...I've got my Eye on You...

"-Tensions between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan continue to escalate following the destruction of a fishing vessel within contested waters between the two nations. The vessel was of Taiwanese origin and had all rights to fish where they were. However, the Chinese claim that the vessel traveled beyond the agreed zone for the nation and refused to turn back despite several warnings from local military presence. The Taiwanese government has contested this claim, stating that no attempt was made to contact the vessel before it was fired upon by a Chinese destroyer. It is still unknown whether or not this may erupt into a full scale conflict, however the President of the United States has made their vocal support for Taiwan in the possibility of an armed conflict. Tensions increase in other parts of Asia however, with activity on the Korean DMZ increasing. It's unknown how much longer the North Korean dictatorship can still stand after decades of famines and civil unrest. No comment has been made on these events by the US government, though the Japanese Prime Minister has encouraged peace to continue between the two nations despite their differences. In other news, several Villain groups were stopped recently during small turf wars. The up and coming Hero known as Spartan was the one to take them down, quickly disabling them and having them tied up by the time the police arrived. His hard work ethic has reinvigorated some of those who lost faith with Heroes after the incident at the Kamino Ward. As such, his popularity in polls has been steadily increasing despite still being relatively new to the scene. But some people are uncomfortable with the ferocity that Spartan used against Villains."

"...Sure, he's doing a good job at rounding up the Villains and handing them over to the police," an interviewee said, "But the way he does it is far too brutal. Have you seen the Villains and criminals after he's dealt with them? They're all bloodied, missing teeth have broken or fractured bones. Really, it's sick. If he doesn't hold himself back when fighting against them then he's no better than them. That's why people like All Might, because no matter how tough the fight is he always does it in a respectable manner."

"Not everyone holds these views however, and instead insist that the brutality he uses is justified."

"Consider the fact that even when All Might was around," a second interviewee began, "Crime never stopped, it only stagnated. Even when All Might was around major incidents still occurred, until we had that massive battle at Kamino. I personally don't enjoy people being scared or hurt, because that's often what Villains do. But to me and others I know it looks like the only way to really put an end to the threat Villains pose is to give them a taste of their own medicine. And if that means knocking out a few teeth, then so be it."

"You don't think that Hawks can replace All Might as the symbol of peace?" The reporter questioned.

"Hawks? He's a good Hero, but I don't think he'll be able to replace All Might. He's a great guy, strong, likable, dedicated, but that really isn't enough to put him in a position to replace him. Even then, as good as All Might is I'm not sure what we need is another symbol of peace. A symbol of strength maybe, but I don't think enough time has passed to completely pass judgement."

"Spartan was unavailable for any comment. In local news, a new pet shop has opened up downtown. With exotic animals and breeds from all over the world, people are clambering to-" Aurdel shut off the TV.

"Looks like you're making a big impact on the Hero scene, huh Mr. Aurdel?" Kirishima said, "Usually all new Heroes get is a news article or two and maybe an interview with a local outlet, but you're already going nationwide."

"I don't do it for attention, no one should. I do it because it's what has to be done."

"That's pretty manly!" He gripped his fist.

"If that's what you want to say," Aurdel said, standing at one of the tables. "Anyways, I heard that you all had a third year come in to talk to you about your work studies. How did it go?"

"We got a pretty bad sense of deja vu," Kaminari said, holding his gut as if he still felt the punch that the Senior has personally dealt to each of them.

"That bad huh…?" Aurdel shrugged, "It is what it is, I personally think that the work studies are a good idea especially given the line of work you're all planning to go into. The more experience you get now the more you'll be able to prepare yourself for the future, rather than have to learn on the fly when you're in a do or die situation."

"How did you learn all that you did?" Midoriya asked, "You haven't told us very much what your training was like."

"I started young and worked with intensity, no matter what pace they demanded from us. We learned what to do from trainers, practiced with them over and over. Then once they thought we knew enough they made our teams fight each other to make sure that we knew what we were doing. It got surprisingly bloody."

"Did you ever win?"

