He'd known that it wasn't going to smell nice, but he hadn't been expecting it to smell quite as foul as it did. True to form, the sewer smelled predominantly like garbage mixed with human feces.

He let out a pitiful groan as his foot sank a bit deeper into the foul waters of the tunnel, and was thankful that he'd found that pair of his father's old work-boots. He didn't exactly have the cash to burn on new shoes.

The plan was working well enough so far, and the map that they'd been following hadn't been wrong yet, but that didn't mean an awful lot to him at the moment. Given the way the last few weeks had gone, he wouldn't be surprised if the map was actually leading them right into the den of some mutated crocodile that had made its nest in the city's sewage.

"Should be nearly there." Tsukauchi muttered, seemingly unaffected by the foul stench of the dimly lit tunnel.

"Thank goodness for that," Izuku grumbled in response. The turned a small corner in the large tunnel, and came face to face with a large metallic structure.

"Here we are," Tsukauchi said happily, climbing out of the grimy water and up onto the concrete slab in front of the structure. Izuku clambered up after him, and Tsukauchi turned the large wheel that operated as the door to the structure. With a groaning of hinges and metal, the door swung inward and led to another dark room. Izuku followed the detective into the small structure as Tsukauchi flipped a light switch on the wall panel and bathed the room in a dim fluorescent light. Izuku was forced squint, after nearly an hour in the pitch darkness of the tunnel, the sudden flood of light was damn near blinding.

The room was strangely out of place in the bowels of the sewer, with an odd assortment of tools and mechanisms that looked like they belonged in a nuclear silo, and not controlling the city's sewage.

Tsukauchi walked over to a control console near the center of the room and plopped himself down in the chair at the panel. Izuku should have been surprised that the room was completely abandoned, but where Tsukauchi was concerned he was quickly learning that there weren't many things that the man couldn't turn in his favor.

"All right," Tsukauchi said as he clicked a few commands into the control panel, "That's step one complete." He glanced up from his work and smirked at Izuku, "Ready for round two?"

"As I'll ever be," He muttered,

"Well you better be ready," Tsukauchi commented as he turned his attention back to the monitor, "Because you'll be doing this next part solo."

He shouldn't have been surprised. Should have known better. Yet it happened all the same.

"What?" He choked out, his voice coming out slightly hoarse.

"Someone needs to stay behind and turn the system back on when you're done," Tsukauchi observed, a single eyebrow arched. "Unless you've suddenly become an expert in the inner-workings of urban plumbing."

"And you are?" Izuku spluttered in exasperation,

"My father was a plumber, I picked up a few things."

"Of course he was," Izuku grumbled, before fishing for a way out of the situation. "I still don't understand why we're doing things this way. Why couldn't we have posed as internet providers, or cable guys or-or something? And why can't you just have your buddy restart the system, why does it have to be me? I don't know what I'm doing."

"It has to be you because you're not notable. You have a forgetful face,"

"Words hurt,"

"And you can walk in and out and no one will think the wiser. I'm a cop, I work with the pros on a daily basis, hell, I've worked with Kamui Wood before. If I show up pretending to be a plumber, he's going to make me in a second. And we're going with the plumbing route because I have ins with the people here, and I don't know anybody working with the cable companies, deal with it."

"But," Izuku protested, raising an argument he'd raised before, "We don't know what the range on these things are. How do we even know that we're going to be able to hear anything if I plant these in the bathroom?"

"Then don't plant them in the bathroom." Tsukauchi said simply, "Find someplace to put it, it doesn't matter where so long as we we can hear what he's doing and who he's talking to."

Izuku started to protest again but Tsukauchi cut him off, "You signed up for this Izuku." The man reminded him, "And is this really all that different from tailing Mt. Lady?"

Izuku wanted to say that it most certainly was different, but he thought better of it. It was no use fighting the man when he got something in his head. And at this point, Izuku was fairly certain that he'd resigned himself to the fact that this suicide mission really was going to kill him. He really didn't think that was a healthy mentality to have, but he was coming to terms with the fact that he was far from being the most mentally healthy he could be. But that was something to deal with at another time.

