A/N: This chapter is primarily a look at some of the vigilante events unfolding in the last third of the sideline squad's school year from the perspective of the police department. Next chapter will be getting into the girl's lives at U.A.

"So they asked if you had any pre-existing heart conditions?" Officer Matsuzaki asked in disbelief. "Do you remember anything else about them? Anything else you can remember at all. What were they wearing? What weapons did they have?"

"No sir. A female voice yelled it out then there was a bright flash and a quick burst of pain. I don't remember anything after that." The man in the red t-shirt buried his face in his hands.

"Do you realize the amount of time you and your buddies are facing with the amount of evidence we have on you right? Theft. Arson. Dealing. You are looking at facing a very long sentence. Any information you put forward could be helpful in the decision to potentially reduce some of your sentences."

"I know. You already told me that. I really don't have any other information I can offer you."

Officer Matsuzaki slid back his chair, grabbed his coffee, and stood up. "Alright. Ryuu. Please take Mr. Juba back to his holding cell with the rest of his friends."

"I asked you not to call me Ryuu in front of any suspects, Officer Matsuzaki."

"Oh my apologies, Officer Ryuu," Matsuzaki scoffed as he left the interrogation room.

"Um... I meant you should call me Officer Noguchi in front of suspects," Ryuu stated timidly as he stared at the tile floor.

Ryuu escorted Juba back to the holding cell and headed to the small conference room. Officer Matsuzaki was standing in the front of the room. Four other officers were sitting down at the large oval table.

"Well don't just stand there, Ryuu. Take a seat," Officer Matsuzaki stated sternly.

Ryuu quickly took the closest available seat and muttered an apology.

"Okay everyone. This vigilante group has been active over at least the past two years, but they have been rapidly escalating within the past five months." Matsuzaki set a folder on the table, opening it up and laying out the contents inside. Most of the pages were copied information the vigilante group had left behind with each person they captured. "The group has been growing increasingly daring in their pursuits and have been lowering the cooldown time between their busts. This should be making them more sloppy, but we have yet to get a single new clue or physical description in over a year," he said as he thumbed through the papers, which hardly held a scrap of information about the vigilantes themselves. Everything they knew was information that the group wanted them to know. "As you are all aware, crimes that do not involve quirks fall under our jurisdiction, and heroes are not meant to intervene on criminal acts not involving quirks. There have been no signs of any injuries that would be the result of a quirk, but we have gotten permission from higher ups and the hero commission to bring in a few heroes to help track them down." With this, he pulled out a smaller cream-colored folder, passing it to the officer on his right. Inside were a few files on the small-time heroes they had been given permission to enlist. "We know that this group is well equipped with customized guns and high tech devices. The bullet casings we have found use the same unique base alloy as the remnants of the disc grenades that they use. This means that their equipment is likely being produced by a larger organized group that might be grouping smaller villains and vigilantes to form some sort of armed militia."

"Uh, hey boss," Ryuu interjected. "I think we might be misreading the situation a bit. See, villains and vigilantes have a fundamental moral disagreement. To put them on the same level is both reductive and misleading. We should be catching both, yes, but we can't ignore the nuances of-"

Ryuu was cut short by his superior suddenly slamming the folder against the table. The other officers stared at him in annoyance, muttering between themselves. Matsuzaki then slowly scanned the table, making eye contact with each one of his officers and sending glare Ryuu's way. His jaw was clenched tight, and his brow furrowed deeply, casting a shadow over the man's face. These vigilantes weren't a matter they could take lightly anymore. "This is why it has become a priority that we find this vigilante group and weed through their connections until we can find the source for their equipment. Hero patrolling is going to increase in all areas that have had confirmed or suspected activity of the group. We need to find out the motivations of this group and the potential danger they may pose to society at large."

"Okay, but if we think there is a risk that other vigilante groups will be rising up as a part of a larger organization, shouldn't we have a name for this specific group in case others do start popping up. That way we can keep everything properly organized and not muddle our investigation? I mean we wouldn't want to end up mixi-"

"Ryuu! You are excused from this conference!"