"Did I win? No, not individually. I can count on both my hands the amount of times I was approaching the top of one of our individual tests, those were usually occupied by the same people with the top three spots almost always staying the same. When we fought together as teams it was a different story."

"Then… You did really well as a team?"

Aurdel hid a small grin behind his helmet, "Doing well would be putting it lightly. Let's just say that Green Team had the perfect mix of brains, brawn and gut intuition." The smile secretly faded from his face, "Unfortunately for us fate works in mysterious ways." He shook his head, "So, have any of you been considering what agencies you'll be approaching for your work studies?"

"We have," Uraraka said, "But we don't have nearly as much choice as we did when we did our Hero internships."

"Our choices were restricted to well established agencies who could be guaranteed to protect us in the case of a Villain attack. Ribbit."

"I can see why that would restrict you. I don't know if there would be a lot of agencies willing to take you all since UA seems to be a magnet for attacks from Villains."

"Don't say that, we can at least hope!" Kaminari wailed, "Besides, even if we get lower agencies it can't be much worse than what Mineta has to do for his internship."

"Don't remind me of my dark, tragic fate!" Aurdel could only look at him in disbelief and unconcern.

"Right… Regardless, I ask because some of you have already been scouted for Work Studies."

"Damnit!" Bakugo shouted, slamming his fists onto a table in front of him. The reason he was angry was that he, alongside Todoroki, had failed the licensing exam several days ago. During the first part of the exam where they were fighting other students from other schools they went above and beyond with their combat prowess. The latter half was where they choked. Bakugo… Well, by being Bakugo he lost large amounts of points due to him failing to rescue civilians properly and reassure them of their safety. Todoroki on the other hand failed because he had gotten into a fight with another student and nearly jeopardized the rescue operations in the second half of the exam. Because they lacked their licenses, they could not participate.

"Tokoyami, you remember Hawks from your internship?"

"I do."

"Well you're with him again. Uraraka, Asui, Nejire Hado wants to talk to you about joining her for work studies at Ryukuu's agency."

"Really?!" Uraraka said, excited.

"Yes, really. Kirishima, Tanamki Amajiki is going to be bringing you to Fat Gum's agency. Don't bother him too much about it."

"Awesome!" Kirishima shouted.

"And Midoriya. You tried to go to the same place that you did your internship, right?"

"I did… How did you know?"

"Intuition. Well you already have a possible work study with the person they probably would have directed you to."

"Sir Nighteye's Agency?!"

"That's right. I'll be going with you on your first day there, I have some work that I'm doing with Nighteye that I need to discuss."

"You're going to be working with Nighteye?!" The others exclaimed, "That's amazing, he was All Might's sidekick!"

"Damn it!" Bakugo shouted again, this time because Midoriya was both going to be taking part in the work studies and no less working with one of All Might's sidekicks.

"How'd you manage to get someone like that to scout you out now Midoriya?" Kaminari complained, "You didn't even get any offers during the sports festival, I don't know why he would change his mind now."

"I'm not sure," Midoriya said, looking somewhat pensive. "Mr. Aurdel, did he give any reasons as to why he wanted to take me in?"

"Not really, apparently it was suggested to him and decided that it was an idea good enough to go through with it," Aurdel said, rather nonchalantly.

"...Did you tell them anything to make him consider it?"

"Possibly."

"I'm grateful that you were able to get him to consider me for the work study, but I would much rather that I be able to prove myself than just have the opportunity handed to me."

"Oh, it's not guaranteed. He still has to approve of you. I was just saying that he was considering you for the work study."

"I'm not sure if that makes it any better…" he looked up, "But again, thank you for being considerate and talking to him for me. I'm not sure how I was going to reach out to him without All Might."

"I'm sure you could've, but there's no harm in getting a little help."

"But wait a minute," Mina said, "Didn't you say in one of our lessons that it's better to do things by yourself? That makes you a hypocrite!"

