I thank everyone whose stuck around to read what I've written. I'm back from my break! Whoo-hoo! Apologies for the wait. Not really. It was...thought provoking. Anyway, this chapter is a little more world building. Sorry if certain paragraphs seem too long.

RE:PUTATION(Being the most hated person is wonderful. People acknowledge your existence)

Yagi Toshinori, known to all as the Symbol of Peace, wondered where he went wrong when subduing the vigilante. Not only did Spectre escape (almost)unharmed, he, the supposed "undefeated" hero had gotten seriously injured. The sword had been rammed straight into the scar from All For One, then tearing a path through the more healed portions of his body. Recovery Girl had a rage-induced breakdown when she was called in to help patch up his wounds, yelling at him about knowing his limits and underestimating people. Which he couldn't deny.

When Spectre had buckled under the first hit, he thought that it would be easy to capture him, that he only relied on stealth and speed to kill his victims. A glass cannon that could be taken by surprise and destroyed with a single hit. He had been holding back, for they had to bring in the killer alive, but he did not have to dial his strength back that much. While the first strike had caught his opponent off guard, he recovered and reacted faster than Toshinori could anticipate, tanking the several hits of a greater magnitude and showing finesse with his blades. And because of that carelessness, Spectre had escaped. Nedzu had already stated that they had one shot, one stab in the dark before he knew of their intentions. When diplomacy had failed, he was supposed to be the trump card to end the serial murders before they could stretch out any longer. Now Spectre was running free, already knowing of their ruses and wary of their attempts to arrest him. The heroes were supposed to succeed, were supposed to do what the police tried to, but couldn't. So why had one lone boy(he looked like a child, skin soft and eyes free of the haunted look he saw in the mirror every morning, until Nedzu had offered to help him) managed to outplay a genius, overpower a behemoth and outmaneuver several of the best underground heroes Nedzu had at his disposal? The question had taken up much of his spare time, consuming his thoughts and leaving him sleepless for many nights. He still didn't have an answer for it. The boy(what else could he be?) himself lurked in his dreams, dreams in which All Might wasn't fast enough to stop him, or ones where his face morphed and shifted into that of his greatest enemy, mocking him from beyond the grave. He shivered despite himself, wincing when the motion caused his new injuries to twinge and his nonexistent stomach to churn. The feeling he had gotten from Spectre was almost identical to that of the one he had gotten from that man. An unstoppable force that crushed everything in its way, no matter what.

Toshinori stared at the thick stack of papers in front of him, loathe to read them(and by the expressions of the others, they were thinking the same) while Nedzu sipped his tea and watched them with an unreadable face. Sighing, he picked up the first paper, a sketch of their mystery man based on what glimpses had been caught of him and another of Spectre(Black) next to it. Underneath were some descriptions of the serial killer and some pictures of the bodies he left behind. Well, he couldn't call them bodies considering that the only things left were parts of a body, often missing at least two limbs, minus the exception that Eraserhead had found, which was missing its vital organs and several appendages, but mostly intact. Skimming over the rest briefly, considering that they were mostly just annotated images and the testimonies of various heroes and civilians that had encountered him over the months that he had appeared. All in all, he could only summarize a few things about Spectre, which were all written in the conclusion of the papers. His gender, his agenda, his weapons and his supposed quirkless status.

"Now that most of you have seen the analysis on our new problem done by the joint operation between the police force and some of our heroes, I'd like to start this discussion off with a question. What do we know about Spectre?" Naturally, Nedzu was the one to kick-start the talking, having been the one to hold it in the first place.

"Spectre is a killer, plain and simple. What makes him stand out is the fact that he targets criminals and never leaves his victims intact." A man with startling green eyes(black hair with white strands drawing an interesting network across his head) was the second to speak, hands fiddling with a small contraption while flipping through the documents everyone had gotten. Upon getting judging stares from those who had shifted their attention(and the hero sitting next to him nudging not-too-gently), the man pocketed the object, smiling awkwardly while his now free hands went to adjusting his sleeves and tie. Looking from face to face, his expression shifted from embarrassment, to confusion, then finally to understanding. Hands stilling, his smile dissipated and his posture seemed to harden.

"What makes a killer stand out is the way they kill, or perhaps the people they kill. They have different motivations and mindsets but one thing always stays the same. They stick to their game plan unless forced to change it. There isn't much of a difference when you check Spectre against the psychology of past serial killers." Seemingly finished(though raising more questions with his explanation), the plain looking man uncurled his hands and went back to the device that had reappeared on the table sometime during his talk, ignoring the murmuring and clearly irritated people watching him as he worked. Toshinori looked to Nedzu, who answered the unspoken question before Eraserhead could strangle the man(judging from the levitating bundle of scarves and two other heroes trying to calm him down).

"This is Ginji Yuki, the criminal profiler we had start on Spectre ever since it was confirmed that there was a serial killer. He specializes in the mentally insane and his predictions have always been correct in the five years since he started. Now Ginji, since you've already provided your thoughts, why not make them easier for everyone to understand?"

"They can figure it out."

He watched as the last thread of patience Eraserhead had snapped(he could almost hear it) and his friends stopped restraining him as his capture weapons wrapped around the distracted man, earning a muffled curse and causing Ginji to drop the device into his lap while a screwdriver clattered onto the table. "Just because you think you're better than anyone at this doesn't mean that you should interfere with the investigation progress. I don't care how good you are at your job. You will explain what you meant so that we can continue, capiche?"

Ginji sighed, shrugged and picked up the box in his lap, placing it on the capture weapons. As they made contact, several small saw blades made themselves present and cut through the scarf-like objects in a few seconds, stopping when he was free of his bindings. Tossing the remnants back to a now speechless Eraserhead, he looked round the room with a bored expression.

