Izuku's POV

"You're a dumbass," came Orion's declaration as he finished wrapping Izuku's side.

Izuku for his part flipped the man the bird as he stood. It was never easy trying to fix broken ribs without real medical supplies. At least at this time, they could go borrow what they needed from the drug stores. After the fall it hadn't been possible due to looting.

Gingerly he pulled a t-shirt over his head and changed into a pair of sweatpants. Vigilante gear was not comfortable to sleep in. Ever. They had raided a clothing donation drop for some extra clothes. It wasnt anything that would be missed or go to waste. They lacked the money to buy necessities after all.

A flash of metal came at his head. On reflex Izuku caught it flipping it around like it was a knife. It was not a knife. What he held was an up to date phone with a bit of Orion mixed in. Within a few seconds, he was into his chat with Eraserhead and Tsukauchi.

Turning his head to the man putting away their medical supplies he asked, "And this is for?"

Orion answered as he moved towards his own sleeping bag, "A phone. You need to make friends and a life outside of Delta. Especially if you want to get into UA. Despite being an animal Nezu is the most intelligent being on the planet. You will need people to vouch for you who aren't vigilantes. I also have you signed up to take the test to get out of middle school set up for tomorrow. I suggest you do that tomorrow instead of patrols. Your body needs to heal."

Izuku snapped defensively, "I'm doing just fine on the friends front thank you. I have Echo and Charlie. What more do I need?"

Orion turned as he replied his tone softening some, "Izuku you need time to be a kid again. If you dont take time away to act normal then you will drive yourself insane. The world can do without Delta for a little while."

No, no it really couldn't. The world was relying on them to kill Shigarki and All For One. They had to stop the Fall before it happened. Otherwise more lives than he cared to count would be lost. Taking it easy was not an option. Not until they stopped the two madmen from destroying everything. If that cost him his sanity so be it.

Izuku didnt have a problem with testing out of middle school. It would be one less thing he would have to worry about later. Making friends though. It would be easier to pull teeth on him. For as long as he could remember he had problems making friends even before he was diagnosed quirkless.

In the beginning, his only friend had been Bakugo Katsuki. They did everything together right up until Kindergarten. That was when Katsuki got his quirk and Izuku did not. Everything changed after that. He became Deku a useless kid without a quirk.

The only thing that remained between him and Katsuki were the codes. If one of them ever needed anything major they'd send the code to the other's phone. It was only used once the day of the Fall. Katsuki in an effort to make sure Izuku stayed safe sent the emergency code to run. Run as far away as he could that something was happening.

It was only moments later that Katsuki also known as the Pro Hero Ground Zero fell in battle. For a few years after that, he was completely friendless. Despite being bullied by Katsuki for the longest time he had considered them friends.

So no he really didnt want to get out there and try to make a friend. He had very little in common with anyone at his body's age. Mentally he was 27 years old things that kids found amusing were tedious for him now. It wasnt like he could tell them the truth of what he was doing. Hell, most people wouldn't want to be around him after the words I'm quirkless left his mouth.

Izuku sighed as the anger drained out of him, "It's not that I dont want to have friends Orion. It's that I dont have anything in common with anyone anymore. If it wasnt for your quirk you wouldn't even be here. So please. Dont push this issue."

"Delta..." he was ignored by Izuku who went over to his sleeping bag.

Carefully he laid out on his sleeping bag in a t-shirt and pants. Mindful of the ribs he tried to sleep it off. It went about as well as expected. He woke twice to nightmares and the taste of blood in his mouth from biting his lip to keep from screaming.

By seven he was up and about trying to make himself useful while Orion slept. He wasnt at all surprised that Eraser and the detective both sent messages checking in on his health. They had seen him being flown away by Hawks but he did not arrive at the hospital. Maybe they...

No there was no way they actually cared about him. He was just another vigilante who needed to be taken off the streets in their eyes. Nothing more. Nothing less. Letting the depressive thoughts go for a moment he typed out in chat.

Snakelady's Nightly Annoyance

Escapedvigil: Sorry you guys I ended up passing out once my ribs were set. Dont worry I live.

Not his usual brand of sarcasm and wit but at this point, he was too tired to care. If they didnt like it they could bite him. Though he would need to go break into Ciro soon. The chat wasnt as big as it needed to be. He needed to get Conklin and Abbott's phone numbers. A task that was currently impossible due to the men's paranoid behaviors.

