Hello all, and welcome to the darkest, chapter of A Hero's Creed to date. I said we were going to earn that M-rating, and we're doing it. Please be aware, this chapter contains sensitive themes and death. You have been warned.

In other news, in response to a review from the last chapter (a criticism with plenty of merit), the Bakugo section of Chapter 54 has been revised. Not completely rewritten, but edited to hint as how I intent for his story to move forward.

Now then, on to the reviews themselves:

Gamelover41592: Thank you.

LEGOBRICK13: I look forward to seeing what you have to say about this chapter. Just be sure to have a trashcan or punching bag nearby. Maybe one of those pop confetti things, too.

maxperseus130: Actually, THIS is my side story. My OP fic has been going for far longer and has more followers, and this is my escape. I think I'll steal your thoughts about Shinso's Quirk and the drone, by the way. Yoink. Also, it was your review that caused a minor revision of the last chapter. It also made me settle on not bouncing around to try to stay linear with the timeline here. One character focus per chapter, save for the minor characters at the end. Also yes, Mesmer does have Tatsumaki vibes. I'm glad you picked up on it. And Evergreen and Kamui Woods are second cousins here.

Monkey D. Conan: Ask and you shall receive. And no, I don't plan for Mesmer to be Bakugo's love interest to make him a better person. I'm too scared of what the outcome would be.

Monster King: Will do.

Pirohiko-Baltazar: It seems fixed? Not the views counter, but the email, at least.

Ranger McAleer: Dirty work indeed.

stevenpiskunov2: Yes, goodbye rainbows for the next few chapters. I will neither confirm nor deny anything about Humarise, but I will say I don't intent for Dabi to get ahold of the Staff of Hermes. He wouldn't be able to use it anyway. Also, I haven't played or watched Mirage yet, but I've heard mixed reviews.

Speedster419: Yeah, an Apple of Eden would be useless to Mei... until she managed to pry it open and see what makes it tick. A terrifying scenario we much pray to never see.

zakan: Thanks!

Now then, on to the chapter!

Chapter 55:

HeartSeed

"Not bad, Runt," Mirko decided, her head tilted slightly as she watched the Hero student sitting on her (borrowed) couch, an ice pack pressed into the side of his head. A black eye barely poked out from under its cold rim, the bruise already fading on account of the boy's Isu heritage. The Assassins of legend had been known to heal quickly, recovering from high falls and deadly injuries that would have killed any normal person, and it appeared Izuku was building the constitution needed to use this same, passive power. Luckily, it was both subtle and easily ignored, especially in their superpowered age. "You've met my minimum standards."

"Oh, is that what that was?" Izuku muttered through his bruised jaw. "I thought that was you wanting an excuse to legally kick my ass across the rooftops."

"That too, but now I know how tough, fast, and strong you are. You've got good reflexes for your age and your training is clear to see. Even without a Quirk, you're tough enough for both patrols with me and to shadow me on actual missions without another Assassin backing us up. Plus, the ninja said you were already bloodied, so I expect you to kill if our mission calls for it. Clear?"

"Yes, Master Usagiyama," Izuku answered. He winced, shifting slightly so there wasn't so much weight on the bruises on his backside. The sunlight faded outside as afternoon turned to evening, the shadows lengthening and darkening as the sky's blue started to turn pink and red.

"Have you gotten anything back?" Rumi asked.

"Samedare said he'd call once he found something," Izuku replied.

The last couple days had been mostly about Master Usagiyama —or Rumi, as she wanting him to call her. He'd settled for Sensei or Master— repeatedly kicking his rear end to test him, but the times between said so-called tests had proven rather fruitful. Shinso had gotten back to him a couple days after his call, reporting that Koshusuru Gammu had ended whatever personal investigation he'd done with an anonymous report to the main Aichi Prefecture police station near Ketsubutsu. With that information, Izuku had called up Tsuyu's brother for his hacking skills, the boy having passed all of the Assassin hacking classes in a single year. Samedare had agreed to use his prodigious hacking skills on the police's system to find what Gammu had reported that was apparently outside Assassin involvement.

"What did you promise the Emo Frog, anyway?"

"I just owe him a couple favors he can call in," Izuku replied with a dismissive wave. "Hopefully nothing too bad."

"I bet it'll have something to do with the eyes he's been making at the unicorn."

"…You know?"

"Runt, the entire den knows and I haven't even seen the brat myself," the rabbit-woman laughed. "He's only a little more subtle than All Might at a Hero gala. There's a betting pool."

"There is? Damn, I'll have to get in on that."

Rumi let out another laugh before Izuku's phone started to vibrate. The student shifted his ice pack to his other hand —icing the bruises on that side— and wiped the condensation from his first before answering his call.

"Hey. You found anything?" The room was silent for a moment, Rumi straining her rabbit ears to hear what was being said on the other end of the line. "…Understood. Anything else? …Alright. I might ask you to check in on a few more codewords if something comes up. …Yeah, thanks."

Izuku hung up, turning to Rumi who was already running to the trash can, riffling through it for something she'd apparently thought unrelated.

