Disclaimer: I still do not own My Hero Academia. Maybe if I change my name to 'Horikoshi Kouhei...

For Mastermind, the world seemed to stop briefly. Eraserhead had just come down, capture weapon in hand and obviously glaring at him. Furiously, he tried to think of a plan. Eraserhead didn't give him that opportunity. The Erasure Hero pressed the advantage, throwing the capture weapon yet again, aiming for his centre of mass.

Mastermind narrowly dodged, trying to find a moment to breathe-

"Mastermind." More strands of capture tape sprang up and around Mastermind, only the cameras in his hood giving him any chance to dodge. He barely managed to roll out of the way as Eraserhead continued. "It's completely irrational that an amateur like you has managed to get this far."

A strand had snagged his arm! As he tried to think or remove it, he was suddenly pulled off-balance, thrown to the side of the alleyway. More strands of the unique Capture Weapon came at Mastermind, forcing him to try running.

"From your two villain attacks previously, you've demonstrated considerable ability in planning your assault and for preparing when you have a moment to think. Your stealth and information gathering abilities are to be commended." Mastermind had to duck quickly as the Capture Weapon came at neck height. "However, you don't seem to do so well when circumstances change. Your movements are sloppy, and you have numerous blind spots in your fighting expertise. Those Pro Heroes who practically gave you your victory on a silver platter should have never been given their licenses."

Eraserhead swung closer, capture tape tightening on his arm, hair and the rest of the weapon floating in an unseen wind. "You won't find me so easy to beat. You can't run, so give up and make it easier on yourself."

Mastermind's head was spinning. This - this really illustrated why he needed minions! Here was the point where he knew that there were heroes and then there were PRO heroes. Eraserhead - how had he never thought about Eraserhead appearing?

I can't run. This capture tape, Eraserhead - they're too quick. Too skilled for me to beat him in a straight fight even with my armour. But if I don't escape, well, I'll be arrested. Worse, Mom will kill me.

Think, Izuku! Think! What would Kacchan do?

Eraserhead kept a wary eye on the villain, even as he prepared to wrap more tape around him. He knew full well that a cornered rat will bite all the harder. The important thing was to keep the bindings just loose enough that there was a chance at escape - until it was far too late for the villain to resist.

He kept up the Erasure effect as well. From what the villain had demonstrated regarding his devices, it wasn't a bad electrical attack then and with Mount Lady - it would make sense for an electrification Quirk to be used to power this Support gear. Nedzu had different theories, but both of them knew that you didn't take chances with some villains. He could test that theory later. Now he had to tighten the tape-

"Mrow."

Eraserhead paused for a moment. There, in the alleyway was a cat. A grey, short-haired cat with green eyes was watching them. As it saw Eraserhead turn his attention to it, it licked its paw and cleaned its ears. Eraserhead's grip slackened for just a second-

What happened next, Eraserhead had to put down to an unexpected reaction. Villains who typically had their powerful Quirk erased tended to panic. They got sloppy. made mistakes and tried to get their abilities to work again. Or they froze in place, making them easy marks. He'd expected Mastermind to be the latter - the villain's prior behaviour suggested that things not going to plan flustered them.

Suddenly, the villain dashed forwards, arm cocked back slightly to wind up a punch. Eraserhead only hesitated for a moment -

"DIE!"

But a moment was enough for the villain to slam his gauntleted fist into his face, aiming at his goggles. Eraserhead was able to roll with the punch, repositioning himself even as the villain tried to tear off the capture weapon. But his goggles had cracked. Not good.

Mastermind took the opportunity to try and free himself from the capture weapon, taking advantage of the gap to start thinking.

He's glaring at me - his hair's floating in the wind. He's using Erasure - he must be trying to erase my Quirk!

The biggest things I've demonstrated have been my smoke screens, probably the Freeze Ray and taser glove. He must have assumed that one of them is my Quirk.

Mastermind's heads-up display beeped.

Detecting unusual energy signature. Analysing... estimated time for full analysis: 10 hours.

