Happy Thanksgiving, all! Or at least, to those in America who read this the day it comes out. To everyone else, welcome back to A Hero's Creed. It's time for our baby boy Izuku to become a man, though probably not in the way that would be preferred.

Gamelover41592: Thank you!

Jayfeather's Friend: Doesn't something go wrong with everything eventually? It just won't happen right away; that makes the eventual payoff so much more satisfying or so much more painful. And yes, this Himi is a focused killer with a higher purpose. I like this version of her better, too.

Jerarudo Torindado: Keeper's Quirk is not that powerful. Being Templars is the lifeblood of Kanri and Okame. They mentioned that they were raised for that purpose, their marriage arranged for it. Keeper would not be able to remove their memories of being Templars without destroying their minds in the process. At that point, death would be a mercy. Momo doesn't follow all the Templars' ways of thinking (yet), but joined to help keep her family safe. Even if Keeper could alter her memories, she's part of the group now and they'd notice if something happened. So no, Keeper can't just erase it away. Besides, that would be a cop-out I refuse to take.

LEGOBRICK13: You know, at some point things will start popping off, but I plan to at least go into their second year at UA. Chekov has a LOT of time to keep loading his gun.

Stain did take care of Himiko for a time in Canon before leaving her behind for reasons that I don't remember ever being specified. It might have been a whole "kick the baby bird out of the nest once it can survive" sort of deal, but time ran differently in this version of events. When it came to MHA characters that could be Assassins, Stain was the very top of the list, and Himiko would (naturally) have to follow.

As for Izuku, you'll just have to read and see.

maxperseus130: In the Ezio Trilogy, when training Assassin Recruits, you can change the color of their robes until they reach the rank of full Assassin. When that happens, they change their robes to white and their cape reflects the colors they wore when they reached that point. In this story, the Osaka Brotherhood works in reverse. Trainees wear white robes with highlights until they reach the rank of full Assassin, at which point they can create their own robes that reflect them. As long as Nascha wears white robes, she is still training. It's the same for Izuku and Tsuyu as well.

I did some martial arts when I was younger as well, so I know exactly what you mean about messing up in the heat of the moment. Keeper's memories give her a starting point to work with her strength, but she doesn't exactly have anything better to do with her time except train until they find a clue about her brother's whereabouts. I don't know that her rank will go up quickly, but her skills will.

I am trying to base Izuku's growth on both his growth in MHA and Ezio's growth in AC: II. Isu DNA may play a part, but you can't discount his determination of will. It might be the same for Nascha.

Monkey D. Conan: I am sorry to say I do have plans for Aizawa and Emi, but that's just another long-term point I'm working toward. This chapter has Izuku's mission, and it will have lasting effects. Yes, in relation to a trilogy, we are still in the first part. In fact, I'm planning on doing three "books" of this story as three separate stories, but I won't rename this story until its "conclusion." As for amount of time for each, I'm not sure yet. We'll see how this plays out together, I can promise you, you haven't seen anything I have in store yet.

Ranger McAleer: Izuku is, in no way, related to Desmond or any of his ancestors. This is a critical point. You'll see what I mean some time next year.

Shadowwolf1997: I hadn't been thinking about that speech specifically, but I see the similarities between this Stain and Edward Kenway. I guess you could say Edward is this Stain's pinnacle. And you know how the Templars are, they just never seem to learn their lessons.

ZonZus: I mean, Templars might know what they're doing is wrong. I think they have a whole "greater good, ends justify means" outlook if they aren't the directly power-hungry kind (like the Borgia). Plenty of them are just kidding themselves, though.

Chapter 24:

Raw Emotion

Shoto panted, his breath stirring the lingering steam in the air. He was covered in bruises from the previous days, one of his most prominent a dark, purple welt rising from beneath his left eye. His body shook from a plethora of factors, not the least of which being his exhaustion from training all day. Woolen stood across from him, her arms crossed, as her eyes narrowed.

"Again," she said. Shoto swallowed a groan as he spread his arms, the shaking limbs moving too slowly for Shoto's liking on account of the muscles' burning. One side burst into flame —turning that burning feeling into something more literal if less harmful— as a chunk of ice grew inward from Shoto's palm from the other. Woolen gave a nod, prompting the dual-toned teen to swing his arms together.

