The soothing *clickety-clack* of the train did little to ease Izuku's nerves. He kept looking around at various objects and people to distract himself. The short old man beside him was relatively calm in comparison; Izuku's guess was that it was because Gran Torino had done this a thousand times before. The old man would occasionally gaze around the train car every now and again, but it was mainly out of boredom rather than nerves.

'I can't believe I'm going on my first ever patrol! And in Hosu no less!' Hosu city was more than just a city; it was one of Japan's cultural, economic, and hero agency hubs where countless tourists went. Not to mention the headquarters for several prominent hero agencies, including the Endeavor Agency and the Nighteye Agency, are located in Hosu. Even the hero commission had an office there! Izuku had to fight down a smile so everyone else wouldn't think he was already weirder than he already was. He had already gotten several sideways glances from the other occupants because of his hero costume; the green baggy costume drew a lot more eyes than Izuku was expecting. He pulled out his phone and opened the messages app; the first name on the list was the class 1A group chat.

Izuku thought back to the conversation they had earlier that day,

"I heard about your older brother. Is he okay? Are you okay?"

Iida sat at his desk, still gathering his things to go to his work-study under Manual. For a moment, an expression of hatred tinged with sadness crossed Iidas face. But just as quickly, it changed into his normal everyday expression, "I'm fine, Midoriya, thank you for asking. My brother is alive and recovering right now. Hopefully, he will be well enough to resume his hero work before too long." Iida smiled.

Izuku knew the smile was forced and ran after Iida as he walked out of the classroom and into the hall. Izuku didn't know what he could say to Iida, but he knew he had to say something. Iida was so distracted by whatever was bothering him that he ran right smack into Ranger. Iida stumbled and nearly fell before Ranger managed to catch him and prevent him from falling. "Woah there, you alright there, Iida?"

Iida bowed in apology to Ranger, "Sorry, sir, I didn't see where I was going. And yes, I am unharmed, thank you, sir."

"No need to be so formal Iida, Things happen. You sure you're alright? Something on your mind? Not to pry or anything, but you did seem a little upset about something. Do you want to talk about it?"

Iida balled his fists and gave another fake reassuring smile to Ranger, "I'm fine, sir, there's nothing to talk about."

Ranger quirked an eyebrow and said, "Okay, Iida, but just so you know, if you need to talk about anything, the rest of the teachers and I are here for you. All you have to do is ask."

"Thank you, sir. I'll make sure to keep that in mind in the future. Now I must be going if I'm going to make it to my hero studies on time. Please excuse me." Iida gave Ranger another bow and stepped past him down the hall. Ranger turned to watch him go, a black rifle with a short barrel swinging slightly as he did.

'Wait a minute, is that a rifle!? I thought those were outlawed in Japan!'

Ranger sighed and turned around and spotted Izuku. As he walked past, he said, "Midoriya, keep an eye on him for me. Make sure he doesn't do anything rash."

"Y-yes, sir!" Izuku turned as Ranger walked down the hall.

Izuku was about to send a message to Iida when the train car shuttered, and there was a crashing sound followed by screams. Izuku and Gran Torino snapped their heads up just in time to see a hero laying on the floor with a tall grey figure with rolling eyes and an exposed brain reaching in to grab the fallen hero.

"Nomu!" yelled Izuku as Gran Torino and himself stood up, ready to fight off the monster.

"Stay here!" Gran Torino launched from where he was and bounced around the train car until he tackled the monster out of the train car and into a nearby building.

Izuku ran to the hole in the side of the car "GRAN TORINO!" Then turned around to check on the fallen hero. The man was unconscious but alive, then ran back to the hole, hesitated for a moment, then jumped out of the train and into Hosu city just as an explosion lit up the night sky from a street a few blocks away. He turned to face the explosion and landed hard on a building. He activated his quirk, which helped with the impact as he tumbled to a stop. He was about to jump off again in the direction of the explosion when he heard a cry of pain not far away. Looking around, he spotted two figures in an alley. It was too dark to make out any specific details, but one person looked like they were in armor of some sort, and the other was holding what looked like a sword.

Ranger, Miruko, and Ensemble escaped out of the back of the warehouse and ran down an alley; a small amount of dark blood from the monsters was well hidden on Ranger's coat, but Miruko's leotard was almost stained entirely red. They continued to run for a few minutes before Ensemble asked the other two to stop. Ranger and Miruko could still feel residual anger and lingering strength that Ensemble had given them, which caused Miruko to pin Ensemble against a wall. "Look here, you son of a bitch, I didn't fucking ask for you to help me. Hell, if it were under other circumstances, I wouldn't have hesitated to kick your teeth in; in fact, I'm still considering it."

"Who shit in your cereal this morning, you deranged fucking lunatic? Ensemble just saved our god damned lives back there. Be fucking thankful he did!" Ranger had gripped Miruko by the arm and drug her away from the other man, and Ensemble fell to the ground in a heap.

Miruko tugged her arm out of Rangers' surprisingly firm grip and grinned fiercely. "Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do to make me be thankful you armored bitch?"

Ensemble, who had recovered enough to stand on his own, yelled out, "QUIET!" He turned to Rumi, "Look, I didn't mean it as an insult, so I'm sorry, it was the only way we could have gotten out of that situation." Then he turned to Ranger, "And you also need to calm down, Ranger and focus. First, we need to figure out what's going on. Try to get in contact with someone."

Both Ranger and Miruko took a deep breath and exhaled; Rumi glared at Ranger, under his helmet, Ranger glared right back at her. Sighing, Ranger pressed a button on his helmet's right side, activating the built in two-way radio system in his helmet. "This is Riot Ranger calling all heroes and first responders currently in Hosu City; what's the situation? Over." The only answer Ranger received was staticy silence. He pressed the button again, "This is Riot Ranger. Can anyone hear me, over." again, nothing but static.

Ranger's grip on his carbine tightened, and he growled in frustration, "Either my system isn't working, or something is blocking the signal."

