Izuku stared down at Junior as he tried to collect his thoughts; it was all so confusing, such a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions running through him.

'Who? Why? How?!'

Izuku had to take a deep breath, staring Junior down in the eye as he frowned at the older man.

"Junior... why? You're a nightclub owner! Why help a terrorist group like the Monochrome League?! Is that the kind of stuff you've been up to this entire time? What the Hell?" Feeling himself getting a little too excited, a little too eager, Izuku slipped into some more Bakugou-esque language. Junior just raised his hands defensively, the man grinding his teeth a little as he looked off up at the younger man.

"Alright, alright, alright... look, I didn't even know they were this fuckin' Monochrome League in the first place! Roman just fuckin' brought Kurogiri and Shigaraki by out of the blue a couple of months back and told me to do whatever they asked me to and that I'd be compensated for whatever I did for them! I didn't even know that they were looking to knock off Mountain Glenn and that smiling... er, Toshinori until they started recruiting thugs for the attack!"

"So why keep going after you figured it out?"

"Kid, these guys have money. Like 'lots' of it. Seems like they have enough to keep Roman enticed and Torchwick's the richest bastard in all of Vale right now." Izuku looked at him in disbelief as Junior just grunted. "What, were you expecting? Some melodramatic screed? You don't get rich runnin' a legit business in Vale, kid. You get rich by working with Roman and whoever he points your way! How the Hell do you think I've afforded to rebuild my club twice?! I only hate you fuckin' punk Hunters so much because you keep messing with my business!"

Izuku frowned a bit at that; honestly, he thought he might've preferred it if he did have some deeper motive. That he was just paid handsomely for his help and that the help he gave almost lead to Mountain Glenn's destruction... it just seemed so pointless. So heartless. Speaking of.

"Where's Roman keeping the stolen Dust? The League can't have used it all in the attack, they kept it relatively concentrated and small!" Izuku kept a firm grip on Junior's lapels, the man just continued to stare fearfully at Izuku as he shook his head.

"No idea!" Izuku gave him a quick shake. "I mean it, I have no idea! Look, I just rented my guys out to Roman whenever he needed some extra muscle for a robbery, that was it! I didn't see a fucking grain of that Dust pass through here. Besides kid, fuckin' think about it for a moment! Even if I did know where Roman took that Dust for a moment, they have a bastard like Kurogiri around working as a partner! That Dust could be anywhere in all of Remnant right now and I'd have no idea where!"

'That... that isn't an inviting prospect,' Izuku supposed it made sense; why keep the Dust somewhere local where it could be easily found when you could just teleport it literally anywhere in the world where no one would think to look for it and where you could easily get it back? Junior probably didn't even realize how right he was... he saw how many thugs and goons Kurogiri teleported into the Underground Training Facility. Some crates of Dust would probably be a no-brainer compared to that.

"That Scroll that Kurogiri just took... no, better, what was the number you called on the Scroll?" If Izuku could figure that out, maybe he'd have a chance of getting the authorities to track it down!

"Shit kid, these guys aren't as dumb as you seem to think they are; these guys have so many stolen Scrolls on them and a fuckin' library of SIM cards that they and Roman use for just such a potential leak. They keep changing things up... even if I got you this one number, they're probably dumping it off somewhere as we speak. They never called me with their phone either; if they ever wanted to talk they'd just have Kurogiri teleport in here. Roman didn't get to where he is by being an idiot and... well, Shigaraki might be a crazy bastard but he's fuckin' smart, I'll give him that."

Izuku grit his teeth together.

'If this is the case then these guys had thought things through. Most Scrolls pinged off of the towers every eight hours or so to lock in their location and the fact that they're active and also do so every time they make a call or try to send a message. If they are constantly swapping out phones then the former wouldn't be an issue, the latter would be solved by them not trying to make a connection. Still, if I had the number I might at least be able to track down one location they were at. After all, when making an active connection both Scrolls pinged off their locations... it'd be super general of course, but you could at least use it as a starting point…'

But there was Kurogiri again, and not just him but Neopolitan as well. Who knew where they'd be the second the police started to show up.

