Chapter 1

Underground Bunker

[REDACTED]

A calloused hand gripped the recorder tightly. Clicking onto the record button he began speaking.

A Preface.

My name is Kyudai Garaki and this is currently the 14th voice memo that I have made so far. And in this voice memo, I will be postulating one of the many questions I have.

How do people utilize Quirks?

Research over the subsequent years has stalled due to the ethics of human experimentation, with the resources presented to me by my benefactor, current research on such things is going well.

However, my current benefactor has even graced me with knowledge lost by the annals of time, destroyed by our current society to protect the people about the knowledge done to those with quirks. Information was first extracted from research into quirked people.

Back in 2050, during the first sighting of the glowing baby, government officials had stepped in and detained the child for further study. However back then, outgoing quirks were still not completely shown.

My benefactor's existence proves that quirks have existed way before the first emergence of the glowing baby. This entails two hypotheses for this discussion. First, the quirked people have gathered together to create a secret society of their own, hiding from the eyes of the general public, and two, someone or something was taking away any evidence of quirked people.

Currently, the recent evidence shows that back during the start of the age of quirks, those with quirks were not given the liberty to be classified as "human." Therefore, experimentation ethics were rather loose when experimenting on the quirked.

Illegal documentation of such individuals was all burned and erased from the files of the new quirk government, my benefactor managed to copy some of the research down.

Intriguing experiments, it seems, were conducted on the first graced with quirks. Dissections, Vivisections, stretching the limits of their quirks. Somewhere even conducted into being supersoldiers for the world.

Some of the quirks that were seen were mostly minor mutations. Through extensive experiments, these mutations even grew out of control. These notes on supersoldiers have even inspired me to reference them for my work.

Regeneration.

Super Strength.

Inhuman Endurance.

Superspeed.

However, we do go back to the question on hand. How do quirks get activated?

Some mutations are apparent at birth, the utilization of such quirks as the emitter and the transformation class seem to have a trigger for their abilities. When building what my benefactor has asked me to build, I came across this one question.

My subject's apparent lack of intelligence does not seem to be a problem for activating quirks. However, it looks like some parts of the brain do control the usage of quirks.

As an extension of one's self, quirks seem to be an activation of a section of the brain. However, with the ever-present lack of information in the subject, could this part of the brain be in the brain's limbic region, a primitive section of the sapien make-up that commands the quirk almost like an instinct?

Or is it something more?

Further research is needed to dictate such postulations, but sadly no research was done in the past individuals with active brain experimentation.

Theories still float within my mind as I postulate with questions. Would essentially lobotomizing quirked individuals remove their quirk ability? Or would it make them lose control over their quirk?

It has been heavily studied that the genetics of quirked individuals carry the ascertained "Quirk Gene", the extensiveness and difference of such abilities come into question.

My benefactor has certainly attested to this part of quirks, however, one must never forget in the part of the supernatural. Whispers of such stories as ghosts and spirits still linger even in quirk society as we know.

Maybe a part of our quirks is more intrinsically tied to what we call our soul. Perhaps.

However, in this sense, we throw away every convention of science and accept that the existence of quirks is created due to a higher power. This still doesn't match up with many of the flaws that the current theory of the origin of quirks.

But we are not here to ponder that question as of yet. As far as we know, the current theory of evolution pertains that quirks are simply in the next step of evolution. Or if I have anything to say, a disease that sole purpose is to wipe out humanity.

Clicking the recorder to stop recording, Kyudai stared at his magnum opus as of yet. He wore a sinister grin as he watched in glee as the enormous monster floated in the tank.

Placing his hand on the glass tank, Kyudai couldn't help himself as he marveled over his creation.

"Soon."

Musutafu, Japan

2:25 A.M.

A cell phone ringing had Shota Aizawa's attention as he patrolled through the city. Being a teacher at the esteemed Academy Yuuei and being the underground hero Eraserhead, the man really didn't get enough sleep.

A lot of the work the man had to face was done usually under cover of night, and most annoying of all, Aizawa still had to contend with a new batch of students that were coming into the school this year.

"The little brats should get expelled." Aizawa had studied the entire class he was going to get only to realize the entire class was unfit for Hero duty. " Honestly how did they even get into the Hero program?"

His attention was pulled away as the phone in his pocket rang once more. On the screen, the name Naomasa Tsukauchi was attached to a picture of a trench-coated man wearing a serious expression.

Hitting the call button, Aizawa answered the call. "What is it this time Naomasa-san?"

"We got a case of suspected kidnapping down in the Shizuoka Prefecture."

