Not very heroic

Sitting underneath a flickering lamppost was a small child no older than 10.

This child was named Blake Quincy and had suffered more than most adults had already at such a young age.

Blake came from an abusive family. Not just physically abusive but emotionally and mentally as well. Every day he would be beaten down in a new and different way until he became fully accustomed to it.

After-all the problem with around the clock torture is that you can't really step it up after that so the victim becomes slowly immune to whatever type of pain is being dished out.

He was becoming more enraged rather than anything else. Seeing and experiencing how unfair the world was had warped the child into someone completely different than others his age.

Blake could remember waiting years for a hero to appear and save him from his family but that never happened. No one cared about him and no one was going to save him.

That disheartening revelation was the final slap in the face he needed to take action.

Earlier that night he had broke out of the cage his parents kept him in downstairs and snuck his way to their bedrooms where he brutally killed the two in their sleep.

During that moment time seemed to slip away and he lost himself in stabbing the two over and over until he finally couldn't anymore.

Once he finished he immediately left his home not grabbing a single thing since he honestly had nothing to take. He just wanted to be free more than anything else and began to wander the streets until he reached a park.

That's how Blake ended up sitting under a flickering lamppost wearing tattered clothes and covered in blood.

Sitting there for a few hours he was finally able to find his calm and began planning for the future.

Blake was by no means a genius but he was far more mature and creative than others his age and even adults. He could think of various things never seen before and how to make them a reality but simply didn't have any experience or chances to create his ideas.

This coupled with his experiences had made him think of a very specific path to take to survive.

He would become a mercenary. Not only would he be able to choose his own contracts and build upon his experiences in fighting to survive, he would also get paid for putting down evil fuckers like his parents that heroes and the government simply let free or locked up for a week before they break out.

Blake didn't make this decision lightly. It was rather something he had thought about for years since his 4th birthday when his family was told he was quirkless. That day the abuse started and he began praying for anymore to save him but no one did. The only thing he was allowed to do other than be abused was to listen to the tv coming from upstairs.

Of course his parents didn't know he could hear it or they'd instantly take that one silver lining away but through years of listening he was able to pick up on how the world worked from the news.

One night he had heard reports on a mercenary killing a hero and a villain along with a few government officials at the same time before escaping from the scene.

That sparked something in the tiny child at the time. To be able to do what you please to every massive power in the world and still escape was breathtaking.

It was the freedom he craved and so he was going to desperately fight for it.

That's what led to today. This very moment when Blake stood up and began walking headfirst into a life that others will vilify with no hesitation.

*8 years later*

Sitting in a chair tied up was a beaten man with a ever-present grin plastered on his face.

"TELL US WHO HIRED YOU!!!" A man screamed out before pressing a burning brand shaped like the letter V into the captives cheek.

As the brand made contact a sickening flesh burning smell spread through the room but the tied up man only stared at his torturer with a bored look.

Suddenly the room shook heavily as if it had experienced an earthquake causing the torturer to lose his balance and wobble.

Faster and with more grace than could be expected the captive slipped out of his bindings and grabbed the brand before shoving it in the torturers pants making him give a blood curdling scream of agony before falling limp.

Dropping the brand the former captive stretched his limbs before causally walking over to a table with all his gear lined up like an art exhibit.

"The bad man and his mouth-breathing followers didn't hurt any of you did he my loves?" The man said in a coping voice before lovingly checking each and every piece of gear he had.

Suddenly he paused when there was a V carved into the eye of his mask which made his blood boil.

Taking a deep breath he put on every bit of his gear before walking back to the unconscious torturer on the floor.

Grabbing one of the grenades he kept in his belt he pulled the man's pants down before kindly shoving the grenade straight up his ass and pulling the pin.

The sudden pain had woken up the torturer but upon realizing what the previous captive was doing he fainted from fear.

Smiling the now calm geared up man walked out the room into a hallway before running full speed as far as he could.