"Fine," Izuku sighed, turning on his heel and heading for the door,

"Wear your earpiece," Tsukauchi called out, "I'll be listening in for when to turn the power to their building back on."

Sighing once more, Izuku trudged out of the facility and back into the sewer.

On the bright side, at least he'd have the chance to shower.

BREAK

He was thankful that his mother had thought to teach him how to drive when he turned eighteen, otherwise parking the large utility vehicle would have been…interesting. Tsukauchi had requisitioned the vehicle from his friend with the plumbing company, and Izuku wasn't about to ruin the poor man's company truck.

Turning the engine off, Izuku inhaled deeply, doing what he could to steady his breath and his fraying nerves.

He could do this. He'd managed to tail Mt. Lady and record her conversation without her noticing, so surely he'd be able to do this. Except this was far more dangerous, and the possibility of being discovered was even greater. Kamui Wood was bound to have cameras inside right? Surely the man would notice that Izuku was planting something in the building. Well, he supposed if nothing else, then he could get a look inside the facility and they could try and figure something else out for the future.

Assuming Izuku wasn't found out for what he really was and they killed him on the spot or something.

Sighing deeply, he clambered out of the cab of the truck and adjusted the belt around his waist. In addition to the truck, Izuku had also been provided with a tool belt, a tool kit, and a uniform belonging to the numbing company. There really was nothing that Tsukauchi couldn't get his hands on if he wanted to.

Having spent so many days straight watching the agency from afar, it was a rather surreal experience actually walking up to the mahogany building. It really was an impressively beautiful building, that much Izuku had to admit. A simple yet elegant two story building built of a rich and deep mahogany that Izuku wouldn't have been surprised if it came from Kamui Wood himself.

He took a steadying breath as he approached the large, brass knocker on the frame of the door. It was too late to back out now, and as his therapist used to tell him, if he didn't feel like he could do something, then just take a deep breath and try regardless.

Pulling the large knocker up, he let it fall with a hearty thud against the wood. There was a pause before Izuku heard the sound of harried footsteps on the other side of the door. It opened and a diminutive woman with straw hair poked her head out,

"Yes?" She asked

"Morimoto plumbing services," Izuku introduced, using every ounce of his self-control to keep his voice from quivering, "Here about an issue with your pipes?"

"Oh yes," The woman said quickly, opening the door more fully and stepping aside for Izuku to enter the building.

"Please come in." She said and ushered Izuku inside. The inside was entirely dichotomous with the exterior of the building. While the outside looked rustic and simple, the inside was ostentatious. There was a pair of ornate busts of Kamui Wood flanking the bannisters of an enormous set of majestically decorated stairs leading up to the second floor. A rich indigo carpet covered the floor, and directed traffic into the many interior rooms of the building.

Covering the walls were enormous blown-up photographs of Kamui Wood as he tackled many different battles and villains. There were a couple of posters for movies, and the odd still from a commercial.

If Izuku had any doubts about the self-centered attitudes of pro-heroes, those reservations were lost the second he stepped foot into the building.

He shook himself free of his stupor and his mind raced as the woman, who must have been a secretary or aid of some kind, stared at him expectantly. Unable to think of something better, he said the first thing that came to his mind,

"Do you mind showing me to the kitchen?" The words fell from his lips unconsciously, and the woman nodded, believing his lie easily. Unable to really believe that she'd bought his feeble lie, he followed her through the ornate halls until they reached the rear of the first-floor, where another ostentatious door opened into an incredibly modern and well-equipped kitchen.

She pointed in the direction of the large sink at the rear of the kitchen and Izuku approached, swallowing the urge to shiver as he walked over to the sink. Opening the small cabinet under the sink, he set his toolkit down on the floor, before he got to the ground and shoved his torso into the small compartment. In hindsight, he had unintentionally chosen a good place for placing one of the devices. Conversations of importance did tend to happen around the dinner table or while milling about the kitchen, so maybe this was going to work in his favor. Reaching into the breast pocket of his coveralls, Izuku retrieved one of the listening devices. Glancing around the innards of the compartment, he tried to find a good spot to place the device. He wanted to place it somewhere that it would be effective, but where Kamui Wood wouldn't see it should he or someone else poke their head into the cabinet for whatever reason.

