To kick off part 2, two chapters quickly. Though from now I will go back to a schedule of twice a week.

Part 2: Chapter 1

Aizawa Shouta looked around carefully. He was conscientious enough to ensure that his gaze wasn't obvious. He'd learned how to do that professionally as an underground hero. And despite it being ten years or so since he had been a hero, he hadn't forgotten his skills. There was no one watching, and the camera in the corner was his feed.

He unlocked the door, opening it just enough for him to slip through before it closed again. He stood in the dark for a few moments before flicking on the light. He paid extra for the storage unit to have power. It was for these times.

He looked at the boxes. They contained the regalia of his time as a Hero and some of his first cases after his reintegration. His examination was sharp. Shouta breathed a sigh of relief when he took in that nothing had changed. His capture scarf was still hanging half out of the top of one, and some of Hizashi's gear was strewn haphazardly around. All was in order.

Aizawa stepped through the boxes, working his way between them until he was standing at the back of the storage unit. At least that's what it looked like. It was a false back. It concealed barely five centimetres of room. That small was not noticeable, and could be explained as a measurement error should anyone come in here. Carefully he began moving the concealing boards, stacking them to the side.

Behind the wall was a cork board. Photos, printouts of news articles, and other random things were pinned onto it. They were all joined by several spools of different coloured threads. The board would make no sense to anyone looking at it. But the board was rather incriminating.

The former pro-hero sighed as he looked at it.

At the centre there was a picture of Representative Imoku Kakurete. A large question mark was over his head. It was symbolic because after so many years, Shouta seemed to always have more questions about the man and precious few answers. Threads connected him to just about everything on the board. There were pictures of the League of Villains, heroes and vigilantes. Other Representatives were pictured as well but nowhere near as prominently.

If you spent some time looking you could see a pattern. Some of the photos had black thread. That lead to those who were dead. It was mostly on the Hero side. Others had gold thread, and they tied back to Imoku Kakurete the closest.

Shouta let his eyes trace over the images, seeing all the connections.

So much had changed in the past few years. Not all of it for the better but he was one of the lucky ones. When heroes had been forced to integrate, as they called it, he had other skills to fall back on. Most combat heroes just took the offered positions with the Police, Fire Brigades or sometimes with the Military. Rescue heroes took positions with the Emergency Services… and any hero that had a healing quirk just walked into a hospital and was welcomed.

On the surface it looked as if everything was neatly dealt with. Heroes were integrated. New study courses were made for those who passed the renamed Hero Public Safety Bureau's psyche assessment. They had been renamed the Quirk Usage Assessments, and were performed by the Centre for Responsible Quirk Usage. The committee was still there, but they were far more closely monitored by a House of Representatives oversight committee. The committee that was headed by Imoku Kakurete.

The argument there was that since he was an Independent Representative, he wouldn't be influenced by the major parties. Aizawa didn't buy the public line. He was far too used to heroics, where the truth was seldom what it seemed.

And that's why the board existed. He hadn't taken employment with the Police. He saw where that was going. The heroes who had taken that option, had been forced to hunt down those who had become vigilantes. That had broken most of them, and they'd resigned, generally to retire to some other profession, after some retraining. In that way, the old Hero Public Safety Bureau had been generous. They had allotted more than enough funds to allow for retraining.

He'd adapted. He'd used the skills he'd learned as an underground hero and had become a private investigator. Shouta had made sure he kept his cases simple. Things that wouldn't attract the wrong type of attention. He appeared to be fitting in.

This was the longest case of his life.

His red eyes bored into the image of Imoku. The man's green eyes were visible from under green curls over his confident smile. Representative Kakurete was a man who knew his power. He didn't flaunt it, but he certainly used it. And he was adept at keeping it. He had won a second term by a landslide. Rumour had it that there had been serious debate in party rooms to decide if they should even bother running candidates against Imoku. He was very popular with his electorate. He was very popular with Japan. The major parties had run against him.

It just made their loss all the more spectacular. But Imoku was only one man, and he had only one area, which should have limited his power.

Aizawa snorted. Representative Kakurete was very good at making sure all the major parties liked him. Somehow he hadn't made enemies in politics.

