The sun was high in the sky, partially covered with clouds that promised rain later in the day. The cafe was rather empty for ten in the morning on a Tuesday, but this worked to their advantage. Not that either of them ran any risk of being recognized as they were, with casual clothes and no indication of a costume, but the lack of civilians made them feel more focused on the task at hand.

And perhaps neither of them would admit to it, but they also felt more comfortable not being associated with their work at the moment. What once had been a proud thing laid on the dust at the moment, even for the biggest figures in their line of work. Paparazzi and reporters littered the street like hungry vultures, all of them trying to find the tiniest crumble of a story to bury them even deeper than they currently were. No one felt safe anymore; not the protected nor the protectors.

In the corner of the establishment, two people sat at a small table, steaming cups in their hands.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet me," The thinnest man said, his voice deep and soft.

"It's fine," The other man sighed and leaned back in his seat, staring at the cup of coffee in his hand. "I have more free time now than ever, technically speaking."

There was a short silence as a couple walked past their table, cheerful and unaware, and the second man took the opportunity to down a third of his still hot coffee without hesitation.

"I tried to file my resignation as you did, but I was advised against it. At least for now. That's the last thing the school needs."

"I'm not surprised. You might be the only thing keeping U.A. from closing for good at this point,"

The first man looked down uncomfortably, a cup of tea sitting untouched on his side of the table. The other man raised a brow, his bored expression not betraying anything.

"What's this about, All Might?"

The current number one hero shifted in his seat uncomfortably, his usual bravado nowhere to be seen.

"You saw the news, Eraser. Todoroki Shoto was a part of the attack yesterday."

The ex homeroom teacher looked away momentarily, half his face hidden behind the silver construct he used to capture villains. He'd arrived at the scene mere minutes after the last member of the League had been spotted and he'd immediately recognized the ice crystallizations on the roof of the hospital. Video footage later released online only served to confirm his suspicions, though the general public had yet to find out.

All Might paused for a moment, clearly trying to find the right words to express his emotions. The Erasure Hero didn't try to break the silence, instead sipping at his coffee. He was dying to down the whole thing in one go, but he didn't want to run out of things to fill the silence with, so he held himself back. He also didn't feel like ordering anything else, so there was that.

"I know you were hunting down the Hero Killer a few months ago before you helped capture him." All Might eventually said. Sharp blue eyes met with tired black ones and Aizawa tensed. He remembered the solitary nights and missed phone calls, the guilt. Ever since he'd left U.A, ever since Bakugo…

"And?"

"And I know you're going to start again now that he escaped."

Aizawa's eyes narrowed, the briefest hint of defiance flashing in his mind.

"Are you going to tell me to stop?"

"No," All Might quickly responded, his hands tightening around the cup in his hands. "I want to help you."

Aizawa's expression didn't really change, though he unconsciously leaned forward. The blonde swallowed.

"Why?" Aizawa asked. One would assume that the number one hero was just trying to do his job, or that he was getting personally involved because one of his former students was a part of it now, but he saw through that. There was something deeper. Something far more personal.

"The boy that travels with Stain, The one they're calling 'The Disciple', I… I met him before all of this happened. We spoke and I think… no, I know I made a terrible mistake. I can't help but feel like, if I'd handled things differently with him before, then…"

All Might trailed off.

"You feel responsible," Aizawa guessed, his tone betraying his emotions. He hadn't spoken it out loud, not even to the few people that he still held close in his life, but he knew what he meant. A silence, heavy with understanding, fell upon them both as they thought. The same images of bright futures getting snuffed out like mere candles flashed in their minds.

"We need to find them, bring them back to their families. Make things right, while we still can." All Might said quietly, the meaning of his last words going over Aizawa's head. "It's the least we can do after all of this."

Aizawa looked down at the cup in his hands, sighing heavily before lifting it to his lips and finally finishing his coffee without a hint of satisfaction.

For what felt (and probably was) the millionth time, Midoriya Inko walked out of the police station with her head held as high as she could manage. She had a thick folder filled with papers held in her arms, a year's worth of police reports, declarations, news articles, and missing person posters. She knew most of the documents by heart at this point, even when she always had to empty the entire folder to find whatever she was looking for at any given time, and the papers felt incredibly heavy.

She'd been at the station for over an hour, but no one could tell her if her son had been a part of the hospital attack the morning prior. No one at the scene matched his newest description, and all footage of the chaos was either low quality or too far away for even her to recognize someone in the image.

But she'd still tried. She'd still asked everyone in the station and she had patiently waited for someone to help her, as she now did.

In the first few months, she had been a pure whirlwind of emotion, uncontrolled and dangerous. She would scream at every officer that took too long to give her information, she'd snap at anyone that told her to just calm down and she'd raised hell in social media. Every time the Hero Killer was spotted somewhere, she'd immediately pack her bags and head there, even when people told her to stay home.

