"Is this the right house?" asked one of the men.

"Yup, it is," another answered. He tapped the steering wheel quickly to alert the other two men in the van. "Look! The lights are off!"

The occupants of the van silently watched as the green-haired boy closed the blinds of their target residence. With only a flick of an index finger from the steering wheel, the four men donned balaclavas and tracksuits.

"So, this is where she went this morning, eh?" a gruff voice from behind said. "No wonder she didn't answer the door when we arrived then."

"Think it's her boyfriend?" asked a gleeful voice next to him, his fingers caressing the baseball bat leaning by his seat.

"Don't know, don't care." The driver turned to his men, his stern glare felt through the small eyeholes of his balaclava. "Remember what we're here for, people," he commanded. "No funny business. Extract residents and leave."

"Aw, come on. We haven't had a little bloody fun in ages! I need to get my murder on, you hear?"

The van suddenly vibrated a little as sounds of muffled thuds and bangs from the trunk grew louder.

"Make sure the binds and gag are secure," the driver reminded, ignoring the noise and his teammate. "We cannot risk bringing in attention too soon."

"Man, why can't it wait another day?" whined the man that sat beside the driver. "I'm going to miss the finale of Colourful Girl Drop like this and I was looking forward to it since this morning."

"Quit it," the driver snapped. "We've agreed to this yesterday, remember?"

"Yes, boss."

"Yup!"

"…agreed."

"Good. We move now. Do everything as planned and they will never know what hit them.


The clock struck 11. At a time when most people rest their eyes, Izuku found his own staring at the ceiling. He rolled over to his right. Then to his left. Then right again. 'Damnit. I hate it when this happens, he thought. While it was not a recurring problem that he had, it annoyed him whenever his mind refused to shutdown when his body groaned in fatigue.

A lot on your mind, again? Diavolo asked.

"Yeah," answered Izuku, attempting to bore holes into the ceiling with his gaze. "Was just thinking about this whole 'soul fusion' thing."

What is it this time?

"You know how you can take control of my body when I allow you to? I was thinking about what would happen if I lost consciousness or the fusion became complete." An amused hum bounced around in his head.

Interesting thought. Well, since I don't need sleep anyway, I'll humour you. It's not a bad way to pass the time.

Izuku's brows furrowed. Setting aside the question of why the Italian never needed rest, the greater-than-thou tone that was Diavolo's default speech never failed to add to his annoyance.

Oi, I can hear you, you know that?

Damn.

Thought so. Anyway, I guess if you lost consciousness, that gives me free reign to control your body as I see fit. I might even return to my physical form for a short amount of time.

"Huh." The minute hand on the clock moved one increment. "You look like how you usually do in my mindscape, right? What do you plan to do if I, let's say, lose consciousness in the middle of a tight spot?"

Despite not having a form, he could almost see Diavolo smirking at him with devilish glee.

Let's just say that they will know why the name, Passione, struck fear into the hearts of grown men.

"What?!" blurted Izuku as he shot out of his covers.

Shush, boy! Indoor voices! Don't wake the neighbours over a joke, you brat!

"What was that?" came an unfamiliar voice.

The sound of footsteps racing upstairs made them clam up. An intruder in their home? It can't be mom because he had seen her enter her bedroom just an hour ago. His hand stopped short of grabbing his mobile phone when he heard an abrupt clack of boots outside his door.

"Boss!" he heard the intruder's muffled whisper, "I think one of'em's still awake!"

Izuku's suddenly felt cold. There was more than one intruder in his home! Tip-toeing over to his closet crossed his mind but the risk involved planted him to his bed. Quirks that allowed sensitive hearing were common and even if the one closest to him might not have one, the others increased that probability.

"You dumbass!" came a barely muffled hoarse whisper from downstairs. "Keep it down! If they weren't awake already, they sure as hell are now."

"What do we do now?" he heard the nearby man ask.

"You got the other tenant, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Good. That makes things easier."

Slow thumps creaked with each step closer to his room followed by a heavy metal thud hitting the floor. Izuku gulped as nothing happened. His mind raced with ideas and doubts over this situation. 'They mentioned another tenant…Mom?!' he thought, his eyes wide with fear. 'What do I do?! I know I must save Mom but how do I get out of here? I don't know anything about the Quirks they have! There was also something heavy they placed just outside my door. It can't be a battering ram. They were bickering over the need of silence earlier, so it can't be something loud.'

I don't think they have sensitive hearing either.

'Why is that?' Izuku thought.

They would have been sure you were awake otherwise.

'You're right!' Izuku beamed. However, he suddenly felt a strong urge to yawn. His eyelids felt like weights over his eyes and his legs began to buckle.