Somehow…

Shouta knew exactly how it was. An gift of a very expensive wine here, a vote of support there, a popular legislation and Kakurete had enough political capital to spend, along with his very real fiscal capital. And he didn't have any dirt to dig up. Shouta knew he wasn't the only one looking. He had encountered others looking. Either the Representative was as clean as he looked, or he was far better at burying his past that most others.

Nedzu had pointed him at Kakurete, so Shouta knew exactly which option he leaned towards. It was somewhat scary to know that Nedzu hadn't been able to work out Kakurete but Aizawa liked to think it was more that the Principal didn't have time, rather than couldn't. The rat-human was one of the casualties of the changes. He hadn't been killed, or taken for experimentation, he'd simply died. With Nedzu's intelligence it was easy to forget he wasn't completely human. He'd aged and died.

That was the easy path, really. Others hadn't made it quite as well.

Snipe had settled into the Police SWAT teams. He was their crack sharp shooter. Hizashi devoted himself full time to radio. Midnight had launched a brand of perfume but it hadn't done well. He wasn't sure where she was. Cementoss worked in construction with Power Loader. Vlad King went in a completely different direction. Shouta understood he was working as an Environmental Consultant these days. Lunch Rush had opened a restaurant and Recovery Girl was retired but occasionally worked on difficult specialist cases when called in. Thirteen was working in the space program. It was slightly amusing, she was actually in space for a lot of the time, cleaning up the debris from the 20th century, which made clear space lanes for now. Most of UA's staff had moved on to find other work. It was the last thing Nedzu did for them.

Other schools weren't as adaptable. Ms Joke had tried to work for the Police and for a while she was a great hostage negotiator but in the end that hadn't worked. She now did stand up comedy with a quirk license. Those going to her shows knew she was using a quirk but people wanted to laugh.

He'd like to say that they wanted to laugh in these dark days but society hadn't crumbled into shambles with the disappearance of Heroes. It had changed but it was still trundling along. As far as he knew, the League of Villains still existed but they didn't appear as active. Unconfirmed rumour had it that many of the members indicated it wasn't as fun without Heroes to fight.

At least that meant the students, those who had been training to be heroes weren't having to deal with them. Most of the students had moved into other courses, though the transition had been difficult for those who came from hero families. Uraraka had formed a business partnership with Power Loader and Cementoss and was now one of the largest construction companies in Japan. Kirishima was with the Police and was a front line tactical expert for when they did confront quirk related crime. It was the closest position to a combat hero that still existed.

The support students were mostly in business for themselves. That was another thing Kakurete was responsible for. With the removal of Heroes as a job, the restrictions on support items were lightened. The public had never been happier. And in some ways, Shouta was forced to admit it was a good thing. He had been on a stake out a year or so ago now, and had spotted a mugging. He wasn't dumb enough to go and interfere. That would make him a vigilante and he had no desire to be imprisoned. But he had been willing to activate his quirk from a distance to render the attacker quirkless. No one would have seen him. It hadn't been necessary. The victim had pulled out something, he wasn't sure what it was given the distance and then had calmly walked away. On that front, Aizawa couldn't fault the change but… He was curious to know how many were misusing support items to conduct heists?

There was never any data on that. Perhaps he should ask Asui to collect it? She had taken a position with the Coast Guard, but had enough access to Police records. Perhaps not, he had enough to complicate matters.

He sighed again, and pulled some of the threads up. They had dropped off. They connected Imoku to the League of Villains. There was a connection, Shouta was sure of it but he wasn't quite sure how. The thread was grey to represent his questions.

He was left staring at a knife.

Aizawa stiffened. His mind automatically assessed the knife. It was a short throwing blade. It was embedded in the image of Imoku, directly between his green eyes, but thankfully had missed all the threads.

"Your situational awareness has gone down, Sensei."

He blinked at the sentence. He knew that voice.

Most of his students had gone into other industries… Some had become vigilantes. Most of them had been arrested or had stopped activities. They simply didn't have the contacts, or drive to put up with the problems a vigilante faced. Not like some of the heroes, the ones who became vigilantes. They had more stamina in the business, at least until their former allies hunted them down.

