章 5: Fame
Shota tightened his capture weapon and pushed the villain more firmly against the wall, "It's illogical to resist, just tell me what I need to know."
"Dude, it's just some drugs!" The villain said. "If you have a problem with that then maybe you should get out more, I've got a couple samples that'd be good for a first timer."
Shota rolled his eyes, "Yes, offer to sell drugs to the hero that's arresting you. And honestly, if it were just party drugs, I probably wouldn't care that much, but this is Trigger, so I'll ask you one more time, where do you get the drugs."
"Fuck you!"
Shota sighed, "Fine, have it your way." He dialed Tsukauchi and waited until the detective's half awake voice groaned over the line. "Could you send a car? I've got a perp to bring in for processing and interrogation."
Tsukauchi looked up from his paperwork as Eraser walked in the villain he'd just arrested. The guy was probably a low level dealer like the others that Eraser had brought in, but there was always the hope that the next villain would know who was behind Trigger.
"Interrogation room eight is open, Eraser. You can put him in there."
Eraser grunted in acknowledgement and dragged the thug toward the back of the station as Tsukauchi poured them both some coffee. He'd have to go interrogate the guy later, since he was one of the detectives on the Trigger investigation, but that could wait a bit until this paperwork was done. Leaving the perps to wait for a few minutes helped establish control of the situation anyway.
Shota finally sat down on the other side of his desk and grabbed the coffee, then grimaced, "Tsukauchi, you didn't mention that the station had switched out their coffee for paint thinner."
Tsukauchi just laughed, "Oh, you're just mad that Musutafu doesn't have your favorite cat cafe."
"What can I say, the Hotta brothers make a mean cup of coffee." Shota shrugged. "You got those forms? I want to get this over with as fast as possible."
Tsukauchi shook his head, but grabbed the villain intake form from the drawer at his right and handed it to Shota, who started to fill it out with both annoyance and boredom. Paperwork wasn't fun by any means, and Shota would rather be patrolling the streets looking for more info for the Trigger investigation, but bureaucracy was a part of life, so he had to put up with it.
They kept working in companionable silence for a few minutes until the doors to the station flew open again and Amplifier came bounding in with a villain in tow and took him straight to the holding cell.
"Why is she so loud?" Shota grumbled.
Tsukauchi raised an eyebrow, "She hasn't even said anything yet."
"Exactly. Even her presence is loud enough to draw attention, it's annoying."
"Oh don't be a spoilsport Eraser." Amplifier grinned as she grabbed a chair to sit beside him. "You're just mad because you wouldn't be noticed by a rat."
"That's intentional, you know." Shota said as Tsukauchi handed Amplifier the villain intake form. "People don't notice me unless I want them to notice me."
"Maybe that's why you haven't run into our little vigilante guide yet." Amplifier said. "He just doesn't know you exist."
Shota rolled his eyes, "I think it's much more likely that UA is out of his comfort zone, and since I always stick to that area unless I'm following a lead, we just haven't had a chance to run into each other yet."
"Sure," Amplifier grinned, "whatever you say Eraser."
"Was that villain one of the Green Guide's?" Tsukauchi asked.
"That depends on your definition." Amplifier said. "If you mean, did he lead me to the guy, then yes, but if you mean did he take the guy down himself, then no."
Shota frowned, "I thought the Green Guide didn't ever take down villains on his own."
Tsukauchi sighed, "He didn't, at least until last night when we responded to a call about an attempted assault, only to find the perp already knocked out and tied up with pieces of an old T-shirt. The victim said the guy who did it was a kid in a green hoodie and goggles."
Shota rubbed his temples to try and ease the coming headache. This problem child was going to be the death of him. "How? From what you told me, the kid is skin and bones, how did he take down an actual villain?"
"With a tin can."
Shota stopped and stared at Tsukauchi, he had to have heard that wong, "...What?"
Tsukauchi nodded, "You heard me right. According to the victim, the Green Guide started fighting the guy, but couldn't get the upper hand until he grabbed a can of beans and started beating the guy with it like it was a pair of improvised brass knuckles. It was pretty brutal, but also effective."
Shota didn't know whether to be proud of the kid for his quick thinking under pressure or angry because he ran straight into danger. Probably both.
"Ahh!" Amplifier squealed. "Our little boy is growing up! Taking down villains all by himself and everything!"
Shota scowled, "I don't think that's a good thing."