'Something's wrong!' he thought, his fading vision scrambling to find an answer. Then, he heard it. A faint hiss seeping from his door. An odourless cloud of blackout filled his senses and he was none the wiser. As he slumped to the floor, he struggled to will his limbs to move. They failed to obey him. Objects became blurs, the outline of a burly figure entering his room just visible enough to incite panic.

He felt himself being lifted off the ground. The world gradually turned to black. Just as the shadows began to envelop him completely, he heard a cold yet calm voice say something that made him fear more than the intruders that came.


I'll take it from here.

She felt her heart drop when she saw the two figures that lay unconscious before her. Bound and gagged to a chair in the Midoriya residence, the helplessness that had been looming over her since her kidnapping only grew. Even if she could loosen the knot that bound her arms to the back of the chair, the most that she could ever hope to accomplish was make things float. The nausea that came with the usage of her power would only hinder escape plans.

Then, her throat strained as the cloth gag prevented her from yelping when she felt a sudden splash of frigid water wash over her.

"Wakey, wakey!" she heard her captor say as he slapped her across her cheeks a few times, "It's time for the show to start!" She then grunted as he jerked her head back, grabbing a fistful of her hair. Through the tears that lingered in her eyelids, she saw three other men standing before her.

Although their faces were covered by balaclavas, she knew that the man in the centre was the leader of the group. She could recognise that rigid gait anywhere. The other two beside him were his muscle and mechanic respectively. One built like a brick house and the other almost like a shell of a man.

"Hey boss, come on! She's up already! Let's get to the fun part, will you?"

Ah. Of course. Of course the man whom she was sure had a handful of her hair just had to be the 'specialist'. All thoughts on her captors ceased, however, when the leader marched towards her and held her by the chin.

"Undo the gag, Nijime," he ordered the man behind her. "I'd like to have some words with her."

"Most certainly!" With a quick yank and a tug, she winced as the cloth seared the corner of her mouth and let out a cough and a sputter.

"Feel better now, Miss Ochako?" asked the leader with a cold gaze, leaning closer to her face. "Or should I say, Uraraka Ochako?"

"I told you already, Viper, I had nothing to do with this!" Uraraka weakly protested.

The moonlight bleeding from the cracks in the blinds cast an ominous silhouette of the man called Viper. His piercing purple eyes motioning towards the muscular man.

"Gack!" For that brief moment the solid dense fist pounded into her soft gut, she felt her insides turn into mush. She lurched and heaved but nothing came spewing from her mouth. Her teeth clenched when strong fingers held her chin once again.

"You see, Miss Ochako," Viper growled, "Your parents have owed us money for a long time now but they haven't coughed up a single dime." He fished out a dime from his pocket and tossed it into the air. "Since they can't afford to pay, naturally the debt falls to you, Miss Ochako."

"But what did they do to deserve this?!" she cried, shivering in her seat. "I-I understand why you're doing this to me but why them?!"

Viper said nothing, catching the dime and tossing it again, ringing faintly in the quiet living room of the Midoriya residence.

"There have been a…change of plans," he said, letting go of her chin and began to pace around the room. "After our previous visits to your home, we originally intended to take you in this morning to provide incentive to your irresponsible parents. However, since you had the guts to try and hide away from us, we decided to punish you first before informing your beloved mother and father.

"How noble you are at such a young age… To want to become a hero to financially aid your family…Such a shame that you couldn't get rich quick enough."

Uraraka shuddered, her heart dropping to her gut. They looked into her diary! To make things worse, if she had refused Deku's offer for breakfast earlier, she could have prevented this! She could have prevented getting her friend involved in her problems.

She let out a yelp as Viper struck her face, leaving a burning red mark.

"Nijime," she heard him utter, "It is time."

"Ooh! Goody!" came Nijime's awful cackle. "You have no idea how long I've been holding myself back from ravaging that thick lump of goodness right there."

Uraraka's blood froze. 'No…' she thought in despair. "No, no, no!"

"Shut up!"

She heard her nose crack as Nijime flung her to the floor with his boot. Her neck trembled with great effort as she tried to lift her head to see the Midoriya family one last time. 'Deku…Forgive me…' she thought.

However, when her eyes levelled with that of the unconscious figure of Mrs Midoriya, Deku was nowhere to be found.

"Hey, where's the green-haired kid?!" she heard Viper yell.

"He's no longer here."

She saw Viper and his men snap around to face whoever was suddenly behind her. Her heart began to race as a mixed bag of emotions coursed through her. None of them pleasant.

"At least, not for a bit longer."

A sickening wet cracking of vertebrae echoed in the room, the limp body of the 'specialist' Nijime slumping forward like a ragdoll. Uraraka's heartrate increased tenfold as his body landed with his lifeless head facing hers. It suddenly ground to a halt when she could feel the chair she was bound to be lifted back into place, allowing her full view of the fear that began to seep into the expressions of her captors.

