Assassins Can Be Heroes Too || Todoroki Shoto

|17| The Turbo Hero, Ingenium

"You can see him, but you have to wear this mask." The girl gazed up from her phone, quickly pocketing it. She gazed up at the concerned woman, who she guessed was Iida's mother. She, too, wore glasses and had the same navy-blue hair as both of her sons. She nodded, placing the mask around her mouth and followed the woman silently into a smaller room. "Before we go in... I just want to thank you..."

You... want to thank me for ending your son's career?

"Huh? What for?"

"If you weren't there to stop his rapid blood loss, I don't know what I would have done..."

"A-ah, don't mention it, I just did what any person would," she stammered, her heart thumping heavily against her chest as the woman smiled, embracing her tightly as the girl let out a sharp gasp, standing there stiffly as a warm shiver ran up her spine. She swallowed, feeling the woman's hand caress her violet locks gently. A warm feeling erupted in her chest as butterflies swarmed in her stomach, warm shivers running down her spine. She wasn't entirely sure what this was, but she had definitely never experienced this sort of feeling before from her own mother. She smiled tightly, patting her shoulder reassuringly and gently pushing her through.

The sight that met her almost made her throw up.

Iida was laying on the bed, multiple wires snaking from his body and hooked up to a machine near his bed, showing his pulse. He wore a transparent mask that covered both his nose and mouth, multiple scratches visible from both her and Stain's weapons. The woman smiled sadly, placing a hand on her shoulder and walking out. She timidly

Hearing the door close, the boy gazed up, struggling to push himself up once he saw the timid girl at the doorway. The doctors immediately tried to push him down as she suddenly felt small, wishing she had never come in the first place as he seemed to be preoccupied, feeling extremely responsible for the wounds.

And she wasn't sure what was worse: failing to kill her target or lying to his family.

"I... I heard that you can't be a Hero anymore..." she stammered quietly once the doctors had left. He hummed, pushing the button as the bed sat upright. She remained quiet, waiting for a response, inching around to the side of his bed.

"Yeah... kinda sucks, huh?" he threw his head back as he burst into laughter at the girl's mortified face.

"B-but you-"

"Yeah... it does..." a grim expression overtook his formerly festive one, "but... I want to ask you a few questions."

The room was still.

"Go ahead," her mouth was dry, eyes dull as her hair covered her eyes.

"Are you really the assassin known as Poison Dart?" One nod. He hummed, waiting for her to explain further.

"There's... nothing to explain, really... I was just raised to be a killing machine, that's all," she muttered, avoiding his inquisitive gaze. He didn't respond.

"And you didn't question it?" he asked finally.

"I-it began when I got my Quirk... so I guess I was just always going along with whatever they said... like the stupid little brat I was," she sighed, the boy sweat-dropping awkwardly as he adjusted the machine beside him that measured his heart rate, "anything else?"

"Why'd you work with the Hero Killer? I mean, I've heard that both of you hate working together."

"You're not wrong," she grumbled, "I hate group work, especially working with other Villains... but he just so happened to coincidentally be at the same place as I was and after I explained my goals, he teamed up with me to..." her voice trailed off.

"Take me down? Kill me?"

"When you put it like that, it makes us sound even more like Villains...." He laughed.

"Ace is your brother, isn't he?"

She blinked rapidly, shocked.

"You know my brother?"

"Yeah, we worked together a few times..." he lowered his voice, "but you didn't really answer my previous question... if Stain was the one who ended your brother's career, why did you work with him?"

"Huh?" she picked up her vibrating phone, seeing the Pro Hero's name listed on the screen, placing it to her ear with a confused expression, "hello?"

"Hey, I've got some bad news, Ri..." a male voice spoke, the girl blinking as she slowly placed her pen down, leaning back in her chair, "it's about Ace..."

"Yeah?"

"Uhh... how do I put this?" he hesitated, staring down at the panicking crowd.

"*****, hurry the hell up and say it," she snapped, growing impatient with his dismissal of the matter and slowing down, the boy sighing as he gazed over at the ambulance.

"He was attacked by the Hero Killer: Stain... if I hadn't arrived when I did, then... he would have been killed," he muttered, flinching slightly as she raised her voice and extended his arm to place his phone further away from his already ringing ears. He was perched atop a building, overlooking the crowd and watching as the ambulances drove off.

"Is he alright?! Where is he?! Tell me, *****!"

"Uh-he's going to be taken to the hospital-"

"Which one?!"

"Uh... the one near your place-"

"I... as I said, he placed it upon himself to work with me..." she slowly disclosed the matter, leaning back in her chair and raising a brow. The man respected her wishes and complied, leaning back and asking her one question he was dying to know.

"One thing I want to know... is why you're looking so downcast and what you're dying to ask me."

"I-I tried to kill you! Why aren't you mad at me?" she panicked. A deep chuckle resonated from him, followed by a coughing fit as the girl worried over him.

"You saved me afterwards, didn't you?"

"B-but that doesn't chan-"

"Look, Rie... being a Hero doesn't mean you're invisible, it means you're brave enough to do what is needed and admit what you did wrong..." he informed, placing a hand on the girl's head, "you knew it was wrong to try and kill me, so you tried to heal me and stop my blood flow, and if you hadn't... we wouldn't be having this conversation, huh?"

"Y-yeah..."

"So, Rie... let me ask you this," he began gravely, "do you think of yourself as a Hero or a Villain?"

"I-huh?" Her head jolted up, observing his facial features which relaxed, calming her nerves as she fiddled with her cloak mindlessly, muttering that she wasn't entirely sure.

"That's fine... make sure to text me when you get your answer, 'kay?"

She nodded emotionlessly, knowing that the question was going to occupy her mind more often than she would probably like in the coming days - maybe weeks, or months - to come.

"I... should probably get going back to U.A.," she turned to gaze at the time as she stood up, "the Sports Festival will probably be ending soon, I don't want anyone getting too suspicious."

"Ah, wait, Rie! Am I... allowed to tell Tenya about this?" She froze at the door, her hand hovering over the doorknob as the man stared at her expectantly, awaiting the assassin's answer. She turned her head so that he couldn't see the ghost of a frown dawning upon her child-like features. She gave a small nod and left the room without a sound, the man staring at the door for a couple more minutes before he snapped out of his trance.

"Now then... where did I put my bandages?"