Black Fox (Vigilante Deku AU)

Part 33- God Fucking Dammit Fox, Again?

Deku POV

When I stepped into the cold night, the breeze was a relief from the stuffiness of the meeting room.

I had just had a meet-and-greet sort of thing with the secretary and head of the Night Tiger agency. The meeting itself was more of a formality than anything, considering how I refused to answer most questions, dodging them with vague answers or turning it back on them. I figured anything they need to know has already been told to them by Nezu and Aizawa. I've no need to answer more questions. We're both already on a need-to-know basis, I see no reason to change that.

Since it was only our first meeting, they couldn't commission me or have me shadow one of their working pros yet, so for tonight, I was on my own. Which only slightly sucked because that meant I could be done with talking to people.

I took my more thorough route tonight. The villain activity spike had begun sharply this year, and every wrongdoer in the city seemed to be out and about.

Of course, most of them were small-timers with no real quirk training and no danger behind their threats, but I cleaned out those groups anyway. They might be easy for me, but they'll give trouble to somebody else.

Once, about three hours in, I crossed paths with the twins. We exchanged a few words but were quickly on our separate ways.

The next few hours were relatively quiet, considering the villains I ran across were already either tailed by some other hero or vigilante or were weak and easy to defeat.

Things picked up, however, at about 2 o'clock in the morning.

I ran across a more infamous villain. One with no official given name, but was referred to as The Spectre by most.

The Spectre was a tricky one. He was a thief by name and nature, and he was good at it, too.

His quirk allowed him to dissolve parts of his body temporarily, making them into shadows of their former forms. These shadows were intangible but, thankfully, had no other special features.

I slowed to a creep when I spotted him. He was tip-toeing down a back alley, carrying a bag in his arms that was no doubt full to the seams of expensive, stolen items.

I knew these alleys well, but so did he, apparently. He avoided all corners and crossroads that could lead him into a dead end, where he would be cornered.

Eventually, I spotted his goal- a run-down shack in the back of an abandoned building. Probably his hideout.

When he balanced the sack precariously on one arm, reaching for the door handle, I made my move.

I dashed at him, taking him by surprise and shoving an elbow into his stomach. He dropped the sack, and I heard something shatter within.

He went flying across the yard, skidding to a stop in the darkness.

"Dammit," he snarled, "I swear I wasn't followed..."

When I stood up and looked him dead in the eyes, I saw recognition and bone-chilling fear flash in his eyes, two emotions that often went hand-in-hand when villans spotted me.

He raised his hands in the air in a placating gesture, backing away. "Hey now, I mean you no harm...look, you can take that pottery back to the owners, I'll tell you where they live, and you can leave me be, yeah?" He chuckled nervously. "I swear you won't see me again."

I snickered to myself. "You're only so quick to give up because the pottery is smashed and worthless. You won't be leaving this yard unless it's with your hands tied behind your back on the way to the police."