Wasted Quirk

Chapter 7

Eventually, we got a break in the case, but it wasn't one any of us wanted. Damn you, mullet-Ken doll. Jinxed it.

"Three heroes went missing overnight," Tetsuro filled us in.

"Overnight?" I said in total disbelief. "How the hell did someone kidnap three pros overnight?!"

"Are we sure they didn't just..." Le Million trailed off.

"What?" Tetsuro snapped, "go on vacation? Evaporate? Kill themselves?"

I flinched. Tetsuro, thinking my reaction was to his sudden personality change, apologized and continued with his debrief. Which was depressingly short.

They really had disappeared without a trace. It was enough to make me want to blow up whatever was closest to me. No one had even noticed their disappearance until they didn't show up for work. But I think I was more frustrated with the fact that there wasn't even a clear connection to this and the two previous events.

"No chemicals were discovered," Tetsuro relayed. "No footage or witnesses to consult. The only thing that could possibly prove a connection is its random nature. Random timing, random people, random locations..."

"Which heroes?" Le Million asked. "Have we contacted their families?"

"The more well-known of the three is Mt Lady," Tetsuro began.

Not a surprise, I thought. She's popular, but not super smart. She tends to win her fights with power, not strategy. So if he got the jump on her, then it would be easy to take her down, if she didn't have a chance to use her quirk.

"Then a young girl who is a sidekick, actually. Goes by Uravity."

I choked on my breath. Why her? She was just a sidekick, no one special in the hero world! What did this guy want from her?!

Her name was Ochaco Uraraka. We were in the hero course together at UA. Our friend groups didn't really overlap so I didn't know a whole lot about her until our first sports festival when we fought head-to-head. She was a sideline type without any real motivation to be the center of attention. That's why I had never really seen her as a threat, or even really seen her at all. Despite the outcome, she didn't appear weak to me moving forward. I had some mad respect for her after that fight.

We became unlikely friends. It's not like we talked a whole lot but when we did, it was easy. I had no problem bossing everyone else around, but not her. Though I never admitted it to anyone, she perfectly made up for whatever deficits I had when it came to hero work. We made a good team. Learning that she had been kidnapped for who knows what made me more upset than anything had before now.

I was fuming. I hated this guy. I wanted him dead. Sure, there wasn't an official connection, but I just knew. I could feel it in my gut. Our guy was involved in this. He was the mastermind behind these kidnappings. And it was driving me insane.

"The third is a teacher at UA," he finished. "Shota Aizawa. Hero name, Eraserhead."

All of a sudden my anger rushed out of me and both mine and Le Million's heads shot up, completely shocked.

"What?" he gasped. "How is that possible? Even if he didn't have a chance to erase their quirk, his hand-to-hand combat is nearly unmatched!"

"I'm not familiar with him," Tetsuro admitted.

"That's because he's not big on being in the spotlight," I explained. "But I agree with him. Eraser's not ranked very high in the charts, but that doesn't mean anything. He's good. And if someone managed to break into UA and escape with Aizawa in tow, then we're in deeper shit than any of us could possibly imagine."

"Well, it goes without saying," Tetsuro said with a defeated sigh, "but we've got our work cut out for us on this one. And if I'm being honest... I'm not really sure where to go from here."

I could feel a heavy depression settle over top of him. Understandable, considering the months of effort he's put in to figuring out this mystery villain and turning up next to nothing. It was easy to feel at a loss. Hell, I felt it too sometimes. And, despite putting on that annoyingly positive façade, I knew Le Million had to be feeling it too right about now.

Things really have gone to crap when I had to be the force of positivity in the group.

"Look," I grunted, "we're going to figure it out. This guy can't keep going forever without missing a step at some point. He may be good, but he's not perfect. He can't be. It's just not... possible..."

And this was why no one left pep talk duty to me.

I was losing sleep over this case. So much so that Zero-to-Hero could have convinced me that maybe he wasn't so annoying after all.

My brain couldn't figure out how someone could come up with not one but three crimes and execute them so cleanly. I hated to admit it, but it was grossly apparent that this guy was a criminal genius.

I prided myself on my ability to think ahead. To analyze a villain's moves before they made them. I was pretty damn good at it. It's one of the things that made me such a hot pick for successful up-and-coming heroes. The fact that someone out-smarting me could so easily make my confidence wane was unsettling to me. I didn't just hate this guy. I was also kinda scared of him.

What was I saying? I was dead set on being number one. And number one never shows their fear. If they have anything to fear to begin with. Which I didn't. I was afraid of nothing.

As if they were just waiting for the opportunity to ruin my day, flashes of Deku's face flew through my mind. Moments from when we were kids, running through the creek, trying to catch bugs in our nets, running around in my backyard, or watching random videos of All Might. Then flashes of our fights, me beating him up, trying to make him look as dumb as I could. Some flashes were of us talking. In those moments that I wasn't being a total asshole and actually turning to him when I needed emotional support. And him always being there. Despite everything I said and did, he was always there, hand outstretched to help me back up.

And then a final flash, the beginning of the end. Me yelling at him about how useless he was, quirkless and pathetic, trying my best to squash every one of his hopes and dreams, and telling him to just kill himself.

Then my vision was completely overwhelmed with that living nightmare. I was suddenly there, just outside the school, watching everything like it was happening for the first time. Walking through the crowd of students, seeing the red and blue lights flashing, taking in the black, plastic covering, and realizing...

"Stop!" I thought to myself. But it was too late. I was in too deep. The memories fell from their neatly folded pile in the corner of the highest shelf within the darkest closet. They fell all over the floor while I stood there, arms wide trying desperately to keep them from falling. Devastated. All that work I had put into forgetting, trashed.

I wasn't even sure where I was when this all hit me. But I rushed to get away from other people before the tears started to pour. No one could see me like this. No one could ever see me cry. No one ever had. No one, that is, except Deku.

In the shadows of an alleyway dumpster, I stood trembling in emotional agony. And while clenching my clothes in a fist above my heart I cried, grieving in self-inflicted silence.