Still, better to get at least a general idea than nothing at all. Even if he could only mark off one location or one stolen Scroll, that was progress at least.

"Just give me the number Junior, that's all I asked you for!"

"Alright, fine! I'll fuckin' write it down for you, happy?!"

"Alright... one last question Junior and then we're done here. What do you know about the Monochrome League?!" Izuku was fishing with that one; he had 'nothing' on them besides their names and Kurogiri's Semblance. He had nothing else to track them with and even the name of their group seemed to be a bit of a distraction from their more general-purpose if Mirio was right.

"Look... I didn't even know they were fuckin' called the Monochrome League at first. I only figured that out when they announced it during the attack. As I said, I just met Kurogiri and Shigaraki when Roman brought them by! I know what Kurogiri's Semblance is but, hey, I figure you get that at this point!"

"... So you don't know much more than that..." Junior licked his lips for a moment, his eyes glancing around as if trying to find some way to fish himself out of the situation.

"That's just the way it is kid; I'm just one of the guys Roman has moving people and information between him and the ground floor. I'm not actually in on most of the shit going on with his operation or with most of the people he's working with. He or these Monochrome guys want grunts to fill out their ranks for something, I put the word out. They want information, I try to get it for them. Beyond that I'm just supposed to be the owner of some club in the city I'm not involved and that's been fine by me... this fuckin' gig was supposed to be safer while still getting me paid..." Junior snorted derisively as he waved his hand over toward the busted-down office door. "For all the fuckin' good it did. You Hunters just can't help but dig your nose into other people's-"

"You helped rob people and helped the biggest criminal in all of Vale with his operations, you're not weaseling your way out of that by pushing the blame on Hunters, Junior!" Izuku reiterated with a slight shake of his head.

"Whatever. Not like it matters, I've been screwed out of my spot thanks to this... Hell, guess I don't need to worry about rebuilding the club at least. A shitty silver lining but I'll take it" With that, Junior looked back up at Izuku, a slight glare on his features as he did so. "So, what are you waiting for, hero? You gonna beat the crap out of me and then drag my ass to a police station or will I at least have the dignity of walkin' on my own two feet?"

Izuku stopped for a second, and thought, thought about all the troubles, and all the factors he was facing, the crimes, Weiss, the Monochrome League, all of it, before finally sighing and shaking his head.

"... I'm going to wait for my Team to get back. We can discuss what we'll do with you then. What happens after depends on that, I guess." Izuku muttered, glancing off to the side as Junior scoffed.

"Wow, check out the stones on you. I can see why you were made a Leader." Izuku didn't even need to take a look at Junior to know that the man was being deeply sarcastic. He frowned as he did his best to secure Junior's person, keeping a bit of One For All channeling through his arms using Full Cowl to keep a firm grip on him. With that he forced the two of them out of Junior's office as they both walked out into the middle of the club, a good number of unconscious grunts still groaning in pain. Feeling it secure enough Izuku pulled up a chair and forced Junior to sit down, keeping an eye and a hand on him as he fished his Scroll out to call Weiss. He waited for the device to ring a few times and then, eventually, it hit her voicemail... weird. She and Pyrrha must've still been chasing the Malachite Twins down. Izuku shrugged his shoulders at that as he decided to wait out the time for Weiss to come back.

Then again... they weren't fighting the Twins, they were trying to catch them. Melanie and Miltia knew this turf more personally than any of the four of you did, so it might prove a little trickier for them to secure them and capture them. Still, you have faith. It really shouldn't take long...

...

About twenty minutes later Izuku had begun to second guess that thought. He checked his Scroll again, seeing the time slowly pass by. A bit of worry rose in his throat; 'did something happen? Nora wasn't back either, was there-'

"Heya Fearless Leader!" Izuku jumped a bit as he turned his head, seeing Nora running back into the ground with a variety of unconscious goons in her grip or lugged over her shoulders. "Sorry, it took me so long! Nobody wanted to play nice so I had to go ahead and boop them all across the head till I could drag 'em back. Hoo, a little bit heavy but I got 'em here, just like you asked!" With that Nora deposited the goons on the ground, all of them groaning in their unconscious states as Izuku smiled. Well, at least Nora was back. "Ooh! You got Junior too! So what are we gonna do with him, Izuku? We gonna break his legs?"