Aizawa frowned. While as a hero, he couldn't really ignore a call for help, but he knew Naomasa still had a reason to contact him specifically. "Naomasa, is something going on?"

"We got a call around 2 A.M. when some neighbors thought they heard somebody entering the apartment next to them. Apparently, they saw some of the guys that were kidnapping a kid next door."

"Any identification on the perpetrators?" Aizawa immediately asked.

"No, not yet. But this isn't the first time people have disappeared like this." Naomasa sighed. "Recently we've had a rise in kidnapping cases and I'm hoping you can come by to help."

Aizawa frowned. "Ok, but why are you asking for me specifically?"

"It just doesn't feel right. The cases we've had for the recent kidnapping spree are too careful. This one was sloppy and done unprofessionally. Aizawa-san, I'm afraid that we might have a case of the villain factory again."

Aizawa let his eyebrow rise. "I thought we hunted down the last of their rings?"

"No, we got their main source, the only problem is, there might be offshoots, branches of these facilities that might still be operating. This case may be slightly different from the rest, however, it still may be the missing link to all the other kidnappings that have been happening throughout Japan."

Aizawa sighed. "I'm on my way."

Aldera Middle School

8:00 A.M.

Bakugou Katsuki couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. It was the air. Something was off in the air. He stared at the empty seat that was situated right next to him. It almost seemed to taunt him how empty it was.

He could feel the milling of students around as they completely ignored the empty seat. Only he seemed to realize what felt off.

He didn't show up for a week. He sneered at the stray thought he had. He didn't care about what Deku did. Right?

However many times he tried, he couldn't help but keep on staring at the empty seat. The fucker surely didn't try, right? He could feel nervous energy running through his fingers as he clenched and unclenched his hands. It had been only three days since Bakugo was deemed healthy enough to go back into society. With the advancements of quirk medicine, he had woken up and was quickly rehabilitated from his attack.

"-ugou! Bakugou!" His attention was suddenly turned away from the empty seat. Students, especially girls, had crowded his desk that morning. After hearing that he had been caught in a villain attack, a bunch of sympathizers gathered at his desk trying to get the story out of him. Honestly, what a bunch of fucking posers. Bakugou couldn't help but turn his attention away from the groupies that tried to gain his attention.

A sudden door slam alerted all the children that they needed to be seated quickly. Kids scrambled to get to their designated spots. The class president rose as he started the motion to greet their teacher for the day.

Something was wrong.

Their homeroom teacher's face was somber as he laid down papers for the day's class. "Class," The teacher hesitated. "We have bad news."

Bakugou gritted his teeth. Students backed away as they saw murder filling Bakugou's eyes.

Someone had kidnapped Deku! Only anger could be felt in Bakugou's mind. The fucking useless Deku had gotten himself kidnapped!

Bakugou had listened to what the teacher was saying. The school was going to be canceled for a while to make sure that any attempt to kidnap any more children.

It was at this moment, Bakugou felt a rise of anger surge through his body. Exploding violently, Bakugou jumped up from his seat in outrage. "WHAT THE FUCK?"

Startled, the teacher clutched his chest in surprise. "Bakugou please, sit down. It's been a harsh day, and currently, the school is doing all they can do to keep you all safe.

"FUCKING HELL TEACH! IT'S NOT OUR FAULT THAT DEKU CAN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING RIGHT!" Bakugou snarled as his hands started giving off small explosions.

"YOUNG MAN! SIT DOWN!" Startled by the loud words of their teacher, all the students stood shocked. Bakugou especially stared emptily at the teacher. The loud words had shocked him out of his rage and left him stupefied.

The teacher sighed. Slicking his hair back, he closed his eyes. "Look, I'm going to give it straight to you guys here. We might not have a lot of time together, especially for School applications. That does not mean that I'm going to be giving up on you guys. Especially you, Bakugou. You're our chance of finally sending someone from Aldera Middle School to Yuuei. But we really need to keep you, students, safe." Staring morosely at the students, the teacher smacked his hands down on the desk. "Now, we're going to be cramming as much as we can to make up for the lost time we're going to have." He turned around and started writing with chalk.

Bakugou only stared numbly as he sat back down. "Fucking Deku this is all your fault…" He could only mutter as the rest of the class got their books out.

For the rest of the day, Bakugou spent his time ignoring the other kids. Nothing they said would get through to him.

Police Precinct

1:27 P.M.

Aizawa rubbed his forehead as he grumbled in annoyance. Dark eyebags drooped underneath his eyes. Gently sipping some bottled tea, Aizawa went over the evidence one last time. Seeming to be a simple case, Aizawa couldn't help but snort at the almost amateurish way the villains had broken into the home.

