Izuku stared at his phone as the buzz of idle chatter from the other passengers on the train hovered at the edge of his senses.

After Thirteen had agreed to help him with Iida, she'd informed her office that she'd be away for at least a day and left Nova in charge of the agency until she got back. Then, after completing her mandatory afternoon patrol and allowing Izuku some sleep that night, she'd whisked Izuku away the next morning and they'd boarded the train to Tokyo, which would stop in Hosu. The tricky thing about that was that they hadn't bothered to change into civilian clothes first, so they'd been mobbed for a while when they'd first found their seats. Since Thirteen was a popular rescue hero, Izuku had expected to get noticed when they eventually got to patrolling later in the week, but to be hounded so soon had him on edge. Luckily, he had his new and improved gloves on, so the claustrophobia wasn't so bad as if he'd been bare-handed. What he hadn't expected was for himself to be recognised, since he'd won the sports festival at UA, which was broadcast nation-wide, just a week and a half ago. The civilians on the train had also asked Izuku a lot of questions, leaving him stunned, but he'd managed to give answers as best he could. He'd even given an autograph to a little kid, even though he wasn't sure his shaky handwriting—which had gotten even worse after his injuries from the USJ incident—was a very exciting thing to look at.

After about ten minutes, things had calmed down, but then another surprise had caught Izuku off-guard. His mother had texted him explaining how she'd broken her leg last night. Thus, Izuku stared at his phone with wide eyes as he comprehended that his mother was hurt. He read the message three times, only really reacting on the third. Apparently, she'd tripped over herself in the middle of the night after not bothering to turn the light on. She had called an ambulance after slowly making her way over to her phone, and she'd gone to the hospital, but it still left a sick feeling in Izuku's stomach. After the attack from Bakugo the other day, Izuku had been nervous about leaving her alone in that apartment by herself. She said she'd be just fine, but something had happened and he hadn't been around to help her. He felt nauseous as he sat quietly next to Thirteen, who was humming happily along to a song that must've been on her mind. Izuku asked if she wanted him to go and be with her, but his mother had denied his help, and insisted he continue his internship as planned, which left a bad taste in Izuku's mouth, but he'd accepted that. Then, about half an hour after that first string of texts came through and they'd discussed how she was dealing with the injury, another text came through, and it was the strangest message Izuku had ever gotten from his mother.

MOM

it's Kind of embArrassing. Clutz has always been my niCkname, but Honestly! i'm not normAlly that uNcoordinated in my own home. the Doctors saId i shoulD recover with Time, but it sure will Hurt In the meantime! be Safe, izuku!

It wasn't like her to misspell in a text. Izuku looked at it, and frowned as he got the feeling that the grammatical mistakes in the text weren't misspellings. He examined the message closely, and his heart skipped a beat as he watched a message form out of the seemingly random letters she'd capitalised. K—A—C—C—H—A—N—D—I—D—T—H—I—S. There was no way. He had to be seeing things. His hands shook as he glared at his phone, wishing it wasn't true. Izuku's palm itched, and his fingers tightened around his phone as his mouth dried up in an instant. Panic began to set in, but then that melted away and he was left with nothing but boiling anger, rage and hate. Could he have done such a thing? Was that even a message his mother had intended to leave? Re-reading the texts again, Izuku became more certain that it had been intentional—the probability that a person genuinely making such severe grammar mistakes in the exact way that spelled out confirmation that a person, who Izuku and his mother both knew was dangerous, was behind his mother's pain was so small that Izuku was secure in calling it impossible. It was intentional. Katsuki Bakugo had hurt Izuku's mother.

Izuku realised another thing, a concept that slowed the beating drum in his heart. She was talking in code. That was weird. That was bizarre, unless Bakugo could see her texts somehow. Had he planted a bug, like it was some kind of movie? Did Bakugo have that kind of resource? Izuku thought anything might've been possible, since he'd disappeared without a sound the last time they'd fought and he hadn't been found by the police yet. He might've joined up with some real villains, been scouted just like he'd always wanted, just in the opposite direction. Izuku took a shaky breath in, and thanked whatever miracle was allowing him to remain under Thirteen's radar with all his freaking out, and decided he wasn't going to risk any more harm coming to his mother. He replied.

