Time, as it did, moved on from that evening on the rooftop. It wasn't a long way down, just the top of the school roof, but it would have been enough. Izuku was never sure what made him step away from the edge, but he returned home late that night after spending hours on the beach, watching the waves atop a rusted refrigerator. It all blurred together over the years, yet the image of the moon shining off the endless body of water remained. In his mind it was a full moon.

His pencil slipped out of his hand and clattered on the desk, breaking him from his trance. Slowly, the sounds of the station came back one by one. The clattering of keyboards, voices loud and quiet, molding together into a collective murmur known as 'busy'. No wonder he zoned out.

There was a steady ringing that grew louder and he realised it was his phone. He scrambled to reach it, tapping the screen just in time. "Detective Midoriya!"

"Midoriya, nice to hear you. How are you?"

He recognised the voice immediately. Lemillion. The number one hero probably called Izuku more than his own mother did. "I'm doing fine, Lemillion. Yourself?"

"Just fine. Now that's out the way, I was wondering where you are with the investigation."

Ah yes, the investigation. Izuku looked down at the open file he almost slept on. A few pages and a whole lot of nothing except a few doodles. His witnesses hadn't given him anything useful and any potential leads were either in jail or hospitalised. The current generation of heroes weren't making his job any easier, and no matter how much Lemillion wanted to find an answer to the growing villain problem, the man was being more of a hindrance than a help.

But what could Izuku say to the Symbol of Peace?

"I might have something," Izuku said, flipping to his most recent page, sliding out a hotel reservation sheet. "It just needs a bit more digging." He wasn't going to say he had a pretty good guess at where some villains would be meeting up later that night. Afterall, it was a guess, a rough triangulation of movements. And he didn't want the hero busting it wide open to arrest everyone. Not like last time.

"You be sure to tell me if you find something, Midoriya. We're closing in on them, I can feel it."

Izuku leaned back in his chair. "Absolutely, you'll be the first to know."

"I hope so. So long, Midoriya."

"See y-" Izuku pulled the phone away and saw that, yes, he was hung up on. He sighed and frowned, putting his phone back. It was worse than last time.

"Keiko-san, I'm stepping out for the day," he said as he stood, file in hand and jacket half on.

The floor's mousy receptionist jumped, her big round ears twitching. "And w-where are you going, sir?"

He was by the door at this point. "I'm looking up something. If the boss really wants to know tell him to use the key for my drawer." The mousy girl nodded, writing on some paper. "And Keiko... Don't stutter so much."


The hotel was a dive. A nice looking dive which looked amazing, until you hit the pool and found it full of dirt and a strange yellow tint. The walls were plastered neatly in the hallway and the foyer was a nice, standard set up of modern and classic. The rooms, however, left a lot to be desired; mold, unclean sheets and stains of various colours. He hoped it was from food.

It was a good thing it was coming out of the Force's pocket. To think, one time he was going to take his ex here.

Rubbing his face, Izuku slipped his bag off his shoulder and took off his jacket. He didn't turn the TV on (the robbers were charging for every five minutes), instead he switched on the radio on his phone and placed it on the table near the window. Pulling over the only chair in the room, he made a nice little set up by the window, with a perfect view of the square below. Finding a comfy spot, he pulled his canteen out his bag and took a sip of coffee. Still warm.

Time to settle in.

The hours, as usual, passed slowly. Stakeouts were as bad as media displayed them. Sure, he could have got there closer to the time, but the meeting may have changed, and some suspects may have been missed. So far there was nothing, but the fact there could be something was enough to trigger his detail-hungry brain.

It took until the last sip of his now lukewarm coffee for it all to start. A few jobbers at first, obviously villainous but without a record. They filtered in from various side streets, looking over shoulders, pretending to be on a night out as they cheered and faked drunkenness.

Izuku rummaged through his bag for his binoculars, bringing them up in time to see the side profile of the bald face that had been staring at him the past week. "Gotcha."

Another five minutes and another one showed up, sporting multi-coloured feathers for hair. Then the guy with a hand for a mouth.

