Hellooooo! This is something I pulled out of my Drive, and I was like, "hey, this could be fun!" So I'm rewriting it. I'm aiming for once or twice a month updates, but don't count on it.

In the alleys of Japan, rats crawl around in the darkness, scrambling for food in order to survive another day. Garbage rots with a distinct odor and the homeless hide from the harsh elements. It's a nasty place to be - but the criminal underworld finds it quite suiting.

One rat in particular hides itself in the shadows of a thin alley. The masked teenager checks the time on his phone and sighs.

"...He's late." The teen mumbled.

"Well, I'd've been here sooner if it weren't for your crappy directions."

The teen looked up to see a silhouette perched atop a Dumpster. He sighed.

"I think we'd both prefer not to be found." The teen pushed himself off the wall. "Are you All-for-One-san?"

"He's my Sensei. He said you were reliable, Great Dragon."

"The Great Dragon is my boss, actually."

"Huh?" The man scratched at his neck. Irritation flickered between the fingers of the hand pressed to his face. "Am I not good enough for the Great Dragon to come himself? Who're you?"

"I'm just the messenger."

"Hm." The man patted the space next to him on the Dumpster. "Sit."

"I think I'll remain standing." The teen turned down politely. "These pants are new. What can I do for you, Gakusei?"

"Do not call me that." The scratching abruptly stopped. "Call me Shigaraki, and Shigaraki only."

"I apologize, Shigaraki-san. How can I help you?"

The response was blunt. "I need information."

"Well, that's what I'm here for." The teen's tone was amused.

"I need you to tell me the quirks of Class 1-A of UA."

"HA!" The teen snickered. "Sorry, Shigaraki-san, I didn't peg you as someone with a sense of humor."

Shigaraki growled.

"…Wait, you're actually serious?" The teen's stance shifted. For the first time, Shigaraki caught a glimpse of young emerald green eyes.

"Can you give me the information or not?"

"Um… well, I can try." The teen glanced at the phone he was twisting in his hands. "How soon do you need it?"

"By tomorrow would be ideal, but whatever." Shigaraki shrugged. "If you don't have it, I'll just take you with."

"...Eh?"

"You're really useless, aren't you?" Shigaraki hopped off the Dumpster. He approached the shorter teen. "The League is breaking into UA tomorrow, and we can take you with us to get the information. That'd be a fair trade, wouldn't it?"

The teen looked up at the taller man. Shigaraki once again caught a glimpse of green eyes and the brush of freckles on either cheek. "...I'll have to discuss this with the Great Dragon. I'm sorry, I cannot answer for him."

Shigaraki grunted. "You're a loyal party member. If you're not here tomorrow, I'll assume the deal is off. Be here early."

"Uh, okay. Like, before dawn, early? Or what?"

"By the UA start time." Shigaraki hopped off the dumpster and turned to the day-lit streets. "We'll provide a ride."

"Alright. I'll see you then, I guess?" The teen waved. "Or not."

Shigaraki paused, tilting his head. "What should I call you?"

"Oh." The teen grinned sheepishly. "I'm just the Messenger."

Midoriya Izuku was late.

Very, very late.

He clamored onto the bus, whispering a soft "sorry" to a woman he brushed passed on his way to the middle of the transport. The doors hissed shut behind him.

Izuku tugged his hood off, letting his fluffy green hair fly free for the first time that morning. He flicked through the news, scanning for a specific piece of information.

There.

"YOU CAN'T MISS HER: Heroine MOUNT LADY's Debut!"

Her quirk was so fascinating. How big could she get? Could she shrink? What was her costume made of to stretch so big? What was the purpose of her horns?

She seemed nice enough. Izuku had managed to snag an autograph - which felt AMAZING! He possessed one of the few copies of her autograph!

Which reminded him…

Izuku took a quick picture and sent it to one of the few saved contacts on his phone.

I: [image sent]

K: …

K: u work fast the hell?

I: You're using abbreviations! Why?

K: bus y

I: Oh, I'm sorry.

K: shut. howd u get that?

I: I got lucky! I was in the area. She was so big! It was incredible!