They didn't even try to scrub any of the CCTV footage.

But one thing wasn't adding up in Aizawa's mind. Why was this child kidnapped in the first place?

The evidence showed that it wasn't a masterful kidnapping like the ones that were happening throughout Japan recently. The kid had no quirk recorded to date unlike the string of kidnappings that littered throughout Japan. Honestly, Aizawa was scratching his head at that point.

The sudden opening of the door alerted Shouta as he lifted his eyes from the table. Naomasa had come into his office looking tired. While he had called in the Pro hero for some help with the case, he couldn't help but grimace at the face Aizawa was making.

Looking absolutely annoyed at the fact the case was spanning even into midday was annoying for the said Pro Hero. Aizawa glared at the detective. "'It would be quick', you said." Aizawa's red eyes stared into Tsukauchi's soul. "'It would be easy,' you said." He turned to the evidence. "What part of this is quick and easy?"

Naomasa rubbed the back of his head as he chuckled nervously at the irate figure of Eraserhead. "I'm sorry about this, but seriously, you are a major help to this case."

Aizawa shook his head. "At most, I've just tracked down that the kidnappers were low-time thugs and not the criminal empire you seemed to have made it out to be." He slumped against the desk. "Frustratingly, this case is weird. There should be no motive against a quirkless boy. No powers no nothing."

Naomasa coughed. "Actually, I think there may be a reason for Midoriya's kidnapping." He walked behind his desk before pulling out a file. "Read this."

Aizawa let an eyebrow rise as he opened up the case file. "The slime villain encounter?" He muttered.

"Actually, the villain's quirk is Sludge." Naomasa pointed out. "He is the Sludge Villain."

Aizawa waved him off. Skimming through the file he looked confusedly at the detective. "Why does this matter at all for the missing child?"

Naomasa took a seat behind his desk. "We've managed to interrogate the villain for his statement and trial for his crime of widespread terrorism, but what we've heard about the villain is pretty interesting."

Pulling his phone out, Naomasa turns on the video recording of the confession of the sludge villain.

Naomasa: This is Detective Naomasa, overseeing the interrogation of the Tsuneo Yuu, otherwise known as the Slime Villain.

Tsuneo: Grrr. I'm made of sludge, not slime!

Naomasa: Ah. Correction. Sludge Villain.

Tsuneo: Are you mocking me?

Naomasa: It doesn't matter Villain. What we do want to know is why you were rampaging throughout the city blocks.

Tsuneo: If it wasn't for that kid, I wouldn't have rampaged through the streets! In fact, if All Might hadn't chased me down, I wouldn't have run!

Naomasa: You were caught by All Might? How did you escape?

Tsuneo: It was luck mostly. The kid helped me get loose from the bottle.

Naomasa: Mr. Yuu, you were found with trace amounts of Trigger in your system. Are you perhaps a user?

This caught Aizawa's attention. If he was using Trigger that would explain the extreme mutation the villain was going through.

Tsuneo: So what! People do it all the time!

Naomasa: Yes, but you must know where you're getting the sources right?

Tsuneo: Hey, man, I don't know much, I only sell-

Naomasa: Ah. So you sell it to people. Perhaps a part of a drug ring?

This time, Shouta could see the panic in the Sludge villain's eyes. The villain had slipped up. Being a part of the local drug ring was a given now that the villain had admitted to selling drugs, however one thing tickled the back of Aizawa's mind as he watched the video.

If it weren't for the kid?

Had the villain met someone else before the rampage through the streets? Aizawa quickly made the connections in his mind.

He turned to Naomasa. "The kid. The one he said that interfered with his escape. Was it Midoriya?"

Naomasa nodded. "We got a statement from All Might that the sludge villain was trying to take over a child when he first caught up the villain, however, he managed to capture the villain before the villain could do so."

"Wait, then how-"

"He also said that he dropped the bottles containing the villain resulting in the rampage through the streets with the subsequent hostage situation of Katsuki Bakugou," Naomasa explained.

Aizawa tsked. "Number one hero, but still makes a rookie mistake." Taking a long sip of his tea he slumped into his chair. "Anyway back to the situation at hand. Since Midoriya was the one to interfere with the escape…"

Naomasa nodded. "We have reason to believe that the drug ring or whatever gang the villain was affiliated to kidnapped the child."

"God Damn it." Aizawa groaned. Fucking problem child.

Midoriya Residence

6:14 P.M.

Inko mumbled worriedly as she waited for the phone to answer. She had been notified of the subsequent kidnapping, and after confirming that her child wasn't in his room, went to the police station for any news.