"Damn it, I hate working in the dark; check to see if you can get in contact with the stalker."

Ranger slung his carbine over his shoulder and reached under his coat, then pulled out a small tablet. He pulled a cord from the tablet and connected it to a small port on the right side of his helmet, then pressed a few buttons on the tablet. "I got a LOS on my end."

Rumi, who was standing a couple of feet away, huffed in annoyance, "And what the hell is a stalker?"

Ranger looked up from the tablet and explained, "A stalker is a drone we use to mark and track targets while in the field. Comes in handy if you can get one. Unfortunately, it seems our stalker is less than cooperative at the moment, so we have no idea what the extent of the damage is yet and what situation we could be walking into."

"Alright, well, you two have fun playing with your drone; I'm gonna go get shit done. See ya losers!" Miruko started to run down before Ensemble called after her, "Hey! Wait up! We need to stick together right now!"

Miruko stopped for a moment and turned to say, "And why's that? I work better alone. So piss off!"

"Did you just forget we were all led to a trap? And now the fucking city is on fire! Coincidence, I doubt it. Whoever that was we heard back in the warehouse is definitely connected to this somehow; we need to stick together and find out who and why."

Rumi frowned, she didn't like working with other heroes, and this was definitely a team up if she had ever seen one. But these circumstances had forced her hand, for now, she would work alongside these two. She had questions to ask the Hero Commission, why did they send her and only her to a drug bust even though two other heroes were on the case? Was it coincidental that they were caught in a trap, or was someone from the Hero Commission in on it and wanted her dead? But right now wasn't the time to ask those questions; they had to get moving. Miruko sighed, "Fine, try and keep up. And don't get in my way."

Ranger and Ensemble nodded, and the trio ran down the alley towards the raging inferno; only a couple of blocks away, a train passed overhead. The three could just make out the people inside yelling and exclaiming about something.

Izuku approached the alley and the two figures; finally, he recognized the closest one. The armored figure of Iida stood, hunched over, ready to fight the person wielding the sword. "Iida!" as Izuku rushed into the alley to his friend, the other figure lunged forward and slashed at Iida. The sword grazed Iida's armor as Iida took a step back, then stepped forward and threw a punch at the person. The person stepped to the side, avoiding the punch, and used the knife in his other hand to slash at Iida's exposed right side. The blade found a gap in Iida's armor and cut through the thin costume underneath, causing Iida to cry out in pain. Iida retaliated with a kick that sent the other person stumbling backward. Izuku quickly pulled out his phone and sent a ping of his location to Todoroki.

The person laughed and brought the knife up to their mouth and licked the bloody blade; a moment later, Iida fell against a wall and slid down to the ground. "I shall cleanse this earth of all the fakers, BY FORCE IF NEED BE!" The person, who was definitely a man by how deep his voice was, brought their sword up above their head.

"No, you don't!" shouted Izuku as he rocketed the length of the alley. The man turned to face Izuku, surprise etched on his face. Caught off guard, the man didn't move to dodge or counter Izuku's powerful punch to the man's face. The man went sprawling onto the ground, the sword and knife clattering against the concrete.

"Are you alright, Iida? Izuku bent down to where Iida lay, "B-behind you."

Izuku turned around, and the man he had punched was already getting to his feet; reaching for his weapons, he said, "Another pretender came to face me?" The man had on a red mask covering the top half of his face, his nose, or lack thereof, which made identifying him relatively easy.

"Stain." Izuku got into a fighting stance, slightly crouched, his body turned to face the wall with one fist held in front of his chest, the other in the direction of Stain.

As Izuku faced Stain, a strained voice said to him, "G-g-get out of h-here kid. Run, before h-he kills you. H-he's after me. So r-run!" To Izuku's right, another person was slouching against the wall. A tan man with native American garb. Izuku recognized the man instantly as the Pro-Hero Native. Blood was beginning to pool under the man, and his tan appearance was starting to turn an ashy grey. Izuku knew if he didn't stop the bleeding soon, Native would die. But he couldn't do that until he defeated Stain.

"And abandon you? No way. I'm going to protect both of you!"

Stain growled and charged at Izuku. Time slowed, and he saw Stains sword swing in an arc towards him; Izuku ducked under and around the blade to Stains left side and threw a punch. Stain was ready this time and turned as he crouched, his knife came whistling towards Izuku's leg. He felt the knife dig into his thigh; a dull thunk and a blinding pain followed. He fell backward onto the wall, the knife coming out as he fell, staying in Stain's grip. Stain grinned viciously and licked the blood off the blade. Izuku felt an odd sensation, a numbness spread throughout his body, not unlike when a body part falls asleep. He tried to move but found he couldn't.

Stain began to laugh again, "Another pretender. None of you are fit to take me down! Only All Might has that right!" Izuku couldn't help but see the irony in the situation.

Stain advanced on Izuku, his blade over his head, ready to kill him. And, Izuku was afraid. More afraid than he has ever been. He could at least fight back against the sludge villain! Terror gripped Izuku's very soul as Stain plunged the sword earth-word. "RECIPRO BUUUURRRSSTTT!" Out of nowhere, Iida's leg came in contact with Stains side and knocked him away from Izuku.

"Damn, brat." Stain regained his balance and charged a defenseless Iida. He brought his sword up and sliced at Iida's hand; Iida once again cried out in pain and toppled to the ground from Stain's mysterious quirk.

"I'll finish you off this time. Nobodies coming to save you!" Stain raised his blade again and was about to stab Iida when he stopped and turned his head to the other end of the alley where there was a soft *clomp* *clomp* *clomp* along with a pair of red lights menacingly cutting through the dark. Stain scowled and said, "what the hell is it this time?"

Ranger, Miruko, and Ensemble ran onto a street full of people. "CLEAR A PATH!" shouted Ranger, speakers from his helmet getting everyone's attention. People moved aside and made a path for the trio. People gasped at Miruko's blood-stained costume as they ran past.