"I said usually it's better to do things by yourself, but that was for the sake of not having people be unnecessarily involved and put at risk. And even if I was a hypocrite, that wouldn't make me any less right. After all, you went to Yaoyaorozu for help for the midterms." She let out a little squeal in protest, then went quiet. "Regardless, it's just like I said before. If any of you need help then I'm willing to give it to you, so long as you put in the respective effort to justify me doing so. I can't get you into some well off position with you doing absolutely nothing for yourself." He looked around, "Now all of you, I suggest you get some rest. Especially for those who are going to be doing work studies, unlike your internships you'll be doing a lot of practical work since you're officially considered Heroes now. That may mean fighting. Understand?"

"Yes Mr. Aurdel!" The class said.

"I don't know if I can wait until tomorrow to talk to Amajiki, I'm going to go see him now!" Kirishima said, standing up.

Aurdel sighed, "Fine, you can go talk to him now. But try not to be out too long or you might set off the security outside when you try to leave or enter the dorm building."

"Yes sir, I'll make sure to be quick!" Kirishima ran off.

"By the way, Midoriya. There was something else I wanted to discuss with you privately. Do you have a moment?"

"O-of course, did I do something wrong?"

"No, I just want to talk to you about something. Something I wanted to know." He led Midoriya back to the boys room in silence, waiting before they were inside to speak. There were murmurs from the other students as he walked away from them. Eventually they got to his room and the two of them stepped in, closing the door behind them. The walls of the room were almost entirely coated in All Might memorabilia, practically every inch. He let out a sigh as Midoriya sat down.

"So, what was it that you wanted to talk about?" Aurdel stayed standing, not wanting to break any furniture by accident.

"Midoriya, is there any kind of secret that you're keeping between yourself and All Might?" The moment he asked that question it looked like Midoriya's heart dropped.

"N-n-no! W-why do you ask?!" His panicked reaction was more than enough to tell Aurdel that he'd been right.

"Because I did some digging, and I have reason to believe you do." He scratched where his chin would be on his helmet, "I looked into your records, and ever since you applied to UA and got in you always seemed to be getting some special attention or notice from All Might. Even some of the other students noticed it. And while student preference isn't exactly out of the norm for teachers, he seems to do it more than others would. You would often have lunches by yourselves, usually in the staff area where no one else would be around. Given how that All Might was trying to hide his deflated form before Kamino, it makes ends why no one else would be present." He could see that the ideas he had were all clicking together based off of Midoriya's reaction. "So I looked into both your quirk and his, they're both extremely similar in the way that you use them and the power of them. Not to mention you've almost directly copied many of his own moves, names included."

"I-I'm just a big fan of his. That's why I wanted to copy his lives, so I could be like him."

Aurdel shook his head though, "That's not all though. When I spoke to Nighteye and mentioned your name to you, he sounded as if he'd already known about you. He didn't seem happy to hear your name. That was when I remembered something about the fight at Kamino." Midoriya stood up straight, "All For One mentioned something about a weak successor, All Might then said he wouldn't let him lay a hand on you." He gestured towards Midoriya, "And when I saw who Nighteye's sidekick was, Mirio Togata, I realized why he didn't seem happy at your name." He looked him near dead in the eye. "All Might chose you to be his successor, but Nighteye didn't agree with the choice. So he took on Togata, a boy who he thought was just like All Might at that pinnacle of his youth."

Midoriya's head looked down, a look of almost despair stretched across his face. "You… You can't tell anyone about this… If everyone knew that I was All Might's successor…"

Aurdel put a hand on the boy's shoulder, comforting. "I won't tell anyone about it, I promise. I just wanted to know for your own sake." The boy looked up, "After all, you remind me of someone else that I know."

The boy looked up, "Who?"

Aurdel paused, "Maybe another time, for now I suggest you get some rest. You already have absences ready to be excused for your work studies."

"You're so sure that I'll get accepted that you already did that for me?"

"Something like that, I did the same for the others too. It'll be a lot easier for you all to focus on your work if you don't have to worry about paperwork." There was a grateful smile on the boys face now

"It's not often that Sir picks out someone to join him for a work study," Mirio said, he, Midoriya and Aurdel all walking together as a group down the sidewalk towards Nighteye's agency.

"Mirio, why do you think that he chose you to work with him?" Aurdel asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it from the boy.

