Chapter 3: In for a Penny, in for a Pound

"Guys… I think I messed up. I think I really, really messed up."

Hatsume looked up from her bento, and exchanged a quick glance with Shinso. Quiet for most of the past week, Midoriya had gotten a bit livelier after their detention ended, but today, he'd been as silent as the grave. They'd both tried asking him what was wrong, to no response; now, as they all sat together at lunch, he was looking at them both with hollow eyes, his voice soft and distant.

"What do you mean?" Mei finally asked, setting down her chopsticks. "Did something happen in class?"

"Is this about your All Might collection?" Hitoshi managed once he'd finished gulping down a mouthful of noodles, his brows furrowed in concern. "I know that was all really important to you."

Izuku shook his head, his eyes drifting down to his practically untouched tray of food.

"No, it's not about that. I don't regret throwing it all away. Especially after…" He trailed off, cradled his head in both hands. "I… I can't talk about it. Not here. But I need to tell you. It's been eating me up."

Something about the way he said those last few words made Hatsume's heart drop in her chest. This sounds a lot worse than a failed test.

"I… think Power Loader-sensei will understand if I have to miss my extra time in the studio after school today," she offered after a moment's contemplation. "Why don't we all go over to your place once class lets out? Would this be easier to talk about there?"

"We can pick up some of those red bean mochi you like on the way," Shinso added with a grin, doing his best to cheer Izuku up.

"Yeah, sure." Midoriya nodded faintly, then lowered his head to the table. "Sounds good."

He told them on the walk back. Not all of the details, of course, but as much of the basics as he could manage without vomiting or bursting into tears- he'd practically run out of those last night, in the aftermath. He certainly didn't tell them how taking the man's life had made him feel- how the desire to make the thief suffer had overwhelmed him. But all the same, once he was finished, Izuku was flooded with relief- it was as if a massive weight had been lifted from his chest after deadening his movements for the past day.

Hitoshi and Mei were quiet at first, and the elation was swiftly replaced by fear of what they'd say. That they'd go straight to the police and turn him in, that they'd shrink away from him in horror. Shinso was the first to speak.

"That sounds… intense. But it was self-defense. He attacked you. You didn't do anything wrong."

"You really think the police are gonna see it that way?" Midoriya asked dejectedly.

"No, Hitoshi's right," Hatsume butted in, "he kept coming after you even after you tried to disarm him. It's not your fault." She took a sullen bite of mochi and dropped her eyes to the ground. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. They were my babies. I bear as much legal responsibility as you do."

Guilt swelled up in Izuku's gut, but before he could reply, Shinso cut him off.

"Why didn't you just ask for our help if that's what you wanted to do, Midoriya? With my quirk, I could have forced him to drop the knife…"

"And I could have fine-tuned the gauntlets to regulate their power outlet," Mei continued quietly. "It's my fault they were lethal, I need to put safeties in place for future combat situations."

Izuku's stopped in his tracks in the middle of the sidewalk, staring at the others with wide eyes.

"W-what?! But... what I did, vigilantism, it's illegal! You're saying you would've… helped me?"

"If that's what you thought it would take to get them to consider you for the hero course, then absolutely." Hitoshi answered without hesitation. "The rules say it's wrong, but sometimes… maybe sometimes, the rules need to be bent a little bit."

"Plus, I've sunk way too much time into making your babies not to make sure you use them properly in action," Mei quipped, punching him lightly on the arm. "You're an investment now, Izu!"

For the first time all day, Midoriya smiled as he started walking again. I don't need All Might any more, he knew. They're all I need. He let me down, betrayed me, but they never will. But the warmth was only fleeting; the reality of the situation quickly set back in.

"You guys are amazing. But even if it was self-defense, what do I do now? It's been almost a day, and I fled the scene with evidence… if there's an investigation, I'll be-"

"One step at a time." Hitoshi interjected, patting him on the back as they rounded the corner onto Midoriya's street. "We're almost at you're place, right? Let's talk about this when we can sit down and have some time to think. I'm sure there are steps we can take."