Unusual energy? Erasure, maybe? I suppose that makes sense. But ten hours? That's way too long!

Mastermind took the opportunity to start priming the second support device he'd added to his costume. He'd been remiss about his boots. After all, some of the coolest gadgets needed to be attached to his legs to properly work.

As he was working, though, Eraserhead managed to pick himself up, grip tightening on his support weapon. Mastermind watched him, warily.

I got in a lucky shot. He won't fall for that trick again.

Eraserhead shot forwards, and Mastermind blocked a blow to the face with his forearm.

I've got one more trick up my sleeve!

Analysis of energy - 9 hours 59 minutes 40 seconds.

Thanks, visor.

Eraserhead's capture weapon readied itself to wrap around Mastermind again, but Mastermind was prepared. His free hand shot into his Utility Belt. As the binding tape came back, Izuku hip-fired his Freeze Ray at it, the beam of blue energy pushing the tape back and freezing it to the wall. Quickly he shoved it back into his pocket, throwing a jab that the Hero easily swayed around, the Pro's elbow meeting his outstretched arm with a fierce blow that rattled Izuku badly.

The Pro Hero spared a moment, reaching into the pouch on his back and pulling out a knife. Mastermind boggled as the Pro just cut the frozen piece of the weapon off. Why the hell did the Pro have a knife that could cut through carbon fibres like it was nothing? "Tch."

Mastermind barely twisted his head to the side to avoid the worst as Eraserhead's fist flashed in lightning fast. He still heard the crunch of his visor being damaged, a large crack appearing on its view screen. The impact sent him spinning slightly into the nearby wall of the alleyway. Eraserhead followed it up with a kick to the chest that Mastermind swore actually dented his breastplate that pushed him into the wall. The Pro Hero himself seemed to have regretted that kick, wincing.

"That armour of yours is no joke." His eyes bored into Mastermind's own. "So few villains-"

Mastermind pressed a button on his glove, then another. He was only going to have one shot, so he'd better make it count.

Eraserhead whipped to the side at the sound of rotors coming behind him. One of the drones that Mastermind must have loaded up was barreling right towards him. Mastermind himself was reaching into that belt of his - what else did the villain have hidden in there? Eraserhead wasn't going to find out.

The plan changed. As the drone came at him, Eraserhead jumped up and over, the remains of his capture weapon spiralling to try and loop around the drone-

THWOOMP

- But as Eraserhead did that, he got hit in the gut with a grappling hook that came from the villain's other gauntlet. The blow was not enough to seriously damage, but it was enough to knock the wind out of him and disrupt his flow. The best he could do in the air was to haphazardly snag a fire escape with his tape and then turn a complete fall into a rather undignified tumble, but was at least on his feet. The grappling hook was retracted as quickly as it had come out.

The villain took a gasp of air, then immediately took this time to run, cape billowing dramatically. Behind him, Eraserhead heard more rotors spinning - the other drone! Both of them were rising into the sky, and he could see their exteriors change - to bulk-haul Amazon drones. he was kicking himself for not bringing a tracker of some description.

Holographic disguises. No wonder we haven't found this kid's stuff yet. He's shaping up to be one real problem villain.

But he wouldn't be a problem if he got captured. Picking himself up and calling the air back into his lungs, Eraserhead charged once again, Erasure already taking its effect once again. The villain seemed to turn around, and started fumbling with his cape. This villain may have been slippery, but he wasn't faster than Eraserhead, and he was soon right behind the villain.

"As I said, you have no hope of outrunning me."

The villain didn't answer. Instead, he let the cape go, revealing that the hood was seperate from the rest of the cloak - an attempt to protect his identity further? Before the cloak had gotten in the way, Eraser had seen the villain reaching for something in his belt of pouches - the same pocket where he'd been keeping that freezing support item. Eraserhead snorted at the crude ploy.

Using the cape as a shield to peg me with that freeze ray? Futile.

So Eraserhead dodged to the left, around the billowing cloak-

Gotcha.

Mastermind pressed the button for the cape's Dramatic Billowing Function 2.