"What are people doing outside right now? Don't they know it isn't safe?" Asked a panting Ensemble.

"They're here to watch the fight, of course!" Answered Miruko.

"That's stupid. You two go on, I'll make sure they get inside." Ensemble stopped and was about to address the crowd before Ranger stopped and interjected.

"I'll do it, you two go on. They need someone with your quirk on the frontline Ensemble. Make sure he stays alive, Miruko; they'll need him."

"WHAT DI-oh, um, yeah, of course. You can count on me to make sure he doesn't die a horrible death. Good luck hel-, I mean, good luck, Ranger." Miruko had also stopped and waited for Ensemble to catch up.

"Ranger, might I remind you th-"

"That you're the one in charge here? No, you don't. But they need you on the front line, not here wrangling civies." Ranger had a hand on his hip and his voice was daring Ensemble to try and refute him.

"You son of a bitch, fine. Let's go, Miruko. And you," he pointed to Ranger, "Stay alive! That's an order."

"Will do, boss." Ranger gave Ensemble a two-fingered salute and watched the two run off towards the fires and shouting on the next street. Once they had entered an alley, Ranger turned to the crowd and pressed the mic button on his helmet, "ALRIGHT! LISTEN UP, EVERYONE HERE NEEDS TO GET INSIDE NOW! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. HUNKER IN PLACE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE."

A few people did what he said and went into the buildings that lined the street; most of the rest didn't move.

"DID I NOT MAKE MYSELF CLEAR? GET INSIDE NOW! YOU ARE NOT SAFE HERE!"

People began to murmur and someone tapped on his arm; he turned, letting go of the mic button, and came face to face with Todoroki Shoto. 'What the hell?'

"Ranger, sir, there's a problem. I got a text from Midoriya with just a location and nothing else. I think he might be in danger." Warning flags began to pop up in Ranger's head.

"Where?"

Todoroki pointed down the street a little ways and at an alley, "Over there, I'll show you."

"Alright, lead the way." He turned back to the crowd and pressed the mic button again, "AND WHEN I COME BACK, I BETTER NOT FIND A SINGLE PERSON STANDING IN THIS STREET. IF I DO, YOU'LL BE ARRESTED!"

Ranger knew he couldn't arrest them, write them a ticket, maybe, but not arrest them. It did get people moving, though, and that's all that really mattered in the end. He turned and ran after Todoroki and into an alley. He heard shouting, a cry of pain, and knew it was serious. "Stay here."

"But sir, I want to hel-"

"I said stay here." Ranger pressed a button on his helmet's left side that simultaneously activated the low light filter of his helmet and turned the tented eyepieces a deep crimson. (if you want to, play Saveoursoulissa)

"Y-yes, sir." Todoroki was taken aback by the tone of Ranger's voice. Pure hatred poured off him in waves.

Ranger readied his carbine and started to walk down the alley. He heard the call again, the voice that has plagued him since Presidio came back along with a cold numbness; he felt no emotions, all he heard was one word whispered into his brain.

'kill'

The soft clomp of his boots gave him away as he rounded the corner; he saw a man standing over the armored form of Iida; Midoriya was slumped against a wall, blood pouring out of his leg. He felt a strange stirring inside him, as if something was beginning to wake up, a ravenous hunger calling for the blood of who did this to Midoriya and Iida.

The man looked up and at Ranger, the scarred face twisting in annoyance. "What is it this time?" The voice was gruff and low, the red bandana wrapped around his upper face fluttered slightly in the wind.

Ranger recognized the man from the numerous news programs and articles he had seen over the past week. It was Stain, the hero killer. The voice grew stronger in intensity, more demanding.

'kill'

Stain raised his sword in front of him; Ranger noticed a knife in the other hand that Stain tried to hind behind his back. The man grinned and said, "Another pretender, it seems, no matter, you will die here with these other fakes."

Ranger stepped into the light and set the carbine down; it would be too merciful to shoot him. Instead, he'll make him suffer. Izuku looked up and said in a hopeful and relieved tone, "Ranger!"

"You're casting away your advantage? Do you not think I can't kill you, pretender? Do you not know who I am?"

Ranger kept walking closer, choosing not to reply. The voice now beating a steady rhythm into his very soul, a chant that drove him forward, growing with intensity and passion.

'Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill.'

"Oh, you're coming closer? How very brave you are. Or very foolish."

"I can't kick your ass from over there now, can I?"

"Watch out; his quirk lets him paralyze targets!" Shouted Izuku.

"Noted." It made no difference what quirk Stain had.

Stain scowled and charged Ranger swinging his sword at the man. The drumbeat of the voice egged him on, its pitch growing until it drowned out everything else.

'Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill KILL.'

Ranger brought one hand up and grabbed the sword mid-swing. Stain tried to pull the sword out of Rangers grasp, but it didn't budge. Stain then stabbed Ranger in the stomach with the knife that was hidden behind his back, only for it to snap when it came in contact with the titanium alloy armor. "Wha-" Ranger headbutted Stain and wrenched the sword out of his grasp, and threw it aside.

'KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL'

Ranger could feel himself losing control and giving into the voice, the rage fueling his desire to end this man's life. Stain backed up, clutching where his nose should have been and cursing, "I won't be brought down b-" Ranger stepped closer and grabbed Stain by the side of his head and rammed it into the alley wall. Now fully awake, the voice demanded more, needed more; it would not be satisfied until Stain was no more than a bloody smear on the alley wall.

But Ranger managed to overpower the voice and let the man go, and Stain cried out again in pain and backed up from Ranger, who steadily advanced on him. "Damn you! DAMN YOU! I WON'T BE TAKEN DOWN BY SOME FAKE, SOME IMPOSTER!" He drew another knife from his belt and brandished it at Ranger.

"Put the knife down."

Stain ignored the demand and charged Ranger again, attempting to drive the knife under the helmet and into the man's neck. But Ranger grabbed Stains wrist before he got close to him.