Izuku nodded in agreement, and pressed ahead. When they reached his door, though, it was already slightly ajar. Weird. Could mom be bringing in groceries? Maybe she just forgot to close it. He was about to push it open and step inside when Hatsume's hand latched onto his shoulder like a vice; confused, he followed her line of sight to the lock. The busted lock.

"What the…"

"Quiet." Shinso hissed, grabbing onto Midoriya's other shoulder, his eyes narrowed in concentration. The feeling of uneasiness growing in the pit of Midoriya's stomach broke with the intensity of a wave when he angled an ear to the entrance, and the sound of unfamiliar male voices began to drift through.

Robbers. MOM.

Izuku's body moved without thinking. Within a second he had burst through the door and into his living room, and was staring down two- no, three- armed men, currently rummaging through whatever meager valuables the threadbare Midoriya residence had to offer. His mind jumped into an analysis of the threats, and time's flow seemed to lag as they turned around to face him. Closest to him, and leaning on the doorframe of his room, was a heavyset man with short brown hair, a nasty scar on his face, and a pistol in his hand. In the center of the room, the tallest of the group carried a crowbar, and had the head of a Doberman Pinscher. The third man was half-obscured behind the television, which he was process of unplugging- Izuku couldn't tell if he had a weapon or not.

"There you are," the tall man snarled, his fangs bared.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Shinso stepped up to Midoriya's side, his voice frantic. No, stay back, he wanted to shout, but his mouth refused to move.

"We're asking the questions here," the one with the pistol answered, then froze and fell suddenly silent. It took Izuku a moment to realize what had happened, but by then Hitoshi was already calling out orders.

"Point your gun at him." He gestured to the dog-headed man, trembling slightly as his eyes darted between the two. "If he attacks us, pull the trigger."

"Nice quirk," the tall man said with a whistle. "But we're not here for you. I suggest you leave before you get yourself hurt." He pointed his crowbar straight at Midoriya, a growl erupting from his jaws. "We're here for him."

"M-me?" Izuku squeaked. 'T-This must be a mistake, I've never-"

"Yeah, that's a really nice quirk." The Doberman ignored Midoriya completely, looking his paralyzed colleague up and down before returning his gaze to his target. "You know what my quirk is called, kid? Bloodhound." He took a step forward, chuckling when the brainwashed man's hands began to shake on the grip of his pistol, and audibly sniffed the air. "I can pick up a single scent in a crowd of hundreds, and follow it fifty kilometers or more, as long as there's a trail. Now, when I found my buddy Kibato splattered across an alleyway last night, there was plenty of his scent to work with, and do you know what?" He took another step, sniffed again. A drop of sweat rolled lazily down Izuku's brow.

"I can smell him all over you."

Midoriya gulped, his mind racing for some way, any way, to convince the intruders to leave. I make up all the alibis I want, but his quirk is impossible to fool.

"Look, I-"

"I hope you'll understand if we decided to take some liberties with your things while we waited for you," the man continued. "But it's all a fair trade in the end, I think. What I'm most curious about, though, is how mommy dearest is gonna react when she finds out that her baby boy is a murderer," He laughed aloud at that last part, and held up a family picture frame from a side table tauntingly. "Oh don't worry, you won't have to tell her yourself. We'll explain it all in perfect detail to her when she gets back. But when it comes to the whole killing part, I think there's someone more deserving than me to handle it."

The next few moments passed in a blur. The third man sprung out from behind the television, a snub-nose revolver in his hands- he had the same feline face as the dead purse snatcher. His brother?! Midoriya didn't have time to think anything else before Shinso grabbed him from behind and pulled hard, then shouted something to the brainwashed thug with the pistol. The heavyset man promptly switched targets and opened fire, just as the man with the revolver let off three rounds of his own. Despite Hitoshi's effort, one stray bullet still caught Izuku in the arm as he fell back, and blood sprayed across his field of vision; ten paces away, the Doberman charged forward with his crowbar raised. He was within an arm's length of Shinso and Midoriya when a small metal disc slammed into his chest, and a web of electricity snaked across his body from the point of impact.