YOU

Will do! Hopefully you'll heal up fast. Every day should get easier, so just keep it in mind. Really enjoying my internship! Even though I miss you. I'll be back after the week is done, though! So at least that's good. Honestly, such terrible luck! Especially considering the timing.

He figured using a different code would be better, even if his mother would have to figure it out on her own, like he'd had to. He'd used the first letter in every sentence of his own text to convey his question. Izuku would just have to hope that she would get it. He knew she was smart, and had that reinforced in his mind through this sneaky move of hers. She was so smart to have come up with speaking in code, and so brave to have done it even when she had to have a reason to not speak plainly. Izuku felt an even fiercer appreciation for and defensiveness toward his mother blossom in his heart as he considered the situation. How dare Bakugo go after her when his problem was with Izuku? He thought Bakugo was into that single combat, life or death, no interference stuff. Or was that just during the actual combat and didn't apply to him before or after, so he could still do what he wanted and didn't have to think about breaking any of his supposed rules? Just thinking about how the man who wanted him dead had been in complete control over whether Izuku's mother had lived or died, and Izuku himself had been able to do nothing about it. He shouldn't have left Shizuoka for his internship.

MOM

definitely some bad Luck. On the Other hand, i just Knew somethING like this would happen sooner or later. as Far as the dOctoRs can tell, the break shouldn't have been as bad as it is, but the angle and force with which i fell was what did it. thank You fOr the well wishes, izUku.

Izuku let his head hang as he put together the message. Of course Bakugo's next step would be to find him. He probably went to the apartment to find out where he'd gone for the internship.

YOU

Don't be silly. I'll always give you my best wishes. Did you think I was too old or something? You're never too old. Obviously. Unless you're a villain or something. Too late to pretend to be good then! Even bad guys take care of their mothers, I bet. Looking forward to seeing you again! Later!

He let his phone rest on his chest as he sighed. Izuku was finding himself just making up more stuff to say that wasn't really related to the topic just to generate more sentences for his question. If someone was looking in on their texts, they'd probably be able to tell that he wasn't talking to his mother like he normally would. Thirteen looked over at him and he tried his best to look calm and collected, when on the inside he was ready to destroy some stuff and go on a rampage through Japan to find Katsuki Bakugo.

MOM

aNd you say you're nOt funny!

Izuku could have cried then and there, but he had to keep up appearances. He wiped the tears out of his eyes with his sleeve, and sniffled. He was going to make it up to her when he got home. For now, though, he couldn't go to her, because Bakugo was looking for him. If he led him right back to his mother, he'd never forgive himself. Izuku was going to give Bakugo a beating so hard that there'll be nothing left of him to lock up afterwards. His rage simmered as Thirteen turned back to him again, and this time Izuku's acting must not have been so convincing.

"What's up, Midoriya?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing. I just got a nice text from my mom," Izuku said. His voice shook.

"That's nice! Always wished my mom did random nice stuff like that," Thirteen said.

"Are you not close?" Izuku asked, finding that the distraction of conversation helped calm him down.

"No, we haven't spoken in a few years. Even then, we were kind of …" Thirteen spoke in a quieter voice. She waved her hand, and Izuku got the message— not good.

"What happened, if I can ask?" Izuku mentally facepalmed a moment later, realising that it was probably personal and that she definitely wouldn't want to talk about it with one of her students, even if it wasn't.

"She's the type to, uh, blame other people for stuff that isn't their fault. When your Quirk is Black Hole and it comes in during a game of tag with your dad, well … that was not a good look for me," Thirteen said with a laugh. It sounded like she had a sense of humour about it, but Izuku frowned and averted his gaze upon realising what Thirteen was implying.

"I killed my dad," Izuku all but whispered, looking down at his right hand as he closed it into a fist. The fake finger that had replaced his lost, real one sometimes hurt, as if he could feel pain through a prosthetic. He'd read about phantom limb syndrome, but he hadn't taken it all that seriously until he'd gotten pains in his replacement finger. Izuku could almost feel it as his prosthetic finger pressed into his palm in the fist.

"I'm … sorry to hear that, Midoriya. That must have been tough. I know it was for me," Thirteen said.

