Heroes. Costumed crusaders sworn to protect the innocent from criminals. Noble and strong, they stand for the people against evil... what a joke.

They stand for their paychecks. For money and fame. They don't care about us, or protecting anything. If it weren't for the money they're promised, they wouldn't be doing even a fraction of what they do, just like the rest of us.

Money is what makes the world go round. Always has, always will. It's the only law in this world that never gets broken, even by "heroes."

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm special. I'm beholden to it just as much as they are. A girl's gotta eat and sleeping indoors isn't free.

Unfortunately, I'm just a kid living in Musutafu. Most jobs won't hire me because they want more experienced workers, and on top of that a middle-school student with no permanent home isn't exactly considered to be an employee with any possible value even if experience isn't a problem. I can barely manage to keep myself enrolled in school, so they don't really have any reason to think I'd be able to go to work every day.

So, obviously, I have to stick to other methods to get what I need. Using one's quirk to rob people is usually a one-way ticket to being taken to prison by the "heroes." Somehow I've managed to get what I need, be it cash or other valuables I can sell off, while avoiding them these past five years. It hasn't been easy, but I've done it.

My usual targets are drunk or secluded idiots who wander the streets at night. Knocking them out or scaring them into giving up their valuables is child's play. Especially when you have a quirk like mine. It makes the poor saps wet themselves.

Tonight I'm staking out some old club downtown from one of the nearby rooftops. A bunch of people went in earlier, so there's bound to be a ripe target for me sooner or later. For now though, all's somewhat quiet. As quiet as a club can be in the middle of the night.

After about an hour of waiting, I turn my attention to the sky. It's a cloudless night tonight. The moon is shining brightly and a few stars manage to poke their heads through the light-pollution caused by the city. I love nights like this. Even in the city, it always looks amazing. If I wasn't currently "on the job," I'd totally stargaze for the rest of the night.

As I'm admiring the night sky, I do my best to keep my eye on the entrance to the club. After a few more hours, two people exit the club. A man in a suit and a man in a similar outfit to mine, which is a black hoodie and jeans. The man in the suit gives the hoodie guy a wave goodbye before lighting a cigerette and getting into a nearby car. After watching him leave, the hoodie guy walks off on his own. Bingo.

I get up from my place on the rooftop, brush back my ears a bit, and flip up my hoodie. It's uncomfortable, but I've found it makes people notice me less, even with the tail. Still, I'm not gonna hear as well, so I better be careful.

Following targets from the rooftops is usually what I do, but this guy dips into an alleyway across from my position. Usually idiots from clubs like this make their way to the residential area of the city, but this guy's going off somewhere else... After watching him for a moment, I scoff and make my way to this building's fire escape.

I have to sprint to catch up, but I do manage to get him back in my sights again. Once I do, I stuff my hands in my hoodie pockets and follow him from as far away as I can without losing sight of him. The guy's just walking through the streets now. I can't tell if he's drunk or not, but he's definitely not heading towards any apartment buildings or houses I know of.

Eventually, the man turns down another alleyway. I love it when they're this stupid. I wait at the entry point and watch him go deeper into the alley. After he gets close to the halfway point, I step out and sneak up behind him as quickly as I can. Once I'm close enough, I coat my hands in energy and blast the ground in front of him, causing the concrete to crack.

He stops moving, looking down at where I blasted. Before he can turn around, I place my hand on his back and coat it with even more energy.

"Make a sound, you die," I announce to him in a hushed voice. "Turn around and you die. Activate a quirk and you die. If you understand, put your hands above your head!"

After a few moments, he slowly does as instructed. I quickly pad both his pockets for a wallet, then his hoodie pockets too. I find brown lather one, which I stuff in my pocket, as well as a few coins and what feels like a phone in one pocket. That would be too much effort to grab, so I leave it and quickly feel the front of his neck for any jewelry with my free hand. There isn't any.

He doesn't move when I do this, as most tend to do. He doesn't make a sound or even look scared. From what I can tell from what I can see of his face anyway. Most of it's hidden by the dim light and his hoodie.

"Count to fifteen, then you can leave," I instruct. "Turn around before that and you're dead."

With those as my parting words, I slowly back away from him and begin my backwards walk out of the alley, taking a peak over my shoukder every few steps. I only make it about halfway out before the man calls out to me.

"Is the encounter over already?" He asks.

His voice is raspy, and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I open my mouth to respond to him and almost like clockwork the man turns around and explodes toward me preparing to attack. I barely have time to send off another blast before he closes the distance.

He ducks under that first attack and swipes at me with his hands. I dodge his first attack, which almost looks like he's trying to grab me, and coat my hands in energy again. My first blast he dodges by knocking my arm away from him with his and reaches for my face. I duck under his hand, and take the opportunity to punch him in the gut as hard as I can.

This causes him to stumble a bit, and I send another blast straight into his gut. This causes him to tumble backward, landing a few yards away on his stomach.

Once he's down, I turn and sprint out of the alleyway, and out into the streets. I could kill him, but my skin keeps crawling as I look at him. He gives me such a bad feeling, and I can't ignore the instinct to run.

A quick peak over my shoulder as I do shows he hasn't given chase. Still, I put a few streets between between him and I before ducking into another alleyway and looking through his wallet. There's a few hundred Yen inside, and some club cards, as well as a little piece of paper with a phone number on it.