Aizawa didn't blame his students. They had signed up to be heroes after all, and that meant a certain amount of support.

One had remained though… One who had left his class directly because of the Assessments.

Katsuki Bakugou.

As far as Aizawa knew, Bakugou was living underground and was… "You took out Compress?"

The boy… no, no longer a boy, the man snorted, and came fully into the space behind the boxes.

"Of course you did," Shouta answered his own question. "You do know he was almost released?"

"What?" Katsuki glared. Aizawa had to admit his glare had gotten sharper over the years.

"You are a vigilante," he explained, and waited for Bakugou to put the pieces together.

"That's bullshit!" He snarled. At least it wasn't accompanied by explosions.

"Those are the new rules." In the wake of the Heroes being integrated, the rules on illegal use of quirks and vigilantism had been tightened. Children were now warned if they couldn't or didn't control their quirk once they turned six. Those who simply couldn't control their quirks were given extra training. Those who didn't were put on suppressants, and it was up to the parents to ensure they were taken. Vigilantism carried penalties as harsh as if they were the perpetrators. Especially if the vigilante was a former pro-hero or student. There was now a recognised defense of wrongful arrest by vigilante. Compress hadn't managed to get away with that argument but it was a close thing. Thankfully the League member had a rap sheet a mile long, and the prosecution had known to bring out every charge because quite a few had been dismissed.

"Yeah, well, you obviously don't agree with them," the blond growled, reaching up to pull out his knife.

He said nothing.

Bakugou snorted again. "I don't do blackmail, Sensei… Unless it is that fuck," he added. If a glare could set fire to something (without a quirk), Katsuki's would have. There was considerable venom in his eyes.

"You know something?"

"I know that fucker's real name."

That got Aizawa's attention. And he could see that it was meant to with the way Katsuki smirked at him. "And what would that cost me?" He asked carefully.

Bakugou's statement guaranteed that Imoku Kakurete had another name but that didn't necessarily mean that he was doing anything illegal… though he could be. Depending on the circumstances there might be a case for misleading Parliament and that would be enough to get Kakurete thrown out. It might not change the current rules regarding heroes back but it would perhaps bring them into question.

"I want your assessment," Katsuki replied.

"My assessment?" Shouta didn't understand. If the boy was talking about a psych assessment, there was no way to transfer them.

"Your realistic assessment," Bakugou explained before he huffed. "I want to know if you think revealing it will do any good."

"You've always been good at knowing the consequences," Aizawa pointed out.

The boy looked disgusted. "Not with him," he whispered, glaring at the image.

That was interesting. That meant there was some deeper history there. "Tell me who he is," Aizawa said, agreeing to the price. It was something he'd have to do anyway, so he might as well get information.

Bakugou nodded. "His name is Izuku Midoriya," he said.

The name meant nothing, though Aizawa was sure he had heard it before. He focused on Katsuki's words while his mind worked.

"He's my age. Or at least he's meant to be. Quirkless, and went missing about a year before this Kakurete appears."

Shouta took a deep breath, thinking. "It would be very hard to prove," he murmured. Actually it might be impossible unless this Izuku's DNA was on record… which it was… Blood work was done on all newborns in Japan. But getting a sample from Imoku would be difficult. Correction, legally getting the sample would be difficult and then comparing it would actually violate several laws. And Kakurete had enough lawyers that if there was the slightest hint of impropriety, he would bury them.

And even if Imoku was this Izuku what laws had he violated? Shouta wasn't sure. Misrepresentation was a possibility but he was equally sure Imoku would have arguments against that… In fact… Imoku could argue that he was a victim of some quirk and had decided to make the best of his life. Except that didn't explain how he had walked into his directorships. Most of the companies had been groomed for him.

Again, Aizawa could see that there would be reasons. The person who accidentally aged him felt sorry for him or similar. They were shallow reasons but they would buy off the public.

Except… why hadn't he told his real mother? Now that he was thinking, Aizawa felt his eyes wander to a picture of a green haired woman who was almost always at Kakurete's rallies. She was the mother of the missing quirkless Izuku Midoriya. Why had he been missing?

