Chapter Text
Rei was born into a strict and well-respected family. She was taught by her parents to be 'proper' and 'ladylike'. She always wanted to be a hero. Helping people and saving people. Of course she knew that her parents would never support her. Yet she kept up hope. Hope that she might be able to become a hero. She kept practicing her quirk in secret. Maybe learn a bit of martial arts here and there. She would wait until she's old enough to move out. Then she would carve out her own path.
Being a hero is her dream and she WILL achieve it.
Okay. Maybe she should have expected this. Her parents want her to get married to Endeavor. A quirk Marriage to be exact. Maybe he would help her be a hero?
Who was she kidding? That'll probably never happen. He might be a hero, but all it takes is a single glance at him to tell that he is a jerk. This is hopeless. She's never gonna be a hero. There's no way he's gonna let her be one.
Unless....he doesn't know. She just has to become a hero without his knowledge- a hero without a license. A 'vigilante' might be more appropriate but still. He doesn't need to know. He won't know because he isn't home most of the time. In the end, she gets to be a hero and also a good wife. Easy, right?
Okay, maybe she is being a bit too optimistic. But she's been putting effort for this her whole life. It doesn't matter if it's easy or not.
And that is how Rei Todoroki started her secret research on 'How to be a vigilante.'
First thing's first-Timing. Enji does morning shifts from 9am to 5pm. Then his night shifts from 8pm to 2am. Boy that is a hectic schedule. Leaving the house during daytime is reckless. Not to mention the neighbours might raise some questions if she goes out during that time. So night time is the best choice. Preferably when he's busy. So she should leave a bit after 8, and reach back somewhere between 1:30am. Perfect.
Now the second thing- Costume. She had always wanted to wear a costume that contained white and cyan colors, as a complement to her quirk. But wearing such bright colors in the dark, especially as a vigilante is reckless. So black it is. Black top and black combat pants. The top should have a hood to cover her hair. She orders a gas mask and a voice modifier using Enji's credit card (He shouldn't have given her his credit card number LOL), because why not. She hides a few switchblades here and there. One in each of her boots, one in each of her sleeves and a few more strapped to her belt. She should add smoke bombs, because that's a thing right? But how do one even make smoke bombs? She scrolls through the internet.
Homemade smoke bombs are made using potassium nitrate and sugar, which are both found in food.
Great. She can make those too. The gas mask should also help her with the smoke. She straps a few more smaller tools on to her belt. She also adds a small first aid kit. She finally sets her costume. It looks perfect. Granted, she might have overdid a few things here and there, but it's better to be careful than sorry.
Now the next thing- her hero name. She's risking everything by doing this, so might as well do it with style, right?
Something related to ice would be nice. Miss Subzero. That's it. That's gonna be her name.
Now the last and final thing- coverup. There is a little chance that Enji might come home early, or that someone might check up on her. She needs a cover story.
She picks up her phone.
Excuses to use as to why you didn't answer your phone.
Here's The Most Common Excuses We Use For Not Answering Our Phones (List)
- “I didn't hear it ring” or “It was on vibrate.”
- “I had a bad signal.”
- “I was in a meeting,”
- “I was driving,”
- “I couldn't find my phone,”
She also sets up a sensor at the front door, a sensor to notify her if someone comes home when she's outside.
Brilliant. That should do the job.
Now time to go out vigilante-ing. Is that a word?
This is it. Her first day of work. She just needs to fight criminals, save lives and preferably, avoid the police. Seems doable. She scales through the rooftops. She hears a scream from an alley. She jumps into this alley to find a red-haired woman being cornered by a man who has a knife in his hand. 'He's trying to mug her,' she realizes. She freezes his legs using her quirk and delivers a kick onto his head, knocking him out instantly.
"Don't worry Ma'am, You're safe now," she says in a reassuring tone.
"Are you a hero?" the red-haired woman asks in a wobbly voice.
"Something like that. I'm Miss Subzero."
"Thank you," she says, instantly bursting into tears a second later.
"You should go, I'll call the police," Rei says and the woman nods. She leaves.
'That went well,' Rei thinks. She then freezes the guy up till his shoulders to properly restrain him. Now to call the police. She needs a phone, except using her phone is out of the question. They could track her location. Her identity will be compromised. She feels a headache coming. Maybe she should have thought his through.
She takes a deep breath. Panicking isn't gonna help her. She looks around. She just need a phone to call the police. She spots a payphone. That's it! She goes there, pulls out some change, and uses it to call the police. She dials '110.'
"Hello, I'm Miss Subzero calling from street 29, Musutafu. I've captured a criminal. Please come and collect him."