"I guess you heard all that?" Izuku asked.

"Of course I did," the pro replied, finally finding what she'd been looking for. It was an advertisement with colorful designs, a copy of one found waterlogged in Gammu's backpack. The top of the page showed a stylized version of a company name in English, [HeartSeed] drawn so the S was two open hearts connected. "To think this is what he was investigating. A damn dating company."

"I think it's safe to assume they're more than just that," Izuku said, standing with a grunt to make his way to the table. Rumi dropped the flier in the middle, showing the happy, heart-framed pictures of couples and the tagline 'Plant the seed of love!'. "According to Gammu's tip to the police, the leader of HeartSeed has a Quirk they're using to influence customers and individuals who meet the desired criteria of their high-paying VIPs into thinking said VIPs are their perfect match. I guess he didn't find any evidence of connection to the Templars and considered this a mundane scheme for the regular police and pros."

"That childhood friend of his must have been one of the people affected," Rumi nodded. "Being only an Initiate, he didn't have the clearance to go after them himself and without Templar involvement, convincing Mentor to allocate resources to a mostly-harmless racket was good as impossible. He left the tip with police and probably decided to see what came of it. Did the Emo Frog find us an address?"

"They've got a warehouse by the ocean in Aichi and a number of small, outpost-like stalls. Samedare did a lookover of them online. Seems most of their connections are like any other dating service, matching people who mostly fit what each is looking for, but he found a few people who used the service got married to wealthy individuals according to their social medias. HeartSeed itself is hard to track since they either use a disconnected server or paper files, so he couldn't find anything there."

"Right, looks like we've got a few places to stakeout."

-AHC-

"Calling Green Bean. Come in, Green Bean. Are you in position?"

Izuku felt his eyebrow twitch in the shadow of his green hoodie even as he forced his shoulders to relax, the boy leaning against a streetlight. His fingers —covered in gloves hidden by his hoodie's pouch— shifted. He took a deep breath, pressing the button in his pouch to activate the tiny microphone in his collar.

"This is…" He hesitated a moment before sighing softly. "This is Green Bean, Sensei. I'm in position. Stand is in sight. One suspect outside, another two indoors according to my EV. They register as red, marking them as HeartSeed employees. How much they know is unknown."

"Very good. I think we have a taker."

Three days and three stakeouts at three different locations, but this was the first one where they weren't just handing out fliers. Izuku was almost thankful after the inactivity.

Shaking off the thoughts, Izuku refocused on the street before him, a young woman walking toward the stand. She was pretty with long, salt-and-pepper hair and slightly-glowing eyes. She pulled out her phone to doublecheck something before nodding to herself. Izuku reactivated his Eagle Vision to mark her as a target, a golden glow around her appearing to only him. She walked over to the man at the stand.

"Excuse me," she said with a light voice. There was a slight glow at the back of her throat, causing Izuku to suspect she had some sort of internal-glow Quirk, which would explain a VIP's interest in her if he wanted that bioluminescence to merge with his Quirk as a power source for their offspring. "I received an email saying they think they've found a match for me? My name is Kanari Kagayaki."

The man sitting at the stand checked a list before him before looking up. "That's right, Ms. Kagayaki. You almost entirely fit his search, but there are a couple things on yours that Ms. Teian wanted to confirm before officially matching you. She's waiting for you inside."

"Subject is entering the building," Izuku muttered into his microphone. "Orders?"

"Track the subject," Rumi ordered. "Find a way around and get close enough to eavesdrop on the conversation. Try to find out what secret they killed Gammu to keep. I'll keep an eye on you from the rooftops."

"Yes, Master."

Izuku's eyes followed the woman as she stepped into the building, her outline still shining in his Eagle Vision. Izuku slinked away from the pole, circling around toward the building and waiting until the man at the stand looked away before dashing silently. The building had two stories —the second only big enough for a single room— Izuku's sight telling him the subject had climbed the stairs to meet the second figure on the second level. He climbed onto the low roof and circled around to the back, finding a small window used to let in natural light into the upper room.

"—an't be serious," he heard the subject say as he came into range. "This guy doesn't match any of my key points. "I mean, he's tall, but that's all he's got going for him."

"Oh, he's not that bad," another female voice replied. "He's quite wealthy."

"He's gross," the subject —Kagayaki— rebuffed. "Money isn't everything, Ms. Teian. And… Wait, I recognize him. He's that guy that was hitting on me last week! What the hell? I want a man I can bring home to my parents, not a sleazebag who acted like I was a pretty little trophy. My answer is no."

"I was afraid you would say that, but I think you should listen to my suggestions."

"Why should I—?"

"Listen to my suggestions," Ms. Teian repeated with more force.

"You—"

"Listen to my suggestions."

Kagayaki sighed, like a person suddenly relaxing. "I will listen to your suggestions…" she muttered as if in a daze.

"You have never met this man before," Ms. Teian said. "You have never met this man before. You have never met this man before."

"I have never met that man before…" Kagayaki echoed.

"This man is handsome. This man is handsome. This man is handsome."

