#i jsut still love quirkless pro hero izuku so goddamn much

[redrobin-detective]

I’ll be your hero (whether you want me or not)

It’s Izuku’s birthday and goddamn was I mad craving the chance to write more post-TLWA Deku as a licensed quirkless hero so here we go. 

XxX

Izuku charged forward, ducking under the swinging arms coming his way with practiced grace. They attacked him lazily, as if they couldn’t be bothered to give him anymore effort. Normally he’d be willing to stand his ground and engage, bare his teeth and show them how dangerous he could be but he has more important things to worry about now. So he let Kacchan, Uraraka and Todoroki, the more popular quirked heroes take care of the thugs up front while that idiot quirkless kid who actually went through with getting a hero license snuck past. After all, someone had to rescue the hostages.

“Hey what are you doing-” a guard asked but Izuku cut off his stupid question with a uppercut between his ribcage, forcing the air from his lungs. Once he knew the man wouldn’t yell, Izuku grabbed ahold of his shoulders and pulled him down for Izuku to knee him in the face. Hard. He set the criminal down and quietly ziptied him before moving on. Using tricks drilled into relentlessly from Aizawa-sensei during high school, Izuku slunk through the halls, clinging to the shadows and getting the drop on any other criminals he came across. Most were taken down before they even knew they were under attack. He couldn’t help the slightest smirk that crossed his face as took down three more, not too bad for the quirkless Deku who’d never amount to anything. If only his four year old self could see him now.

As soon as he stepped into the next corridor, he smoothed out his predatory stance and smiled at the hostages hovering in the corner. It wasn’t the wide, beaming smiled Yagi-san used to single-handedly beat back the dark. It small, gentle, slightly crooked and full of confidence and humility. “You’re alright now, I’m here to help,” he said, making eye contact with everyone in the room. “I’m going to get you out of here. Is this all of you? Are any of you hurt?”

A few of the adults looked over his shoulder a little anxiously, as if waiting for some stronger hero to bring up the rear and help them. It wasn’t unusual and it happened so often that Izuku barely even felt the twinges of annoyance and inadequacy anymore. Nine total, five adults and four children the youngest being about seven years of age. Not the best group to get out of a sticky situation but he’d beaten worse odds. 

“Iida,” He said into his comm, “I have eyes on the hostages, there’s nine of them, a mix of adults and kids. Tell Shou and Kacchan to really light the place up, we’re going to need plenty of cover.” He looked back at people gathered around him. They were scared, not just of the circumstances but of him, worried that he wouldn’t be enough to get them out. To be honest, Izuku had the same fears, had them every time he left his house in uniform. But he’d promised Yagi-san that he would continue on his legacy, One For All or not. Considering he was only 20 years old and ranked #76 on the Hero charts without a quirk or major backing sponsor, he thought he was doing pretty damn good. 

“Understood, we await your signal,” Iida said with a clipped voice with the sound of explosions going off in the background before signing off.

“Alright, we’re going to get out of here and we’re going to do it together. I’m sure you all know I don’t have a quirk but I want to know yours, tell me your names and quirks and I promise I will everything possible to get you all out safely.” Introductions given, Izuku directed them outside the shelter of their room, retracing the steps he used to get in. They passed some of the guards who Izuku had dispatched earlier but not all of them.

“Toko-chan, can you see anyone coming?” Izuku asked quietly. The girl, about 13 with no eyes on her face placed her hands on the wall and listened.

“Uh I hear some commotion a bit behind us, they’ve found out we’ve escaped. No alarms yet b-but people are coming this way,” she whimpered out drawing her hands back away from the wall. Her mother pulled her into her arms and the rest began to fearfully murmur to each other.

“Hey,” Izuku said authoritatively but with a soft voice. “We knew we wouldn’t get out without them knowing. This is what we talked about, nothing has changed but I’m going to need you to keep your courage up a little while longer.” There’s a creak and Izuku grabbed a few of his throwing knives. “Hasagawa-san, barrier!”

His knife slipped through just before the gym teacher’s barrier went up. The thugs spikes bounced harmlessly off the mental shield just as he was pinned to the wall by his clothing. A nod of his head and the barrier dropped, Izuku slammed his fist into the man’s face. He went limp and Izuku let him slip to the floor. A woman appeared from around the corner, slamming her hands down on the ground causing layers of stone to appear blocking off their exit.

