He proceeds to sit up, Eri warily eyeing the machine while clinging to Izuku.
"Thank you." Izuku said. "So... uh..." He froze up. 'Come on, she's scared and like half your age, just talk to her!'
"This is... Metal Sonic." Izuku points to him. "Though I call him 'Metal' for short. You don't have to be scared of him."
Eri didn't relax whatsoever. Nor did she say anything. Like a scared animal, she remained frozen.
"He listens to me and protects me, and he'll protect you too." Izuku stands and gently pushes Eri away. Her face twist in fear as she reaches her little hand out to him. "Don't worry."
He looks at Metal and nods. Metal nods back. And, together, they do an extremely elaborate, drawn-out handshake. It takes over a minute to complete, and they end it off by making finger guns at each other.
Eri's fear turns to confusion. She blinked, looked at Izuku, and then Metal Sonic, and then back at Izuku.
"See? Harmless. To you and me, anyway. He harms the... heck out of bad guys. Speaking of..." Izuku sits with her, and Eri quickly attaches herself to him again. "Who were those guys that were after you?"
Eri trembles. In moments, she bursts into tears and shoves her face into Izuku's chest.
"Y-You... only you... only you... everyone else just..."
Izuku, once again, froze up. He tried his best to hug her back, and while it was a little awkward, it did the job in calming her down a little.
"It's okay, Eri." Izuku states. "I won't let anyone harm you." He hugs her closely. "But I need you to get a hold of yourself. I need to know what happened and who they are so I can properly put a stop to them."
It takes a bit, but Eri stopped crying. Izuku lifts her and takes her to the couch, as the granite floor is cold and uncomfortable.
"Tell me everything." Izuku said.
She tells him everything. In horrible, disgustingly graphic detail. Izuku wanted to vomit.
"Overhaul, huh?" Izuku averts his eyes. "I see."
And now he was kicking himself for not having gathered any more information from those two goons and for not having his body cameras on him. But then he remembered that, at all times, Samurai was recording everything he heard and saw.
'But I can't bring that footage to the police because Samurai recorded it. They'd trace him back to me, and I'd be in trouble.'
This was fine. He could use facial recognition technology to track them. Their facemasks, while a little troublesome, ultimately wouldn't help them.
'So I have the faces of two lackeys. What now? For all I know, Overhaul could be the type to kill those who fail him. In that case, having their faces is pointless.'
He had nothing on the 'Shie Hassaikai' as Eri called them. And he couldn't properly do anything until he had more to work with.
"Okay." Izuku got Eri's attention with that word. "Fortunately, they don't know what I look like and where I went. But, unfortunately, I don't have much to work with."
Izuku put a reassuring hand on Eri's head. "But you're safe here. As I said, they don't know where you are. As important as it is to go outside and such, it's too risky. So, for now, stay inside and stay near Metal Sonic as much as possible, okay?"
Eri nods rapidly. She was gonna do that anyway.
*
Eri slept in Izuku's lap as, for what was likely the 100th time, he skimmed through the footage Samurai gathered by shadowing him.
"The Shie Hassaikai base has to be located around this general area... but it isn't quite enough to work with."
Izuku looked to his left, where Samurai stood.
"Hang around that area some more and try to find where this 'Overhaul' is located. Do not engage with the Shie Hassaikai unless lives are in danger. Focus on info gathering and stay as hidden as you can."
Samurai nods, disappearing.
"Metal, I don't think I need to tell you this, but protect Eri and the house at all costs."
Metal Sonic nods.
Izuku looks down at Eri. 'I suppose she lives here now. I'll have to get used to having actual company for a change.'
And he'll have to get used to talking to another human being. Something he very rarely did nowadays. The only reason his voice wasn't a mess from lack of use was because he talked to his robots daily.
He grimaced.
'Can I even do this? I don't know the first thing about taking care of children, much less one that's been tortured to the degree Eri has!'
Even if he didn't know how, he had to and he would.
'I'll just... uh...' Izuku stood up with Eri and went up to his room. 'I'll feed her and stuff! Overhaul probably fed her a bunch of iron-rich crap or things that prevented anemia so as to keep her blood healthy, instead of actual, nice food.'
He laid her on his actually normal-sized bed, going to his large closet and laying out a futon. Izuku would put her in another room, but she wasn't mentally strong enough to be away from him at the moment.
As Izuku laid down, his eyes suddenly shot open.
'I have school. I have to leave Eri alone for a good chunk of the day. She'll hate that, and I don't wanna deal with her crying.'
He sighed.
'Wait, I could just... drop out. I don't even need to go to school! I only went to kill time, but with Eri here, I don't need to go anymore.'
He was pretty sure that he was naturally smarter than most people with intelligence quirks. Plus, if he really needed to, he could blast through online school or something.
But that brought up another thing. The only real reason he went to school, apart from killing time, was to spite everyone by gathering evidence of bullying and sending it to every hero school in the country as well as the police.
But if he stopped going, he wouldn't have as much evidence against them as he would like. Was 146 gigs enough?
Well, even if it wasn't, it'd be enough to hopefully spark an investigation and hopefully stain Bakugo's perfect record with a black mark. He didn't particularly want Bakugo's life to be over. He just wanted it to be harder for him.
'At least I have stuff to do now aside from school. Investigate the Shie Hassaikai and take care of Eri.'
He went to sleep.
*
Eri woke up in a cold sweat from a nightmare. She looked around, causing her breathing to quicken.
Mister was gone. Her savior vanished. Was she found? Did Overhaul get him? Was she gonna be dragged back into that horrible, dark, cold place-
Eri was snapped from her panic by light snoring coming from the floor. She looked and saw Izuku sleeping on a futon. Relief floods her being as she quickly got out of the lonely bed and snuggled up with him.
She very quickly went back to sleep.
*
"You let her escape." Overhaul stated bluntly to his two shaking underlings.
"We..." One starts shakily. "We didn't! W-We were sneak attacked by that new vigilante, Samurai!"
The other one gained courage from this and adds, "Yeah! We were gonna get her back, and then he came out of nowhere and attacked us! And while we were distracted, the guy she bumped into ran away with her!"
"Samurai, hm?" Overhaul glanced to his right-hand man, Shin Nemoto, who stepped forward and used his quirk.
"Did Samurai stop you from reclaiming Eri?"
"Yes!" The goons answered easily.
"We you caught by total surprise by Samurai's appearance?"
"Yes!"
"Did you allow Eri to escape?"
"No!"
Shin looked at Overhaul, who sighed.
"You two get to live for now." He said, making them gasp in delight. "Get out of my sight."
They scurried away.
"What will we do now?" Shin asked his boss.
"We have nothing on the one who took Eri. No face, no name. How aggravating..." Overhaul flexed his hands in anger. "For now, we will focus on the Samurai. He's troublesome, but at the end of the day, he is just one person. A person that can't run to the heroes for help."
"From what I saw, his quirk seems to be related to his fast movement." Shin said.
"Quite." Overhaul says. "In case he has information on the one who stole Eri, we will focus on apprehending him."
"Toya Setsuno to remove his weapon, Deidoro Sakaki to hinder his movement, and Hekiji Tengai for stronger defenses. Speed without strength is worthless. Tell those three they will hunt the Samurai first thing tomorrow."
Shin nods, walking off.