"Well, I know that it wasn't my grades or my skills. At the time Sir took me in I could hardly be called overly successful academically. Heck, I even performed poorly at the sports festival! But I always kept working to improve myself and to cheer up those around me, a smile on my face the whole time. I think that's why he took me in," the older blonde boy explained, that same smile that he spoke of on his face. "After all, despite all the fierce exterior that Sir puts up he really is a kind man. Whenever he has us do anything for him, he makes sure that we do it full of energy and vigor. He holds it all in really high regard."

"I can understand why, he was All Might's sidekick after all. And it's always easier to push through something difficult if you know that someone else is smiling."

"Exactly!" Mirio said, "But there's one thing that he holds in especially high regard, and that's humor."

"Humor?" Midoriya echoed.

"Yep, humor! If you really want Sir to consider you as a work study, then you'll have to leave an impression on him. And there's no better way to do that than to make him laugh." That… seemed like an odd way to do things. But the man had his own agency, so he was free to run it exactly the way that he wanted. They turned around the corner of the block. "Anyways, here we are! Sir Nighteye's Agency!" The three of them look forward. There were large panes of glass windows on the front and side of the building, with white walls of what he presumed to be limestone covered in a stucco finish.

"I have mixed feelings just on the way this building looks. A lot of the cities where I come from have buildings that look like this, but it still rubs me as appearing like a post-modern hellscape."

"Don't be so harsh on the way it looks, Sir personally oversaw the construction and made every choice. Besides, when you're running a Hero agency it's good to be transparent." … "Not funny?"

"No, it was. It's just that my sense of humor isn't what it used to be." The three of them pushed forward.

"Centipeder, is Sir in his office? I brought the kid and Spartan."

The person he spoke to was a rather tall man with the head of a centipede, he nodded. "He is, but currently he is the middle of a rundown of reports with Bubble Girl. But he anticipated that it would turn out as such, and said for you to simply bring the boy up when you arrived. As for you, Spartan," the sidekick turned to him, "He prepared a folder of information for me to give to you when you arrived, alongside some additional info for you to make use of."

"Sounds good, I'll catch up if you two when you're down in his office."

"Right!" Mirio said, leading both himself and Midoriya up a spiral staircase through the building and idly discussing something as they walked.

Centipeder pulled a folder out of his suit jacket and handed it to Aurdel, "Inside the folder is a list of the Villain groups that the Shie Hassaikai have made contact with, alongside the individuals that make up those groups and their quirks. The reason for compiling such a list aside from keeping tabs on the numbers of the Yakuza is that the previously timely accessions were abandoned, their numbers have dramatically increased."

Aurdel flipped through the folder, looking through the files. "Then they're planning something big, most likely going to war with another group of Yakuza. But who? Normally if one group was preparing to go to war with another we would see the opposition doing the same."

"That is what we find concerning. Neither us or any other Hero agency was able to find evidence of other criminal organizations building up their forces. The only other organization that could've been to blame would be the League of Villains, but I'm sure that you more than know that they aren't in any position to make any further attacks."

"Right… Then I suppose I'll have to look into what they're actually preparing for, since we have no leads."

"Unless you manage to break into one of their compounds, it is very unlikely that you will be able to find out anything. Until we come up with a lead for you to pursue it is our suggestion that you simply continue with your Hero duties as usual."

"But that's all it is, a suggestion."

"It is. We may be an agency, but we have no authority over Heroes besides our own. Sir Nighteye simply thinks that it would be best for them to make the first move, so that we can prepare accordingly and respond without error."

"I can understand preparedness, but that's a sword that cuts both ways." He closed the folder, "Can I look at all that you have on Shie Hassaikai locations as of now? I might be able to find something you may have missed."

"Another perspective is always welcomed." Centipeder led Aurdel to a server room in the back, where he was able to tap in directly.

