“If fate came at you swinging, wouldn’t you fight back?”
- Kono Suzume, Chapter 5: Vigilance Recommended
Typically, when people ask "what made you want to be a hero?" the answer is not supposed to be "spite".
Or, when former detective Suzume is reborn into a world of heroes without getting any superpowers, she decides she might as well become Batman.
Glory To The Vindictive is a My Hero Academia fic written by Lore55
and can be found in AO3 and fanfiction.net.
It has an official What If? Story, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own", which can be found in AO3 here.
Glory To The Vindictive has the following tropes:
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Mirio appears fairly early and becomes involved in Suzume's social life in UA.
- Adaptational Heroism: Overhaul, among others, gets this thanks to his interaction with Suzume. This also led to the Shie Hassaikai getting this treatment as well as by the time Suzume is 15, they work more like a regular Yakuza group instead of following their canonical operations.
- Adapted Out: Mineta was adapted out of the story due to Suzume taking his place in 1-A.
- Anti-Hero: Suzume, due to her own Grey-and-Gray Morality often showcased shades of this. While ultimately heroic, it's been noted plenty of times by others in the story that Suzume has the mindset of a Vigilante more than she had the mind of an actual hero.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Due to Suzume's past occupation as a detective when she was Suzanna Hemmings, she has this, added to her small knowledge of My Hero Academia's story.
- Badass Normal: Suzume becomes the first Quirkless student to attend UA and she is no slouch in a battle. However, she finds herself complacent after the Kamino incident due to being injured by the Nomu and had to pick up her pace in training again if she wants a shot to survive and fight against more dangerous villains.
- Broken Pedestal: Suzume used to admire All Might, but after her father was arrested by All Might himself due to her father Taking the Heat for a crime that is covered up by the Shie Hassaikai, the admiration she had for him shattered.
- Suzume is devastated when Sir Nighteye concludes her internship with him by asking her for details about the Shie Hassaikai. She'd considered the possibility that the Shie Hassaikai was the only reason that Nighteye offered her an internship but over the course of placement, she found herself optimistic that he'd seen potential in her and offered assistance, something that Suzume rarely got in her quest to become a quirkless hero. Realising the ulterior motive she'd previously dismissed was the actual reason Nighteye took her in, leaves her feeling betrayed.
- Dramatic Irony: Nighteye offered an internship to Suzume knowing that she has connections to the Shie Hassaikai and wanted to get information of them out of her in fear that the Shie Hassaikai will become a dangerous organization that will harm the civilians. The Dramatic part comes from the fact that Suzume's interaction with Chisaki actually gives him and the rest of the Hassaikai an Adaptational Heroism and Eri, Suzume's niece, is actually well cared for thanks to Suzume's interaction with Chisaki and her sister-in-law, and thus there is little chance for them to become the heinous organization that they would become in canon.
- Friendless Background: At least on academic grounds until Suzume gets into UA. Due to being bullied for her quirklessness, Suzume doesn't have a lot of friends her age and she is more content being a creepy loner to them.
- The Gadfly: Along with her loner reputation, Suzume tends to have a dark sense of humor to throw people off, especially her classmates.Toru: What do you like most about summer?
Suzume: Murder.
Toru: Wait, wha-. - Grey-and-Gray Morality: Not outright present in the story proper but it is present in Suzume's interaction with her family and the Shie Hassaikai. Suzume has seen that beneath the ruthlessness and shady aspects of her parents' involvement with the Yakuza and the Shie Hassaikai, she has also seen some of the positive traits of some of these people outside their job as Yakuza. Suzume herself also had this belief due to the influence of her past life as a former detective.
- Anyone is capable of an atrocity, and anyone is capable of a kindness. She’s always known that. It’s no different now.
- I Gave My Word: Osachi, Eri's grandfather, gives this to Suzume that he will follow through with his father's deal to protect the rest of his family and financially support them in their endeavors, including the fact that Kaname and Suzume are going to become heroes in exchange of Suzume's father Taking the Heat for the covered up crime. However, once the two become heroes, the Hassaikai will cut ties in order to protect both parties.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Suzume is the sixth of the Kono family children and the only daughter of the family.
- Mirror Character: Suzume and Midoriya Izuku, as both are quirkless people who are looked down upon and discriminated against for their desire to be a hero. Suzume is what Izuku could have become if he actually persisted and worked for his goal to make it a reality and actually had the support he needed to achieve said dream instead of holding himself out and waiting for a miracle to happen that would allow him to achieve his dream.
- Nom de Mom: After Kono Sanjirou is arrested due to Taking the Heat, the younger children who have yet to reach adulthood like Suzume and her brother Kaname take their mother's surname, Yusada, in order to protect themselves from scrutiny and avoid attention.
- Point of Divergence:
- Suzume meets Overhaul at an early age due to her brother being the son-in-law of his boss' daughter. Their future interaction causes Overhaul to lighten up his stances and when he takes over the Hassaikai, he leads the Yakuza group with less extreme goals.
- Due to the above, Eri, who canonically was abandoned for accidentally erasing her father, was treated nicely and the canon incident where she accidentally erased her father with her newly awakened quirk was stopped before she could fully do much harm that would cause her parents to abandon her. It was surmised by Suzume herself that Eri's mother Rio marrying Suzume's brother led to a strain between both Chisaki and Rio, and Suzume ended up bridging the gap that got the two to mend their relationship again.
- Suzume was partnered with Kaminari instead of Mina for the final exam, hence Sero is partnered with Mina instead.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Aizawa and the rest of the teachers in U.A (Except for All Might) shaped up to be this for Suzume due to being the first teachers to come to her defense and see her potential instead of deriding her for her quirkless status.
- Reincarnate in Another World: Suzanna Hemmings, a former detective is reincarnated as Kono Suzume, youngest of six and quirkless.
- Spared By Adaptation: Eri's father, who is Suzume's brother in this story, is spared from death due to Suzume's influence in Chisaki and constant interaction with her sister-in-law as Eri's father gets to live till Suzume turned 15 and present in Eri's life and childhood.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When Bakugou tries to bully Suzume into submission after learning that she's quirkless, Suzume is quick to turn the tables on him. Aizawa stopped Bakugou from trying to use his quirk on Suzume after this and this incident eventually caused Bakugou to have some respect for Suzume.Bakugou: Listen here, you quirkless little-
Suzume: Is that all you’re going to say?
Bakugou: Wha-
Suzume: That I’m quirkless, that you’re strong? That I’m just a little girl and you’re oh-so-powerful? Listen here, and listen well Bakugou. There is nothing you can say that I haven’t heard before, from people I respect a whole lot more than you. There is nothing you can do that I haven’t seen before. There’s no hit you can throw that I haven’t taken before. You seem to be under the impression that a few fireworks make you king shit of fuck mountain, but here’s the truth. You’re just a sorry bully, with your skull full of hot air and a mouth too big for your head. There’s nothing special about you. - That Came Out Wrong: At one point, when Izuku tried to praise Suzume for getting into UA as a quirkless person, Suzume saw it as Izuku calling her as weak. It took another talk during the Sports Festival for Izuku to finally rephrase what he had wanted to say to her.
- What If?: "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" is an official What If? of the story where Suzume is older than Izuku and enrolled in UA early, giving Izuku hope to enroll into UA as a quirkless hero instead of accepting All Might's offer to become the next successor of One For All.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Mirio called out Nighteye for stringing Suzume along in the promise of a good internship when he actually wanted the information of the Hassaikai out of her due to knowing her possible connection with them.
