章 7: Weapons!
Izuku had never actually been to a hardware store before. It probably had something to do with growing up without a father, but Mom had always just hired a handyman for anything that need to be fixed around the house and that guy always brought his own materials, so Izuku had never really had any reason to walk inside a store like this before, which was why he was currently standing frozen at the entrance, unsure of where to begin.
Some of the employees were starting to stare at him strangely, probably wondering why a kid in a middle school uniform was staring at their store like it was some kind of labyrinth that was going to eat him alive, so Izuku forced his feet to move and started aimlessly wandering while trying to look discreetly at the signs. It wasn't his fault the store was so big and intimidating!
Alright, he'd had a goal when he'd walked in here, hadn't he? Oh, right, pipe. After the fight with those drugged-up villains last week, he'd decided that he needed to...fine-tune his weapon selection. The dowels had worked great for the first few seconds, but they broke far too easily and just because Mom hadn't realized they were missing from the closet yet didn't mean he could just keep taking them until they were gone. What if Mom wanted to use them for another project!?
So, anyway, pipe hopefully wouldn't break as easily and it shouldn't be that hard to buy, right? But what section was he supposed to...plumbing sounded promising. Plumbing used pipes, didn't it? Izuku fought to not facepalm at his own stupidity, since he didn't need to give the staff any more reasons to question his sanity. Of course plumbing used pipes, he really was as stupid as Kacchan said, wasn't he?
He turned down the aisle and started looking around while desperately trying to pretend he knew what he was doing. Why were there so many pipes? And why were they all so long? He wasn't looking for a quarterstaff, he wanted something he could fit in his pocket! Finally he found some copper pipe that looked short enough to be promising. He picked up a piece and started passing it between his hands. It was light, but felt comfortable enough…
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
Izuku yelped and dropped the pipe, which made a series of loud clanging sounds as it bounced on the floor. Izuku felt his face heat up and turned to the employee who was looking at him apologetically. The kid was around his own age and had yellow hair that was almost as bright as the red apron of his store uniform.
"Sorry about that, dude." The employee said. "We're just supposed to offer help and expertise to the people who come in. Not that I actually have much expertise, I'm just a part-timer, but I could help you find someone who's an expert if you want."
"Um…" Izuku didn't think that any of the employees were experts in vigilantism, "No thanks, I'm j-just browsing."
"If you tell me what your project is, I could probably point you in the right direction." The kid offered.
"It's, um, it's just a hobby…" Izuku glanced down at the copper pipe, which was still sitting forgotten on the floor. It seemed too conspicuous, like it was a physical reminder of how useless he was. He not only didn't know what kind of pipe to buy but he'd also managed to loudly drop one within minutes of arriving at the store. He really was such an idiot, wasn't he?
The employee followed his gaze downward and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, dude, normally I'd grab that and put it back for you, but," he chuckled awkwardly, "I'm not really supposed to handle any conductive materials."
For the first time, Izuku noticed the black lightning bolt pattern in the employee's hair, "Oh! You have an electricity quirk!"
"Yeah!" The employee smiled brightly. "My name's Kaminari, by the way."
"Nice to meet you!" Izuku leaned down and picked up the pipe, "It's really smart of you to work here with your quirk, I'm sure you're learning all sorts of stuff about circuits and electricity!"
Kaminari's eyes widened, "Whoa, I hadn't even thought of that, dude! I just wanted to save some extra money for high school. I wonder if some of the guys in the electronics section would be willing to teach me."
"I'm sure they would." Izuku smiled. "Good luck!"
"Thanks dude!" Kaminari smiled. "And good luck on your project."
Izuku nodded and watched Kaminari leave before turning back to the pipe in his hands. He looked it over and frowned when he saw some small dents from where he'd dropped it. Copper was probably really good for traditional pipes, but it seemed like it was too soft for what Izuku had in mind. It would be really inconvenient to have to fix dents in his weapons every night.
Which put him back to square one. If copper wasn't going to cut it then what kinds of metal were there. There were a bunch of different plastics and PVC pipes, but those would probably have the same problems with breaking as the dowels did, so he didn't waste much time in that section. Finally, he saw a section with black pipes that said they were made of iron. He picked up a shorter piece and it seemed like it was heavy enough to pack a punch. He almost wanted to drop it to make sure it wouldn't dent, but the embarrassment had been bad enough the first time and that had been an accident!