K: damn

I: ...I somehow thought you would be angrier?

K: im furious

I: Oh, I'm sorry!

K: stp apologizing idiot

K: r u going 2 put it in ur stupid ntebook?

I: Yes! It's already in there.

K: nerd

K: gtg

I: Okay! Have fun at school!

K: sure

Izuku smiled at his phone. K was a good friend. At least, he thought they were friends? He hoped they were. K would probably deny it, though. He denied liking All Might, too, but Izuku saw through that clear as day.

Back to work, now.

Shigaraki Tomura.

Well, unless there was another Shigaraki. Probably not. This Shigaraki had been the talk of the Underworld for a while now. All-for-One's successor, raised from childhood, right? Izuku had never met him before. He was different than he thought he'd be.

"Five finger activation." Izuku mumbled. Ah, yes, his quirk, one of the reasons the Great Dragon had sent him to meet with the League in the first place. What could it be?

Probably a destructive quirk, and one Shigaraki wasn't immune to. His itching… well, it sounded like four fingers. Why the itch? Some nervous tick? Was his quirk making him twitchy? Izuku knew that some destructive quirks just needed to be used, like an addiction. Shigaraki's voice, too, it was all raspy, like he hadn't had a good drink in a while. Did his quirk dehydrate him? Or was Shigaraki just a neglectful person?

Was Shigaraki's quirk meant to kill him? Izuku paused. It made sense. Other villains had taken such precautions. The others had gone after him to get to his father, though, but Izuku knew that All-for-One did, to some extent, trust the Great Dragon. They were legendary partners-in-crime: the Conductor of Chaos and the Hoarder of Information. They'd been friends for a long, long time.

So Shigaraki probably wasn't sent to kill him. Maybe he wanted to go? It seemed weird, to go through all the trouble for a simple meeting. Although, Izuku reflected, Shigaraki had thought the Great Dragon would be there; maybe that was the reason.

Internally, Izuku was glad All-for-One had sent a representative. It would have been terrifying, to be alone with his dad's biggest business partner.

He'd have screwed that relationship up, just like he did everything else. He'd probably screwed up that meeting somehow, but hadn't seen how! It was an issue his parents had spent the last fifteen years trying to fix, to no avail.

The bus stopped in front of a familiar antiques store. Izuku sighed, and hopped off.

He was so incredibly late. Hopefully, his father wasn't too upset with him.

"Oh, Izuku, there you are." Midoriya Inko said. The door shut behind the teen with a small ding from the bell. "Be a dear and bring this to my workshop, will you?"

Inko handed him a bag of… unmentionable parts of some poor soul who'd had crossed her. Still, Izuku replied dutifully. "Yes, Okaa-san. Is Otou-san downstairs?"

"Yes. Oh, and please change your clothes, we have a guest."

"Yes, Okaa-san."

Izuku pulled aside a rug and dug his fingers between two wooden panels. With a slight grunt, he lifted the hidden trapdoor and disappeared down it. His mother shut the door behind him with a heavy thunk.

He stopped in the Library to drop his bag on his cot and plug his phone in, then crossed to the Closet to get a change of clothes. He exchanged his black hoodie and jeans for a simple black polo and pants. He also grabbed a thin black belt, and a sheathed knife. Business clothes.

His emokaa-san/em used to make him wear a green tie with it, but the constant replacing of it was wasting too much money.

The final part of his ensemble was a tiny black earpiece, for communication with his parents. The Den was quite large, and this made updates, alarms, and finding each other easy.

Izuku pressed the button to his earpiece. "Otou-san, I'm home."

"Ah, Messenger!" His dad's cheery voice answered. "You're finally back! Come down, come down! I believe I'm going to need some help with Eikou-kun!"

"Yes, otou-san, on my way." Izuku grabbed his most recent notebook and a pencil and headed for the elevator. Once the doors shut, he pressed in a little panel, which slid back to reveal the buttons to the different levels of The Vault. He pressed the number 5.

The Den was laid out in three distinct layers: Topside, The Library, and The Vault. Topside was his Okaa-san's domain, the entrance. His Okaa-san guarded the entrance. To date, no one had managed to get past her.