"Well... I'm not sure Nora. I wanted to check in with Weiss before we made any kind of decision; she didn't answer her Scroll and she didn't call back, so I figure she and Pyrrha might have their hands a bit full chasing the Twins." Nora nodded her head as she grinned, walking up to Izuku and Junior.

"Sounds like a plan to me! It can't take them that much longer! Pyrrha and Weiss are-"

BANG BANG BANG

"-oh that must be them!" Nora commented as a loud series of knocks and bangs rang out against the entrance to the club. He frowned a bit, surprised that Pyrrha and Weiss might've been using the main entrance to the club to get back in. Had they chased the Twins that far out before needing to come back?

Though it didn't end up being as much of a surprise as the slew of police officers that immediately ran into Junior's club, guns drawn as they checked their flanks upon entering. Izuku sweated a bit as the officers so suddenly appeared, his mouth going a bit dry as they spotted him. For a moment a couple actually trained their rounds on him, but a quick order from the back got the men to go at ease. From their ranks came out...

'Hey, wait a moment.'

Izuku recognized him from Mountain Glenn, at the attack on the Tunnels. The dog eared Faunus, his ears floppy against his head, looked around at the chaos for a moment before he took notice of Izuku and Nora.

"... Am I to guess that you both are Hunters from the Academy?" They nodded slightly as the man returned the gesture, walking forward with the crisp, simple steps of a well-trained policeman. "Somewhat easy to tell from your weapons and the... damage caused. Might I ask for your identification, to be sure?" They brought up their Scrolls and presented the screens to the man, official Beacon IDs visible. After the man's eyes passed over them, he nodded. "Ah. Izuku Midoriya and Nora Valkyrie. Interesting coincidence." The man raised his hand in greeting at both of them. "I'm not sure if you remember me, but-"

"You were one of the police officers at Mountain Glenn, right? After the attack?" The man's face shifted into a warm grin.

"So you do remember. Very good. For introduction's sake, my name is Kenji Tsuragamae."

"Kind of surprised to see you here though if you're from, like, Mountain Glenn?" Nora asked, confused, as the man shook his head.

"Ah, no, I'm not stationed at Mountain Glenn myself; I'm actually the Chief of Police here in Vale. I arrived as part of the train that brought much of the rest of the officers and Beacon staff and Hunters to Mountain Glenn in response to the emergency signal that Mr. Midoriya here sent off. Mountain Glenn is pretty independently-minded these days but it is still very much a City of Vale offshoot. As Chief of Police, it was my responsibility to go there to help investigate and report on the attack to the Governing Council, woof."

'Woof?' Izuku couldn't help but think to himself, 'did he just... bark?'

Izuku turned over to Nora, his teammate having stars in her eyes at the sight of it and struggling to contain herself, while the man coughed into his fist.

"If I'm not mistaken, the both of you were also in the police report filed about the accidental fire here some weeks ago. It seems that Junior's Club is a bit of a magnet for Hunters to come by... and it seems as though there's a good reason for that." The dog eared Faunus spoke grimly as he looked down at Junior, the man just biting his lip slightly before Kenji looked back to the students. "Some new evidence has come to the attention of the police; one of the people down in evidence took some time to look back over some of the security footage we had from various shops around Vale and started to find that the men involved in those robberies with Roman Torchwick bore striking resemblance to Junior's guards."

"Wow, good timing..." Junior muttered to himself as Kenji continued.

"Indeed; we had been planning on a means of bringing Junior in quietly when... well, we got reports of some violence occurring at the Club. I suppose it's one way of securing a suspect, woof." Izuku blushed a bit at that.

"Yeah, I guess..." The sudden police presence had made Izuku nervous, but at the very least, even if Kenji had been acting quite professional and... barking? He had also been polite.

"At any rate, I'd like to thank you both... or, is your entire team here somewhere?" Kenji asked, tilting his head to the side as he thought for a moment.