"I said, Put. The. Knife. Down." The mobility enhancing gear hidden just under the surface of Ranger's armor started to whine as they assisted his slowly tightening grip. Stain grit his teeth in pain and punched Ranger's armored face mask again and again to no avail. There was an audible crunch as Stains wrist was fractured, broken, then splintered. Stain dropped the knife.

'KILL KILL KILL'

Ranger ignored the voice, let Stain's wrist go, drew his large chrome revolver, and pointed it at Stain's chest. "This is a .44 caliber revolver, one of the most powerful pistols in the world. If I shot you with it right now, it would blow a hole in your chest so large it would have to be a closed casket funeral."

'NOW IS YOUR CHANCE, KILL!'

Stain eyed the pistol with fear, his crushed wrist hanging limply by his side.

"This pistol holds six rounds, and I've already had to use it tonight, and I've unfortunately lost count on how many rounds I've fired. I could have fired only five, or possibly all six. So tell me, Stain."

'PULL THE TRIGGER, JUST ANOTHER FRACTION OF AN INCH MORE'

Ranger used his thumb to pull back the hammer, unnecessary since the revolver is double action, but it's definitely the most intimidating sound to hear with this pointed at you.

"How lucky do you feel?"

A tense silence settled over the alley as Stain weighed his options before finally, he grimaced as he said, "I- I give up, hero," and he raised his one good hand above his head.

'KILLLLLLLLLLLLLLL'

Every fiber in Rangers' body screamed at him to pull the trigger and put this dog down; the voice continued to egg him on, demanding that Ranger kill Stain. Ranger fought the urge but still kept his revolver pointed at Stain to discourage him from doing anything stupid.

Ranger finally noticed another person lying propped up against the wall, blood pooling underneath him to his right. The man was dressed in a Native American costume. He switched his revolver from his right hand to his left and reached around until he found a small box and tossed it to Midoriya, who fumbled catching it.

"There is a coagulant agent inside that box. Apply an entire tube to everyone's wounds, please."

Izuku stuttered as he opened the box and took out a small tube. "R-r-right. On it! H-how do-"

"Pop the cap off and dump it into the wound. It'll sting for a few moments before the numbing agent kicks in."

Stain glared at Ranger as Midoriya did what he was told to do. He hissed in pain as a white paste filled the stab wound on his leg, then relaxed when the pain subsided, and the paste turned to foam and hardened. Midoirya tried to stand up but felt light-headed and nearly fell down.

"I- I don- I don't feel so good, Ranger." Izuku felt the earth spin around him as his vision darkened, he gasped, trying to fill his lungs with air, but it felt like he got less air every breath.

"Damn it. He's going into shock, Midoriya, lie down."

Midoriya felt his hearing begin to fade but still heard Ranger and laid down, taking deep breaths. He forced himself to breathe deeper rather than more, and he gradually began to feel better. Ranger knew he and Todoroki, who was still hanging back, were the only ones remotely able to do anything at the moment. If they didn't, Iida and the other pro-hero would most likely die before help arrived. He quickly walked over to Stain, who looked up sharply, "Night night asshole," then pistol-whipped him into unconsciousness.

"Friendly's rear!"

An officer dressed in police riot armor turned around as Ensemble and Miruko ran up to the police line. "Thank god! More Heroes have arrived!" A cheer went up through the police line; some had riot shields and steel batons, others sported shotguns. A few, who were dressed in their patrol uniform, had drawn their service pistols.

Miruko wasted no time and jumped over the shield wall and into the fray where the other heroes were currently fighting more of those grey monsters.

Ensemble walked up to an older man who was standing back and surveying the situation while directing other officers, "What's the situation, Sargent?"

The man turned to him, "All you need to know is the villains are over there, hero." He spat out 'hero' with obvious contempt. But before he could turn back and direct his officers again, Ensemble grabbed his shoulders.

"Under the Pacific Heroes Charter Section two two three, I have the authority to take command of any police in the area. Now, what is the situation, Sargent?"

The older man scowled and said, "Fine, these things just showed up out of nowhere and started causing chaos. We responded as quickly as possible and managed to contain them on this street for now. We're blocking their exits while the heroes take care of them, then we go in and make arrests."

Ensemble looked at the human barricade, "This line isn't keeping them out of the rest of the city. My group already encountered twenty somewhere else. So get your officers in the fight now, so we hunt down the rest of them after."

The Sargents expression changed from confused to horrified, then determined. "If what you say is true, we can't waste time here." He strode toward the police line and yelled, "ALRIGHT MEN, WERE PUSHING FORWARD. GET READY TO CHARGE!"

All the officers responded with "YES SIR!" and readied themselves to charge.

"God help us." muttered the Sargent, "CHARGE!" The officers gave out a defiant yell as they collectively ran forward, swigging batons at the grey monsters and slamming shields into them from behind and the side.

The heroes fighting the monsters looked up in surprise, and some told the officers to go back and leave the fighting to them.

Ensemble furrowed his brows and crossed his arms, "Is it always like this?"

The Sargent gave him a surprised sideways glance, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do the heroes always tell the police to back off and let them fight instead?"

"Yes, infuriatingly so."

Ensemble muttered to himself, ["Fucking glory hogs. Now's not the time."] The Sargent heard what and said, "Right you are, sir."

Fortunately, the police didn't back off and ignored the heroes' complaints. Soon after the police charged into the brawl and one was decapitated by a shotgun-wielding officer while saving one of the heroes' lives, the Sargents radio crackled to life "-ituation, over."

The Sargent fumbled with his radio and pressed the button on the side of it, "This is Sargent Tenshin currently in Hosu, please repeat last message, over."

The radio remained silent for a second, then crackled, "Thank goodness we managed to reach you, Sargent. This is Hosu Dispatch ninth precinct; what is your situation? Over."

"Not good, we could use some reinforcements, anything you can give us, we are located at Zìyóu street, send medical, fire, and search and rescue, anything. Even the JSDF, if you can, over."

