Chapter 25: Investigating The Demon

Izuku wasn't sure how much time passed as he stayed crouched down in that vent. He knew he didn't move for some time, his eyes just blankly staring at the sight below him. He watched Li order the men around, seeing a few pack up some boxes filled with weapons before slowly making their way out of the room.

However, Izuku barely paid attention, his eyes just staring holes into Li. 'I don't understand. Why is...why is Mister Li a villain?' his mind said as he felt his body tense up at those thoughts, 'Was everything he told me a lie? Does he not care? I mean, these masked guys have done a lot of bad! I should know, I've fought them! Was...was it all a big fat lie?!'

He let out a silent sigh, his brain now shuffling through his memories of his time at FEAST. The encouragement Li would give him, the talk they had during that one car ride, how the man seemed to always smile and try to help others. And then he looked back at the Li below him, seeing a dull yet holier than thou look on his face. Expressions were harder to tell now that his body had changed colors, but this man was different. His voice, while Izuku was unable to understand the words, sounded off. Like there a strange small echo in them.

'It's like...he's a different person. I mean, I know that's Mister Li, but...but...that quirk. Is it something like an energy transfer quirk? But it looked like it was some kind of a brainwashing quirk too. How did he...but why is Mister Li-' his thoughts went back to his memories at this, only to shake his head, 'No. There must be something wrong here. I-I-I just know it!' He watched as Li gave a few more orders before leaving the room. 'That's not the Mister Li I know. But if he really is their leader...'

He glanced down at the masked men, only to see a spare mask sitting on one of the desks. The sight made the teen blink as his brain showed him the one thing that led him here. 'The secret room at FEAST!' His body began to move again at this, 'Yeah...yeah. I need to figure this out. Mister Li wouldn't just do this, and I bet that room will help me figure out what's going on.'

Izuku began to go backwards through the vent, and as he found the exit, he slipped out, only for another thought to enter his head, 'Wait. Maybe I should stop them first. I mean, they are doing weapon smuggling right now...' He glanced down, his eyes now seeing a few put some weapon crates into a semi. He pointed his wrist at the thugs, only to retract it. 'No. If I hop down there, I won't figure anything out. I still believe in Mister Li...but that doesn't mean I can't track these guys.'

With that, he turned invisible and crawled down to street level, soon slipping under the semi and placing a spider tracer in the vehicle's underbelly. 'There we go. No chance they find this.'

He then crawled out of from under the semi, only to see they were loading up two more vehicles, the teen soon crawling under them as well as he placed tracers in each one. The teen then took back the one he had put on Li's car, as it was pretty obvious on the car's bumper, and he didn't want to alert the masked men of his presence. And as soon as this was done, he invisibly crawled back up the building wall before firing a web line. He was ready for the next step.

It was when Izuku was about halfway to FEAST that he realized it was still the middle of the day. Knowing he couldn't just walk in and ask for Li's office key without raising suspicions, he knew he could only do one thing: Wait till nightfall and sneak in. Thankfully, he knew that FEAST also had a vent system, mainly due to him knowing he needed a way for him to sneak out if he had to switch to Spider-Man immediately, which he had found a few days ago. As such, he instead went home, quickly reaching the apartment while being invisible, crawling into his window like usual.

The teen spent the next hour at his desk, making some web fluid while also making a small door opener device, as he had a feeling he probably wouldn't find the key at FEAST with ease like last time, and breaking down the door was definitely not an option. Due to this, he created the tool before taking a short nap, his mother coming home a few hours later. And when he woke up, he told her the story, the woman frowning at every detail before Izuku declared what he was going to do.

"Are you sure?" She asked as he finished, "I mean...I still can't believe it, but-"

"Yeah." Izuku interrupted as he glanced away, "I uh...I still don't believe it myself, and I saw it."

"Oh Izuku..."