“No way out now hero, hero,” the villain said with a sarcastic drawl. Izuku hunched his shoulders faking left but darting to the right, snapping out his staff to swipe at the woman’s feet before slamming her face first into the ground. He stood up, staring at the obstacle in front of them and quickly reformatting his plan.

“Deku to Uravity, I’m going to need you to meet us near the entrance I went through, we’ll need your support to get out,” he said into the comm before turning back to the group. “Come on, you’re doing great. This is just a little setback, we’re almost there,” he encouraged, shooting the others a smile. He was pleased to see a few smile back. “Uravity, are you in position?”

“Does Tokoyami wear a black cape?” Ochako teased in-between breathy pants. “Do you even need me or do you just think I need the ego boost?”

“I’ll always need you, gravity girl ” he couldn’t help but grin, the light flirting coming naturally despite the fact that they stopped dating before they even graduated. But some habits died hard but not friendships thankfully, those were a lot sturdier than awkward teen romances. “Nakano-san, I’m going to need your skills. I’ll take care of Mako-kun,” he said reaching out and gently taking the youngest boy’s hand leaving both his father’s hands free. 

“My sonic waves aren’t really controllable, once I start I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop,” the man said nervously. 

“I know,” Izuku said gently even as he was aware of the yelling approaching them. “That’s why Uravity is close by to catch any debris that falls. Entropy and Explosion are outside causing enough chaos that no one is going to be looking at us.” Another smile, “we can do this.”

The man nodded and the closed his eyes as the stone walls he leaned on trembled furiously. Izuku steadied himself on the adjacent wall before launching himself at a particularly vulnerable crack in the wall, giving them an opening. He began scooping the younger kids through the opening as the roof began to loose integrity.

“Ocha-”

“Got it!” he heard his best friend shout as she bounded around, slamming her hands on parts of the building before they could fall on any of the civilians. “Always got to make a big scene don’t cha?”

“I’ve got to make up for my lack of quirk somehow,” he quipped back, handing Mako-kun back to his father. “Todoroki, Kacchan, make sure a path is cleared on the eastern side we’re moving civilians. Iida I’ll need you to escort them out, ‘Chako and I have company.” He stood in front of the hostages, activating the portable shield on his left arm as fire was thrown their way, “Now Iida!” 

“Come now, I will lead you to safety,” Iida said appearing out of nowhere.

“But what about Deku-san,” Izuku heard Ishii-san say.

“Midoriya taught me a long time ago that there are very few things he can’t accomplish when he’s got that look in his eyes.”

“This is just my normal face, Iida,” Izuku countered, going after a few thugs Ochako had floated and slamming them down to the ground with his bo.

“Exactly,” Izuku could hear the smile in his friend’s voice as he began to shepard the civilians away. “I leave the rest to you two.”

“Oh we won’t be long,” Ochako grinned, rolling her shoulders and felt a rush of affection go through him. He had the best friends and the best life in the entire world. 

XxX

“Explosion!” one reporter shouted to them as they wrapped up, “what’s your opinion on the decriminalization of quirk use in self-defense?”

“It’s about damn time now shut up and let us do our damn job,” Kacchan snapped, keeping his back to the reporters as he ensured all the villains and civilians were accounted for. 

“Ingenium! how did you get the hostages out with all the fighting going on?” Another asked from the crowd. 

“As I said earlier,” Iida said tersely, “Deku was the one who found and safely retrieved the hostages. I only got them out of the line of fire while he and Uravity fended off the other criminals.”

“Deku, do you feel your career has suffered since you left the Two Heroes agency run by #1 hero Explosion and opened your own smaller agency?” Another asked and by the way Kacchan’s shoulder’s twitched with agitation, he’d better answer first.

“Red Riot is doing an amazing job taking over my role as partner and I’m proud of the work my friends and colleagues are doing at the agency I helped build,” he politely reminded. “I decided to focus on a different aspect of heroics and I’m happy with what I’m doing at One For All Heroics along with my continued quirk advocacy work.” The questions went back to the other, bigger heroes, asking about their love lives or alliances leaving him mostly alone despite all the company. But he didn’t mind, not really, not anymore. 

Because he really was living his best life. He was saving people like he always wanted, he had the best friends in the world who saw his value and gave him the respect he’d earned over the years. Deku might not be a household name like All Might, might not have an impossible quirk passed down the generations but he did believe in the peace started by another quirkless man. He was Midoriya Izuku, he was hero Deku and he was here to help whether or not the world was ready for him.