"Roger, sending all available forces to your location Sargent Tenshin, hold out for a few more moments."

The Sargent sighed in relief, then the radio crackled to life again, this time a man spoke, "This is the Hero Commission headquarters in Tokyo calling all forces in Hosu. The creatures you are currently fighting are called Nomu. The Defence Ministry has ordered you to kill them, no prisoners will be taken. They are but mindless monsters."

The Sargent frowned, then pressed the button on his radio, "Roger." then spun the dial on the top of his radio one click, "All forces, this is Sargent Tenshin, kill the monsters on sight. I repeat, kill the monsters on sight. This is an order from the Hero Commision and the defense ministry, over."

The mass of police officers fighting and heroes collectively said "Roger!" and continued fighting. This time they were trying to kill rather than incapacitate. One hero, a large man who looked like he was on fire, yelled out, "FINALLY!" and proceeded to start to burn any Nomu in range to death.

Ensemble pondered this new development and filed it away for later. Still, one question refused to wait, 'How did they know about the Nomu? All communications were being jammed until now.' The battle continued for a few more minutes, but the balance of power slowly and steadily tipped in their favor. Until finally, more reinforcements arrived, and the Nomu were overwhelmed by sheer numbers, combined with the ferocity of some of the heroes, mostly Miruko and Endeavor, the last Nomu was finally dispatched. The street was eerily quiet for a few moments. Then a resounding roar went up through the officers and heroes; they had won the battle of Hosu.

'But at what cost?' The street was in ruins; cars and a couple of busses were flipped over or outright destroyed. Numerous heroes, police, and civilians had lost their lives or were injured during the fight.

"Good job, everyone, but we're still not done! Search, and rescue teams, firefighters, and medical personnel begin looking for and treating the injured! Heroes and police officers search for any other Nomu still in the city! Move people!" The Sargent said over his radio. Some of the heroes down below ignored the Sargent in favor of doing their own thing.

"Damn those heroes." A man stood atop a water tower looking down at the ruined street, and he scratched his neck in furry, the hand covering his face made it next to impossible to discern what his real emotions were.

"Don't be like that, Shiggy! Everything will be okay; after all, the boss hasn't led us astray yet, has he?" The teenage girl next to the man annoyed him to no end, borderline infuriated him. But before he could snap at the girl, his phone rang.

He carefully fished it out of his pocket and flipped it open.

"How is the plan progressing on your end, Tomura?"

"Poorly, Sensei. The Nomu you gave me are all too weak to do anything of significance to these heroes. It's like they have a status buff I can't counter! It's so, damn, annoying."

"Calm yourself, Tomura. The plan is proceeding as it should be then. Take heart; you are witnessing the beginning of the end of the Heroes. After tonight, the people will begin to question the abilities of the Heroes, and we will finally be able to achieve the revenge you have sought for so long."

"Yes, Sensei, but I still don't understand why we are doing this; this is nothing more than wasting resources."

The man on the other end of the line uttered a cold laugh, "You will one-day Tomura, you will one day." Then the man hung up the phone, and Shigaraki pocketed his phone and said, "It's time to leave then." A purple mist enveloped the two on the rooftop, and they disappeared.

Ranger drug the unconscious form of Stain out of the alley by the scruff of his neck. While Izuku supported a nearly unconscious Native, Iida was supported by Todoroki. They walked out onto a devastated street; heroes and first responders were digging through rubble and carrying off people they had found to safety. Ranger got the attention of a paramedic and got Izuku, Iida, and Native to an ambulance.

As they were leaving, they saw Ranger hand over Stain to the authorities. A completely White man, along with Miruko, met him, both with a grim expression. The door to the ambulance was closed, and the vehicle started to move.

The ride was painfully silent but thankfully short, and a few moments later, Iida's and Izuku's wounds were bandaged. They were sitting on their own beds.

"W-what do you think will happen to us?" Asked Izuku.

Iida looked down at the floor. "I don't know. I just hope that we are not expelled from UA."

Izuku wouldn't be able to handle something like that. His dream of becoming a hero would be gone forever, just because he wanted to save a friend.

Izuku sniffled, desperately trying to hold in his tears, "I-I hope t-that doesn't happen."

"Me too, Midoriya, me too."

They sat in a worried silence until what felt like an eternity, the door opened, and a man with a dog head walked in. Behind him was the wizened old Gran Torino, a hero Izuku recognized as Manual, and Ranger. The man with a dog head stood in front of Iida and Midoriya. He said in a gruff and disappointed tone, "I am Tsuragamae Kenji, the Chief of Police for Hosu city. What you two did was reckless. While I will commend you on your efforts for trying to save the Pro-Hero Native, I must impress on you the seriousness of what you did."

Gran Torino gave Izuku a mixed look of Pride hidden within his stern appearance. At the same time, Manual had a passive expression that didn't betray what he was thinking. On the other hand, their teacher gripped his helmet with his right hand and gave both Iida and Izuku a stern glare.

"After reviewing the testimonies of both Stain and Native, we have determined that this incident will not go on your permanent record. However, this does not mean you will go without punishment. Thankfully, both of your mentors have asked to be the ones punished instead of you two." A twinkle appeared in the Chief's eye as he gave the two boys a look that said, 'count yourselves lucky.'

"We will be leaving for a moment; your teacher wishes to speak with both of you privately." The Chief and the other two pro-heroes left the room while Ranger waited. Once the door was closed, he calmly walked to where the Chief stood a moment ago. Izuku and Iida nervously glanced at each other. 'This was it, this is when we get expelled.'

Ranger glared at the ground, reared back his arm holding his helmet, and threw it across the room. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TWO THINKING OUT THERE!"

The bulletproof helmet slammed into the wall leaving a rather deep impression, then fell to the floor. Ranger took a moment to compose himself as Iida and Izuku were starting to shake now. Then Ranger spoke in a dangerously soft tone, "Both of you, explain to me what happened. Iida, you're first."