No, there were questions that had to be answered, though…

Shouta sighed.

"Well?" Bakugou asked.

"I don't know," he replied. "It would definitely cause some problems and raise quite a few questions which I'm sure Kakurete doesn't want to answer but I don't know how much trouble it would really raise."

"Why?"

"Money," Shouta gave the short answer. "And you know which companies he owns?"

The vigilante looked like he'd swallowed a lemon. Kakurete had an unfortunate interest in news and advertising.

"I'll take that as a yes. A couple of words to the right people and they won't publish. Even if they do, he can present himself as a victim of a quirk gone wild."

"Bullshit!"

"True," Aizawa agreed. "But he can spin stories to that affect and I can guarantee that the reporting will favour him."

"So it's pointless?"

"Not pointless," Shouta was quick to correct. "Avalanches have to start somewhere. I just don't think revealing a supposed identity is enough. Finding a genuine link between him and the League would be better."

"Of course it fucking would!" Bakugou growled. "But you know he's not that careless."

"But you know him," Aizawa pointed out. Katsuki had knowledge of Izuku that he didn't, and that could be the difference. "Though, how do you know it's him?"

There was a snort at the question. "He fucking told me!"

"He told you?" There was an understandable note of disbelief in Aizawa's voice with his question.

Bakugou's expression changed. It wasn't something Shouta would ever expected to see on the blond's face. It was a mix of emotion. Regret, resignation… even fear. There was definite history here. "He told me."

Shouta took a deep breath, before he reached back one hand, feeling for some boxes. He hoisted himself into a sitting position on them after checking that they would hold his weight. "Start at the beginning," he instructed. "Assume I know nothing," he added.

What else had Imoku told Bakugou? Did Bakugou know about Imoku's undocumented quirk? The Representative hadn't exactly denied having one, but, as always with Kakurete, proof was scarce to non-existent. And making an accusation of that nature would require irrefutable proof, especially as Kakurete had been correct. Government Representatives were routinely checked to ensure that they were not being influenced by a quirk.

He suppressed a shiver. That was not a good memory. Not the interview with Kakurete, one of his students. Shinsou… He should be there! In the Government testing team. Too young, they said. Too inexperienced. He'd instead taken a job with the Police as a Hostage Negotiator, and he'd been good. He'd proven to the world that his quirk could be used for good. Until someone set a trap. He couldn't be sure it was the League but it seemed like them.

One of the hostages wasn't a hostage.

At least it had been quick. It was a comfort Aizawa didn't like to think about. He couldn't prove it was the League but the way the woman had smirked made it clear. Shinsou wasn't a hero, but they wanted him gone.

"It starts back when I was four," Katsuki said, bringing Shouta's attention back to the present. The vigilante had taken a seat on another set of boxes and was staring into the distance. "We were so excited to get our quirks," Bakugou murmured. "But he never did. It wasn't too bad at first. It could be just late, but it never came. Eventually he was diagnosed as Quirkless. He has the toe joint and everything."

Aizawa nodded, indicating he was listening.

Bakugou sighed. "I wasn't good to him," he said. There was a catch in his voice. "That barely covers it. I was a villain to him," he altered his words. "Every opportunity I could I told him he was worthless. Every chance I had, I used my quirk on him. No one bothered to stop it. I was gifted after all." There was a bitter note in Katsuki's words. It wasn't all directed outwards. That was a change.

"Ten years. I never thought about it. I never wondered, I just did it because there's no way someone without a quirk was going to get in my way. No way, someone without a quirk would ever be a hero. I wasn't going to let the spotlight fall on him."

Shouta said nothing. This was new but he had gained a reasonable insight into Bakugou's nature during the first year of UA. He was passionate. That was the kindest way of saying it.

"Then one day, when we were fourteen, our teacher was asking about our High School choices. The extras all wanted to be Heroes but they knew they couldn't. Only I was applying to UA. At least, that's what I thought… Then I found out he was. I was so angry. Here was this quirkless nothing, trying to get into UA! Something snapped. I just wanted him to hurt, so I told him that if he wanted to be a hero that badly, he should just jump off the roof, and believe he'd be born with a quirk in the next life."