Izuku tried to think of a way to prevent this, To find some way to manage this so that Izuku could buy time for Weiss to come back so they could all reconvene on this. Finally, he ended up remembering; the Vytal Accords gave Hunters the authority to hold people in their Custody if they felt they were in the way of, or were otherwise threats to, their work. Gradually that got expanded to essentially full Police Custody as the profession expanded into the urban sphere. It wasn't often used by Hunters outside of those with bases of operations or the Academy Headmasters, but it was the only option he had to buy him the time he was looking for.

"A-Actually, sir... I'd like to take Junior here into my custody, at least for a while. There might be some stuff we'd be interested in knowing and we'd like time to pursue that." The dog Faunus' ears twitched a bit at that, a slight raise of his eyebrow signaling his slight surprise at that. However, while the response from the Chief of Police was restrained, a few of the cops he'd brought with him seemed positively incredulous.

"What, this kid serious?"

"Guess he is; even the Hunters-in-Training are getting a little too big for their britches these days..."

"Is he even allowed to do this? He's just some kid, surely-"

"To answer that question, officer," Kenji spoke up, the whispering of his men ceasing as he did so. "Yes. Even as a Hunter-in-Training, Mr. Midoriya does have that right. Beacon Academy has recognized him as worthy of attending their school and thus he falls under their umbrella... it's unusual but it's what Article 33 in the Vytal Accords is there for. After all, very rare is it for Hunters in the field to be able to immediately get a hold of their superiors to authorize it, even in this day and age." Admittedly, the Accords had been made in a time when rapid communication with Scrolls wasn't an option, where an apprentice or student might be days or weeks off from hearing from their master or Academy, but the same principle still applied. With that, Kenji turned back to look at Izuku, a serious expression on his face.

"Very well Izuku Midoriya. In recognition of your right as established in the Vytal Accords, the CIty of Vale Police Department recognizes that Junior..." Everyone looked back at Junior who just sighed in annoyance.

"Just Junior."

"Hrmm... we'll see about that." Kenji coughed into his fist before continuing. "That Junior will be held in your custody until further notice. However, recognize that this means that the responsibility for Junior's continued well-being and his continued captivity rests entirely on your shoulders... should anything happen to him or should he escape, you will be the one to answer for this failure to your superiors and the Vale Police Department. Is this understood?"

'... Jeez, no pressure right?'

"... Yeah, I understand sir."

"... Good. Glad that is understood." At that, the tension and edge that Kenji took softened a bit as the man reached into his suit's pocket, pulling out his Scroll and tapping on it. "As you've taken Junior into your custody, his properties are your grounds to investigate for the time being. Take note, however, that any evidence you find should be reported to the Police Department or, at the very least, be left for us to find... should the Police Department of Vale find that you took critical evidence from the scene of a crime, then the protections afforded to you by the Vytal Accords cease." Eventually, Kenji presented Izuku with his Scroll, the screen having widened into... paperwork? "Just quickly swipe your Scroll with its ID over it; to put a stamp on your custody of Junior for official documentation." Izuku did so, giving his Scroll's screen a quick swipe over Kenji's. Moments later his signature filled in on a few of the lines of the digital paperwork.

"Very good then. I hope you find what you're looking for Mr. Midoriya. When you're finished and assuming you won't be handing him over to Mr. Ozpin back at Beacon, feel free to drop by the police station at any time to drop Junior off. I'll keep a few officers out front here to keep the grounds secured; once you're done investigating he'll make sure no one swings by to disturb the crime scene before we have a chance to investigate." Izuku nodded in understanding before the Police Chief turned on his heels to look the rest of his men in the eye. The next few minutes devolved into a quick set of orders given as three officers were sent to secure the various entrances to Junior's Club while the rest headed back to the station. A few were still looking incredulously at Izuku but those looks disappeared along with the officers soon enough.

"... I think that went well!" Nora said, a short smile on her face as Junior just snorted derisively. Izuku felt a bit like jello after all of that and so left it to Nora to keep an eye, and more importantly a hand, on Junior while he took a seat, waiting for Weiss and Pyrrha to come back.

Another fifteen minutes went by and by that point he started to worry.