She hangs up right after before the person on the other end can respond. She goes back into the alley. 'That went well,' she thinks. She scales through the rooftop again. She climbs a really tall building. She gazes at the city lights. She feels the wind blowing. She looks at the clock tower.
1:50 am. 'Shit, I lost track of time.'
She runs. As soon as she reaches home, she changes her clothes and hides them. Then she turns off the lights, and lays in bed, pretending to be asleep. She hears the sound of the front door opening. Footsteps echoes. She hears the grumbling of a man. The voice gets clearer second by second. the bedroom door opens. 'Ah, it's Enji,' she realizes. She then tunes out all the sound around her and falls asleep.
She wakes up around 10 am in the morning. The house is silent. Enji must have already left. She still feels drowsy. Must be because of staying up late last night. She makes a cup of coffee for herself and sits on the couch. After a few moments, the events of the previous night dawns on her. She remembers the feeling of excitement she experienced. She smiles. She can't wait to get out again tonight.
It's a bit after 9 pm she leaves. This time, she has an old extra cellphone with her, that cannot be traced. And as to how she got the phone? From Endeavor's credit card of course. Not that he needs to know. The fact that he allows her to use his money is one thing she'll be grateful for. She feels a little guilty. She pushes down the guilt and climbs on top of a building. She looks around. No one seemed to be in trouble. 'Maybe tonight's gonna be calm one,' she thinks.
She hears someone screaming for help.
'Or maybe not,' she thinks.
She sees someone being chased by a few thugs. She kicks one on top of his head and jumps down. Then she freezes him in a way he won't be able to move and then picks him up and throws him towards another one. She further freezes them, until both of their bodies are covered by ice. The third one tries to hit her with a pipe on her head, but she dodges and grasps the pipe. Then she twists it in a way that the guy holding the pipe loses his hold on it. She then uses the pipe to hit him on his kneecap, by which he immediately loses balance and falls down. She freezes him on the ground. Then she turns back to look for the person being chased only to see- a 13 year old boy? The boy looks at her and immediately shields his head and face with his backpack.
"Please don't hurt me," he pleads.
"Hurt you? Why would I do that?" Rei asks in confusion. Why is the boy afraid of her?
"You're not a hero, are you?" he asks in a wobbly voice.
'Oh, he thinks I'm one of them,' She realizes. She puts the pipe down and raises both her hands in a way she's surrendering.
"No, I'm not a hero. But I'm just trying to help you. I promise," she says in a reassuring voice. The boy slowly lowers his bag.
"So, you're a vigilante?" he asks.
"Something like that," she responds. She pulls out her small cellphone and calls the police.
"Hello, I'm Miss Subzero calling from street 59, Musutafu. I've captured a few thugs who were chasing a 13 year old boy. Please come and collect them."
She immediately cuts the call before the person on the other end can respond. Again. The boy stares at her.
"Why were you outside at this hour? You know it's not safe to get out at this time of the night, right?" she asks him.
He looks down at his feet, embarrassed. "I was just training."
"Training?" she asks again to clarify.
"My quirk isn't really suitable for heroics. I thought maybe if I train to fight, I might be able to..." he trails off.
"Be a hero?" she completes. He nods.
She gets a feeling. Deja vu? Nostalgia? She doesn't know how to describe it. She understands how the boy feels. She used to train by herself when she was his age.
"I'm sorry. It wont happen again," he whispers.
She sighs, then looks at the boy. "There's nothing wrong with training kiddo. Just try to stick to places that are safe, all right?"
He nods in agreement. She hears a faint sound of sirens. The police must be arriving. "You should leave, try to be careful from now on okay?" she says. She gets ready to leave but the boy interrupts.
"Miss Subzero?" she turns to look at him. "That's what you call yourself, right?" he asks.
"Yeah," she responds.
"What if I can't be hero?" he asks her. She blinks in surprise. She wasn't expecting him to ask such a personal question. The boy continues, "I want to help people too, but what if I get rejected? I don't have a flashy quirk like others," he mumbles.
Rei takes a deep breath. "People will tell you 'what you can do' and 'what you can't'. In the end, it's your choice to decide whether they're right or not. Being the hero is not the only way you can help others, you know."
The boy looks at her and nods. The police car siren gets louder second by second. She should leave quick. The boy interrupts her again before leaving.
"Miss Subzero." He looks at her with teary eyes. "Thank you for everything."
She gives a nod, then climbs a building. She then proceeds to run, scaling through buildings one by one.