"That man is handsome…"

Izuku checked his surroundings for any additional security that might see him. When none appeared, he jumped, hooking his fingers on the bottom of the circular pit that held the window. His arms strained, pulling himself up so he could see into the room and no further.

Ms. Teian was leaned against the front of a desk, holding a picture of a man with only one eye, a lopsided mouth, and a small plant of Eryngium Maritimum rather than hair. Ms. Teian was a well-proportioned woman in her late forties or early fifties with a green business dress, said dress with a short skirt and a low neckline. Her curly hair was a shiny gold like metal as she waved her head back and forth. Kagayaki waved left and right, mirroring the other woman.

"Arrogance is confidence. Confidence is attractive. Arrogance is confidence, Confidence is Attractive. Arrogance is confidence. Confidence is attractive."

"Arrogance is confidence. Confidence is attractive…"

Izuku's fingers dug against the window, his muscles clenched as he fought every instinct screaming at him to charge in and interrupt. He would gain nothing from stopping this. On the contrary, that would blow their cover and not lead them to the deeper rot.

"Money is attractive. Money is attractive. Money is attractive."

"Money is attractive…" Kagayaki echoed, this one with a little more fervor than the others.

"You want children with strong Quirks. You want—"

"I want children with strong Quirks!" the salt-and-pepper-haired woman interrupted. Ms. Teian blinked before her lips curled into a smile. Her swaying slowed to a stop and she stepped behind the desk, taking her seat. Kagayaki blinked, seeming to come back to her senses as the gold-haired woman offered her a piece of paper.

"Ms. Kagayaki, thank you for coming in today. We've found a match for you." Acting like the meeting only just began, Teian handed a paper across the desk to the woman she'd just manipulated. "Yufukuna Oga is his name. He's the chief accountant of a support tech business and quite confident in himself. He's using our services because he doesn't have the time to go looking for a wife on his own."

"Oh, he's handsome," Kagayaki blushed, running her fingers over the picture. "And a chief accountant for a big company. I bet he could support me."

"Oh yes. And best of all, his Quirk is called Solar Beam. He can absorb light through the flower on his head and shoot it out of his eye."

"That would combine beautifully with my Bioluminescence! Our babies will be beautiful and strong!"

Teian hid a smile behind a hand. "So, you will agree to meet him? How does dinner tomorrow sound?"

"…I need a new dress." Kagayaki stood, bowing to Teian. "I need to go get ready for my date. Please excuse me."

"We'll send you the details~" Teian watched the woman go, her face not showing a hint of her thoughts. As soon as Kagayaki was gone, though, her expression dropped into a tired sigh. "To think he paid so much for a weak-willed bitch with a D-list Quirk like that. Whatever. I get paid either way."

With a shrug of her shoulders, the woman reached down and opened a drawer. She removed several manila envelopes before pushing up a fake bottom and withdrawing a book. She opened it, marking something down.

Izuku dropped down, leaning against the wall and covering his mouth to prevent any muttering. Now was not the time to hypothesize about her Quirk. No, he needed to see what was in that book if she felt it was so important to keep it hidden. As if on queue, his earpiece beeped.

"Calling Green Bean. Are you alive?"

"Yes, I'm alive," Izuku muttered as loud as he dared.

"You haven't screwed up, have you? The subject just left."

"The boss used some form of hypnosis Quirk on her to get her to agree to a date, just like Gammu had reported. I need a distraction to get her out of her office so I can look through a book she keeps hidden in a false drawer."

"Did you get a name for the subject?"

"Kagayaki. Kanari Kagayaki. And the boss is Teian."

"Give me a few minutes. I'll get her out front."

Izuku left it there, waiting as he tried to guess what was in the book. More that likely, it was a ledger or list of some kind. Activities like the one he just saw were something people didn't generally want on the internet, so written records were safer and easier to destroy if needs must.

"What?" he heard Teian grumble inside. Izuku pushed back to his feet, peering in the window. The woman had pulled out her phone, holding the device to her ear. "What do you mean we—? What, another one of those? Damn, I hate the ones with perceptive friends… Demanding to talk to the boss, huh? Oh, she'll talk to the boss. I'm coming down."

She hung up and stood, stomping over to the door. Izuku didn't know what Rumi had done, but it was effective. He flashed his Eagle Vision, confirming there were no cameras.

With no time to waste, he readjusted his gloves and activated his hidden blade, jamming it into the window and forcing the lock open. It rotated inward on a hinge —thankfully not on a spinner since that would be so much harder to enter through— but Izuku still needed to squeeze to get in. He landed on his hands and rolled, coming up in a silent crouch. He moved instantly to the fake drawer, opening it the same way Teian had before.

The book was a simple, brown leather with an X'd-out heart on the front. He glanced at the door before flipping to the most recent entry. It had Yufukuna Oga's name in the first column, followed by Kanari Kagayaki in the second. The third listed a number, 104,000,000 yen (just over 700,000 US dollars). The last column had four different symbols as far as Izuku could tell, each row having a heart, a heart with an X over it, just an X, or an X in a circle. The hearts were the most common, including the listing for Kagayaki.