Izuku scratched the back of his head before replying, "I...I want to believe that that isn't Mister Li. That there's some kind of mix-up or evil twin or...or something." He looked back at his mother, tears beginning to appear in his eyes, "Is it wrong of me to think that?"

Inko shook her head as tears appeared in her eyes as well, "Not at all." She placed a hand on his shoulder, "Izuku, you have the kindest heart I know. That's why you still believe in him."

"But what if he's just an evil villain? What if...what if everything he's told me was a lie?"

Inko bit her lip at this, soon sighing, "I...don't know." She tensed her hand on his shoulder before staring directly into her son's eyes, "But what I do know is that you'll do the right thing when the time comes...and I'll be there to support you."

Izuku blinked at her, only to nod, "Okay." He leaned in next, hugging her as she embraced him back, "Thanks mom."

"Of course. That's why I'm here."

He chuckled at that as he ended the hug, "You're here to help convince me to investigate dangerous weapon smugglers?"

Inko giggled as she did a fake shrug, "Eh, it's a living."

Izuku took another small nap a little later, letting the sun vanish from the sky as the moon took its place. And when that was done, he woke up, did a quick routine and switched into being Spider-Man. He told his mom he'd be gone for a while, Inko telling him 'good luck' before invisibly crawling out and swinging away. It didn't take him long to reach FEAST, as he knew web-slinging route by heart now.

But as he landed on the building, he felt himself release a long breath he didn't know he was holding. He put his hands in his hoodie's pockets, checking to make sure he had everything he needed before crawling down the side of the building. There, he found the vent he was looking for, quickly opening it and crawling through.

It wasn't long till he found the exit vent, opening it and turning invisible as he crawled out. The vent spat him out on the second floor, the teen glancing down at the main floor and seeing several people all sleeping on the beds inside, a chorus of snores filling the place. The sight reminded him that the place was also a shelter, something he sometimes forgets as he slowly made his way to Li's office door.

And as he got there, he pulled out the small device, which he put in the crack of the door. 'Come on...' he mentally whispered to himself as he fiddled for a second, only to hear a tiny click. 'Got it!'

He glanced back at this, his hand slowly taking the door handle before twisting it. The frame was pushed back at this, Izuku silently tiptoeing into the room as he glanced back one last time before closing the door behind him. He then put the device away as he turned off his invisibility before taking out the small flashlight he would use for his notebook at night and made his way to the wardrobe. He pulled up his mask slightly, putting the light in his mouth as he opened the wardrobe.

'Now, I know I accidentally saw he had a hidden room last time, but I bet there's a way to move this. After all, if I just force the wardrobe and Mister Li comes back, he'll know someone's been here.' He patted around the wardrobe's frame, only to feel something push in. 'Hmm?'

A tiny bit of wood pushed in at this, Izuku hearing another tiny click. Izuku leaned back at this, grabbing the side of the wardrobe, only to find it could now easily be moved. He slowly pulled it back, the wardrobe smoothly moving as he pushed it aside. And as he glanced inside, he saw the mask from earlier on a desk, along with a whole room in semi darkness, only a lit bulb shining above the desk.

'That's not creepy.' he thought as he tiptoed inside, glancing back one last time before fully entering the room. He began to wave around his small flashlight, now seeing the full place around him. There wasn't much in the room, just the desk, a chair, and a board on all three walls around the desk. The only wall that didn't have a board was the entrance to the secret room, Izuku's eyes darting around.

The teen started by going over to the desk, his flashlight shining a light on the mask first. He then moved the light across the desk, now seeing a few folders. Izuku hovered his other hand over this, a feeling of hesitation embracing his body. 'If I move anything in here, he'll know someone's been in this room.' He glanced back to the secret door, 'I mean, I think I could close that and make sure its not suspicious, but moving anything will...shoot. I didn't think this through, did I? I keep jumping into things...but he did say he was gonna be gone for a few days. Maybe I can just take some pictures with my phone...but I won't have looked at the files here.'

