Chapter Text
Shouto walked with his head held high, and a swagger in his step. Ignoring the chains around his ankles and the cuffs clamping his hands together behind his back. He knew he could take out all of the guards and escape if he truly wanted to, but he was curious about what this was. He never got to leave his cell after he broke out of the first three. (They’d initially underestimated him because of his age despite the fact that he’d managed to get sentenced to Tartarus, but they soon moved him to the cell with the strongest security after he escaped all the others.)
“Where are we going?” Shouto asked the guard with an obvious strength enhancement quirk at his side with a smirk. “Am I getting released on good behavior?” He batted his eyes at the man, but he didn’t answer him.
“Hey.” Shouto growled. “I don’t take kindly to being ignored.” Shouto made as if to attack the man, and he flinched away. With a scoff, Shouto turned away and kept walking. They came upon a door that Shouto vaguely remembered passing before.
Inside waited a bear(? mouse?). Ah, yes. Shouto knew who this was. Nedzu the principal of UA and a creature with an intelligence quirk that outsmarts most people. And a scruffy black haired man, Shouto knew this one too, Eraserhead. His favorite hero.
“Eraserhead, Nedzu.” Shouto nodded his head at them in greeting. He smiled. “To what do I owe this pleasure? I do so love getting to stretch my legs.”
Eraserhead scowled at him, like he was forced to attend. Nedzu smiled.
“Welcome, Achlys. I don’t suppose you have another name you’d prefer to go by?” The rat(?) asked.
Shouto smirked. “If no one else has been able to figure out who I am, by torture, questioning, or reasearch, what makes you think I’d tell you?”
“Because I’m here to offer you an opportunity.”
Shouto raised an eyebrow. “What kind of opportunity?”
“How would you feel about attending UA?”
“Fuck no.”
“And why not?” Eraserhead asked with a scowl.
Shouto answered with a scowl of his own. “Because it’s a school for heroes .” He spat out the word heroes like it would burn him if he spent too much time sounding out the syllables.
“Why do you hate heroes so much?” Nedzu asked with a tilted head.
“Because through my entire life, all the things that I’ve lived through or had to do to survive, heroes hurt me the most out of everything. I have been tortured for weeks straight, and still I didn’t break. I have sold my body to strangers to get a few bucks and live till tomorrow. I’ve been raped, abused, drugged, slice into and beat up, poisoned, and waterboarded. I’ve been betrayed by those I thought I could trust in the worst way. I have had my mind broken into and cracked. My heart forced to stone because when you live on the streets, compassion only gets you killed in a ditch.”
“Because out of all those things, heroes have hurt me the most. I refuse to become like one of you. I would rather die in my cell before becoming someone like that.”
Eraser and Nedzu stared at him in shock, like they couldn’t believe that an assassin would hate heroes so much.
Shouto leaned back in his seat, lazy smirk back in place. “Now that that’s settled, what else do you want to discuss, gentlemen?”
“Are you quite certain?” Nedzu asked, seemingly recovered from Shouto’s tirade. “We’re willing to cut you a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“You’ll be joining Class 3-A in the heroics course. You will reside in the UA dorms with the students, and will be shadowed by one of them whenever you’re not within your room. If you show significant morale improvement by the end of the year then your sentence will be considered complete.”
“What’s the catch?”
“No catch.”
“No one is kind for no reason. Everything comes with a cost, some are just smaller than others. What do you get out of this?”
“That’s a rather shrewd view on life.” Eraser commented.
“It’s what I’ve found to be true.” Shouto cocked an eyebrow at the underground hero, Eraser didn’t strike him as an optimist either.
“We want to teach our students that villains are people too.” Nedzu cut in.
“There wasn’t a less dangerous option?” Shouto asked. “I’ve been convicted of three assassinations.” Shouto didn't and wouldn’t mention that it had been a lot more than three. Those were just the only ones they could pin on him. He’s fairly certain he’s killed around one hundred seventy-four people and heroes.
“That’s because of me.” Nedzu admitted. “You see, I’m rather interested in your case, and, as far as you testified in court, you truly believed you had valid reasons to kill the people you did. Which suggests that you do have morals, they’re just different than societies.”
Ignoring that, Shouto asked another question. “What exactly will this entail?”
“You will be taking the same classes as the rest of 3-A. Literature, English, Math, Modern Art, and all the necessary heroics training.” Eraser clarified.
“I am fluent in English as well as Spanish, French, Italian, and Latin.”
“Really?” Eraser raised an eyebrow.
“Is that so surprising?” Shouto asked him in English, then Spanish, French, Italian, and Latin.
“Not particularly.” Nedzu answered. “You were clearly very intelligent already considering they could only charge you with three murders.”
Shouto tilted his head. “What makes you think there were more than three?”
“No one is nicknamed the ‘Terror of the Underworld’ by only killing three people.”
“You’ve done your research.” Shouto nodded approvingly. “Want to know what else they called me?”
“There are more?” Eraserhead asked, sounding surprised.
“Of course. I have many. ‘Terror of the Underworld’ is one of my favorites, but I also enjoy ‘Death’s Favorite Messenger,’ ‘Hades’s Prince,’ and my absolute favorite, ‘Lucifer’s Lover.’”
“Those are… quite creative.” Eraser said.
Shouto smirked. “I know. Criminals can be quite inspired when they’re afraid.”
“Should they have been afraid?” Nedzu asked.
“Absolutely.” Shouto replied. “You know what’s one of the amazing things about the Underworld?”
“No, what?” Nedzu asked with a gleam in his eyes.
“They don’t give a shit about age or gender or sexuality or hetromorphs or any of the shit that you ‘upstanding citizens’ and ‘heroes’ care about. If you’re strong, you’re strong. The stronger you are, the more fear and respect you harness. If I were a girl, I’d be just as feared in the Underground, but what do you want to bet that heroes wouldn’t take me as seriously?”
“See! You do have morals.” Nedzu cheered.
“Fuck that. I just have common sense. Unlike most ‘heroes.’”
“Well then Achlys, if you have such common sense, you’ll accept our deal, correct?”Eraserhead asked.
Shouto smirked. Clever. Not like he was going to say no, though. “Of course.”