"Nijime!" The large muscular man's face contorted with grief. After grief, came rage. "I'll crush your bones to dust!" he roared, stomping onwards.

"Tungsten, wait!" Viper warned, "Something's not right!"

However, before the warning could be registered, Uraraka saw a flash of pink lunge toward Tungsten, striking the living brick wall square in his face. Tungsten staggered a few steps back, shaking his head to regain his senses but the lanky man gave him no breaks, slamming a heavy blow to his gut and sent him crashing to the ground with a swift elbow blow to the back of his head as he reeled from the gut punch.

Uraraka, stunned by the quick takedown of the group's muscle, found herself unable to look away from the pink-haired man bringing his steel-toed shoe repeatedly down on the fallen Tungsten's skull. By the time cracks gave way to squishes, she absentmindedly turned to the remaining two men. The expression carved into their faces could only be described as terror.

"Who sent you?" the lanky man asked, his voice low and gruff.

"W-what are you talking a-about?" stammered the mechanic, fear overriding his nonchalance from before.

"Who do you work for, pipsqueak?"

"I-I-I—"

Without a word, he suddenly sidestepped a swing of a butterfly knife, yelping in fright. Pulling his arm back, Viper took up a stance, holding his knife steady. "Do not tell him anything, Takumi!" he snapped.

The lanky man only chuckled. "I think," he said, casually blocking Viper's second swing at him, "…you should," he added as he wrested the knife away from the leather-clad man and plunged it into his throat, "…reconsider his offer."

"Alright! Alright! We work for King's Loans and Bargains Ltd! Our office is downtown right next to the dilapidated pub so please don't hurt me, d-demon!"

"Anything else?" he added with a low whisper.

"I've got nothing else, man! Please! I'm just the company mechanic! I'm only here because they keep breaking the damn van every time. All I wanted to do was watch TV and do nothing today!" pleaded Takumi, begging on his hands and knees.

He gave an amused hum. "Very well, I'll consider it."

Takumi's eyes lit up. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much for—"

"Under one condition."

"…aw, sunnuva bitch."

"Take me to your boss's office," he ordered. "After that, go as far away as you can."

The mechanic did not need to be told twice as he rushed out to start up the van. The pink-haired man then turned to face Uraraka, still stunned by what she just witnessed. He knelt down and silently removed the binds to her arms and feet. After that, he stood up and looked at her, his emerald eyes matching her hazel. "Run along home, missy. This isn't a place for a damsel like you to be in."

"Okay." Uraraka stood up and shuffled towards the door, accompanied by her saviour. Then, as though the moonlit sky shook her out of a daze, she suddenly turned towards him. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper as her mind finally processed what had just happened.

With a gentle yet sad smile that reminded her of Deku, the man answered, "Diavolo."

xxx

"Gah!"

Izuku burst awake covered in cold sweat. 'Where am I? He looked around to see that he was still in his room. His desk was intact and the chirping of birds could be heard. 'Was it all just a dream?' he wondered.

He glanced at the clock. 10:30 AM, Saturday. Shifting out of bed, he decided to freshen up and head to the kitchen. Mom usually made breakfast around this time on the weekends and the gentle sizzling of eggs coming from the kitchen confirmed this.

"Morning, Mom," he called out as he passed the kitchen.

"Good morning to you too, Izuku!" she replied. "Would you mind setting the table, please? Breakfast is almost done."

With an 'Ok', he set the table. Noticing the newspaper on the table, however, he asked her when she bought it.

"I just got it today on the way back from the market. Why don't have a look-see on the latest news? I haven't got a chance to read it yet."

Izuku hummed with little thought and unfolded it to reveal the headline. The article and picture printed on the front page made his gut queasy.

The headline read, 'Has Vigilantism Gone Too Far? Loan Shark Office Massacred', and the image featured appeared to be a line-up of about twenty bodies covered with white cloth outside of the crime scene. A pang of pain suddenly surged through his head, causing him to clench it tight but only for a brief moment. 'What the…?'

"Izuku! Come and eat your breakfast already!" his mother chided playfully. "Is the newspaper really that interesting or are you thinking about that Uraraka girl from before?"

"Mom, come on!" he protested, his cheeks flushed red, the headache from earlier forgotten.


A/N: Hey, KobeNiku here! Thank you for all the support and interest that you've shown in this story! The Easter Break is coming up soon so hopefully I will have more time to dedicate to writing. To those of you who have read my latest story, 'The Data Collector', you'd be pleased to know that I'm now planning on adding a few more chapters to it because I realised that it felt unfinished judging by the way I ended it. ^-^

Since there aren't that many questions to be found, I will see you in the next update! If you liked it or hated it, let me know in the reviews. A little feedback goes a long way.