"Your current costume is great for underground work," Konno said, assessing the material, "but where we will be going tonight we need to not look like heroes." Izuku nodded. "It appears that the light armored layer will fit under civilian clothes as long as those clothes are reasonably loose."

Izuku nodded. "I brought a few things with me for the purpose."

"The leather jacket might be a bit much," Kesagiri Man decided. "Try the black jean jacket. I think that will do." Izuku nodded. "You dyed your hair black at the Sports Festival, so a different color will serve best here. A deep blue might be appropriate. After that, we will see about concealing weapons for you with this outfit."

Once both had selected their wardrobe for the evening, Izuku was sent back to his hotel room to nap until seven in the evening at which point he would meet Konno at the train station to ride to Hosu. "A tired operative is a sloppy operative. Always remember to take care of yourself first in these kinds of missions, or you may well doom yourself and numerous others around you." It was sobering advice and it seemed that, sometimes, being selfless in undercover work required one to be incredibly selfish.

The hero and intern met up at the station without mishap and took the train in silence until Hosu approached. "What is your name?" Konno asked him.

"Mihara Izuho, but I will only give my first name." "And who am I?"

"Crane."

"Where do you go to school?"

"That is personal information." "What is my job?"

"You are a "shipping director."" Izuku answered.

"How do we know each other?"

"A family member of mine is a business associate of yours." "You remember the rules?"

"Stay with you, speak to no one unless I am addressed or you introduce me. Never throw the first punch. Never respond to an insult. Do not raise any objection to violence I may witness. Muffle my reactions as much as possible. Be polite; sir and ma'am should be used for everyone unless I am informed otherwise." Izuku had been assured that the Hosu Cage Fights were rather tame as far as underworld events went and, on the handful of occasions that heroes or police had been identified in their midst in the past, the crowds had merely thrown the individuals out and moved the fight locations. Furthermore, to Kesagiri's knowledge no one had ever been killed in the pits at Hosu. "Never, ever say "that's illegal" or anything along those lines. If someone attacks me, fight back decisively but do not draw a weapon unless the attacker draws one first. If we are separated, immediately return to the door where we entered and stay within sight of the bouncer there until you come find me. In case of absolute disaster, run for the nearest train station and do not look back."

"Good. This is our stop. Let's go."

After a thirty minute walk, Izuku found himself in the heart of the warehouse district. Konno approached a nondescript side door and rapped on it twice, then another three times, then four times. Slowly, the heavy door creaked open and a man with a truly impressive grizzly bear mutation looked them over. Yelling and a sickening cracking sound echoed out from the musty interior. Konno flashed a significant wad of cash. "Looking to lay some stakes, if you know what I mean." He passed a few bills to the bouncer who nodded and admitted them.

Izuku followed his mentor inside. Funny, he hadn't been nervous on the way here but now, a mongoose stepping into a den of vipers, he was terrified. Some of it must show on his face. Hopefully it wasn't so much as to arouse suspicion... and it wasn't only terror, was it? There was a good portion of excitement mixed in. He decided not to analyze that too closely.

The greenette had tacitly expected the whole building to be dark and full of cigarette smoke that further obscured one's sight but, in fact, the building was well lit by industrial floodlights. There was plenty of cigarette smoke and the unfinished floor was stained with many years worth of spilled alcoholic drinks. A dozen tables and associated chairs were strewn about the room, most of them occupied. A (most definitely) illegal bar was doing brisk business and a locked metal cage about half the size of Izuku's homeroom at UA stood in the center of the room. Two middle aged women who might have been twins were busy beating each other to a pulp in the ring while the surrounding crowd cheered, waved bills in the air, and shouted jeers or encouragement. There must have been a hundred spectators. This was huge.

"How's you're evenin' going sugar?" asked a sultry voice, the scantily clad woman responsible sidling up to Konno.

"Fine, ma'am," he said, "not looking to improve it further tonight, sorry. Here on business."