The Library was, largely, where Izuku stayed when he was at home. His cot was there, along with many of his notebooks. The Library had four levels: The Closet, where they kept all of their outfits and disguises; two stories of physical copies of information; and one level of electronic information. Izuku stayed on the lower story of the two physical information levels. The two levels looked a lot like a normal library, with stairs and railings so the higher story - full of newspapers and magazines - could look below to the lower - stuffed with as many books as they could get their hands on, in a large variety of languages. It was very cozy and quiet; Izuku found it a nice change to his normal day-to-day. The electronic level was one large room with a few rows of computers in the middle and muted TV's all over the walls, each recording a different channel. No news broadcast was missed; no piece of information lost. The Library level was for public information. The information there was pretty cheap.

The Vault, however, was full of top secret reports, logs, plans, anything not released to the general public. This was where the Great Dragon thrived.

Twelve stories of confidential information. Twelve.

It was also where any prisoners were kept, which was where Izuku was heading.

As the elevator doors opened, Izuku was greeted with a muffled scream.

Oh boy, Otou-san was in a mood.

Still, Izuku pushed open a door.

"Messenger! Pleasure to have you back. Have you met my new friend, Eikou-kun?" The Great Dragon welcomed him with a twisted grin.

Izuku shook his head, staring at the broken form of a man with what appeared to be antelope horns coming out of his head.

"Eikou-kun has a really fascinating Quirk, you'd love it. Tell him, Ei-kun!"

The man, covered in countless cuts and bruises, sluggishly looked up at the teen. Surprise flickered across his beaten face. "Ya're- ya're just a kid!"

Izuku didn't react.

"Aw, Ei-kun, you're only telling us things we already know! You know what I want, so why not tell me, hm? It would be so much easier for you."

"I ain't telling ya nothin'." Eikou spit.

The Great Dragon pouted. "Oh, Ei-kun, but-"

He was cut off by a loud ringing. Izuku flinched, hand flying to his pocket, but it wasn't his phone that was ringing.

"Hello!" The Great Dragon's chipper voice answered. "Oh, really? That's great! Oh, hold on a moment-" He pulled his phone away from his face. "Messenger, can you keep an eye on Eikou-kun for a moment? This won't take long, not at all!"

Izuku nodded, stepping to the side to let his otou-san through the door.

The Great Dragon closed and locked it behind him.

Izuku stared blankly at Eikou. His fidgeting with his pencil was the only thing giving away his apparent nerves.

"Kid, why're ya helpin' the Great Dragon?" Eikou asked. "Ya know he's a terrible villain, right? He does awful things!"

Izuku hesitated. "Uh, yeah, I know."

"Then why?"

Izuku didn't answer. Instead, he asked: "So what is your quirk, anyway?"

"Huh? Oh, nothin' too special. I can comfortably be in extreme temperatures." Eikou pushed himself into a sitting position with a groan. The man leaned back against the opposite wall.

Izuku's eyes widened. "That's so cool! Is it your horns? How high and low can you go? Does it affect people around you? Can you touch fire? How does it feel? Why-?"

"Whoa, whoa," Eikou raised a hand, as if it could stop the oncoming wave of questions. "I dunno how it works. But I have touched fire, it's a bit warm, kinda tingly. Yer boss is a bit frustrated by that, though."

"Does it work on your tongue?" Izuku was practically bouncing with excitement. "Can you eat really hot food, like, right out of the oven? Does it taste any different? Does it work with spicy food?"

"Uh-"

The door opened again. "Sorry about that!" Izuku stilled. "Some of my clients can be sooo testy. I mean, can they really expect me to be available at any given moment? It's getting a bit ridiculous." The Great Dragon passed Izuku a note. "Please have this prepared by tonight, Messenger."

"Yes sir." Izuku answered, slipping the note into his notebook.

"Now, where were we, Eikou-kun? Oh, yes! You were about to tell me! Now, as Mount Lady's Head of Public Relations, do you think you could tell me where her residence is?"