He looked back at the folder again, those thoughts mixing through his head before putting his hand on the folder. 'I need to know. Even if its obvious someone's done something in this...secret room, I still need to know.' He took the folder and opened it, putting his flashlight over it as he began to read.

'This is...' he thought aloud as he eyes slightly widened, 'A list of properties in Musutafu. Does Mister Li own these?' He flipped to the second page, now seeing a list of people's names, but the very first one was missing. Instead, he saw one word for the top entry. 'Kingpin? Who's that?' He glanced down the list, not recognizing any of the names before flipping to the third page, now seeing another list of buildings and several graphs filled with numbers. 'What is...wait.'

Izuku's eyes stopped about halfway down the list, only to go wide-eyed. He recognized a certain building on the list. 'That's the bank where I first fought the masked guys!' he mentally gasped, only to see a description beside it, 'Says its...owned by the Kingpin? There's that name again. I don't know any hero called that. Is it a villain name?'

He began flipping through more pages, his eyes glancing around as he saw they were more papers on properties and money. And when he reached the end of the folder, he found himself having more questions than answers. 'What was all that? I mean, it's just lists of stuff.' He put the flashlight in his mouth next and pulled out his phone, 'Let's take some pictures first.'

Turning the sound down on the phone, he put the folder down on the desk and began to snap photos of every page as he held the flashlight over it. He didn't want to use the phone camera's flash, afraid he was already making too much noise and movement. And after he recorded the first folder, he began to go through the second and third, skimming each. 'This one has more people...property...money figures...and that Kingpin name keeps appearing on them. Is it the name of an operation?'

The teen switched to another folder, wide-eyed again as he saw the name on it. It was a logo of a company he was very familiar with. It was a corporation well known for a multitude of things. 'Oscorp. That's...why would Mister Li be interested in them?' he thought as starting taking pictures again while flipping through the pages, 'These are locations as well...and there's that name again: Kingpin. What is this all about?'

Izuku's mind paused at this, his brain going over the facts he knew about the corporation. Oscorp was the leading company in the world over quirk science. Famous for its support weapons as well, the corporation was something Izuku remembered looking into many times. It was the kind that made you think 'larger than life' to most. As such, he began taking pictures before putting the file down.

After this, he saw one final folder. Taking it in his hands, he saw another company's name he knew. It was one he had considered looking into if everything had gone wrong in terms of trying to be a support hero. It was a huge support company, though it was made for support lifestyles, something he wasn't interested in, but knew he could do if he had no other choice. 'Detnerat. This shows locations for them too. I don't see that Kingpin name though...just what is Mister Li doing?'

He then finished photographing the files, putting the folders back down on the desk and moving over to the boards. There, he saw they were maps of Musutafu, all three the same maps, but with different things marked. The first one had several buildings marked with red circles around them. 'Let's see, that's the bank where I first fought them. And that's...that's the warehouse that the Tombstone gang was at!' He slightly moved the flashlight down, seeing another building marked, 'What's that building? Says its another location they've hit.'

He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the map, only to go to the browser and look up the building. A few seconds later, a news feed popped up, one showing that a robbery had taken place a few days ago. 'Masked men rob jewelry store...' he mentally said before looking at the date, 'That's the day I fought them and Ryukyu showed up! Wait...how did they do that? I thought she stopped them. Was it a decoy?'

The teen let out a sigh before looking back at the map one last time, only to find nothing else interesting marked. Seeing this, he went to another wall, staring at the map there. This one was the same map of Musutafu, but the markings were much bigger this time, 'What is this? Everything that's marked is like...full blocks.' Izuku followed one of the markings, only to see a small name under it, 'It says Tombstone. Does he operate on this block?' He looked the map over with his flashlight again, 'Actually, its more like a small district. Maybe this is Mister Li saying he thinks Tombstone is somewhere around these markings?' He then looked over the other markings, only to see no names under them, but were in a different color compared to the Tombstone area. 'Hmm...I don't recognize any of these places. I must be missing something here. Guess I should take a photo and look at the other map.'

