Unparalleled: Two Sides of The Same Coin

"Piss off kiddo," the man gruffly said. "This ain't the playground."

Predictable. The alleyway that Izuku was currently in was infested with smoking thugs. Nah, he thought. With how weak they are, they're more like rats. So I guess it's up to me to do some community work and clear the place of this rat infestation.

"Au contraire, Mister," Izuku exclaimed with a small smirk. "This is a playground to me. Why else would there be adults here with the IQ of a newborn baby."

"The fuck did you say, you piece of shit." The man speaking seemed to be the leader - he was walking towards Izuku, backed by 3 of his goons. The rest of their entourage were in the back; some were snickering at Izuku's nerve, and others looked downright offended.

"Did I say something offensive?" Izuku cocked his head thoughtfully to the left. "No, no, you're right. I shouldn't insult babies like that."

The man's eye twitched. "Brats like you need to be taught a lesson." He stepped forwards, flicking his cigarette at Izuku.

Damn. This fight really is quite cliche. Izuku thought as he watched the cigarette fly by his head. It's like one of Utahime's trashy fanfics. He swatted away the punch thrown his way haphazardly and responded in kind with an elbow to the face. Ducking under the next attack, he slipped his foot behind his assailant's leg and pushed, throwing the thug to the ground.

"Damn, you guys are relentless," Izuku exclaimed as more people joined the fray. "But you won't be able to bridge the gap between us with more people you know."

Unsurprisingly, this little speech did not deter the people attacking him. No matter , Izuku thought as he slipped a punch. I see it now. Their movements. The contraction of their muscles. I see it all.

Izuku dodged another punch from behind. "Sneaky, sneaky. But you can't trick these eyes." Feinting with his left leg, he knocked out the person in front with a right roundhouse kick before spinning into a back kick, breaking the thug's ribs behind him.

The absolute brutality of his movements shocked the alleyway's inhabitants to a standstill.

"Come on, now," Izuku smiled. "I haven't got all night."

This started the fight anew but with a marked improvement in their attacks this time. I see , he thought. Now that they saw that he could fight, they were taking him more seriously.

Izuku caught a punch and found that he could not move. Looking at the fist, he saw a faint trail of energy coursing through the hand and into his body. With every second, he could see that the energy was slowly fading. However, a few seconds were enough for his opponents; a vicious assault of punches and kicks hurt his body before he flew back.

A time-based immobilisation quirk , he realised. Plus someone hit me with an enhanced punch. He tried to get up, but he was still frozen. Shit, that energy hasn't faded yet.

"Yo, Diego." One of the thugs stood over Izuku. "Is your quirk still keeping him down?"

The named thug nodded. "Yeah. It's strange, though. Normally it requires constant skin contact. But I guess it got stronger?" He finished off in a questioning tone.

"Truly, no one cares about your quirk," another thug snorted derisively. "The question is, what are we gonna do with the kid?"

"Can't kill him. It'll draw too much attention."

"Yeah, I know dipshit. That's why I'm asking."

"Well, he didn't see any of the drugs, so we could just rough him up a ..." The thug's words trailed off pathetically as he saw the others' glares.

"You motherfucking idiot. Why would you mention the.."

"HAHAHAHAH!"

The gang stopped their argument and turned around.

Izuku was back up again. "Man, was it a surprise to take a hit. Can't remember the last time that happened." He clicked his knuckles and neck. "If you gentleman are gonna use your quirks, then I'll guess I'll do the same."

Cursed energy sprang forward, ensheathing his entire body. "Now then. Shall we begin?"

(LINE BREAK)

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," panted Diego. Upon seeing the crazed, bloodied look on the kid's face, he contemplated running. No sane person would make that sort of face. His decision was cemented when the kid blurred into existence next to one of his mates, picked him up and tore him in half as you would do a piece of bread being dunked into soup. Diego didn't stick around much longer. It was every man for himself.

(LINE BREAK)

"...26, 27, 28, 29. Hmmmmm," Izuku tilted his head thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure there were 30 of you. Did one get away?"

"Fu-u-ck you!" coughed a body marred in blood and vomit. They were missing an arm, an eye and several teeth. It was the leader of the alleyway thugs.

"Listen, my man. We can do this the hard way or the easy way. In fact, depending on your answers, I may even let you live."

"Really?"

"Nah, not really. I lied. No way you're gonna survive those wounds. I sometimes go a little overboard." Izuku sighed and dramatically held his hand against his face. "It's the curse of being me."

The other man looked at Izuku in disbelief. The latter was now picking up a discarded cigarette and lighter.

"Now, then. What's your name?" Izuku asked.

"Haru."

"So Big H. You don't mind if I call you that do you?"

"Yes, I d-"

"So Big H. Even though you're about to die, you should still care that I can make the rest of your time on this earth extremely painful..." With that statement, Izuku lit a cigarette and stuck it in the man's bloody stump of an arm. A scream resounded in response. "Or you can tell me what I want to know. Who got away?"

"I don't fucking know, okay!" Veins popped from his neck and forehead as he tried to prevent another scream as Izuku was still digging the cigarette in what was left of his arm.

"You know, I can probably track them down myself. But that would be a pain. So here's what we're gonna do." Izuku stood up from where he was squatting and walked over to a dead thug's body. Stooping down, he tore off the head of the body, blood splattering all over his clothes. He walked back over to Haru and showed him the decapitated head.

"Who's this?" Izuku asked.

"That's Taki, you sick motherfucker," growled out Haru.

This was repeated 27 more times before Izuku squatted once more over the motionless body of Haru.

"I'm missing 2 heads." No response was given. "I mean, one is right in front of me, still attached to its owner. The other is the one who got away. So tell me, Haru. Who got away?"

When no response was given, Izuku flicked open the lighter and lit another cigarette.

"Diego. He's the one who escaped!" Haru quickly spat out, eyeing the lit cigarette warily.

"No surname?"

"There's not an application form when you join us. As long as you're willing to work and keep your mouth shut, we take you on."

"So you don't know." Izuku moved the cigarette closer and closer to Haru's bloody arm.

"Wait, wait, wait," Haru desperately spat out. "He dropped his licence once, and I got a glimpse. It was Shinsi. No, wait, Shinso. I swear to god it was Shinso."

Izuku slowly took off his blindfold, revealing cold blue eyes that seemed to have an entire world behind them. "Don't swear to god. Swear to me."

"Yes, I swear it. It was Shinso." Those were the last words Haru ever spoke.