Forced to his knees, he grit his teeth and tried to stand again, but Hatsume simply stepped closer and fired another from the concealed launcher on her wrist, aiming for his head this time. He fell to the floor in convulsions shortly afterward, while on the other side of the room the feline man collapsed onto Izuku's couch, dead from half a dozen gunshots.

The room was silent for a long moment after the dust had settled. No one wanted to speak first, because addressing what had just happened would make it real- would make the bullet holes in the floor real, and the blood soaking into the couch real, and the dead body real. Mei finally broke the silence by murmuring something about getting bandages for Midoriya's arm, and as his adrenaline died down, the pain of the wound hit Izuku in full force. The bullet had only grazed him, thankfully, and lodged itself in the soil of a houseplant by the door. Putting pressure on the wound with one hand, he rushed over and fished the spent projectile out with the other, shoving it into his pocket and hurriedly replacing the dirt over the smoking hole so that the site of impact was erased entirely.

"Izuku, what are you doing?" Hitoshi asked, his eyes still trained on the brainwashed robber holding the pistol.

"Getting rid of the evidence that any of us were here," Midoriya replied shakily. "Once we bandage my arm we have to clean up all of my blood and then get the hell out of here. Self-defense or no, if they question us and find out that you used your quirk like this without a license, they'll expel you, maybe even arrest you. I can't let that happen, not when this is all my fault. If the police find the crime scene as it us without us here, we can play this off as a dispute between robbers gone wrong."

"I guess you and I are in this together now." Shinso sounded much calmer than Izuku could possibly expect him to be given the circumstances.

"Don't forget me," Hatsume added with a weak grin as she returned with gauze and tape and began to tend to Midoriya's arm. "I'm still an accessory to both incidents, technically." She glanced down to the unconscious Doberman, and nodded approvingly. "'Muggers beware, it's better than pepper spray!' Guess it turns out the slogan I used to pitch this baby to the companies was accurate after all."

Once Izuku's bleeding had been stemmed sufficiently, he and Mei both set about at scrubbing his blood off the floor with all the cleaning products available to them, balling up the washcloth and stuffing it in his backpack after they were done. Finally, they arrived at the elephant in the room- sensing the others' reluctance, Hitoshi shook his head and addressed the issue first.

"The only question left is what we do with these two." He motioned to the two surviving criminals; the brainwashed one was glaring at them all with raw hatred in his eyes as he stood rooted to the floor. "They know about Midoriya and what happened last night, not to mention about me today. They have no reason not to rat us out the moment the police start asking them questions."

"Is there any way you could use your quirk to erase their memories?" Hatsume offered. "Maybe brainwash them into forgetting the past day? Or into lying to the cops?"

"I wish," Shinso responded, "but my quirk doesn't work like that. I can only command one person at a time, and the part of the mind it interferes with is completely different from the one that stores memories. Plus, as soon as it wore off, they'd just tell them anyway."

"Then there's only one option left," Izuku said quietly. We've already started down this path. None of us can be heroes anymore- there's no use clinging to their morals. "I don't see any other way that doesn't end in us being arrested."

Another moment of silence, longer than the last. Hatsume sat on the floor and ran her hands through her bright pink hair, conflict plain on her face. Hitoshi lifted his gaze to the ceiling, deep in thought.

"There's no turning back after this." The blue-haired boy finally said, rubbing the bags under his eyes, which suddenly looked to be watery. "No more reliance on self-defense if we're caught. You both know that. We... we'll be giving up becoming heroes. Heroes don't do things like this."

Silence followed his remarks, long and uncomfortable.

