Chapter Text
Fuck, you hate slow nights. Almost as much as you hate the ones where you actually gotta work, but that's different. Marking what you do as ‘work’ isn’t fair, to anyone really. Jumping from building to building, beating up low level thugs and getting hurt here or there isn’t fair. Not to you (since you aren’t getting paid), not to the thug (who was probably not looking forward to being taken down by a teenage vigilante) and especially not to the mysterious figure, who’s sleep you’ve been stealing for the past month. That's what they get for following you around on their own accord.
It's all worth it in the end though. You are kind of selfish for that, but crashing in the small apartment you call home, drenched in sweat and muscles aching has never felt so good, after saving someone.
You just wish your mom was still there, so she could hear the stories. Sometimes, when you stop a particularly nasty- looking pervert lurking in a dark alley, or prevent a drug exchange, you do feel like she would be proud.
'Today is especially lazy', you think. You watch over the city, your legs dangling over the edge of the concrete roof, eating your bucket of nuggets and fries. You just decided that a break was needed, after tying a villain up in the back of a McDonalds (he was trying to break into the store over the street). That way you made sure the ‘anonymous’ call you made to the police wasn’t ignored, and somebody was gonna pick the thug up. Good thing he had some cash on him, you didn't have any money for your late dinner/ early breakfast.
Just as you’re about to consume your last fry, you hear a scream from a few alleys down. The sigh that escapes your mouth just then would make anyone think you pay taxes, have a full time job and three part time jobs on the side. You did not sleep enough for this.
But at the end of the day, nobody asked you to do this, so you stop complaining, get up and make your way to the origin of the shriek.
As you get to where the sound came from, you merge with the shadows. You slow down on the roof, where the people in the alley aren’t aware of you yet and evaluate the situation.
There’s two guys- one in the van parked at the end of the street, and the other (very much shiningly bald) guiding three women, who appear to be in some sort of trance, in the said vehicle. You at first are confused, as to where the scream came from, when you notice the fourth woman, sitting on the floor and another man trying to shut her up. Aside from the former, who has a dragon shaped head (you’re really hoping he doesn’t have fire breath- that’s a bitch to deal with) no other quirks are visible.
You decide to just go for it, so you put your shoes and socks off and activate your quirk. The soles of your feet and the palms of your hands just start to itch slightly as you transform the texture of your skin into that of a spider. You gain momentum, and jump onto the wall of the building across the alley. Now you move like a lizard across the bricks and stay unseen until the very second you touch the ground. Then you make yourself known.
“Three of you, four of them. Can’t count, can ya?” you say loudly enough for all of them to hear.
The guy closest to you, the one trying to shut the woman up, startles and looks at you with wide, snake-shaped pupils. The guy who’s leading the women into the van, suddenly stiffens, but does not turn around to confront you. The control he has over them must be eye contact based then.
You got only a second longer to think, before dragon-face pulls out a throwing knife out of god knows where, throwing it and forcing you to move further away.
“Wow, didn’t know you could be bad at math and accuracy. Really hope you’re just having a rough night.”
He scoffs, now looking mildly entertained: “You practice those dramatic entrances in the mirror?”
Huh. It's your first time meeting someone who responds to your stupid bullshit.
Before you can say anything back, he throws the second knife. Now you’re on the move. You reverse your transformation from a spider and decide that you wanna go ahead with the Mirko approach. Suddenly, your feet grow longer, and you feel your muscles getting stronger. With rabbit legs you jump forward, and kick the fucker right in the face. You can see the sharp teeth flying out.
“Did no one tell you crime doesn’t come with dental insurance?” you say just before you feel the heat of the flames graze your left leg.
Fuck, he did have fire breathing. You can already feel your skin aching and itching from the burn.
Since you know better than to be over reliant on your quirk, you take one of the many knives stashed in your belt, just so the dragon-head didn’t see it and throw it while pretending to kick him again.
As expected, he did dodge the kick, but not the knife that embedded itself into his shoulder. It wasn’t lethal, at least that wasn’t its purpose, it was thrown just to slow him down.
You never kill. That would make you the same as the thugs and low lives you fight.
While the guy is still confused from the dagger, you pull it out when you get close enough to swipe the crying woman beside him. Now she is as safe as one can be in such a situation positioned behind you. As you stand between her and the kidnappers, you hand her a flip phone.
“Are you alright enough to call the police?” you say, just loud enough for her to hear. She takes the phone, so you take that as a yes.
Next thing you know, the bald dude slowly but surely got the women into the van. You gotta hurry. You jump over dragon-face, who is still sitting on the floor. Just in case, you take one of the longer blades and throw it hard enough so the thing went through the palm of his hand and also into the small piece of dirt, the cracked concrete just conveniently revealed. He won’t move.
You land on the bald guy just as he is about to make a run into the van for it. He stumbles and falls flat on his back with you still on him. He rolls around, so he looms over you, and you gotta give it to him- he packs a strong punch. You know that because he gave you around what…ten of them? Twenty? You’re not so sure anymore.
Look, he was heavy and you were trapped, it wasn’t your fault. Finally, you’ve had enough, so you catch his next punch, just barely, and twist his whole arm under an angle, just to dislocate it a little.
In the moment of confusion, you are now the one in control. It takes one punch to his neck and he’s out like a light. You stand up, bloodied nose, even a little woozy (there are some stars at the edge of your vision) and open the van. The women freed of the trance now quickly jumped out of the vehicle. Seems it was mind control of the bald guy’s quirk. You usher them to the woman who already called the police and tell them to wait there. You heard their quiet thanks to you, but you just shrug them off. Can't really focus on something else if you're trying to keep your balance.
You turn around and for what happens next you can only blame yourself. You were so caught up in the ‘freeing the victims’ thing you forgot there was another guy in the van.
He was able to get so close to you. Too close even.
You remember the first couple of nights you spent on the street. A lot of people got too close. You never liked it.
Next thing you feel is a long knife piercing you through your stomach. The pain is a lot. You didn’t get the chance to move. But you have it now.
Even though the knife was not only plunged in, but also pulled back out, you steady yourself, and aim right for the guys' crotch. After the kick lands he doubles over, so you give him another punch, just at the right spot for him to pass out. You tie him up immediately. Not forgetting the dragon-face, you tie him up all the same.
You wait just till you can make out the police car lights through your blurry vision, applying pressure on the wound. Then you move. On the rooftop, grabbing your shoes, and swaying more than walking in the direction of your apartment.
You are sure you are going to make it home. 90% sure. But then you step just a bit too wrong and almost plummet into the dumpster below.
Huh, that's weird…why didn’t you fall? You look down and see a cloth or a scarf of some sorts wrapped around your torso. You follow it till you find the source- it was the shadow that has been following you around for the past month. It takes you a while but then you realize who it is. The dark hair, the capture weapon, the first impression of a homeless person - it was mother. Fucking. Eraserhead.
You try to wriggle out of the scarf, but you just feel too weak. Slowly you feel your consciousness slipping and the last thing you feel is the strong warm, hands hoisting you over a shoulder.