'What if something had happened to Pyrrha and Weiss while they were pursuing the Twins? What if they'd come across someone else who'd run interference, or worse, if The Twins had gone to someone specifically to help them?'

That possibility brought a pause to Izuku's train of thought.

'It doesn't seem likely; if Junior's contacts weren't willing to stick their neck out to help him, then surely they wouldn't stick their necks out for a couple of his bodyguards. Then again, can I be certain? Maybe they found no value in Junior himself but if The Twins could fight then maybe they'd want them, somehow?'

While Nora just sat there waiting for the other two to show up, smiling as she chatted with Izuku and Junior, though the latter seemed anything but amused by that, Izuku couldn't help but feel the dread build up. Finally, he stood up, convinced that Weiss and Pyrrha had gotten blindsided somehow and needed his help, and-

"I'm sorry!" He let go of a breath he hadn't even known he was holding as he turned his head toward the back of the club, a pair of heels clicking against the floor as another set were dragging against the ground. He was immediately relieved when he saw Weiss and Pyrrha approaching, Weiss especially looking a little worse for wear and exhausted as she walked up toward his group. Behind Pyrrha were the Malachite Twins, the pair of young women having their hands and feet frozen in a couple of blocks of ice to keep them restrained as Pyrrha dragged them along. "That ended up taking longer than we thought, we hope we didn't worry you!"

"What? Pfft! Not at all! You guys could handle yourselves and if you couldn't you could just signal us for backup! We knew you'd be fine!" Nora's bubbly confidence perked him back up from his dread, leaving him to just chuckle nervously.

"Admittedly I was getting a bit worried but I'm glad to see you both. When you didn't respond to the message I sent and... well when it took you so long, I was afraid you all got ambushed or something." Weiss heaved a quick sigh as she placed Myrtenaster back at her side, the rapier's Dust slots a lot emptier than they had been when the fight had started.

"Well we tried to avoid letting them go to or drag us toward places like that but, well, they were a bit of a pain even without an ambush." Weiss pulled up a chair for herself, the young Heiress daintily taking a seat despite her clear exhaustion. "The two of them took us on a bit of a run through the area around here. Honestly, the streets of Vale, especially the back alleys, are positively labyrinthine if you don't know your way around. Gods, they almost even gave us the slip." The Malachite Twins frowned at that, clearly not happy to hear that they had almost got away.

"But they didn't; honestly Weiss was quite dogged in making sure we got them. When I'd thought we lost them for good she pushed for keeping the search up and, well, as you can see it paid dividends." Pyrrha spoke encouragingly as she pointed down at the Twins, a little scuffed up and beaten down themselves, as Weiss just shook her head.

"It shouldn't have been such a chase in the first place... but I am glad that we caught them eventually."

"Yeah."

"Congrats, real good work." The Twins intoned in a slight monotone, causing Weiss to kick the both of them.

"You two hush up, I'm in no mood," Weiss remarked, annoyed, before she turned back to face Izuku. "Now then, Izuku; your message said you needed me here? Your message made it sound important; sorry for taking so long, it really would've done well if we'd been here sooner." Izuku shook his head.

"No, I understand. We haven't exactly had an easy time of it here either." He remarked before he began to explain to Weiss what he'd found out from Junior. The white-haired Heiress and Pyrrha nodded along as he spoke and, as he finished with the last of his interrogation of Junior, Weiss sighed.

"So it really does come down to Torchwick then. Junior was just someone they got some hired help for. Not exactly what I was hoping for but... better to know than to not know." Junior growled a bit at having been so short sold as Weiss leaned her head on her hand. "So, Roman Torchwick and The Monochrome League. Not a pleasant combination, especially if it allowed for that attack on Mountain Glenn..." Weiss shook her head. "Still, that just leaves us back to where we were when we were at From Dust Til Dawn; Torchwick's too big of a fish for us to fry if the police have been having such a hard time... especially if some of their ranks have been compromised."

"Sounds a little too close to home for my liking. I'd heard that things like this weren't as common in the other Kingdoms as they are in Mistral..." Pyrrha muttered as she brought her hands up to somewhat hug herself as Nora shrugged.