"Guys, please... I don't know what to do." Shinso's voice had become more urgent now, and the tears welling in his eyes had begun to drip slowly down his cheeks. "I want everyone's agreement before we go through with this."

"They threatened my mother," Izuku gritted without hesitation. Something had hardened inside him- or maybe something soft and gentle had died. "And even if we let them go and they don't talk, they'll just end up hurting other people. That's who they are. Do it."

"I don't think they would've shown mercy to any of us," Said Mei, wiping a stray tear from one eye before walking over to the Doberman and retrieving both of her shock discs. "If you're gonna do it, do it quickly. I... I just don't see any other way out of this. I can't make babies in jail, or if I'm expelled, for that matter."

Shinso nodded, drew in a deep breath, and turned to the man with the pistol.

"Kill the man on the floor, then kill yourself."

For Midoriya Izuku, the days after the break-in were filled with police sirens and school counselor visits and his mother's tears. Hiding their involvement hadn't proven as difficult as Izuku had feared- the wound was on his upper arm, so he was able to hide it relatively easily, and thanks to the time of day, no one had witnessed them entering the apartment directly before the shooting. Aside from a few cursory questions about where they had been and whether they had seen anyone suspicious leaving or entering the area, the investigators didn't pay them much attention at all.

As much of a relief as that was to Midoriya, it didn't provide much comfort to his mother, who had been more or less an emotional wreck since the day she came home to the crime scene; Izuku regretted that she had to be the one to find the brutal display, but they couldn't risk being at the scene themselves when the police arrived. Many times since then, he'd wanted to comfort her, wanted to sit next to her and cry along with her. But the more he tried, the more he found he couldn't bring himself to. It wasn't that he was out of tears- it was as if the sight of them now inspired some primal revulsion seated deep inside him, triggered a newfound aversion to weakness in any form. He couldn't tell her it was alright because he knew it wasn't.

While the authorities finished their investigation and the floor and furnishings were cleaned and redone, Midoriya and his mother stayed in the guest room of one of Inko's few friends in the neighborhood, Bakugo Mitsuki. Living in an actual house was a dramatic shift, though it wasn't as if her son made the transition any easier. For the first time, though, he was able to respond to Katsuki's unending torment with something far better than tears and complacency- complete indifference. So a week into their stay at his home, when he signaled Shinso and Hatsume's arrival at the door with his trademark attitude, Midoriya was far from flustered.

"Deku! Come get your loser friends!"

"Don't call them that, Kacchan." Izuku said evenly as he descended the stairs. Deku. Useless. The name had always bothered him, as it was meant to, but now, every time Bakugo said it, he felt anger rather than shame, boiling quietly inside him.

"I have to deal with them coming over to my goddamn house, so I can call them whatever the fuck I want." Katsuki replied with a sneer. "All because you dumbasses had to go and get yourselves robbed."

Midoriya paused a few feet from the door, his hand outstretched to open it. The rage surged up inside him for a moment; he thought about punching Bakugo, about watching the blood fly from his broken nose. But then the seething anger calmed again, and he opted for a simpler approach.

"Shut up, Kacchan."

Katsuki was silent for a moment. His eyes widened momentarily in shock, then his features twisted into an expression somewhere between disgust and disbelief.

"What the fuck did you just-"

"I said, shut up. Stop talking."

Izuku swung the door open before he could reply, and Bakugo's retort was drowned out by Hitoshi and Mei's cries of greeting. They quickly moved past Katsuki to the guest room- Inko was working a late shift today to help pay for Mitsuki's groceries while they stayed at her house, a completely unnecessary gesture that Midoyia's mother insisted on despite her host's protests. Regardless, they had the room to themselves, and plenty to discuss. For a week, they tried to forget what had happened- to leave it behind and press on with their studies like nothing had changed. They all knew it wasn't working. Izuku was the first to put their collective sentiment into words.

"We can't stay here."

Shinso simply nodded, and Hatsume dropped her eyes to the floor, twiddling idly at her thumbs.