He found a spot tucked away between to criss-crossing pipes and hidden from clear view and decided it was going to be about as good as he got. He pulled free the small plastic wrapping on the back of the device, which activated the adhesive, and attached the device to the back of the pipe. Shuffling around on his back for a moment, he tried to see if the device was visible, and from the angles he was at, it certainly looked like it was hidden well.

Since he had the opportunity to think without the piercing and expectant gaze of the aid, Izuku began to race through all of the possible places where he could place the listening devices. He had another three devices, so he needed to use them sparingly. He wanted to get one of them in or at least near the bedroom of Kamui Wood, and he thought that if he could get away with placing one in a living room, if that even existed, would be a good idea as well.

Deciding on those two options for certain, and making a mental note to attach the last one should an opportunity arise, he shook himself free of the compartment, and got back to his feet.

"Well?" The woman asked, her heeled foot tapping an uneven rhythm on the tiled floor.

"I think I have an idea of what might be causing the problem," Izuku said vaguely, surprising even himself with how steady his voice came out.

"But I'd like to take a look at all of the sinks and toilets in the building if that's okay with you." The woman hesitated for a moment, and she worried at her lip as her eyes darted around the complex.

"Kamui Wood is going to be gone for the rest of the day…" She muttered, though she was mostly talking to herself, "As long as you can be finished by six…and you don't tell anyone…okay."

A wave of relief flooded through Izuku. While he was pleased that he was able to convince her to let him through the building, knowing for certain that Kamui Wood was going to be out of the agency for the rest of the day was exactly what he needed to relax himself somewhat. He could literally feel some of the tension leave his shoulders.

The aid, whom he learned was called Abe, led him through a series of rooms in the deceptively large agency. There were several bathrooms on the bottom and second floor that were separate rooms and not somewhere that Izuku would have liked to place one of the devices. However when she brought him into a room that could only be described as a lounge, he took advantage of her having to leave to answer someone at the door. The lounge area had a large fireplace at the end of the room, which Izuku found odd considering the hero's own weakness to the element. In front of the fireplace were a pair of plush leather arm chairs, and on a table in the corner of the room was another small table, with a pair of photographs on them. Izuku took a look around the room, hoping to spot any possible camera's in the room. Lucky for him, he'd yet to spot any camera's in any of the more private rooms on the first and second floor. Likely a security reason Izuku considered, wouldn't want any of Kamui Wood's more illicit activities caught on camera.

Walking over to the table, Izuku opened the back of the frame with a picture of Kamui Wood and who must have been the man's parents. Placing the small device inside the frame he closed up the frame and took a quick step back, as he heard the approaching sound of Abe coming back into the room.

For the next hour or so, they went from room, and Izuku pretended to take a look at the plumbing of the building, however he didn't have an opportunity to plant another device, as the woman hadn't left his side since her initial leaving back in the lounge room. Finally, Abe led him to the master bedroom. She seemed hesitant at first, but ultimately came to the decision to let him in regardless of her own apprehensions. If the rest of the building was ostentatious, then it was nothing to say of the master bedroom.

It was…interesting, Izuku decided. A strange combination of feudal Japan, mixed with the luxuries of living in the modern world.

"Are you absolutely certain you need to inspect here?" Abe asked, "Surely your look into the rest of the house was enough."

"I just need to make sure there aren't any additional issues coming from here." Izuku reassured her. The longer he kept up the persona, the more comfortable and confident he seemed to get in the role. "Last thing we'd want is for the rest of the house to be fine, but something wrong to be happening here of all places." He leveled Abe with a meaningful look, one she seemed to understand as she flinched, before nodding hurriedly.

"No, no," She amended, shaking her head vigorously, "You're right, you're-"

She was interrupted as the sharp ring of a telephone from downstairs rang through the halls. The woman sighed, and then looked at Izuku,

"Take a look at the bathroom and nothing else," She stressed, "For your sake, as well as mine." She then darted from the room, and Izuku as left alone in the bedroom.

