Can We Be Heroes?

Chapter 5• Tired life, Prolonged night.

Aizawa sat at his desk, rubbing his tired eyes. It was late—far too late to still be in his office—but that was the life of a pro hero, especially for an underground one like him.

Paperwork always seemed to pile up, and there was always something that needed his attention. Tonight, he had been hoping to finally get out of here and catch a few hours of sleep. His body was exhausted, and the prospect of his warm bed had been the only thing keeping him going.

Just as he was about to stand up and grab his coat, his phone rang. Aizawa frowned, checking the screen. It was a call from Detective Tsukauchi. The dark haired man tired eyes narrowed. Great, he thought. This can’t be good.

With a sigh, he answered the call. "Aizawa here."

"Aizawa," Tsukauchi’s voice came through, sounding just as serious as Aizawa had expected. "Sorry to bother you this late, but we’ve got a situation."

Aizawa leaned back in his chair, already feeling the weight of another sleepless night settling on his shoulders. "What is it?"

"There was a heist at the Musutafu central bank earlier tonight," Tsukauchi explained. "A group of armed robbers took hostages. It looked like a bad situation, but before we could even respond, Vixen showed up and took them down. Single-handedly."

Aizawa’s hand went to his forehead, massaging his temples. Vixen again. The vigilante was becoming a regular name in the reports he got these days, and not always in the best way.

"How bad is it?" Aizawa asked, already dreading the answer.

"Well, all the robbers are incapacitated," Tsukauchi said with a sigh. "But more than a few of them have broken arms and ribs. Nothing life-threatening, but Vixen didn’t hold back. The hostages are fine as well. No one got hurt."

Aizawa let out a long, tired breath. "Of course. Vixen always makes things messy but he still manages to keep civilians out of harm's way, somehow."

"Yeah," Tsukauchi agreed. "We’ve got the scene under control now, but I thought you’d want to know. Looks like he’s still out there, doing things his own way. Reports says he just exposed another, Starburst for covering up the crimes of his sidekicks who were allegedly involved in a gang rape case."

Aizawa glanced at the clock. It was past midnight, and he had hoped to finally get some rest tonight. But now, with this news, that hope was long gone. There was no way he could relax, knowing that Vixen was causing trouble again.

"Where is he now?" Aizawa asked.

"He was long gone by the time we got there," Tsukauchi replied. "Just left the robbers lying there, went off to expose Starburst and then suddenly disappeared like he always does. "

Aizawa shook his head, already imagining the scene. Vixen never stuck around. He swooped in, took care of the criminals, and then vanished before the authorities could get to him. It was becoming a pattern.

"Alright," Aizawa said, standing up from his chair. "I’ll head over there."

Tsukauchi let out a chuckle. "Figured you’d say something like that. Alright, I’ll see you soon."

Aizawa hung up the phone, letting out another sigh as he grabbed his coat. There goes my sleep for the night.

He locked up his office and stepped out into the cold night air, the city was oddly quiet around him as he rushed to his destination.

Vixen had stopped the heist, yes—but the vigilante’s methods were becoming a problem with each passing day. He might have saved the hostages, but leaving behind a pile of criminals with broken limbs wasn’t exactly hero work. It was reckless, dangerous, and sooner or later, someone was going to get seriously hurt... well more seriously hurt.