"He was a literal child!" Shouta subconsciously activated his quirk as he yelled, which only made Endeavor glare harder in return as the flames adorning his hero costume went out. "You launched a lethal attack at a kid!"

Endeavor: Wait- he doesn't know Viridian survived.

Aizawa: I would still be mad at you for almost killing him in the first place.

The crime scene was a mess. Vines and thorns were still everywhere, the city had had to call in tree trimmers to even begin freeing the survivors and dozens of rescue heroes had been woken up and called in to help despite the holiday. So far they had already found five casualties from the attack, and those were all people the villain had killed during his initial rampage. It wasn't even starting on the disaster that was the bar fire.

Todoroki: Dad stop causing property damage.

Endeavor: Oh need I remind you about that glacier you made in the Sports Festival?

Todoroki: That doesn't count because at least no one got hurt!

Dabi: Can we all stop shouting about daddy issues and just watch?

The flames had long since gone out thanks to the combined efforts of Backdraft and the local firefighters, but the smoldering remains of the building were like a mocking testament to Shouta's failure. Somewhere under those ashes was a kid. A kid with a whole life ahead of him. A kid who was just barely learning how to want to stay alive.

And now he was dead and it was all Shouta's fault.

Midnight: No it's not!

Hagakure: He's alive!

He should have insisted on going straight to the bar instead of going with Death Arms to clear another exit for the civilians. He should have told them not to call Endeavor despite his quirk being a perfect counter. He should have tried harder to get the kid to stop being a vigilante.

And now it was too late. This wasn't like when Viridian had disappeared because he broke his arm as a civilian. The kid wasn't just going to pop up inside the comms one day like he had then. Endeavor had openly admitted to launching a full strength attack at both the berserker and the vigilante, either not thinking or caring about the fact that the fight was happening in a bar! @&#$* doing what he had to, if the great number two hero had had even an ounce of respect for situational awareness and property damage, he would have found another way!

Midoriya: Sensei I'm alive don't worry!

"Eraser." Amplifier put a strong hand on his shoulder. "Be careful, the media's watching."

"Screw the vultures." Shouta growled, but he blinked and stalked away anyway. A viral video of heroes infighting would do more harm than good, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be going through the formal channels to make sure that Endeavor didn't get off scot free for murdering a kid. Nezu in particular would probably love tearing him apart.

Nezu: Oh I most certainly would.

At least the principal's sadism was good for something.

Recovery Girl: Good for a lot of things actually.

Amplifier walked with him until they were far enough for the media to ignore them, "How are you holding up?"

"How do you think I'm holding up?!" Shouta hissed. "That... he was just... the kid was finally getting better."

Hound Dog: And he will get even better.

Inko: He's got to...

"I know." Amplifier said heavily. "I know."

"It's just..." Shouta groaned. "I'm going to have to look this kid's parents in the face and try to explain that I was just trying to keep him alive. Why did I let him..."

Mic: Oh Shou...

"Stop that." Amplifier said sternly. "If you start blaming yourself or insisting that you could have done things differently, it's just gonna keep you paralyzed in the past. Believe me, I've seen it happen often enough in my rehabilitation group."

Shouta sighed, "And it doesn't make the kid any less dead."

Toga: He's not!

"We don't know that." Amplifier said weakly. "They're still sorting through the rubble! There's still a chance..."

Everyone: Yes! He's still alive!

It only took half a glare to silence her. As much as Shouta would like to believe that the kid had survived, it was completely illogical to get his hopes up. Even if Endeavor's initial attack hadn't managed to fry him, the building had collapsed within minutes. It was only luck that Amplifier had managed to find a small portion of the wall that had collapsed, or else they'd be digging her out as well. Endeavor, the assole, would have of course survived based solely on his inborn fire-resistance. No wonder he didn't care about bringing down buildings! If it didn't affect him, he couldn't be bothered.

Todoroki(scowling): I wish you weren't right.

"Eraser! Amplifier!"

Both heroes turned sharply toward the shout and were surprised to see Rock Lock, of all heroes, running toward them. He was normally more composed than that, and Shouta was about to say something about it when he caught sight of the ragged piece of fabric in his hand.

Twice: Viridian's hoodie! Nah it's a random hoodie that looks totally awful.

Amplifier gasped, "Is that...?"

"Viridian's hoodie... " Shouta breathed. "Where...? Was the kid...?"