She had waited for answers, but after a week of investigation, she could feel the weight in her chest getting heavier and heavier.

She berated herself for not even hearing any of the kidnapping going down, and she cried and shook with worry as she paced in her living room. Mitsuki was there with her to comfort her as they surveyed the crime scene.

She stared at the phone and waited for any news, perhaps even Izuku's location. However as the hours passed and the police left her house, nothing new seemed to come.

Mitsuki rubbed her back. "Your kid will be fine!" She promised. "Izuku's a strong fella."

Inko couldn't help but cry. "I'm such a horrible mother! I couldn't protect him from his quirklessness, I couldn't help him with becoming a hero, and now I can't even help him as he was kidnapped!"

Mitsuki winced as she listened to her long-time friend's rant and stared helplessly at the phone. Suddenly, a knock came through the door, causing Inko to scramble and open up the door.

As she opened the door, she recognized the trench coat and tie of the detective who had taken her son's missing case. He tilted his hat. "Mam."

Inko wiped the tears from her eyes and beckoned the detective inside her home. Inside, Inko couldn't help but blubber out questions. "Did you find my boy? Did you-"

Naomasa raised his hand, interrupting the rambling mother. "Mam, we have evidence to believe that your son was kidnapped by a local gang for revenge."

Inko gasped. This was so much worse than she imagined. "R-r-revenge?"

Naomasa nodded. "We are currently trying our hardest to find out the perpetrators, however, this will take some time." He sat down. "It seems that your son was targeted due to his quirklessness and the fact that he was one of the main reasons a villain had gotten caught.

Inko gasped. "My Izuku was…"

Naomasa bowed his head. "My precinct will try our hardest to find your son mam. We have our best investigators on the scene with even a pro hero helping us out."

Inko could only blankly stare at the detective. She couldn't even focus on the detective's words as she clenched her hands. Tears welled up in her eyes again as she couldn't help but feel despair over the situation.

Mitsuki listened carefully to what the detective was saying and worried about her friend. She saw that her friend had gone catatonic with the news and wasn't even listening to the detective.

The detective slid over a piece of paper, detailing a witness protection program for Inko, just in case the kidnappers had returned to take away Inko. Mitsuki accepted the papers seeing that Inko wasn't responding and thanked the Detective.

"Now mam, I know that-" Tsukauchi wasn't suddenly cut off as his cell phone started ringing. "Hmm?"

The Detective seemed sorry as he excused himself to take a call. Mitsuki watched as the detective sighed and listened to what the other end of the phone had to say.

An array of faces flashed over the detective's face as resignation stood amongst them all.

He walked back into the apartment and proceeded to say his goodbyes while promising to find Inko's child for them.

However, the first signs of even finding Izuku Midoriya wouldn't even be present until a week later.

Tokyo Warehouses

6:57 P.M.

The ground seemed to melt as blue embers flickered through the night sky. Massive spires of flames rose into the air as blue flames raged through the warehouse. Wood structures turned to ash as the metal support structures glowed bright orange as they started to melt. Ash filled the sky and the taste of smoke filled the firemen's senses.

The eerie blue bonfire devoured the warehouse as the police and the firemen tried to put it out. Frantic calls for backup along with calls for Heroes to appear and help with the fire. People stood by as they watched the fire continue to rage. Phones and news stations filled the area as everyone tried to get a look into the burning building.

"The warehouse is about to collapse! Tell everyone to get back!"

"Where's the backup! Has anyone called Backdraft yet!"

Police stood by watching in horror as the burning warehouse started to collapse. People panicked as pieces of the warehouse started sending flurries of flames their way.

"We need to contain this before it spreads to other buildings!"

"Backdraft is here! He can help us contain it!" A cry of relief filled the area as the extinguishing hero arrived to put out the fire.

Naomasa looked upon the still-raging fire in trepidation. He looked at another police officer. "What happened? All I heard was there was a fire down at the warehouses."

The police officer shook his head. "We initially did discover the warehouse to be on fire, however, the firefighters managed to dig out something in the back." The same fire seemed to hear their conversation and began to flare up.

"Shit!"

"Get back! Get back!"

"Detective! Are you okay?" The police officer covered his head as he handed a case over to the detective. "This was found around the back of the warehouse along with other cases." Naomasa looked inside the case and pulled out a vial. A black liquid sloshed around in the vial, giving Naomasa a dirty feeling. "Trigger? You found Trigger in the cases?"

Naomasa whipped his head around. This is a Trigger warehouse! He turned back to the police. "How quickly do you think we can put out the fire?"

