Izuku spun around checking himself out in the mirror. Katsuki had really outdone himself on his vigilante outfit. The fit was perfect on him and more comfortable then he had been expecting. The coat was heavy, yes, but it flowed with his movements easily enough and broke up his silhouette as intended. It was largely black in color with the inner panels a deep green with a hood to help hide his hair further after he gelled it back with his tinted gel. He had applied said gel rather liberally to force his curls back away from his face, combing them out to curl more loosely at the back of his neck where they would not be seen. With his utility belt pulled on and filled, he just had to pull his face mask up over his makeup covered nose and put his finishing piece above his brows. It was a horned circlet designed to mimic the one worn by the character that would act as his namesake tonight. He had stumbled upon the golden heat formed plastic for it while looking for a way to create goggles that mimicked his Uncle Shouta's. The reason for it was a bit more than a homage to the comic book character though since he had embedded small magnets in it. Matching magnets in his hood would snap to it to help hold the hood up while moving around.
He was ready.
With a deep breath, Izuku slid open his window and slowly and quietly climbed down. There was a surprisingly high number of hand holds on the building's side so it was hardly any more challenging than the rock wall at the gym had been. Once on the ground he swiftly moved away over to the building he had mentally marked a few weeks ago as a good starting point for patrolling from. He had noticed it back when he and Katsuki had first started learning parkour since it was the closest building to his complex that had a fire escape that was easily accessible from the ground that was near enough in height to the rest of the buildings on his planned route.
A quick running jump and he caught the bottom rung of the raised ladder. Now came the harder part of pulling himself up using only his upper body. Izuku had gained quite a bit of strength practicing the motion over the past few weeks but it was far from easy for him to do yet. Still, it was doable. By the time he had made it to the roof, Izuku's arms were practically screaming from the strain but hopefully that wouldn't matter. The plan was to mostly be running and jumping from this point forward and that is where he excelled anyways.
It didn't take long to get into the rhythm of running and jumping from roof to roof but unlike when he had run this route with Katsuki in the afternoon a few days ago, Izuku was now painfully aware of how loud he was. He slowly adjusted his steps as he ran to find quieter and quieter ways of moving. It wasn't until he stopped for a minute to check the time that he heard something that caught his attention. There seemed to be raised voices coming from a few blocks to the North. Curious, instead of pulling out his phone as he had planned moments before to check his time, he turned toward the sound and started toward the commotion as quickly as he could without making a large amount of noise. A few roofs later and he was looking down into an alleyway.
"Look, we could do this one of two ways. Either you finally pay up now or your family will be paying for your funeral instead."
Oh that wasn't good. Izuku carefully assessed the situation below him. It was just the two men but the one that had been talking was holding his hand up to near the throat of the other guy who was pushing himself as far back into the wall as possible. Given their relative positions it was likely that the guy making the threat had some kind of quirk that the other was afraid of being used on him. Most likely some kind of dangerous emitter type that was either 5-point activation or was projected from the hand in some way. That wasn't good. Even if Izuku had been confident in his ability to fight, there was little chance of him being able to get down to help in time.
Okay, so what could he do then? Izuku quickly looked around. He had, of course, noticed even before he landed on this roof that the owners of the building had turned it into a sort of greenspace. Maybe there was something up here he could use?
…There. That could maybe work. He quickly darted over to grab the object in question and shifted back over to overlook the alley. Quickly lining up his target he leaned forward and…
Bang! CRASH!
Izuku had leaned back mostly into cover but he was happy to see from his vantage point that the sound created from the pot he had dropped to knock over one of the bins nearby had startled the two men apart.
"What the FUCK was that!" As the would-be attacker turned to investigate the other seemed to realize his chance and turned to book it out of the other end of the alley. By the time the other had realized his mistake the other had vanished from sight. "You have got to be shitting me." He kicked the bin that had served as a distraction before huffing and shoving his hands in his jean pockets as he stormed out of the alley, thankfully in the opposite direction of the other man. Grinning to himself for that clever bit of quick thinking, Izuku shifted back to continue his patrol when he froze. He wasn't alone on the roof anymore.