Sleepyhobo: Why did you go to the hospital you? Hawks was going to take you?

Escapedvigil: Go to the hospital and get arrested. Or go to my hideaway treat myself and not get arrested. Clear choice.

Carboy: It's a miracle you're still alive, Delta. I dont suppose you will tell us where you are?

Escapedvigil: Nope.

Sleepyhobo: Well you will be happy to know that Water Hose will be fine. Its unknown at this time if will be able to return to hero work but you saved their lives. Well done.

Escapedvigil is now offline

Carboy: Well damn it. Why doesn't he accept praise?

Izuku smiled sadly at the last message before the hero and detective went offline. If they knew the truth about him they wouldn't pretend to care. Quirkless were useless in the eyes of the world right now. It wouldn't be until the Fall that people saw their usefulness. By then it would be too late.

He needed to find a way to get more information than just from his patrols. As a new vigilante, he wasnt being sought after in the underworld. Not yet at least. With time his name would become more well known and informants would seek him out.

There was an underground club somewhere in the city he knew that much. To get in you had to be invited and sign a binding contract in blood. Most informants and vigilantes met there to exchange safely.

Shaking his head he turned his attention to the test that he had been given. It was coded so that if he tried to open other tabs it would alert the administrators. While he could mess with the code he decided against it. Better just to get this done than have to deal with it later.

While easy it was a fairly long test that took him the rest of the morning. He only briefly stopped to eat a ration bar before returning to it. When he was done he jumped to his feet completely forgetting his broken ribs. A wince went through him as his hand grabbed at them.

Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck that hurt. Note to self never jump up with broken ribs. It hurts like all hell.

"You're a dumbass," quipped Orion from where he was sitting up.

Izuku didnt deign the man a vocal response. Instead, he flipped the older man the bird before putting away his phone.

The rest of his day dragged on as daylight meant no patrols and sleeping was out of the question. He was afraid of what his mind would show him and was not ashamed to admit it. Memories he'd rather remain buried always came to the surface in his dreams.

Best Jeanist dying for him... his soul mark becoming burnt with the death of his soulmate. Alex extending his hand and the offer of a better life and a chance at saving their world. Wait... he could use that.

CIRO had a building on the north side of Musutafu not officially of course. It was one of the lesser-used offices that held supplies. For what he needed it would be perfect. He would be able to get into their systems and create a back door.

Izuku moved over the where his vigilante gear was laid out. Frowning he considered what to take with him. The jacket wasnt too conspicuous as long as he kept the hood and cowl down. They could be put on inside if needed. His bow was too telling to take though. If he took that the entirety of the city's heroes would be chasing him long before he reached the building.

Instead, he chose his knives and Glock hidden by his jacket. Unfortunately, he would have to leave off on the kevlar for this trip. Its bulk would only slow him down and there was the chance of being recognized as wearing it.

As he was securing his cowl around his neck Orion questioned sounding rather miffed, "Where are you going?"

"To break into CIRO," Izuku replied as he checked himself over. It would have to do given that it was broad daylight. Any more and he would be obvious in that he was up to no good and he didn't want to deal with heroes again so soon.

Orion groaned, "Dont let Alex catch you. You know how he feels about vigilantes on a good day."

Yeah if Alex knew he was a vigilante now the man would shoot him. That man considered vigilantes to be annoyances. To the agent, they merely got in his way and took up time for more useful things.

So Izuku was going to be sure to take up as much time as he could. If he didnt then he wouldn't be doing his job properly. Alex would thank him for it one day. Or he would try to shoot him again. Probably the latter but oh well.

Izuku owed Alex a lot. Without the man, he would have been nothing. There was no way he would have survived much less learned everything he had without him. He had the ability to see something in those he took in. He could see them for who they were even if they couldn't see it for themselves. It inspired loyalty and a long-lasting bond.

For Izuku he would always be loyal to the man no matter what time he was in. That meant preparing Alex for the Fall and trying to stop it.

As Izuku headed for the door Orion called out, "Be safe out there."

"As safe as one can be when they are a wanted vigilante," he quipped in return. All he received was a sigh from the older man.

