~Zero to Hero: A Vigilante Deku Story~

One: A Vigilante's Resolve

IMPORTANT A/N: In this story, the slime incident happens one year earlier when Izuku is 13, not 14. Also, All Might never drops the bottle, so the slime villain never gets loose and attacks Bakugo.

And please remember that although I do depict unhealthy thought processes in this story, I do not by any means support them. If you find yourself thinking similar thoughts to ones I've described here, please talk to someone as that's not good for your health. The way Izuku deals with his emotions is VERY BAD and should not be emulated, but since he's never learned how to cope this is the best he can do. He will learn to deal with his feelings better throughout the book instead of just shoving them down, but it'll take a lot of time and character development before he reaches a better place. Until then, have fun watching his slow descent into an emotional breakdown.

Also, "BOLDED, CAPITALIZED TEXT LIKE THIS" is buff All Might speaking.

Word Count: 8015

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WARNING: This chapter contains graphic depictions of bullying as well as a suicide attempt. Please do not read if these things trigger you. Thank you and please take care of yourselves.

Izuku had never planned to become a vigilante.

He'd introduced himself to that woman as Zero, but it was more of a split second decision than anything. He just didn't want his actions to be associated with his old name.

But after that, he'd started thinking. Wouldn't this be the perfect way to gain fighting experience? This way, he could get stronger and help people at the same time. And since vigilantism was defined as using your quirk without a license, he technically wouldn't be breaking any laws if he let his enemies strike first. It was ingenious!

....Well, it was never that simple.

There would be a lot of problems- most obviously, avoiding capture. The heroes and police force had no way of knowing about his quirklessness, so they'd be trying to arrest him. And that definitely couldn't happen.

It's not like he'd be put in jail if he was caught, but he would be put into the childcare system and sent to who knows where, and if that happened he wouldn't be able to attend UA. Therefore, discovery of his identity was a no-no.

Luckily- or maybe unluckily- Izuku lived in the bad part of town, where few heroes tended to bother with. Even if he did vigilante work here, he suspected the police would leave him be as long as he wasn't causing harm. They already had too much to deal with and would most likely see him as a helpful presence if anything. It was basically free real estate. At the very least, he'd probably have time to gain sufficient fighting experience for avoiding capture.

That was one thing out of the way, but he was far from home free. He'd need supplies: support gear, weapons, a costume, and a voice-changer to hide his identity. And since he was broke to boot, buying them wasn't feasible in the near future. He'd have to scrounge them up from somewhere, or make them himself, or find some other solution.

And then there was the issue of time. As in he didn't have enough of it.

He already had enough responsibilities, but vigilante work would introduce several more into the mix. Obviously there were the night patrols, but there was also creating and doing maintenance on support gear, researching nearby villains and crime hotspots, monitoring any local gangs, organizations, or syndicates... Finding the time and energy to do all of those things on top of everything else would be a taxing job in itself.

He'd tried to apply for online classes to free up his schedule, but he wouldn't have been able to start until the next semester even if he'd been approved. Which he hadn't been: the teacher had scoffed at him for "trying to get out of school" and thrown his application in the trash.