Villain Deku - Broken

Chapter 17 - Education

Deku was... confused, to say the least. Iida was by far the most sensible member of Class 1-A. Why on earth would he go out of his way to face an opponent he has no way of beating? Was he crazy, or just delusional? All of these questions were immediately answered when Deku looked into the eyes of the youth and saw the inferno of pure hatred burning within them. 

"HERO KILLER STAIN!",  Iida cried out, hatred spewing from his mouth every time it was opened. "I AM HERE TO-" "You're here for revenge, aren't you?", Stain asked, not looking the least bit nervous. A flash of confusion passed over Iida's face. Stain raised his katana, pointing it at him. "I can see it in your eyes. The hatred caused by the pain of a loved one. Am I wrong?", Stain asked, never sheathing the blade. Iida's face reignited with rage as he grits his teeth and said, "No, you are wrong. What I do is an act of justice, an act of punishing the wrongdoers who harm innocent people in this world.  You are included in this list, so I want you to know that I will not stop until you pay for what you have DONE!" He activated his quirk, the engines on his legs igniting and propelling him forward at incredible speeds. But speed does not reduce predictability. Before he even got halfway toward Stain Deku dashed forward, sweeping Iida's legs from beneath him before grabbing his head and smashing it into the ground. 

"Stay down. You can't win this fight." Deku gave Iida some advice, hoping to have knocked some sense into the student. No such luck. "NO! I CAN'T give up! You attacked my brother and left him crippled for life! He'll never be a hero again!" "Brother?", Deku asked before noticing the armor the kid was wearing. It was similar to that of a knight from the 6th century, but with a visor for enhanced vision and was made of lighter material. Combine that with the fact this kid had a speed quirk and it didn't take a genius to put 2 and 2 together. "Oooh, your brother's Ingenium, isn't her?" Iida paused, a single tear falling from his eye. "Yes, he was. He was one of the greatest heroes of all time. He was my role model. And thanks to you, he may never walk, let alone run again. You've ruined his LIFE!".

Deku took a second to process this, then turned to Stain asking, "You let him live?" "Yeah," Stain replied. "The cops were seconds away and I'd already severely damaged the lower part of his spine. He wasn't going to be a villain either way, but since he seemed to be better than the fake heroes which run these streets, I let him be." Stain turned towards Iida, crouching down so he could look him in the eye. "What I did was a mercy, kid. You should be grateful I didn't finish him off." Iida went quiet and closed his eyes. Deku was about to release him from his grab when he responded with, "You call you did mercy? What you did was evil. I cannot leave here without avenging him-"

"Don't you think you could do more than avenge him if you lived?" Deku asked, slightly infuriated by this kid's arrogance. Iida paused, "What?" Deku sighed with resignment before continuing with, "If you died here tonight, what would that do to avenge him? You know you can't win this fight, yet you continue to throw yourself at us in the name of justice." Iida opened his mouth to interrupt but was interrupted by, "What you do isn't an act of justice. It's an act of revenge. You aim to get revenge for your brother's condition by striking down the man who caused it. If it were truly an act of justice, you would have noticed the dying hero behind us and gone to help him." At this point, Iida was too stunned that this villain was speaking honestly to him, but Deku continued with, "If your brother could see you now, do you think he would approve of your actions? Not only that, do you think he would be proud that you're doing this in his name? You have been given a hero's power but you use it for selfish reasons. And unless you can overcome the temptation that comes with power, you will NEVER... be a true hero." With that, Deku released Iida from his grip and left him to contemplate the words of a villain wiser than he was.

Deku turned towards Stain, nodded, and said, "Alright, let's do this." With that, Stain started walking towards Native, his tired and weak body trembling with the cold and the adrenaline coursing through his veins. As Stain raised his katana to end Native's life, Iida raised his head and saw the act that was unfolding before him. His eyes widened in realization as he saw the blade pointing toward the sky and Native's resigned face. As the blade fell to reap the rewards of its bloodshed, Iida cried out. "Wait!" he yelled, trying to get the Hero Killer's attention. The blade stopped, centimeters away from Native's neck. He turned towards Iida. "What is it kid?", he asked, the kid starting to get on his nerves. "Don't... don't kill him. Please," Iida begged, hoping to scratch some humanity left in the Hero Killer's heart. Alas, there was none. "And why should I do that, kid?" Stain asked. "This hero is a fake, a liar, a greedy wolf in the clothing of a just sheep. I must purge the world of these wolves and make the world truly a land of peace." Still, Iida continued, "Please. Don't kill him. Please." Deku was getting tired of this and so decided on a compromise that would satisfy both parties. Both Native and "Ingenium" would go free, however, Iida must prove he was willing to sacrifice himself to do so. Both parties agreed and so the transaction was carried out.

2 days later...

Iida was in a hospital bed. After they were discovered by some nearby civilians, he and Native had been transported to the nearest hospital where they received extensive care. Iida was healing well; he wasn't too badly injured for the most part. Only one part of him was badly injured and he knew that it would never fully heal. Still, he worried for Native, who had four broken ribs, a punctured lung, several severed arteries, and minor brain damage, and that was without the possibility of infection from the night air and Stain's blade. Iida sat there, reminiscing over that night when a police officer approached his bed and sat down beside it. "Tenya Iida? My name is Detective Naomasa and I wanted to ask some questions about your incident if that's all right." Iida nodded. He answered all their questions with complete honesty, even admitting the truth of why he was hunting the Hero Killer in the first place. However, when it came to the matter of how they had escaped, Iida was hesitant. Naomasa asked again, "How was it that both you and Native escaped the Hero Killer?" Iida took a breath and responded with, "His assistant Deku proposed a compromise with the Hero Killer and myself." Naomasa's ears pricked up. "A proposal? What sort of proposal?" Iida replied, "I and Native would get to go free. However, I would have to prove that I was willing to die to save him." Naomasa jotted all of this down, before following up with, "And how did they do that?"

 Iida winced. He didn't want to show it but he didn't have a choice. He stood up and slowly removed the top half of his hospital gown. Naomasa could only stare. Iida's back had been cut and carved with one of Stain's blades so that the resulting scar formed a large, crudely-drawn "S", for Stain. At this time the skin was still red and raw and the doctors expected it to be like that for a while. Naomasa hesitantly jotted this part down, before standing up, thanking Iida for his time and leaving. In his head, Naomasa was in turmoil. How could Deku, this cold, analytical villain be the same person as the kid so full of life in the picture given to him by his mother? And yet somewhere in his mind, he knew. He knew that Deku and Izuku Midoriya were the same person. Now he just needed to prove it.