"But, sir, as a member of this task force, I feel that it's vital that I be present for every meeti-"

"Then you're off the task force! Just get the hell out already!"

Ryuu fell silent for a moment, then quietly gathered his things and stood up from the table. "Yes, sir," he said sheepishly, shuffling towards the exit. He paused at the door and cast a glance over his shoulder, offering Matsuzaki a smile. "See you tomorrow, sir!"

"Out."

Two weeks had passed before the next bust from the vigilante group. This one had occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning. The police got a call at 2:07am, and arrived at the scene to find a man tied up in the metal chord that was a signature of the vigilante group. A folder of evidence was found next to the tied up and passed out man; it contained screenshots of security footage taken from the local Akai Mūsu cafe, which had recently been robbed at gunpoint. Now, thanks to the photos, the police knew exactly who had robbed it.

They brought him into the station and began questioning at 3:24am. Matsuzaki felt that this bust might lead to a break because the M.O. was different than the previous cases. Usually the vigilantes would bring forward a lot more evidence and spend a good amount of time tailing the people they captured in the process. This man robbed the cafe only 2 days ago and, rather than a file full of several pieces of evidence, they only had screenshots of the cafe's security footage. Another difference was the victim himself. Most of their targets were knocked out with one or two precise strikes, but this guy had five or six good bruises already visible on his body. All things considered, this was the closest the group had ever been to being sloppy.

"What can you tell me about the people who tied you up?" Matsuzaki asked, leaning forward in his chair.

Across the table, the suspected robber shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Uh, I don't know. They just kinda came outta nowhere, screaming something about how they were going to 'scone my ass' or whatever. Apparently they really like the scones from the place I stole from or something."

The officer stared at him, trying to contain his frustration. "They didn't say who they were? You didn't see their faces at all?" His voice was practically a growl now.

"I barely had time to blink before they knocked me out, dude. I don't know anything."

Matsuzaki sat back in his seat, letting out a long, frustrated sigh. He reached into the manilla folder in front of him, pulling out the photos of the robbery and sliding them towards the suspect. "This is you, right?" The suspect clammed up, refusing to take a second look at the photo. The officer continued. "Deny it all you want, but you're in a tight spot."

The suspect leaned forward in his seat. "Look, I just needed some cash, and that cafe doesn't have great security, ya know? I didn't realize it was gonna make me the target of some nutjob vigilantes."

"Hey, sorry," Ryuu cut in from the doorway. "I was bringing coffee and I really couldn't help but overhear." He set a paper cup down in front of Matsuzaki and took a seat beside him, crossing his legs as he did so. "I get that you were desperate for money, but you really should be more responsible about who you take from. That cafe is a family owned business. They can't afford to lose much. If you have to take, you should take from chain stores or corporations; something like that will only be a dent for them." He stopped, slowly looking to his side to see Matsuzaki red in the face, his eyes burning daggers into Ryuu. "What I mean is," he stammered, trying to ignore his superior, who was actively willing Ryuu to die. "You shouldn't steal. But if you have to, don't take from small local businesses."

The suspect stared at Ryuu with wide eyes. "You know, that's exactly what that group said before they knocked me out. After they were done screaming about scones."

"Ryuu," Matsuzaki said, his voice barely masking his rage. "You're dismissed."

"Sir, I asked you to call me Officer Noguchi in front of-"

"You're dismissed!"

Ryuu quickly shuffled out of the room, softly closing the door behind him. The suspect watched him go with a baffled expression. "So, what the hell is up with that guy?" He asked, nodding towards the door.

Matsuzaki buried his face in his palms. "Mizuno, take the suspect to his cell," he grumbled into his hands.

The pro-heroes that were brought in had yet to have any luck by the end of the first full month they were involved in the taskforce. There had been a case nearly every other week. It seemed that while the files provided by the vigilantes had more information than they did with the Cafe robbery, they still clearly had done less work collecting evidence than the cases before. Most of the cases were small busts mainly serial muggers, small time thieves and drug dealers. It had also been noted that all of the busts had started occurring on Friday or Saturday nights rather than randomly throughout the week. The taskforce decided that using the current activity trends they would stop the increased patrolling on weekdays and instead focusing on further increasing weekend patrols.