"One of Ingenium's sidekicks found it in a dumpster a street or two over." Rock Lock grinned. "That stupid, reckless kid made it out of the building!"

Momo: Yes sensei knows now!

Shouta felt himself practically melt with relief and instantly wanted nothing more than to find a quiet corner and curl up with his sleeping bag and never come out. Why did problem children have to be so emotionally exhausting? He silently swore he'd ground Viridian or something, just to get back at him for all the grey hairs he'd caused. Too bad he couldn't just threaten to expel him, but oh well, he'd find a way to work around it. No good hero was a one trick pony.

(everyone laughed)

Vlad(shaking his head): That is seriously your response to everything isn't it?

Aizawa: I hate problem children.

"What about Viridian?" Amplifier asked. "Was he anywhere around?"

"If the kid were smart," Shouta responded, "he'd get as far away from Endeavor as possible. But then again, if the kid had one ounce of self preservation, we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

Mitsuki: Well he did the former.

"Aww, are you mad at the kid because he made you worry about him?" Amplifier poked his arm relentlessly and Shouta had to hit her with a quirk-enhanced glare to get her to stop, "You are such a dad, Eraser!"

Aizawa: Would everyone just stop calling me that?

"I'm not a dad!" Shouta grumbled. "I'm not qualified for that position."

Snipe: Uh huh sure.

Rock Lock rolled his eyes, "Yeah, that's gonna be my job."

"So where's the problem child now?" Shouta changed the subject.

Kendo: Home resting, unless at this point in time he's still at Kaminari's house.

"No idea." Rock Lock shrugged, then looked around and waved at another hero, "Yo! Crawler! Slide on over here!"

A blue and red blur sped toward them, expertly dodging all the people between them. Crawler grinned at them when he straighted up, "Hey Eraser! You must be pretty proud of your kid, huh?"

Aizawa: Not him too!

Tsukauchi: Well you practically adopted Crawler too-

Aizawa: No I didn't!

Tsukauchi: You literally knew his identity and lied to my face about it.

Aizawa: Doesn't mean I adopted him.

"I'd be prouder if he could avoid getting injured every other day." Shouta complained. "And he's not my kid."

Crawler's grin just got wider, "You just keep telling yourself that, Eraserdad. And you can't scare me with your expulsion glare, you know, I didn't go to hero school."

Midoriya: Right he was a vigilante wasn't he?

Endeavor: Yes.

Shouta sighed and hid his face in his capture weapon, "So, you're the one that found the hoodie? What makes you so sure the kid's alive?"

Crawler looked at him strangely, like he was both confused and excited at the same time, "Haven't you seen the video?"

Amplifier jumped in excitement, "What video?"

Hawks: There's a video?

Crawler smiled and pulled out his phone, "There are actually a couple going viral right now, Pop would be so jealous, but I think you'll like this one the best. The one with him hitting a bouncer in the nuts is pretty good too, though."

"What?!"

(everyone snorted)

Whatever Rock Lock had been about to say was cut off as the video started playing and the three heroes huddled around the small screen to watch.

At first, the video was just of the burning bar, which looked just as frightening as Shouta had expected it to. The person behind the camera was freaking out, audibly wondering if anyone was still inside the building when a second voice spoke up.

"Hey, what's that over there?"

Inko: Izuku.

The camera panned quickly over to focus on a part of the wall that was being blown out... wait, no, knocked down by someone inside. After a few moments, the flames started to go down and Shouta narrowed his eyes. There was a chance that the white and grey mass spewing from the hole was just smoke that was catching the light at a weird angle, but upon closer inspection, it looked more like the foam that came out of a fire extinguisher. There was a long moment on the video where nothing happened and the girl recording was just starting to pan away when a small figure emerged in a bloody and torn hoody, dragging a woman behind him as he led a dozen or so survivors to safety.

"Wait, Viridan made that hole?" Amplifier asked in shock. "We... we just assumed that the wall had collapsed with the heat."

Kaminari: No he literally broke a wall to save people.

Tsu: Like my parents.

Shouta couldn't help rolling his eyes, "Of course the problem child knocked down a wall to get everyone out. I don't know why anyone's surprised. Kid's probably freaking out about causing property damage right about now, though."

"The building came down right after, though?" Crawler pointed out, confused.

Midoriya: And he's going to end up blaming himself for that too isn't he?

Shouta sighed, "Yeah. The kid might just find a way to blame himself for that too. It's just the way he is."

Hound Dog: This is so not healthy I just want to drag him to therapy already...