Iida sat up straight and shakily said, "I-I was o-out on patrol w-with Man-Manual when I he-heard tha-that Stain had been sp-spotted in the area. I d-decided I could go aft-after him myself, and I left Manual to go hunt him down. After what he did to my brother, he needed to pay for what he did." At the end of his short story, Iida was glaring at the floor, and Ranger was glowering at him.

"Midoriya, what is your story?"

Izuku recounted the series of events from the train ride to him finding Stain ready to kill Iida and jumping in to save him. By the end, Ranger had crossed his arms and was pinching the bridge of his nose. Then sighing, he swore, and as he strode over to the other side of the room to retrieve his helmet, he said, "Izuku, Iida, what you did was incredibly, stupendously, miraculously, monumentally stupid. You're lucky neither of you got arrested. But as your teacher, I can't let this go so easily. I won't make a decision now, mostly because I'm already hella pissed off about something else and shouldn't make life changing decisions now. Monday morning, before class, both of you will come by my office first thing. Got it?"

Both boys nodded and said, "Yes, sir!"

"Good. Stay out of trouble until then."

Ranger left the room, and both boys sighed, then they talked about anything to get their minds off the potential ticking clock on their careers.

Rumi huffed as she sat in a chair in the hospital's waiting room, waiting on Ranger to get back from his talk with the two UA students. In her opinion, what they did was absolutely magnificent, rushing in to save someone's life even if they were horribly outmatched; it was, after all, what heroes do. But noooo, Ranger had to have a word with them, tell them off for doing what they did. It made no sense to her, and she was willing to bet the only reason why he was angry at them in the first place was that they were the ones to get the first crack at trying to take that Hero Killer down.

Ensemble, who was sitting across from her on the opposite row, was frowning to himself; he had crossed his legs and was incessantly muttering to himself so quietly not even she could hear him. Which was impressive.

"Hey, ummm, whitey! Ummmm, what the hell was your name again? Ummmmm, On cymbal? On cycle?"

The man looked up, "Ensamble, please call me Travis when we're not in the field."

"Oh, right. So Travis, what ya muttering about?"

Travis shook his head, "Not here; we need somewhere, more private and secure."

"Why's that?" She knew it was pointless to ask, but she was just so bored!

"Sensitive information that the three of us need to discuss alone." Travis looked back down to the floor and continued pondering, obviously worried about something. Rumi huffed again and slouched in her chair. Looking around, she saw a few people curiously looking at her. She decided to ignore them and picked up a magazine to read it.

Flipping through the pages, she quickly became uninterested and tossed it aside. The elevator at the other end of the room dinged. She sat up and quickly turned half expecting, and hoping beyond hope Ranger would walk into the waiting room and they could finally leave.

Nope, it was a family of three.

Rumi drooped down in her chair again and huffed in frustration. She tapped her feet on the floor and continued to look around, trying to distract herself. Eventually, the elevator dinged again, and the doors opened to reveal a helmetless Ranger who looked more drained than anything.

"Finally!" Rumi jumped to her feet, and Travis looked up and to the elevator, also getting to his feet. Ranger strode past them and towards the large glass sliding doors. Rumi and Travis follow him to the sliding doors and out onto the street. Ranger retrieved his short-barreled rifle from an officer standing outside and slung it over his shoulder, pulling the strap tight against him.

"What did you tell them?" asked Travis.

"I told them I would think about their punishment and tell them first thing Monday morning." sighed Ranger.

Rumi got slightly angry at his statement, "punishment? Why the hell are they being punished?"

Ranger again sighed and explained, "They broke the law; just because their up and coming heroes doesn't mean they get to subvert or ignore Japan's quirk laws."

"But they saved a hero, damn it! Shouldn't that count for something?" exclaimed Rumi.

"In one case, yes. In the other, not so much. One tried to save Native, the other went looking for Stain. The fact that he was trying to kill a hero is a moot point now." Ranger's tone grew sharper with each word.

"So, one of them was after revenge, not so they could save the hero?" Asked Travis.

"Yup." Ranger pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, obviously exhausted.

It still didn't make sense to Rumi. They should be rewarded, not punished! Why couldn't Ranger see that! Sure, what they did was less than legal, but they did save a life because of what they did. Yeah, they weren't the ones to actually save Native, and they had to be rescued, but they are just kids in the end. Even she could make exceptions when life or death situations are involved. Hell, even though Midoriya had to be rescued, she didn't view him as weak; he did try and fight an opponent who was much more experienced than he was, in his position, she would have done the same.

Lost in thought, Rumi didn't realize that the three of them had traveled several blocks back to behind the warehouse they were trapped in earlier, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are we doing back here?"

Ranger turned back to her, swinging his rifle from behind him to his shoulder but made sure to point it at the ground, "Isn't it obvious? We're checking it out, looking for clues, doing some basic detective work."

Of course, they were; why else would they come back to a crime scene?

Ranger moved to the still-open door from their great escape and moved next to it. His left shoulder was up against the wall; Travis also went to the wall and positioned himself behind Ranger. 'Classic breaching formation, I guess.'

Deciding not to join their little breaching party Rumi walked forward. With much protest from Ranger, she walked through the open door into the warehouse.

"What are you two waiting for? Common!" She continued strutting down the hallway, ignoring the other two, who were still vehemently protesting her less than tactical approach to the situation.

After a short and fruitless semi hushed argument with Rumi, the other two finally decided to come along and follow her into the depths of the warehouse. They walked down a couple of halls until they finally got back to the same room they were attacked in. Except now, the bodies of the Nomu were now gone.

"Somebody's been here." Declared Rumi confidently.

Travis replied, "Not necessarily, they came in through that grey mist stuff; who's to say they weren't removed that way too."

Rumi shrugged but ultimately didn't care. "Alright, why are we here?"

Ranger looked around until he spotted something and pointed to it, "That is why we came back." She followed where he was pointing and saw a security camera mounted on a wall. "Someone was watching us earlier and talking to us, so if we do this right, we can trace where the signal came from, then bag em."