"Hey, we managed to figure this all out on our own and took down Junior and his club, even if he was just a small fish! So I don't think we should be short-selling ourselves on this!" Nora said excitedly as she pumped her fists. "Now we just have to break Roman's legs!"

"That's gonna be hard to pull off, I think..."

'I don't even know what to make of the entirety of all of this. If Junior was right it didn't sound like the Monochrome League was working under Torchwick, but that they were just working with each other in some way. And who knows how involved Torchwick is, or if capturing him would even lead to the League... or if the League would just abandon him the same way it just ditched Junior.'

"All this being said, I'm still a little confused Izuku." Izuku turned back to Weiss, the Schnee Heiress looking at him curiously. "It sounds to me like you had everything under control here... I don't exactly see what you needed me so badly for." Izuku scratched the back of his head at that.

"Well... I just wanted to know what you thought we should do with Junior. This was all because you didn't want any connections to maybe be made to the SDC, right? Well... I just wanted to hear what you wanted to do with him given that, is all." Weiss' lips went a bit thin at that, the young woman tilting her head to the side as she looked at Izuku.

"Izuku... don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't appreciate that you wanted to check with me but... well, you already knew what I wanted. As you said, I'd just prefer if it wasn't known that SDC Dust was used in the attack; you should've been ready to make a decision based on that, as our Leader. We're supposed to trust you to make what you feel is the right call, after all, like I'd hope you'd trust us to make the right call when a situation is out of control and you are not around." He nodded slowly at that, glancing over to the captured Malachite Twins, while Weiss sighed as she looked over at Junior.

"Especially like this one has. I'd have preferred if we didn't fight him so that we could just potentially let this go after we found out how involved, if at all, he was. Given what we've learned it might've just been better to walk away if Junior just talked... but that's not what happened. Junior tried to attack us and we weren't exactly quiet... especially judging by the police that we saw outside of the Club. Now whether or not the SDC connection gets found out by the public is all down to Junior and whether he's inclined to talk... or more accurately if he feels courageous enough to." The club owner scowled at Weiss as she spoke.

"This just got out of our control so quickly. Still, if we were going to try to make a decision about what to do that might still have gotten us what we wanted... well, it probably should've been made when you had him right then and there, Izuku, rather than wait for Pyrrha and me to show up." Weiss sighed as she combed a hand through her hair. "As it stands, I doubt we get out of this without the police being aware of what we were up to or what caused this mess with the club in the first place."

...

"Yeah, about that... the police kind of already came in here and we kind of already had a bit of a chat..." Izuku muttered as he scratched at the back of his head, causing Weiss and Pyrrha to look at him curiously. Another minute or so of explaining what happened with the police left Weiss rubbing at her temples, her eyes closed as she took in a breath through her nose and exhaled through her mouth.

"... Why exactly did you tell the police that we'd be taking Junior into our custody, Izuku?" His hand instinctively went back up to the back of his head, expression sheepish as he looked down to the side.

"... To... buy time for you to show up so I could ask what you thought we should do about this..."

...

"Nora, please make a note for me; when we get back to the dorm room I need to use the spray bottle on Izuku until it's out of water." Nora just gave Weiss a quick nod and saluted, as the Heiress heaved a great, agitated sigh with her hands on her lap.

"Okay, okay. So Junior and his Club are technically in our custody... Gods... until we decide what to do with them. We should probably decide what we're going to do with everyone here; Junior's the big focus but we also have his guards... most of them are involved in the robberies but some of them might just have been staff and so turning them over to the police might not look so good in the short run... then again they were all attacking us... then again we were technically asked to leave by their boss... Gods, why are we the ones who have to sort through all this? Oh right..." Weiss stopped rubbing her temples to look back at him for a moment before she took another breath.

"Alright... so, what's the plan..." Seeing Izuku cringe slightly, Weiss just buried her face in her hands as she shook her head. "Who am I kidding there was no plan going into this. So, what plan are we going to come up with for dealing with all of these people? We can't just keep Junior, we have no way of keeping him secured for ourselves after all and I'd like it to at least look like we were doing something constructive here to warrant having taken him out of the Police's Custody."

