Izuku landed on the road and carefully made his way towards the murder scene. The police quartering off the area, keeping the curious and frightened onlookers from proceeding any further. One officer noticed Izuku getting too close and hurried over.

"Hey, you need to step away-!"

"Provisional Hero's License," Izuku, who had already dug into his coat pocket, flipped open his wallet.

"I really can't-"

Izuku ignored him, instead continuing towards the grisly scene. A cluster of ice spikes protruded from the cobblestones, each one piercing the man's body. The man himself looked like an average tourist dressed up in warm clothing, a shopping bag still held in his right hand. His skin was a pale blue and frozen streams of blood ran down from where he was punctured.

"I NEED EVERY CIVILIAN TO BACK UP!"

Izuku whirled around just in time to see Yamatora land on the ground heavily, her Quirk activated. She stalked forward, barely giving Izuku a glance as she inspected the body, her feline facial features tightening. "Did anyone see this happen!?"

A middle-aged woman raised a trembling hand. "H-he was just walking down the street when- when-" She gulped, still shaking. "The ice, it just came out of nowhere. I didn't- there wasn't anyone there."

Yamatora swore under her breath and turned to the nearest officer. "We have a killer on the loose. Help get the people here home safe and issue a warning to have everyone end their night early. I'll see if I can find anything here that might give me a clue on who our killer is and where they went."

"Excuse me," Izuku stepped forward. "We can help."

Yamatora regarded him. "You're still a student. Go back to your inn with everyone else." She sniffed the air and frowned. "Damn, all I can smell is ice. And blood."

"The police force here isn't that big," Izuku argued. "And until Turnback gets here, you're going to need all the help you can get to cover a wide search area. Please let my class help."

He was determined not to back down as he matched the hero's gaze. When she was about to speak, Izuku's phone rang. He saw the caller ID and quickly answered. "Se-, I mean, Monitor?"

"I've done a quick scan of the area, nothing to report. I've got the others going on a city-wide search."

Izuku glanced back at Yamatora, who definitely had heard the conversation. "Thanks, Monitor. I'll be on my way to help." He ended the call and gave a half smile. "So?"

"Fine," Yamatora grunted. "But you provisionals do not have clearance to engage anyone, just look for suspicious activity and call me if you do." She nabbed Izuku's phone and quickly typed in a number. "There. Now go before I change my mind."

"Roger," Izuku nodded as he retook his phone, already powering up One For All. He shot into the sky as he joined Class 2B's call and sent out an invite for Yamatora to join. "Alright, what are we working with?"

"Big Fist here with Gyro Force and Rule, covering the northwest section of town."

"Gevaudan and Rocketti are with me covering the ski resort," Maria's voice came through.

"Mockingbird here. Vantablack and I are covering the alleys and other shadowy corners."

"Shemage, Fourth Wall, Plamo, and I are helping people get home safely," Welder spoke.

"Mudtrap and I got the northeastern part of town," Dragon Shroud reported. "No signs of anything suspicious so far. Real Steel, Emily, and Windshield are heading towards central."

"We still need the southern part of town covered," Monitor said as Izuku landed on the rooftop below where her body parts were reconverging. "I could use an extra pair of eyes up here."

"On my way," Phantom Thief answered and Izuku spotted him in the distance, flying towards them with his body parts separated. All that training with Setuna's Quirk was paying off.

"I can get a head start," Izuku said, bunching his legs before springing away at 15% Full Cowling. He cleared several buildings with ease, the end of his scarf fluttering wildly with the wind. He raked his gaze over the streets. Nothing, just people heading home thanks to the alert sent out by the police.

"Mines, Jack Mantis, what's your status?" Monitor spoke again. Nothing, then-

"Hey, we might have something," Mines' uncertain tone came through the phone's speaker. "It's uh… not a person, but it's definitely suspicious."

"What's your location?" A new voice, Yamatora's, came through.

"Some park on the outskirts of town," Jack Mantis said. "Uh… Southeast part."

"Roger that." Yamatora's connection cut out abruptly and Izuku skidded to a halt, sending sprays of snow into the air. He gave a quick nod to Setsuna and Neito before leaping in a different direction. In the distance he saw the shadowy figure of Yamatora converging on the same destination. Setting his gaze, Izuku charged up One For All a few percentages and rocketed towards where Mines and Jack Mantis were.

Shinso watched from the alley as a family, tourists by the looks of them, hurried by, talking about quickly getting back to the inn. He raised his gaze, scanning the other passersby. Nobody that looked suspicious, nor anyone who gave off a hint of having an ice-based Quirk.

"Mockingbird." Shinso glanced at the shadow to his left, where two eyes had sprung open along with a mouth. "I've cleared this section."