Another week had passed since the last attempted bust by the vigilante group. The task force was on high alert waiting for them to appear again. With the pro heroes constant weekend patrolling, the odds were good that they might actually apprehend the vigilantes this time. Of course, they weren't so lucky. They got the usual call around 10:15 p.m. Friday night. The girl on the other end gave them the address of an empty warehouse. The task force arrived to find no fewer than eighteen men knocked out and tied up with several of their signature metal chords. Also present were nearly fifty chickens, all comfortably placed in individual cages with plenty of food and water. Needless to say, the station was bustling that night.

Matsuzaki dragged the ringleader in for interrogation as soon as he'd woken up, joined now Mizuno to help with questioning. "So," Matsuzaki began, crossing his arms across his chest. "Let me guess. You all were minding your own business when someone yelled a snarky comment, a flash bang went off, and you were all knocked out cold by a couple of girls. Do I have that right?"

The ringleader looked between the two officers, his brow raised in confusion. "Well, no. We were just doing our thing, and the room started filling with smoke. Someone yelled 'fuck this is what cockfighting is? I've been practicing wrong this whole time!' Then we just started dropping like flies, me and my buddies. I don't really know what happened, I just know I got hit."

"It's similar enough," Mizuno pointed out. "It's probably still our group."

"It's definitely still our group," Matsuzaki groaned. "Does your warehouse have any security cameras?"

"Not my warehouse," the suspect replied with a shrug. "We were just using it."

"So you openly admit to trespassing?"

"Oh, shit. Uh, no. No security cameras."

Matsuzaki rolled his eyes, flipping open the manilla folder in front of him. Inside was a single piece of paper. "Officer Mizuno, would you read that for me?"

Mizuno grabbed the folder, studying the note carefully. "It says to check the security cameras, sir."

"Well, we did check the security cameras, and we've got you on trespassing and suspicion of cock fighting. If you know anything about the vigilantes who captured you, I suggest you spill it."

The suspect cursed to himself, taking a moment to think. "I can tell you they have smoke grenades," he said slowly with a shrug.

"Get him out of here," Mitsuzaki shouted, feeling a migraine creeping up on him. The door opened almost immediately, and Ryuu walked through it. Just like that, Mitsuzaki could feel the migraine getting stronger already. "Take him and leave."

Ryuu nodded. "Yes, sir," he said, walking over and guiding the suspect to stand so he could be escorted to the holding cell.

"I don't get it," Mizuno sighed. "This is their biggest bust yet. Eighteen men in one night. They even went through the trouble of only cutting out the footage with them in it so the rest of the evidence was still intact. But why go through all this trouble for a bunch of chickens?"

Ryuu stopped in the doorway, looking back into the room and pulling the suspect back in with him. "You know, some people believe that we, as humans, have a moral obligation to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Animals, for instance, like those chickens. They don't have the ability to speak for themselves, but it's our duty to keep their best interests in mind regardless. They have rights too, you know."

Matsuzaki jumped up from his chair, shoving Ryuu out of the threshold. "Shut up and take the damn suspect to holding!" He roared, slamming the door behind Ryuu before he could get another word in edgewise.

Mizuno stared at his superior, simultaneously confused and annoyed. "Who the hell let him back on the task force?"

It had now officially hit the three and a half month mark. After the cock fighting bust, the vigilante group primarily continued along their same pattern of focusing on smaller crimes. The group had at one point run into a hero when they were going to stop an active mugging, but they retreated when the hero appeared. As soon as the hero detained the mugger he contacted the task force to let them know the vigilantes' location, but they were already long gone.

This case was a little different from the previous appearances of the vigilante group. For one, the target had been beaten so bad that he'd been hospitalized. More unusual than that was the fact that there was a witness. In the earliest hours of Saturday morning, a young woman showed up at the doors of the station, claiming that a trio of vigilantes had saved her from an attempted sexual assault. Though shaken, she was unscatched, and agreed to answer a few questions about the event.