Rumi shrugged, 'might as well help out since I'm here.'

Ranger walked over to where the camera was mounted but couldn't quite reach it, "Mind if you give me a lift?"

Rumi rolled her eyes, "If I must." Then walked over and kneeled down, making a handhold for Ranger to step up into. Ranger set his rifle on the ground nearby and stepped up onto her hands, and she began to lift; she fully realized just how heavy this man was. She grunted, and she pushed up; using her powerful legs and almost equally strong arms, she managed to lift Ranger high enough that he could get a good look at the camera. "Geez, Ranger, you need to go on a diet; you weigh a ton."

"Actually, it's nearly four hundred pounds thank you very much." Replied Ranger without skipping a beat.

"Makes sense; your ego probably makes up for most of that weight."

"Ring ring, hello miss's pot? It's kettle."

"Finish that phrase, I fucking dare you!"

Travis, who obviously had enough of their bickering, said, "Will you two just get on with the job and stop acting like middle schoolers?"

Both Ranger and Rumi grumbled as Ranger examined the camera, "Alright, let's see what fun things you hide, shall we?" He pulled a multitool from inside his coat and flipped the screwdriver attachment open. He unscrewed one of the side panels and opened the boxy security camera. As he carefully took the panel off and peered inside, Rumi thought she heard the slight *hiss* of air leaking out of a balloon. Inside the camera, several wires of various colors ran from the circuit board to the camera in front. "Alright, I got six wires here; walk me through this."

Travis, who was standing below them, thought for a moment, "Okay, wait, six? Are you sure?"

Ranger recounted the wires and said, "Yup, still got six. Which one do I attach the seeker to?"

"The green one."

"There isn't a green one."

"What do you mean there isn't a green one?"

"I mean, there isn't a green wire."

"Well, attach it to the black wire then."

"Which black wire?"

"What do you mean which black wire? There should only be one!"

"Well, I'm seeing two black wires; which one should I attach it to?"

"Two? Ummmm, it doesn't much matter, attach it to one of them, not like they're going to notice a seeker anyways."

Ranger shrugged and pulled out a cylindrical device that he clamped over one black wire. After a few moments, he said, "Still got a red light on the seeker."

"Well, attach it to the other one then!"

"Fine, you don't have to yell at me." He removed the device and clamped it around the other black wire. The red light still stayed on. "It's still got a red light."

"Okay, put it on the blue wire then."

"Ten-four." Ranger once again removed the device and clamped it around a blue wire. Suddenly, the red light turned off. "And we have a good connection!"

"Finally! Give it a minute and then take the seeker off." As they were waiting for Ranger to remove the device, he said in a worried tone, "Hold on, just saw something interesting in here."

Travis, who was already worried, asked, "What?"

"It's a small box near the camera attached to one of the black wires."

"Small box? Describe it."

Rumi said, "Hold on, let me smell it first."

Ranger looked down at her and asked, "What? Smell it? Why?"

Rumi already started to put Ranger down, secretly glad she could do that; it was getting painful holding him for so long. "My quirk is Rabbit, I can do anything a Rabbit can do, which also means I can smell things you can't."

"Okay, makes sense, I guess. Be my guest." Ranger bent over into a kneeling position to hoist her up.

She stepped into his cradled hands and was easily hoisted up to the height of the camera; she peered inside and took a whiff. Her nose was assaulted by an odd mixture of smells. "Odd, I'm getting tones of garlic paired with something acidic, also something sweet, like super sweet."

Travis began muttering to himself, "Garlic, acidic, sweet, what is it? It's familiar. What is it? Come on, brain, think."

Ranger, who must have also been thinking, suddenly said, ["oh, Oh, OH FUCK!] Miruko, get down now, we need to leave!"

"What why?" Miruko was unceremoniously dropped and only managed to land upright due to her quick reflexes, while Ranger was already heading for the door, followed closely by Travis, a look of realization crossing his face. "That's a phosphorus bomb! Haul ass, you two!"

Rumi didn't even look back as she followed the other two as fast as they could run, which was actually pretty quickly when they ran from a bomb. A couple of seconds after they left the room, Rumi heard a weird *fizzz* followed by several Earth-shattering explosions.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!" Yelled an obviously terrified Travis, although she couldn't blame him. They were going to die an excruciating death if they didn't escape sometime in the next minute or so.

Up ahead was a cinderblock wall; thinking on her feet, quite literally, she sprinted forward in an impressive burst of speed, kicked the wall, and created a person-sized hole large enough for the other two to follow her out. On the other side was a thankfully empty street.

"KEEP MOVING! DON'T FUCKING STOP FOR LOVE OR MONEY RABBIT!" Said Ranger as he dashed out of the hole, Travis hot on his heels already starting to breathe heavily. She kept running, not even noticing that Ranger called her "Rabbit."

Behind them, windows were blown out, doors were blown off, and part of the building collapsed. A plum of dust followed them out of the hole Rumi created, and her ears throbbed in pain from the loud explosion. They stopped on the other side of the street and caught their breath.

"What the hell was that?" asked Rumi.

Ranger leaned against the building behind them and slid to the ground, "A phosphorus bomb most likely, that acidic garlic smell was the phosphorus, the sweet smell was carbon disulfide. On its own, phosphorus is an extremely dangerous substance and can catch fire when exposed to oxygen. Combine it with carbon disulfide, and the reaction becomes rather violent. Put it in a combined space and boom, big ol fucking bomb."

"I didn't know you were a bomb technician Ranger." Said Travis, who was hunched over with his hands on his knees.

"I'm not. I remembered that from my AP Chem high school class."

"What the hell kinda Chem class did you have in high school that taught you about how to make a phosphorus bomb?"

"Didn't learn how to make the bomb, just heard stories from my teacher who had his arm blown off by one during the second Koren war. I did some research on my own time; you'll probably find me on the FBI watch list back home." Ranger chuckled out the last part, "Ironic, isn't it?"