Ice met fire in a burst of steam, white fog filling the space as it had countless times before. Immediately, Shoto jumped to the side, the brown blur that was Woolen shooting through the space where his head had been no less than a second before. Her brown coat vanished into the mist, Shoto forming a shield of ice as his eyes darted from side to side, his ears straining for any new sign of her presence.

Being able to dodge the first attack was nothing; it was all the others that Shoto needed to worry about. The fighting style Woolen was teaching him would surely be effective against a majority of foes as an incredible number of both Heroes and Villains relied on their sense of sight. Unfortunately, Shoto was still one of them, that dependance being something Woolen was determined to beat out of him before he returned to normal classes at UA.

A sound almost too small to hear came from his right, the teen rolling forward as Woolen shot through where his head had been feet-first. She twisted in midair, a freezing wind conjuring snow in the shape of a giant fist that started to hurtle toward him. Shoto smacked the snow away with his shield, eliminating the immediate threat but causing him to lose sight of Woolen. He summoned another round of steam to rebuild the cloud before changing positions.

So focused was he on the cloud that he was not watching his feet. This proved to be his downfall of the fight as a lasso of snow tightened around his ankle, yanking his feet out from under him. Woolen was on top of his chest in a second, a snowball in her hand. A snowball might not seem threatening, but Shoto had been on the losing end of enough fights with her to know how wrong that assumption was.

"You're getting better," the pro Hero commented, flattening the snowball into an icepack of snow that she set on Shoto's most prominent bruise. He winced at the contact only for the numbing cold to soothe the pain a moment later. "The Steam Style I've developed for you is all about controlling the battlefield. If you can get good enough to detect me in the mist, then any of your classmates should be a cakewalk."

"Not all of them," Shoto admitted, sitting up as the tiny woman hopped off him. The steam was beginning to clear, revealing the rest of the brown training room. "I have one classmate whose Quirk allows him to essentially see the emotions inside people. An obstruction like steam or mist would be nothing to him."

"So that's one out of 19," Woolen waved. "Sometimes you'll just have a match like that. If that's the case, then you need to learn to make a call. Do you run or do you try to brute force your way through?"

"I suppose I might be able to overpower him," the student commented. "Midoriya's Quirk does not alter his body, after all. Had we met in the tournament, I am decently certain I could have defeated him with little effort."

"Then why bring him up?"

"I am not sure." Frost grew over Shoto's hand, the boy pressing it against his lower back where he'd hit the floor. "Perhaps it is because his showing in the Sports Festival made me feel inferior. Midoriya's power is passive —incredibly useful in niche situations, yet he continues to rank equal to or above many of our so-called powerhouses. It makes me wonder if I have been lax in my training up to this point."

"You don't need to put yourself down, Shoto," Woolen told him, summoning a beanbag chair of snow for her to lounge on. "You are still first-years. It sounds like he's had some pretty good teachers, something I'm not sure your old man was, but you are in the same setting now. UA's internships are about stepping out of your comfort zones and finding new things to learn. New ways to practice. New situations to test yourselves in ways you've never had to consider. Maybe your grudge against your dad was squandering your potential up to this point, but now you can use your fire. Not the way he does, of course, but that's the beauty of it. When you return to school, everyone in your class is going to have changed in some way. Everyone will have learned something new to give you a new challenge."

Shoto was quiet, a thousand indistinct thoughts without words bouncing around his mind. Woolen sighed, standing up and stretching her back with a satisfying pop.

"I think we're done sparring for the day," she said. "Go relax by the fire downstairs for a little. I'll have Polar get you later for strength training later and tonight we'll test your hearing again."

"Yes, Woolen-sensei," Shoto replied, climbing to his feet. The woman smiled before summoning a carpet of snow and floating away toward the door. Shoto watched her go, reminding himself of the difference between himself and a pro Hero, even one as small as Woolen, was a gap far too large to close so quickly. Even so, he reaffirmed his commitment to closing that gap as soon as he could.

The sooner he could start rescuing people, the sooner they would acknowledge him for his own deeds, not for those of his father.

Uwabami didn't so much as start at the knock on her door, the beautiful Templar telling the person on the other side to enter. Momo opened the door, stepping into the room with a small frown. Uwabami didn't turn to look at her, the woman dangling a squeaking mouse over an aquarium with a small king cobra. She teased the snake a little, pulling the mouse back when it would strike, the act only making the mouse squeak more. The room was filled with such tanks, each holding another type of legless lizard.

