hero's shadow // mha

13) no other way

Izuku understands villains.

Not to say that he endorses them or encourages them, he just understands them.

He knows that not everyone starts out with an advantage in life, that not everyone is loved or blessed enough to have a good family or wealth behind their name. He knows the world is unfair. He knows this, but instead of making it easier to deal with criminals and villains, this knowledge makes it harder.

Because now he feels bad about taking them in or stopping them. Of course, he doesn't feel bad about the murderers and rapists. They still have a choice. There's no excuse for those kinds of people. He's talking about the ones like the guy he let go a little while ago. The ones who feel like they have to steal or break the law to survive, or to provide for their family.

Izuku understands because technically he is one of those people. He's a criminal. He goes out as a vigilante and hurts people to get a paycheck and survive. Having good intentions doesn't change the fact that what he's doing is illegal.

So again, he feels bad when it comes to stuff like that because he knows what it's like.

Now, Bitch Boy shouldn't have threatened a civilian with a gun for his own personal benefit or gain, no matter the reasoning behind it. That much is obvious. Stealing is bad when it's from someone who needs it just as much, if not more than you do.

Now, if you're stealing from the rich...

Izuku does that whenever he gets the chance. While it's still bad and hella illegal, he gets a lot of joy from it. He loves watching his next victim's—ahem, billionaire's face from a distance once they realize their cash is missing from their pocket. They never usually care that much, as the cash they carry around is nothing more than chump change to them.

Again, doesn't make it right, but still. He doesn't stop people for that. It would be hypocritical of him to do so since he literally does the same thing.

Izuku can't help but be a little disappointed, though. Criminals and villains are still human, so they deserve to get a little compassion and sympathy as long as they haven't done anything too bad. But their skills, their drive, their quirks—it's kind of a waste.

They could be using all of that for good, to help the people who can't help themselves. To save people, to make them feel safe and happy, to be a hero. And yet those criminals throw away all of those opportunities for whatever reason.

Different quirks and skill sets can prove to be vital in certain environments. Take the drug dealer he and Eraserhead took down for example. His quirk would've been useful in law enforcement. Or for a negotiator, either in a hostage situation or just to talk down a civilian from making a bad choice. It would've proved useful in rescue missions, as Sugita could convince civilians to trust him and do as he says to escape without hesitating.

The ability to spin any lie off your tongue and have everybody believe it? Izuku could use that power. He wanted it, even when he was standing an entire floor above the guy. His skin had been itching to take that quirk.

It would've been oh so useful to Izuku.

He could use it defensively, to lie his way out of a confrontation or to diffuse a possibly harmful situation. It could also help offensively to get a villain or hero on his side. If trust is forcibly made, information will slip out, giving Izuku the advantage.

There's so many possibilities, and yet the owner of the quirk chose to waste it on convincing young adults to buy his shitty drugs. It's almost kind of funny.