Stain was beyond angry. Some lunatics who called themselves the League of Villains tried recruiting him, but they had no ideals. Their supposed leader was nothing but a raging manchild who wanted to destroy anything that angered him. When he declined their offer, the manchild tried attacking him. He fought back and nearly killed the fool when he was suddenly teleported back to Hoso.
"Such a tragedy, what happened to Ingenium."
The hero killer whipped around and raised a blade to the speaker's neck. "Hawks."
"Stain," the number three hero replied coldly.
"So what does the Hero Commission's lapdog want?"
"I want you to end the number three hero."
-x-x-x-x-x-
Izuku was standing outside a dilapidated apartment building. So this is the abode of All Might's mentor, Gran Torino. The greenette sighed and walked inside. He squinted at the lack of light in the apartment. The only source of light was the doorway. He went still as he noticed the old man lying in a pool of a red substance… that appeared to be ketchup.
"Excuse me, sir. Do you need any help?" Izuku asked in a light tone. He figured it'd work best if he acted more upbeat and kind—a 'ray of sunshine' if you will.
"I am clearly bleeding out on the floor," was the man's gruff response.
"Sorry, but that is clearly ketchup. It smells like tomato, not iron."
"Smart, kid. I won't ask why you know what blood smells like, but note that that fact is concerning."
"So, Gran Torino, Sir, what do you have planned for my training?"
"You'll see, but first, who are you?" The man slipped into a senile-sounding voice, but Izuku could easily identify a fellow actor.
"I am Izuku Midoriya, The Aspiring Underground Hero, Viridian Rabbit."
"Viridian Rabbit?"
Izuku unzipped the jacket he was wearing and folded it inside out. He put the jacket back on and pulled up the hood. The old pro hero acknowledged the green rabbit ears on the hood. "So you went with your costume's theme," Torino noted.
"Yes, the other Outcasts and I chose a color-animal motif for names. Hitoshi went with Violet Cat, and Denki went with Amber Axolotl… Keigo is going with Carmine Eagle."
Gran Torino didn't know who Keigo was, but the way Izuku delivered that last sentence put a foreboding pit in his stomach. He suppressed that feeling and moved on to the actual lesson. "Well, since you're already in your hero costume, let's start immediately." The old pro crouched in preparation for a jump. "If you can land one hit on me, you pass." He launched into the air, propelled by his quirk, and bounced around the room at breakneck speeds.
A sharp pain stabbed the back of his head, and he avoided Gran Torino's sucker punch. Izuku tracked the pro's movement and dodged the attacks with minimal effort. It was clear the pro was holding back, but he shouldn't have been able to dodge the attacks from behind so easily. Izuku took the opportunity to study his fighting style. Gran Torino was about as fast as Keigo but not nearly as fast as Koro Sensei. Izuku activated Black Whip a moment later and yanked Gran Torino out of the air.
"Dang, kid," Gran Torino grumbled and rubbed his head.
"Are you okay?" Izuku asked and offered his hand to the pro.
"I'm fine," Torino grunted. "You're pretty good. Who trained you?"
"The number three hero and an S-Class villain."
"You've got a sense of humor, too, huh? So, who actually taught you?"
"Irina and Keigo. They are like my older siblings, and both are skilled fighters."
"You know what. I don't think there's much I can teach you. I'd teach you about the paperwork or non-combat aspects of heroics, but as you can see, I don't really have an agency anymore. I only work as a hero part-time."
So much for All Might's mentor…
"Hey, kid," Gran Torino snapped Izuku out of his thoughts. The greenette noticed the old man had cleaned the ketchup and was preparing to leave the battered apartment. "We're going out on patrol."
-x-x-x-x-x-
Denki was utterly terrified. He was interning with a woman with an international heroics license, Irina Jelavich. Her license was to keep her out of trouble when she used her quirk for her real job, assassination. Her quirk was fascinating. She called it Blur; when activated, her image would be blurred in the memories of anyone who saw her and any photos or videos of her. Denki went with her for his internship to get used to the new weapons and support gear he was given.
"Hey Denki, what are you thinking of doing for heroics?" Irina asked as they walked to a nearby training ground.
"I ugh… always thought of being a popular and flashy hero, but now I'm rethinking that. I feel like I could help more people on night patrols. Even if I don't plan on being as elusive as the standard underground hero, I'd do that type of work instead. Less powerful villains and more weaker villains instead reduce the chances of overloading my quirk, and the lack of press is an added bonus. I don't think I'd be able to handle that kind of stress," Denki rambled.
