Zero - A Vigilante Deku Story

Chapter 10 - Caught in the act.

POV Zero

The heroes had kept quiet over the last few weeks, as had Zero himself. Though now Eraserhead and Hawks knew what he looked like, there had been no public manhunt.

Zero didn't know what to make of that. On the one hand, it reassured him that he could still walk the streets without being immediately recognized and hunted down. On the other hand, this behavior spoke to his suspicion that there was something fishy about the whole thing. Something was going on in the background and he had no idea what it was.

In contrast to the heroes, someone else had been quite active recently. Again and again he had seen Dabi roaming the dark alleys of his district, obviously looking for something or someone. They had almost bumped into each other twice, but Zero had managed to escape in time.

The villain had called after him that he should wait because he only wanted to talk - which Zero hadn't done, of course. He really wasn't that stupid to voluntarily go near a member of the League of Villains. Dabi hadn't addressed him by name. Nevertheless, Zero feared the man knew that he was not only the well-known vigilante, but also Null.

It had been the same during this night.

Zero had been patrolling the alleys, looking for crimes he could prevent, when he had spotted Dabi from a distance. Instantly, Zero had activated his quirk, turned on his heel and run off in the other direction.

His wing still hurt a little, which was why he stayed on the ground most of the time and only flew in exceptional circumstances. His extra limbs were unfortunately really sensitive and the muscles of said wing had not yet forgiven him for getting stuck with it and straining something while running away from Hawks and Eraser.

That was another reason for his inactivity. Zero couldn't risk getting caught. Now that he knew the League still remembered him, it was more important than ever to always be in a position to escape as quickly as possible.

No telling what the Doctor would do to him once he learned one of the quirks forced upon him had manifested in Zero after all.

He should be far enough away from the villain by now. Zero deactivated his quirk. He pulled down his mask and wiped the blood from under his nose with the back of his hand. If he didn't just use his quirk on selected people, but aimed it at his surroundings in general, the strain on his body would be many times bigger.

His escape had inadvertently brought him close to the place the vigilante had actually wanted to visit before going home. With Dabi in the alleyways, however, his patrol had ended early. Zero could not risk an encounter. His instinct for self-preservation forbade it.

So he took the last route of the night sooner than planned. If the device which was waiting for him was loaded, perhaps he could finish and submit a little homework before he went to sleep.

For days, Zero had been poring over his meager finances and cutting back on meals to save money so he could get a new laptop as soon as possible. Even second-hand, they were still too expensive for him. A few days after his encounter with Eraserhead in the café, he had gone there one last time in the hope his old laptop would still be there. However, the temp who had been working that day had told him nothing had been handed in. So Zero had risked being discovered again for nothing.

To avoid being kicked out of the program, he had sent an email to the school administration via cell phone and explained the problem of his missing work. Fortunately, the reply had been more than understanding. In fact, he had even been offered a new laptop to support him as top of the class. But Zero had initially turned it down. He didn't want anything for free and wanted to do it on his own.