Shouta Aizawa had no idea why he agreed to Tsukauchi’s request to work the ControlFreak and Null case. Of course, he’d heard the detective bemoan the former over weekly coffee and over cases. He even agreed it was possible that the vigilante was the former villain Hijack, which would make her a kid. That the vigilante had stopped a trafficking ring and even that her partner had surfaced for the first time. Ultimately it was his friend's desperation that had led him to agree...that and a promise of coffee for the next year.
That was six months ago and he was starting to wonder if the coffee was worth it. He’d run into the duo several times and yet hadn’t arrested them once, maybe he was going soft in his old age. Their first meeting was still imprinted in his mind.
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His capture scarf had wrapped around the thin body and yanked it back from the roof’s edge. Bright green goggles snapped to meet his red gaze.
“Holy shit, you’re Eraserhead! You’re one of my favorite heroes!” the voice was artificially deep but excitement definitely made the pro hero think he was dealing with a kid. A kid who knew who he was.
“Stop fan boying, Null. He does have you wrapped up.” The other figure had walked over from the shadows, this one taller and female. She had her dark gray, teal tipped hair free, her goggles matching her partners but a bright teal.
“Nee-chan! He’s your favorite too!” Oh Kami, was he pouting? How old were these kids?
“Shouldn’t you two be in bed?” His voice was dry, as he released his Quirk, his black shaggy hair flopping back in his face.
“Shouldn’t we ask you the same thing? Most men your age go to bed by eight, you know?” the girl quipped, tilting her head.
His eye twitched, “Tsukauchi said you were a smartass.”
“Oh my Kami! Tsuki talks about me! I knew he cared!” She giggled, “Now I’m sorry, Eraser, can I call you that? I’m going to anyway. But I can’t have you take Null in quite yet. I’d be way too lonely since two of our family members have been talking about moving out recently. So I need him back.” With that statement the girl moved, a flashbang going off in front of his face. Suddenly the tension in his weapon went slack and he stumbled forward.
When his vision cleared, he was alone on the roof, his capture weapon on the ground with a green post-it stuck to it.
“I can’t wait to meet you again Eraserhead! Have a goodnight! -Null"
Eraserhead sighed taking a moment, What kind of kids have access to flashbangs?
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Shouta had a file full of blue and green post-its just addressed to him, the green ones sometimes containing questions on his gear or Quirk. What his capture weapon was made of, why didn’t he wear goggles that were functional, what would happen if he looked in a mirror and used his Quirk on himself? The kid was full of questions, but never answered any.
Granted, the questions were on age, school, his Quirk, his name… Yeah, Shouta couldn’t blame them for not answering those questions. But why were kids going out at night to take down thugs? He knew they were related, but where were the parents, did they know? Were they even in the picture?
Seriously though! The two little gremlins would bolt any time he’d get too close, the girl usually yanking the boy away when he was rambling excitedly, with bright green or blue post its left in their wake. He wasn’t sure how the girl was keeping tabs on his presence until he saw her glance down at her phone, figuring she must be tracking his phone. She had even started to get cocky, the one post it leaving the message, ‘Guess we’re just too fast for ya!’
And if the little brat wanted a challenge, well, she’d get one. He’d left his phone at home during patrols, and had just been out of range when those glowing teal goggles had snapped up, a hand going to the hoodie pocket and lobbing another flashbang at him, only for it to be wrapped up with his capture weapon.
“That only worked the first time because I wasn’t expecting it, kid.” The green one had wrapped an arm around her, pulling her from the reach of his questing bandages, before grappling to the next building, disappearing from sight. Bolting after them only gained him spots in his eyes as the green one set off a timed flare blinding him. And then they were scurrying away even faster than before, even with him leaving his phone at home, so he knew that somehow, she’d managed to hack into the secure line he kept on him to contact the police or other heroes.
They were sneaky little shits too, and he’d barely realize it until some his brawls were easier or over quicker than he’d anticipated. And then he’d look over and see some of the thugs and villains that had been hanging back restrained with post it's on them.
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“Ooh! That roundhouse kick was so cool!”
“Don’t worry, Eraser, we won’t let some rando stab you.”
“Can you teach us how you did that move that knocked out the guy with the snake hair?!”
And it just kept coming! Months of them zipping away after taking down thugs, he was at his wit’s end with those two. It was getting to the point he was going to call in some other heroes, maybe they could just get them sat down and convince them to not be out at night fighting villains and thugs and drug dealers when they should be in bed. Kami knows how much longer they'd go without attracting real attention.