"That's a real shame," she said, but walked off to check other marks. Izuku kept his mouth firmly shut and face blank. It wasn't as if he were surprised to see that going on here... sex and violence were often a package deal.

"Well if it isn't Crane," a man with silvery hair and a number of fire arms visible on his person (as well as an obscene amount of leather which he was mostly pulling off) approached.

"Flint," Konno greeted. "Good to see you."

"You too, you old hound," Flint chuckled. "We've got some good drama in the cage today, a few fights with nasty quirks coming up. You interested in a turn tonight?" Konno fought here sometimes?

"I think not," Konno shook his head. "You know how things go wrong when you have a guest along to watch."

"Ah. And who are you, young man?" "Izuho," Izuku answered.

"Family member of a business associate, if you know what I mean," Konno smirked. The acting ability was staggering. It was like he had become a different person entirely, just stepped into another personality, this one smug and crooked with ruthlessness lurking just below the skin, as easily as one might step into a new pair of shoes.

"I know how it is," Flint chuckled. Izuku wasn't sure Izuku knew how it was. There was a lot of nuance in these conversations that he couldn't pick up on yet. "Well, come see me if you decide there's a match worth betting on, huh?"

"Of course. You are the man with the ledger."

"Yeah, don't I know it!"

Flint sauntered away into the crowd. "He runs the place?" Izuku surmised.

"Yes, although not everyone realizes that. He is much more intelligent and dangerous than he appears," Konno whispered to the greenette.

The match between the two women had ended and now three teenagers were attempting to destroy one another with... some kind of blunt object. Izuku wasn't totally sure what those were. Chair legs maybe?

Izuku had survived his first conversation in undercover work. True, he had only said a single word, but only a single word had been necessary, so he'd done his job well so far. The two of them drifted closer to the ring. A group of young men were gossiping... It soon became clear that they were talking about recent events in a gang war in south Hosu. Konno and Izuku pretended to watch the fight, cheering at the right moments, but in fact listened to the kids--and they were kids, all about Izuku's age--in front of them discuss yet another retaliatory strike in an ever escalating cycle of violence.

The gang war conversation was rather demoralizing. What a pointless waste of potential. The three men beating each other with chair legs concluded their show (it was a show; clearly they hadn't been trying to seriously injure each other or seriously injured they would all be) and a woman with an electricity quirk began to fight an older man with an ice quirk. They were both decently skilled.

"Well, well, well," said a voice that sent chills through Izuku's blood. The greenette turned slowly to his left to find the speaker and felt his chilled circulatory system freeze solid like a block of ice. There weren't many good pictures of the man, nothing more than silhouettes and blurry half- photos but still Izuku knew who this was. "You."

"Me?" Izuku asked--mostly out of habit at this point--as he grappled with an intense wave of deja vu.

Konno spoke immediately while Izuku tried to reign in his terror. "Is there a problem, sir?"

"You tell me," the Hero Killer: Stain folded his arms, regarding them with the confounding expression of a tiger feigning boredom while contemplating the best moment to pounce.

"No problem that I know of, sir," Konno said. It didn't seem that anyone else nearby had noticed Stain's presence, or maybe they had noticed but decided feigning obliviousness would increase their life expectancies.

"What do you think you're doing, kid?" Stain demanded.

"Uh... w-watching a p-pit f-fight, sir?" It had been a long time since Izuku stammered this badly.

"Don't be coy with me," the killer said, taking a half step forward.

"We're just here to see the fights and place some bets," Konno said, stepping pointedly in front of Izuku. "That's all."

"Like he needs you to defend him. He fought me off last time we met. Who do you think he is?"

Oh you must be kidding! What in the--no! Why did this keep happening to him? It wasn't fair and oh my god they were all going to die. What was he even supposed to do in this situation? Somehow he kept a lid on the panic and answered evenly, "I have lost significant portions of my memory as a result of a mind control quirk." In this case, the truth might well be his best option. No lie was forthcoming in any case. "I have no recollection of meeting you previously, sir," and wasn't it strange to call Stain "sir."

