Izuku Midoriya was standing in front of Snipe. Mikumo Akatani was next to him. He told Snipe about training with him and immediately wanted to meet him. Now they're starting joint training exercises.
They were in the pro hero's gym in his hero agency. It was large because of his ranged quirk. He had multiple sparring weapons, weights, and a full-sized track. It was about as big as his school's largest room, small for a school, but sizable for one person.
He wanted them to be alone to get rid of him without witnesses. He even brought the construction worker's hammer. He wanted to feel the blood on his face as he smashed away at his brain. Now he had to rethink his entire strategy.
"Let's get started," said Snipe. He was in his hero costume. It was the standard cowboy outfit with a gas mask. "Tell me, Midoriya. Do you have any experience?" He even told the hero his name, this is just great.
"No. I never exercised before." Izuku didn't like where this was going.
"That's too bad. Akatani has been on a rigorous workout for nearly a year now. It would be best if you caught up before we can train you for real. The sports festival is coming up and we can't spend time playing catch up. No offense." He turned to his student. "I want you to train alone until I get Midoriya started."
Akatani nodded and went to get a staff. He started swinging it around.
Snipe turned back to him. "You start doing push-ups, sit-ups, squats, go until you can't do anymore, then start running around the track. Don't stop until you can't run anymore."
It was hell, by the end of it he was drenched in sweat and clutching his beating heart. He hated it but he had to get stronger. A single glance to Akatani and he knew how big the gap between them was.
Akatani was locked in a sparring match with Snipe the entire time Izuku exercised. He was drenched in sweat but showed no signs of fatigue as he moved so fast that Izuku had trouble following his movements. He was dodging, attacking, he thought he saw him backflip once. If Izuku wanted to kill him, he had to at least do that without passing out.
After over an hour of sparring, Akatani fell to the floor for the first time. "I give up! You win again!"
Snipe was still standing, he didn't show a hint of exhaustion. He was amazing, as anyone would expect from a hero in the top 50. "You did great. Much longer than last time."
"I wanted to impress Midoriya. He's been watching this whole time." He saw him, even while in an intense fight. Sneaking up on him won't work, as he expected. He had to fight him head-on. "I wanted to show him that a quirkless kid can fight too," Akatani said as Snipe helped him up. He did that and more.
"You also showed me that I have a long way to go. I couldn't even stand after running." It took him half an hour to barely stand. He still felt fatigued in his entire body.
"Now it's time for a short break." What, they're not done? "Not you, Izuku. You can recuperate and leave. You went beyond my expectations on the run. You should be proud. Keep that up for a while and you can start sparring."
"Okay, that's cool." Izuku left to get some food in Snipe's kitchen. His staff gave him a meal for growing muscle. He was fully recovered when he left nearly an hour later. He still dreaded how he would feel tomorrow.
The worst part was he still had lots to do that day. He would use that hammer one way or another.
This was not the best day for Naomasa Tsukauchi. Another quirkless man was found dead in an alley.
It was almost a good day, too. They found another connection between the victims of 'The Quirkless Killer,' they were all killed around the same low-income neighborhood. They put a couple of heroes patrolling that area but there wasn't anything more than a few criminals and students. He didn't understand why they put a high school there.
But one of the heroes found a body, and now they all have to go to a conference to discuss it. He walked into the meeting room, which had everyone on the task force. There were the best detectives in the station, they were great at everything they did, but they couldn't do enough with all their other cases filling their time. That's why he called for heroes the second he could. They could patrol while looking out for things that could help the investigation. The heroes that he picked out to help were Midnight, Eraserhead, and All Might.
"Good afternoon, everybody." He had walked to the front. The whiteboard with the evidence was there. It now had a map of the low-income area with lines that showed where the corpses were. "I believe we all know what we're here for. Midnight found another victim of 'The Quirkless Killer.' She will be the one briefing us on the info she gathered." He sat down as Midnight walked to the board.
"I was walking down the street last night," she said. "But it wasn't a quiet night. I was in multiple fights and had gotten about a dozen villains arrested before I heard a peculiar scream. It sounded like a young male teenager. It sounded furious, it said, 'Why don't you all just die already?' I was about to get to it when I heard someone else screaming, it took a while before I could get there.
"I saw the victim in an alley. His head was smashed in, his brains were exposed and mashed into mush. I almost threw up it was so gruesome. I have a picture." She put it on the whiteboard and connected a dot to the map. The man in the picture looked like ground beef, Naomasa's seen worse. "I have now built a vague psych profile of the perp. They're not only anti-quirkless but have a deep-seated hatred for them. They may have extreme anger issues and take it out on their victims. We're looking for someone who hates the quirkless, acts in anger, and has poor self-control. Now who does that remind you of?" She smirked at Eraserhead.