One by one they slipped into an alley out of his view, and the moment they disappeared was when Izuku cursed himself. He was moving before he knew it again. There was a reason he chose this room besides its view: the fire escape that ran down the side of the building. He slid open the window and stepped outside, pulling his bag through and throwing it onto the building across. He didn't need the extra weight for what he was going to try next.

With a precarious balance on the creaky, rusty, swaying, ready to fall…

He squeezed his eyes shut. No, no more thinking. Just jump Izuku. Remember when you were ready to that day? Yeah, he did remember, that's where his fear of heights came from.

Another creak from the railing sprung his legs into action and he cleared the gap between the buildings, landing on the roof of some offices. He was panting, sweating, rubbing his eyes to clear the fuzz that was closing in.

Come on Izuku, this is hardly the worst moment you've had. Remember your first date? You thought it was a good idea to take her on the ferris wheel, where you passed out after reaching the top.

Yes, he remembered. It was embarrassing enough for him to stand and keep moving. He had a job to do. He could worry about how he compartmentalised things so well they were talking to him later.

He and his trusty bag cleared another gap and he was there, watching the last of the villains walk through a partition in the wall before it closed behind them. An elevator then. The building he was on was a pharmacy, and a small one at that. No room for a top secret villain meeting.

There was a guard, standing with his arms crossed, scanning the area, looking left and right. A shame he wasn't looking up.

Izuku jammed the hook end of his grapple into the roof and clipped the handle onto his belt. Making sure his bag didn't rattle, he slowly abseiled down a few stories, eyes closed and heart racing, only taking quick peeps below to measure the distance. Another shuffle and he was in position.

He dangled the bag from his hand and dropped it. It was as if a toolbox fell on the guard's head and he crumpled without a noise. Izuku's bag, however, sounded just like a falling toolbox, the clatter of equipment echoing in the alley. It only made him move quicker and he jumped his way down before hastily unclipping the wire.

Next, he felt along the wall, stopping at a slight bump in the brick work. The panel flipped, revealing a handprint scanner. Luckily, the guard didn't fall too far away, because he weighed a ton, and lifting his arm took most of Izuku's strength. It worked though, and the panel flashed green, opening the elevator.

He went inside.

The descent was slow, or was it long? The cables hummed and the walls sweated with humidity. There was a trapped smell of chemicals, somewhat like a hospital. It nipped at his nose. When it finally stopped and the door opened, he was assaulted by it. His eyes stung, his throat burned and he barely had enough time to squint through his blurry vision at two shocked guards. His hand moved.

The guard on the right moved first and fell just as quickly. His arm speared forward, fingers sharpening into a needle point, directly on course for Izuku's head. Izuku ducked, reaching for the holster on his thigh and drawing his pistol. The barrel flickered an electric blue and he slammed it into the villain's ribs.

The man convulsed as his body was covered in lightning. The strong attack shook the other villain, and Izuku fired a shock round into his chest. They were both out in a second.

Wiping the last of the blurriness away, Izuku scanned the area. Tunnels lined with pipes went left and right, dimly lit by small lights in the concrete ceiling. He followed the distant murmurs of a crowd and went right, handgun drawn and bag hanging over his shoulder.

It was an eventless walk. No guards, no traps. Whoever was in charge was confident in their operation and Izuku wondered just how long they had this base setup for. When he got to the main hall, his question was answered.

It was huge, a factory under the ground. Conveyor belts moved equipment overhead, machines crafted what looked like small capsules in massive quantities before moving along the line into the next room. The acrid smell was stronger, concentrated, like a thick medicine and the air was hot and heavy. With over a hundred villains gathered below, it made the air feel electric, as if a spark could set the whole place alight.

If he was a lesser man, he'd have been tempted.

He was glad he left his jacket at the hotel as the minutes ticked by. The villains below were uncomfortable too, but they were smiling, bumping shoulders and smiling wider, sharing whispers. The fact there were so many villains in one room and not a single scowl or fight set alarms off in his head.

The was a clinking on the catwalk above the main floor. Two men dressed like plague doctors entered from the side and stood by the main staircase. The crowd hushed. The machines stopped. Izuku ducked lower and slowed his breath.