She'd moved heaven and Earth in an attempt to find her son, but as time went by everyone except for herself seemed to lose the drive to search for Izuku. With time he became but another name in a file, another face in posters, and no one seemed to hold the hope that she did.

It had been even worse when they'd presumed him dead, when they wanted her to accept that he was gone without a hint of solid evidence. But she stood strong against it all, like a boulder getting struck by the ocean over and over again.

And with time, her once chaotic energy had transformed. It had condensed and concentrated in her, like a time bomb. Her tears and desperate pleads for help had turned into cold looks and brisk words. She no longer busted into rooms with a thousand words, and instead, she simply asked for the most vital of information with sharp accuracy.

She'd lost weight, her posture had changed into a straight and tense one and she was rarely at home. She still moved from one place to another like she had before, though the biggest difference in her life was most notable in that very aspect.

She had once traveled across Japan on her own, alone. But not anymore.

Not after Hosu.

Outside, in a small red car, Bakugo's parents were waiting for her to come back with news. Inko opened up the car door and sat inside, letting out a short sigh.

"Well?" Mitsuki asked.

"Nothing. There's no information on either of their whereabouts." Inko said quietly. The woman on the copilot seat immediately started trembling, and her husband had to place a hand on her leg to keep her from fully breaking.

Inko felt bad for them, sometimes even more than she did for herself. As lost as she was, as much trouble as Izuku was in legally, at least she had a chance of seeing him again. But the Bakugos been forced to not only watch their son get slain on national television but also stand by as the murder escaped police custody.

It had been odd, at first. Inko had wondered if the Bakugos would hate her and her son for what had happened to their own child, but at the end of the day all they saw were a pair of young teens failed by the system. They put all of the blame on Stain and no one else if only to keep themselves sain.

Perhaps it was the fact that she was also helping another grieving parent that allowed her to focus her energy more efficiently, she thought.

Inko reached forwards to place her hand on Mitsuki's shoulder.

"We're gonna find them." She assured loudly, though everyone in the car was currently too emotionally destroyed to believe her words.

A long moment passed, a moment plagued with the heaviness of loss and insecurity, but eventually, the other woman managed to get her breathing under control enough to nod towards her husband. He looked back at Inko.

"Iida called to check in on us. I told her we'd let her know as soon as you came back."

"I see. How's Tenya?"

"She said he's better," He said, though his tone said that he didn't truly believe that. Inko nodded, not saying anything else about the poor boy. The last thing they'd heard about him was that he was barely starting to talk again, though night terrors still plagued him.

Masaru turned back around to start the car and Inko was just about to put on her seatbelt when there was a quick knock on the window. They all turned in unison to see a pair of youths, both of them sporting white hair and big, grey eyes. They locked eyes with Inko as she lowered the window with a small frown.

"Can I help you?"

"Are… Excuse us, we don't want to bother," The young man said, both kids bowing respectfully before continuing. "Are you Midoriya Inko?"

"I am," She responded cooly, and the two kids exchanged a desperate glance.

"I… My name's Todoroki Natsuo. This is my sister, Fuyumi. We recognized you just now and…" Then the boy hesitated, looking around as if making sure that no one else was listening to their conversation.

"I'm very sorry for your loss," Inko said first and foremost, knowing that their father was dead and their little brother missing. "Were you at the station as well?"

Mitsuki and Masaru looked at the kids with wide eyes, emotion clear as day as they were once again reminded of the Hosu incident. The sister nodded sympathetically at the couple in the car, and the sound of crying was heard once more from the passenger seat.

"Um, we wanted to talk to you."

"Yes?" Inko narrowed her eyes. She was aware of how sensitive this subject was, considering that Izuku himself was apparently one of the people that had helped with the youngest Todoroki's abduction. She pushed the sting of grief away forcefully, ready to either apologize or snap at them depending on what they told her.

The young man swallowed, looked around himself once more, and then stepped closer to the car.

"We might have proof that our brother was with your son yesterday at the Hotaru park incident."

The mood in the room was overpowered with resentment and insecurity. The curtains were drawn and different silhouettes stood here and there, no one talking or moving except for the figure in the middle, which was slightly trembling.

At first sight, one might believe that the person was shivering or crying, but the telltale sound of scratching would soon draw your attention to the person's neck and bandaged hand, a few digits missing. It wasn't hard to understand that most of the terror in the atmosphere was emanating from this one person.

The air was electric, and all present knew that the smallest provocation would ignite and consume everything, and so no one dared speak first. Furtive glances and deep breaths were the only thing happening in there.