The man that stood a few feet to the left of him, had clearly been watching him but his posture was relaxed. Much like Izuku, the man was largely dressed in black and a utility belt around his waist. Unlike Izuku however, his head of long dark hair was uncovered with a pair of goggles on his face and a pale off white scarf hung around his neck. Of all the luck.
Intentionally changing his voice, "Hiyah Eraser. Fancy seeing you here."
His uncle tilted his head slightly, a puzzled look on his face. "Kid, what do you think you're doing?"
"Mischief."
"Uh huh. You do realize it's a school night, right? Shouldn't you be in bed so you don't fall asleep in class tomorrow?"
"Shouldn't you? I hear Hero students can be a handful."
Izuku could see his uncle narrow his eyes suspiciously at Izuku as his eyes flashed red. Izuku watched as the man's hair swirled up away from his shoulders and noticed immediately that his headache was gone. Huh, that was new. He hadn't even realized he had one. His attention snapped back into focus when his uncle reached up to grab his capture weapon. "Kid, I am going to have to bring you into the station to answer a few questions."
Izuku shrugged and popped fully back to his standing height. "I doubt Tsukauchi would appreciate you doing that. He is supposed to get off for the night soon. I doubt your not-husband would appreciate you staying out extra late either." He carefully watched his uncle but didn't move to run yet. He wanted to make sure his escape route was the correct one according to his Quirk.
"My not-husband?"
"Present Mic, obviously."
Shouta gave Izuku a strange look. "Kid, where are you getting your information from? Your Quirk?"
"Nope." Izuku popped on the P of the English word. He watched as Shouta blinked and was surprised to realize in the brief window of time that his Quirk returned, it said to stay put. Interesting. He found words falling from his mouth before he could register and his uncle could reactivate his Quirk on him. "My Quirk is a luck based one. So long as you don't use your Quirk on me, I can't get hurt unless the benefits for me in the long run are greater. I am really good at guessing because of it."
To his surprise, his uncle did not reactivate Erasure. "So you have just been guessing?"
Izuku bobbed his head in agreement. "More or less. I did have a profile written up on you since you were the Hero I was most likely to run into if I was going to run into someone so most of my guesses weren't really new ones."
"Why was I the most likely Hero? I am hardly the only Hero that patrols this area even at this late hour."
Izuku pulled out his phone rather obviously to check the time. 4am. "I would say early hour at this point but that would be splitting hairs." Turning his attention back to Shouta, he continued. "You were the most likely Hero because you are the one that is least dangerous for me. You have a history of cooperation with vigilantes and like kids."
Shouta seemed to reluctantly accept that. "Is there a reason you needed to check the time?"
Izuku shrugged. "I need to go back home soon-ish. I want to try to catch my brother before he goes to bed or I won't be able to chat with him until late tonight."
"Your brother has a bad sleep schedule too then?"
Izuku shrugged again. "His sleep schedule is fine, he is just mostly nocturnal. It isn't like he has school anymore. He owns a bar so honestly it should be expected."
That got an interested expression from Shouta. "You do realize if you keep this up I will have more than enough information to find out who you are?"
Izuku grinned despite knowing Shouta couldn't see it. "Do you think so? You are working on the false assumption that my Quirk is listed in the national records correctly as well as being able to cross reference that data with owners of bars."
Shouta made a noise of agreement. "That is true. What about your brother's Quirk?"
Too Izuku's continued surprise, words continued to spill from him. He would have to ask his Dad about all of this later since this was clearly his Quirk's doing even if he had no idea why it was making him say all this. "Decay isn't formally registered. It is kinda a hard thing to see about doing when you end up living on the streets after a violent Quirk manifestation that leaves you to be written off as deceased with the rest of your biological family. To save you time, look up the Shimura family. Tenko doesn't use his birth name anymore obviously but the records of the incident should be an interesting read. You should tell Tsukauchi to pass the case along to All Might but tell him to not mention Tenko actually survived. He would prefer the man to continue to stay out of his life."
Shouta had pulled out his own phone to jot down notes as Izuku talked. "I don't blame your brother for not wanting to deal with the man if it makes you feel any better. Anything else you want to share?"
