checkmate rewrite

chapter one

Getting punched in the face wasn't fun on the best of days.

He brought his hand up to his cheek, but he couldn't tell if there was blood under the mask.

The other man paused before taking a step back. His grip around the purse loosened slightly as his eyes widened. This was clearly his first time punching someone. "Are you," there was a long pause as he took another step back. He glanced at the bag. He must be gaging if it was even worth it at this point. There were only a few people on the street- it was still morning, and the sun had barely made it over the city rooftops. "Are you okay?"

"That really hurt, dude," Izuku huffed. He rubbed his cheek one more time for good measure although the sting had already begun to lessen. "Super strength?"

The guy let out a forced half-laugh. "Just in my arms."

"Oh man, that sucks."

"Yeah. No. Yeah it does." He stared as Izuku started to pull out the handcuffs. He was one of those beefy-looking guys who didn't seem to have much going on behind the eyes. Maybe it was the nerves of facing a hero or maybe his train of thought had just lost a few wheels and was running real slow. The man lunged forward.

Izuku sidestepped and kicked the back of his knees before grabbing his shoulders and shoving him the rest of the way down. Izuku sighed and straightened his gloves. He'd been headed back to one of the commission's east side offices to change after a long shift when he'd stumbled into this guy, five purses dangling from his wrist and two reported muggings in the past hour. It hadn't been hard to grab the guy and get four of the five bags. He was either a Tin Man impersonator or had made his supposed villain costume overnight. Even if Izuku hadn't spotted him he could have heard the squeak squeak of his metal chest plate and arm covers from miles away. It was funny and slightly annoying he'd had to chase the guy down the street and across a very active street. "Well you know I've already seen your face. So I'm gonna have to arrest you. Plus I think you might have given me a black eye. Or eye area I guess."

The tin man handed him the last purse without even bothering to look up at him. Izuku was vaguely reminded of him as a child but with his mother as the captor and him with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Aw well, that's very sweet. Now hands behind your back," Izuku said. He did his best not to laugh.

The man's eyes darted around the street. He tensed. Izuku was about to warn him that probably wasn't a good idea but before he got the chance the man tried to make a run for it. There was a loud stomp as he got to his feet and pushed forward. Izuku gave him one good smack to the ear.

The man staggered- disoriented for a moment. "And here I thought you just wanted to be friends," he muttered breathlessly.

Finally- he cracks a joke. Izuku was starting to get bored- still- jokes were kinda his thing. These villains really needed to start getting their own material. Izuku shrugged. "Common misconception," he said amicably. Unfortunately, most of what he said came out in a monotone drawl due to the voice modulator. He was sure he would be much more popular if people could hear how hilarious he truly was. "So do you want another running head start or?"

The man swung at him again and Izuku barely had enough time to dodge before the man's right arm came sailing by. Izuku pushed down hard with his index finger on the inside of his glove before bringing his wrist up to block the hit. The magnetization links around his wrist activated just in time, catching on to the metal armor surrounding the man's forearms. He pulled back so hard that Izuku was almost lifted off his feet.

"Woah, hey, buy me dinner first dude," Izuku chuckled. He used the forward momentum to spring forward, splaying his hands on the metal chest plate and reactivating the magnetation, he tucked his head in and flipped over the criminal's head. The links did all the work really, using his momentum to swing the guy over his own head and down to the ground with a resounding thud. He could vaguely hear a small crowd forming from a distance. The click of phone cameras and whispers made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He'd been instructed to not make a spectacle. Oopsies.