Nodding, Shinso hooked his voice modulator back into place before unfurling part of his capture scarf. He tossed the end and Vantablack caught it with the hand he produced from the shadows. After wrapping part of it around his wrist, he began to move. Shinso's legs sprung into action as he half ran and was half pulled along the alley wall. They only had one more section left to cover supposedly. As budding underground heroes, they naturally volunteered to search the more shadowy corners of town. Not that there were many, not in a place like this. But wherever there were shadows, that's where they would look.

Something flashed by in the corner of Shinso's eye and he tugged on the scarf. "Hold up!" Vantablack came to a sudden stop and Shinso's reflexes kicked in. Springing off the wall as soon as they'd come to a stop and hurling the capture scarf behind him. It wrapped around a pole sticking out from the brick wall and he jerked backwards. Landing somewhat ungracefully on the ground, he could just imagine Eraserhead's huff of annoyance.

Tucking away that thought, he backtracked a few steps so a smaller adjacent alley came into view. Sucking in a breath, he fumbled for his phone.

"What's wro-" Vantablack cut himself off with a gasp.

"We got a situation here," Shinso said as soon as his connection went through. He gazed at the body held up by the gleaming spikes of ice, frozen rivulets of blood running down the length of them. "There's another body."

"That is certainly suspicious," Izuku muttered as he examined the giant mound of dirt.

"All I'm picking up is the smell of earth," Yamatora wrinkled her feline nose, her tail swishing agitatedly behind her. "And something else. But it's faint."

"Could it be from our killer?" Togaru asked eagerly, blades sliding from his arms.

"No, at least not directly," Izuku shook his head. "But a Quirk definitely made this. Maybe as an escape route?"

"But this has been here for at least a half hour," Nirengeki told him.

"I'll send word out to look out for any other dirt mounds," Yamatora said before opening up a call to the police to do just that. At the same time, Izuku heard Mockingbird's voice come through his phone. "We got a situation here." A pause. "There's another body."

"Nothing?" Izuku asked Setsuna as they, Hitoshi, and Shihai lingered outside the alley, watching the police quartering off the area.

She shook her head. "Neito and I did a full sweep four times of the southern area, and a thorough search of everywhere else. Nothing. Either they holed up pretty quickly or they teleported. Either way, they covered their tracks well."

"And no mounds of dirt?"

"Nope. Unless it's further out in the forest. But we have no leads. Not even tracks."

"We need Turnback," Izuku sighed. "With his Quirk, he'd be able to pick up some sort of trail to follow."

"Well, until he gets back, the best we can do is help patrol the city," Setsuna said, pulling Izuku away from the alley. "But we should make a game plan with the rest of class first back at the inn."

"Maria and the others found a third body," Hitoshi said suddenly, making the other three snap their heads up. He listened to his phone for another second before shaking his head. "A woman. Tourist probably. That's three so far."

"That we know of," Shihai muttered grimly.

"Couldn't have one nice vacation could we?" Setsuna remarked sarcastically as she led the way back to the inn.

"I mean, summer wasn't that bad," Izuku offered.

Setsuna gave him a dry look. "I suppose you're not counting those heists we got pulled into?"

"Uh-"

"I thought so."

"Ever since that whole fiasco that was our first year, it's just been one thing after another," Hitoshi remarked, then glanced at Setsuna. "Uh, no offense."

"None taken," Setsuna said truthfully. "I'm just glad that whole mess is behind us."

Izuku took her gloved hand and squeezed it gently. When she turned her face, he offered her a warm smile. She returned the gesture before shaking her head. "Okay, enough of that. We have at least three murders. Serial killer?"

"Almost definitely," Hitoshi produced a jelly pouch from an inside pocket and broke the tab. "Small town on a mountain and surrounded by a forest in the winter. Classic setup-EW, what the heck?!"

"What?"

"It's banana flavored," Hitoshi stared at the jelly pouch with a mix of disgust and confusion.

"I happen to like banana flavored stuff," Setsuna rolled her eyes at him.

"Yeah, but it's green."

"..."

"Moving on," Setsuna heaved a great sigh. "Serial killer on the loose. Possibly connected to the mound of dirt. Izuku, any villains with either MO?"

"None," Izuku shook his head. "After we searched through all my notebooks, I was able to refresh on the contents. These are either brand new villains, or they're good enough that their actions haven't been discovered. That, or I just haven't heard of them. Again, I've only started analyzing villains rather recently, so I don't have as many analysis pages as I do for heroes."

"Can we assume the murderer is likely in the forest somewhere?" Shihai asked.

"Given the nature of having an ice Quirk, it's possible," Izuku frowned. "But they could always want us to think that and be somewhere in the town."

"Basically we need to keep our guard up at all times, roger that," Hitoshi finished the jelly pouch and tossed it into a trash can as they passed it by. "Not going to be a problem."

"Alright everyone, let's get this meeting underway," Itsuka clapped her hands for attention. At once everyone quieted. They'd all crammed into the room being shared by Izuku, Hitoshi, and Neito, so needless to say it was rather crowded.