Momo cleared her throat. "You wanted to see me, Uwabami-sensei?"

"Yes, I did," the woman said, releasing the mouse with a sigh. It hit the floor of the tank running, the cobra following it almost lazily. "Does sweet Kendo know you're here?"

"No, Sensei. I trusted that if you were calling only me, then this would not involve her. That this would be… disconnected from Hero work."

"Good." The pro Hero stepped away from the tank, sauntering over to stand before her student. She lifted a finger, resting it under Momo's chin. From there, she made Momo turn her face, the older woman studying each part of the heiress' features.

"Uhh…" Momo muttered.

"You're beautiful," Uwabami commented. "You could even rival me in a few years."

"Thank you?" Based on the inflection, Momo wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a complement or a threat. "Why… did you call for me?"

"I have made a decision, sweet Yaoyorozu. You said you wished to leverage popularity to help bring about peace, and I want to help you do that, but there is another aspect to that you must learn if you want to make it effective."

"Wh-What would that be?"

Uwabami leaned in, her lips so close to Momo's that she could feel the blonde's breath. She smelled of flowers: jasmine, rose, and a hint of vanilla. The scents and her proximity caused a flush to crawl upward from Momo's neck, her face turning scarlet. The pro chuckled, lightly dragging her sharpened fingernail over the underside of Momo's chin as she stepped away.

The student tried to catch her breath, wondering why she felt so hot and why her heart was racing. She clenched her hands before her chest, trying to understand.

"Sweet Yaoyorozu," Uwabami cooed. "Sweet, innocent Yaoyorozu. You want to leverage popularity? You want to make the masses do as you command? Then take it from me, women like us have one tool most men can and will never have no matter how hard they try. Oh sure, strong men can force compliance through force or standing, but that tends to rub people the wrong way in the long run. No no, women like us possess a far more potent skill. A blown kiss here, a wink there. We tease from behind the curtain, our very existence giving us the ability to start wars and make animals out of man with nothing but a glance."

Momo, who had been getting her blush back under control, felt her face light up again. "U-Uwabami-sensei! You can't be suggesting—"

"It's a fact of the world, darling," the blonde said. "Sex sells, whether you indulge or not. It's a skill many, Templar and otherwise, have used throughout the years. Just for the promise of a kiss from beautiful women like us, many would throw themselves headlong into foolishness. A caress of the cheek and a few whispered words and men rob banks, kill their best friend, uproot their lives. And when you're famous like me, they are seen as nothing but rabid fans gone mad, your promises to them nothing but a delusional wish."

"But why?" Momo sputtered.

"It's human nature, sweet Yaoyorozu," Uwabami replied, petting the snakes in her hair. "For all that we've evolved with Quirks, we are still animals in our very cores, and animals only desire a few things. When we have food and shelter, when we have stress and pressure, when we look for something to fill our time and instincts, it all comes back to one thing: pleasure.

"You will begin lessons with me at night for the rest of the week. I have begun the process of turning you and sweet Kendo into supermodel Heroines, but I will teach you how to leverage this fame and the parasocial relationships your fans will form for the goals of the Templar Order. Men —or women, they're all equally useful for our ends in this superpowered society— will fall at your feet and dirty their own hands for your whims. With the threat of the Assassins constantly hanging over us, assets like me and you become high-profile. Being in the spotlight makes removing us very, very difficult, both in the case of Assassins and other rebellious Templars, and allows us the means to not need to dirty our own hands, though I will teach you how to do that, too. In fact, many an Assassin in the past has fallen to the wiles of Templar women like us."

Momo's blush paled at the suggestion. Her? Trying to seduce the ones after her family?

"You want to make peace, Momo Yaoyorozu, and you want to live as a Hero? Under my tutelage, you will not just live. I will make sure you thrive." Uwabami sauntered back, sending a sly eye over her shoulder. "Leading the world is not about force. Follow me, sweet Yaoyorozu. It's time we turn you into a seductress."

In the aquarium, the snake struck, the mouse letting out a final, pained squeak as the predator sunk its venomous fangs into its prey.

Izuku, Kamihara, and Haya stood upon a rooftop watching the back entrance of a factory. Each was dressed in their Assassin uniforms with Kamihara's being maroon, Haya's being dark pink, and Izuku's white with green embellishment. The young woman of the group reached into her pocket, offering their leader a small stack of notes.