Stain glared at him, cocking his head, sizing him up. "Why don't we continue this discussion outside?"

"I don't think that's--" Konno began.

"Or would you like everyone here to hear about your more recent achievements in competition, Yamamoto Akira?" So Stain had recognized him at the Sports Festival--good grief, was Izuku the reason Stain had become distracted in the middle of his attack on Iida Tensei? The UA Sports Festival would have been airing on a good portion of the television sets in the country and one might well have been visible to the Hero Killer at the time... Probably not. It was likely just a coincidence.

"Fine," Konno said at last. "Not as if it's much safer in here. Can't imagine anyone would stop you if you decided to pick a fight."

Stain grinned at them. "No indeed. Some of them would even join in if I told them your true identities. Out the door, now. Don't even think of slipping away."

Alright. Here we go. The odd trio left surreptitiously. "Be ready to draw a weapon or run," Kesagiri man whispered in the greenette's ear. No kidding. He had been ready to run since this mess started. The bouncer let them out, a look of relief on his face at the Hero Killer's departure. The feeling was understandable. Stain stepped into the shadows of a nearby alleyway; Izuku and Konno waited at its mouth keeping as much distance between themselves and Stain as possible.

"So you say you don't remember when we met the first time," Stain said, fingering the hilt of one

of his visible swords. He likely had a dozen or more concealed weapons. Izuku had four concealed weapons and he wasn't The Hero Killer: Stain. "That surprises me. I'd think it would be a difficult event to forget."

"As I said, it is a quirk effect," Izuku repeated.

"You said a lot of interesting things to me back then, Switchblade. Are you still so interesting?" "Switchblade?" asked Konno, giving Izuku a surreptitious side-glance.

"That was what you called yourself. Are you seriously going to pretend you don't remember that? You know, they say that in the war against the Meta Liberation Army, Destro's personal body guards were called the Switchblades. I thought that was pretty interesting, especially given the company you were keeping at the time we met. An MLA Revivalist at UA High? Now that's intriguing."

Konno gave the greenette a look that conveyed very clearly "I have no idea what you should say" so Izuku decided to go with the truth again. The terror had faded away to become background noise and was now tolerable. "I am not an MLA Revivalist. I was merely possessed for a week of which I have no memory. I don't carry around copies of the police records, obviously, but if you have a phone I could tell you how to find it mentioned in the local newspaper."

"Hmmm... You called me a disgrace, you know." Izuku was really starting to hate whatever absolute moron had taken his body for a joy ride that week. Couldn't he or she or they have kept a lower profile and insulted fewer serial killers? "Said that I was wasting blood over trifles, as if false heroes parading about in decadence and sin, squabbling over scraps of fame, weren't something worth fighting against." Fighting against, sure. Killing over? Well, Izuku's body thief might have had a point.

"You object to individuals not living up to the heroic ideal?" Konno asked sounding genuinely conversational, neither condemning nor condoning.

"These days many of you work for money, glory or fame. You do not care about anyone but yourselves. You are unworthy of the titles you hold." Stain twirled one of his knives. "I take the undeserved titles away. Society will be stronger when I am through."

"I can understand the point of view but personally, I detest seeing the end of a life. You would never find me dealing a serious injury to anyone if there were another choice to be made."

"Oh really," Stain drawled. "But I know you, Kesagiri Man," somehow Izuku wasn't surprised. Stain had targeted a number of little-known underground operatives. "And I know you have kills to your name." Izuku did not react to that. He was not surprised by that, either. Honestly, Stain would likely be hard pressed to find anyone experienced in the industry who hadn't taken a life at some point, either accidentally in the heat of battle or intentionally when no other choice remained open. Izuku... well, he remembered taking lives from Bit Weasel's perspective. It was ugly in a way words could not express and presumably dealing death would be so much worse if--when--Izuku found himself in the situation personally but he was still just a kid himself and it was all just to much--maybe he should think about this when he wasn't in a situation where he was likely to be murdered in the next few minutes.

"As do you, Stain," Konno pointed out evenly.