One, two, one, two. Even, unhurried, a form came from the overlooking office. Her face was serene, heart-shaped, unblemished. Long, white hair flowed to her waist. She couldn't have been out of high school yet, Izuku saw from her short stature and white summer dress. She kept her eyes closed as she danced down the stairs, a small hop to her step as her fingers tapped the railings. She glided between the plague doctors, coming to a gentle stop.

Her eyes opened.

Red. Izuku couldn't place if they were closer to ruby or blood, but they completed her face. The serene, child-like air was replaced by something Izuku had seen many times over his years as a detective; beneath the mask, she was well and truly disturbed, familiar with death.

He wasn't sure when he could finally see that look in people, but the fact they had snapped at some point became obvious. Some heroes wore it, some villains did too. It was as if they saw people as what they were: animated slabs of meat. Izuku was sure he had the same look, but he never noticed it in a mirror.

The crowd was silent now, looking up to her as if she was their salvation. "Brothers, sisters. Welcome." There was no roar of approval. "Tonight we gather to celebrate our victory." Definitely a kid, her voice was light and airy. "It is not a victory over a battle, but a quiet one."

She held out her hand and the plague doctor on the right handed her a phial. "For tonight, we harbingers of death can confirm step one is complete. This is the key to our rebirth." She held the phial aloft and some villains followed suit, as if to grasp it themselves. "Blood has been spilled. Brothers and sisters have been lost. But we remain. After everything the heroes have thrown at us, we remain. And no matter what they do next, we will remain!"

It was the first time she raised her voice. It was almost hysterical.

"Heroes like Lemillion believe they can create a perfect society, but what of those who aren't perfect? The ones who destroy, the ones who are different? We refuse this society they wish to create. We will destroy this wretched world and remake it. A world where all are free and all are clean! A world we can be our own true selves!"

The took a breath and the crowd screamed. Izuku had to cover his ears as it bounced around the room. This was insane. He'd watched old videos on cults before the dawn of quirks, but they were never this frantic, this possessed, at least as far as he knew. Whoever this girl was, she was the light of their world, the messenger of a god they had created. It was possible she had a mind controlling quirk, but either option meant she was extremely dangerous.

Izuku peered over his cover and met red eyes. She smiled.

"Shit."

Without word the villains turned. Without word they moved, picking up speed as Izuku bolted. He was almost out the hall when something wrapped around his leg and pulled. He landed awkwardly on his shoulder and cursed, his bag falling beside him. A villain with stretched out arms smiled toothily as he dragged Izuku closer. Izuku grit his teeth and drew his gun, shooting the villain in the chest.

He shook as the volts went through him and his arm relaxed. Izuku scrambled up and kept going.

Hundred of footsteps were behind him now and he fired round after round behind him, not even bothering to look as he tried to remember the way back to the elevator. Corridors wound, pipes looked the same. The stampede got closer. Something shot by him and nicked his ear. Another shot sank into his shoulder and he dropped his gun.

It was empty anyway.

He turned a corner and came to a corridor with a door at the end. He slammed into the wall, no time to stop his momentum as he hurried down the dim passageway. He threw himself against the door, pushing the bar in, only to find it was locked.

He reached into his bag and pulled out his shotgun. He didn't call it his bag of tricks for nothing. Just as he pumped it he was knocked to the side, and he emptied the shell into his attacker instead. The concussive force knocked him into his friends and the tazing rounds put him down.

The lights flickered as more bodies filled the corridor. Faces round, spiked, deformed melded into one as arms reached through where they could. They wanted him. They wanted him dead.

The motions came easy despite his terror-stricken mind. Pump, fire, pump, fire. The elector pellets spread out, catching two, sometimes three villains. Some went down, others shook it off. Round after round thinned out the weaklings until only the skilled and the heavy hitters remained. Of that wave at least.

A villain with a bull for a head charged, and Izuku realised he was out of ammo at the last second. He was picked up and slammed through the door, barely avoiding being gored by the villain's horns. His bag was pierced, but it made it easier to reach in and hook his hand into a glove.

It was nothing special, but it was one of the first things in his arsenal. Stung gloves with enough voltage to put anyone down. All it needed was duration. And so he grabbed the villain's shoulder, holding on as his back was slammed against a wall. Something in Izuku shifted and twinged, but he held on.