As he'd done with the rest of the building, he made a cursory sweet of the bedroom, making sure that there were no cameras in the bedroom. When he was satisfied there was nothing there, Izuku scanned the room in the hopes of finding somewhere to place the listening device. Unlike Tsukauchi, he didn't trust that the device would be strong enough to catch anything if it was in the bathroom, aside from the toilet flushing.

In the corner of the room, was a large and ornate looking writing desk. Like the rest of the house it was built out of a rich mahogany, and likely had been made by Kamui Wood himself, or at least came from his own wood. Stepping over to the desk, he could see several files and important looking documents stacked on top of each other. it was clear that Kamui Wood did a lot of his work at the table, or at least conducted research there. If there was anywhere in the room that would benefit their cause it would likely be that.

Kneeing down by the base of the desk, Izuku felt along the bottom, his hand tracing along the soft contours of the wood. He found a small groove near the back of the desk, a minor indentation that was just large enough, where Izuku was certain that he would be able to insert the device without it being discovered. Pulling free the last device from his pocket, he attached it to the wood. After an experimental shake of the desk to make sure that the device wasn't going to fall, he stepped back and shot a quick text off to Tsukauchi that it was done and he could restore the house back to normal.

He turned his attention back to the desk, and was just about to walk back towards the bathroom when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye that stopped him in his tracks. It was the corner of a piece of paper, barely noticeable, but Izuku recognized the end of a name that her recognized on the page. Glancing up at the doorway and straining his ears, he couldn't hear anything to indicate that Abe was coming back to the room. Carefully, so as not to make it look like the pile had been moved, Izuku pulled the stack of papers up so he could get a better look at the paper that had caught his attention.

It was a letter from Yonenaga Rojiya, a name that Izuku remembered from one of the files Tsukauchi had been forcing him to read. He was a high-ranking executive with the Abegawa Tenchu Kai.

What the hell was Kamui Wood doing corresponding with the Yakuza? Sure Tsukauchi had said that sometimes the Pro's and Yakuza worked together, and he'd seen with his own eyes what had happened with Mt. Lady, but it was quite another thing to see that one of the up and coming hero's was receiving letters from an executive of one of the most dangerous families in the country.

He read the contents of the letter quickly, not there was much there to read.

Wood,

We have three more shipments coming in from America in the next couple of days. Same arrangement as before. We had to change the meet point as well. That bitch Ryukyu got the drop on us with those sidekicks of hers last week. We'll be holding the goods at West Pier, in the warehouse attached to Dock 34.

-Yonenaga Rojiya

Izuku's heart raced, and he raised his camera, which was still free from his pocket, and took a quick picture of the letter and sent it on its way to Tsukauchi. He then meticulously picked the stack of papers back up, and replaced them in their previous spot on the desk, making sure that everything was exactly where he had seen it before. Not for the first time, he was incredibly thankful for his damn near perfect memory.

When he was satisfied that nothing looked like it was out of place, he scrambled over to the bathroom, and just managed to get himself positioned under the sink as the clicking of Abe's small heels on the floor indicated her arrival. With an exaggerated groan, Izuku pulled himself free of the small enclosure, and closed the doors to the sink. He turned the faucet on and flushed the toilet experimentally, in the hopes that Tsukauchi had gotten his message and had fixed the plumbing on his end. To Izuku's immense relief, the toilet flushed without problem, and the water ran from the faucet without incident.

"Looks like we're all set here." Izuku said cheerily, as he wiped the sweat off his palms on his coveralls and shot what he hoped was a cheery smile at the petite woman.

"Right…" The woman breathed, relief seeming to wash over her as she ushered Izuku quickly from the room. "Well thank you, you'll forward us the bill?"

"Uh…" Izuku faltered, he hadn't even thought about the fact that they were believing that he was performing an actual service and was expecting payment. He had absolutely no idea if Tsukauchi was even going to handle the issue, or they were simply going to forget about it.

"Of course," He said quickly, "Expect it with five days or so," He made the number up on the spot, and hoped that it didn't seem too out of the ordinary. But the woman seemed to have been expecting as such and nodded in understanding.

He was ushered quickly down the stairs and towards the front door, but just when Abe was about to open the door, the wooden frames swung open and Izuku's heart dropped out of the bottom of his shoes.