"I know. But… where would we go? Who would take us? And how can I leave my babies behind? They're everything to me. I… I don't know what I'm supposed to do if I can't make more."

"We go as far away from U.A. and from heroes as we can get," said Midoriya, "and we make our own path. Forget the law, forget the way society tells us we're supposed to live. I know that together, the three of us can do whatever we set our minds to. As far as how we'll find a place to call our own, and how you can keep making babies…"

"I think it's time for us to fix the loophole in my quirk," Hitoshi finished; a wry smirk crossed his face. "If you're up to the challenge, that is."

Mei grinned, and lowered her goggles over her eyes as she pulled out her concept notebook.

"Always."

"I have four candidates."

Hatsume slid her notebook across the lunch table, a satisfied smirk on her grease-stained face. Midoriya nodded for her to continue as he began to thumb through pages of her messy handwriting. It hadn't taken long for Izuku to realize the wisdom of Aizawa's words- as strong as Mei's support items were, their group was lacking a truly powerful combat quirk. They needed to bring at least one capable hero course student into the fold if they hoped to do more than merely survive, and as the one who interacted with them the most, Hatsume had been tasked with scouting potential recruits.

"Go on, I'm listening."

"Well, it was five as of a few days ago- my first choice was Todoroki Shoto, but after the Hosu Incident… well, obviously he's off the table now."

Shinso shook his head and let out a low whistle.

"I can't believe he's still alive after that. Talk about a mess."

Midoriya nodded, and glanced around the cafeteria- a pall still hung over the school, a palpable film of shock and despair that coated everyone and everything. Three days ago, Stain, the Hero Killer, had made an appearance in Hosu City in concurrence with a Nomu attack orchestrated by the League of Villains, where he murdered the Pro Hero Native and Class 1-A Vice President Iida Tenya. When the other heroes in the area attempted to confront him as he escaped, the Pro Hero Manual was killed and several others were grievously injured, foremost among them Todoroki Shoto, who was now in a medically induced coma at the verge of death.

Enraged by his son's injuries, Endeavor had ignored arrest protocol and reduced Stain to ash as the media watched, turning the villain into a martyr and significantly damaging both his own reputation and that of heroes as a whole. Several parents had pulled their students out of U.A. in the aftermath, and protestors outside the school were almost a daily occurrence. With Stain's ideology spreading like wildfire online in the wake of his death, and the hero world in chaos, there had never been a better time for them to make their escape- they had already set a date, and were simply counting down the days now, searching for a perfect ally in the meantime.

"Well, moving on to my number two, we can't ignore Bakugo Katsuki. He did win the Sports Festival, after all."

"He's off the table." Midoriya countered quietly. "You already know why."

Hatsume looked like she was going to protest for a moment, but thought better of it, and continued.

"Alright, well that leaves Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu from Class A, and Monoma from Class B. All of their quirks are incredibly useful and versatile- I've already been coming up with some amazing baby designs for them! But I recommend we go after Monoma first."

"Why's that?" Izuku raised an eyebrow, looking up from the notebook. For the first time, he realized that Mei's eyes were glowing with the same dark light as his.

"He thinks like we do."

Monoma Neito always seemed to be trying his hardest to make himself the center of attention wherever he went, so it wasn't particularly difficult for Midoriya to find him that afternoon, loudly berating his classmates as he sparred with them in the gym.

"Not good enough, Shiozaki!" He was saying with a maniacal chuckle, as he began to sprout vines from his own blonde hair to match his opponent's and leapt out of the way of one of her blows. "You'll need to be faster to beat Bakugo or Tokoyami!"

Content to watch from a distance for now, Izuku took a seat alongside Shinso in the bleachers and began to jot down his observations in his own notebook, following Monoma closely as he faced classmate after classmate, frequently emerging victorious. Copy. I remember it from the Sports Festival- what a wonderfully useful quirk. And he seems to have excellent control over it, too. He's studied the strengths and weaknesses of his classmates' quirks thoroughly.