Hearing nothing from his teacher, Izuku scanned the other listings, looking for any names he recognized. One a couple rows up listed the affected party as 'Ushinatta Yujin' which was the name of Gammu's childhood friend that got married. That row was also listed with a heart.

The only other name that stood out to him was a buyer, Kusatta Joshi. If Izuku remembered correctly, that was the name of the Chief of Police for the Aichi Prefecture, the same place Gammu would have filed the anonymous tip about HeartSeed. It was looking like that tip hadn't been as anonymous as it should have been.

Not trusting his own memory, Izuku pulled a slip of paper from his left sleeve and wrote down names of interest including the man who apparently bought Gammu's friend (Yorokobi Dorobo), the woman listed by the police chief (Shiba Kuroinu), and a few of the biggest spenders and those they bought. Of them, the chief had a different symbol —an X in a circle— and another was an X'd heart.

"Green Bean, she's coming back up," Rumi warned in his ear. Izuku closed the book quickly, replacing everything as it had been before he dove for the window. He'd just barely managed to close it when Teian kicked the door to the room in, storming to her desk.

"Damn friends and their damn attentiveness. I'm getting sick of telling them to get lost. Everyone's all up in each other's love lives…"

Izuku didn't stay for the rant, retracing his steps over the roof as he returned to the street. He didn't allow the man at the stand to see him, instead moving to a dark alley and climbing to the top of a building on the other side. Rumi was waiting for him, leaning on an AC unit as she rapped her fingers on its surface. She was dressed in casual clothing, her white hair and rabbit ears hidden under a black wig and hat.

"Find anything useful?"

"Names," Izuku answered, showing her the slip. "Seems Gammu reported to the jurisdiction of one of their customers. I bet the chief set the wheels for his silencing into motion to cover his own tracks. I'll ask Samedare to run a check on some of these names. The hearts seem self-explanatory; it's the other symbols that really concern me."

"While you talk to the Emo Frog, I'll scout their other locations. We got lucky today, but most of their operation should be in a bigger building. I'm not willing to bet on the warehouse before checking it out. Now that we have an idea of their racket, we can go bigger. We'll plan to go in two days while my own contacts see if they can dig up anything new. Make what preparations you need."

"Yes, Sensei."

-AHC-

"Kuroinu?" Samedare questioned from the other end of the communicator. "Shiba Kuroinu, guo? You're sure that's the name?"

"Uh, yeah?" Izuku blinked, doublechecking his paper. "That's the name I wrote down. Why?"

"I know that name. I had her as a teacher a few years ago, guo. She went missing just before Satsuki could be in her class. That was a year and a half ago. The whole school held a vigil, guo."

"See if you can find anything in her past connecting her to one Kusatta Joshi, the Police Chief of Aichi. It's his name next to hers."

"I'll see what I can find, Midoriya. I trust you have other names written, guo?"

"Just a few. The man who bought Gammu's friend and the richest listings. You might have seen a couple of them already." Izuku rattled off the names, letting Samedare write them down on the other end. He wasn't a fan of hoisting so much work onto the younger boy, but Izuku didn't have Samedare's hacking skill nor current access to the Assassin internet backdoor. "Again, thanks for all this."

"It's all can do for the cause until I'm older, guo," Samedare replied with a verbal shrug.

"Have you heard anything from Tsu?"

"She calls every night. Says her work-study is much more Hero-centric than it sounds like yours is, guo. The Assassin there is planning a mission for Silkie's day off, though. I don't know the details, guo."

"Interesting. Wish her luck for me."

"Will do. I'll look through these names and get you the connections, guo. We'll talk later."

-AHC-

"I don't know what I expected," Izuku muttered, he and Rumi crouched on the edge of a roof as they looked over the main HeartSeed warehouse near the Aichi docks. It didn't look like much, but Izuku was coming to learn that more than a few nefarious schemes hid themselves behind veneers of monotony. Heck, the Assassins did much of the same. Uncommonly, a pair of men stood outside a door, dressed like laborers.

Rumi and Izuku were dressed in their robes as darkness fell around them, though Izuku had gone out and found himself a black domino mask. Rumi had laughed at him for it but admitted it was a fine idea if it made him feel better The air was still warm as the heat absorbed by the ocean during the day blew inland. They'd scouted the outside of the building as closely as they dared, waiting to see if the apparent guards would leave, but they were only relieved by another pair.

Most of the women Izuku had listed to Samedare were accounted for, apparently happily married if rarely seen in public, but there was one divorcee that had gone missing after having a child. Izuku was knocked out of his thoughts as Rumi hit is arm.

"We've got incoming," she hissed. Izuku focused down as a figure approached the warehouse. They were dressed in a hoodie that covered their face, the individual checking over their shoulder. The men on guard tensed, their hands going to their waists, only for the person to lower the hood.

"Shindo?" Izuku whispered, recognizing the same boy that Bakugo had called out for his fake smile.

"You know him?" Rumi asked.