The police frantically asked another fireman that was busy gathering a firehose. "They say this level of fire would take about 2 to 3 hours to calm down."

Naomasa cursed. "Get the civilians away from this scene. I want the whole place canvased after the fire is put out for a full-scale analysis. Ask any nearby security for any CCTV footage."

Nodding, the police officer ran off delivering the detective's message.

Far away from the fire, two figures watched as the warehouse burned down. Among them, the man was wearing a white coat, with an immaculate-looking black dress shirt with a white vest and blood-red tie. Glasses shone on his face, reflecting the blue-colored fire that ravaged the warehouse below. The other woman was wearing a leather biker's jacket and was wearing some torn-up black jeans. Electric Blonde hair flowed down her head as her cold blue eyes looked on at the fire with mild amusement.

"Say, Ivan, don't you think that little boy certainly made a big mess for someone his age?"

"Certainly, mam. Though I would have to say, a little sloppy on his technique by itself, he wasn't stupid enough to leave the warehouse intact."

"Maybe we should follow our little rabbit." With a giggle, the blonde-haired woman, smirked, before stepping into a silver car. "He seems … interesting."

Tsukauchi stared at the ash-covered land. The fire had gone down later into the evening, but the evidence was all there. The warehouse, covered in soot, was barely holding itself together. The roof was completely burned out while the insides of the warehouse were somewhat relatively kept in place.

Police teams went in and out of the scene, gathering evidence for what followed a gruesome scene. Charred corpses clearly burned almost beyond recognition lay stranded in the warehouse along with many other things.

Looking over the report, Tsukauchi noted that the warehouse seemed to be a meeting ground for Trigger delivery, but something seemed off about the whole situation.

Naomasa scratched his head as he looked over the reports one last time. He sighed. I still need those autopsy reports…

Heading back to his car, he quietly drove to the precinct to drop off the report.

Coroner's Office

9:37 P.M.

Sakura Chiharu rubbed her eyes as she quietly sipped her coffee. Working at her desk, she sighed as she quietly filled in her reports for the day. The bad thing about quirk society was that it was infinitely harder now to properly find evidence of how people died.

Sometimes she was lucky and would find the main cause of death to be a simple process. A heart Attack here and a Homicide there.

But mostly she would get cases where some conventions of the human body would be thrown out the window completely. Anatomy being completely rearranged, corpses with only small body parts remaining, and trying to find out whether a certain chemical or substance found within the subject is due to a quirk or regular homicide. The regular problems.

So whenever she would get cases that involved regular homicide, she cheered in a somewhat morbid manner, that the corpses died in a normal manner. Then it was up to her to try to identify the corpses and match them to any of the recorded individuals in the system.

Sakura sighed. Honestly, when she started medical school, she didn't think that she would be sitting in a morgue surrounded by dead bodies. Her quirk Gorgon, while seeming scary and cool, was not that impressive in her mind. At most, she could taste pheromones and different chemicals in the air and from the bodies using her snake hairs, but for anything else, she really couldn't do anything else.

She had used her quirk to help identify any chemical back in medical school, but now she was stuck inside a cool room filled with dead people. Joy.

Now she had a new shipment of dead people to study and tag. Sakura rubbed her eyes again. She watched as the police rolled in with dozens of corpses, all burnt to a crisp. A bitter metallic scent filled the room making Sakura scrunch up her face in disgust. After all, the scent of charred human flesh wasn't always pleasant on the nose.

Suddenly the doors opened up as one of her coworkers working the night shift entered the morgue. Akahira Yoshimitsu did not expect the scent of burning flesh when he entered the morgue. Sure, he could handle the sight of mutilated bodies, but smells? That he was not prepared to deal with.

With his quirk being Accurate Smell, the ability to smell certain scents apart from others, Yoshimitsu really regretted coming into the morgue right after eating dinner.

"Oh, God. The smell." Akahira retched.

Sakura sighed. "Tell me about it. My snakes haven't stopped hissing at me to run away from the bloody smell."

Eyes watering, Akahira grabbed a pair of nose plugs before stuffing them in his nose. "That's better." He sighed.

Sakura snorts before handing Akahira some charts. "We got these fresh bodies from a recent fire down by the warehouses.

Akahira brightened up. "Oh, I saw it on the news before I came here!" He flipped some of the papers over. "Let's see what we have here… Oooh, 17 unconfirmed bodies burned beyond recognition!" His eyes flitted to the corpses that were lined up perfectly on the tables.

Sakura tapped her hands on the table. "I take the ones on the left and you take the ones on the right?" She asked.