But despite his hopes, around other heroes, they were even worse! He'd not see a single hair of their heads, and it was only through the reports of patrolling officers that he realized they were making sure to be on the literal other side of the region as him and any help he roped in! He expected that from ControlFreak, she was a bit standoffish, but he had Null pegged as a hero fanboy. He’d caught the kid rambling on a few times about heroes and Quirks, he’d already asked the pro more questions about his Quirk than his own students did. At this point he didn't even bother calling in the help, easier to keep an eye on the kids if they weren't avoiding him.
He had to ask himself: why him?!
Aizawa sighed as he sipped his coffee, one hand lazily massaging his temple as he stared down at the stack of assignments he’d been grading. At least he finally had an answer to that.
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The pro hero had been sitting on the roof’s edge, his hair ruffling in the slight breeze before a body plopped down an arm’s length beside him. The metallic clunk of a thermos rang out between them. He turned his head to see the girl sitting there, he was surprised it wasn’t the boy, he was usually the one to approach.
She pulled a Styrofoam cup from her pocket, he couldn’t help but note the left hand was bare, not clad in its usual glove; and poured herself a cup from the thermos, the aroma of strong, bitter life sustaining nectar wafted to him. She pulled the mask down to sip at it. She put another cup next to the thermos.
“Help yourself.” The voice was deeper without the mask on, but still feminine. He raised an eyebrow before he poured himself a cup, taking a tentative sip. The duo had never done anything to harm him before, usually going out of their way to help him, even when he didn’t ask them to. And she’d just drank the same beverage herself. He almost groaned, it was the same blend as the café he visited with Hizashi.
“Thanks,” the hero sipped it gratefully, warming his fingers on the cup. “Why do this though?”
She sipped hers, her head angled up to the night sky. “Consider it a thank you.” She raised a shoulder in a half-shrug.
“For what?” he couldn’t remember anything she would have to thank him for, the duo got out of their own fights without his help.
“It’s because of you that Break and Hack are in Tartarus.”
Aizawa couldn’t help but frown at the memory. “They were A-ranked villains, it’s my job to capture them.”
The girl let out a soft snort, “Still, if you hadn’t been there, I don’t think the cops would have been able to keep them there.” There was something hiding in her tone, it was almost like she was...testing him? Yeah, that would be the brat.
“I never found their third partner.” He said carefully, his eyes trained on her to see her body tense, fingers tightening around the cup in her hand.
“The partner they sold out.”
“From what they said, it was thanks to Hijack that they were at the police station to begin with. So it seemed like a mutual betrayal.”
He could almost see the eyeroll, even with the goggles obscuring her eyes. “Look, Eraser. I’m not stupid. I’ve read the files Tsuki has on me and Null. And really? They’re pretty disappointing. Only mentioning guesses at ages, guesses at Quirks, like, if that’s a professional analysis, I’d be concerned with the certification process. But maybe I’m biased.” She shrugged before she downed her cup.
“Tsukauchi has a theory about you. He believes you’re Hijack, you match the age and the hair description.”
“Oh, do I? You can’t tell my age, I could just be a short, malnourished adult. And the hair could be dyed. What if I wanted you to think I was Hijack?” Underneath the teasing, there was definite tension, “What would you do if I was anyway? Throw me in Tartarus? They admitted Hijack was a child, maybe she never wanted to do those things.” Her mouth closed with a snap, before her fingers twitched, legs tensing as if she was about to jump off the building to swing away.
“I’d try to help them.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. He couldn’t just let this end here, not when the vigilante was opening up to him, testing him, maybe even trusting him. It was an opening to finally try to get an in with the duo, if he couldn’t catch them, maybe he could convince them to end this, maybe even join a hero school if they wanted to help people. “Hijack was...is a child, they deserve the right to defend themselves...to be heard.”
The girl paused, looking at him for a while before her lips quirked up in a smile, “I knew you were cool, Eraser. Anyway, I should get home. Null keeps aggravating a wound, so I can leave patrolling to you tonight, right?” She stood up and replaced her mask, starting to walk away. “Keep the thermos, it’s a gift from Null.”
“Control,” He called before he realized his mouth was moving, her footsteps stopped. “we should do this again. I’ll bring the coffee next time…and thanks.”
She was quiet for a moment, but he heard the warmth in her voice, if not a little embarrassed undertone trying to hide. “Sure, I’d uh…I’d like that. And thank Null when you see him.” With that he was alone on the roof.
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Shouta sighed at the memory, the vigilantes were going to be a headache if this kept on. Luckily the duo didn’t have the media's attention yet, or the commission would start sending heroes after them. Right now they were willing to overlook the two since they basically handled muggers and gang thugs. It couldn’t be helped, he guessed, he’d have to keep an eye on the problem children.