"It's okay. It was self-defence, so I don't feel that bad about it," Izuku confessed. "I'm sure everyone in Japan heard Todoroki and I dealing with our daddy issues on live, national television, though."

"The sports festival broadcasts internationally, Midoriya. The whole world watched you and Todoroki dealing with your daddy issues," Thirteen said with an echoing snicker.

"Awesome. Love that," Izuku groaned.

Izuku looked back at his phone and saw that no new texts had come in. He sighed, and turned his attention toward how he wanted to deal with Iida. He could just give the boy a stern talking to, with Thirteen backing him up, but that's what he had tried last time, and Iida had rejected it. How was he going to convince Iida to grieve and mourn in a healthy way, to let others in? Izuku didn't know. He doubted he'd know until the moment he pulled it off, which was the way it looked like he dealt with problems ever since starting at UA. Just figure it out, was their methodology, more or less. He sighed once again as he committed himself to solving these two problems during his internship, but knowing he'd have the will to fight if either of his problems called for it.

YOU

I love you.

MOM

I love you, too. Be safe.

YOU

Don't worry. I'm not the one who's going to get hurt.


Ochako's stomach lurched as she landed on the floor. She huffed and puffed, spinning around as she swept her gaze across the room. He was fast, but Gran Torino had a pattern to his movements that Ochako was beginning to catch onto. The elderly hero would bounce around the room, landing on a wall and then speeding away again, seven times, and then he'd lunge and attack. That part was easy, and Ochako found herself quickly slipping into a rhythm, but the hard part was predicting where exactly that seventh bounce would take him, since Gran Torino was faster than Ochako could track with her eyes and the gym was a wide, open space. She'd been kicked all over since she'd spent two whole days fighting the senior citizen, and it was beginning to hurt, even if the old timer insisted he was still holding back. Ochako swung around as she heard an impact on a wall, the seventh in a row.

She slapped her own shoulder and leapt up, ignoring the way her stomach tried to leap up and out of her throat. Ochako rose through the air and collided with the ceiling, her feet pressing against the hard surface as she crouched upside-down to cushion her landing. In a blur of yellow and white, Gran Torino appeared in the place she'd been standing in a second ago. She grinned, and wondered if this was the moment that she could finally tag him. That was the aim of the game they were playing, which basically amounted to a superhuman game of tag. A tag was worth one point. Gran Torino's win condition was to reach a hundred points. Ochako wouldn't have been surprised if he was most of the way there. Ochako's win condition was to score one point. She hadn't managed it yet, but this was her moment of truth!

Ochako sprang off the ceiling and maintained some of the momentum of her upward leap. She raced through the air, throwing a hand out so that she could tag Gran Torino as she streaked toward the floor like a shooting star. Gran Torino looked up at her and grinned, but it was too late. Ochako was but metres away and closing in quicker than she could really control, if she was being honest with herself. She stretched her hand out even further, and when it was inches away from Gran Torino, swiped at him to score her one and only tag needed to win. Unfortunately, Gran Torino shot off to the side without any warning, and dodged Ochako's attack completely. Momentum, which had so far been her ally, betrayed Ochako in that moment, as she crashed into the floor and floated back up into the air, where she stalled as her movement slowed, meaning she was stuck without a surface to push off of. Ochako released her Quirk and fell to the ground, barely landing on her feet as she rolled the shoulder she'd landed on. She didn't know how Gran Torino flew head-first into walls all day if that was what it was like.

Gran Torino landed beside her and laughed.

"You've got a long way to go before you can tag me, newbie. Looks like you're beginning to grasp the true potential of your Quirk, though," he said.

"Yeah," Ochako sighed.

She'd noticed something over the course of her training with Gran Torino, about herself and her own Quirk. Whenever Ochako had leapt with her Quirk active, she moved faster and further than she ever thought she would've. Ochako would gladly admit that she had focused exclusively on training the weight limit on her Quirk for the entrance exam to UA, but she'd never really thought about using it on herself until the sports festival. It always made her sick and nauseous, so she'd thought it would always be off the table. But seeing Gran Torino bouncing around had given her an idea, and she'd found that she could mimic that to an extent with her new tolerance to her Quirk's side-effects. Ochako wouldn't pretend to be an expert in physics, but she knew some stuff about how it all worked—force was mass times acceleration, every action had an equal and opposite reaction, inertia, all that stuff. She'd always thought her Quirk removed gravity, but then everything she used it on would go flying and ripping through the air because of the momentum from the Earth's rotation. So, Ochako had to be erasing something else, something that excused her from being affected by gravity while also preserving her mass and momentum.