One photograph later, he went to the final map, this one having buildings circled in blue. And as he looked it over, he soon realized what this one meant. 'That's the building I followed Mister Li to! These must be their hideouts! One is a few streets over from FEAST, and that other one...its not far from the second FEAST building.' He began to take pictures at this, grimacing at the sight. 'I think I found everything...well, not everything, but something close.'

And after a few more pics, he put his phone away, glancing back at the desk with the folders on it. He had tried to kinda put them back where they had been, but had a feeling it would be noticed anyways. 'What is Mister Li trying to do? It looks like he's using this...masked gang to rob some places, but that's it. Is it connected to this Kingpin? And who is that?' He glanced back at the room, only to feel a wave of frustration hit him, 'Darn it! I don't get it! I mean, it looks like Mister Li is a villain even more now...but at the same time, I don't really get what he's trying to do. Who is the Kingpin? And why is Mister Li after him? Or her.'

He pulled out his phone again and looked at all the photos he had taken. In particular, he stared at the pictures of the maps, 'I don't get it. Kingpin, Mister Li, and Tombstone. Oscorp and Detnerat.' He put a finger to his chin before sighing, 'I'm gonna go home. Maybe I can figure out more with my computer.'

The teen stared back up at the room for a bit longer before walking over and ruffling the folders a bit, trying to make them look neat like that had been before, and shuffled out of the room. He slowly closed the wardrobe, finding the hidden lock on it and making sure it fully shut off the place. And after this was done, he silently locked the office door and glanced out into the building, only to hear nothing but snores. The sound made him mentally chuckle before turning invisible, quickly sneaking back over to the vent and crawling right through.

Izuku wasn't sure how long it took him to get back home. His brain was on autopilot as he swung back to his house, crawled through the window, changed out of costume, and went straight for his desk. This was followed by him uploading the photos to his computer, the teen soon looking over everything he could. As such, he began to replicate every list from the photos, and pulled up images of maps that he began to edit in what the marked maps had shown.

It took a full night, something that Inko woke up to, which she admitted had been a long time since she had seen her son do an all-nighter. After telling him to go to bed, he slept for a few hours before getting back at it, several more hours replicating the information. And as he did this, he tried to look up the name Kingpin in multiple search engines and news outlets, only to find nothing. No files or anything...with the exception of one.

Izuku's eyes stared at a news article created a few months ago, its creator now deceased, article now redacted like crazy while also being part of an investigation. 'Ben Urich. Says here he wrote an article about the...'Kingpin of Crime'?!' Izuku blinked at the name, 'That sounds like a villain. It says that the reporter was later found dead.'

The teen leaned back in his desk chair, hand on his chin, 'There's nothing on an investigation after this. Was it covered up?' He then turned to the clock, going wide-eyed as he saw how late it was. 'Wow. Two days basically just passed with me doing this. The week's almost over.'

Izuku changed the screen back to everything he had replicated, only to see it looked like a muddled mess in his eyes. His brain couldn't make sense of anything. All he could see was just numbers and names, but his mind said only one thing: Mister Li was a villain. That fact kept repeating in his head. Martin Li was a villain that seemed to be...fighting this Kingpin, or was under him. Regardless, there was nothing on why Li was a villain, or why he was doing any of this. Instead, Izuku found himself more confused than when he first saw that mask in the crack in the office. That alone lead to one conclusion in his mind.

He switched the screen to the maps, staring at one in particular. 'I need to check the other hideouts. Maybe I can find something there.' he thought before looking back at the time. It was the middle of the day, the sight making him let out a sigh before getting out of his chair and go into the kitchen. And as he entered that room, he made himself supper as he thought up one last thing.

'I will find out why you're a villain, Mister Li.'