"Thank you," Kamihara nodded, looking over the information. "This is one of the factories owned by Inubis Hyde of HetHealth Inc. Are you each familiar with the name?"

"HetHealth is one of the few brands that targets its branding to heteromorphic individuals," Izuku recalled. "The stories say the founder started the company after a heteromorph friend of his complained about being told by a cashier to go buy shampoo from the pet shop down the road. It's now owned by a Jackal heteromorph, the founder's grandson."

"Correct, Initiate. That current CEO is Inubis Hyde and this is the factory where their famous Pedigree-brand shampoo is made. It's also now a confirmed Templar stronghold."

"It's almost amazing how diverse Templar businesses are," Haya commented, a questioning glance from Izuku prompting her to continue. "Before the Dawn of Quirks, the Assassin presence in the world was so low that the Templars of the day consolidated their businesses into Abstergo and had fingers in everything. By putting it all under one name, they were able to streamline their international plans, but the Abstergo LLC more-or-less fell apart during the chaos when a couple of Assassins —the first ones to be born with Quirks— went on a rampage through every facility they could until they were eventually gunned down in Brazil and England, respectively. Since then, the Templars've had to diversify again in an attempt to prevent that from happening, again. Honestly, it's kind of a pain. I bet things were easier when we had one company we could point at and know for sure."

"But Abstergo's still around," Izuku blinked. "They're a major company in North America with multiple business partners around the world, most notably in Italy and Peru."

"Yes, but not all their partners are Templars," Kamihara commented. "After the second wrongful death of an Abstergo partner with no idea about our war, the international Brotherhood had to get more… thorough with our selectivity. It's allowed more than a couple actual Templars to slip through our fingers."

"We won't let that happen here," Haya said. "Who was it that was captured?"

"Kuroto Sawa," the Master Assassin answered. "He was supposed to return to the den at noon today. He didn't, so we're to get in, find him, and get out."

"Easier said than done," Haya muttered.

"True enough," Kamihara agreed. "The building has few windows and three aboveground floors. We're pretty sure they have one or two underground as well, but those aren't on the official blueprints. The lower two floors are the main factory of vats and mixtures, the workers unlikely to be Templars, but it's most likely to have the entrance to the underground floors if they exist. The third floor holds their paper records and offices for the managers. If anyone in the upper building are Templars, that's probably their location. If there isn't an underground, that's where Sawa would be, too."

"Assuming they haven't moved him," Izuku commented. "Wait, how are we supposed to find the entrance to the underground if there are workers there? We can't just kill them and take their clothes; you said they most likely didn't know about our fight."

"Hopefully, we don't have to find it," Kamihara answered. "If we do, though, that will be your job. You are the only one of the three of us to possess Eagle Vision. That said, there should be no one here this late at night except security. Now then, Initiate Midoriya, considering all the information you have been given, what would be the best course of action?"

"Well," Izuku began, rubbing his chin. "We have two objectives, so to speak, considering our theories, those being the third floor and the underground. We are not certain about the existence of the latter and the best way to look for it, I'd imagine, would be from near the ceiling of the joint first-and-second floors. By that logic, our course of action should be to start at the third floor and work our way down if our target is not there."

"Well reasoned, Initiate," the Master Assassin nodded. "Assassin Haya, electronics?"

"On it." The young woman stretched her hand forward, extending two fingers upward. Her other hand came up to meet it, hooking a lone finger between the others before pulling back. Between the digits formed a small arrow of crackling electricity that hovered over the back of Haya's hand. She held it up, flicking it to cause it to spin. It stopped three different times, pointing three different directions before repeating.

"Three cameras," the young Assassin reported. "North, west, and southwest."

"Can you reach them?" Kamihara queried.

"Of course, Master." Haya extended her hand once more, this time with her palm facing to the side. Her other hand drew backward, forming a much larger arrow than the previous. She took aim to the north, loosing the arrow with a grunt. It shot across the distance before blowing something to smithereens in a shower of sparks. She repeated this process twice more before offering the others a smile. "Cameras neutralized."

"Excellent work. Assassin Haya, Initiate Midoriya, prepare your hooks. Since the factory was built without the inconsistencies that usually let us climb, we will scale the building the newer way. Remember your gloves and keep your hoods up, just in case. Ready? Good. Follow me."