Travis shook his head while laughing, "Damn right, you're probably on our watch list." Rumi couldn't help but laugh along with them. Once the three stopped laughing, Travis sighed and said, "Well, that op was definitely a bust. Didn't even get any useful information, and we've lost our only lead."

"Ummmmm, actually." Rumi grinned and presented the handful of wires she ripped out of the camera, including the small device wrapped around a blue wire.

"You got the seeker?" Asked Travis in amazement.

"If that's what this is called, then yeah, I did." Rumi handed Travis the wires, and he carefully removed the small device from the blue wire.

Ranger shot to his feet "You fantastic rabbit you! I could kiss you right now!"

"Please don't," a small flush fighting its way up her neck.

Ranger seemed to falter for a moment, "Oh, right, sorry, it's a turn of phrase where we come from. It basically means you're my favorite person right now. I don't literally want to kiss you. That would be weird."

"Still, never say that to me again, or I'll punt you to the moon." Rumi honestly didn't know how to think about that phrase. After some thinking, she ultimately ignored it.

As Ranger and Travis were talking about the seeker, whatever it was, the sounds of sirens were coming closer to them and the still-burning building. Travis and Ranger looked up, and Ranger slipped the seeker into a pocket on the inside of his coat.

Travis commented, "Probably best if we hit the road."

"Hold on, why the hell are we leaving? Shouldn't we turn the seeker-thingy over to detectives and tell them what we know?" Asked an incredibly confused Rumi.

"Bad idea, there's obviously a mole somewhere, so we shouldn't trust anyone at random. Who knows how deep this rabbit hole goes." explained Travis, "No pun intended, of course."

"Wait, mole? What are you talking about?" Now Rumi was overwhelmingly confused.

Travis hurriedly moved to a nearby alley, followed by Rumi and Ranger, "There are only two organizations that knew what we were doing tonight, first was the FBI, the second was the Hero Commission. Also, Ranger here found out that there may be heroes who are working with this organization who tried to kill us tonight and attacked Hosu in a terrorist event."

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa, hold on. Did you say that the Hero Commission knew about your sting?" asked Rumi.

Ranger answered, "Yup, we even asked for some support; the hero they asked shot them down, telling them, 'I ain't gonna work with nobody ya hear' or something like that."

They walked further down the alley, "Sounds like a good hero if you a- hold up. That was me! That's what they were trying to get me to do that day! Then they tricked me into doing it anyway! Those motherfu-"

Travis turned abruptly but kept walking, "Wait, you were the one the Hero Commission asked?

"Yeah, I guess so. Why?" asked Rumi.

Travis turned back around, taking a left and heading in a seemingly random direction, "Nothing, just find that interesting. But still, how did our adversary know we were coming? There's gotta be a mole somewhere."

Rumi snorted, "I find that difficult to believe. The Hero Commission is one of, if not the most secure security programs on the planet. I'll be the first to admit, most of the heroes currently employed are less than adequate. Still, I doubt any would stoop so low and resort to villainy."

"True, the Hero Commission is pretty tight security-wise, but that doesn't mean there isn't a mole in there working for someone else and or selling the info outright. But, we have to read the info off the seeker to make sure of that. Right now, our story has way too many holes to hold up in court; we need a micro-USB to access the info, there are plenty at UA we could use to read the info."

Travis nodded, and Rumi shrugged; it was a plan.

"Alright, Ranger, as soon as you get that data, report back to me." Said Travis.

"Yes, sir."

"As for you," Travis stopped and directed his words at Rumi, "When we're about to make our move, we'll get in touch. In the meantime, don't tell a soul about this. We can't risk someone finding out about this."

Rumi stopped and glared at the two of them, "Who the hell said I would team up with you guys? I don't do team-ups. You can forget about me being a part of this."

"I'm sorry, but you don't have much of a choice in the matter."

"Oh really?! You trying to intimidate me? Do you know who the fuck I am?" She had her hands on her hips, giving what could only be perceived as a death glare that has in the past made most villains surrender without a fight.

Travis didn't back down. Instead, he said, "I don't think you currently grasp what kind of shit storm we're in. We are currently being hunted down right now because we obviously know too much to be left alive. Now, you seem like you're strong, and you are obviously a very competent fighter. But no matter how strong you are, if you go at this alone, you will die a very painful death. So do us all a favor, work with us on this one."

Rumi gave him a stern glare; this whole thing was already above her pay grade. A rational part of her mind was telling her that it's probably a good idea to cast aside her 'I work alone' mentality this one time. Still, her stubbornness to work alone won out. "I ain't gonna be working with anyone, no exceptions. It shows how weak you two are since you need help; you two are a disgrace to heroes around the world." She turned away from the two men, crouched down, and jumped up above the rooftops. As she jumped away, she heard Ranger say, "Damn fool," but chose to ignore it. After all, they were just piss ants who didn't deserve her respect. But that rational part of her brain commented, 'they aren't weak, Rumi, you're just running away like always.' She shook her head and hopped across the city.

That's a wrap folks, hopefully y'all enjoyed this chapter. There will occasionally be music scattered throughout the story, however that is entirely optional, also there is a poll available to vote for more or less music in the story.

I do not own My Hero Academia and Probably never will, Rangers armor is based off the Riot Gear from Fallout New Vegas and as such I do not own that as well. Saveoursoulilla is also not mine, it's from a film titled "Ravenous" it's a good movie that I wholly recommend.

This story is also loosely based off of other fanfictions that I have read. Any persons or events that mirror reality or another story are completely accidental. If anyone wants to see any specific quirks or have any ideas about quirks, they would like to see in the story let me know and I'll see about adding them. Also, I've set up a forum page for any questions anyone has about the story, characters, or well, anything they want to ask me/discuss stuff/suggest quirks.

Like always, stay safe, be kind, and remember kids, when a stranger offers you a credit card, take it, no questions asked.

(Don't actually take random credit cards. You'd probably be better off without one anyways.)