"Anyone else want to try?"

"No?"

"Right then. Let me explain since one of you kindly asked for clarification. Serial killers have a desire to be found, to be famous, to have attention directed at them. Rather narcissistic actually. While Spectre had gone against this trait for the past...year? It's a year by now right? Anyways, Spectre is slipping. He first got spotted by Eraserhead over there, then let him know more about himself than the police and heroes had gotten so far and went as far as to leave a note. Shortly after that, he shows up to challenge Nedzu and...wait is this confidential?"

Sharing another look with Toshinori and Eraserhead, Nedzu gave Ginji a nod. The grey-haired man looked at Nedzu(and his eyes flickered a little too quickly across the room for All Might's taste before settling on him) and took a deep breath.

"Right. So, what sealed the fact that Spectre is falling back on habits that have been absent is that he tried to fight All Might. Yes, the living legend himself. Now before you all scream and shout, hear me out. He beat All Might. Not in a fair fight or anything but when are fights fair except for competitions? Strike that, competitions aren't fair either. He got ambushed, escaped and injured our Symbol of Peace. That's the problem. Having supposedly won against the 'Strongest Hero', it's likely to say that he'll be bolder this time round. Cause if the Number One Hero can't stop him...who can?"

While the room dissolved into chatter(no surprises here), he sat in his seat, the pit in his stomach(despite the lack of one) widening and he slumped in his chair. He had let a dangerous villain escape. Even after a surprise attack and overwhelming him with strength alone, he had been beat. And if what Ginji was saying was true, then Spectre would grow braver. Who knew how many lives would be lost before they finally took him down this time(or what if he was unbeatable?) and closed the case. Not meeting the suddenly burning gaze of Ginji, he stood up and exited quietly amongst the commotion, the urge to cough stronger than ever while self-loathing whispered into his ears and coiled around his spine. Barely making it out of the room in time, Toshinori brought a tissue to his mouth to catch the fresh blood projectiles. After several minutes(and tissues.), he recovered enough to move to a bench opposite the door, pretending not to see the police officers who had stopped their work to watch him out of the corner of their eyes, whispering fervently. He only raised his head when the overhead light was blocked out by a new shadow.

Ginji Yuki watched him, face unreadable while his eyes shifted from the corners of Toshinori's mouth to the tissue wadded up in his hands. After a short pause, his mouth curled into a small frown.

"You see a doctor for that?"

"It's nothing serious. My organs were damaged after an accident and the side effects caused this. It comes and goes, but I've gotten used to it. I just need to remember to carry something to wipe up the mess."

"I see. In case you didn't already know, my name's Ginji Yuki. People call me Gin. Your name is?"

"Yagi Toshinori. Pleasure to meet you."

"I'd say the same, but the fact that I'm here means that people are dying, so I'd rather we never met at all. Sorry for being frank, but if you're done, we need to get back inside. They probably stopped arguing."

"No offence taken. We should be back in there, shouldn't we?"

"So, now that you've settled your arguments, I hope you have at least, let's proceed to the game plan. Principal Nedzu?"

"We attempted to bring Spectre in peacefully, but seeing as that didn't work, we tried to take him in forcefully. That did not end very well too. According to his current profiling, Spectre will most likely go into hiding, but resurface a few weeks later. Our current objective is to find out more about him. Where he lives, who he knows, any scrap of information will be essential to combat him. We'll have people investigating, led by the police force while the heroes will continue patrolling his target area. Once he comes back, we'll be ready for him. Any questions? No? Well then, your files contain your motive and who you will be working with. Good luck."

Toshinori walked back to his house, pondering the events that had happened. Ginji had given him a card with his phone number and address before taking off, disappearing before anyone could stop him. As per Nedzu's request, his current job was to rest(with several warnings from Recovery Girl attached to the back of the paper) until he could be called in to help out. Taking out his phone, his hand hovered over the contact details of his Sensei, hesitating briefly on the "call" button before turning it off. While his Sensei was still considered a pro hero(in reality, the license was really only permission for him to use his quirk freely), he already had enough on his plate. He didn't need his student to bother him with a new serial killer(even though Spectre's movements eerily reminded him of Gran Torino) or ask for more advice(the phantom sensation of throwing up disrupted his walk for a few moments). He was the Number One Hero. He could do it on his own(despite failing the first time). Preoccupied with his thoughts, he didn't notice the hooded teenager glued to his phone until the two bumped into each other. Apologizing, Toshinori bent to retrieve the phone the other had dropped. When he was going to return it, the teenager had already disappeared. Turning a full circle but not seeing him, Toshinori looked down at the phone as it chimed. A new message appeared on the lock screen and his blood froze as he read it. Dropping it into his pocket, he ducked into the nearest alleyway to transform, looking for the hooded boy, but to no avail. Cursing, he looked back at the phone while making his way to UA. The text remained, almost mocking.

To: Yagi Toshinori

Tread carefully. We wouldn't want your injuries to act up again would we? I'm thinking of taking a break, so have fun trying to catch me! Don't you think the students in Yuuei Academy look so cute? Teenagers with bright dreams and strong quirks. Is that really all there is to being a hero? You and the rest of this society are pathetic. You step on those without quirks, or perhaps those with weak ones because everything requires a quirk doesn't it? How can you say that when you never had one in the first place?

You made me mad. For that, I'm going to tear this system down brick by brick. I'll show them what quirkless people are capable of.

Also, what do you think about a quirkless boy applying to the most prestigious school in this country?

~Spectre

I'm not sure if I got the characters correct, but I tried my best. Huh. It really has been another month. Now, this will be the last filler chapter. The next one will just jump straight to the beginning of canon. I've been waiting for this for quite some time. Tell me if I went wrong or anything, I'm not very experienced in BNHA. Well, anyways, thanks for the support!