"Off the network… Smart." Nighteye's agency had an on site intranet, meaning that it prevented anyone who wasn't physically there from accessing the data. For investigations into dangerous groups who could very well have cyber warfare capabilities it was extremely useful. Aurdel plugged himself in. With his wrist mounted data pad and visor HUD he was able to see the data they had collected. There were dozens of Shie Hassaikai hideouts across the country, many he'd seen in police files and others not. He was able to quickly and systemically examine each one of them, though it would be a much easier task to do so if he had an AI with him like John had. He shook his head slightly, clearing the thought. He was attempting to narrow down the possible locations that the Shie Hassaikai might be willing to keep a little girl who can destroy quirks prisoner. And for that, there were two main mindsets to go through. First, that one would want to keep their cards close to their chest. It was what the average person would do. It meant that of the locations it would be one that was not known of by the police, was easily defendable and would prove extremely hard to raid by any opponent. For that there was main headquarters of the Shie Hassaikai, nestled on a private villa in the middle of what would appear to be your average Japanese suburb. Compared to all of the other buildings none of it looked out of place, though that was from the outside. From the limited information they'd gathered from the inside there was a vast network of tunnels that not many knew about nor had mapped, one that would either be extremely useful in separating parts of a raid team or using to escape. Of the targets it was the most obvious.

However there was the second mindset, one that ONI by and large taught and preferred. It was that of hiding things in plain sight, where everyone can see but no one would think to look. It was how they had agents in nearly every department of the UEG government and facilities in places you wouldn't believe across the colonies. Of course it was especially useful when it came to the discerning of information. Aurdel knew that if something like the specifics of the Spartan program became public, no one would believe them. Not because of some lack of evidence, not even close. No one wants to believe that the Heroes protecting humanity were stolen from their families as children and forced into the military, where few of them survived. And because they don't want to believe it, they won't. The mind is a powerful thing after all.

For the latter there was a relatively small Yakuza operation inside of the city that both the police and Nighteye knew of, and that was under monitoring for any criminal activity. To many it wouldn't make sense to leave an ace out it the open, but there are times that it will work. However there was a third mindset for the unconventional, one that he personally believed in. It was an aggressive one, one that to many wouldn't make sense. He traced the routes between the Yakuza hideouts along his HUD, comparing them with the known tunnel systems beneath the city and those of the Yakuza hideouts. For the paranoid the best place to be is not in one. Rather, you stay on the move and make no patterns. He ran the calculations in his head, looking for the paths that were both the longest and shortest before ruling them out to make alternative routes that they were likely to take. To an outsiders view it would almost look like that he was simply picking at random, but that was the point of it. Confident or paranoid the human mind will almost always go with what it's gut tells it is right, not some predetermined course from several days ago with the least calculated risk or most concealment. And eventually he found it. The path that the Yakuza leader should be taking would cross from the underground and above ground several times, making stops so that at no one point they could be ambushed. He made sure to take a copy of all of the files and store it inside of his data unplugged. "Have you found what you needed?"

"I have. I have a likely route that some Yakuza may be walking down, then from there I can go eavesdropping."

"I see, then I wish you luck on your mission." Centipeder gave him a small bow, Aurdel returned the courtesy before leaving the server room. When he came back out he found Midoriya back inside the main room, a mix of unease but also happiness on his face.

"Midoriya, did it go well?"

"I think- No, it did go well. Sir Nighteye did approve my work study, so I will be coming here."

The two of them walked out the door, "But you still look down about something."

"I… Yeah. It's about what we talked about, how Nighteye didn't think I was right to be the successor. And when I look at Mirio I can't help but think that-" Aurdel put a finger up, hushing the boy.

"He chose you for a reason, shouldn't that be reason enough? It's up to him to choose who succeeds him, not a former sidekick. And if Nighteye really does still believe in All Might, then he will have to believe in you."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Midoriya perked up a little bit, Aurdel ruffled his hair playfully.

"By the way, there's something I need to give you." Aurdel opened one of his hardcases, "Since you're going to be working as a hero you need at least a little bit of gadgetry, so I'm giving you this to use if you feel that you need to." Aurdel placed it in his hand, "It's a tracker, a small one that you can place on anything. If you come across anything that you want to keep track of just push the button and stick it on."

The boy nodded, "I'll make sure to make good use of it."