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Hmm... and when you mentioned the possibility of a plant within his department, Chief Tsuragamae allowed for your account to be off the record, then?"

Izuku nodded at that. "That's right... though I don't think he did so because I asked him to keep my team off the books. He said that if his department did have a plant then they'd know what the League knew about a Hunter being there. If our names came up in an official report, it'd be easy for the League to assume that I'd passed along information about the plant to them. He said that if any official Hunter names were kept out of the picture then it might convince the League or Torchwick that we'd just skipped out as soon as we got what we wanted and left Junior and the rest for the police to eventually come. Given that the timing of the evidence suddenly being rediscovered would've been right around when I would've started interrogating Junior, he was inclined to believe me."

It'd been nothing short of a lucky break. According to Kenji, while it was common enough that Hunters who didn't report in to just be given a pass to go about their business, it was decidedly unusual for a Huntsman who came into the station to give a report to be stricken from the record. Kenji, in his very own words, wouldn't have done it if there wasn't something at stake in his department. He didn't want the plant, whoever they were, to be suspicious that the department knew about him, her or, in the worst-case scenario, them. Keeping them in the dark on what Kenji knew would allow him to conduct his sweep to see if he could catch them off guard.

To that end, leaving The League thinking that he and Kenji hadn't touched bases would be the best way to go about that, as it'd leave them thinking that the department was still in the dark. There was some risk of that deception being broken, given that he'd come to the station, but given the fact that he'd done so after handing Junior off onto the on-scene police at Junior's Club rather than drag him into the station himself, it wouldn't be hard to say that he had been given more information on the attacks in The Tunnels.

With that having been squared away... that just left him with a handful of people he felt like he should tell.

Ozpin, Glynda and Toshinori.

The three of them all looked thoughtful as he finished up his final accounting, the three adults (Glynda having been brought in at both Ozpin and Toshinori's insistence) all looked thoughtful.

"Hmm... I might've suspected that Roman Torchwick might've in some way aided or abetted the League, after all, Torchwick hasn't been shy about how he's made his money before... but this confirmation does make things a little more difficult." Ozpin remarked as he took a sip of his, from the smell of it, cocoa as Glynda nodded.

"Indeed. If the man can successfully hide from Aizawa and Qrow, then I doubt he'd have much trouble finding someplace quiet for the League to bunker down in." Glynda remarked dryly, Toshinori tapping his chin.

"Not to mention the fact that if the League has the kind of resources to be able to buy Torchwick's help... well, it's sounding less and less like a standard Monochrome Cult. Oz, you get any information on that thing, the Nomu, yet?" Ozpin shook his head as he looked over at Toshinori.

"Not quite and, believe you and me, I've been shuffling him around to just about every doctor I know that's willing to test him... it's nothing conclusive yet but we're quickly running out of tests to run on him. If there's something off that we can figure out about him, we'll narrow it down soon enough."

"On the whole, this doesn't tell us a great deal that we didn't suspect already..." Glynda muttered, the woman combing a stray strand of hair back into place as Toshinori shook his head.

"But knowing for certain tells us what might or might not work, given who we're dealing with. We're probably not gonna be able to track these guys down just by hitting the concrete... Torchwick's been a little too able when it's come to that. We can't undervalue the fact that we know a bit more about what we're dealing with compared to before." The conversation seemed fit to continue for several more minutes but-

"Uh... what about me and my team?" At that, all three adults turned to look at Izuku. Izuku expected to get into some kind of trouble; after all, while he had technically done this on his own time, he was still a student of Beacon Academy. Huntsman-in-Training or no, he was a student. It was probably against all kinds of rules for endangerment, especially considering how much of his team was involved.

He expected to be in some kind of trouble...

"Hmmm? What are you alluding to, Mr. Midoriya? You weren't even at the club when this was going down."

...

"Huh?" Izuku asked, face confused, as he looked right at Ozpin. Off to the slide Professor Goodwitch had palmed her face in her hand, the woman's jaw locked tight as she shook her head disbelievingly, while Toshinori seemed to just be doing his best to keep quiet, lest he stir Glynda to action, though there was a look of acceptance on his face. Ozpin... well, Ozpin just looked like he always did.