It didn't take more than 5 seconds before a massive explosion happened behind him making him smile and start looking for a bathroom to clean his gloves.

*15 minutes later*

A whistling masked man could be seen coming out of a bathroom while walking casually.

This of course was Blake who after washing his gloved hands was in a much better mood.

Once he reached the hallways he saw a massive amount of armed cultists aiming in his direction which made him pause and turning around to look behind him.

After seeing no one was behind him he turned back to the group and pointed at himself in surprise before speaking up.

"Don't worry guys I took care of the escaped heretic in the bathroom. Let's go get some pizza or whatever Cthulhu worshipping cultists like us like to eat." Blake said with a shrug before a rolling sound was heard underneath the cultists causing them to look down.

Once they did they froze before another explosion happened causing the group to be blown to bits making Blake chuckle.

"Wow learning slight of hand really did wonders. Could all magicians become kickass fighters if they learned some fighting styles to go with it like I did?" He muttered before taking off into a sprint to look for his target.

After-all he was paid by an entire group of families to rescue their kidnapped kids who the cult was gonna sacrifice.

Luckily before he initiated his brilliant plan he studied the layout of the bunker the cultists were in and had memorized every single twist and turn.

Plus while being tortured he subtly coaxed out information on where said kidnapped people were before leaving behind a gift as his thanks.

After a few seconds of running he came upon a massive room that was locked tight and still guarded despite the various explosions going off through the base, courtesy of Blake and a fun little thing called C4.

Grinning behind his mask he pulled out his silenced pistols attached to his legs and gave two precise headshots and chest shots to each guard before they fell lifelessly to the ground.

Ignoring the bodies he then pulled out a bottle of spray from the backpack full of his fun gadgets and spraying it on the bolts of the door.

Soon the bolts were covered in a thin frozen glaze so he took his gun and shot each bolt causing the door to creak before falling down with a bang.

Walking into the room Blake looked around and saw a bunch of kids and teenagers of various ages dressed in barely anything whatsoever except strange sacrificial outfits.

"Sup kiddos. Your families hired me to save you from these cultists. So follow and stay behind me while I clean up the trash. Heads up it's gonna be a bit messy." Blake said while looking at the scared but hopeful group which brought back memories of why he chose this job in the first place.

The next hour was spent brutally but efficiently clearing a path through a horde of cultists who were downright insane and probably drugged to hell and back.

The group following him had slowly become used to Blake's violence and if they were being honest they would in fact probably want to join in since the fuckers wanted to sacrifice them to some octopus god.

Finally they reached an exit that was heavily guarded with the remaining cultists and their people with leadership positions.

Seeing the setup Blake made the group pause before he snuck his way to the group to take them out quickly.

Sneaking up behind one of the cultists he unloaded the last few bullets in his magazine before reloading and searching the body.

Luckily the one he just killed had a grenade on him, albeit a trash one compared to his specially crafted bunker blaster ones.

Grabbing the corpse he pinned the grenade under it before sneaking back to the group of kidnapped people and switching to his carbine rifle.

Grinning he shot the corpse in the leg making the cultist run to the sound.

Upon arrival they saw the corpse and moved it to check if he was still alive. Which was a mistake on their part.

As soon as they did the explosion went off killing a few and covering the rest in blood and clothing.

Not wasting his chance Blake calmly walked out from his hiding and began unloading into the remaining cultists.

Before they even had time to react they were all shot down leaving only a silent ringing noise to fill the entrance.

Motioning for the group to follow him they did with excitement and reached the exit.

Stepping outside they were greeted by the sight of a group of hero students and multiple pro heroes waiting in tension.

Seeing the group Blake knew what was coming next so he ushered the ones he saved to the heroes calmly.

"Tell your families they don't have to pay me for this. It was something I did of my own volition. Now run along and go live the rest of your lives peacefully, preferably away from crazy cultists." Blake said with a chuckle once he noticed the worried looks the group gave him upon seeing the group of heroes standing ready to fight.

