Puppet Master

Cut Strings

It was supposed to be a great day. Realize the words "supposed to be." Izuku found a few unopened cans of soup in the dumpster that were only a couple of days old. A golden opportunity for a free, semi-decent meal to someone in his living conditions. He ate one while he melted some scrap metal with the flamethrower before wrapping his hands in old rags to mold the metal around the base of his vigilanting shoes to add more power behind his kicks. He stashed the other two cans in his bag and crossed the street to Soft Blossom Bakery with his laptop. It had been a week since he stayed with Mary Lou last.

He sat down and she brought him the usual and Izuku ate while he posted a picture of his excursion from two days ago. It was him holding up bunny ears behind the head of the drug dealer he had just knocked out. He tagged Eraserhead and a couple of other underground heroes just to annoy them. For a brief moment, he recalled meeting Eraser on the streets but immediately turned his attention to other things as he felt his blood pressure spike upon thinking about it. Mary Lou came over with a pencil and paper. Upon further examination, Izuku realized that she had just given him a math test. Izuku stared at her in shock. He almost, ALMOST, smiled.

Smiling is a weakness. Don't ever smile.

Challenge accepted. Izuku got to work. Mary Lou told him that she would give him his grade tomorrow if he came in. Izuku knew what she was doing. She was making more opportunities for the boy to have to come in, using his love of studying against him but for once he didn't actually mind.

Izuku spent much longer than he had thought he did. The sun was already going down when he stood up. His joints popped from sitting in the same position for so long. He waved at Mary Lou who waved back with a "See you tomorrow, boy." She knew that he couldn't stay away at the prospect of finding out his test score.

Izuku crossed the street, almost getting hit by a car, mind you, and ducked into his alley. He yawned loudly. He questioned if he should go out on patrol tonight or not. He was pretty tired from such a relaxing day. Ultimately, Izuku ate his other Truffle Bar that he had bought the weak prior for a source of energy and decided to go out.

He should have listened to his gut instinct of not going out.

When night fell, Izuku got dressed. He bounced around a bit to get used to moving with the new metal additions to his shoes. Izuku slid the mask on and peeked out from behind the dumpster at Mary Lou's apartment.

There she was, like every night for the past weak, in the window despite the hour. Izuku waved, just barely visible by the street light. She waved back. It was almost encouraging. Now, with more confidence, Izuku jumped onto the fire escape. He had to work hard to make sure he could not be heard with his metal platforms but after the first few building jumps he had gotten it down. Izuku had always been a fast learner.

It was a quiet night. Izuku almost thought that nothing would happen tonight. He was dead wrong.

There was a soft *thump* behind him. Izuku stumbled as he was just about to leap between buildings. He whipped around to see none other than Eraserhead at the other end of the building. They were three stories high. A cold breeze blew by as the two stared at each other. Now, this has happened before. On a slow night, when neither of them was fighting, they would sometimes run into each other like this. Ultimately, Eraserhead would try to catch him and Izuku would run away. Izuku, in his overconfident Golden Whip persona, shifted his weight to his right leg, put a hand on his hip, and raised the other.

"Yo!"

"Golden Whip," Eraser 'greeted' him.

"Howsit been?" Izuku asked. No reply. He chuckled. "I git it's slow an' all but ya really got nothin' better to do than chase some vigilante down the red light?" His red lights accent had definitely thickened over time but Izuku really hadn't noticed.