Conklin's POV

He was not supposed to be here right now. In fact, he was supposed to be halfway around the world on vacation. So why was he in Musutafu? Some dumbass decided that it would be a great idea to set off every alarm in the safe houses. Something that could only be done from the security room of the main office. He had been ten minutes from getting on his flight. Now he was entering the building to find out who he was going to strangle.

Every alarm bell went off in his mind when he entered. It was quiet. Normally there would be agents in and out of the building all day. Even on days like today where they had the bi-yearly meeting with Panov, it should have more people in the main lobby. Yet there was not a single person there. If this was someone's idea of a joke he wasn't laughing.

Alex rounded the desk and his blood froze within his veins. The man who normally was diligent about keeping track of who came and left was leaning against his computer. A quick check for a pulse found that he was alive just unconscious. Something he was eternally grateful for.

Someone was definitely in the building who wasnt supposed to be. The only question was who. Retreating and trying to find out who from another building could have been a possibility. Doing so without any information at all would be stupid. There were too many enemies of the agency to even consider going that route. Which meant he would need to send out an alert without whoever was here knowing about it.

Methodically he searched rooms finding the place mostly empty. Those who were there were unconscious without any outward signs of a struggle. Possibly the use of a gas quirk. The only one who came to mind was Midnight but she didnt have any beef with CIRO. There was no reason for her to attack them.

If it wasnt the R-rated heroine he didnt have a clue who could have done this. To knock out so many trained agents without leaving a sign or alerting the others took skill. Not many even in the hero community had it.

As he made his way to the security room he heard a voice. One was instantly recognizable as Panov. The good doctor was trying to talk to whoever the other was. They sounded young but it was difficult to tell with the voice modulator.

"You should give up while you can," came Panov's calm voice, "CIRO won't just let this go."

The unfamiliar voice returned, "That's the plan doc. Besides I'm not doing any harm with this. I need the information and CIRO has it."

Panov replied unfazed as Alex peeked around the door, "Knocking everyone out is still harmful even if they dont have any lasting damage to their person. It could affect their careers or even their family's. Unfortunately for you however your path ends here."

Alex could see a small vigilante standing by the security computer. A hood and cowl were pulled up covering his facial expressions. A vigilante huh? What were they doing here?

"What did you do doctor?" Came the gruff serious question.

"I may not be an agent but I do know the tricks of this building. And how to ensure that there is a prompt arrival of certain agents."

The vigilante stood straight green-grey eyes swept towards where Alex lay in wait before backing to the doctor. He said sounding mildly impressed, "You set off the silent alarms for safe houses. Very clever doctor. Unfortunately not clever enough. They wouldn't send a full team of agents for what appears to be a system malfunction. I suspect maybe one or two agents at most. That much I can handle."

Shit! This wasnt the normal run of the mill vigilante. Whoever this man was they knew exactly what they were doing. How they knew the protocols was beyond him but he had to stop this before this vigilante used the doctor as a hostage.

Drawing his sidearm he entered the room only to duck to the side as a flash of metal came at him. A knife buried itself all the way to the hilt in the wall where his shoulder had been. Vigilante aiming to injure but not kill. That was something at least.

There was a cry of pain as Panov was hauled to his feet. Panov was leaned back by the much shorter vigilante. Another knife was pressed against his throat the warning was clear. Shoot the vigilante and he would be sure to bring the doctor down with him.

Alex couldn't risk Panov's life here. The man was the only person his agents would talk to. Hell, he was the only one Alex would talk to. There was something about him that calmed them.

He held his hands up to show he meant no harm. The vigilante stares at him with a hard look but didnt move to harm the doctor. Instead, he shoved the doctor forward keeping his hostage between them.

Alex growled as they headed back towards the entrance, "You won't get away with this vigilante. We will find and bring you down."

They were almost back in the lobby now and the vigilante eased the doctor back more and more. He replied chiding, "Ah but to catch me you would have to know what I was after. Unfortunately for you what I was after is not something that was obvious. However, this will not be the last you hear from me. When one becomes three we will meet again. Until then," he paused looking directly into Alex's eyes, "It's hard to say goodbye."

Alex's breath caught in his throat at the familiar phrase. Only the black ops programs used that phrase. There was no way a vigilante should know it. What the hell was going on?!

Before he could demand answers the knife was removed from Panov's throat and he was pushed into Alex. Steadying the doctor he tried to see which way the vigilante had gone but he was already gone. Disappeared as if he was smoke. Damn it!