Kamihara took off at a run, his students flanking his wake as they charged through the shadows. With the cameras out of commission, they didn't need to worry about being spotted, but they still erred on the side of caution. One could never be too careful, after all.

They reached the base of the building quickly, slowing to a stop in the building's shadow. Kamihara gestured for his students to wait for his signal before lifting his grappling hook. It fired with a psshh, catching at the edge of the roof. The cord tightened, carrying the Master Assassin upward. Izuku and Haya looked at each other, the former nervous and the latter soothing.

Kamihara whistled from the rooftop, prompting the pair of teens to ready their own grappling hooks. The machines carried them upward, Izuku and Haya climbing over the edge a moment later. Kamihara was waiting for them by the entrance door, the man on one knee as he studied the electronic lock. He gestured them over, pointing at the lock. His hidden blade popped out, the Master Assassin jabbing it between the machine and the wall before a twist of his wrist caused it to pop loose. He cut the wires, Izuku watching intently as, with a couple crossed wires and a spark or two, the lock came undone and something in the door clicked.

"Haya could have gotten us through in less time," the man muttered to his newest student, "but you will not always have someone with an electricity Quirk present. Even when we do, we do not want to overplay our hand lest forensics gets enough evidence to identify the Quirks used. They're almost as bad as fingerprints."

Izuku nodded in understanding, Kamaihara opening the door and leading them inside. It was late, the area covered in shadow and darkness as no one was expected to be here. The dark did not bother the Assassins, all of whom had been trained to fight just as effectively in such conditions, so they did not bother looking for any sort of light switch.

"Initiate," Kamihara muttered. "Can you see any cameras?"

"One moment, Master." Izuku blinked, activating his Eagle Vision. The darkness got a little darker, a blip of gold appearing at the corner ahead. "One camera, Master, at the intersection ahead."

"I will handle it. Good work, Initiate." Kamihara put his hand to the wall, one of his fingers lengthening upward and forward as he hid the use of his powers. The lone digit reached the camera from behind before lopping off half of its mechanics. It hit the floor with a wump, muffled by the building's carpet. With no possible eyes on them, Kamihara reached into the folds of his robes and offered each of his interns a single earbud. "Spread out and look for anything suspicion. Call as soon as you find something. If you run into a guard, aim to incapacitate."

"Sir," the students nodded. Kamihara practically unraveled, slithering along the ceiling with a quick promise to take out any more cameras he found. Haya took the left at the fork, another electronic-sensing arrow over her hand, while Izuku took the right. He slunk through the shadows, peaking his head around every corner before taking any turns, but the whole office floor was quiet and empty. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the earbud he'd been given vibrated with a crackle.

"Master here," the voice of Kamihara said. "I found the security room. There's only one official guard present tonight. I took him out, but he confirmed there is an underground and that they have Sawa captured. We're moving to phase two. Return to the stairwell."

Izuku retraced his steps as ordered, finding Kamihara and Haya waiting for him. Silently, the trio slipped into the stairs and climbed downward, the leader of them gesturing to the first door they crossed.

The factory was a single, massive room, the Assassins stepping out onto a railing that ran the perimeter of the space. Catwalks crossed above giant vats for mixing chemicals that connected to other, more nimble machinery. Izuku had never seen such things before, but he suspected these were meant to direct the appropriate amount of shampoo into the bottles that would hold them.

He activated his Eagle Vision again.

"Two cameras, Master," he whispered, pointing. "One there in that corner, and the other is in the middle of that wall. There's something else, too…" Izuku shifted, having to lean over the railing to ger a proper view. "Yeah, where the cameras' focus intersects is a golden symbol on the wall. I bet that's our entrance."

"Understood." Kamihara unraveled again, hacking the cameras to pieces before leading his students to the floor. Izuku took the lead, stopping before the wall. His special sight flashed again, the boy reaching forward with a gloved hand to set his fingers against a brick with an almost-imperceptible Mark of Cain carved into it, said mark now glowing red for him. Something clicked, the hidden door behind it opening silently despite its material makeup.

"Those," Haya commented with a sigh, "are a lot of stairs."

"What did you expect, Assassin?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "An elevator, maybe?"

