The Wonder of Izuku

The Emergence of U

A few months earlier

Izuku was deep in thought. He was in no rush to become one of the heroes that never came to his aid when he needed it. He was, however, unwilling to sit by whilst similar things happen to other people, especially children. He decided to become a Vigilante.

That night he walked to the edge of the forest and hitchhiked to the city. Once there he took shelter in a small, empty building and donned his gear. He had dressed in an outfit he was rather fond of. It would likely have been his Hero costume if that was even an option anymore. He wears a black bowler hat and coat, gloves, and a scarf. His coat features buttons that resemble small suns. A mask similar to mechanical head which resembles a radio microphone or a machine. Its eyes are shaped like suns, similar to the coat buttons. Underneath his clothing, Izuku has a slim, articulated suit of light armour with a pair of blades on his arms. He had assembled this attire from various pieces that he scavenged from a nearby town and the cabin.

He walked. That is how he spent the first night of his vigilante career. He walked. When he came upon someone who needed saving, he walked towards the offending party. In turn, the criminal attacked him, and promptly was incapacitated or killed by a calamity. Izuku felt no remorse upon killing an attacker. They chose to attack him, the flow of calamity dealt with them accordingly. Besides, he can't control whether the calamities kill or incapacitate, only when the flow activates. If a victim of a crime gets scared and tries to attack him in desperation and fear, he keeps it off.

As the nights come and go, he has become an Urban Legend. It has been two months since he begun. Whilst many know of the new Vigilante, none know who he is or how he does what he does. Any witnesses say that he appears and the villains are down almost as soon as they see him. It is as if the mere presence of The Man in The Bowler Hat is enough to send any villains to hell. The public have no official name for the mystery figure. He has yet to state it to anyone. The time shall come for him to reveal his alias. But for now, they know only of the title of the legend.

Izuku found himself thinking about that exact issue. He wanted a memorable name that fit him well. He was always a fan of old-school music, so took some inspiration from that. Everyone was always guessing about what his ability could possibly be, so that could play into it. After a while of thinking, he came up with an name.

The next night, he went out again. It was a 30 Minute walk into the nearest city that Izuku did his work in. He got to the area, he put on his outfit and begun to walk.

After a while of walking through the city ominously and stopping a number of crimes, he decided to head back. Before he could make very far, the figure of a large man with ridiculous hair landed in front of him.

"SURRENDER NOW VILLAIN, FOR I AM HERE." As All Might said this he went to throw a punch. He fell as he did this, hitting his head on a bollard at the side of the pathway. He started to get up from the ground, only for a car to drive past him, kicking stones up towards the Hero. They pierced his injured side at unnatural speeds causing him to fall to the ground in pain. Izuku simply walked away.

"W...WAIT! WHAT DO WE C..CALL YOU?"

Izuku turned around, looking directly at the symbol of peace. In a deep voice, not fitting his actual age he responded,

"Wonder of U"

 The newly named 'Wonder of U' then continued to walk, returning to his home.

News quickly spread of the new name for the vigilante. Stories were still told of The Man in The Bowler Hat, but now there was a name to the menacing existance that walked the streets. Rumours spread of the way 'Wonder of U' dealt with those he encountered. Details of how the majority of his targets ended up with one or two forms of injury before the vigilante left. However certain crimes resulted in the criminal being beaten to a pulp after being incapacitated. It was rare but happened. The cases all had one thing in common. The victims were always children. Citizens either worshipped Wonder of U or feared him. Heroes usually hated him, with a few exceptions. The Rabbit Hero: Miruko thought he was strong and respected him, the Dragon Hero: Ryukyu held the opinion that until they had more information on him, they couldn't make any major judgements about him, Eraserhead was curious, Midnight was the same as Ryukyu.

Izuku couldn't bring himself to care about what the heroes thought of him. As long as the innocent people of Japan where safe, and villains feared The Man In The Bowler Hat, he was satisfied. He was well aware that even if the heroes wanted to capture him, they wouldn't make it far past that thought. They knew that too, however many still wanted to try. There were little to no advancements in the theories about his ability. No-one knew his identity, no-one knew his power. He decided to renovate his cave a little. The inside was quite large, walls going quite far back and ceiling quite high up. He settled on the idea of building a large-ish space with a wooden floor, walls and ceiling, serving as an indoor area. It was easier to keep warm and provided an comfortable space with easily enough room for up to 3 people to live in. He had stolen a spare mattress from the cabin whilst the owners were out doing hero work and had kept it in the cave. He decided to move it into the room he had constructed, and have part of that area serve as a bedroom.

Child abusers. Those were the kinds of people Izuku hated the most, alongside anyone else who did bad things to children. The man standing in front of him now, fell under that exact category. Overhaul. The leader of the Eight Precepts of Death and currents boss of the Shie Hassaikai Yakuza. An intense staredown occured between said man and Wonder of U. Clutching desperately onto the neck of Wonder of U was a small girl, around six years old, with red eyes, silver hair and a small horn on the side of her forehead. She wore a battered hospital style gown with bandages all the way up her arms. As she clung to the calamity wielder she shook violently, clearly terrified of Overhaul. Constant whispers of "n..n.no" and "d..d..don't make m..me go back there" emitted from the child, further angering Izuku. He had seen some bad cases involving children before, but this one was far worse than any of those.

"You will return my cure to me if you know what's good for you" Overhaul threatened.

"You are in no position to negotiate, Overhaul. You can do nothing to me. So long as this child is with me, you cannot touch her. She shall be tormented by you no longer. In the Flow of Calamity, no-one can attack me. Not a single person. That I know for sure.  She is safe now, and you shall suffer."

With this threat repeating in his head, Overhaul stepped back a bit. Gritting his teeth, he placed his hand upon the wall, launching spikes at Wonder of U. The girl in the vigilante's arms noticably tensed, resulting in Izuku tightening his grip on her in a comforting embrace. The spikes sent at Izuku quickly changed direction, heading straight at Overhaul, piercing his arms, stomach and one of his legs. Grunting in pain and confusion, he tried again. But this time, instead of a repeat of last time, the spikes formed underneath Overhaul's hand. They rushed through his hand and stabbed him through the head. Overhaul was no more. With that dealt with, Izuku focused all of his attention onto the child he held.

"What is your name, little one?"

"E...Eri"

"Fear not Eri, I will not hurt you. You are safe now. Do you have anywhere to go? Parents for example."

At this, Eri only clung tighter to Izuku and sobbed even more. Izuku understood immediately.

"Then, would you like to come with me?"

Eri looked at him with tear-filled eyes. "Y..you m..mean it?"

"Of course. I could never leave someone like you alone, especially if I can do something about it."

"C...can I see your face?"

Izuku hesitated and looked around to make sure no-one could see them. He then removed his hat and took of the mask, revealing his green hair and freckled face. Eri's eyes widened at how young her saviour was. She began to hug him again, burying her face in his shoulder. He put his mask and hat back on and started to walk back to the forest. On the way, he stopped at a corner shop to obtain some proper food for Eri, using money he took from thugs who died to his Calamities, getting a lot of stares as he did so. It's not everyday you see Japan's most feared Vigilante in a shop buying food, accompanied by a six year old.

By the time they arrived home, Eri was already asleep, leaning on Izuku's shoulder as he held her. He entered the recently constructed bedroom and laid her down on the mattress. He lit the fire to provide warmth and then laid down next to her, holding her close to reassure her.