A wire so thin as to be almost invisible attached his masterpiece to the rest of the body. The cape, formerly billowing like a piece of cloth, needed a lot of extra gadgets inside it for it to dramatically billow. The whole thing was filled with wires in a similar fashion to Eraserhead's own gear. Not exactly - apparently it was made of a special alloy with carbon fibres, and Izuku had only been able to get rather crude fabrics and electronics. But it was enough for it to be repurposed.

Eraserhead grunted as the cloak suddenly wrapped itself around him, halting his advance and sending him skidding to the ground. The Pro Hero was struggling to get out of the cape - he must have gotten lucky that the knife was trapped. Mastermind knew it would take a while and he would need all the time he could get, but he couldn't resist one last taunt.

"I'm sorry to put you in such a bind, Eraserhead... just remember that this," with more bravado then Mastermind actually felt, "was the day that you almost caught... the brilliant Super Villain, MASTERMIND!"

And with that, he ducked around the corner of the alleyway, intent on putting as much distance as he could between himself and the Pro-Hero. A beep on his gauntlet, and the Mastermobile spun up, its smaller form heavier but still a swift getaway vehicle. As it came towards him, he quickly jumped into the vehicle and took off.

As he left, he looked at his hands. He was shaking, the adrenaline still pouring through his system. Mastermind grit his teeth.

That - he'd been lucky up until now. He hadn't gone up against a Hero that was good enough to pressure him. But Eraserhead - he'd shown him the world of Pro Heroes. Hell, he was counting himself lucky to have only lost his cape! A second later and Eraserhead would have caught him again!

How on Earth can I be a suitable villain to All Might if I'm not good enough to beat Eraserhead?

Gentle Criminal was worried. He checked his pocket watch yet again. Mastermind had said that he'd get cake and be back here by this time. Behind him, the other villains looked between each other.

"He said he would be back," La Brava spoke, looking down at her hands.

Inkblot looked at her, giving her a gentle pat on the back. "Well, I have to admit, for all that he's a complete newbie, he's managed pretty well so far." She looked at the door. "Pretty sure he'll be here."

The other villains shifted. Golden Grin managed to pipe up, leaning against the wall. "Yeah, the guy's got guts, that's for sure."

Mr Compress simply shrugged. "He's a near complete amateur, but I really enjoyed the jobs that he's pulled." He seemed to grin. "Pulling back the curtain on that support company - most villains would just take the gear and run. Leaving behind those recordings of them cheating heroes? Brilliant!"

Gentle Criminal nodded. "I couldn't agree more! I'm sure that he's just somebody who needs proper guidance. Now-"

He was interrupted by the sound of rotors coming down, as well as a car drawing up outside. Rushing to the window, Gentle saw that Mastermind had arrived - the young man was looking battered and was missing his cape, but he was alright! He was accompanied by a pair of drones for bulk deliveries. Before he could properly wonder about them, their exteriors flickered and changed, revealing -

"Is that cake?" Inkblot asked.

"Indeed!"

Both drones were full of cakes - expensive looking ones too. The villains looked back to Mastermind. Mastermind got out of the small buggy-like vehicle that had drawn up near the drone. "40 cakes, to be precise!"

Gentle shared a look with the rest of the group before he asked the question. "...why forty?"

Mastermind looked down. "B-because it's terrible..." he mumbled. Still, he started to come up to the house.

"Mastermind!" La Brava came running down to meet him with a tackle hug that sent the taller villain sprawling. "Don't worry us like that again!"

"Um, okay I won't?" Mastermind managed to get out weakly.

"Yeah! It's pretty bad when your prospective boss gets arrested!" Inkblot lightly punched Mastermind's upper arm. "Makes a lady worried, you know?"

Mastermind just nodded. "Again, I'm sorry for worrying you. I just wanted to do a nice surprise for you guys!"

Golden Grin flashed his nearly trademarked namesake. "Okay, you've convinced me. First time in villainy that I actually get given cake."

As Mastermind came up, Gentle went over to him. "Are you sure you're alright?" he murmured, taking in the scrapes, the crack in the visor, the lack of cape.

