I'm not on EITHER side

Izuku's POV

I wake up to the sound of my alarm incessantly beeping. With a groan, I get up, stretch, and turn off the alarm. I walk into my bathroom and take a quick shower before getting dressed and ready for work. It's been a little over a week since Eraser Head told me I could be a hero, and I still feel so conflicted over what to do. The U.A. Sports Festival was pretty recently, and it gave me even more conflicted feelings. Seeing Bakugou beat up on Uraraka like that...

Since then, the thought of calling Aizawa has gotten more and more inviting. If I do call him, if other heroes will agree with him, the course of my life will completely change. The feelings of hope that I'd given up over a year ago have been flooding back more and more every day. I've been thinking of patrolling again recently, but I haven't had the ability to recently. Tonight seems like a night I'll have to patrol on, though. I feel like something's going to happen, something bad.

I shake off the feeling and continue working, getting through orders as quick as I can. I want to talk to someone about my dilemma, but I know that I can't. Everything going on is a l"ot, but the only sense of peace I get is from right here. Seeing the joy on my customers faces as they have the food I've prepared is enough to put my mind at ease.

As day slowly slips to night, the feeling of unease gets more and more intense. The Hero Killer recently attacked someone in Hosu recently, and that fact makes me feel like I need to patrol. After I close up, I clean as quick as possible before running upstairs and getting in my gear. I go out to my roof and think before going back down and unlocking my front door. I know everyone who lives around here, and I trust them. Plus, they might need a safe space close by if things go badly.

I make my way through the streets, trying to get as close to the center of the city as I can. A few minutes after I get in, explosions start going off all over the place. I look for the closest alleyway and make my way in. I've studied the Hero Killer's attack patterns, and he mainly targets people in alleys. I see nothing in the first 3 I get in, but the final one has a distressing sight.

A boy in Ingenium-like armor is laying on the ground, blood pooling out of his arm. The person I see standing over him must be the Hero Killer, a tall man with short black hair, beaty blood red eyes, a disgustingly long tongue, and a red bandana spanning across his face, blocking his nose and most of the top of his face. He's holding a katana over the kid.

I rush forward, hearing the guy saying something to the kid, but I don't focus in on what he's saying. I kick his hand, knocking the sword out of his hand and further down into the alley. He snaps his attention over to me with both burning hatred and shinning admiration in his eyes. "Who are you?"

"I'm the guy that's gonna kick your ass. Wow, that sounded really cliche." I get into a fighting stance and prepare myself for the oncoming onslaught of weaponry. He pulls a knife out of a sheath and holds in in his right hand. He runs towards me, ready to slash at me as soon as he gets close enough.

I grab his arm and flip him over my shoulder, slamming him into the ground. The knife clatters on the ground and is just out of his reach. I kick it a bit further away, just in case. He wrenches his wrist out of my hand and stands back up. I back away, wanting to be just out of reach in case he has another knife. I hear the kid on the ground grumbling away about his losses or whatever.

"Hey, I can hear you down there! Shut up and get over yourself! A real hero doesn't just give up and pity themself! Now get up off your ass, and help me get this fucker off the streets!" I hear him say that he can't move and I just continue trying to fight the guy off. While I keep Stain at a distance, I hear someone coming in near us. A path of ice splits us up, me and the kid on one side, Stain on the other.

The person who sent it there comes by and seems ready to attack me. "Hey, I'm not here to fight you. I live in Hosu, I'm a vigilante, and I'm tired of the Hero Killer fucking everything up for you guys. Now either help me take him down, or get out of my goddamn way." He seems a little off put by me, but I couldn't care less. He falters for a second before getting into a fighting stance with me.

"I don't trust you. But I have no other choice. The second this is over, I'm coming after you." I take it as a compliment and move on. Stain keeps coming closer and closer, using his knives to climb the ice. He jumps down and takes a slash at me. I narrowly avoid it, taking into account what I've read from all the case files. I know his quirk, or at least the basics.

"Avoid getting hit! If he tastes your blood, he can paralyze you temporarily." I see the guy next to me tense for a second before moving on and getting back into the fight. I watch as he fights, and I start to notice who he is. "Try and slow him down with your ice, then assault him with your fire to keep him at a distance."

"No! I won't use my fire!" He yells it at me like an angsty teen, and it takes everything in me not to laugh. I focus up and try and keep myself away from the Hero Killer. The other guy keeps getting closer and closer calls, when Stain gets too close for me to not help. I run in and push the other kid out of the way and end up getting a stab right through the shoulder. I kick him off while holding onto the knife so he can't lick my blood.

"Goddamn it, you fucking idiot! Just suck it up and use your fire, or else more close calls like that will happen!" He stares at me in shock for a second before I push him away again and catch Stain's next knife. It slices the palm of my hand and I wince in pain. He goes to pull it but a burst of fire comes through and burns his arm.

The fight goes surprisingly well from that point on. The other guy, who I'm guessing is Ingenium's younger brother, eventually gets up and fights with us. It ends with Stain tied up with some rope from my belt and a small bit of damage to the other two. I did my best to take the brunt of the damage. The two still have a bit of distrust in me, but I stopped caring a while ago.

"Thanks for the help. You two shouldn't have intervened though. This is my fight, and you two didn't need to get involved. I mean ser-"

"We get it. But it's okay to ask for help. Now if you'll excuse me." I got to leave only to see a group of heroes at the end of the alley way. I reach into my belt and grab my grappling hook and get ready to go. Something comes flying through the sky and snatches a child behind the heroes. My eyes go wide in shock, and my first thought is to save the kid. I rush up the side of the building next to me, my eyes never leaving the child.

I jump up and push the tip of my grapple hook through its brain, killing it immediately. Its talons go loose, the child almost slipping out. I grab the kid as quick as possible, pulling it as close as possible. I look at the ground below, seeing it steadily approach. If this is how I have to die, at least I'm saving someone.

As I keep preparing, I hear someone coming closer and closer to me. Someone catches me before I go splat on the ground. They set me down, allowing me to safely let the kid go. He thanks me and gives me a hug before running over to a crying woman. I see everyone staring at me and waiting for me to speak.

"I just want to say that no matter what anyone thinks, I'm not on EITHER side. There are so many corrupt heroes out there that can't be trusted, and the villains are worse. Keep your eyes on me, because I'm not gonna give up until those that are corrupt are out of the business." After my speech, I make my way as far back to my place as possible. The venture back just keeps getting more and more difficult.

I collapse right outside a random house, and the light goes on before I pass out from blood loss.

Word Count: 1557

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope this was worth the wait. Any comments or criticisms are appreciated. Let me know how you feel this turned out. I'm sorry I didn't update this in a while, I just wasn't feeling like writing recently. I want to know what you guys want to see in the future, and I'd like to know if this is turning out well. Have a good day and remember to drink some water.