"Oh, Kamui Wood," Abe said quickly, adopting a feign look of excitement. "You're back sooner than expected,"

"The situation was resolved far more quickly than anticipated." The deep baritone of Kamui Wood said as he stepped into the agency. He was shorter than Izuku remembered, maybe because the last time Izuku had seen him he'd been crazed and covered in blood. He turned a quizzical look at Izuku, and he felt his pulse race even faster yet, and sweat began dripping down the back of his neck.

This…this wasn't supposed to be happening. They had chosen the day specifically because they had known beforehand that Kamui Wood was going to be out of the agency for the most of the day. It was crucial to the plan, if Tsukauchi was a poor choice to be at the agency because he was recognizable, then it was absolutely suicidal that Izuku was there. How could Kamui Wood not recognize him? He'd looked Izuku right in the eye after killing his mother. He was going to recognize Izuku, he was going to know that something was wrong. Everything was going to come crashing down before it even had a chance to really begin.

He was frozen in place. It was the closest he'd been to the man since he'd killed Izuku's mother. The first good look he'd gotten at the hero since then. It was overwhelming, and Izuku could feel his world begin to rotate slowly, as his vision began to blur and his stomach clenched and unclenched painfully.

"Who is this?" Kamui Wood asked, looking Izuku up and down, paying close attention to the toolkit in Izuku's hand.

The words almost sounded foreign to Izuku, and he could hardly believe that Kamui Wood didn't recognize him, didn't know that he was the one that had seen him fleeing the scene of the Yakuza hideout, with Izuku's mother's blood on his hands.

Jolted out of his stupor, Izuku stuck a trembling hand out, and tried to force an excited smile on his face.

"Kurihara Kayo, with Morimoto plumbing services," He introduced, "I-I was here to fix your plumbing i-issue." He didn't need to hide the quiver in his voice this time, it made him sound more like an awestruck civilian, rather than a petrified spy.

Kamui Wood stared at him for a moment, before he gripped Izuku's hand in a tight grip, a tight-lipped smile on the fan's face.

"Always a pleasure to meet a fan," He said, before releasing his grip, and glancing over Izuku's shoulder, "Is our little problem taken care of then?"

"Y-yes sir," Izuku said quickly, and the words felt slightly sickening as they left his mouth. He wasn't particularly fond of using terms of deference to the killer of his mother.

"Excellent," Kamui Wood clapped Izuku on the shoulder, "Wonderful to hear. Thank you for your prompt and swift timing, I'll remember this."

"T-thank you s-sir." Izuku stammered out, forcing himself to subjugate himself in a low bow. Rising quickly, he bade a quick farewell to the Hero and to Abe, before he scrambled past the pair and made his escape down the steps and across the street towards the truck. He'd parked a block away from the agency, and was well out of sight when he collapsed against the side of the vehicle.

His chest heaved as he struggled to catch his breath. That…that had been entirely too close. What the hell had Kamui Wood been doing there, he wasn't supposed to be back yet. The only consolation was that the man hadn't seemed to recognize him.

But even as the thought occurred to Izuku, a new sensation began to wash over him.

Blind fury.

The bastard hadn't recognized him. Didn't know that the man, whose mother he had killed only a few weeks ago, was standing less than a foot away. Had shaken his damn hand.

The thought made him physically ill. And yet. it served to only solidify to Izuku that this was indeed the right course of action. Kamui Wood was so separated from reality, so detached in his own damned world, that he didn't even recognize what was happening right in front of him.

He'd burn the bastard to the ground.

His breathing shockingly steady, Izuku reached into his pocket, and withdrew his phone.

Tsukauchi answered after the first ring.

"It's done." Izuku said simply, then he remembered the letter.

"And I got something big to show you."

AN: So, this concludes the pre-written stuff I have for The Boys so far! Hope you guys have enjoyed the story thus far, I'm interested to hear what you all think of the story, and whether you want this to continue. I have a lot of interesting ideas for the theme of the story that I'd like to play with. Hopefully I can get back to this before too long, because this is definitely one of the more unique stories I've written so far! As always shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week.

All My Love and see soon,

LilDB