Aizawa saw the way Bakugou swallowed thickly. His red eyes were still unfocused.

"Izuku didn't jump, he just disappeared." Katsuki huffed. "The last thing I told him was that he should kill himself and in disappearing he kind of did. There was a search. Nothing was found. No evidence, no phone, no nothing. It was like he had just vanished into thin air."

Shouta couldn't say he was familiar with the case but he nodded. Missing person cases were very much like that, perhaps without the words spoken by Bakugou.

"That doesn't tell me why you believe Imoku is Izuku," he pointed out.

"Only four people heard the words I said to him. Izuku, two extra's and myself. But Imoku repeated them to me."

"What do you mean?" Aizawa could tell he was missing something here.

The vigilante huffed. "I was pissed when I was dropped from the hero program."

That was putting it mildly.

"It took me more than a few years to realise why I'd failed. Before I figured it out, I blamed the punk who'd brought in the Heroes Must be Heroes Bill."

"Kakurete," Shouta supplied.

"Yeah, that fucker. So I confronted him. He didn't take me seriously. He waved off his bodyguards, so I attacked. He was faster and he did something so I couldn't use my quirk."

At that Aizawa's eyebrow raised. He was willing to say that Kakurete had a second quirk but it was not anything like that. It had to be something related to mind control.

Bakugou caught his expression. "His quirk is spark. He stopped my ignition sparks," he explained. "But then he leaned in close to me and whispered. He repeated the words I'd said to Izuku. Word for word, Sensei. He got it perfect. There is no way a forty year old politician should know those words. The only way for him to know them is if he is Izuku."

Most people would dismiss the idea of a fourteen year old becoming a forty year old and somehow entering politics. Aizawa wasn't most people.

"What day did he disappear?"

Katsuki named a date.

Shouta looked at his board. It was before Imoku took over the companies he owned. It was before he made a run to be a Representative. There was time to modify him… or for someone to learn.

"So you think someone took this Izuku, gave him a spark quirk, aged him up and then put him into politics?"

Bakugou gave him a look. He was aware of how insane it sounded. "Not someone. That quirk stealing bastard. But there's two more proof points," he replied, not bothering to directly answer the question. "USJ. Unless you know something I don't, it was never revealed who that other person was but I remember, he had green hair under the mask."

Aizawa nodded. That was true, and to this day no one was sure who that person had been. He hadn't been a kid, that much was certain. But no one that they had ever seen with the League met the description and no one cared that much to remain hidden. "And the last point?"

"The last thing that bastard said before he died."

"What was that?" Shouta asked. He knew the Villain who had founded the League was dead. It had been reported quietly. He had died in custody from wounds inflicted by All Might. What everyone remembered was that All Might had retired because of that fight. Nothing more. Yagi was pleased, but didn't say anything publically. It would have been too easy to portray it as gloating, and despite his reputation as a flawless hero, All Might was still under scrutiny.

"Izuku."

Shouta blinked. "How do you know that?"

"You pay off the right people, they'll tell you anything. Especially little things they think are worthless."

That was true. "Him saying Izuku doesn't mean Kakurete is your old school mate."

"Except it's the only theory that fits all the evidence. He's the only man who could have given Izuku that darn spark quirk. From what I know of him, he had other quirks. They could have aged the fucker, and he had contacts. All Might told me that. Imoku Kakurete is Izuku Midoriya. And instead of being a hero, he's destroyed them."

Shouta was silent for a few minutes. It was unfortunately the only theory that fitted all the evidence. He looked at his board. There were so many links and cross links to Imoku. He was the lynchpin. If he was gone then… The former underground hero didn't know. He wasn't sure what might happen if Imoku was to disappear. A lot had happened already and he well knew that things tended to coast on inertia for a while.

"You know," he said slowly as a kernel of an idea formed. "I think we might be going about this the wrong way."

"What do you mean?" Bakugou demanded.

Aizawa ran his eyes over his board. "What does it matter who Imoku really is?" he murmured the question, still thinking.

"Because he's a fucking useless deku!"

"No," Shouta objected. "What does it really matter? Even if we find evidence to prove it, what does it matter?"