The figure currently ripping the skin off his neck twitched slightly. He was trying his hardest to hold back the immense need to break and disintegrate and kill flowing through his veins, though not for the sake of dignity or sensibility. No, the truth was that those feelings were aimed at something particular, something specific, and for the first time in years, he found that simply destroying something random would not suffice.

There was a clear intention and motive behind his actions at the moment, and the young man knew that he wouldn't be able to rest until he accomplished any semblance of restitution.

His thoughts were only interrupted when a smokey portal opened behind him.

"Shigaraki Tomura, I've returned." Said Kurogiri, his eyes burning bright in the dark space.

"And?" The young man asked. Ignoring the harsh tone, Kurogiri bowed respectfully and handed Shigaraki something. It was an old cellphone, but Kurogiri was using his warp gate quirk once more before Shigaraki could ask any questions.

The phone started buzzing in the man's hand and he swiftly answered the incoming call, two fingers carefully raised away from the communication device.

"Sensei," Shigaraki said dryly, his throat burning. "Did you find them?"

There was a pause before the young leader scoffed quietly.

"I want to kill them myself. I want the Hero Killer to suffer so much that he'll beg me for death." He said, and the laugh that came from the other end of the call was audible to the rest of the League of Villains. Magne shivered and Twice murmured something under his breath.

And then they watched as a figure stepped out of the portal.

Shigaraki looked at the broad frame, blonde hair, and red eyes of the newest member of his group, listening to his master as the man explained every step of his new plan. With every word, the fire in Shigaraki's eyes shone brighter with murderous intent.

"I can work with that."

Mirio stared at the door in front of him with a heavy sense of dread. He wiped his hands on his pants and took a deep breath, forcing any negativity out of his body before going inside. He always attempted to give others the most cheerful side of himself, and his elders and mentors were no exception.

But the office that usually raised a sense of warmth in his heart now made him nervous, and the smile on his face had a small edge to it.

He unconsciously patted his back pocket where his phone was, and the call he'd had minutes earlier echoed in his brain.

It's fine, Mirio. He'll take it just fine, He told himself reassuringly, pinching himself to snap out of his awkwardness. He could do this. It would be okay. He knocked twice on the door, waited for permission to go inside, and swung open the door with the same enthusiasm he was known to have in his day to day life.

Inside the office, every piece of All Might merchandise seemed to turn to look at him and he almost tripped with his own feet.

"I'm surprised to see you with classes out," Sir Nighteye commented over the documents in his hands. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing, Sir!" Mirio responded cheerfully but then hesitated just long enough to make himself look suspicious. "Well, actually, I wanted to talk with you. I got a call from U.A."

Nighteye was on his case in an instant, his eyes darkening at the thought that there was something wrong with his pupil's life.

"Did they tell you anything? They have to let you graduate if they have any sense of pride."

Mirio swallowed. He considered making a joke, even a stupid one, but his sense of duty got the best of him. He owed his mentor the benefit of seriousness right now.

"It was All Might."

There was a long moment of silence. It didn't take a professional to see how conflicted Sir Nighteye was at the news, but Mirio knew him well enough to know that it wasn't just discomfort twisting his expression. It was sadness and regret and nostalgia, and other emotions that Mirio could identify but not find a cause for. He had yet to find out about his mentor's and All Might's reasons for parting ways.

"What did he want with you?"

Mirio shifted on his feet, then stepped forward and took a seat in front of the desk. He straightened his back.

"Before U.A closed, he was personally mentoring me in his spare time." Sir Nighteye frowned, and Mirio was quick to bow his head. "I wasn't allowed to tell anyone, not even you. Not until now did he tell me I could share what I know and what's happened."

"And what do you know?" The professional hero sounded stoic, a great contrast to how he usually was with Mirio, and the teen swallowed thickly.

Had Nighteye not been sitting, he might have fallen at the mention of One for All.

With five plastic bags swinging in her hands, the red-headed young woman walked down the street calmly. The bags were all different colors and sizes, and they crinkled as she went along, apparently without a care in the world even though she was currently walking along a rather shady part of town.

Perhaps she was close to home, or maybe she just wasn't too self-aware, a fact that the man following her intended to take full advantage of. It wasn't every day that he saw such an easy opportunity, after all.

She gleefully turned a corner and headed down a small alley, echoing steps closing in behind her for a few more blocks.

"Hey, pretty." The man drawled out, hands in his pockets. He was close enough to see the brown in the woman's eyes when she turned to face him, her expression unsurprised and a tad bit bored.

"What are you doing out here all on your own?" He smiled. The predatory look in his eyes grew more ambitious when the woman blinked, looking him up and down. But no fear rose in those eyes. Just disdain.

"I promised I would do anything rash, can you please go away?" She asked politely. The words only incited him to get closer, the smile on his face becoming sinister. He cornered the poor woman against the wall, his intentions clear as day.