"Three murders," Itsuka began listing on her fingers. "Strange mounds of dirt on the outskirts of town. Maria and her group, along with finding the third body, found a few more of those mounds. Not to mention the general public unease over this whole situation. Something as scary and unknown as this always affects small towns badly. They need to know that they have heroes looking out for them. But-" She crossed her arms. "Should we?"

"What are you even saying, Class Rep?!" Neito jumped to his feet, outraged. "Is that even a question?!"

"Let me explain, Neito," Itsuka held up her hand. "I'm not saying I don't want to help, I do, but remember, we aren't full time heroes. We're still students. Students with provisional licenses, sure, but still just students. We came here to vacation to get away from all the hero work. So, I'm just asking, is everyone here willing to give that up to help the police and local heroes?"

Izuku understood what she was doing. She wasn't being cold. No, she just wanted to make sure everyone knew what they were getting themselves into. A boisterous, big damage villain tearing through a big city was one thing. But a serial killer who wasn't noticed in the slightest and evaded detection was a totally different threat. They were careful. Deadly. And they had at least one ally.

Izuku knew what his answer would be. And from the way Setsuna squeezed his hand, she knew it too.

"Well I for one don't feel right just sitting back and letting things play out when we could be helping out," Neito voiced again.

"That is a sentiment I also share," Jurota put in.

The rest of the class murmured and nodded their agreements. Itsuka took a look around at all of them before nodding. "Okay, good. Now, we'll work in conjunction with Turnback's Hero Agency. Anyone who is willing to give up on some sleep and brave the cold mountain night raise your hand."

Izuku was the first to raise his hand and when he saw Neito hesitating, he shot him an amused gaze. Sighing, Neito raised his hand as well. After a minute of weighing the pros and cons, and Izuku telling Setsuna to rest and get warm (she was half frozen still from the emergency earlier), the brave students had assembled outside of Turnback's Hero Agency.

"Ah, warmth, how I missed thee," Neito said dramatically as they entered the building. Immediately they felt the pressure of the tense atmosphere. It looked as if all the agency's employees had been called into work as there were a few who looked like they'd been dragged out of bed.

The secretary, a blond male with a pair of pale antennae, saw them and hurried over from behind his desk. "Is there anything I can help you all with?"

Izuku glanced at his friends. Neito, Jurota, Reiko, Tetsutetsu, Itsuka, and Togaru. The seven of them had all donned their hero costumes, each one thankfully already outfitted for the winter per Vlad-sensei's instructions.

Itsuka stepped forward to answer the secretary's question. "We're here to offer our assistance in helping track down this killer."

The secretary sagged for a moment, before shaking his head. "We appreciate the offer, but I can't authorize anything. Only Turnback can-"

The doors opened behind them and a cold wind hit them in the back. "Let them." Yamatora looked agitated, her Quirk in full activation. "We need as many people patrolling the town as possible right now. Without Turnback, it's the best we can do."

"And you haven't heard anything from him?" Itsuka asked.

Yamatora exchanged a glance with the secretary, before shaking her head. "That's another part of the problem." She dragged a hand down her face. "We can't."

"I can't get ahold of Vlad-sensei," Setsuna stared at her phone. "The connection keeps getting cut off."

"Huh?" Ibara paused in the middle of putting her vines up in a bun. "That can't be right. Weren't we all communicating just fine earlier?"

"We were," Setsuna frowned before selecting Izuku's number. It only took a moment before it cut off. "There's no signal." A sense of dread washed over her. What if-

"Hey look."

Both Ibara and Setsuna glanced over at Yui, who was peering out the window. She turned back to look at them. "It's snowing."

Something was wrong. He could feel it in the air. None of his long range communicators were working and his old fashioned walkie-talkie only emitted a crackling buzzing sound. He had to get closer to town.

A vibration in the ground. Turnback gritted his teeth as he unhooked a grappling hook from his belt and shot it into the nearest tree. He was yanked skyward just as the earth below him erupted. He saw a flash of claws before whatever it was burrowed its way back into the ground.

Pulling his hood around him tighter, he took off, leaping from branch to branch. The game he had been tracking had been found dead. Mutilated almost beyond recognition. Trying to track the other mountain wildlife was useless. It was as if they'd been chased away. Or were running away from something. Or someone.

A loud buzzing sound split the night air and the tree Turnback had just landed on cracked loudly before falling to the side. He shot his grappling hook, but something held him back. He glanced down in time to see that the branch's bark had molded itself around his boots. Then the tree crashed and pain erupted through his body.

Bashing at the bark with an ice axe, he managed to pull himself free and scrambled back. As he made to get to his feet, the sound of a motor starting up sent a chill down his spine. He turned and then-

Silence.

Snow began to fall overhead as the wind whistled through the trees. Faint footfalls faded into the distance as blood stained the snow and seeped its way to the earth beneath. The ground rumbled, once, twice, before all was silent again.