"Indeed Mr. Midoriya. From what I've gathered about the report about the incident at Junior's Club, no Hunters were found anywhere. So I don't quite know what you're talking about; you're here because I wanted to apologize for not arranging a time when we could meet. Understand that, with the fallout from the Tunnel, I'm quite busy... I promise, once everything is settled, we'll have another chance for something to drink and another board game."

...

"What?"

'But... but... I, I am the reason he knows! I just told him! Why is he-'

"Honestly, I can't believe this..."

"What, you're surprised, Glyn? This is perfectly out of Oz's playbook... he and Nezu did always have a flair for pulling off little stunts like this." Ozpin just smiled slightly as he shrugged.

"I honestly don't know what either of you are implying." A small series of chuckles managed to slip their way between Ozpin's lips as he took a drink from his cocoa. "Anyway, Toshinori, please do Mr. Midoriya the kindness of escorting him back down to the ground floor?" Izuku felt a little numb from the surprise of it all as Toshinori nodded, going over to help him up to his feet. They both quickly walked over to the elevator and, as they did, he heard Glynda sigh.

"Honestly Ozpin, we shouldn't be allowing them to break the rules like they have been. Bad enough for Miss Xiao Long and Miss Rose's pre-Beacon happenstances, but an entire team in the middle of the semester? If Qrow..."

"Yes, Glynda? If Qrow were here, is what I think you were about to say, correct? What would he do if he were here with us now?"

"... I'm surrounded by idiots..." Not long after that he was brought out of his surprise as the elevator arrived. He looked up to Toshinori, his predecessor having tapped his chin slightly as he thought for a moment.

"Toshinori, sir... what was that about?" Toshinori remained silent, then nodded slowly as he looked down at Izuku, a slight smile on his face.

"Ozpin's... interesting, Izuku. As the Headmaster of Beacon he's duty-bound to put out the front of being strict on the rules and keeping order here. Now, what you didn't wasn't against the law and it was good information we wouldn't otherwise have... but it is unusual for a First Year student to get into this kind of trouble. Normally he'd be expected to report this given your age but... well... how does Ozpin put it..." Toshinori tapped his chin. "He's a fan of bending the rules before they get broken. If the police didn't report it then technically he's not breaking the rules in this regard. You see what I mean?"

"...He does this often?"

"Gods alive, yeah. You wouldn't believe how many rules got bent when Team STRQ were running around..." Izuku nodded at that, Toshinori putting his hands in his pockets as he looked back forward.

"... What about you though, Toshinori? Glynda seemed pretty upset and... well, you weren't exactly joining in with the Headmaster..." Toshinori nodded at that, a thoughtful look still on his face before he turned to look down at his student.

"Let me answer that with my own question... Izuku Midoriya; if you thought you could help someone in some way like you did, would you honestly let something like the rules stop you?"

There wasn't even a second's hesitation.

"No. I wouldn't." At that moment... a smile bloomed on Toshinori's face. One that he knew all too well. One that was deeply ingrained in his memory.

"No hesitation... in all the ways you've changed since we met, you still haven't given that up young man." Toshinori turned back forward to the elevator door. "Young man... One For All was given to you so that you could be a Symbol of Peace; a Hero for those who needed one. To give you the strength to help those in need... and let me tell you, I'm not about to be a hypocrite by telling you to not break the rules to help people you think need yours."

"Fear not citizens, Hope has arrived! Because I am here!"

Those famous words rang in Izuku's head again as he was reminded of what kind of risks his mentor, his Hero, was willing to take to save people himself. No hesitation, huh? As the elevator doors creaked upon as he and Toshinori reached the bottom floor, he turned back to look at his Hero, all buffed up in case someone came by, as he smiled at Izuku.

"Just one thing young man... if you do come across more information like this, don't feel afraid to tell us. I'm sure Ozpin would find ways to bend things around, knowing him." Izuku just gave a slightly dazed nod as the elevator doors closed, leaving him out in the middle of the lobby leading up to Ozpin's office alone. Izuku put his hands in his pockets, still feeling somewhat surprised before he walked off. This... was pretty unexpected, truth to be told.