They watched as Viridian turned to go back inside, only to catch sight of Endeavor and Amplifier and freeze. Thankfully, they were looking away from him, so the kid, in a rare act of self-preservation, didn't call attention to himself in any way. The building collapsed and the girl recording spun around to catch that instead. By the time she turned back to where the vigilante had been before, he was long gone.

"He's still injured." Shouta grumbled, shoulders slumping with relief and exhaustion. "I don't suppose any of the paramedics picked up a kid matching his description?"

Shoda: Nope.

"You'd have to ask him." Crawler shrugged. "But the kid did good."

"Yeah." Shouta nestled deeper into his capture weapon to hide the small smile on his face. "Yeah, he did."

Mina: Oh sensei's so cute!

"Can't help but be a little sad though." Amplifier remarked. "The Green Guide isn't gonna be our little secret anymore."

Ectoplasm: Yup... he's going to get even more popular now that there's videos of him.

Vigilante Crashes New Year's Celebration

Spinner: Huh we're reading a news clipping.

The new year came in with a bang this morning in Musutafu as a powerful villain took a city block of partiers hostage with his quirk. Due to various complications surrounding the villain's quirk, the heroes patrolling the area were initially unaware of the attack. Luckily, however, they were not the only defense in the area.

A formerly unknown vigilante by the name of Viridian, also known to heroes and police as 'The Green Guide' or sometimes just 'The Kid', was caught inside the attack radius and was able to contact the heroes and hold off the villain until they arrived. According to one of the victims, the vigilante's involvement saved a lot of lives, including his own, "Yeah, the villain had grabbed me with those crazy weird vines of his and I thought for sure I was gonna die! If that kid hadn't sliced through the vines and let me escape, I don't know where I'd be. I probably wouldn't be talking to you right now though."

Mineta(shuddering): Definitely wouldn't have.

Viridian's attempts to save civilians, however, apparently caught the attention of the villain himself.

"It was pretty freaky." Aito Ogawa, who was attending Club Ecstasy with a group of friends, told reporters of the experience. "At first, it was just funny. This kid in a hoodie comes in claiming to be a vigilante and we're all like... sure. But then he got a bunch of heroes on the phone and we're all like... alright, man, that's pretty cool, you got connections. That was when the villain showed up. Honestly, I thought we were all gonners. It didn't look like a fair fight at all, but Viridian took out his slingshot and held his own. He kept the villain's attention so we could all get out. It was pretty badass."

Recovery Girl: But very reckless.

According to our sources, Viridian, who witnesses initially believed to be newly debuted, has actually been an active vigilante for over six months! His first vigilante name, The Green Guide, was given to him by police for his tendency to lead heroes to crimes that normally wouldn't merit much attention, and he graduated to his current name when he started interfering in fights personally. His quirk is currently unknown, but his main weapons consist of a set of metal pipes, a knife, and a slingshot. The green marbles that he uses as ammo are even rumored to be something of a collector's item among the heroes that have tried to capture him.

Viridian is still at large after this attack, though he almost wasn't so lucky. The number two hero, Endeavor, has come under heavy criticism since this morning's attack due to the excessive force with which he attacked both Viridian and the villain, heedless of the dangers posed by spilled alcohol and of the civilians who had severely limited options when it came to escaping the villain's attack zone. Casualties from Endeavor's attack are still unknown, but it is suspected that there were still multiple people inside the building when Endeavor's fire caused it to collapse.

Joke(scowling): Oh there definitely was.

According to the statement made by the number two hero's PR team early this morning, the hero was acting on the assumption that both Viridian and the villain posed a clear and present danger to the civilians present but a few vocal critics are already arguing that isn't good enough. In fact, some are going so far to call Endeavor's actions this morning child endangerment.

All Might: Yes it is!

One of the protesters, who refused to give any name aside from Dabi, told reporters at the scene, "Whatever, I get that nobody knows how old Viridian actually is, but if you watch the videos, it's pretty obvious he's still a teenager. If Mr. Number Two Hero is willing to throw a lethal attack at a child like that, I hate to think what he's capable of doing to his own kids."

Toga(laughing): Oh I see what you're doing Dabi.

Dabi(laughing): Yeah I see me too!

It remains to be seen how this attack will affect the number two hero's standing in the rankings, though analysts are predicting a significant drop in public opinion due to widespread outrage at Endeavor's actions.

Endeavor himself was unavailable for comment.

Todoroki: Of course he's not.