"Yo Shindo. He's a second-year Ketsubutsu student. I competed against him during the Provisional Exam. He and his class failed because of an ill-advised charge against some of my classmates. But Shinso said all the Ketsubutsu students weren't supposed to leave the agency if they weren't accompanied by a Hero. What's he doing here?"

"He has to be here for a reason." The pair watched as Shindo approached the guards who seemed to recognize them. He said something to them and they stepped aside, one banging a short beat on the door. A tiny slat opened so someone on the inside could look out before the rest of the door followed, allowing Shindo entry.

"That wasn't suspicious at all," Izuku muttered. "How do you recommend we do this, Sensei? The only other possible entry we saw was the industrial fan on the side."

"Give me your swords and tac-belt. With just your robes, you should be able to just walk up to them and get entry. Act like you're here for the same reason Shindo is."

"Why would they let me in?"

"Because you'll know the passphrase. I could hear Shindo from here with my ears. 'The seed of love doesn't need to bloom.'"

"Oh yeah, because full robes aren't just as suspicious as an oversized hoodie."

"Just get down there, runt. I'll be watching, but don't make me need to bail your ass out of a fire. Show me you can do this. Consider it infiltration practice. Once the door's open, subdue the guards quietly."

"Yes, Sensei." Izuku slipped backward, dropping off the roof before rounding the corner to appear where the guards could see. They tensed at his green-trimmed outfit, but Izuku mimicked the shifty walk Shindo had had, glancing over his shoulder and scanning the rooftops. Rumi threw him a thumbs-up.

"State your business here," one of the guards ordered, he and his companion with hands on their hips. One had purple eyes with slitted pupils while the other had a too-wide mouth. Izuku's discerning eye caught the glint of the black plastic of pistols ready to be drawn, so whatever Quirks they had weren't effective for combat. This far out of the way so late in the day, there would be no one to report gunshots to the authorities. "Who are you?"

"U-Uh, Shindo-senpai r-recommended this place?" Izuku stuttered, again checking over his shoulder. Confidence might get you places but acting was an art form that will get you everywhere.

"He did, did he? And why didn't you just come in with him? He didn't mention you."

"H-He ditched me! Said if I couldn't find the place on my own, th-then I wasn't worth it."

"And the outfit?"

"I can't be seen here! I'm a Hero student. If someone saw me here, I'd be expelled!" The men didn't seem convinced. "C-Come on, man! I snuck out of Ketsubutsu for this! I better get something after all this trouble and risk!"

"That depends," the other guard said. Thankfully, they weren't that bright. "What's the passphrase?"

"The—? Hold on, Shindo-senpai told me this." Izuku feigned thought. "Um, the seed of love doesn't need to bloom?"

The guards shared a look before they relaxed, letting go of their guns' grips. The one on the right banged his rhythm into the door, the slat opening.

"New guy?" a voice on the other side rumbled.

"He knew the phrase. Open the door, Jumbo."

"Eh, whatever." Jumbo opened the door, revealing a man three times Izuku's height and girth. He stepped to one side, giving Izuku just enough space that he could squeeze past. He held out a hand. "Payment. Now."

Izuku stepped forward, getting closer, and jumped. His hands grabbed the back of Jumbo's head, using that leverage to bash his knee into the man's nose. Jumbo gurgled, disoriented, as the hooded verdet twisted and pushed off the wall to drive his head into the ground face-first.

The other guards were caught flatfooted and were slow to reach for their weapons. Izuku lashed out, sweeping the legs out from under one before using that momentum to turn his back to the other. His arms reached up, catching the man's head and neck to throw him over the student's shoulder. He punched down, the man's head bouncing off the concrete, before sending the other into blissful unconsciousness with a hard kick before he could get up.

"Not bad, runt," Rumi praised as she landed, his swords strapped to her back. She knelt, filching the pistols the men carried. She offered him one. Izuku accepted the firearm and reclaimed his swords before the pair dragged the men into the building and closed the door. "Now then, let's see what that student friend of yours is up to."

Izuku nodded and activated his Eagle Vision, a golden trail appearing to lead into the building. He followed it to a grate, the trail leading down into it. The grating was easy to remove and a ladder was hidden just low enough that the shadows obscured it. He went down first, still following the trail, as Rumi climbed down and replaced the grating.

The ladder stopped over another, wider grate, a single tunnel leading into the distance. Inland, if Izuku had his orientation correct. He set off the only way there was to go, keeping his Eagle Vision active in case there were hidden doors or traps. None appeared, however, as they approached the end. Izuku stopped.

"What's wrong, runt?"

"I can see people, Sensei," Izuku muttered. "Two guarding a door and many more in a room. The positions some of them are in…"

"Prisoners?"

"Some of them. I can't be sure about the others. I think Shindo's there, too."

"This is a single tunnel," Rumi hummed. "No hiding places. No water. Two guards… I suppose all we can do is a straight charge."

"Lethal or nonlethal?"

"Nonlethal for now. We can kill them later depending on what we find in that room. You remember what I taught you about speed?"

Rather than respond verbally, Izuku lowered into a runner's stance the way she'd trained him, only this time he wouldn't need to jump over alleyways. Rumi smirked and settled into the same stance next to him.