"Considering the widely-varying body types of heteromorphic individuals, the weight limits of elevators, the cost of safely-installing elevators for heteromorphic people, the chance of malfunction, and—"

"I get it, Initiate," Haya said, cutting off Izuku's mutterings. "I just wish something could—"

"You will not finish that sentence, Assassin," Kamihara stated. "Come, let us continue our mission."

They followed the pro Hero down the stairs, each being sure to muffle their steps in the echoey area. The walls were lined with concrete, the grey walls empty and devoid of any emotion. The door at the end of the stairs was metal, a card reader set into the wall but broken beyond repair.

"Looks like we found evidence of our missing Assassin," Haya commented, studying the reader. "This thing's busted, though."

"Leave it to me," Kamihara insisted, activating his Foldbody to slide between the doors. He gave a grunt, slowly forcing the doors apart until something clicked and they opened the rest of the way. "Inside, now."

Izuku and Haya hurried in, Kamihara letting the doors slide shut once they had. The area beyond was a corridor of the same grey stone, branches shooting off at various places. Kamihara gestured with his head, the students following. They came to a blood splatter at the far end, evidence of Sawa's attempt to escape before his capture, they suspected. Another splatter led to their right, the trio of Assassins following the trail carefully.

"—getting tired of standing around," a voice complained ahead, all three Assassins instantly pressing themselves into the shadows. They inched forward, straining their ears. "Boss really thinks they'll send someone after this guy? He's just some no-name salaryman and a half-assed Assassin to boot. We're practically doing them a favor here."

"The recent Assassins have a penchant for a no-man-left-behind philosophy," another voice replied with a chuckle. "It's noble, I'll give them that, but it makes it so easy to lay traps."

Kamihara gestured for Izuku to stay, he and Haya sneaking forward. Kamihara gestured, giving Haya a quick series of hand signs too fast for Izuku to register. The young woman nodded before Kamihara disappeared toward the ceiling. Izuku snuck forward, filling the space where the pro had been only a moment before. Two men were standing at the entrance to a door, both holding rifles. One was a heteromorph with bone plating running up his arms while the other was an average man with black hair.

It happened in an instant. Haya charged out from cover, running toward the men with her head low. They jumped, both bringing their guns up, before Kamihara dropped from the ceiling above them. His weight fell on the man with the bone-covered arms, driving his hidden blade into the back of his neck. The other man lost his focus, turning toward the scene as he prepared to shoot the Master Assassin who had killed his buddy.

Haya reached him before he could, her own blade stabbing between his ribs into his heart. Her leg swept past him, pushing him off his feet so he landed on his back, staring up at her face with his own expression of shock.

"Requiescat in pace, Templar," she whispered as he breathed his last, the salmon-haired Assassin pulling her hidden blade from his chest before closing his eyes with her gloved hand. Seeing the coast was clear, Kamihara gestured for Izuku to join them.

"I have a bad feeling about this," the female of the group commented as the youngest reached them, the boy looking a little green around the gills. It might not have been his first time seeing death, but he was certainly not used to it. "They mentioned traps, Master. I think we're walking into one."

"That may be so, but we cannot leave them to their own devices," Kamihara replied. "Even if we cannot save Sawa, we cannot leave his body in the hands of the Templars. Lord knows what they could do with such a thing even before the Dawn of Quirks. Assassin, Initiate, steel yourselves. One way or another, we will have to fight."

He knelt, running his hands over the warm corpses beneath them. He drew out a keycard from a pocket and gestured, all of them moving to the walls as he flashed it at the scanner. The light turned green, the door opening.

"It's about time you showed up," a voice growled despite none of the Assassins being in the doorway. The two dead bodies might have been a giveaway, but Izuku suspected the speaker had been waiting for the door to open and nothing else. "Well? Don't keep us waiting."

The Assassins met each other's eyes, a plan passing between them silently. Haya nodded, accepting the risk, as Kamihara slowly unraveled to hide on the ceiling. Haya raised her hands, nodding to Izuku to have him play along as she stepped into the doorway. Izuku swallowed, raising his arms as well and following her.