"Yeah, I think I have to agree with Eraser on this one." Tsukauchi said. "The victim said that he seemed in over his head. I'd much rather he kept running to get heroes rather than running into fights he's unprepared for."
"Oh, come on!" Amplifier groaned. "You guys gotta admit that beating a criminal with nothing more than your wits and a tin can is pretty impressive."
Shota just shot her an unimpressed look, "Nothing more than wits, a tin can, and a probable speed quirk."
"Come on!"
Shota sighed, "Fine, I'll admit that he's quick-witted and definitely good at using improvised weapons, but the kid obviously lacks the required training. I don't want him getting in fights if he's just gonna get himself killed."
"Well, Crawler and Pop Step didn't have any formal training either when they first started out." Tsukauchi pointed out.
"That may be true, but they also had Knuckleduster to mentor them and get them out of any tough scrapes." Shota argued. "The Green Guide doesn't even have that."
"Well then maybe you should fill that role." Amplifier grinned.
Shota glared at her, "I have enough brats to worry about at UA, thanks. I don't need to add teaching a wannabe on top of that."
Amplifier shrugged, "Just a thought, Eraser, considering how protective you are of a kid you've never even met. Oh, and about the kid's name, I don't think he's going by Green Guide anymore."
Tsukauchi furrowed his brow in confusion, "What? Why change it?"
Amplifier looked between the two of them in shock, "Did you guys not see the article this morning?"
They shook their heads and Amplifier smiled and got out her phone, "Apparently the woman he saved last night is a reporter. Since he didn't give her a vigilante name to call him, she's named him Viridian. Kinda catchy, right?"
Tsukauchi frowned, "How did I not see this?"
Amplifier shrugged, "Probably because the keywords were wrong. You've most likely got your computer set up to ping you if the news mentions a Green Guide, but because this reporter used a different name, it didn't trip your system. I like Viridian better anyway."
"It is easier to say…"
"Vigilantes gaining public notoriety is never a good thing." Shota grumbled. "It goes straight to their heads and they end up putting themselves in even more danger to impress their fans." He sighed. "The kid is probably soaking up his fame as we speak."
Izuku was freaking out.
He couldn't get that article out of his head, even as he ran around the streets leading heroes to crimes. When Izuku had seen the article on his way home from school, he'd had to fight off a panic attack and he almost hadn't gone out that night. He didn't want to be famous. The more people paid attention to him, the more likely it was that they'd figure out that he was quirkless and the faster he could say goodbye to any positive reputation he'd gained. He wasn't even technically a vigilante, so why did he have to have a name?
But apparently that woman he'd saved was a reporter? So she'd written about how he'd taken down the villain and she'd apparently done some digging to see that he normally stayed out of the fights himself. Izuku didn't deserve to have articles written about him like the heroes did, so he couldn't help feeling like he'd tricked that reporter somehow. He hadn't been trying to fool her into thinking that he wasn't worthless, but that's apparently what happened since her article was so positive. He'd just been trying to help her.
Which was ultimately why he was out on the streets again tonight. Sure, he wasn't necessarily happy about the article, but he also wasn't about to let that stop him from helping people either. And he was helping people! He was helping the heroes find the people that needed saving! He was doing good!
But he should probably start carrying weapons if he ever planned to jump into a fight again. Between tending to his injuries and everything with the article, he'd completely forgotten about adding weapons to his costume that afternoon, but it wasn't a big deal. He was still covered in scrapes and bruises from his fight with Moleman last night, so it wouldn't be a good idea to get into any more fights so soon, so he didn't need the weapons quite yet, but it was still a good thing to brainstorm.
He'd almost considered getting a baseball bat, but there were a couple problems with that. While it would be a useful bludgeon-type weapon, it was too bulky. He wouldn't be able to easily run if he had to be constantly hefting the bat, so it would actually prevent him from saving people, which was the exact opposite of what he wanted. Not to mention the fact that he'd never been into any sports, so if he came home with a baseball bat, Mom would ask way too many questions that Izuku really didn't want to answer.
His weapons would need to be small. He needed to be able to fit them in his pockets so he could run easily and so he could go incognito if he needed to, so that meant that anything like a staff was out. Maybe a…
He heard someone calling for help and peeked in on the situation before running off to get a hero. He could worry about what weapons he needed later.
For now, though, Izuku had people to save.
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