Mastermind looked up at him. "...I'm fine. Just had a run-in with Eraserhead."

Gentle and La Brava stilled. Stitch just shrugged. Even Inkblot's smile faded a bit.

"Who?" Golden Grin asked.

Inkblot just turned to him. "You don't know Eraserhead? How on Earth don't you know about him?"

"I only started doing this shit six months ago, come on!"

Stitch, surprisingly, was the one who answered. "He's an underground hero. Uses a Quirk that erases the abilities of others along with some weird scarf weapon. One look and you're out." He shrugged. "Lotta guys come to my clinic after that. They think that they've got a chance of losing their Quirk permanently."

Mastermind nodded. "H-he was too fast. Too strong. I barely got away." He glanced down at his feet. "If there hadn't been a distraction, I-I probably wouldn't be here."

Hearing Mastermind just relay that fact without his usual pomp was worrying for Gentle. And it was something that he knew he would have to acknowledge. Mastermind had managed to deal with some Pros before, true, but that had been with Gentle covering for him and against Heroes who weren't taking either of them fully seriously. Eraserhead? From what Gentle had seen, the Hero was ruthless and sharp as a tack.

"First time going against a real Pro, wasn't it?" Gentle's voice was calm, surprising himself. When Mastermind nodded, he sighed. "You were able to get away, though. Next time you probably won't be so lucky."

Mr. Compress nodded, looking surprisingly serious. "I didn't think it would come so quickly. But thinking about this matter in the couple of days since I started associating with you, I came to a realisation."

Mastermind looked at him. "And that was?"

"Well, rather than be a minion, I was thinking of being a partner. Maybe a tutor." At Mastermind's tilt of his head, he elaborated. "You've made quite a splash in the month or so since you've started, but that just means that the heroes are gearing up as well."

"The nail that sticks out gets hammered down," Inkblot agreed. Reaching behind her back, she pulled out a hammer that was about her height with a head the size of a small trashcan. "See?"

Golden Grin started a bit. "How did you- right, Quirk. But, yeah. Even I've got more know-how than you, and I'm not old enough to drink!" He then slapped his hands to his mouth.

Gentle Criminal looked at him. "Just how old are you, again?"

"I- uh - that was a joke! I'm... 30! Yeah!"

The other villains and Mastermind looked at him. He deflated. "Alright, alright! I'm sixteen. Happy?"

Gentle patted Mastermind on the shoulder. "What we're trying to say is, well... you said that you would help us, right? So we'll help you back. As partners."

Mastermind just stammered, seemingly not able to process what was happening. "I-ah-you- I - I'm very grateful! T-thank you!" He bowed deeply to each of them.

Inkblot grinned. "You're a polite young man, aren'tcha? Wish I could get a date like you!" Her arm snaked around Mastermind's head and pulled him in., ignoring his stammers and red visor starting to glow an even brighter shade. "We've got cake to eat, so let's get on it!"

Well, the day had gone mostly as I had expected it to. I had just had my first brush with a Pro Hero, and had barely managed to scrape an escape.

But coming back with the cake, getting people worried - that was alright! And - well, I have to admit that it was nice for the other villains to want to help out a silly villain like me. Most of that first meeting over cake had been me recounting how I'd escaped, as well as the various tools I used for my own investigations.

Meeting everybody here, eating well-earned cake - it felt pretty nice.

I had other, well, friends is a bit of a strong word for it, at my clubs. Pals?

We shared the same interests - robotics, drama. And we got along for the most part.

But dealing with people like this, even in a mask?

It's... surprisingly nice.

"I suppose we haven't really introduced ourselves fully," Mastermind said around mouthful of rather nice cake. He'd had to take off the lower half of his visor to fully appreciate it. He was just lucky he'd remembered to position his mask over his freckles. They were at least reasonably distinctive.