"Alright, runt. Three… two… one…"

The pair ran, Izuku pushing himself to keep up with the Master Assassin. Their specialized shoes muffled their footsteps, the guards coming into view quickly. The guard tried to move as soon as they came into view, but the Assassins' speed was far greater than they expected. Izuku drove his shoulder into his target, shoving him against the brick on one side of the steel door and forcing the breath from his body. Rumi, in contrast, lashed out with a kick, nearly taking the head off her target's shoulders. She held back just enough that his neck didn't snap, but he was sure to have a concussion if he survived the day.

Izuku's target wheezed, but he didn't want to give the man a chance to retaliate. The shorter boy kicked the back of his knee and wrapped his arm around the man's neck from behind, forcing him into a chokehold. He struggled weakly for a few seconds before going limp. Izuku dropped him like a dirty sack.

"I expected… more?" the student commented.

"Due to the secrecy of whatever they're hiding, it isn't that much of a surprise," Rumi replied. "It could be that few in the organization know or, more likely, they're trusting their protections to allocate their manpower elsewhere." She tugged on the handle of the door, causing it to rattle. "Door's locked. Search your guy."

Izuku did as bid, finding another pistol and a single large, steel key. He unloaded the gun, taking the bullets for himself and the weapon as a donation to the Brotherhood, and turned to his current teacher. She nodded, letting him open the door with a thunk. They stepped inside.

Izuku simultaneously turned red and felt the urge to throw up.

There were 15 women in the room, their clothing ranging from see-through lingerie to nothing at all. Four were chained to the wall, gagged and blindfolded with instruments of the adult nature attached to them, while another nine were in cages in pairs save for one alone in hers. Two women laid on mattresses, spread eagle and faces blank. The women's features all varied widely, ranging from tall to short and with all hair colors and body proportions. At least half of them were visibly pregnant.

The room itself was dark, the only lighting being dim industrial lightbulbs far above. That only made the dirty mattresses in the cages look worse, the once-white now stained with blood and other bodily fluids. The back of the room held three tan doors, each labeled 1, 2, or 3. There were no cameras, lest any footage leak to the public.

"New masters~!" one of the women in the cages moaned, rubbing herself against the bars to emphasize the size of her chest. "Pick me, Master~!"

"Me too! Me too!" another called.

The women in the chains jerked, trying to shy away but unable to do so. Disgust welled within Izuku at the sight

"The one who just came in," Rumi began as Izuku recovered.

"A mistress," some of the women muttered, causing a couple of them to redouble their efforts at getting attention.

"Thy guy who just walked in," the Master Assassin repeated, ignoring the clear proposition. "Where is he?"

"Oh, Master Quake, Mistress!" one of the caged women answered. She had blond hair in pigtails and looked to be in her second trimester. Her skin was a light blue. "He took Shila in the first room. He likes Shila."

"He likes Shela?" Rumi echoed.

"He chooses her every time he's here," the blue-skinned woman nodded. "All the regulars have their favorites." She fluttered her eyelashes. "I could be yours."

Rumi's ears twitched from where they were hidden by her hood, turning toward the back rooms. Her nose wrinkled.

"Runt, remember this. When gathering information, everyone has an angle. You need to listen to multiple sources unless you really trust one." She marched toward the women in chains, paying no mind to the whining women in the cages. She reached the first one, a woman with dirty red hair down to her back who flinched away. Bruises lined her body, Izuku recognizing some of them as physical abuse. Rumi reached up, pulling the blindfold and gag off.

"We're here to help," Rumi said gently, checking the chains for locks or weak points. "Tell us what happened to you. To those girls."

"Th-They broke," the woman whispered, twitching as Rumi pulled the torturous devices from her body. She breathed a sigh of relief. "I-I was kidnapped. They said I'd be l-like them eventually." Tears started trailing over her cheeks. "I-I don't want to be like them. I-I don't want to b-break."

"It's ok. We're here now." Rumi activated her hidden blade, the woman closing her eyes apparently expecting to get stabbed. Instead, the blade smashed against the weak point of the chains, one side before the other shattering at their weakest links. The redhead crumpled to her knees, her now-free arms covering her body.

"Runt," Rumi said, her voice hard. "No… Apprentice. Go deal with Shindo. No one complicit in this gets out, not even him. I'll take care of this."

"Yes, Master." Izuku's fingers twitched as he turned to the rooms. His Eagle Vision flashed, giving him an idea of what Shindo was up to with Shila. He stalked forward, a scowl tugging at his lips as the disgust inside him cooled into cold fury. Templars were bad, but at least they offered the illusion of freedom and choice to the masses. They fought for a philosophical viewpoint counter to the Assassins' and their war was ideological. Almost business. The two sides respected each other in certain ways.

This… What had been done to these women, this was unforgivable.

Grunts and groans eked through the door, but this did not stop the verdet as it may have in another circumstance. He kicked forward, breaking the door's handle and lock. Shindo jumped at the sound, turning slightly so it wasn't his naked back toward the door. Knowing how devastating his Quirk could be, Izuku rushed forward before the other student had a chance to comprehend the sudden intrusion.