"I'm sorry you've had to go through this," Matsuzaki said in the gentlest voice he could muster. "You'll be happy to know that the man responsible has already been detained."

"I know," the girl said quickly. "Those heroes made sure of that."

Matsuzaki paused. "Right. What can you tell me about those heroes? Did you get their names?" Ryuu crossed behind the girl, setting down a hot cup of tea in front of her and quietly walking to sit beside Matsuzaki. The superior officer shot him a warning look, daring him to pull one of his usual stunts. The fact that he had to conduct the questioning with Ryuu was nothing but bad luck. The vigilantes just had to strike when Mizuno was off for the weekend, celebrating the end of his kid's school year.

"They introduced themselves," the girl replied. The officers leaned forward in their seat, and Matsuzaki scrambled to get his pen ready. "They called themselves the Sidechick Squad. No. No, my bad, the Sideline Squad! I haven't heard about them on the news or anything, so I guess they're a new team. They're really good, though."

Matsuzaki scribbled down the name, feeling a rush of excitement from finally having something to call the people they'd been actively chasing for months. "Sure, they're new. Did you happen to get individual names?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Snipes, Strats, and Sync. Just the three of them."

"About how tall would you say they were?" Matsuzaki asked, barely able to restrain himself from leaping for joy. Finally, they had a witness. They had a lead! Their work was actually paying off.

"Uh, one was probably a little shorter than me, so 160 centimeters, maybe," she said, hesitating before she continued. "Why do you need to know their heights? Doesn't the hero registry keep that information?"

"The thing is, they're not in the hero registry," Matsuzaki said slowly, looking up from his notepad.

"Oh," she muttered, her expression changing to one of realization. "They're like, vigilantes, then? And you're looking for them?"

"Right," he said. "They've been eluding us for a few months now, and we would appreciate any information you can give us."

The girl folded her arms across her chest, looking away from the two officers. "I don't know anything else about them. Can I go home now?"

Matsuzaki nearly snapped his pen in frustration. "Young lady, by keeping information from us, you're interfering with our investigation and obstructing justice. If you don't-"

"Sir," Ryuu interrupted. "With all due respect, I think we should consider her situation. I don't think that we, as cis males in a position of authority, can even begin understand the traumatic event this woman has gone through. Her comfort and mental wellbeing are top priority. We should handle this case with the utmost care and all the sympathy we can offer. I really don't think threatening legal action is the best way to approach this, sir."

Matsuzaki stared at him with wide, blank eyes, unable to even process the frustration he was feeling. "Go home," he finally said, not taking his eyes off of Ryuu. "Please, both of you. Just...go home."

"Well we did it. We are set. All our hard work has finally paid off." Rei says as Logan pours her some sparkling cider. "We all made it in. I am so proud of us. Also Izumi, you way over prepared us for that test. Don't get me wrong I am glad you did, but you went overboard a bit."

"Yeah well it was all worth it since we all managed to get in. Besides, if you think about it, that just means you have less new content to learn in highschool." Izumi leans back and sinks into the couch. "Now we have security in our future and we will have more time to spend making up on lost vigilantism. We still ended up doing plenty of work over the weekends though, so don't even bother complaining to me about not having enough Logan," she says as she turns to see Logan, looking ready to say something, and then suddenly changes her mind.

"Listen, I know I could have gotten in anyways, but I will admit that it does feel really good to have gotten in on my own merits I suppose." Logan smiles widely at Izumi. "You know if the business doesn't work out I see you in teaching. Japanese being my second language can't have any effect on my schooling anymore thanks to you. Plus I really can't say anything about only working weekends. We still managed to get more done than ever before. Also the appreciation that the girl we saved early today showed us gave me a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart." Logan puts her right hand over her heart. "We have managed to do good for others and for ourselves. I guess that means you really don't have to choose." Raising the glass in her left hand to toast, she laughs, "I guess that means I'm bisexual."