Chapter 20: Age of Vigilantism

*Third Person POV*

"Haah... Haah... No… why…"

In the middle of the night, in a dimly lit alley way, a woman was panting tiredly after hurriedly running here. She was holding her left arm which had a cut that was bleeding out.

A look of despair could be seen on her face as she looked at the wall in front of her.

*Step step*

The woman flinched when the sound of footsteps came from behind her.

"Kekeke! There's no where left to run!"

A sleazy-looking man appeared at the entrance of the alley. In his hand was a bloody knife which he had used earlier to slash the woman's arm. He had wanted to slash her throat, but she used her quirk at the last second to break free from his grasp and escape, leading to a chase that brought them here.

"You shouldn't have resisted. Now, I'm going to make sure that your death will be nice and slow. Kekeke!"

Although they were still around five meters apart, the man stopped. He learned earlier that getting within close distance with this woman would be bad due to her quirk. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

The man jerked his arm forward, knife in hand. His arm extended like rubber as a result of him using his quirk.

"No! Someone, help me! PLEASE!" Screamed the woman as the knife approached her.

"There's nobody around these parts! Kekeke! No one's coming to save you!"

When the knife was only a few inches away from her, the woman's life flashed before her eyes.

"Kyaaa!" She screamed and shut her eyes afraid of the impending doom.

*Thud clang*

"Kah!"

Just then, a figure fell from the sky and landed right on the man's extended arm, causing him to drop the knife.

The dust in the alley was disturbed by the figure's sudden entrance which caused it to scatter around.

"Serial killer, Night Stalker, I presume. I have been looking for you for a while now." A deep voice resounded in the alley, coming from the figure.

As the dust settled, the appearance of the figure could finally be seen clearly. He looked to be a man with a short stature. He had black hair and was wearing a black trench coat along with a white pierrot mask that covered his entire face.

[Image in paragraph comment here]

The man reacted after seeing the person that interrupted his fun.

"You… You're the rumored midget that's been going around at night and taking down villains!"

The masked man did not answer and instead flicked his arm. A thin wire shot out from beneath his sleeve and wrapped around the other man's neck.

"Kaakh!"

With a strong pull, the serial killer was dragged to the feet of the vigilante. Despite his small build, he was able to grab and lift the serial killer off his feet by his neck.

"Eight counts of murder, three with signs of r*pe, two of them after the victim had already died… You truly are a disgusting man. Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right here, right now." The menacing voice of the masked man held a hint of killing intent that caused the serial killer to almost wet himself.

"*Cough* Gah! You- you can't kill me! You're supposed to be a hero! You gotta take me into custody!"

The serial killer struggled while holding onto the gloved hand that was clutching his neck.

From the strength shown by the man, he knew that he was outmatched and was in a bad situation.

Even then, he was a cunning man. He knew how the world worked and was able to do his criminal activities without getting caught all this time.

Once the police arrive, arrest him, and take him away from this person, he can just escape using his own means.

"True. It is an unofficial law that heroes do not kill. It's bad for publicity after all…"

Hearing those words, a smirk appeared on the serial killer's face. But that only lasted for a second.

"… Unfortunately, one, I don't have a hero license. Not yet at least."

The pressure of the masked man's grip strengthened, causing the serial killer's breath to halt.

"… Two, I couldn't care less what the public would think of me. I'm wearing a mask anyways."

*Crrk*

A crunching sound was heard as the serial killer struggled desperately while his throat was getting crushed.

He tried extending his arms and punching the masked man, but his head did not even budge from his flimsy attacks.

He tried picking up his knife and stabbing him, but his attack just slid off his trench coat, not even leaving a scratch.

"… And three, I wonder how much good karma I'll get from getting rid of a bad karma filled degenerate like you…"

The masked man raised his other hand and grasped the serial killer's neck.

Tears spilled from his eyes as he looked at the masked face pleadingly.

"You know, as a man, you shouldn't cry like that. You could end up dying from dehydration..."

*Snap*

"... Or from me breaking your neck."

The masked man said after unhesitatingly snapping the serial killer's neck.

His head fell lifelessly before the masked man dropped him like a piece of garbage.

He stared at the corpse in front of him for a bit, as if to confirm something, before turning his head towards the woman who had backed away into a corner while the two were having a conversation.

She had been quiet all this time, hoping that the masked man wouldn't turn his sights on her and do what he did to the serial killer.

At first, she was relieved at the thought that he was here to save her. But seeing the masked face, caused a chill to creep up her spine.

She lost strength in her already tired legs, and she fell to the ground.

The man walked towards her and reached his arm out.

When she was about to beg for her life, she heard a voice.

"Try to stay out of dark alleys during the night from now on, yeah?"

It sounded so cheerful and carefree that the woman was left dumbfounded.

The voice that came from the masked man was so different from the deep, menacing voice from earlier, that she wondered whether it was still the same person who spoke.

When she finally broke free from her shock, she saw that the masked man, no, the vigilante who saved her had his hand over her wounded arm.

She felt a tingling sensation wherever he touched, and before she knew it, she stopped feeling pain from the wound.

"I've numbed your senses around your cut. Keep pressure around it to minimize blood loss."

The vigilante said before looking towards the sky.

"The police are on their way here so you should just rest up, slowly take in what just happened, and wait for them to take you home. Maybe get some therapy if you need to."

After saying this, he waved his arm upwards, and a wire was shot up.

Just like his sudden entrance, the vigilante suddenly lifted into the air, like something had grabbed the wire he shot up and pulled him away.

"Th- thanks for saving me!" The woman finally mustered her courage and shouted out as the figure of the vigilante disappeared from her sight.

It wasn't long before the police arrived and got to work at the scene.

A man in a brown coat wearing a fedora closed his notebook after jotting some notes.

One of the police officers ran up to him and saluted.

"Detective Tsukauchi, Sir! We have matched the crime scene with the witness' testimony."

"Understood. Carry on." The detective said and the police officer turned and left. He already knew that the woman wasn't lying because of his quirk.

"This is the third confirmed kill of that unnamed masked vigilante…" Detective Tsukauchi looked to the sky where the vigilante had supposedly left.

He had been assigned to investigate the masked vigilante ever since his first kill.

'Knuckleduster, Stendhal, and now this guy… Things are starting to get hectic.' He scratched the back of his neck as he thought to himself.

Chapter End.

A/N:

I have not read any of MHA: Vigilantes. Just searched about it and read stuff on the wiki, so I'm not sure if the timing is correct. Forgive me if I made any mistakes.

It's not going to affect the story much anyways. Just a few mentions here and there.