Izuku hidden blade flashed, impaling Shindo just under the breastbone. He moved with the momentum, the dark-haired teen's legs dragging the soiled sheets from the bed as Izuku drove his back into the floor, uncaring for his or Shila's nakedness.

"What you have done is unforgivable," Izuku hissed, the Ketsubutsu student's wide eyes widening further as he recognized the voice. "A patron to a slave brothel forcing yourself on kidnapped women, you don't deserve to be a Hero student. Curse your own luck that you chose now to come but know the world will be a better place without you. Requiescat in pace, Shindo."

"D-Damn you, Mi… Mido…" Shindo reached upward —for what purpose, Izuku did not know— but a quick twist of his hidden blade cut the teen's action short. Izuku stood, flicking the blood from his blade even as he felt some of it stick to his gloves. He turned, regarding the terrified woman on the bed. She was small and petite, so much so that she could pass as a middle schooler, with plain features. Her own stomach bulged slightly.

"Shila, right? You have nothing to fear from me." Izuku grabbed the rumpled sheets from the floor —pointedly ignoring Shindo's body— and offered them to the small woman. Seeing as she was still trembling, he wrapped her to cover her modesty and picked her up, carrying her into the main room.

Rumi had freed the other chained women, three of them comforting each other while the Master Assassin discussed something with the fourth. Izuku walked over, the woman shying slightly.

"Good work, Apprentice," Rumi praised, causing a bubble of pride to well from within Izuku's cold fury. "Yua here will speak for the women once the first responders arrive. I'll have a contact call them as soon as we're done clearing out the compound."

"I trust she has agreed to use… limited details?"

"Of course, but I'm glad you asked. You're learning well. Go get the other sheets so they can have something, would you?"

Izuku nodded, setting Shila on the floor before retrieving the bedsheets from rooms two and three. Those who wanted to cover-up had to share, but it was better than nothing.

"Now then, no one survives. Apprentice, with me."

"Yes, Sensei." The pair exited into the tunnel where they found the two who had been guarding the doors. Rumi resecured her gloves before snapping each of their necks, Izuku walking ahead to the ladder. Yua followed at a more sedate pace so she could direct the eventual responders to those in need. The Assassins pushed the grate off and gathered their bearings, Izuku activating his Eagle Vision. There was no trail to follow, but he could see most of the outlines in the compound. "Looks like two floors," he reported. "Nine targets in standard groups of two. Teian is in her office on the second floor. I want to deal with her myself."

"You better not be thinking something along the lines of a taste of her own medicine, Apprentice."

"No, Sensei. The only stabbing will be my blades. She won't get a chance to use her Quirk on me, even if she deserves some pain for what she's done."

"Good. Remember, what we do, we do for the people. This life is a duty for the freedom of humanity, not an excuse to hurt and kill because we feel like it."

"I… I don't understand," Yua muttered, a ripped sheet wrapped around her body. "Who are you people? Are you pro Heroes?"

Rumi followed the woman's eye to the three guards Izuku had knocked unconscious upon their entrance. "Runt, deal with them."

Izuku nodded silently and stepped over to Jumbo and the others. He decided to deal with the big guy first, pulling out his wakizashi. Breathing deeply —for this would be his first kill who would not be awake to defend himself— Izuku stabbed him through the heart. Jumbo gurgled, blood leaking from between his lips, before he died. Yua squeaked at the display.

"We are no one good," Rumi told her as Izuku did the same to the two other men. "We are but shadows in the night. You need not know any more than that." She turned as the last man died, Izuku whispering their standard wish over the warm corpses. He flicked the blood from his larger sword and replaced it with a small flourish. "Runt, you take all the ones on the top floor. I'll clear out the bottom. Find me when you're done."

"Yes, Sensei."

The pair left Yua behind, heading deeper into the compound, a turn opening into the warehouse proper. Boxes and cabinets lined the walls while servers blinked in rows on the lowest floor. Four people sat at computers, working on what must be HeartSeed's closed system. As they watched, a stout woman stood, unplugging a USB from her computer before carrying it to another on the other side. She plugged it in, the system dinging a moment later. She unplugged the USB and returned to her station.

"They're armed," Izuku noted. "Most of them. The others must have offensive Quirks. No cameras here, either."

"Arms and no cameras mean they know they're criminals. I'll handle this floor."

Izuku split from her, ducking behind the servers. He moved between them, scanning for a path to the second floor. A stairway stood at the far wall, two men nearby. Unlike the men from before, these two seemed nearly asleep. They probably considered a guarding position inside to be a cushy assignment. Izuku fiddled with his left bracer, took aim, and fired.

Both men jerked as the senbon hit them in their necks, their hands going to the sites of injection. The fast-acting poison, however, was already in their systems. They slumped, one on the stairs and the other against the wall. Another glance at the computers confirmed no one saw anything, so Izuku sprinted forward, padded shoes ensuring his silence.