Once they made their way to safety Blake sighed before looking at the heroes in front of him.

"So this is how it has to be huh, and really you getting kids to go up against people like me? Experience is nice and all but not if you can't survive it." Blake said out loud while looking at the pros with a disappointed gaze.

Instantly the more unruly ones were fired up and a blond haired teenager began creating explosions with his hands.

"You don't know shit you fucker! I'll kill you!" The blond haired one screamed out making the group of heroes flinch.

"Will you now? Let's put that to the test. Also not very heroic to want to kill someone, what are the pros teaching you all...?" Blake said while chuckling and before anyone could react firing an entire clip of bullets into the kid making him fall to the ground limp.

This sudden change caused the entire group to freeze before shouts of anger resounded in the area and they all launched various attacks towards Blake.

Seeing all the incoming attacks he just grinned before pressing a button on his belt which caused a portal to appear beneath him which he fell into before anyone could catch him.

Seeing him escape the group raged and broke down at the loss of a future hero and friend.

Suddenly the heard a coughing noise and turned around to see the blond haired teen sit up and wince while big purple bruises began to appear in each spot he was shot.

Instantly the group of teens swarmed the confused blonde while the adults let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly two massive stacks of papers appeared making the heroes get in a defensive position and slowly investigate.

Once they did they didn't know how to react.

One stack was tied up detailed data dealing with every single cultist listing every single crime they had ever committed and were planning to commit and the other stack was a bunch of untied papers that were sent flying in the wind that read "Not very hero-like were ya?".

There were thousands of such papers which simply because of their vast quantity were able to reach each and every hero there by being blown into their face by the wind.

Meanwhile Blake had appeared inside his base due to the portal and was tiredly pulling off his gear and cleaning it obsessively.

After an hour of cleaning his gear he finally finished and went to the bathroom to take a nice shower to clean off all the filth from the fighting.

Standing under the water he washed his entire body carefully and made sure to remember where each wound was and whether he'd need medical attention or not.

Luckily his worse wound was the V branded into his cheek that he was a little annoyed about since that wasn't going away.

Finishing up the shower he walked into the living room of his base before reaching into a drawer nearby and pulling out a tattoo kit.

Instantly he began to mark his flesh with each kill he had today. Blake had killed exactly 63 cultists in that base and had to add that to his already long list of kills on his skin.

The next few hours were spent creating specific marks for each death. 1 death was a single line. 4 deaths was four lines side by side. And 5 deaths was four lines with 1 line slashing through it diagonally.

By the end of his tattooing he was exhausted and filled a glass of water for himself before updating the status on his previous contract and deciding to go to sleep.

While he was peacefully sleeping a lot of things were happening around the world.

News of a massive international cult being taken down with extreme brutality was everywhere on the news.

Families that next expected to see their kids again were suddenly reunited due to them hiring a mercenary as a last resort.

A group of teen heroes were slowly learning that death can sneak up on them real quick due to their friends near death and that maybe not everything is so black and white after hearing about what the mercenary they were trying to stop had actually did.

Also the pros and government were desperately trying to cover up the situation before their subtle power over the people begins to slip.

At the center of all this chaos was a single man currently sleeping peacefully and dreaming of an all you can eat buffet all for himself.

[Authors note: So this is my BNHA story. I kinda wanted to make a different story than those I've read. Instead of someone in the class at U.A or anyone with a quirk. I want a simple person who is just a man of effort and sheer will. Basically a Batman or John wick type of person who's pure human but can go up against anything. Honestly there won't be much interactions with the class at U.A except for specific moments that are important to my story. I also plan to introduce various games and other events in shows and movies as his contracts. For example I loosely based this cult off of the farcry 5 cult. So in the future I plan to have him deal with various situations such as the saw movies or farcry games for example. If you have any recommendations please let me know cause I always want more possible ideas for this story.]