Mr Compress nodded. "Hm. We are going to be working together, aren't we? Beyond names, we are going to need to know each other's Quirks." He took centre stage of the room. "The name's Mr Compress! My Quirk is called Compression. It allows me to take things both living and unliving-" he demonstrated by taking his plate and and spinning it on his hand, instantly shrinking it into a small marble and back, "and compress them for easy transport and storage!"

Mastermind just gazed at it with figurative stars in his eyes, only just remembering to snap his mouthguard back on. "So cool! Is there a size limit Do you have to do the whole object or just part of it? How many things can you compress at one time?"

Inkblot just laughed. "Wow, you really like Quirks don't you?" Her grin took a naughtier turn. "If you want to, you could give my Quirk a full physical examination~." She leaned closer to Mastermind, chest forward. Mastermind just flailed and blushed at that.

Mr Compress just shook his head. "I'll go more in depth later, but for now that's the basics of my Quirk. Inkblot, don't bother him too much."

Inkblot just pouted. "Spoilsport." She sprang up. "Well, my Quirk's Cartoon! Like those old black and white ones! It allows me to create anything I want from cartoons! Also gives me a bunch of cartoon powers, but nothing physics defying!" She pulled out a small black bottle and took a swig.

Mr. Compress looked at her. "Are... are you drinking at this time in the afternoon?"

Inkblot shook her head. "Nah. It's ink."

Mr. Compress stared at her. "Ink?!"

Inkblot grinned. "Yeah, need to drink it to fuel my abilities. Plus it tastes good to me, ya know?"

Golden Grin was next. "Well, my Quirk's pretty simple. S'called Mouth Laser. I build up power in my gut and then I release it from my mouth. Took me a while to get it to the point where I don't feel like I'm crapping myself though."

Stitch was the last. "My Quirk's called Scalpel." He held out his finger. A tiny, shimmering blade made of purple energy formed on the edge of his finger. "It's completely sterile, and razor sharp. I can spread it out over my hand, but that dulls the edge."

Gentle Criminal made a theatrical bow. "You already know that my Quirk is Elasticity, don't you Mastermind?" When the villain nodded, he continued. "I bestow elastic properties to anything I touch! It's gotten me out of many scrapes before."

"And if it isn't enough, I can help him!" La Brava chirped. "My Quirk's called... well... Love!" Her cheeks reddened. "I, uh - if I, well, declare that I love somebody, and I mean it, and we're close enough to hear - then I can give them a massive boost!"

"I've always wondered how Gentle Criminal got away from those Pro Heroes in his videos!" Mastermind gushed. "Since it was always edited out, I never knew. You've got an amazing Quirk, La Brava-san!"

La Brava waved her hands frantically. "It's - it's not that good a Quirk! It doesn't last very long! And - and I can only use it once a day!"

"That's still amazing, La Brava! Quirks that can help those you care about are pretty rare, you know!" Mastermind continued to talk while La Brava turned bright red.

Golden Grin just shrugged. "Yeah, that's pretty neat, isn't it?" He looked at Mastermind. "So, what's your Quirk then, Mastermind?"

Mastermind froze up.

Ah.

Golden Grin continued talking. "Cause it's gotta be, like, an electrical one, right? Or maybe it's a smoke Quirk - you do like those smokescreens of yours." he looked at him. "Or maybe it's a brain booster? Cause if you're a super genius, I could really use your help with homework."

Mastermind shook his head. "I don't have any of those Quirks. I'm... I'm..."

Why is this still so hard to say?

Mastermind took a deep breath. "I-I'm Quirkless."

The other villains looked at him more closely. "Uh, what?"

Mastermind took a deep breath. "I'm Quirkless. Alright?" The visor went off and he took another bite of cake, chewing it to try and get around the feeling.

Golden Grin blinked, trying to reshape the words he wanted to say. "You-you don't have a Quirk? Not even one like Bendy Fingers or something?" When Mastermind nodded, he just stared back. "Holy shit."

Inkblot's eyes had grown to the size of dinner plates. "You-you freaking dodged Eraserhead without a Quirk?"

"I think that made it easier, yes." Mastermind stabbed another piece of cake with his fork.

"But, I mean, you sure you're not a super genius from your Quirk?"