I toss everything else and stuff the Yen into a baggie I keep with me for such finds. As much as that guy creeped me out, I need more and there might be more targets, so I make my way back to the rooftop I was at before and set up again.

After a few minutes, the hoodie man shows up at the club entrance again. He has his back to me with his phone in his hand. The hair on the back of my neck stands up again as he stands there. Every instinct I have is telling me to run, but I just lower myself down a bit more and watch. I swear that we make eye contact as he turns around and looks directly up at me.

In one quick motion, I get up and start scrambling across the rooftop. Just as I make it to the fire escape, a black hole opens up in front of me. I can't stop my momentum and run right into it. As soon as I do, I start to fall and land hard on my hands and knees.

"How sad! You almost got away," the same voice from before mocks. "But you were seriously stupid enough to go back to where you started! I mean, who does that?"

When I look up at man speaking, I'm surprised at where I am. I'm in a small bar now, next to one of the tables. It doesn't look like any place special, but honestly that doesn't really matter to me right now.

The hoodie man is standing a few feet from me by the door. His hoodie is pulled back now, revealing bluish-grey hair and a mouth covered in scars that's currently twisted into a smug grin. Another black hole is behind him, and it silently closes itself soon after he stops speaking.

"Get it over with quickly, Shigaraki," another, deeper voice chimes in. "And you're sweeping it up this time."

"Fine," the man, who I now know is named Shigaraki, groans.

As he takes his first step towards me, I scramble to my feet and coat my hands in energy again. He stops and lets out a short whistle in a bit of a condescending show of impression.

"A wallet was so important to you that you have to die over it?!" I snap.

"I should be asking you that, annoying little thief. That blast to the gut hurt, and you're gonna pay for it."

He charges forward the second he stops speaking and reaches out to grab me. I thwart his first grab attempt by tossing a cup on the table behind me, which immediately crumples to dust as he catches it. I dodge to the side as he makes a second attempt, nearly running into another of the few tables. He doesn't give me any chance to breath and lunges for me again.

This time, I just dodge and send a blast straight for his head. Before I can connect, a little black hole opens up to intercept it. It's only then I notice the bartender. He must be the other voice I heard. His body is like a black mist with big yellow eyes , and he's dressed like a bartender with armor around his neck. The hell kinda people did I steal from?!

"Tisk tisk," Shigaraki mocks as pull my arm out of the hole and take a few steps back. "That might have killed me, little kitten. Didn't your parents ever teach you not to play rough with the other kids?"

He laughs a bit, then lunges at me again. This time I dodge under his hands, grab his shirt and fall backwards, using his momentum and my legs and toss him over me and into one of the tables behind me.

As I turn to face him, he lets out a groan. He's laying back first on the table, which broke under the impact. I turn and sprint towards the door, only for a black hole to open between me and it. This time I manage to stop before passing through and turn to face the bartender.

"Let me go!" I demand, aiming a hand at him.

"I have a better idea," he says, grabbing a glass off the shelf behind him and scrubbing it with a washcloth. "I'll be honest, I was expecting Shigaraki to make quick work of you."

"Placed the wrong bet then," I hiss.

"Did he?"

I barely manage to turn in time to see Shigaraki's hand closing in on my face. Another black hole opens between my face and it just before it makes contact, sending his hand to another hole that opens up just behind him.

"Now, now, Shigaraki," Kurogiri says with a chuckle. "She held her own decently well. Not bad for a child."

"I'd have got her if you didn't just interfere, Kurogiri," Shigaraki insists.

"Yes, but I have a better idea."

Shigaraki looks at him for a moment then retracts his arm. The black holes close, and he backs away from me a bit.

"Why not recruit her instead? We need friends for what's to come, and someone her age could fit into a certain... position we've been meaning to fill."

"R-recruit?" I ask, a little shaken from almost having my face turned to dust.

"Our organization can use friends who know how to fight," he explains further, ignoring me. "Why kill her when she could be a valuable asset instead?"

"Hmm..." Shigaraki looks at me a bit then at Kurogiri. "Fine."

"Either of you gonna explain yourselves?!" I demand.

"Apologies for the poor first impression," Kurogiri begins. "Unless you weren't paying attention, you already know our names, so I'll skip the personal introductions. Our organization is known as the League of Villains."

"League of-," I say, suddenly realizing just how fucked I am. "You're villains?!"

"Only by the insistence of the 'heroes' who currently consider themselves our betters," he answers. "We only adopt the name as a badge of pride. A spit in the face of hero society."

"So what do you want?"

"To offer you a position in our organization."

"And if I say no?"

"You may leave, after returning what you have stolen. You have my word on that." Shigaraki scoffs.

I eye him for a second then ask, "and what does your 'League of Villains' aim to achieve?"

"We aim to topple hero society," he explains. "To show the world the falseness of their idols and usher in a new era."

"And what use do you have for me?"

"That will be fully explained later, for now, I would like an answer. Will you join us?"

I look him in the eyes for a moment, then at Shigaraki. He's now sitting at one of the tables, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Is that... truly your goal?" I ask, returning my gaze to Kurogiri.

"Yes."

"Then I'm in, as long as you don't want the money back now."

Kurogiri chuckles a bit, then places the cup he'd been cleaning back onto the shelf.

"What is your name?"

"Junko."

"Welcome to the League of Villains, Junko."