Izuku shook his head. "No, just my vigilante name. I'm Loki."
Shouta looked up to seemingly consider Izuku for that. "That is the Norse god of mischief right?"
"Of course."
"Suddenly your earlier statement makes more sense."
"I should hope so. If there is nothing else, I'm gonna go pester my brother now." Izuku pulled out his phone and sent a short message to Kurogiri with his location tagged. He grinned as a warp gate opened out to his left. He gave Shouta one last wave before ducking through and vanishing from his uncle's sight.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Shouta was not really sure what to make of that interaction he had just had, but resigned himself to the fact he likely would not be getting any sleep until he was on the UA campus today. He sighed and dialed Tsukauchi's number.
"Eraser, please don't tell me you are bleeding out in an alley or something. I was just getting ready to go home."
"Sorry, but I just met our newest vigilante. He goes by Loki and I can already tell he is going to be a Problem Child."
"Child as in he's a minor?"
"Most likely. He is pretty small but based on his voice cracks, I think he is old enough that he has at least started going through puberty. The strangest thing about him though is that his costume looks like something made by a proper support company. It is too well made."
"That is something to look into at least. You have anything else to add to the physical description of the kid or a Quirk to run?"
"His eyes looked like they might have been a dark green but that could have just been the poor lighting. As for his Quirk, he said it was a luck based Quirk and we wouldn't be able to find him by searching the system because his Quirk is apparently incorrectly registered."
"Of course it is. I swear, with how bad the system is for registration in the first place it is surprising that we don't have more cases of people being completely registered incorrectly. How did the kid get away anyways?"
"He called for a ride apparently. He texted someone shortly before I called and a few moments later a portal of sorts appeared next to him that he vanished through. The portal itself vanished the moment he passed all the way through so there was no chance of me following. Though given that he said he was going to go visit his brother, he probably contacted a family member."
"His brother?"
Shouta sighed and massaged his temple. "Apparently his brother is a legally dead guy by the name of Shimura Tenko." Shouta stopped as he registered the sound of Tsukauchi dropping the phone on the other end.
"Did you just say Shimura?"
"I am guessing the name is important to All Might based on the kid's warning to make sure the man doesn't know that his brother is alive."
"You could say that. Shimura Nana was the name of Yagi's mentor. He was hurt rather badly by her death from what I understand. It sounds like this brother is possibly all that is left of her blood family."
"Great. I think we should hold off on telling him about that detail until we can look into this more. The kid's family went through all the trouble of hiding his brother's identity for over a decade at a minimum given his quirk is unregistered due to being presumed dead."
"I'll dig into this more tomorrow. This doesn't seem like it is likely to change between now and when I come back in this afternoon."
"Sounds good. I'll call you if anything changes on my end."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
When Kurogiri had gotten the text message just moments before, Tomura had admittedly been rather confused. He had known that the man had a cell phone since he used it to take pictures and jot down notes but he had never seen him actually use it for its intended purpose. After all, who would he even be texted by? The only other people that he spent time with as far as Tomura knew were Father and the Doctor, both of whom video called through the TV at the end of the bar.
To his continued surprise, Kurogiri did not pause before opening a Warp Gate into the bar to allow a small figure to cross through. The mystery presumed NPC was pretty short and dressed in a well made costume of sorts. Tomura found his eyes immediately locking onto their strange horned circlet(?) that peaked out from under their hood as well as their bright green eyes that caught the light. To his surprise, the NPC pulled off his face mask and hood without any hesitation.
"Oh, hey Kurogiri! Can you only create portals between two points if you are near one end?"
To Tomura's continued surprise, Kurogiri's smoke flickered in a pattern that Tomura had long ago learned reflected his amusement. "No, that is not necessary. I merely need to know the exact location of both points. I'm afraid that while I know your home address that is not precise enough for my Quirk. Would you mind if I just drop you off near your building?"
"That would be great! Sorry, I should have considered that."
Tomura found himself scratching at his neck in annoyance for being ignored by the newcomer who was apparently using his party member as a taxi service. "Kurogiri, who is this NPC?"