Akahira shook his head. "The officers would probably want an in-depth analysis for this batch and considering that they…" He flipped to the front of the page. "Want the report by tomorrow morning, we probably are going to be working all night."

Sakura sighed. "Welp there goes my sleep."

Akahira chuckled. "Hey, chin up. If we don't do this, who will?"

Sakura deadpanned at Akahira. "Probably the interns."

"Ah."

"AAAGGGHHH!" Sakura groaned. "WE HAVE BEEN AT THE BODIES FOR HOURS!" Slamming her head down on her desk, she moaned in pain and fatigue.

Similarly, Akahira snapped his gloves off and rubbed his eyes. Both coroners had dark circles under their eyes, indicating how tired they were. To both of them, they felt the heavy wave of fatigue roll and push on their minds.

"Hey, at least we're on our final body." Akahira tried to sound upbeat for his coworker, only to find the finger in his face in retaliation.

"Fuck you. Fuck you and your cheery attitude."

Shaking his head both in amusement and to clear his head, Akahira, started the recording for the final corpse.

Ahh. This is Coroner Yoshimitsu and for this Autopsy, I will have Coroner Chiharu working with me for now. The time is currently 4:37 A.M. and the corpse is currently about 10 hours from the time of death.

The body temperature is currently at...huh. Currently, the temperature that we have recorded is 30 degrees Celsius. A bit higher than expected but, it must be from the fire. Seeing that it was from a fire that these bodies were dragged from, it makes sense that the body temperature would be higher than normal.

Okay, we're starting preliminary examinations with the corpse. The identification of the corpse seems almost impossible. We already scanned an X-ray of the subject, seemingly male, looking at the bone structure and the lack of female organs… Identifiable gold chains nearly melted seem to have fused with the skin of the subject.

Preliminary examinations also show fractures along the right side of the mandible. Shattered fragments of bones were also found within the skull, indicating full-on Head trauma. A blunt object was used, possibly a bat?

No lacerations appear on the subject's body that we can discern. Toxicology reports show low Carbon Monoxide and Cyanide levels in the blood, meaning the body was burnt after their deaths.

And that concludes the preliminary examination of the body. We are now going to open up the corpse's abdominal cavity.

Sakura can you hold these open?

There we go. The rest of the organs seem healthy, though the liver is quite scarred. Liver Cirrhosis indicated by alcohol consumption? Toxicology reported no alcohol in the blood, however, the large amounts of scarring do indicate heavy drinking.

Preparing to open up the subject's thoracic cavity.

Can you hand over the bone saw?

Heup. *Snap*

Got that rib out of the way. Okay, let us see what we have here. Lungs seem to be quite damaged, covered in tar. This damage is extensive and indicates tobacco use. The fire didn't do this.

Now we're going to investigate the cranial cavit- Woah.

Holy shit, someone went ham in this guy's brain. Sakura, look at this.

Okay, revisal on the earlier statement that only head trauma killed this guy. Whoever did this was sick.

… And incredibly skilled. Shit. This guy completely took apart his brain. Add that to the special notes.

Hmm. You can actually see places where this guy picked apart his brain. Sort of amateurish maybe? You can kinda see it getting better and cleaner as you go further into the brain.

Really impressive, it's as if the person who did this was learning as they were poking around in this guy's brain.

Anyways, I can say for a fact that the person in question's cause of death was induced blunt head trauma combined with the erm… brain vivisection? Yes. Cranial vivisection.

The time is now 5:57 A.M. This concludes the autopsy for one John Doe.

Akahira sighed as he turned off the recorder. He turned to see his partner snoozing at her desk. Dark eyebags clung to the bottom of his eyes as he tried to rub the foggy feeling from his eyes.

Near the end, when detailing all of the autopsies, Sakura had fallen asleep at her desk from working overtime.

Sighing, Akahira rolled the corpses into the refrigerators. Snapping off his gloves, he slumped into his chair and closed his eyes. The report wasn't going to be finished until the records came back through the systems identifying the corpses. But for that to finish, Both Akahira and Sakura had to wait until the system found any matches of the DNA left behind by the corpses.

In his mind, Akahira could see the picked apart brain of the last victim. He opened his eyes one last time before dozing off. He had almost spent an all-nighter on the corpses.

Still, as he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but think. Who could do something like that?

Restroom at Bus Station

6:29 A.M.

How could I do something like that!?

Izuku's trembling hands shook as he tried to wash off the blood that was coating his hands. His pale skin seemed even paler at the sight of blood. Looking slightly starved, his cheeks were sunken in slightly. His nightclothes hung from his frame, dirty from the almost constant use.

