Licensed Villains

A Job

This is the worst start to a story that I have ever written so bare with me.

As far as anyone knows, Izuku has given up on being a hero. He almost thinks he has.

It's oddly funny how after years of being told by dozens of people he'll never achieve his dream, he still believed he could reach his goal, and then all it took was one person to convince him that maybe everyone was right. Sure, that one person was his idol, the worlds number one hero, the symbol of peace and all that but still, why did one persons opinion matter.

It might have been how All Might had told him he couldn't be a hero. Everyone told him he was worthless, that worthless people couldn't be heroes. All Might had told him he couldn't be a hero, at least not in the way he was, but still said he could help people. He was quirkless, not worthless.

In his head, Izuku knew it was time he faced the truth. He would never be the type of hero who he watched on television. He'd never run around defeating super villains with special powers. None of that meant he couldn't still be his own kind of hero, right?

He'd spent the next two weeks after his encounter with the pro hero trying to figure out what else he could do. He didn't have the skill or brawn to be a fireman or cop, that was for sure. A doctor he could maybe do but still the idea didn't sit right with him. Not to say those people weren't heroes but they weren't the type of hero he was going for.

Besides, he should leave those jobs for people with quirks better suited for the type of situations that kind of job would bring.

He was sure there was no job that fit what he wanted. At least, that was until that day.

Izuku can't remember why he was on the train. He thinks he was going to the library, or maybe one of the farther parks. It doesn't really matter since he never really ended up making it there.

The whole thing happened suddenly. The train had screeched to a stop, passengers screaming as some were thrown out of their seats. Izuku remembers his knuckles whitening as he gripped the pole in front of him to avoid being thrown into the pile of people on the ground, managing to only ram his elbow into the wall with a painful thud. The woman next to him was crying and he'd felt dread claw at his throat.

In truth, Izuku didn't get a good look at the villain who'd barreled into the train, breaking through the wall. He'd been focused on the hero instead. He wasn't a new hero, not really popular but well enough known for Izuku to recognize the static like pattern on his costume and the grey goggles tucked into his short golden hair. Pro hero Shudder.

Shudder scanned the crowd of civilians, eyes narrowing. He glanced at Izuku and the one short glance he got of his eyes, lacking a pupil, was enough to shake him to his bones. His left punky finger started twitching, an act he wasn't controlling.

That's when it started to spiral. Next to him the woman had started to shake, her eyes rolling back in her head and her whole body shivering, a choked scream escaping her lips. She wasn't the only one. There were dozens more passengers in a similar state, a state Shudders quirk induced.

Everyone was screaming except for the few passengers who seemed unable to move at all. Izuku's eyes flashed to the boy tucked under his moms arm, a terrified shine to his eyes.

Izuku didn't do anything. He didn't know what to do. He just sat there and watched in terror.

It only lasted a few dozen seconds before Shudder redirected his focus on to the villain again, pushing him out of the train then jumping after him to finish the job.

He doesn't think any of the passengers stopped shaking until they'd gotten home, even after Shudders quirk wore off. He left that train with the screams from the woman next  to him replaying in his head like a broken record.