"I told ya before, I'll tell ya again: I ain't tellin' you nothin'." Eikou snarled.

"Um, Great Dragon, sir," Izuku spoke up. "I have that information, from my reconnaissance earlier."

"Oh, my boy, why didn't you just say so!" The Great Dragon smiled. "Well, Ei-kun, I'm afraid our time is up. Thanks for all your help!"

Izuku barely had time to avert his eyes when BANG!

The Great Dragon tutted, putting his gun away. "What a mess, what a mess. I hate it when that happens. My dear Izuku, did you get the actual notes I needed on Mount Lady?"

"Yes, of course." Izuku flipped open his notebook. He recited dutifully: "Mount Lady relies heavily on her media presence to fund her destructive methods of heroism. In order to maintain her image of a friendly hero, she lets the crowds closer than most. It would be simple to get close enough to stab or inject her without being detected. The killer would need to keep an eye on what other heroes would be nearby; Mount Lady said she teams up often with Kamui Woods and Bubble Girl. She patrols alone most often during the early morning hours, but the crowds would not be large enough for an undetected killing. The ideal time would be during the morning rush. Her shift ends around lunch time, where she heads straight to her apartment. I've written the address here."

Izuku passed his notebook to his Otou-san. The Great Dragon read the quick description of her Quirk, a grin spreading over his face.

He reached out to ruffle his son's hair. "Well done, you've proven that you are a decent Messenger."

Izuku beamed.

"But your handwriting needs work." The Great Dragon closed the notebook with a snap. "And your drawing of Mount Lady must be less messy. Go rewrite this passage, then do the assignment I gave you earlier."

Izuku took back the notebook. "Yes sir."

"How did the meeting with the League go?"

"Oh- Shigaraki wants to know the quirks of Class 1-A of UA."

The Great Dragon tilted his head. "We don't have that information."

"Yeah, he, uh, he said he wants to bring me to a… an attack or something, tomorrow. He says that that information and a ride would be his offer? I said I'd talk to you."

"Hm." The Great Dragon frowned. "Well, that's hardly fair at all! He's asking for me to risk my Messenger for something that is guaranteed to fail?"

"He wants his answer by tomorrow morning." Izuku said.

"Hm." The Great Dragon looked up, thinking. "Well, it would be great to have information on all those Quirks…"

He pulled out a cigarette and blew on the end, lighting it. "How about this." He stuck the cigarette between his teeth. "I want you to go, get those notes. On both the students, and the villains."

Izuku nodded. "Yes sir."

The Great Dragon grinned. "Good boy. Now, tell me about Shigaraki."

"Childish. Probably plays video games too much. Most likely a destructive quirk that requires five-finger contact to activate." Izuku shrugged. "Personally, he seems a bit inexperienced to be All for One's successor."

"Yes, I quite agree with that." The Great Dragon took a deep inhale. "For someone All for One claims to have raised since he was a child, Shigaraki is not a very effective villain."

Izuku stayed quiet.

"Alright! Well, that's all for now. Your mother and I are going to go out for the rest of the day, so behave yourself. By the time you come back tomorrow I'll be in America. So," his voice grew dark. "Don't screw it up."

Izuku nodded.

Otou-san's voice brightened. "Brilliant! Glad we're on the same page. But just as a reminder," He leaned forward. "What are the rules again?"

"One, Otou-san is always right." Izuku obediently listed. "Two, Okaa-san is always right. Three, keep the hood up and mask on outside of The Den. Four, don't talk to heroes. Five, always stay organized and on time. Six," Izuku's voice cracked. "Never talk to a prisoner. Seven, always finish the fight."

"Correct." He pressed the end of the cigarette into the bare back of Izuku's hand. The teen grit his teeth and bore it without a sound. "Let's follow the rules while I'm gone, m'kay?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good boy." Otou-san tossed the cigarette away. He straightened. "Don't make me regret this deal."

"Yes sir."

"And take out the trash before you go."

"Yes sir."

So, what do you think? Should be fun, yeah? Anyway.

Please check out my other stories!

Appreciate you all! ~BlackPolaris