As he scrubbed, the water was tinted a familiar pink, something Izuku thought he had seen far too much of with his time kidnapped.

Wasn't it fascinating?

Izuku shook his head and tried scrubbing harder. Sobbing, tears blurred his vision as he kept on scrubbing. The blood was completely washed from his hands, however, Izuku couldn't help but see the bloodstained fingers as he dunked his hands into the water once more.

The musty green light of the bathroom gave an eerie glow to his surroundings, highlighting his green eyes and giving it a toxic color. Water continuously flowed from the faucet as Izuku scrubbed his clean hands, in his mind still seeing the red from the blood of his victims.

I can't go back. Not after what I've done.

In his mind, flashes of phantom pain and red made Izuku flinch away from the matter.

What's wrong?

"ShutupShutupShutupSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!" Izuku banged his head with his wet hand while he crouched down in pain.

You can't ignore me forever~

"Please just go away!" Izuku cried out in fear. Please just leave me alone.

But you are alone. After what we've done, no one is going to accept you now. Think about it. Our mom is going to hate and fear me for what crime we've committed.

Flashes of his mother's fearful face.

Kacchan will probably just try to kill us for our villainous actions.

Bakugou's disgust.

And what would All Might say of this? Hm? Would he look disappointed in us? Punch us to kingdom come, and lock us away in Tartarus?

The image of All Might's back.

That's right. We're all alone now. But hey, the guy really did deserve it after what he did to us.

The voice was right. He was all alone. Throughout his life, no one stood alongside him. Teachers, Children, even Heroes all told him off.

I'm sorry to say this kid. You can't become a hero without a quirk.

Even his mother had tried to deter him away from Hero work.

I'm so sorry Izuku! I'm so sorry!

Tears, now fully running down his face, began to drip into the dirty sand. His hands scrunched up the sand in his hands. Now I can't even go back to mom.

How could she ever love a monster like him? What he had done. What he had learned. Izuku stared at his hands. I mean it was in self-defense.

The Warehouse

7:24 A.M.

This looks like a premeditated attack. Most likely with full intentions for murder.

The air felt dry and lifeless as Aizawa stepped through the remains of the burned building.

Aizawa frowned as he scanned over the autopsy reports that came in. When the burned victims were all identified, he had a hunch pushing him to ask for the sludge villain once more.

When the villain had confirmed that he knew all of the men, Aizawa could see now that the burned victims were all part of a gang that sold Trigger . However, what Aizaw- no Eraserhead needed to see was either the corpse of one 13-year-old child or any evidence that a kidnapped victim was at the scene.

When Tsukauchi was called in for a fire that happened at the Tokyo warehouses, Aizawa had simply waved him off, still looking for anything that might help find the kidnapped victim.

However, when he found out that the warehouse that was burning had Trigger, he had to know whether the gang was related to his recent kidnapping case.

That was why he had visited the burned-down warehouse. The police managed to canvas the place thoroughly, however, Aizawa always thought it was a good idea to have extra eyes for different perspectives.

Through the evidence that the police managed to scavenge up from the ashes, Aizawa could see remains of kidnappings. Burnt rope, melted plastic bottles, tables with melted pieces of glass, a broken leg of a chair.

Something caught his eye. Grey ashes?

Crouching down, looking at the faint piles of ash. They were a different color than the surrounding area and a color that Aizawa was vaguely familiar with. Human Ashes.

Grimacing, Aizawa prayed that what he was seeing wasn't what he thought it was.

Snapping to one of the forensics officers nearby, he pointed to the pile of ashes and left the scene.

Coroner's Office

8:48 A.M.

Tsukauchi silently retched at the sterile copper scent that permeated through the air. He watched as one of the coroners pulled out a corpse. "What was it that you wanted to show me?" He muttered wanting to get away from the wretched smell.

"You have to see this," Akahira uncovered the tarp that was covering victim number 17#.

"Isn't this just one of the victims from the scene?" Tsukauchi asked.

Akahira shook his head. "No, this. This is different." Snapping on some rubber gloves, he gently picked away at the portions of the skull that was covering the brain. "Look."

Tsukauchi, ever disturbed, looked into the head. "What am I looking at?"

Akahira impatiently pointed at the brain. "It's like someone pulled apart this guy's brain and put it all back together."

At this information, Tsukauchi looked surprised. "What?" Looking again at the brain, even he could see the small lines of tears where the brain was ripped apart.

"Holy shit."