Then, she realised it while trying to mimic Gran Torino—weight. Mass. He was small, he probably weighed next to nothing, so he could go from zero to a hundred in an instant. The same principle applied to Ochako, when she was weightless. She'd used that word for years even though she'd known that wasn't really how it worked, but what if it was ? She was negating mass, so that meant that force was simply acceleration, and acceleration was just force. That explained how she pulled off the stunts with the robots in the entrance exam, and how she'd swung a concrete pillar like a baseball bat once. While under the effects of her Quirk, Ochako had discovered that she cut out the middle-man of mass and simply turned force into acceleration, and acceleration into force. Thus, while weightless, she could push off a surface, accelerate through the air, and then once she hit a surface, all that acceleration was transformed into force, which was then exerted back on her due to Newton's third law, which turned into acceleration again, and created an infinite feedback loop of force and acceleration. Because she had no mass while in her weightless state, she could just bounce away if she did it right and retain all the momentum, and inertia would keep her going. Ochako, theoretically, had no limit to how much she could accelerate given enough time and room to move.

Explaining it to Gran Torino and All Might—who had joined them after that first surprise attack in the hall—was hard, but they eventually understood what she meant. But, just as Ochako was getting ready to go another round with Gran Torino, All Might got a call. While Ochako and Gran Torino were muttering amongst themselves about how lame All Might's ringtone— A PHONE CALL IS HERE, A PHONE CALL IS HERE —All Might grew more and more concerned until a smile broke out on his face, and he hung up with a booming laugh.

"Looks like we're heading out to patrol this week after all!" All Might said.

"What? I thought we were just focusing on training," Ochako said. She tried not to pout, but she'd been looking forward to mastering this new technique she'd discovered.

"I know, but we've been issued a challenge. He put it through the team-up request channel, but I can chide him for that in person," All Might said. "Endeavor has heard about you, Young Uraraka, and appears to be very invested in how close you came to beating his son at the sports festival. He's also had a bit of a grudge against me for as long as we've been number one and two, since he wants the top spot for himself. He says that since we've both got interns for the first time, we should all meet up and have a little competition. I believe he thinks you and Young Todoroki have a rivalry, like he and I, and he wishes for the top two heroes and their interns to compete so that he may know which of us is the better teacher, as well."

"What's the competition?" Ochako asked, feeling her blood run cold at the thought of meeting Endeavor in person. She remembered Todoroki's retelling of his childhood. Ochako felt even worse about the idea that Todoroki was interning with his dad. What had made him choose such a thing?

"It'll be you and I against Endeavour and Young Todoroki. The arena will be Hosu. The first to find the elusive Hero Killer wins," All Might said with a broad smile as he puffed up into his muscular form.

"The Hero Killer? Hosu? But that's—" Ochako cut herself off. That's where Iida was interning. Would they have a chance to meet up on patrol? Ochako promised herself that if they did, she would check in with him, since she knew that he had to be going through a hard time after his brother's injury. Wait. "The Hero Killer is in Hosu?" Oh, no.

"Yes, the villain normally targets three or four heroes in an area before moving on. He'll stick around for a bit after his first target in the city was strong enough to survive," All Might said. "Poor Ingenium. He was a good man."

All Might seemed excited about the competition aspect, and finally doing his part and catching the Hero Killer after having to be focused on teaching and managing his time limit. He'd been getting more time to rest that week, since he was on a break from teaching during the internship, so All Might figured he might have been able to squeeze ten or twenty extra minutes in, rather than racing against the clock like he usually did. Ochako changed into her hero costume in silent thought, and wondered if maybe All Might was too enthusiastic about the rivalry part of Endeavor's message and not about the Hero Killer part. She knew he would get serious if it came down to it, but she didn't like how cavalier he was being about it. The Hero Killer was a vile serial killer, and now that she thought about it, it was strange that Iida had gone to intern where the Hero Killer was known to be sticking around. Was that intentional? Was Iida planning something? A pit formed in Ochako's stomach as she realised that that must have been why he was so disturbed and depressed lately. Ochako doubled-down on her promise to say something to Iida if they ran into each other.

