A Hero's Dirty Work (Villain Deku / Vigilante Deku au)

Birth of a Nightmare

I'll be honest, I'm thinking about marking this story as complete and making a sequel... not sure, though. The total length of the story will completely depend on how much fluff I am in the mood for, and how impatient I'm feeling when I write. As of now, I'll keep it as one story, so sorry about taking so long to update and leaving on the chapter I did... you can thank @-fortuna for this chapter coming out, because they commented on a lot of my favorite parts to write and it felt encouraging to be recognized lol

Tomura Shigaraki quickly got his bearings; whatever that new warp quirk was, it sucked. Kurogiri was infinitely better. Speaking of Kurogiri, the last place Shigaraki had seen him he'd been inside the warehouse behind them. All For One was hovering in the air, fully healed, and Eri was nowhere to be seen. Refusing to believe the worst, he decided she was probably with Kurogiri. Shigaraki started towards the warehouse, but All For One's voice stopped him. 

"Dabi, help me deal with him and I'll give you another quirk. I'll even promise not to let any harm come to Eri, from myself or anyone else," his Sensei said. The voice made Shigaraki pause, calling on some sense of guilt, like he was betraying All For One by trying to save Eri. Shigaraki shook his head; saving her didn't break his loyalty. He glanced back at Dabi, who the request was directed towards, but the flame user was staring towards All For One with a completely baffled look on his face.

Shigaraki looked over, and almost tripped when he saw a second Dabi reluctantly joining All For One. "Sorry, Midoriya. I can't let my dream end here."

"No! You'd really kill a mere child?" someone yelled. Shigaraki zeroed in on a smirking purple-haired boy about Midoriya's age. His eyes widened; all of this must be part of Midoriya's trap. But whose side should he take?

"It wouldn't be the first time," All For One laughed. Shigaraki watched as the mind control took hold, and he remembered faintly that they were talking about Eraserhead before. Shigaraki had complete faith in his sensei, enough to perhaps be unreasonable. Yet, as he looked at Midoriya's slightly broken smile, he knew that All For One had lost.

"Yo, what the hell?" Dabi asked, and heads whipped towards them as they realized there was something bigger going on.

The person standing next to All For One grinned, and the disguise melted away to reveal another student like the purple-haired one before. "And now, it's the side character's turn to shine."

What was that student's quirk? Shigaraki couldn't remember, but the student collapsed as sensei continued to stare blankly ahead, and everything erupted into chaos. Midoriya took over, healing any injuries and giving instructions for evacuation. Shigaraki took the chance to start running toward the warehouse again, but just from the sounds behind him, he knew it wasn't over yet.

"Get everyone out of here!" Midoriya suddenly screamed, somehow amplifying his voice. "Get as far away as you can! The whole block is rigged to blow!"

Shigaraki swore, running faster, and he swore again when a small drone picked him up by the back of his shirt and started dragging him away. He couldn't quite reach it to use decay, and when he tried to decay his shirt or slip out of it, it adjusted just enough to keep him airborne. By the time he wriggled free, he was already several blocks away with Dabi right next to him. 

"Fuck!" Shigaraki screamed, turning back. Before he could even try to go back...

Something happened. He didn't know what... no, he did know what happened. Sensei was dead. Midoriya killed him. Shigaraki's vision flashed white and he stumbled to his knees, clutching his head as images played over each other behind his eyelids.

Memories? Yes, memories of pain, torture, lies, deception... He remembered.

But he was free now, and so Kurogiri must also... Kurogiri. Oboro Shirakumo. Tenko Shimura's first friend, twisted into a servant that acted as a babysitter. Things were still happening in the real world, but Tenko couldn't break out of his mental prison. How did he fail to realize that Midoriya and Eri had been the only lights in his otherwise dark and painful life? He did realize it at some level, he supposed, that's why he was so desperate to save Eri.