The room was decently sized, 20 Templars waiting for them within with bated breath. The one in the center was a heteromorph with the face of a hyena, dirty-yellow hackles raised as the young Assassins stepped into the room. He held Kuroto Sawa's head in his hands, the captured Assassin on his knees. His face was beaten, one eye swollen shut. And his shoulder-length brown hair was matted, patches of it missing where it had been ripped out. His dark-red robes were ripped and torn, the hood in pieces at the man's knees alongside his destroyed bracers. The lone eye Sawa could see with turned a sad, dark eye on Haya and Izuku, silently apologizing while begging them to flee. The hyena man snarled, his muzzle twitching.

"You cannot fool me, murderers," the lead Templar hissed. The men around the room grinned, those with weapons raising them. One, a man with snake eyes, flicked a forked tongue. Another had what looked like a finger gun aimed at them. Unlike the common hand gesture, his middle finger had a hole in the end, a red light shining from his pointer finger. The red dot rested on Izuku's hood, right over his forehead. "I know there's another one of you here. Come out, now, or I'll loose my men on your little protégées here."

"Pleassse don't," the snake-man muttered. "That one there is a fine-sssmelling woman. I wouldn't mind a better-looking prisssoner."

"No," Kamihara said, pitching his voice so it didn't sound like him. He dropped from the ceiling to land before his students, raising his own arms. "Do not touch them."

"Master—!" Haya began.

"Let me handle this, Assassin," the man replied, turning his attention to their adversaries. "You have not killed him yet. I'm surprised."

"He's a hardy one," Hyena Man commented, resting a clawed hand on Sawa's head. The prisoner grit his teeth as the Templar's claws drew blood, lines of crimson running down the Assassin's face. "He didn't know anything we wanted, either. Now then, you will comply or I will kill him. Take off your hoods."

"You know we can't do that," the Master Assassin rebuffed. "Just give us our companion and we can be on our—"

Hyena Man snarled and, with a quick twist, snapped Sawa's neck. The dead Assassin slumped over, a look of shock frozen on his face.

"Oops, my hand slipped," the Templar muttered. "Keehehehe!"

"Assassin," Kamihara hissed, not bothering to change his voice. "Initiate. No survivors."

"It seems negotiations have broken down. Oh well. Men, Attack!"

The men around the room shifted, but they had barely gone a step before six thin strands shot from Kamihara, each spearing one of six grunts, including the man with the gun-hand. Haya spun, firing one of her Ion Arrows so precisely that it passed through one man's head and into the next where it discharged, frying the snake mam from the inside.

Despite the remaining 11 grunts, Izuku only had eyes for one opponent, the Assassin Initiate ducking under Kamihara's attack as he drew his wakizashi and tanto, holding them in a reverse grip.

"The runt of the litter wants to face me?" Hyena Man questioned. Izuku didn't pause as Kamihara moved above him, spearing another two grunts that wanted to blindside him. The leader spread his arms as the boy approached. "Then come, young Assassin! I'll show you what Warau Hyde can do!"

"You murdered a defenseless man in cold blood!" Izuku roared, his blades clashing with Warau's claws. Izuku spun as muscle memory took over, slashing upward with his wakizashi. Warau dodged backward, the blade of the sword barely missing his muzzle, before the heteromorph came back. His jaws snapped at Izuku, the young Assassin interposing his tanto as a defensive threat that managed to ward off the older man. "You and all your kind are nothing but Villains!"

"Poor, stupid boy." Harau said. "Don't you see? By the laws of the land, we're all Villains here."

He lunged, swinging a hand up to knock the hand holding Izuku's wakizashi out of the way. His other reached forward, grabbing the boy by the face before using his greater height and strength to drive the student into the floor. Izuku coughed, a ringing in his ears and his head spinning from the impact.

"Assassin, Templar, Instrument, such words mean nothing. Even the greats of every group are lost to time, known if ever by what they did outside our war. We all commit crimes and only get away with it because we all want to keep this little fight of ours hidden." He leaned in, his breath hot against Izuku's face. "That means I can sate my bloodlust on idiots like you without any consequences."

Izuku slashed at him, the Templar hopping backward with ne'er a cut. The student, at this point, was not thinking rationally; his jump to his feet causing his hood to fall away, revealing his green hair. Harau's eyes widened slightly.

"Oho," the heteromorph grinned. "That's a face I recognize. You've made a mistake, Assassin. Even if you survive here, I'll ruin you."

Izuku's eyes flashed gold, the boy shooting forward toward the man. Harau bit back a yelp, barely avoiding the blade that would have spilled his guts. Izuku refused to let up, the man having to parry every other slash. Harau might have been an adult and a Templar, but Izuku was a Hero student of UA and a well-trained Assassin Initiate. Their training was not comparable.