An upside to changing into her costume was noticing that the waist of the jumpsuit had more stretch to it than it had when she'd first started wearing it during their first heroics class. Ochako couldn't help but wear a goofy grin at that, and she buckled her costume's belt a little tighter than normal to make up for it. She hefted the attachments—the boots with shock-resistant cushions and spring-soles that made the shape of her leg bulky and round, the neck brace that clamped down on pressure points to reduce headaches, the wrist-guards that pressed down on different pressure points to prevent nausea, and the helmet that protected her face and protected her inner ears from the worst of her Quirk's side-effects—up and onto herself, and admired the pink and black ensemble that had become exactly as she'd first imagined it when submitting the design, now that it had become a bit looser around the stomach. She was all smiles as she regrouped with All Might in his personal office, which was bare and bland. Ochako figured that was fair, since he didn't exactly spend a lot of time there, since he was almost always out fighting bad guys when he was on the clock. All Might had changed into his costume much faster than Ochako had, and was waiting for her when she entered. She noted that he'd chosen to wear his Silver Age costume. Was he going for nostalgia, like during that first battle training class back at UA?

"Are you ready for the real world, Young Uraraka?" All Might asked, his booming voice sending shivers down Ochako's spine after getting used to the hollow, yet gentler voice of his true form.

"Yes," Ochako said. "If we can do some good and catch the Hero Killer, then accepting Endeavor's challenge is basically a given, right?"

"Exactly!" All Might's laugh rattled the window. He pressed a button, and it slid to the side, allowing him an easy exit right into the afternoon sky. "Now, grab on tight so you don't fall off!"

"Wait. I'm sorry?" Ochako asked, unwilling to accept that he meant what she thought he meant.

"Endeavor's already on his way, Young Uraraka—or Cosmo, now that we're in costume! We must proceed with haste!" All Might said with a thumb's up. He crouched down, and patted his own shoulder. "Climb on and I'll make sure you don't fall off!"

Just the prospect of accompanying All Might during one of his leaps that could cross cities made her want to curl up into a ball and cry. She didn't think she had a choice, though. If Ochako could be a part of something that helped catch the Hero Killer, the man who'd crippled her friend's brother and idol, and maybe even help that friend directly, too, then she was going to do it, no matter how scared she was of a little flying. That was the thought she repeated to herself as she screamed at the top of her lungs as the two of them soared through the airspace above Tokyo at the speed of sound.


Katsuki stepped out of the warp gate, and the cool evening air blew through his body like a wave of ice-cold water. He shivered, and brought his palms up to ignite with a few crackles and pops, warming up his hands and opening up his sweat glands to produce more of his nitro-sweat. It was always a pain in the ass using his Quirk when it was colder, so he used those little firecrackers to open his sweat glands and start building up his ammunition ahead of the show. He had to be careful not to make too much light or noise, though, since they'd seen the news that Endeavor and All Might themselves were in Hosu as they warped in. That was a pain, but Stain's response had been to simply admit that Endeavor was just a state-sponsored thug, a man who fought fire with fire, and that he would have ended up on the list eventually. He'd then gone off on a whole tirade about how he'd be glad for All Might to kill him, since it was only right that the one true hero was the one to show him he was better.

He looked out over the city from his vantage point atop one of the tall buildings, and thought that Hosu might not have been a terrible place to spend a night out. Katsuki's plan was going to be even better than just a night out, though, since he was finally going to get to kill Deku for all he'd done to ruin Katsuki's life. A villain was going to be exposed that night. Katsuki grinned as he savoured the thought. He turned to Nosy, who was crouching up on the water tower on the far side of the rooftop. Nosy was looking down at the street, sneering as he surveyed the city below them. Katsuki scoffed as he, too, observed the nobodies down there going about their lives with no ambition and no higher goals. They were just content to be nothing, which was why he knew he was better than them. Some of them used their Quirks to do things, but none of them sought mastery of their powers and of themselves, and that was what Katsuki hated about the average person. They were just that, average, and they didn't desire to be anything more than that. It was pathetic.

