Heroes, Vigilantes, and Villains

Chapter thirty-one

A/N: Sorry that I didn't update last week, my area got hit by a hurricane and we lost both power and water for days. We only just got internet back yesterday. The only reason I was able to update my other fic was that I already had the draft saved and we went into town. But anyways, here you go.

Izuku POV

Time passed quickly in 1-A and before I really knew it, the end of term exams had already arrived, bringing with them their usual flurry of relentless anxiety in the other students that I hadn't missed at all when I decided to go home schooled.

There wasn't a single sane person among the lot.

Hito had his head permanently stuck in a book when he wasn't sleeping while the other kids were running around to one house or another for some inane study sessions. I almost felt sorry for the group that decided to put their academic futures in Bakugo's hands, because while they were sure to get good marks, that boy was anything but kind.

Kirishima's hardening quirk would have come in handy during middle school. During any time before this year actually.

Momo was holding her own sessions with some of the other students and from what I heard the entire thing was almost some kind of tea party. Rich people, I suppose.

Even Eraserhead had gotten into the madness as he had said that those who didn't pass the exams would not be able to go to the training camp. I was tempted to call the man on his obvious lie, but from the way that the others scurried to study even harder than they had previously, then I didn't see the point in ruining the effect that the hero had been looking for. Though it still seemed absurd that so many would willingly believe that a hero school would punish students for their poor grades by denying them a chance to learn.

There will probably just be remedial lessons.

I didn't mind the idea of exams though. When I was doing online schooling I had already covered almost every topic that we would be testing on while I was still in middle school. All I've needed to do is refresh my mind on the information, which being in class has done just that, so studying and stressing weren't really on my list of priorities.

But that didn't mean that I was going to let Hito stress himself to death for me either.

"Come on," I groaned, dragging the other boy away from the school and towards the post office, "we can study till you truly drop dead once we're at your Mom's work."

The other boy started digging his heels into the ground in some form of protest as I drug him away from UA. "But I need to study for the practical too," the other teen argued, looking longingly at the school gyms. "I don't even have any idea what they're going to be, but I can't afford to fail them."

"And you won't," I insisted, wondering for a moment just how I got into this situation, having to almost babysit my best friend to make sure that he took proper care of himself when I hardly held the same courtesy for myself. "But it won't do you any good to stress your body only days before the exam either."

The boy opened his mouth to argue but shut it once he registered that it was a losing battle that he was fighting. Finally. "God I hate it when you're right," the other teen conceded, his feet finally moving forwards.

"Ah, you must hate it all of the time then."

There was a light slap on my shoulder that I felt was completely deserved. But what I noticed more was the easy way that I didn't even flinch away from the contact but instead found my body light from it.

It was a feeling that I wanted to last.

—-

The paper exams were a breeze that I slept through half of after finishing early. They were almost a joke, but the practical wasn't.

Hito and I shifted nervously on the bus as Eraserhead drove us out to the test site. The hero in question had a wicked smile on his lips as he drove, clearly enjoying the idea of what is to come. It wasn't everyday that a hero, a hero student, and a former vigilante got to run wild through a miniature city.

"Our best bet would be to escape," I whispered as we moved through the back alleys of the false city.

The other boy nodded in agreement. "Definitely. I don't like the idea of trying to capture the one hero that runs around with a capture scarf."

I almost wanted to shiver at the thought.

We ran through the city as silently as we could, one of us with much more successfulness in that endeavor than the other. We stayed to the more well lit streets, making it harder for the hero to spy and sneak up on either of us since there were less shadows to hide himself inside.

Turns out it wasn't a necessary precaution.

Eraserhead was waiting for the pair of us at the exit of the miniature city, the scarf in question prized readily in his hands. That same smile was back with a vengeance.

The three of us looked at one another for a moment before Hito and I moved quickly away from one another, going to either side of the hero and forcing the hero to choose one of us to go after. The capture scarfe was thrown out at me while the hero moved backwards towards Hito. I moved out of the way quickly and brought out the beads that I brought with me today. The scarfe slapped harshly on my wrist, knocking the beads from my hands as if they had burned.

"You're going to have to try a little harder than that, Icarus," the hero chided.

"Oh I'm not sure about that," I shot back calmly, my hand still held aloft, empty where it had once been full.

A dark purple gas started to fill the area as the chemicals from the two types of orbs interacted with one another. I relished for a moment at my teacher's surprised face before the smoke became too thick for me to see it.

Moving silently in the smoke, I made sure to stay on the outskirts of it where the substance would be thinnest, leaving Eraserhead in the thick of it.

"How's that for trying hard?"

"Well-"

And just like that Eraserhead went completely still inside of the smoke. Though I couldn't see it I knew that if I were to his body would look like a puppet with its strings cut.

Mind control and Persona Chords. Brilliant.

Hito and I ran to the gate, each of us on the opposite of where we had started as we had switched midway through the encounter with the hero, so he wouldn't know that it wasn't me talking.

We ran through the gate with time to spare.

A/N: Short chapter, I know, but next up in the training camp and kidnapping which I am excited to get to.