"Oh, come on. I just want to have some fun~" He said and the woman sighed.

"You're really not my type," She said unapologetically, adjusting the bags in her hands so that her right hand was free.

The man almost stumbled, anger flooding him immediately.

"The fu-"

The sentence died in his throat as she gracefully cut the distance between them, a knife digging deep into the man's neck.

"But I suppose I can make you look a little better." She said sweetly, her eyes cold and judgemental and a wicked grin spread across her face. The man's body landed on the ground with a gurgle, a sound that the woman ignored as she once again went her own way.

By the time she arrived at her destination, the blood on her clothes and skin had dried, and she climbed through a broken window as if she were at home.

"How did it go?" Izuku asked her, noticing the blood on her and giving Stain a panicked look. "You okay?"

"A creep was following me," She explained easily, putting the bags down and handing out changes of clothing to the people around her. "But I got some really cute stuff at one of the thrift shops!"

Dabi raised a skeptical brow at the incomprehensible attitude that Toga was known for, but said nothing as he looked at the clothes given to him.

"Is that so," Izuku said, half relieved and half anxious. Hopefully, the body wouldn't end up being an issue for them before they left the city. Toga gave him one of the bags and smiled.

"Mhmm!" Toga hummed happily, finally giving Stain his own clothes along with the money she hadn't used.

"Oh, um, we took that from…" Izuku started, taking out a small paper from his back pocket. On the page, a long list of names and security numbers were jotted down and Izuku scanned the paper in search of a particular alias he'd used to withdraw money earlier.

"I don't care," Stain said, not even asking for the page back.

Izuku cleared his throat quietly, folding the piece of paper and putting it back in his pocket. It had been a relief to know that most of Stain's money had been split in a multitude of bank accounts years back, most of which were still undiscovered by the police.

"Did we all need new things?" Shoto asked, glancing at the selection of six backpacks and picking a light blue one for himself. He looked at the array of new clothes in his hands as if they were a difficult puzzle.

"We're not going around with one change of dirty clothes, that's disgusting," Toga said, wrinkling her nose. She disappeared behind a wall, the mirage of the older woman already melting off her body, and everyone changed in silence. Stain gave Izuku a half exasperated look, but he couldn't deny that he was glad to get rid of his hospital uniform.

No one commented anything, though a few odd looks were exchanged amongst everyone. It was hard to ignore how each outfit was perfectly combined and different from the rest, a few shirts sporting simple patterns and images that, while discreet and dark in color, were far more stylish than any of them cared to admit. With a few items to spare each, the went for the clothes that most resembled their old ones and put the rest, along with their old clothes, in one of the backpacks available.

From Spinner's new grey tank top, hair tie and elbow pads, to Izuku's new jacket with a small red rose embroidered over the left side of his chest and a pattern on the inside, Shoto's baggy black pants and a new belt, and Dabi's stamped t-shirt and jeans, everyone looked at themselves with the awkwardness of someone that is not in the slightest bit familiar with their current situation.

Thankfully, Stain's own clothes were similar to his past look all the way to the red scarf and a face mask, and Izuku sighed in relief at that. Finally, Toga joined them back in her own skin, looking rather pleased with her own black skirt and blouse, her old equipment around her neck, and a new pair of ribbons holding her hair up. She smiled at the sight of her work and Izuku smiled back at her, even if a little awkwardly.

All prior belongings had been thoroughly searched for tracking devices or bugs, but thankfully nothing had been found. Perhaps Shigaraki did really trust his ex allies, Izuku thought curiously. Either way, that had been a blessing, since their equipment and weapons didn't need to be changed. It was one thing to see a woman on a shopping spree for clothes, and another one entirely to see her buying dozens of weapons.

"Well, at least we look different," Spinner said after a moment, and Shoto, Dabi, and Stain seemed satisfied enough with that reality. Stain spun the katana in his hands and adjusted it to his pants along with the rest of his blades, something that Toga, Izuku, and Spinner imitated. It had been another stroke of luck that Spinner had been carrying enough weapons for all of them to be well-armed, even when that meant that the mutant had to conform with a much smaller bouquet of swords for himself.

But everyone had realized how excited he was to give the one and only Hero Killer a new katana and knives, so they knew he didn't mind one bit.

Izuku watched as Toga spun around, enjoying her new skirt, and then gave Stain a small smile. The man rolled his eyes, putting a black bag over his shoulders and making sure that everyone was ready.

"Let's move." Stain ordered simply, and everyone fell into step behind him, out the window and into the back streets of the edge of town. Unknown to the rest of the world, six figures made their way out of the city unnoticed.

And, unknown to them, things started to get in motion in the very places they left behind.