"Okay. Oh, by the way, we couldn't get the barb gun to shoot accurately, and it didn't work well enough to redirect electricity." They entered the training center, and a black box waited for them on a nearby bench. The room they were in was a vast expanse of concrete with various punching bags and training dummies. The two blondes were in athleticwear, and Irina opened the box. She turned around and presented the items to Denki. "We got you a whip and a few other toys, though."
Denki examined the items he was handed; the whip was actually a braided cable with an electrical plug on the end for extra weight. The cable was made of woven fibers of a flexible yet durable metal alloy. The other support equipment included steel knuckledusters and a completely silent taser powered by his quirk.
Irina smiled as Denki tested out his new equipment. He needed work on his aim with the whip and taser, but he was a natural at the boxing-esque style Hitoshi and Izuku taught him. "Hey Denks, suit up. We're heading to Hosu."
"Operation: Phoenix?" the teen inquired.
"Operation: Phoenix," Irina confirmed.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Hitoshi was interning with pro hero Ms Joke. She was very loud, probably the loudest underground hero in Japan. Unfortunately, he couldn't help with Operation Phoenix as she was based hours from Hosu. She made another bad pun, and he groaned in response. Hitoshi paused with his hand frozen halfway in the motion of a facepalm.
"Oh my god," Hitoshi muttered in horror. "You want me to use dad jokes to get a response from people."
"Hey," Joke whined. "It's better than constantly insulting people. It's less likely to escalate tense situations, and it's likely to get a response regardless of how it's received."
"I hate to say you're right. It's a good application of my quirk, but don't expect me to start being all happy-go-lucky," Hitoshi said, saying the last part with jazz hands and a deadpan expression.
-x-x-x-x-x-
It was utter chaos in Hosu. It was the first day of UA internships, and that night, the League of Villains decided to retaliate against the Hero Killer. Fire was everywhere. Civilians were crying. Nomus were shrieking, and all Iida could think about was how this was the perfect chance to slip away from his mentor and look for Stain. The engine-legged teen ran off while Manual looked the other way and raced through the alleyways.
Izuku sat quietly across from Gran Torino on the train. The train was passing through Hosu, and the stabbing sensation had returned. The hero in training was on high alert. He didn't know much about the new sensation, but he had a feeling it was one of the quirks of the past users. He did know it meant danger would be on its way. Izuku launched into action, grabbing Torino and a couple of civilians with Black Whip and throwing them out of the impending crash site.
Suddenly, a winged nomu with a random hero in its clutches slammed into the train car right where the people Izuku grabbed previously sat. Gran Torino and the other hero lept into action and took the fight with the nomu away from the train full of civilians. Gran said something about staying put, but Izuku had other plans and lept into the burning city.
Iida ran from alley to alley in hopes of finding the Hero Killer. He heard the clang of blades colliding and ran faster into the alley. What he saw horrified him. Blood and red feathers littered the alley, and the number three pro hero lay limp on the dirty pavement. Stain was monologing about fake heroes, and Iida snapped upon seeing him. He readied to launch himself at the Hero Killer but was stopped by a whip wrapping around his legs and torso.
"Iida! What the hell are you doing!?" a familiar voice whisper-yelled. Iida turned his head to see the angry face of Kaminari. "Know what? Don't tell me. Plausible deniability is important, and you have yet to use your quirk. Back off, this isn't your place, and before you go and do something stupid, properly assess the situation."
Iida was about to retort when Kaminari shoved a hand over his mouth and twisted his head to look back at the alley. It was then that Iida saw the long red feather sticking from Stain's chest. The feather was in the wrong place to hit the villain's heart, but it could reasonably be deduced that it punctured a lung. The Hero Killer then coughed up some blood and froze before going limp and collapsing in the alley next to Hawks. Kaminari removed his hand from Iida's face but kept a hand on his shoulder to keep him from interfering.
Flashing lights illuminated the dingy street as police cars and heroes rounded the corner. Who Iida assumed was an EMT, rushed to Hawks's side and began checking his vitals. He must have been out of it because he couldn't quite make out her face. The Hero Manual and several police officers were the next to arrive. Manual fretted over Iida as he ensured his intern was safe and unharmed. Then he fussed over the other teen accompanying his intern. The pro finally calmed down after he was reassured that they were both unscathed and didn't engage in the battle. The cops and some EMTs were loading Stain into an ambulance when the EMT checking on Hawks finally gave an update on his condition.
"He's dead," was her simple report. Static filled Iida's head as the EMT continued. "He died of what appears to be blood loss approximately two minutes ago."
