What Makes A Hero

17

(An: Fun fact, major spoilers for BNHA ahead if you don't know who Shirakumo Oboro is.... I highly, highly suggest you find out or else... you're in for a very big surprise)

        After that it seemed as if the floodgates had opened and new permanent allies seemed to appear left and right along with an increasing number of clients that had Izuku working double time to fill all of the requests. It was becoming apparent, so that he didn't waste so much time running this way and that between meetings, that he was going to need a public base of operations rather than working out of the back of, as a secondary sign now proudly proclaimed to Jin's annoyance and Katsuo's smug joy, The Moonshine Bar. Katsuo still maintained he was saving Jin from a bunch of other even worse insinuations or diminutives from the name, Izuku wasn't entirely sure how he managed to get the second sign up there without Jin noticing.

       But Izuku didn't quite want to build his own permanent place of operations yet. It seemed too... final. As if the moment he claimed an area as his own he would stop being the mystic, unknown that was Deku and go back to being just ordinary Deku. Plain, worthless, scorned Izuku- a deku. Sure, he knew that was exactly what and who he was, but... if others could pretend maybe he could to. Pretend that he actually had value and was someone who could make friends- or rather allies- and go places with his life.

       He was fooling himself of course, but... just for a little longer maybe.

Jin And Katsuo ended up being a lot of help, and while he still did much of his information collecting himself, Jin slowly took over the internet and hacking side of things while Katsuo did the footwork able to charm his way practically anywhere and taking an absurd amount of joy in it too. The first, and possibly most memorable ally they collected had been one Kurogiri though.

        "I am Obo- no! Kurogiri. Protector of Tomura Shigaraki. Kurogiri. Obo- No!" Izuku stopped talking mid-sentence at the introduction turned shout, he had met up with Jin after the completion of a meeting between the city's bar, pub, and 'social drinking' establishment owners when they heard it.

"Kurogiri. Kurogiri. I am Obor- no, no, no, I am Ob- Kurogiri. I have to be. I can't. I have to protect Tomura, Sensei commands it. But he's so innocent. He needs to escape, I can't let Sensei do this. No, no no no no no no no no no no no nonononononononono. I must serve sensei, and protect Tomura. From all but Sensei. They are going to crush him. Crush him. Crush. Him. No no no, I am Oboro- No! Kurogiri. Kurogiri. I am Oboro- No!"

This muffled shout ended in a sob, just as they turned the corner to see the shadow, suit wearing figure of one of the members who had just been at the meeting with them. But the shadows around him flickered. Showing hair, actual wavy hair, for a brief instant. It continued to shift and flicker although never showing anything again.

His voice was broken as he whispered, "I keep remembering...I'm not... I can't...not again. I have to...."

It had been an interesting first meeting to say the least. Kurogiri, as he now liked to be called, had once been Oboro Shirakumo before he had been taken and used as the basis for his new form. He had been given a single purpose; raise and protect Tomura Shigaraki. No matter which side, the new or the old, won out he was confident that he would stick to that mission no matter what. The boy who he had been put in charge of had become his one purpose for living.

All the same it wasn't enough to keep him together and Kurogiri was coming apart at the very seams. And so Deku helped. Because he didn't care who or what Kurogiri was or had once been as far as it went for helping him. He had come up with methods to keep them calm when the other personality and memories resurfaced. He offered sanctuary in his temporary office and his future office and he helped Kurogiri work through it as best he could before Jin and him nervously allowed the portal user to return to his own bar.