... Right.

Mastermind put the fork back down. He then gently put his plate on his chair, then stood up and leaned in on Golden Grin. Mastermind put his mouthguard back on, and opened up part of his visor. His green eyes narrowed, locked onto where Golden Grin's eyes were under his mask.

Gentle Criminal had been floored before by things in his life - at failing to help that civilian, at being thrown out of his house... of being forgotten by a friend. But realising that Mastermind was Quirkless was pretty damn surprising. All this time, he'd thought that the young man had some Quirk that powered his gadgets, or helped make building them easier.

His first instinct, admittedly, was pretty craven - to try and dismiss Mastermind. But then he thought further. This young man, inexperienced as he was, was still a genius. Those machines of his were completely beyond Gentle's ability to even think about how to build them! And that planning - rough in parts maybe, but the kid had a gift.

Golden Grin seemed about to say something further, only to be pinned in place by Mastermind glaring at him. "What... what are you looking at me like that for?"

"Believe me, I wish I had a Quirk. It would have made a lot of things so much easier." There wasn't any flair in his voice. Gentle Criminal had never thought that Mastermind could even do quiet menace if he tried.

Gentle Criminal could see that Mastermind's surprisingly green eyes were boring into Golden Grin's. The rather hapless criminal seemed to squirm in his chair.

The golden' skinned villain tried to lean away but couldn't. "Why's it getting so hot? Hey, Gentle," he tried to look away but seemed unable to, "did - did you turn up the thermostat or something? It's boiling in here."

Gentle Criminal wasn't on the receiving end of that emerald glare, but even he felt like it had gotten a bit warmer. La Brava was slowly edging away from Mastermind and closer to Gentle. Inkblot had taken off her jacket. Even Mr. Compress seemed to be on edge.

The other villains shifted in their chairs as Mastermind continued talking. "Me and my mother went to about ten different specialists, They tried every test in the book, and it all came up negative. One of them was using I-Island Quirk diagnostic gear. Are you saying that they're all wrong?"

Sweat was pouring off the other villain. His eyes were darting around the room, trying to take his body with them. Eventually, he cried, "I-I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be rude! Please stop looking at me like that! I'm sorry!"

Mastermind instantly beamed at Golden Grin, then snapped his visor back on. "Good! Glad to hear it."

The other villains shared a look between them as Mastermind went back to his chair, sitting down primly. Golden Grin just slumped in his chair, sweat pouring off of him. "What the hell was that?"

Mastermind seemed to smile. "Oh, that was a long, hard stare. My mother taught me to do that for people who forgot their manners." He seemed to smile to himself. "She tried it on Ka- on a friend who swore in the house. He's never sworn in front of my mother again, and that's a real achievement." Then he bowed. "I-I'm really sorry about that! I-I've never been able to get it to work off the stage! I mean, Mom gave me some tips but I've never been able to do it properly-"

Golden Grin just laughed. "S-sure. It's fine. Just... never look at me like that again, please."

Gentle Criminal shared a look with Mr Compress. Well, at least that was one thing they wouldn't have to teach him.

AN: Whoo this chapter kind of kicked me around.

I had to redo the fight scene with Eraserhead as it didn't feel right. This chapter's a bit more serious than the others. I said the fic wasn't entirely serious, but that doesn't mean that Eraserhead's going to be incompetent just to make Mastermind look good. That, and I chose to make this a showcase of Mastermind's weaknesses, namely that he doesn't have much experience. Sure, those gauntlets make him hit harder and protect him from harm, but Eraserhead's strong enough that he can flip people much larger than himself with his capture weapon. That, and Eraserhead's a close-combat specialist while Mastermind just knows punch. He's got a long way to go if he's going to be a true Super Villain.

I added the scanning bit and changed it around a bit because it sort of makes sense that Eraserhead's Quirk has something to do within the laws of physics - it's not a Quirk like New Order or Rewind that just holds up a middle finger to physics. It could be replicated, but it's going to need way more time and effort. And stalking Eraserhead.

Next time we're going to have some training! Yay!