"This isn't the time for jokes, Midnight. Don't mention any of my students." Eraserhead was still bandaged because of his injuries. He was there because of his experience in restraining perps. He would be an invaluable asset when his wounds heal.
"Who said Bakugo? I didn't say Bakugo."
"You said Bakugo. And I'll have you know that all of my students have strong alibis for the third murder. I was keeping all of them late for extra training."
"Well, except for the quirkless one. Snipe took him out for extra training."
Naomasa was getting tired of this. "What does any of this have to do with the investigation? We can't bring anybody in without solid evidence. Base assumptions and hearsay are worthless. Are you finished with your report, Midnight?"
"Yes sir, sorry sir." Midnight went back to her seat. She was acting sad.
Naomasa stood up and went to the whiteboard. "Midnight left out one crucial detail." He put the picture of a bloody hammer on the board. "The murder weapon was found on the scene with the victim's prints. You might think it was on the victim's person before the attack, but that's not the case.
"The victim's coworkers all attested that the hammer was stolen two days before the incident. Whoever did this had a plan with the hammer elsewhere before deciding to kill its original owner. He had plans but they got disrupted and he decided to kill him to let off steam." This was the best theory, it lined up with the profile and it gave more credence to Midnight's statement. But still, it didn't get them much closer to finding him.
"Didn't the victim have a history of violence?" One of the best detectives he knew, Yokomizo, spoke out. "Maybe that's why he was targeted."
Tsukauchi wanted to dismiss it, but he trusted Yokomizo. He's the one who suggested questioning the coworkers. He's the kind of person to get lost in the details. This means it takes him a while to solve cases, but he always solves them.
"Let's say we found this man's hammer next to the body of another quirkless individual, and we didn't get Midnight's helpful insight. What would you think happened?"
"I would look into the hammer, find the fingerprints, and look into the owner's background." It hit him in that moment. "And I would see his multiple accounts of assault and battery. I would accuse him almost immediately. While the real killer got away."
"And for all we know he could've finished his plan. He could've disappeared forever after that and we'd never be able to find him." That was right, this murder was more planned out than the rest, but his anger got in the way. That was his fatal flaw.
He could finally come up with a plan. "Okay, everybody pay attention. I want a list of every quirkless person in the city. I don't care how you get it, just get them to me." He needed to figure out the best target for somebody killing quirkless people. "At this point, the profile we made for the killer is completely worthless. The anger would most likely be masked in his daily life so he could blend more easily, and 'male teenager' is extremely vague." There was one last thing to talk about. "But why would he want to frame someone for murder?" He couldn't figure out why he would suddenly try that.
"I could answer that," said Yokomizo. "He most likely has a close relationship with him. He probably saw how he could be a suspect and planned specifically to prevent that. He wouldn't have done it for the other victims because he hasn't met them before."
"Any other ideas?" No one had any. "Thanks, everyone, for your help so far. You're all dismissed." They all left, except for All Might.
The number one hero walked up to him. "Tsukauchi, what will you do after you find this kid?" He was serious.
"Arrest him. He'll be tried for the murders, sentenced, most likely the death penalty. It wouldn't occur like that usually, but the victims are quirkless, it could lead to an outrage if they do the usual sentencing for juveniles."
"But what would you do, if you saw the killer in person?"
"I don't know. I'd like to say I would do my job correctly, but something in my head tells me I'll just shoot him." He hated the guy, three quirkless people are dead because of him.
"That's why I want you to tell me when you do find who he is. I'll go find him."
"Why?" 'Because he's a hero, idiot,' Tsukauchi thought.
"I could tell him about myself." All Might, or Toshinori Yagi, was born quirkless and was given his quirk, One for All, the strongest quirk of all time, by someone else. "He hates the quirkless. If my hunch is right, he loves heroes, he might be a fan of mine. If I told him my backstory, it might be enough to change his heart." That was who he was, it didn't matter who they were, he's tried to rehabilitate almost every villain he's ever fought. He only ever tried to kill one person and that was because All for One proved himself to be pure evil every time they met.
"Alright, if you think it's a good idea." Tsukauchi didn't, but he trusted his friend.
"Trust me, It'll be okay. Because I'll be there." That confused Tsukauchi, of course he'll be there. He just wanted to use his catchphrase.
He gave the hero a thumbs-up as he left.