The bull villain yelled, deep and rumbling as electricity arched off his shoulders. Izuku grit his teeth as massive hands clamped around his ribs, cracking them and sending a buzz up and down his spine. He snaked his other hand into his bag and shuffled into his second glove, slapping it onto the villain's side. They both screamed, but the villain went down first.

Izuku struggled to breath as he stood back up, but the villains were still closing in. he turned the dials on top of his gloves and activated the current, blue arcs covering his hands.

One villain tried a straight. Izuku slipped and countered, pressing a palm into the woman's stomach. The next went for a head kick. Izuku grabbed her foot and shocked her from there. The next villain, a round blob of a man, thought he could charge through. Izuku clapped his hands together and pushed the air, sending a strike through the tunnel that toppled the man over onto a outcropped pipe. The charge sparked from his body and ran along the metal, zapping the hallway and the villains inside. Yet they didn't retreat. They kept going, a devotion and madness in their eyes as they fought through the pain. Some were dribbling, others were crawling.

Izuku stopped the charge and the villains stood, glaring at him until they dropped one by one. More footsteps were bouncing through the tunnels and Izuku kept moving, securing his now ruined bag with one arm and clutching his right ribs with the other. They were definitely broken.

He reached the elevator, but it wasn't the direction he set off from. There were no guards stationed, which Izuku thought was odd, but he counted his blessings and jogged in, slamming the button to go back to the surface. He slumped against the wall.

This was insane. It was beyond anything he could think of. A crime syndicate wasn't new and neither was a league of villains. Even god-like quirks were familiar to the world at this point, but being right in the middle of a cult meeting with hundreds of devoted members inside a fully operational factory took the cake for Izuku. The girl with red eyes wasn't just speaking about war, she was ready for it.

He couldn't keep this to himself. He needed to report it. But first he had to make sure he didn't die of internal bleeding.

The elevator opened and the guard was still unconscious. Izuku's grapple handle was still dangling. He grabbed it and pressed the quick reel to shoot him back up onto the roof. He screamed through his teeth the whole way and grunted when he rolled onto the roof. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and hit number one on speed dial. He knew she wouldn't be asleep.

"Izu-kun! It's about time you called, our babies have been missing you!"

"Hey Mei." It hurt to breathe, but breathy was all he could be. "I could use your help. Think I've punctured a lung."

She tutted. "Help's on the way. I'm guessing you don't want to go to a hospital."

"You know me so well."

A sigh and a ring tone was all he got back.


Hatsume Mei's workshop wasn't as grand as the media thought. Only a few heroes go to see where her babies were made and most didn't come back for a second visit. It was a mess, as expected if you knew the eccentric genius. It was hard to believe she alone could rival I-Island's greatest creations. His bag of tricks was all thanks to her.

He grunted as a machine poked at his ribs, setting the bone back into place.

"I'm getting tired of this, Izu-kun. How can I make my babies if you keep showing up?"

"Thanks for your help, Mei. I don't know where I'd be without you."

"You'd be a cripple, that's what. At least I'd be able to keep you here with me. That brain of yours is too useful." She fiddles around in a box and pulled out a syringe. She kept a sterile area just for him. The injection made his arm numb and he knew it would be aching in a few hours. Writing up reports was off the table. She injected him again, but kept her grip on his shoulder. Concern was in her crosshaired eyes.

"Honestly, Izuku. This needs to stop. You've been here four times this month and this isn't the worst it's been. I'm starting to think… I'm starting to think you don't want to be on this world."

Guilt slammed his chest. It hurt almost as much as the fracture. "Mei…"

"Just tell me you aren't going to do something stupid."

He'd had that phase before. His body wouldn't let him give up. "It's not like that. Look, Lemillion - "

"Screw Lemillion!" He saw her eyes zoom in. "That man uses you like a dog! If he's so damn great, he could do it himself!"

"He's not suited to stuff like this."

"And you're not suited for fighting groups of villains, even with my babies."

It was a blow to his pride, his shriveled dream of being a hero. "There were a lot of them, okay?"

"Not okay! You need to know your limits."

"It's different this time!" His chest ached, but the painkillers had finally kicked in. "There were hundreds of them, Mei. Hundreds. They've got it in their head that they're the harbingers of a new age. They're crazy." She had taken a step back. "But what their leader said felt possible. They have a plan, Mei, and I don't know how long they've had or how close they are to finishing it. This is League of Villains level."