Katsuki remained silently fuming.

"It's not Izuku that we are fighting, it's Imoku Kakurete. Proving he is Izuku won't change anything because I'm willing to bet there will be those who support him with excuses for the name he's using. Adoption, change of name… whatever it takes. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to ensure Imoku is in position, and you can bet they've covered contingencies.

"What we need to focus on is what we can do to stop Imoku because really, what does it matter if he's Izuku? It's a distraction."

Bakugou didn't look convinced. Aizawa remembered that he could be like a dog with a bone. He'd keep worrying it until it was gone.

"If we prove Imoku is Izuku, what will the public do?" Shouta posed the question.

"I don't know. That's why I was asking you."

That single statement was enough for Aizawa to realise how much Bakugou had changed.

"There will be some who care but he's got the money and backing to ensure the story is quickly buried. The consequences will go to other people." He gave Katsuki a significant look. The consequences would come to them, and to the poor saps that Imoku got to take the fall because there was no doubt in the former underground pro-hero's mind that Imoku would get someone to take the fall.

There was a reluctant nod.

"In the meantime, he's suring up his position and making how many more problems for us. So that's why I say we've been doing this the wrong way. Who cares if Imoku is Izuku? We already know he's Imoku and it's Imoku we need to stop."

He looked back at his board, fixing his eyes on the section that had the pictures of the League of Villains. They were still active. Their commanders were still out there, and more powerful than ever, but strangely quiet.

Bakugou huffed and followed his teacher's gaze. "I get it. If we can prove that Imoku has a link to the League, or anyone else, then that will cause him problems."

"And it's a problem the public will care about more than something he could swing to bring sympathy to his cause."

"The fucker would spin some sob story," Katsuki growled.

Aizawa nodded. "I'd also like to focus on his quirk."

"That spark thing? I figured out a way around it."

"No," Shouta shook his head. "He has spark, but I'm positive he has a second quirk."

Bakugou looked intrigued.

"I don't know what it does," Aizawa shared. After all, Katsuki had told him about Izuku. "I'm convinced it has something to do with persuasion."

"A second quirk is a bigger claim than identity," the vigilante pointed out.

He acknowledged that. "I still think he has it. No one really questioned the old guy after he was incarcerated. Those that did… well, they didn't like it, and it didn't seem important at the time. I think he has something undetectable but powerful."

"Why?"

He couldn't answer it was just a feeling. "You know a couple of party Representatives retired at the last election?" That had been a few years back now. There was a another election on the horizon.

Bakugou rolled his eyes but nodded.

"Off the record interviews with them indicate that they are a bit confused about some of the legislation they voted for."

"They're not senile?"

It was a fair question. Japan's government representatives were generally very old. Ancient was probably a better term. Aizawa felt his lips quirk in a half smile. "No, they aren't."

"So you think that's a quirk wearing off?"

"Maybe," he confirmed. "It might be nothing but-" Shouta paused, sighing deeply. "-the change has been too fast, too controlled. It was too widely supported in government given how wide reaching it was to be."

"That fucker!" Katsuki growled.

"Hmm?"

"Fucker might have used it on me!"

"You agreed with him?"

"Not immediately, but I felt like I should!"

"Maybe," Aizawa assessed before he shrugged. It was probably years back and Bakugou was contentious anyway. There wouldn't be any lingering effects. "So, what do you know about them?" he asked, before Katsuki could degenerate into cursing. He pointed a finger towards the League's section of the board.

Bakugou looked at the pictures. "Moonfish got taken out a year or so ago," he said immediately.

"What?" Aizawa hadn't heard anything about that.

"It's not official. The body was too badly damaged, but the teeth were his. I'm guessing they couldn't control him."

"You're certain it was him?"

"Positive," Katsuki confirmed.

Shouta slid off the boxes and got a black marker out. He put an edge around the villain's image. It was his marker for death.

"Mist bastard they are keeping close. I haven't even heard a whisper of where he might be for ages. The fucking League has a new teleporter."