"You!" Izuku yelled, his tanto cutting a line into one of the man's sleeves. "Will! Not! Kill! Any! One! Else!"

"And you think you can stop me?" the Templar questioned, his fur absorbing a bead of sweat. His swallowed a wince as Izuku's wakizashi bit into his shoulder before the man could fully avoid it. "You're a first-year high schooler. You can't—"

"I am an Assassin!" Izuku rebuffed, Harau's back hitting the concrete wall. His eyes widened, the man not having realized he'd retreated so far. He snarled, reaching out to grab hold of Izuku's wrists. The wakizashi's point trembled a couple centimeters from Harau's snout, the tanto aimed at his sternum.

"A mere boy like you can't kill me," he said. "I can smell it in you. You're green. You've never taken a man's life and you're a Hero student. You don't have the guts to—"

Izuku brought his boot up, kicking the heteromorph in the stomach. His grip loosened, Izuku's tanto coming a little closer.

"Do not question what I am willing to do," Izuku growled. The sounds of fighting behind him died away, but his focus was on Harau and Harau alone. "I just watched you kill a man for no reason, Harau Hyde. I do not have the authority to arrest you, but I have the training to ensure you don't do the same to anyone else."

"Y-You won't," Harau stuttered. "You're still a—"

Izuku dropped his tanto and twisted his arm, the suddenness of the movement catching the hyena-man off guard. Izuku's hidden blade sunk into the man's chest, a dark stain growing across his clothing from the point. Harau looked down with wide eyes, slowly looking upward to stare into the eyes of his killer.

"L-Look what you've done," he coughed, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth. "M-My cousin won't sit by, b-boy."

"Your cousin won't know who did this," Kamihara said, he and Haya coming up to flank Izuku. Neither had so much as a scratch on their robes. "You made the fatal mistake of thinking 20 was enough, Harau Hyde, and then you thought to kill a member of our order before our eyes. Rest now. You have earned this with your actions."

The strength fell from his arms, darkness creeping into the heteromorph's vision. He started to slump, Izuku following him downward, the student's blade still buried in his chest.

"I just wanted a better world," he whispered. "A… better world… for people like me…"

"You might have sought the light, but your actions reflected only darkness," the verdet told him. "Everyone is equal in the next life. Harau Hyde. Rest in the endless sleep."

Harau Hyde went limp under his hand.

Izuku stayed where he was, kneeling by his first kill as he felt tears start to well in his eyes. He'd been running on adrenaline and rage after witnessing the death of Kuroto Sawa, but the realization of his actions came as those other things bled away. The room, which had been stale and sterile, now smelled of blood and death. Crimson stains grew upward on the cuff of Izuku's white trainee robes. Shaking, his retracted his blade and reached up to close the heteromorph's eyes, granting him the minimum respect their targets were to be given.

"Re… Re…" He swallowed, trying to recite the words of their forebears and ancient teachers. "Requiescat… in pace." The tears overflowed, rolling down Izuku's cheeks before falling onto the body of Harau Hyde.

"We're here for you," the soft voice of Haya whispered, the older girl setting a hand on the Initiate's shoulder. With a firm grip, she pulled him away from the body, forcing Izuku to look at her.

"H-Haya," he rasped, eyes moving down to look at the bloodstain on his sleeve. "What have I—?"

"No, look at me," the other student ordered, using a finger to push his face back up. "We can't take back the things we've done, Izuku. We can only take solace in the knowledge that it is necessary, and that by doing it, we protect the lives of all those who have no idea." Izuku sniffled, prompting Haya to pull him into her shoulder, wrapping her arms around him.

There, at 27 past midnight, in a dark, underground room filled with fresh corpses, the Assassin Initiate Izuku Midoriya cried.

End of Chapter 24

We get a glimpse of Shoto's training, and though he's not connected to the shadow war, his path is now distinctly different than in Canon. What will he be able to do with this new Steam Style? And we pop over to Momo and her own training. What lasting effect will this new training from Uwabami have on her? Finally, we come to Izuku's mission. He's had his first kill now, and I fear his internship will affect him more than anyone else's. He's reached the end of the slippery slope and fallen off the edge; there is now no going back. Tell me what you think!

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods