A knock at the front window brought Izuku's mind from his current activity. It was late, long past closing time for the bakery he ran alongside his mother.

Five years ago out of the blue his mother had changed jobs from what was essentially a housewife to working at a local bakery run by an old couple, two years later the couple wanted to retire and offered the greenettes the business.

Now three years on, with Izuku completing his education, had begun to stand at the helm but still carried out any and every job to perfection. Every night he would clean up the front of the shop, clean the trays, check the ingredients and await the awful timing of their suppliers who decided that 10 o'clock at night was acceptable for deliveries.

Knock knock

The sound came again and Izuku moved towards the knocking, seeing a familiar figure waiting outside the door despite the closed sign and obvious look of closure.

He couldn't hide the smile from his face as he unlocked the door letting her in. Rumi Usagiyama, or the Rabbit Hero: Mirko. A rising star in the hero charts. You could ask him why the current ranked 32 hero was walking into a random bakery at this time of night.

Some could say it was an abuse of privilege, that she was demanding free stuff with her intimidating nature.

The store across would say that something scandalous was going on, given how often they'd seen this occur over the last few months. but withheld it because it would only improve their rivals' business.

But the man himself could tell you that she just really liked their carrot cake. Though he was sure the hero would never admit it herself.

The young hero took her usual seat, one hidden behind a small divider hiding her from any pedestrians who happened to be walking by, the only indication she was there would be her ears poking up above.

Barely a minute after she had walked in he placed her order in front of her, one he'd become increasingly accustomed to.

"One flat white with an extra shot of espresso and our Cake of the Week"

Her hands immediately went for the drink bringing it to her lips but took a good inhale first taking in the aroma before finally tasting it. Her one slightly droopy ear perked up and her expression immediately brightened.

"Busy night?" He asked, taking a seat opposite holding his own coffee.

"Busy day and it's only going to get busier" she said, starting to dig into the (definitely not a) carrot cake, her face preening in bliss at the taste.

"Hmm, so I'm guessing you'll want some coffee to-go as well?" He asked, taking another sip.

"Only the usual, times twelve. If I had to remember every sidekick's order I'd go crazy, not to mention I'd probably go broke before the commission would even get the expense reports".

"You've been doing a lot the last few days, does it really take that long to scope out one gang". Just the week before their somewhat weekly after hours meet up had increased to almost nightly with a few daytime stops while she tried to disguise herself under a set of hoodie and jeans.

She had let it slip during one of these visits that they were in the middle of gathering evidence before they made a move on a human trafficking ring. Given the "merchandise" involved they needed this case to be airtight, they didn't want a single one of the criminal organisation members involved to sneak through the cracks.

So since then he would keep himself in the front waiting for the inevitable arrival of the hero hoping to get a late night brew, being within walking or rather hoping distance from their stakeout location.

"Like I said, they're some really slippery customers. I mean obviously I'd prefer to just bust in there and scoop them all up and be done with it. But apparently Ryukyu has some intel that a big buyer is supposed to be dropping by, some big diet member (government member). So of course that means we have to stick around a few more days before we can move ahead".

If there was one thing izuku liked about her was that she was open with him. Any other hero wouldn't dare hand out what was essentially top secret knowledge. But Rumi was quite happy to discuss these details with him, it probably stemmed from the fact that she already knew him to be a huge hero nerd, discovering that when she'd first come by and he'd bashfully asked for her autograph.

She'd also later find out that he'd done the same with her other hero colleagues. Ryukyu found it endearing, even after he'd spent 10 minutes asking her questions about her quirk.

To Mirko, he was just a rather sweet shop owner who supplied her and her team with what equated to life juice. One who was hugely into heroes, if the pictures of himself with various heroes in the establishment that decorated one of the walls was any indication.

Once their mission was over they'd agreed to do the same but until their job was done they couldn't let on that they were in the area.

"I guess in whatever era you can't really trust government officials to be decent folk. Wasn't there one guy like that before quirks''

"Oh that guy, no this ones nowhere near as bad, I'm pretty sure this is his first foray into this side of the criminal underworld. Though he's already shady as is. Once we see him complete the deal, we'll charge in and slap on the cuffs, he won't know what hit him".

"Is it ever that easy, surely they'll resit"

"That's why I'm here, no matter what measly resistance they put together, I can handle it"

A buzzing came from her pocket.

"Welp, duty calls. Could I get the to-go coffees"

"Sure one moment" with little effort he had the order ready, placed in two holders with another cup containing stirrers and packets of sugar and milk.

After paying the greenette the hero made a quick exit, leaving him to properly go about locking up and closing the shop, ignoring the owner's from the store opposite who had binoculars out brazenly looking into his store. As he shut out the last light he pulled out his phone, a few taps and the green background changed to purple as he started a call.

"It's me, she just left".

"..."

"They're making their move tonight".

"..."

"I believe so, if tonight follows our predictions they should have enough".

"..."

"Yes sir, I'll take care of it".

"..."

"As you command".

His thumb hit the red end call button and the screen returned to its usual green.

The smile that had been absent the entire call slowly began to creep back.

Near the Docks

Rumi nursed the last bit of heat in her coffee as she waited in her spot. The autumn season had begun to shift to winter and it sucked that they had to have this stakeout in an apartment that hadn't had its insulation updated in the last century.

'Why couldn't I just stay at Izuku's, his place has heating and an endless supply of flat whites' she internally moaned, both ears now fully drooping.

A clicking for attention could be heard from one of the sidekicks looking through one of their gadgets.

Everyone moved to the screens in one corner spotting the fancy car pulling into the complex.

"It's a match, he didn't even try to remove or fake his plates. I thought this guy was supposed to be smart".

Rumi's eyes darted to her fellow hero, jumping a little in place and a pleading smile.

'Not yet, we need to see the deal, then we can move in' the cool and calm voice of Ryukyu spoke, answering her silent plea.

"Hmph" she pouted, turning in a way that some might label her a tsundere. "Fine, just say the word, I'm getting into position".

"Rumi" Ryukyu said in a tone that said 'no nonsense'. "Don't blow this"

"I know, I know. I'll only move from my spot if you say so, happy?"

She only received a nod as the other hero once more turned to the screen.

Exiting the apartment Rumi quickly ascended the complex's stairs till she ended up on the roof. There were already a few seats but she instead took the futon near the edge of the building pulling a pair of her own binoculars to use.

She quickly got comfortable and took a peak, spotting the diet member entering the main building. She didn't really care much for him, every scumbag who set foot in there was equally as scummy. Her eyes darted around looking at their security teams formation and looking out for any particularly strong combatants.

"Weak, weak, hah laughable, weak, maybe but that stetson looks cheap. Hmm maybe him" she said, spotting someone approaching the front gate. She tapped one of her earpieces "Hey we got a new face, hard to tell from this angle"

All she could really see given they were hidden in shadow but they seemed to be wearing dark clothing though it was rather more of a hero suit. 'Do they have a hero on their payroll'

Just as she was about to finish that categorisation, the figure emerged from the shadows coming into the light briefly.

"Are those rabbit ears"

In a second the approaching security detail who seemed to have a problem with the new arrival was slammed against the wall before crumpling to the ground.

In years past, this would be the moment where criminals would pull out guns and start a shootout. But in the age of quirks, everyone had their own unique weapon.

The first to react launched into the air what looked like little metal balls before he moved like a tennis player swatting his hand and the balls turned into projectiles.

Green arcs coated the intruder's body and moved at speeds nearly impossible to follow with the naked eye as they dodged every projectile.

"They have some sort of speed quirk" a voice spoke into her earpiece. 'Way to state the obvious'

The criminal lowlife seemed to make that assumption as well as they used Ice Guns, specialist weapons designed to slow speedster-like heroes. Yet the intruder didn't dodge the attack, seemingly letting their feet and legs become encased with ice.

By now there were about a dozen people out in the forecourt observing the intruder, posing in some sort of manner to showcase their quirk. To a lesser person it was a fairly effective intimidation tactic.

Though it didn't seem to bother them. In a surprising move, shadowy tendrils began to reach out from the intruder and like a snake struck quickly and without mercy sending villains flying left and right. Four unlucky low life's became ensnared in the tendrils before being slammed into each other repeatedly before being discarded.

Even from where she was positioned she could hear the crunch as the ice broke apart and the intruder simply stepped out and continued towards the warehouse.

A light caught her attention and one of the warehouse doors opened revealing the diet member and the head of the criminal organisation. A slight smile crept to her face at the horrified and terrified looks of both before they quickly retreated back. A figure crept into her view as the intruder made quick work of what she knew to be a heavily reinforced door but watched in what she could only describe in awe as they simply kicked it down with a spartan kick.

"..eader, do we move in?"

"Not yet, this could be a ploy or distraction. We have surveillance inside. Targets inside are making to leave. But be ready to intercept, scramble vehicles and eyes in the sky".

Rumi quickly whipped out her phone, and a feed was quickly brought up. She had already missed him taking down a few chumps and by the looks of it one of their hard hitters.

The cars made to move along with a large load truck, undoubtedly full of their "merchandise", only to be intercepted by the tendrils digging in through the front of their vehicles and embedding into the ground, cracking the concrete flooring.

There was no audio from the feed but her ears could hear the pleading and begging. If she listened hard enough she could hear the calm breathing passing through some kind of filter.

A door opened.

More pleading.

Begging.

Offers of their own share.

The intruder took a calming breath.

"All For One sends his regards"

A sickening crunch as tendrils speared through flesh and she could hear three less heartbeats.

Another crunch came and the driver tilted forward landing on the horn, the sound blaring for miles.

"Move in, move in" came Ryukyus command sounding slightly panicked.

Discarding the binoculars she immediately jumped and in three leaps she was about to come crashing down onto the roof hoping to catch him.

But instead she changed trajectory mid-fall landing with a soft pat on the roof.

Standing at the other end was the intruder, facing towards her, relaxed yet ready to fight at the drop of the hat.

"That was quite the show you put on"

"I do love an audience. I hope I didn't bore you but I had a job to do" his voice was deep and obviously modified.

"Whether you bore me or not depends on what you do next. If you had a job to do and they're all down for the count, I take it your role's over. So why stick around?"

"Because I'd hate to leave a lady unsatisfied" in an ever so slight movement his leg slid back.

'Go time'

Her weight shifted as she went into a low leap. Her opponent aiming somewhat higher as he brought a fist surging with arcs of power. Their hits collided and a chain of hits began, acting and reacting to each move they made. As each blow was either blocked or redirected she noticed something. 'He's holding back' a small amount of fury ebbed at her as she upped her kicks giving her opponent less room to breath, less room to think.

Currently the field of play left her at a disadvantage, she was used to using surrounding structures and walls to bounce off of and build up her momentum. Here on an open roof, she didn't have that luxury instead using her above average stamina and endurance to keep laying on the punches or rather kicks.

Unrelentlesssly she sent kicks flying high and low and just as her opponent got used to her patterns she switched to punches, while weaker still packed a punch.

She sensed a small lul in his movements and moved into a faux roundhouse kick. At the last possible second she brought her leg up starting her signature Lunar Ring, only as soon as her foot impacted her momentum stopped. Her foot caught and stopped in their hand.

Their brief halt allowed her a miniscule of a second to get a proper look at the intruder.

He was wearing some sort of hero suit but definitely the sort sold in the underworld markets. It was ragged, well used and torn in places and staines working their way up their arms.

Another half a second was all it took to see the mask, nothing dramatic or scary but rather a respirator of some kind, adorning his face but nothing was recognisable or distinguishable except a pair of green flames peering out from behind the mask.

Her foot shifted and she realised she was about to be thrown around. She lashed out with her free foot connecting with the hand grasping her other. The hand loosened slightly and her foot escaped its clutches.

After freeing herself she quickly bounced back and with as much force as she could in the small movement brought her legs down on him with the force of a supercharged wrecking ball.

Her heel hit.

The gust of wind settled and she almost toppled over backwards before she bounced back a bit away.

Their hands remained up in the position they took when blocking her kick.

"Lunar Fall, I've always wanted to see that up close. I thank you for this opportunity, Lady Mirko, but sadly I must take my leave".

"Hey, you're not going anyway, until I say so. You hear me"

"Yet you can do nothing to stop me. Farewell". Before she could get another word in the figure extended a hand and a wave of tendrils burst out blocking her view. Then just as suddenly as they came they vanished leaving her alone on the roof.

Where the figure stood was a single item wrapped in a bow.

Her features twitched at the sight, picking it up and almost threw the carrot away in fury before remembering this technically counted as evidence.

"Fuck sake, that was barely even a warm-up".

One of the sidekicks rushed up beside her, she didn't know his name but he had some sort of grappling hook quirk so "graples" would do. "Miss Mirko, the others asked me to have you report in, and to debrief them on your own encounter".

"Be right down" she dismissed with a huff.

"She didn't even need to see the bodies littering the inside of the building to know this was going to be a long night.

Early the next morning.

It was five in the morning when she was finally dismissed. What she had thought was just some hired enforcer had turned into so much more when their whole operation was put on pause.

Four hours earlier.

She had wanted to throw up hours ago but held it back as they continued with the process of freeing the trafficked innocents. Even in the age of quirks human trafficking was still some of the major operations carried out by the criminal underworld.

Young women lined up in barely scraps of clothing, less than what she was currently wearing. The thought actually made her slightly self conscious for once.

Of course with the addition of quirks there came the trafficking of those with strong quirks. The adults were heavily dosed with a sedative, while kids with potentially string quirks were held in cages strong enough to hold All Might.

She didn't want to think about this, though she worked hard to make sure civilians were safe when she went into the field, she tried to avoid interactions with them. In her mind, being too friendly made her soft. Of course there were exceptions to this rule but she kept them only to a few.

As the last barely conscious villain was wheeled out into one of the prison bound trucks a menagerie of other vehicles came storming in.

Her ears bristled at it and her foot thumbed slightly, this had suddenly become more serious.

A call of her name from the dragon hero caught her attention and with ease she jumped landing by a small impromptu conference room made from the villains break room.

She tried not to gag as she attempted to find a seat without staining, instead electing to just lean against the slightly cleaner wall.

A few suits came into the room bringing pieces of gear until finally some heroes walked in, or rather two retired and one current as the skeleton like figure of Yagi Toshinori, formerly All Might walked in accompanied by Sorahiko Torino a.k.a gran Torino, the little speed demon she had almost begged to intern with as a student at UA. The last in the room was someone any student of UA, past or present knew to respect. The mouse/dog/bear hopping up onto a chair to address those who had assembled.

"I apologise for taking up more of your time but I'm afraid that this case has now become a matter of grave importance". The little principal spoke, placing a small disc on the table. The disc came to life and screens popped up covering the one spare wall not littered in posters or blocked by those in the room.

"Earlier tonight we received reports during your operation that you witnessed this individual".

One of the screens enlarged showing a half decent image, one they'd all observed that night. A figure barely recognisable due to the dark suit worn and the shadows they practically blended into.

"The shadow man, he did most of our job for us" remarked one sidekick. The principal did not look impressed.

"This individual is one that had known to us for some time, an individual we first encountered during the later months of the war with the Paranormal Liberation Front . However, since the war we believed they had fallen along with the front and All For One".

The name of the boogeyman sent shivers down all of the spines of those present. Rumi herself had been involved in the battle using her still developing skills and battle tenacity to defeat as many combatants as she could, only being stopped when her life had nearly been brought to an end.

After the war things appeared to go back to normal but some things would never be the same.

All might for one, would never again be the symbol of peace.

People she grew up with and watched on the news would never appear again, except in old footage or a photo.

"While we don't have an identity for this individual we do have a callsign for them recovered from accounts seized after the war. His codename is believed to be "Nine"".

"I thought Nine was defeated on Nabu island.

"While it is confirmed from CCTV footage that Claud Tenki was killed by Tomura Shigaraki. We believe he was just one in multiple attempts at the same process".

"And what process is that sir". Asked a relatively new recruit.

"Tenki was a willing volunteer and eyewitness reports confirm that he was in the possession of the quirk "All For One", although an inferior copy. We believe this new 'Nine' was also a product of this experiment. However for the last few years we have had zero sightings of him up until 10 months ago".

Further screens popped up showing the same figure and aggressive fighting technique in action.

"What's troubling is the quirks he is currently seen using. To date we have seen him using over 40 different quirks but we believe he is changing out quirks between battles only keeping a consistent use of a strength augmenting quirk, speed quirk and Black Whip.

"I thought "she" was the only one to have black Whip".

"We believe this version is the one taken from the hero Lariat himself before his death. The one you are referring to is a copy held within One For All. Lastly we also speculate that he may have the quirk Endurance, albeit a weaker copy to the one that Gigantomachia utilised".

"So he's some kind of reverse symbol of hope then".

"That Is our current belief. We have no information as to what happened to him before the fall of the PLF and All For One. But it is possible that at the time, based on evidence we have scoured for that at the time, his quirks were nowhere near the level they are now. It is possible he went underground as a failsafe in case the worst would befall Shigaraki and All For One. But had he been able to fight back then, it is theorised based on his current level that he would prove near equal to the One For Alls holder at the time".

"I'm hearing a lot of He's, are we even sure of the gender of Nine".

"Messages and Notes from that time along with barely recovered medical records confirm that we are looking for a male but the only other thing confirmed was a low quirk factor. While we have scoured every known record, you can imagine the outcry from the public if we rounded up everyone with a weak or even no quirk to interrogate about the possibility".

No one said a word, the number of people with low quirk factors was already a touchy subject but with recent debates, headed by the symbol of peace himself, discrimination against the quirkless had become a punishable offence. Even with all the evidence they had assembled it would be an uphill battle.

All they could do was identify possible suspects and watch their every move.

Shortly after they had been given the details of their suspect, Mirko had had to retell her own encounter, showing the footage from her belt's camera. The footage and the carrot left behind had been taken in as evidence and after being dismissed she had to find her own way home.

So she was left to wander, not feeling like bouncing home, instead donning her jacket and walking aimlessly not having to worry about work now that she'd been given the next few days off.

Her feet carried her to a familiar building she'd been in not even 12 hours ago. The lights were on toward the back and a few staff members were setting up for the day.

It would be another 2 hours before they opened for the day and she didn't want to push her luck, she'd already heard enough rumours about some heroes strong arming business owners for free food. She wasn't going to join them.

"Is everything okay, Miss Usagiyama?" the questioning voice made her jump as she turned. Standing in front of her stood a familiar greenette, a bag of boxes she didn't need to look into to know what they contained as her nose twitched.

"Do you want some, I've got plenty" he said, already reaching into his bag.

"No I couldn't".

"Please, think of it as a gift of gratitude. You make our neighbourhoods safer, let me at least thank you for that. It's no medal of valour or anything but I think it's a close second".

Chuckling to herself she allowed the gift to pass to her. "Thanks, not that I know what a medal of valour tastes like but I'll let you know".

Luckily her attempt at humour worked as he tried to suppress a few chuckles.

"Hey can I get you a coffee or something, I know it's heresy if I were to visit another shop but...I could make you one at my place, I don't have all the advanced coffee machinery and stuff but I'm pretty sure I can m-make a latte without o-one"

He seems to stumble on that last bit, in the month she'd known him he'd gotten better at speaking with her and her colleagues but the short encounters spent at the shop seemed to be the limit of his confidence.

It was cute, she wouldn't mind just sitting down with someone to chat with then just return to her empty apartment. Her decision was made,but she wasn't about to be too nice. "It rather sounds like you're trying to lure me back to your lair, greeny. Just what do you have planned, I wonder"

"No, I mean...that's not what..." his rosy cheeks courtesy of the early morning temperature quickly flared up in his embarrassment"

"Hey, chill out. I know you're not that kind of person, Midoriya. But a coffee does sound pretty good right now. So how about I see how your coffee skills are before I see your other skills".

Rumi would never forget how much like a carrot he appeared to get.

A few minutes before noon.

Izuku watched slowly as the marks on his skin healed themselves leaving clean unblemished skin before he put his white shirt on.

He allowed a small smile to cross over his features as he looked back to the bed and the woman laying across it, his sheets needing either a good wash or outright replacing. It had taken everything in him not to overuse his quirk, just using it enough that the visual indications wouldn't be obvious but achieved his goal all the same.

He'd already written a little note before he needed to head out. It was close to noon and he knew the early morning staff would be swamped without him there.

He was just barely out the door after getting ready when his phone buzzed. His smile only increased.

He typed out a quick response before going about the day of a normal bakery manager.

Izu9: Gives new meaning to "sleeping with the enemy", right.

Next time - Deku Wings, Rise

Plus Ultra