When villains become well known enough, they choose a hero to be their nemesis. This hero will get priority in all cases involving their nemesis, and have an additional responsibility to catch them. Nemesis call outs have been around as long as heroes and villains have existed, and are widely accepted as a normal part of the hero system. Mischief is the exception. Despite his power, he has never identified his chosen nemesis. Never, that is, until today.
Nemesis is a My Hero Academia fanfic by myheadinthecloudsnotcomingdown. It can be read on Archive of Our Own here
.
For Clouds' other works, see the For the Want of a Nail Series, Death Daggers (MHA), and Modified.
Nemesis contains examples of the following tropes:
- Arch-Enemy: As noted in the fic's summary, it is a common occurrence for high-profile Villains to name a particular Pro Hero as their nemesis. The plot itself is kicked off with Mischief revealing himself to be Izuku and declaring Bakugou his nemesis, and revolves around the two characters' relationship.
- Asshole Victim: The hostages Mischief takes were all complicit in allowing Bakugou to bully him for over a decade.
- Adaptational Villainy: Izuku is an A-rank villain known as Mischief, whereas in canon he is a hero-student in training.
- Big Bad: Mischief, aka Izuku Midoriya, is the fic's sole antagonist.
- Bittersweet Ending: Bakugou manages to save the hostages, but his relationship with Kirishima is naturally damaged by the truth about his past coming out, and Mischief ultimately escapes, having spelled out for Katsuki precisely how he's getting his revenge: by making sure the two of them are permanently linked in the eyes of the world.
- Bullying a Dragon: Katsuki continues to insist that he can easily handle the 'quirkless weakling' on his own, despite Izuku having built up a reputation as the villainous Mischief.
- Continuity Nod: Tatooine Shopping District, the location where Chapter 3 takes place, is explicitly noted to have been where Izuku had saved Bakugou from the Sludge Villain.
- Create Your Own Villain: Katsuki bullied and belittled Izuku for years, until he was seemingly Driven to Suicide. In reality, however, Izuku faked his death and went underground, building up a reputation as the mysterious villain Mischief while waiting for Katsuki to 'catch up' with him by earning his license.
- Cruel Mercy: Izuku doesn't kill Katsuki when he's given the chance, wanting him to suffer for as long as he did.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Bakugou only gets one hit on Izuku before he injects him with a mild paralytic that makes him unable to fight.
- Death by Adaptation: It's revealed that All Might died saving Bakugou at Kamino Ward.
- Disappointed in You: Implied by Ejirou's reaction to learning about Katsuki's past as a bully, though he avoids calling him out directly.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The entire story takes place over the course of a single afternoon, starting at 2:30 PM and ending at around 7 PM.
- Faking the Dead: Izuku faked his suicide two years before the story began.
- Fatal Flaw: Mischief exploits Katsuki's inflated sense of Pride, deliberately riling him up while forcing him to face the less pleasant aspects of their past.
- Get It Over With: Bakugou does this after getting beaten by Izuku. Izuku doesn't do it however, wanting him to suffer for as long as he did.Bakugou: So what? Are you gonna fucking kill me or what?Midoriya: (laughing) Kill you? No. If I was going to kill you, I wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble of calling you out as my nemesis.
- Goodbye, Cruel World!: Izuku had left a suicide note at Eitai bridge after faking his suicide.
- Hostage Situation: Izuku takes about a dozen hostages in two separate locations - one in Eitai bridge, and nearly a dozen in Tatooine Shopping District.
- Hypocrite: After learning that Kirishima got bullied himself back in middle school, Bakugou wishes he could make those responsible for hurting him pay, though he recognizes this as rather hypocritical on his part.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: On top of getting away with years of tormenting Izuku and anyone else he felt like bullying, Katsuki never faced any consequences for encouraging him to kill himself, with the incident being completely covered up. All that changes when Mischief officially names him his nemesis, staging a series of crimes lovingly designed to hang his dirty laundry out for the whole world to see.
- Malicious Misnaming: Katsuki continues to refer to Midoriya/Mischief exclusively as 'Deku'.
- Never My Fault: Though there are hints that Katsuki does feel some guilt over how he mistreated Midoriya, he balks at the prospect of actually acknowledging he did anything wrong, latching onto his outrage over Izuku faking his death and turning evil like a lifeline.
- Noodle Incident: It's never revealed precisely what Mischief did to be considered an A-ranked villain, for which the declaration of a personal nemesis would be breaking news.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Villains can effectively invoke this on themselves by naming a hero as their nemesis. In the eyes of the public, this saddles that hero with the responsibility of dealing with that villain.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Discussed. As Mischief explains, heroes with nemeses are more popular than those without any. Since Izuku became the infamous Mischief and named Katsuki as his nemesis right before his heroic career could really begin, even if he reaches Number One, he'll never know if he did so entirely on his own merits, or if Izuku helped him get there.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Izuku calls Katsuki out on holding a lifelong grudge against him over, of all things, having a hand offered to him after he fell into the river.Midoriya: You slipped and fell, Kacchan. You were my best friend! Of course I was concerned about you! But instead of accepting my help for what it was like a normal human being, you convinced yourself that I thought I was better than you! Do you even realize how messed up that was?
- Suicide Dare: Katsuki is forced to own up to how he told Izuku to 'take a swan dive off the roof'.
- Tranquillizer Dart: Izuku injects Bakugou with a mild paralytic in the middle of their fight, rendering him unable to move.
- Uncertain Doom: Tsukauchi mentions that Stain did something to Iida, although what exactly he did is unclear.
- Underestimating Badassery: Bakugou continues to think he can take care of Deku with ease, not caring that he’s now an A-rank villain. He realizes how much of a badass Mischief is in the final chapter, where he’s on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle.
- Un-Sorcerer: Like in Clouds' other fics, Izuku is Quirkless.