Getting acclimated to the temperature out in the city, rather than inside the bar where he spent most of his days, Katsuki realised that the outfit he'd put together rather hastily was working. It wasn't a complicated ensemble—his regular combination of black pants, his favourite skull shirt and the baggy black hoodie that always warmed him up. He'd put it all on so that he would sweat as much as possible, which was working, judging by the size of the firecrackers that he then produced as a test. To top it all off, Nosy had forced him to wear the red, ragged scarf that had previously been worn around his own neck, to conceal his identity. Katsuki had it pulled up over his mouth and nose, which did help in keeping him warm, too, but he was going to take it off as soon as they found Deku. He wanted that bastard to know who ended him. Nosy had insisted that if they were going to commit an act such as this, that anyone fighting on his side wore at least one thing that was red, and Katsuki hadn't had anything, so Nosy had volunteered his own crimson token for the night. Shockingly, it smelled fine, despite Katsuki's expectation that anything worn on the Hero Killer's body would reek of blood.

Katsuki checked his phone again. It was one of those ones that was untraceable, and it had shown up in his room at the bar a few days ago. He stared at the screen as it showed him Deku, in what looked like an upgraded version of the pathetic costume he'd been wearing the first time they fought back at UA. His lower face was covered, but the hair and eyes were identical to the last time that Katsuki had seen him, and it was the same general look as the nerd's first costume, just changed to be white, just like his hair. He would've dyed his hair just for synergy, the egotistical bastard that he was. It was a picture posted to social media about half an hour ago, of Deku in his awful costume walking next to Thirteen, the Space Hero, in the heart of Hosu. They'd been in the square that Katsuki and Nosy were looking down upon at that very moment, so they had to still be nearby, even if the two of them weren't right under their noses like he'd planned. That was fine. They could play a little bit of cat and mouse.

"Bakugo," Nosy called, and leapt down to the roof from the water tower. How he managed the feats of athleticism was beyond Katsuki. It had to be his Quirk. "I wish to speak with you about something before tonight's hunt begins."

"Spit it out, then," Katsuki groaned. He let out a few more firecrackers as he seethed at being delayed.

"A man's first hunt is important. It's a time of growth, evolution, rebirth. A man who hunts and purges a false hero will be changed forever. I first started on the path to my own rebirth when I was not much older than you are now. When that time came, and I tasted the blood of a false hero and cut him down, I chose a new name for myself. I assumed a new identity, and after fighting tooth and nail to become a new man, I named myself Stain. My conviction took form, that the only thing left of all these false heroes should be bloodstains that will never be washed away for as long as I live. I resolved to make them all see what I see. You must do the same. Make them see what you see. State your conviction. Be reborn with the spilling of blood," Nosy ranted.

That stoked something in Katsuki. He usually didn't buy into the nonsense about pro heroes being worthless if they were in it for money or fame, but Katsuki thought he could get into the stuff about becoming his best self through putting the little runt Deku out of his misery. Ending the problem that had been plaguing him since he was a child would bring about his ideal self, the perfect version of Katsuki Bakugo that was unrivalled. And he thought a new name would be good. He figured that Deku would've already chosen a hero name for himself, something lame and pathetic like All Might Junior or Mighty Man or something. Katsuki had had a few hero names picked out since he was young, and had been eagerly awaiting the day that he could use one of them. But which should he pick?

"King Explosion Murder."

"Wrong," Nosy said, causing Katsuki to stare at him and shout wordlessly. "You need a name that inspires fear in the guilty and awe in the innocent, a name that encompasses who you are and who you wish to be. The name of the new man you'll become is a promise of what you'll bring to the world. What will that man be called?"