That wasn't good. Aizawa just nodded. He knew some of this. No one had seen Kurogiri for a while. There was even speculation that he was dead but no one was willing to say it. A warp quirk was too rare, even in the underworld for anyone to just kill him without a very good reason. Though if they had a new teleporter… Except, as far as Shouta knew, Kurogiri was the oldest member of the League. He'd always been a member since its founding. It would be a big thing to kill him.

"There's a couple of things happening in Hakodate that makes me think the bitch is there," Bakugou continued, pointing towards Himiko Toga. "I don't know where Twice is, but he's running some sort of snuff ring."

Shouta gave Katsuki a look. Snuff rings never lasted. The body count was too high and they were hunted down. "He copies a prostitute," the vigilante shrugged.

Oh, that made sense but was rather sickening. Twice copied the prostitute and some sicko got off on killing them, except it wasn't really killing. Aizawa didn't like the thought. He made a mental note to mention it to some of his police contacts.

"Mustard and Spinner are around and Dabi… Not sure where he is, but he's the acting boss."

"And those Noumu things?"

"They'll be with Dabi, unless they destroyed them."

Shouta nodded. That was a sensible conclusion. Those things could not be easy to control. "And they are all being relatively quiet," he commented. When the heroes were forced to integrate, the one thing that might have changed public sentiment was villain attacks.

There were remarkably few. The League did nothing. He didn't think they had that restraint but they had. They had simply watched, never showing themselves as the heroes were destroyed.

Even after they didn't seem to celebrate.

The only incident came just after the Government had voted to abolish heroes as a profession. Tomura Shigaraki's body, missing both hands, and with his throat slashed from ear to ear, was delivered to Mineta Minoru's residence, with a sorry note attached. The boy hadn't seen it. He couldn't see it given he was still missing his face but the gesture had not gone unnoticed. And Tomura's hands had never been found.

There'd been speculation for a while on what that meant but eventually word had come through enough unofficial sources that Dabi was the acting leader of the League. There was still no word as to who the official leader was.

Shouta thought it was Imoku. So did Bakugou. Neither could prove it.

"They are. I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall but nothing ever happens."

"Then I think it's time they were found," Aizawa said. "Especially Dabi," he added.

"You think he'll talk?"

He fixed his eyes on the image. There was a thick line connecting him to Imoku but Shouta thought about what he knew of Dabi, Touya Todoroki. The villain had matured over the years but still had a bad habit of liking to show off. The interview he'd given to out his father was the prime example but there were other smaller ones. Reports that while he was in combat where he liked to reveal information he didn't have to.

It had been a couple of years, but they could play on that and there was fair chance Dabi would say something he shouldn't in an effort to be clever. It might sound like a long shot but it was better than no shot.

"I think Dabi wants to be acknowledged," Aizawa explained his reasoning.

Katsuki caught on immediately. He had never been dumb. "I'm already looking into him." The blond leaned forward, looking at the board.

"He does the fighting rings," Aizawa reminded Katsuki.

Bakugou gave him a look. "And what do I do?"

The former underground hero nodded, getting the gist of the matter. Katsuki was a brawler. He'd entered the fighting rings. Probably not here in Tokyo. He might be too well known here, but Dabi ran them across Japan. There would be rings in other cities. Bakugou would go through them.

The question dismissed the matter, an Aizawa watched Katsuku's red eyes travel over the links. "Anyone else who is dead?"

"You've already marked them," came the murmured reply before Shouta saw Katsuki frown. "Is that accurate?" He asked, pointing to one of the links.

"Yes, Giran is definitely in a relationship with Pop Step. Business relationship," he quickly clarified. The female vigilante had been around for years and had still not been caught. But she did tend to stick to minor cases.

The blond nodded and gave him a grin. "Then I have a secondary lead on Dabi."

Aizawa allowed himself a snort of amusement but suppressed any excitement. He reached out to the boards, picking them up so that he could replace the false wall. Bakugou slid off his seat of boxes and helped as they placed them.

"Same time next week?" Aizawa murmured.

The vigilante gave him a nod. "I'll find you," he said before slipping through the boxes and away.

Shouta didn't huff but he felt a stab of resentment. Well of course he didn't mean they should meet here! That would be too obvious… Anyone would think he was the amateur!

-afop-