Chapter 21: Different Hero Killer
The day after the sports festival ended was my first big concern about the changes I may have made to canon and where real change needed to start being made. Midoriya was still interning with Gran Torino, but it relates more to how he is still emulating All Might rather than not having developed 'Full Cowl.' If Torino can beat into him the need to use his legs, he may get a leg up again in class.
Most of the young heroes are doing the same internships they did in canon which is nice except for Iida who is interning with his brother who Stain did not attack. This was the first sign that I had changed canon.
Iida interning with his brother made me realize that the headline in front of me may not be about Stain at all.
ANOTHER HERO KILLED IN BRUTAL MURDER. 6th BODY FOUND IN SHIBUYA.
"Aizawa, can I ask you a question related to the underground and your interaction with vigilantes real fast?" I asked after classes ended. It was a few days before the internship started and I needed to make sure a murderer was running around unchecked.
"Problem Child… ask away…" His exhausted eyes hid his curiosity.
"Has Stendhal been active recently?" His eyes shot open and closed quickly as he went over his memory.
"Yes actually. He helped with a recent trigger raid that could have gone very wrong. I know that the Association has offered to give him a license a few times as well, but he just refuses them, and he is too skilled to catch."
That was a big change then from canon. Eraserhead eyed me curiously. "Why are you asking about Stendhal specifically?"
"If there was one person whose ideals may corrupt to killing heroes, I would pick him of all people. From the reports that I have read, there have been a few heroes that he has chosen not to prioritize when he helps people so I figured that it may be possible that he is the hero killer but if he isn't and he is still active then I may need to reconsider my thought line.
"There are a lot of vigilantes who I think could genuinely become a problem and he is one that I was worried about. Knuckleduster is the other one that makes me a little nervous but more so because he makes me think of Midoriya."
Aizawa closed his eyes pensively. "Why Midoriya?"
"I don't know if you've noticed, it would surprise me if you hadn't, the connection that Midoriya seems to have with his strong thoughts on vigilantes and his thoughts on quirklessness. He was the first to point out when we debated vigilantes that the quirkless could not be categorized as vigilantes and he viciously debated about Knuckleduster. It wouldn't surprise me if their ideals about heroes were incredibly similar."
Eraserhead's sigh at that realization was not something I expected. "You are telling me that the kid with the strength to break his limbs, and his respect for heroes, if he had never figured out his quirk and how to control it may have been the next knuckleduster?"
"It would not surprise me. I wouldn't ever worry about him turning into a villain. Both of those two are too hardcore justice fanatics to ever be villains but I would be worried about their bodies. It wouldn't be remiss to consider that they would gladly break all their limbs if it meant saving a single individual."
"And how does he connect to the hero killer?" Aizawa tried to follow my train of thought.
"It's simple, if there are two vigilantes that would hunt the Hero Killer it would be those two. If Stendhal is not the one killing heroes, his admiration for the good ones would have him chase the Hero Killer and it's the same with Knuckleduster."
"You're right. I'll talk with the underground and see where they are so that we can be around if they come across the killer. Now I just need to hope that none of our students get involved."
"You just jinxed it, Aizawa."
Eraserhead just sighed.
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"OOOHH this will be fun." A sadistic laugh echoed through the dark alley.
"Little Hero, all you have to do to get away is to kill me."
"I'm right behind you hero." A half laugh, half whisper filled the air of the silent concrete jungle.
As anyone might, the barest survival instinct kicked in sending a deadly attack towards the voice and extreme bloodlust. A somewhat wet thump resounded from the impact point as the hero looked down to find that his fist had gone right through the torso of the figure behind him.
The moonlight lit up a jester mask and glowing red eyes. The hero's hand had gone straight through the heart of the figure. A wet feeling seeped through the fingers of the hero. The weight of the body and life just slowly settles on the conscious.
"JUST KIDDING." The body, which should have been dead laughed before bursting into bright light and steel.
A small flash as daggers burst from the spot that the body had occupied sinking themselves into the shaken body of the hero.
"Poor Hero… You did the right thing."
The hero's life slowly blinked out with the last image of two figures standing over him. Both wearing jester masks dressed one in red and the other in blue.