"You should have chosen honest work," he muttered to the bodies as he passed, climbing the stairs to where they connected to a hallway corner. The second floor was nicer, the flooring red carpet and the walls painted a soothing tan. The upper floor was a square with three rooms in the interior, one of which was Teian's office while the others were bathrooms. Again, Izuku flashed his Eagle Vision to find a red line moving along the center of the corridor.

"Fuck, this is boring," a voice moaned, Izuku pressing himself against the stairway wall. A pair of guards meandered into view, one running a hand through his navy-blue hair. "Does the boss actually think we need security?"

"You volunteered for this," the other chirped, his hair like the head feathers of a parrot. "One extra session downstairs a week, plus we get some exercise in otherwise."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Just let me whine."

Izuku let them go, lying in wait. The pair walked the full length of the hallway and rounded the lefthand turn ahead, never looking back. Counting the seconds, it was only a minute before a second pair appeared before him. They didn't bother glancing down the stairs, simply turning the corner. Izuku stepped forward, catching up to them where his flashed his blades and stabbed both in the back. They jerked, Izuku swinging his arms around to catch them before they fell.

"Sorry, guys. Requiescat in pace."

He dragged them backward into the stairwell and settled into another short wait. Sure enough, the same pair from before appeared on their path. The one with the blue hair stopped in the same place Izuku had killed their companions, the other taking another step more before noticing.

"What is it?"

"I just got a shiver," the blunet muttered. He started to turn. "My Quirk—"

Izuku dashed forward, drawing his swords for their extra reach. The blue-haired man was closer, the student spinning left to drive his wakizashi into his chest with his right hand. Izuku didn't stop, spinning his tanto into a reverse grip in his left hand to slash at the minor parrot Heteromorph. Said guard jumped back with a surprised "Squawk!" but was not fast enough to counter the ambush. Izuku yanked his Wakizashi free —uncaring for the blood splatter that such painted on the wall— and used the extra length to cut into the curve of the bird-man's neck. He staggered backward, blood soaking into the front of his outfit and dripping to the red carpet. Fear filled his bird-like eyes and his mouth opened as if to say something, but Izuku knew he would never speak again. His cut had severed the man's trachea, after all.

"The world is made better with your organization's end," Izuku told him as the man dropped to his knees. He fell to the side in a boneless heap, the light fading from his eyes. "Requiescat in pace."

He flicked the blood from his blade, now unconcerned for the state of the hallway. The only person left on the floor was Teian and, considering he knew she didn't have a sensory or hearing Quirk, he was sure she hadn't heard anything. He rounded the corner, leaving faint footprints of blood in the red carpet. He stopped before her door, studying the plain, frosted glass. Sheathing his swords, he knocked.

"I'm busy!" the voice within called. Izuku knocked again. "Not now!" He knocked a third time. "Dammit, this had better be important!"

The shadow in the glass moved, standing and darkening as the figure approached the door. Izuku flicking his hidden blade as the knob turned. As soon as the latch clicked, he pushed the door open and drove his blade forward, feeling the metal sink into Teian's abdomen. His other hand came up, catching her to lower her to the floor gently.

"Wh-Why…?" she whispered, her face already paling.

"The women you kept downstairs will be rescued soon," Izuku told her. "You bought and sold lives and freedom for your own ends. In defense of your greed, you killed one of our comrades. For this, you have lost everything."

"Oh, the gum kid," Teian sighed. "How typical. As soon as I build my own power… the world takes it away… Again…"

"You never get to keep that which you steal," the student said, laying her down as she breathed her last. "Only what you've earned. Requiescat in pace."

With the woman dead, Izuku turned his attention to the room. The walls were covered in bookshelves almost overflowing with document holders, but there was only one he cared about. The desk was similar to the one from the outpost where he'd watched her hypnotize Kanari Kagayaki, so he repeated the steps he'd taken to see the ledger there. He was rewarded with the same type of false bottom, said ledger sitting in its place. He picked it up, claiming it as his own before replacing everything.

The only other thing of interest in the room was the safe hidden behind fake book spines. It was a simple combination lock, the kind Izuku had been trained to crack. It wasn't his best skill, but he wasn't pressed for time now.

Rumi was waiting for him when he came down the stairway, the bodies of the desk workers strewn over the floor.

"Teian is dead," Izuku said. "I also took several million from her personal safe. I figure the Brotherhood wouldn't mind a donation."

"Good job, kid," Rumi nodded. "A friend should be calling the cops by now, but not the Aichi division. Still, we should get out of here. Our work is done."

Izuku nodded, but the ledger in his robes told him not everyone in this scheme had paid their price. His work was just beginning.

End of Chapter 55

What a chapter! I said we were going to swing into M-rated territory, and here we are. Izuku and Mirko bust a human trafficking and prostitution ring, but Izuku seems to have thoughts and a new mission of his own. What else will he get up to this month, I wonder? We'll have another chapter of Izuku's story, then touch base with chapters for Tsuyu, Bakugo, Momo, and the others to see how they're doing. This might be the darkest thing I've written, so let me know how I did and what you think.

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods