A young boy, no-older than 12 stood in place as snow fell from the night sky. Dressed in a black, sleek bodysuit with an eye mask covered by a hood and a golden crown symbol on the chest, resembling the outfit of a pure-hearted hero. The only difference being the blood covering their left arm, slowly freezing from the cold of the snow that fell from the boy's shoulders.

"They're liars… This isn't justice… This is murder..." The child's voice shook with an overbearing amount of guilt as they stared at the ground… at a woman's cold and still body, with a gash in her chest where red gushed out, dyeing the snow around the body a harsh red.

Another child walked up, wearing a similar outfit but without the hood showing their dark-blue hair tied in a small ponytail. They wore a brown trench coat on top of their black body-suit and instead of a golden crown on the chest it was two orange knives in a cross. "Monarch, we should get rid of the body and head back to base before the police show up."

The first kid bearing the codename 'Monarch' turned their head slightly. "Stalker… can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, but make it quick." Stalker seemed unfazed by the dead woman, unlike their teammate.

"Is this justice? Can we really be considered heroes?" Monarch turned around. His eye mask hid the guilty tears welling up in his eyes and the extreme cold turning his shaky breath to vapour.

Stalker didn't have to think before answering with a smile on his face. "As the Grandmaster says. We protect the world and the smiles of tomorrow from the shadows. We have no greed for fa-"

"I don't want to hear the Grandmaster's words!" Monarch clenched his fists trying to hold back all the confusion, frustration and overbearing guilt that filled every inch of his small body. "I want to hear your words. I want to hear if you consider us to be heroes that actually help?"

Stalker glanced over at the dead woman and then back to Monarch. "We were taught to dispose of those that could someday pose a threat to the Hall of Heroes… even if it means getting our hands dirty. So to answer your question. Yes, I would consider us heroes that help."

Monarch put his head down. "What makes the Hall so special? Why do they get to decide who's a threat and who's not? Why are we protecting them and not the actual civilians who need heroes?"

"The Hall is top priority, if it falls then so do the countless civilians it protects."

Monarch stared at the dead body again as anger started to escape from deep inside. "How many people do we really protect? When all we do is kill those people because they might be a threat to the Hall in the future?!" Monarch took a deep breath, he turned around to face Stalker and swung his arm out to point at the body. "Shina Akabe, a 24 year old woman and the owner of a small clinic. She helps at charity events every year, she volunteers to help the homeless, she doesn't have a criminal record, nor does she have any ties to criminals within her family or friends. In what way did she pose a threat?!" Monarch began to shout.

Stalker's gaze grew serious. "Her quirk allowed her to heal anybody. It didn't matter whether they were slightly sick or fatally injured. And not to mention there wasn't a single handicap either, meaning it was quick and efficient."

"She posed a threat because she was using her quirk to help people?!" Monarch's voice grew weak with confusion.

"She posed a threat to the Hall's Japanese branch's funds. If her clinic grew bigger and more well known, people would've stopped going to hospitals and drug pharmacists and go to her instead. Meaning that the Japanese branch's funds would have gone down 19%. Do you understand now?"

Monarch's body tensed up as not only anger but frustration started to take over. He grasped his head as he tried to sort through every thought that would only fill his head with even more. But after a few seconds he quickly relaxed and let his arms fall to his sides.

"Yeah, I understand… but it's wrong… It's not right… I just know it isn't…" Monarch started to walk away leaving a trail in the snow as he dragged his feet.

"Monarch, where are you going?" Stalker asked as sirens could be heard getting closer in the distance at a rapid pace.

Monarch took off his eye mask and let it fall to the snow on the ground. "I can't do this anymore. We're not heroes… We never will be." He took one last look at Stalker and took his hood down to reveal his blonde hair and tear-filled, emerald green eyes. "Goodbye, Godfrey." Before running away into the darkness.

"Raleigh! Raleigh!" Godfrey unknowingly shouted his friend's real name as he watched him run away with a hand reached out unable to stop him.

Stalker soon ran in the opposite direction as sirens grew too close to be ignored any longer, making it too dangerous to chase after Monarch… to follow Raleigh.