Katsuki didn't have an answer. If King Explosion Murder hadn't been right, then none of the other hero names he'd had on standby would work either. He shoved it to the back of his mind with a scoff, and turned away from Nosy. The Hero Killer luckily got the message before things got loud, and moved on from the topic quickly. Katsuki ignored him for a moment and reloaded the page on his phone, discovering a new picture had been uploaded by a fan account of Thirteen. He'd filtered his search results for any mention of Thirteen, or any sidekick or intern they had with them, so he found it easily. It was a picture uploaded a few minutes ago, featuring a man in a Thirteen merchandise t-shirt throwing up a peace sign with his free hand, and for some reason the guy had pulled Deku into the photo as well, and both Deku and Thirteen had mirrored the guy's peace sign. The scumbag Deku had the audacity to look bashful, judging by the upper part of his face, the part that was exposed. Katsuki would expose more than just his face that night. He'd expose the whole web of lies and brainwashed cult of heroes he was forming around himself, too. He swore he'd take down the piece of trash.

"Would you look at that!" Katsuki said, barking out a laugh as he noticed a building in the background of the picture. "They're at a hero agency."

"Which of Hosu's so-called heroes have they gone to indoctrinate now?" Nosy asked with a bitter edge to his voice.

"Looks like it's the Normal Hero, Manual's place," Katsuki read aloud from the comments, which featured one fan of Thirteen lamenting that she was nearby there but couldn't go to meet her hero.

"Hmm. A relatively powerful hydrokinetic, less than ten sidekicks, ranked two-hundred-twenty-second in the country. His agency is small, but efficient. Manual is known for his humility, and his kindness. If he's consorting with the likes of Izuku Midoriya, the boy must see some kernel of evil in him that I don't. We must purge them all. Midoriya, Thirteen, Manual, his sidekicks. All of them," Nosy rattled off.

"Sounds like a good time," Katsuki said with a vicious grin.

Katsuki scrolled through the Normal Agency's page. He spotted a familiar suit of armour in one of the pictures, and smirked. He scrolled down a little further, to the beginning of the week. Three days ago, the Normal Agency had made a post welcoming a UA hero student and a participant in the all-out brawl of the recent sports festival's final tournament, Tenya. Katsuki wondered what kind of hero name Tenya was supposed to be, but then he remembered that that was the guy's name. What a loser, couldn't even come up with a hero name. He threw the phone to Nosy and he caught it, looking at the screen with narrowed eyes that then widened as he recognised the signature look of the inherited Ingenium brand.

"Looks like you didn't put Ingenium down for good, huh?" Katsuki said, giving Nosy a smug grin.

"Izuku Midoriya wishes to bring Manual to his side, and the successor of the false idol Ingenium is influencing the Normal Hero through an internship. Endeavor, the man with the most resolved incidents in history to his name, who solves violence with more violence and stokes the flames of hatred with his every action, has made it public that he and his famous son aim to capture me tonight. All Might, who he has challenged to do the very same thing, arrived in Hosu mere minutes ago," Stain said, tossing Katsuki back the phone to reveal he'd navigated to a post from a bystander who'd been there when Endeavor and All Might had agreed upon the terms of their hunt for Nosy, and Katsuki by association, timestamped to two minutes ago. That icy hot bastard from UA and Deku's stupid bitch where there with them, and Katuski guessed they were who he meant by Endeavor and All Might's interns. "The Symbol of Peace is accompanied by his very own first intern, the girl who nearly beat Endeavor's child in UA's government-funded carnival of children brutalising each other for sport. Our hunt has woven many threads together on this night. A tapestry of blood and death is being woven together in Hosu City, and we will be at the centre of it. Are you prepared to emerge on the other side as a new man, Katsuki Bakugo, or will you die trying?" Nosy preached.

"Don't call me that tonight," Katsuki said, feeling it was right to decide upon a new name before his hunt truly began.

"Ah, so is it time to declare your conviction?" Nosy asked, his deformed face lighting up in anticipation.

"Nothing will remain of Deku, and his scum friends who buy into his lies. By the time I'm done with them, they'll be nothing but ashes and cinders in the wind. I'll cleanse the world of his filth, and put down any fake hero who gets in my way if I have to. Deku's villainy ends tonight. That's my conviction," Katsuki said, overlooking the city as the scarf fluttered around him in the wind.

"Very well, then!" Stain grinned. "Should you survive the night, you will no longer be Katsuki Bakugo. Once your hunt concludes, whether by killing your prey or retreating for now, you shall be reborn. If you see the sun rise, you will meet it as a new man—Cinder!"

Katsuki's smile was wide as he took in the name. Cinder.

"Let's go purge some fake heroes."