"Yeah, and you know what's more surprising?" Akahira took his gloves off before heading over to his desk. He pulled out some MRI scans. "Look. The brain was put together perfectly. And I mean perfectly. Like something you would see in a medical textbook." He pointed to some black spots in the MRI. "The only places I can see that are off, are some places that are missing in the Parietal lobe."

Tsukauchi raised his eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"It means that whoever did this, either had years' worth of training to be a brain surgeon," Akahira paused. "Or that person learned on the go how to piece together a brain."

He pulled out photos. "At first I thought it was a beginner that was playing around with the brain, but the deeper I got into the guy's brain, there were fewer and fewer breaks and seams. Almost as if they were refining their skill as they broke it apart."

Tsukauchi shivered. What sort of person does this? Tsukauchi looked over the coroner's notes and nodded to Akahira. "Thank you, doctor, for doing this on such short notice."

Akahira waved him off. "It was nothing."

Tsukauchi bowed to the doctor before leaving the mortuary.

I need to contact Eraserhead.

Shiozuka Prefecture

7:37 P.M.

Izuku gazed into his bedroom window. Inside the room, He could make out the empty bed and room filled with his All Might merchandise.

Staring into his room, a wave of nostalgia-filled his body. It almost felt like a lifetime ago he had slept in a bed. Or sat down and did his homework.

Sighing, Izuku couldn't help but worry at his mother's reaction. Would she still accept him?

Would she call me a monster?

Sighing, he eyed the side of the building. Counting the window that he knew was his own bedroom, Izuku looked around watching out for anyone that might see him. ( Although getting caught for breaking your own room would be embarrassing.)

Grabbing the lock of his window, he gently grabbed a screwdriver he stole from the people he just escaped. Gently unscrewing the edges of his old window, he quietly slipped into his room.

His hands gravitated towards his bag, grabbing anything he might need. His clothes, notebook, and laptop all were stuffed into his school bag, now somewhat of his own survival kit.

Looking around the room, his eyes locked onto the vintage watch his father had last left him. Swiping it and taking it out of the stand, Izuku pocketed the watch into his bag.

Taking one last look at the room, Izuku smiled sadly. It would be because of his actions that he would have to leave his home and mother behind.

He left through the window, as quietly as he could. His missing items wouldn't be discovered days after he left.

Izuku watched as each member of the gang that had kidnapped him was strewn about the room. In the doorway, he could see the horrified dead faces of other gang members lying on the floor, with blood slowly pooling out of the hole in their skulls.

He numbly stared at the corpse at his feet. He should be feeling something. After all, he had taken apart the guy's head like it was a simple puzzle to solve.

Izuku walked out of the cell he was trapped in. The scent of blood filled the warehouse. His eyes darted towards the copper chloride tanks in the corner of the room. One of the ingredients to their so-called Trigger .

A cold look darted towards the bunsen burners lying on the tables of the room. Shatter glass and slowly dripping chemicals leaked off of the table. Eying a pack of matches, Izuku picked one up.

With a twitch of his fingers, the gas tanks that stood at the other side of the building tipped over spilling gasoline everywhere.

A fire roared to life as Izuku lit the match and threw it into the gasoline. The fire immediately raged through the room lighting many of the bodies on fire.

The sniffling sound of one man drew his attention. A mohawked man, looked on with wide eyes as he stared speechlessly at the figure who loomed over his downed body. Fear seemed to splash over his body as if he were being carried away into the cold currents of the ocean through the riptide.

With more twitches of Izuku's finger, the man screamed as he desperately tried to escape the fire that surrounded him.

Opening his eyes, Izuku stared at the ceiling. The old tile of the building he fell asleep in seemed to mock him as he closed his eyes once more.

The splatters of blood. The singes of fire. Izuku could make out two figures who were watching him in the distance. A feeling of horror and bile rose from his stomach as Izuku heard police sirens in the distance.

Raising his hand, Izuku closed his eyes once more. Focusing hard, he felt the pull. In his mind's eye, he felt the lines that covered the world. All the metal that filled it.

He understood. He can understand how the man did it. He could do the same- no. He could do it better.

Gripping the makeshift bat in his hands, Izuku felt something take over him. A hunger. Wouldn't it be interesting to know how this man's quirk worked?

Concentrating, Izuku could feel the paper clips, the coins, the watch, the metal that encapsulated the old apartment, the car that drove by, he could feel it all. And it was his to control.

Gently, without a sound, Izuku used the quirk Magnetism. Oh, what a wonderful quirk it was.

Shame it was wasted on such a horrible piece of shit.

Watching as the small pieces of metal in his room float around with only his mind, Izuku didn't even notice the small grin on his face as he used it.

I hope you guys enjoy this one!

Ab Aeterno