"I am not like you, false hero. What I do needs to be done!" Stain's eyes flashed dangerously. Yeah. Logic wasn't going to work here. There was nothing they could say or do that would

convince Stain not to try to kill them, for clearly he had decided they deserved it. Well. This was turning into a very interesting internship, way too interesting, really. "You had a lot of nerve too, Yamamoto, to tell me my crusade was hypocritical when you were out for blood purely in search of vengeance."

"Vengeance?" Izuku asked carefully.

Not carefully enough. Clearly the Hero Killer didn't believe a word Izuku had said. Stain launched himself at them like a bolt from a siege engine. Konno drew a pair of concealed short swords and parried while Izuku, less accustomed to pulling out weapons suddenly in a civilian outfit, dodged out of the way and fumbled on the draw.

Blades now in his hands, Izuku circled behind Stain and flung a knife squarely towards the Hero Killer's shoulder. With a half glance behind him Stain caught it out of mid air. That gave Kesagiri man an opening, however, and the greenette's mentor dealt the hero killer a glancing blow on the shoulder. Stain snarled, dived, weaved, somehow managed to sweep Konno's legs out from under him, knife raised--Izuku jumped into the fray, reflexes saving him from instant death half a dozen times in the two seconds it took for Kesagiri Man to get back on his feet and reengage.

He might consider running as he had been instructed to in case of "complete disaster..." if it were possible, but it was not. There would be no retreat while Stain attacked, not unless one wanted a throwing dagger between the shoulder blades.

"You were much better the last time I fought you," Stain growled at Izuku. "Have you been slacking off, secure in your gold palace at UA?"

"What does that even mean?" Izuku asked as he attempted to get behind the killer again. Izuku drew another knife. Should he try to throw it again? Stain was dual wielding now so he would have to drop one of his blades to catch it--Konno roared in pain as Stain managed a lucky blow to his thigh, then Stain backed away, raising the blade as if to lick it and Izuku threw his knife. Stain, again, whirled to catch the projectile, dropping his bloodied knife by reflex. He looked really angry about that--did his quirk involve ingesting blood? Had Izuku just interrupted it by accident? Stain lunged--Konno grabbed the killer's knee and Stain staggered to the side, kicking at Kesagiri Man's fingers. Izuku found himself in close combat again, barely able to process the dodges and parries that kept him alive. He only had one blade, Stain had two--the Hero Killer kicked him savagely and Izuku went flying backwards, slamming his head against the asphalt. Adrenaline had him back on his feet as Konno circled in front of him, face a mask of concentrated determination.

"I am going to kill you both," Stain snarled, reaching for the bloodied knife from earlier that lay on the ground to his left. Konno hissed, clearly not comfortable putting weight on his injured leg and not sure whether to attack or retreat. Izuku had to keep Stain from getting that blood. Whatever he wanted it for, it couldn't be good. Kesagiri Man lunged forward, clearly thinking something similar. There was no telling how this would go--both men cried out in pain--something growled in the dark like a feral animal.

Kesagiri Man and the Hero Killer both froze, expressions identical emotionless masks. Izuku turned towards the mouth of the alley and, silhouetted in the half-glow of a nearby street light stood a creature that resembled a bipedal wolf (or really a human in a wolf suit as the bone structure wasn't quite right) with long, dexterous fingers ending in wicked claws and a long, lashing, bushy tail that might well be prehensile. The muzzle bristled with steely teeth, tufted ears pointed up like a jackal's and hellish fire glittered in dark eyes. Patchy, gray and brown fur was covered by a loose robe. An inverted pentagram hung from a chain about the creature's neck.

Stain ran.

The creature chased him and Izuku felt every little hair on his body stand straight up. This was the Hero Killer: Stain. Running. As if his life depended on it.

Kesagiri Man grabbed Izuku and limped as quickly as he could towards the main street. "If I tell you to run, run. Don't look back. Don't stop. No matter what you hear." A snarling howl pierced the night and the injured hero moved faster still.