He chose two identical pieces that were thick enough for him to hold comfortably and around 30 cm long. They'd take some getting used to, but the store didn't sell anything shorter than that in the iron, so they'd have to do. He put his pipes in his basket and started wandering toward a sign that said tools . He probably wouldn't buy anything from there, but it wouldn't hurt to look right?
Maybe they'd have a larger box cutter or something similar? The one he had was functional, but it hadn't been long enough to do any meaningful damage to that tentacle villain, so it'd be good to have something with a longer blade as a back-up. Looking at the box cutters, though, Izuku realized that they didn't really have a lot of variety when it came to blade length. It seemed like most of the differences between different models were just the width and the handle, which wasn't something that Izuku cared about.
Displayed right next to the box cutters, though, were a few utility knives. Izuku hesitated before looking at them. Was he really ready to carry a knife? That seemed...more serious somehow. Like he was actually planning on hurting someone rather than just taking along a weapon in case of emergencies. But was a knife really all that different than a box cutter? They were both sharp and could do some damage, and the utility knife would be really useful…
He gave in and got a generic looking knife that was able to fold into its own handle so he wouldn't accidentally cut himself. It's not like he had to use it, right? It was just good to have. Between the knife and the pipes, though, Izuku was starting to get concerned about how he was going to carry everything. Sure, he had his hoodie pocket, but he'd already dropped his soup can three times while running and it had only been a week! Things just started to fall out from all the bouncing that running involved, so he should probably find a better solution.
He wandered around the tool aisle a little longer before he saw a section labeled tool aprons . Some looked like actual aprons, like the kind Kaminari had been wearing, but others were more like utility belts. They had loops that were probably meant for hammers, but Izuku could easily modify them to hold his pipes, and some pockets that would probably be perfect for his knife and can. He chose one made out of a dark green canvas-like material that would match well with the rest of his vigilante outfit and added it to his basket. It was a little pricey, but he hadn't bought any hero merch since...well, the point was that he had a little extra allowance saved up, so he could afford it.
Izuku made his way toward the checkout section, but stopped when one of the displays on the end of the aisles caught his attention. Slingshots. Well, it would be nice to have something capable of long range attacks…
He gave into temptation and read the packaging.
Slingshots, a fun, effective tool perfect for hunting and survival! Simply put your preferred ammunition (we recommend steel shot, marbles, or even smooth rocks) in the leather pouch and fire!
There were some packages of steel shot in the same display, which basically looked like metal marbles, but Izuku didn't grab any. Firing metal at someone sounded really serious, like firing a bullet, and he really wasn't a serious vigilante. Besides, other people were probably a lot better at slingshots than he was, and if they were planning on using them for hunting or survival then they needed the professional ammunition much more than he did.
The cashier gave Izuku a weird look as he checked out, but he wasn't really paying attention. He should buy some marbles on the way home. They'd be perfect for his slingshot, plus, they'd solve a problem he'd been having finding rocks. Normally there was enough rubble from past hero fights that Izuku didn't have any trouble finding stuff to throw to get heroes' attention, but there had been a few times when it had taken a minute or two to find something to throw and the heroes had almost been too late. If he had marbles to throw, he wouldn't have to waste any time finding rocks! He wouldn't use his slingshot on the heroes, that'd be rude, but throwing them would work fine.
He chose a bigger toy store downtown, hoping they'd have a bigger variety of marbles. Thankfully, he didn't get nearly as many odd looks here, but it did feel weird to be here without making a bee-line for the hero collectables aisle. It took him a few minutes to find the marbles, but when he did, he was glad he'd come here rather than a smaller store.
There were a lot of marbles that were sold in small net bags that had ten or so normal marbles and a larger one, but what made Izuku grin was the large dispensers that sold marbles in bulk. He grabbed one of the canvas bags and looked at the different colors. Whoever was in charge of naming marble colors should help students come up with their hero names, because they were obviously having way too much fun with their job if the crazy names like tsunami or wild tiger were any indication. Izuku finally settled on a color called enchanted forest , which was a swirling mix of dark green and black, because it matched his vigilante outfit, and he bought about two pounds worth of marbles. Hopefully that would be enough to last him at least a couple of weeks, and there were a few pockets on his new tool belt that would be perfect for them!
For the first time since he'd met All Might, Izuku walked home smiling.
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