The police report acknowledged the presence of the two UA students as witnesses to Stain's takedown but also that they had arrived just after the time of Hawks's death. There were no witnesses to the actual fight, but it was assumed that Hawks was able to puncture Stain's lung before being hit by his quirk. The Hero Killer then dealt a blow to the paralyzed hero that eventually led to him bleeding out and dying before anyone else could arrive.
Little did they know, the Hero Killer couldn't leave a fatal blow. Hawks should have been able to recover quite easily as long as he got a couple of stitches and rested for a week, but nobody knew that. No one knew where his body went. The last they saw of him was his body being wheeled out of the ER by a nurse who was inexplicably blurry in all the security footage and whom nobody could identify.
The police chief and a newbie detective reviewed the evidence they had. They had no leads on who stole the remains of the Number Three Hero, but there was no way the commission would want the public to find out he was stolen. If anything, they would sweep the whole incident under the rug and bury an empty casket.
The detective furrowed his brows. "Hey, did we ever get the name of the EMT that declared him dead?"
The dog-headed police chief sighed and said, "Rookie, I know what you're thinking, but there's no way he's alive. Woof. There was a lot of blood on the scene, and one of the witnesses confirmed he was gravely injured. The other was too out of it to give a proper report."
"That poor kid. He just saw someone die at the hands of the villain that crippled his brother," the rookie detective commented. He really hoped the Iida kid was getting therapy or at least some proper help. Tragedies like this are pretty traumatizing. That being said, it was strange how well the other kid was handling the ordeal. Maybe it hadn't hit him yet.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Denki was released back to the supervision of Irina shortly after the police took his statement. It was ridiculous how fast she was able to switch uniforms. From her hero costume to EMT to nurse and back to her hero costume, all while pretending to be three different people and tricking the police, medical staff, and heroes into believing Hawks was dead. Denki was just glad the lie detector detective wasn't involved; he would have caused way more complications. The blonde boy had to lie in his police report, saying that Keigo was more injured than he actually was, and Irina had to declare his death and cover him before anyone realized he clearly wasn't.
The blonde duo was suddenly approached by a green-haired boy. "Hey guys!" Izuku greeted. "How's the phoenix doing?"
"He has fallen and shall soon rise from the ashes," Irina replied cryptically. The need to talk in code was quickly revealed when Gran Torino rocketed in on a collision course with Izuku's shoulder, only to be sidestepped and landed on the pavement with a loud thud. Denki squeaked at the old man's sudden appearance.
"I thought I told you to stay put?" the gruff man asked.
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, putting up a sweet and innocent act and raising the pitch of his voice slightly. "I'm sorry, sir." He said sheepishly. "I just wanted to check in on my friends because I knew they were here." He gestured to Irina and Denki. "Here they are! Safe and sound," he grinned.
Gran Torino raised an eyebrow at the overly bright smile. "Mm-hm? That's all you were doing?"
Izuku continued to beam, completely unperturbed by the questioning. "Yep!"
The old man blinked slowly in response.
"Hey, Irina has a car. Can I get a ride home from her? It'd save money on train fees."
Gran Torino recognized that name from Izuku's earlier rant. She was one of the 'older sibling' figures that trained the boy. "Izuku told me you were one of the people who trained him," the short man addressed the tall woman. "Good job, he is an excellent fighter."
Irina got a cocky grin. "Ha, that's right, I'm the best!" she boasts.
Izuku slapped her on the arm to snap her out of it. "You hardly helped with my combat training. That was Keigo."
There was another name Izuku had mentioned. Gran Torino still didn't have a face to match that name, but there wasn't much he could do about that. There wasn't much of a reason why he shouldn't allow the boy to go with his friends as the day was over, and now would be the time they would part ways anyway. It was either let the boy take the train home alone or get a ride from someone he is familiar with. "Whatever, kid, just make sure you're back for your internship tomorrow," he agreed before rocketing off with his quirk.
"Well, that was odd," Izuku muttered. Irina shrugged and guided her friends to her car. Denki took the front passenger seat, and Izuku sat behind him.
"I live bitches~," a smooth voice called from the driver's side back seat. Keigo was dressed in a fresh T-shirt and jeans with butterfly stitches and clean bandages. The blonde man smirked and moved his wings to make room for Izuku. Keigo was missing a good chunk of his feathers, but he was already growing in new ones.
"Let's celebrate your death, then figure out the rest of the plan. We're about to become good friends with the Rat God," Izuku said with a mischievous grin.
-x-x-x-x-x-
In his office, Nedzu sneezed. "Hmm… something tells me something very interesting is about to happen."