The NPC jumped in surprise. "Oh, hi! I didn't see you over there. I'm Loki. I'm sort of a new vigilante around here. Who are you?"
Tomura noted the amused flicker to Kurogiri again. Interesting. "How does a vigilante have your number?"
"I believe Sensei gave it to him the last time they spoke." Kurogiri turned his attention back to the interloper much to Tomura's annoyance. "I presume that you would rather be the one to inform him of this late night visit later?"
The vigilante flushed at that. "Er, yeah that would probably be for the best. I was hoping to keep the whole going out as a vigilante on the down low until I was a bit more confident that I won't get hurt again. I didn't want anyone to worry about me going out by myself."
"I'm sure Sensei could help you in your foray into a life of crime if you inform him as to what you are up to."
"Mischief mostly. I didn't name myself after the Norse god of it to do much else besides sticking my nose into things and meddling where I think I can get away with it."
Tomura was not sure what to make of the kid, because that was what they were. Just a kid in a costume. Mind you it was a really well made one but that didn't change the fact that the kid was clearly a prepubescent teen at the oldest. And Father clearly knew who he was if his conversation with Kurogiri was anything to go by. "What do you think of All Might?"
The wannabe hero snapped his attention back to Tomura. "He is a dick, why?"
Tomura felt himself actually smile at that. Finally someone who wasn't completely blinded by hero worship for the bastard. "I like you. Do you play any online games?"
Loki gave Tomura a puzzled look at that and shook his head. "No, not really. I mostly play single player games or local multiplayer. Why? Do you have a recommendation?"
"Phone." He made a grabbing motion for the kid's phone. The kid shrugged before unlocking the screen and handing it over. Holding it carefully, Tomura began to type. "I'm going to type up some stuff for you to look up later. If one of those games catches your interest you can send me a friend request in it. I could use a Player 2."
Tomura was slightly annoyed at the smile in Kurogiri's eyes at the exchange. Thankfully the kid didn't seem to notice. "That sounds great! You're Tomura right? Do you mind if I call you that? It's just calling you Shigaraki feels kinda weird."
Tomura considered it for a moment then shrugged. "I guess. You have another name or is it just Loki?"
Just as the kid opened his mouth to reply, his phone started to ring in his hand. Flicking his gaze down at it he winced. "Ah crap. Kurogiri I need to go, I promised Kacchan I would be home by the time he woke up. He is freaking out because my phone wasn't home when he pinged the location." Kurogiri nodded and opened another Warp Gate that the kid quickly vanished through.
Tomura blinked in confusion at the sudden exit. "Who the hell is Kacchan?"
"His cousin. I presume he had something to do with the construction of that costume. As far as I am aware, Loki does not have a sewing machine at his own home."
Tomura shot a glare at Kurogiri. "You know who he is, why are you pretending to not know his actual name?"
"My apologies Tomura, but I promised Sensei that I wouldn't ruin the surprise."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
"Kacchan~ hi!"
Izuku heard a scoff from the other end of the call as he leaned back against the outside wall of his apartment building. "Don't you Kacchan me like you don't know what's wrong Nerd. How the hell did you end up in Kamino? You said you were going to try to stay out of trouble on your first night out."
"Kamino, really? Huh, that is closer than I thought."
"Nerd!"
"Ah! Sorry Kacchan, Dad has a guy with a warping Quirk on his payroll. He's nice and enjoys cat memes. Anyways, I asked him to help me get away from Uncle Shouta since I knew I couldn't out run him but since his Quirk relies on knowledge of precise locations to work he had to bring me to where he was since he didn't have precise coordinates for my bedroom."
"Which was in Kamino? That seems pretty out of the way."
"To be fair, I thought he was just going to send me from the rooftop I was one to near my building. Which he did end up doing after I talked to him to clear up the confusion."
"So you already almost got caught by one of your uncles? How did that happen?"
"Can I call you back? I still need to climb back in my window. I sort of need to put my phone away to do that."
"Fine. You call me right back and tell me all about everything that happened." Grinning, Izuku shoved the phone in his pocket and began to climb.