The boy looks her her, fierce determination filled in his eyes. Tsukauchi Naomasa makes a promise to himself to never lose hope and keep trying. To become a person who is able to help others, even if he can't become a hero himself.
Rei then climbs on another huge building, and then sits at the edge of the rooftop, gazing at the view again. She suddenly hears her phone vibrating. She looks at the notification. It's the sensor from the front door. Apparently Enji arrived early today.
She runs towards her home, as fast as she can. She sneaks in through the bathroom window. She then hides her hero suit and gear in the shampoo cabinet. No one except her opens it. She then pours a bucket of water on the top of her head and comes out wearing a bathrobe. She sees Enji in the bedroom.
"You're early," she says.
"I thought you'd have gone to sleep by now," he responds in a monotone voice.
"Well, I decided to take a shower," she says. "Did somethings happen at work?"
"Not really. Had some reports to complete. Thought I'd do it at home instead of the agency."
Rei nods in understanding. "Right. You do that. I'll be going to bed now."
Enji hums in agreement and Rei leaves. She then changes into pajamas and then sighs. That was a really close call. She then closes her eyes. Sleep comes easily to her.
She wakes up around 8:45. She goes to the living room to see Enji putting on shoes.
"Have a good day at work," she wishes. He grunts, then leaves quickly.
"Jerk," she mutters. She makes a cup of coffee for herself. She turns on the news, taking a sip.
-the new vigilante introduced herself as Miss Subzero. According to witnesses, she wears a black outfit with a gas mask on her face. She also has an ice quirk, a very powerful one. Her height is estimated to be somewhere between 5'4 to 5'6.
Rei promptly spits out the coffee and stares at the TV.
According to police reports, she calls through an old model of cell phone, making it very hard to track her. She is also very athletic. Multiple people have seen her easily scaling buildings, and running on rooftops. She usually appears from 9pm to 1am. So far she has only thrown hands with three thugs and a mugger. Is she really a good person or is she a villain in hiding? Maybe time will tell.
Now we move onto the weather report.
She turns off the TV and stares off into space. She did not expect to be famous after 2 patrols. Now people are going to be looking for at night. She finishes her coffee and sighs.
She then goes to Enji's training room and starts training. Might as well make use of it when she can. She throws heavy punches on the punching bag. A few minutes later she sits down, breathing heavily. She then draws a deep breath in. Freaking out isn't gonna help her. She just has to be more careful.
"I'm going to be fine," she mumbles. She keeps repeating it for some time. She then takes out her suit and gear from the cabinet and prepares for the night.
Enji leaves early tonight for some reason. She takes that as her cue to leave. She sticks around her neighbourhood. It would make it easier to come back incase Enji reaches home early again.
She inspects all the alleys, searching for anything unusual. Maybe tonight really is a calm night. She patrols a bit before coming back home. She hides her gear back in the cabinet and goes to bed. She hears Enji come back late, more frustrated than the previous days. She shrugs it off and go to sleep.
The next day she while patrolling, she sees a woman almost being hit by a truck. She dashes towards truck and freezes it's wheels in a way it will slow down. She the pulls her out of the way just in time, saving her from being crushed. The woman looks at her with teary eyes, thanks her and leaves.
Rei feels happy on being able to help. She feels extremely elated today.
She returns home and changes into pajamas. She then makes a cup of hot chocolate for herself. She hears the slamming of the front door. Enji must have returned.
She greets him. He straight up ignores her, not that she expected him to do anything different. Does he still have to be so rude though?
"Did something happen at work?" she asks. Enji sits down reading a couple of papers.
"I got assigned a new case."
Rei slowly peeks at the papers. The case was about- Miss Subzero??!
Rei freaks out. Maybe freaking out is an understatement considering how she is having a full on panic attack right now.
'Breathe.' she reminds herself.
"Miss Subzero? Isn't she the new vigilante?" she asks. "You're the one who got assigned to capture her?"
"Yes," he replies. She stares. Why was her life like this?
"I thought vigilante cases were given to underground heroes," she asks.
"You're fairly knowledgeable on this," he states. Rei chokes on her hot chocolate. She clears her throat.
"I was curious. Because... she has an ice quirk like me?" she finishes lamely. he raises an eyebrow.
"We noticed a pattern with her appearance. She always seems to show up when I go for night patrol. She also sticks around the neighbourhood. We have a theory that she's trying to take me down."
"Take you down? " she asks in fake fearful voice.
"Yes. She might be targeting me. But don't worry. I will catch her and put her in jail, where she belongs," Enji replies nonchalantly.
Rei gulps.
Well....Shit.