"And you think you can take this alone?"

"No. I'm going straight to the office with this. I'm going to Lemillion. He could bust this thing wide open. An army against an army, problem solved."

She took a step back. "If you're sure…"

"I am sure."

She deflated and sat in a ripped up chair by the bed. She held his hand, and he felt better. He wondered why they had stayed friends for all these years and not become something more. They'd proven they could make time.

It looked like she was thinking the same thing as she stared into his eyes. "Just stay here with me. We could invent together, help people together. You don't have to do it alone."

It was tempting. She had shown him that he could do more than shake a gun around and arrest people. She showed him he could make things, use his mind to make steel move. Some heroes were wearing gear he designed and they would never know. She made him wish he had eyes for the support course in his teenage years.

She'd done a lot of things for him. But he couldn't do anything for her. He was still useless.

"I have to finish this case Mei - "

She stepped back, eyes narrowed. "Don't say any more. You can see yourself out once the recovery bot is done." She stepped away into the darkness of her workshop, leaving an Izuku who felt like shit behind.

So, an hour later, he did as she instructed and left, picking up a new and replenished bag by the door. A note was attached to the strap: I'm sorry. Don't die out there.

He'd try.


It was about six thirty when he left Mei's workshop. A few exhausted looking business men were dragging themselves home, a few hardworking ones were heading to work. Shops were getting ready for the morning rush and some were on morning runs. Construction workers lined up at a building site for the morning's brief.

And the monitors still turned. One of Lemillion's more controversial acts as number one hero: somewhat hastily constructed outposts manned by his rapidly growing agency. Sidekicks were never short of work and if they were, another monitor was made. They kept an eye out for villainous activity, cut down the need for police patrols, and reduced crime by twenty percent. After a couple of years people ignored the breach of privacy all the cameras gave. Personally, Izuku wasn't a fan. Plenty of false arrests were made and people were a lot more skittish when they passed by one.

When he reached the station there were three people in the office. Keiko didn't start until eight, but there was a a who seemed to live at the station. His old partner, Hitoshi Shinso, the one man in the world who looked more tired than Izuku was, was leaning on his desk, like he expected Izuku to come in at that exact time.

"Thought you'd be quicker." At Izuku's confused head tilt, he continued. "Hatsume called. Wanted to make sure you got back okay."

Izuku shuffled over to his chair and dropped into it.

"She also said you had something important." Izuku had gone to collect his things from the hotel, including the file he slid over to Shinso. He picked it up and scanned through it, eyes widening. "And you didn't come to me with this sooner because?"

"You were busy with more important things. This was just a hunch."

"You never spend this much time on a hunch."

"Well it's a good thing I did." Izuku was voice recording the villain meeting and as he played it back the office went silent, heads turning as they started their day. "That was last night."

The boss was out of his office, a frown on his face, his grey hair lines sharper in the morning light. "Lemillion's on his way. And you're going to tell us everything you know, Midoriya. And don't think about lying."

Naomasa didn't have to flex his quirk to Izuku. He'd written it down back in police academy, as well as its weaknesses. Conviction in what you said was key. "You'll get all I have. This is way too big for anyone to handle alone."

"Not everyone."

The attention of the room shifted from Izuku to the radiant gold of Lemillion, his cape flowing and hair bouncing. He towered over others in the room by at least a foot. His eyes were smoldering as he approached Izuku's desk.

"You said you'd tell me everything you knew. If you planned on infiltrating a villain hideout, you should have told me."

"It was supposed to be minor."

"You still should have reported it! Villains, no matter how small, must face justice!" Lemillion looked down at Izuku, but the detective was far too tired to feel the weight of the hero's stare. "Tell me, Midoriya. Tell me about their leader."

Izuku sighed. His younger self would have been a stuttering, non-functioning mess with all the pressure.

"She has red eyes…"


A/N: This is a rebirth of one of my other stories. It'll only go up to around five or six chapters, so it'll be a nice short story. Let me know if you enjoyed it and have a good day. see you all next time! Feel free to guess what's going to happen in the story, I'd love to hear it.