What's A Hero? , Vigilante Izuku AU (Original writing)

The Principal And The Pro

Midoriya groggily opened his eyes. Sleep was usually appreciated by most people, but when it's constantly plagued by nightmares it becomes a liability at the least.

Staring at a ceiling he didn't recognise, Midoriya let all the memories flow back to him, temporarily replacing the dreams of a poisoned sleep.

All of a sudden, a purple head invaded Izuku's line of vision and his mouth moved on its own, exclaiming, "Ah! Purple-haired peasant?!" A bitter moment of silence followed and Izuku focused on the person, shocked and embarrassed at his own statement.

The face of said purple-haired person was, in fact, a very confused Hitoshi Shinsou. The tense silence was short-lived, sliced by a booming laugh. A second person walked up and the small boy paled significantly. Hajime Shinsou smiled and patted his son on the head.

"So, when the medication wears off, you've got to explain those injuries." The adult stated. Izuku sat for a moment, his brain suddenly confusing fact for fantasy as he looked at the purple-haired pair.

•

"It was a disaster! What should I do?!" Present Mic wailed. He promptly dropped his head into his hands while the other UA staff stared at him with worry etched into their expressions.

Kayama was the first to speak up. "Well... Shouta is searching for him now isn't he?"

"Yeah but that's not the point! The kid's been missing for four days! He was bleeding all over the place and he'd been hurt by this guy with a sleep paralysis quirk." Yamada put air quotes on 'sleep paralysis'. "He could have been caught by a vill- he could've been killed by now!"

Ectoplasm clicked his tongue, "That does sound serious..."

Nezu stood up on his chair. The teacher's lounge was more than big enough for all the teachers, but the animal principal was still significantly shorter than the other occupants, being the centre of attention was hard work for him. "Now, Mic. I'm sure he's figured something out. That boy's scent was saturated in determination when we last met. He isn't dead, there are plenty of people who could have helped him." The principal smiled, confidence glaring in his startlingly bright grin.

"Anyway, I also have news regarding Wolf Spider. I'm sure we all know of the injuries the boy sustained during the USJ attack, and we all remember about Tsukauchi's part in this right?" The teachers nodded, some cringing at the memories of the boy's bloodied body and failed escape. "Well, the detective called a few minutes ago actually, just before this meeting took place." Nezu grinned, the long scar on his eye stretching with the size of his smile. "They have no idea who he is."

The principal was met with stunned silence, before Snipe raised his hand like a scared student. "But... they got a facial scan of him right?" The mammal let out a chuff of laughter before placing a smaller, more sane smile on his face. No words were spoken as the animal principal poured himself a cup of tea and sat down.

"The case of this vigilante is a very tricky one," Nezu stated, taking a sip of his drink before continuing. "Sure, we saw his face through the grime of the leftover paint that he uses as a mask, and the leftover blood, but we never really saw what he actually looked like." No matter how riddle-ish that sounded, Nezu knew the heroes understood. "The child is very strange. I have encountered him numerous times now, and all of them he became even more of a mystery. It appears that he lacks the sense of self-preservation and clearly doesn't have the same mindset as you all do."

Nezu sighed, ears drooping slightly. "The first encounter I had was when a student was around, he seemed a lot wearier with that boy around, eyeing the surroundings so subtly that I could have missed it. He spotted Aizawa probably within the first five minutes and even tackled another vigilante to hide her civilian identity." Nezu locked eyes with Yamada, nose twitching. "After the USJ, when the boy was hospitalised, he was discovered to have more injuries than were given to him during the event. Aizawa tried to talk to the boy about it because he wasn't reported to have brought in any villains the previous two days and he is still only a child. The wounds were serious, consisting of burns and muscle damage."