They waited to approach their target until 1-B finally finished their training half an hour later; luckily, he was one of the last people to leave, and they were able to catch him as he toweled a sheen of sweat off his forehead by the lockers.

"You're Monoma Neito, right?" Midoriya approached the blonde-haired boy first, an innocent smile on his face.

"That depends, who's asking?" Neito turned around with a smug grin, brushing a stray lock of sweat-soaked hair out of his eyes with all the brash, misplaced self-confidence of a pop idol. Izuku could barely contain his laughter at the sight. Oh, this is going to be fun.

"I'm Midoriya Izuku, in general studies! My friend Shinso and I are big fans of yours- you might remember him from the Sports Festival."

Monoma raised a skeptical eyebrow, but his eyes widened slightly in recognition when he saw Hitoshi a few paces behind.

"Ah yes, I remember you." He held a hand contemplatively to his chin, his voice growing more conceited by the syllable. "Not too bad- for a general studies student, that is. I have to say, my expectations for your program weren't too high to begin with. Yes, you're quite good, in fact."

"I didn't see you in the bracket for the final round," Shinso countered nonchalantly. "From what I remember, it was mostly 1-A students, right?"

Monoma's eyebrow twitched slightly, and his grin quickly became forced. Ah, so that's his weak spot. This is going to be even more enjoyable than I thought.

"1-A may have gotten lucky during the first few stages, but we still have them more than beat in terms of overall quirk quality. They rushed out of the gates at the first opportunity, but it's only a matter of time before 1-B catches up and leaves them in the dust!" By the time he finished he was practically trembling with passion, one fist clenched in the air.

"That's why you're all practicing so hard, huh?" Midoriya's smile widened. "At that rate, I'm sure you'll catch up to them in no time."

"That's a lot easier to say after Hosu City," Hitoshi said bluntly, and for a moment, Neito's bravado faltered.

"What happened to Iida and Todoroki was a tragedy," Monoma replied, his eyes lowered. "But in the end, the result is just more of the same. Class A has the monopoly on both sympathy and attention now." Bit by bit his passion began to return, and frustration swelled up in his voice. "Hell, the press is practically following them around! Did you see the interview those fools Bakugo and Asui gave last night? The web certainly won't stop talking about it! And this type of story isn't the one that goes away in a week or two- it's going to stick to them until they graduate! 1-B has to work twice as hard as we were just to be noticed from here on out, much less praised. And that's not even mentioning the fact that two of my classmates have already been pulled out by their parents just this week…" He closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "Heh, that turned into a rant, didn't it? It just doesn't feel fair. They're going to be flocked with offers from agencies the moment they graduate because of this. We can't just stay stuck in the background, not when we deserve the spotlight so much more than they do!"

Huh. More like a gaping hole than a weak spot.

But rather than driving him away, Neito's crippling insecurity only drew Midoriya in more intensely. With a character flaw this significant, he wasn't real hero material, but that only worked to their benefit. It was a weakness, yes, but a weakness that could be exploited, manipulated, controlled.

"You're right," Izuku said simply, never letting the smile leave his face. "You deserve so much more than a background role, Monoma. What if we told you there's a better option than languishing away in obscurity here for the next two years?"

Monoma lifted his gaze to meet Midoriya's, and Izuku already knew from the spark of curiosity in Neito's eyes that the rest would come easy.

So part two of the flashbacks ended up being way too long for just one chapter, as it turns out- here's the first half! The second half, featuring the escape from U.A., the beginning of the Toga x Midoriya relationship, and the Successor, will be uploaded within the next two days, as it's 90% finished already. I hope you all enjoy! Monoma is fun but surprisingly tricky to write for. And I hated having to kill off Iida like that, but I felt like without Midoriya there, it was the only realistic outcome.

As always, let me know what you think in the reviews!