A day passed, Aurdel was out on the streets again. This time however, rather than just being on patrol he was going to be hunting Yakuza. With a map of the underground and the streets on the inside of his HUD he walked down the sidewalk, looking it over one more time for where he thought they would most likely surface. The spot that he felt would be best was one that would cut through an abandoned metro and used a service ladder to reach the surface, before coming out into any alleyway that would allow them to cross into the opposing metro system that wasn't connected. It was quite some distance away, meaning that he still had some ground to cover before he could get into position to make an ambush. Unfortunately, he knew that several people were following him. None of them tried to make it obvious, but having trailed people before he knew the telltale signs. So not wanting to lose his chance at some intel he would give them the confrontation that they wanted. He led them down an alleyway, one that he knew was a dead end. There was only one way in and out, meaning they'd all be forced to take him on from the same direction.

There were three of them, each of them dressed in casual wear but with glasses on in a way that obscured identifying portions of their faces. "Spartan. Despite what you may think, it is not safe for you to stay here in Japan. We have been authorized by the government to take you back to the states by any means necessary, force included. You will only be given one chance now to go with us peacefully." Two men, one woman. One of the men seemed to have a quirk that allowed them to turn their arms and individual fingers into coils of rope-like lengths. The second man was much more bulked up compared to the other, he most likely had a quirk that generally increased strength. He couldn't discern what quirk the woman had however, she was hiding it extremely well.

"If you're from the states, then I have to guess that you three are a bunch of CIA spooks."

"We can't confirm or deny that," that was a yes.

"I chose not to make landfall in the United States for a reason, I will not be travelling with you there."

"Then you leave us with no choice," the rope spun out from the man's hands and arms, flying around Aurdel before wrapping around him tightly. From the stress on the man's face he was trying to knock Aurdel out through sheer force alone but was completely unable to. "John, knock him out!" The second man charged forward, winding up to strike Aurdel. His fists changed into objects not dissimilar to the head of a sledgehammer, ready to attack. He wouldn't let him land a blow though. Easily Aurdel, tore through the rope that surrounded him and caused the first man quite substantial pain. As 'John' came running towards him Aurdel was able to duck down, getting below his arms and taking hold of him. Aurdel threw him over his head and slammed him face first into a wall, breaking a few bricks alongside the man's face. The woman charged at him from behind and leapt onto his back, putting her hands on the visor of his helmet. Rapidly flashes of light went off, as if her hands were a constant stream of flashbangs. Luckily for Aurdel his visor could polarize, rendering the attack useless.

Aurdel threw her off his back and onto the ground. It was at that moment something at the back of his mind began to nag him, pushing him forward. It had something to do with the woman… The first man charged at him again with his damaged limbs, trying to kick Aurdel down. Aurdel easily slapped him down into a dumpster, leaving him with several broken bones. The nagging feeling kept pushing him forward as he walked over to the woman. He crouched over her. His hand… Something told him to place his hand on her head, something instinctual. So he did. He did it in a way that managed to quell whatever it was that was nagging him, but not doing it in a rough manner as not to crush the woman's head. After that moment the woman reacted in pain, like some debilitating surge of electricity was going through her. Then after a moment she went limp, like she was paralyzed. Checking her pulse he could tell that she was still very much alive but out cold. That when he figured it out. He turned his hand around, and then on an instinctual level something seemed to click. Those same flashes the woman had shot from her hand, he was capable of doing it too.

He looked back at her. Had he copied it? Taken it? There was no way of really knowing, nor could he know what it was that drove him to possibly do so. He thought back… Could it have something to do with All For One? He remembered that during the battle at Kamino the man had almost done something similar, with what he presumed was a similar pain. Had he given him something then that allowed him to do it now? He looked back at his gauntlet and squeezed it shut. Forget it, at least for now. He needed to focus on tracking those Yakuza members, then he could figure this thing out and prepare his own reprisal for the Americans who'd tried to get in his way.

AN: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Usually I try to integrate holidays into my stories based on when I'm writing them, but I didn't see an opportunity to do so. Hopefully in the future I will be able to.