Ryukyu couldn't believe it.
She had seen this kind of destruction once before, only a few short years ago in Shizouka. That villain had been defeated, that villain was rehabilitated.
So why was she looking at the destroyed Detrenat building that showed signs of that very same villain being the cause of it?
"Ryukyu!" Uravity called as she floated down from the fifth story, "We have a lot of casualties! We already have EMS and Fire on their way. Froppy is currently giving what first aid she can."
"What did this?" She asked softly, "Was it Bane?"
"No," she sighed, motioning over to where a small group of heroes stood, staring down at a white sheet stained in blood. "Dynamight and Red Riot took whoever it was down; we don't even know if this rampage was a willing one or not - his entire body was changed."
"Show me." Ryukyu ordered quietly, following her sidekick over to the other heroes, her eyes drifting over the caved in walls, the giant hole in the floor, and the multiple dead civilians who were slowly being covered. "Best Jeanist," she greeted the number three hero, "what happened here?"
"A lot of destruction," he said blandly, kneeling down and pulling the sheet back, revealing a man whose face seemed permanently contorted in agony. His skin appeared non-existent: muscles, tendons and cartilage were exposed to the air, one arm had bulked up more than the other, leaving the man looking lopsided.
"He was a mailroom worker downstairs," Jeanist said grimly, "not many survived his initial rampage, but the ones that did said he had received a gift of chocolate and assumed it was from his girlfriend working up in the cafeteria. Obviously it wasn't since he ended up transforming almost instantaneously and began destroying and killing everything in sight."
"How did he die?" she questioned.
"Heart gave out," he began, "before that he was easily matching Dynamight and Red Riot in terms of strength."
"This grotesque transformation...the rage...could it have been Bane?" she muttered to herself.
"It wasn't Bane."
Ryukyu looked to Dynamight, the young hero was glaring down at the dead body, a haunted look in his eyes. "What makes you say that?" she asked curiously.
Dynamight sneered, "Bane may have been a monster, but he was an honorable monster," he growled out, "he never harmed anyone who wasn't a hero or helping a hero...and he never experimented on anyone other than himself. This isn't his M.O."
"But it does fit his chemicals." Jeanist finished for him, "and I for one would feel much better if we eliminated him as a suspect...but that talk can be had at another time. For now there's people in need of saving. Dynamight, Red Riot, get to work."
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"The attack on the Detrenat building was one of several that were carried out throughout the course of the day," Nezu said as he looked at the heroes sitting around them. Most were UA teachers, but several were a part of the top ten heroes of the country, including Best Jeanist, Ryukyu and Miruko. "All of these attacks can be linked by the beings who initiated them," he pressed a button on his chair and several holographic pictures were projected into the air, showing the dead bodies of the drugged assailants.
"Those things killed a lot of people," Miruko sneered, "I hope they're rotting in hell."
"Those people were transformed against their will," Best Jeanist rebutted, fitting her with a harsh glare, "They're victims, just as much if not more so then the ones who were killed."
"The question we have to ask is why," Ryukyu said, "why would someone drug seven people and have them go on rampages in seemingly random places?"
"And what drug were they given?" Aizawa muttered, making everyone look at the man, "we're all thinking about it, the transformations, the rage… it's all very reminiscent of Bane."
As he said the name, Nezu brought up two more pictures, side by side. On one side, the display showed what looked to be security footage of a gigantic man in a luchador mask, a slim pack filled with red liquid secured to his back with a hose leading directly into the base of his skull; his physique reminded them of All-Might in his hay day, wearing only a stretched tight black muscle shirt and blue jeans, with studded fingerless gloves on his hands. On the right side was a prison mugshot of a young man with his hair sheared short; his face was rugged and harsh, with a patchwork of scars on the right side of his cheek and neck, as if an explosion had gone off right beside him.
"This drug is nowhere near the same as Bane's Venom." Midnight pointed out, "Bane was still able to keep his intelligence, and he had to have a steady supply streamed into his body to keep it working."
"Who's to say he hasn't invented a new strain?" Aizawa countered, "he's been out on probation for over a year now, and for all we know he's gone back to his old ways."
"He hasn't," All-Might objected, the skeletal man standing, "I've checked in on the young man since he was released. He's rehabilitated, keeping to his probation, and has been a model citizen-"
"-model citizens don't murder six people and injure another twenty three." Aizawa said coldly.
"And your hands are clean, are they, Aizawa?" All-Might asked angrily, "or have you forgotten the bodies you stacked down in the Yakuza Tunnels-"
"Enough," Nezu said, giving both men stern glares, "All-Might is right," he began, "Young Midoriya has been nothing but a model parolee since his release...however, Aizawa is right to suspect the young man. I myself will be going to speak with him on this matter; if he's a part of this then we can stop him before any other attacks happen, but if it's not him then we may very well have an experienced chemist who can help us find out who did this. Are there any objections?"
No one spoke, Miruko had her arms crossed and an angry expression on her visage, Best Jeanist simply nodded in understanding.
"I would like to go along with you," Ryukyu said, stepping forward, "if he is our quarry then you'll need strength to stop him. I'll also be bringing my protege Uravity."
"I see no objections," Nezu said jovially, "let's get to it."
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Izuku Midoriya quietly stocked shelves in a small convenience store, doing his best not to clench his fist as he heard the owner arguing with his son.
"-there is no reason to fire him! He is a great worker and a boon to have in this store while you're off gallivanting!"
"He's a villain!" the son spat out, "he's killed who knows how many people, I don't want him working this close to you and the rest of our family-"
"-the man has made mistakes in his life," The older man said gruffly, "and he's shown me nothing but hard work and a will to be better!"
"Monsters like him don't deserve a second chance! Look, you've already stepped down from ownership of this place and gave it to me, so what I say is final, he's out of here."
Izuku let his broad shoulders slump at those words, silently finishing his task and turning at the exact moment the door to the office opened.
Rin Tatsumaki was only a few years older than he was, dressed in a gray suit with his black hair slicked back. He looked at Izuku like he was shit that he stepped on in the sidewalk.
"I want you off the property in five minutes." he said, "you're no longer-"
"-I heard," Izuku interrupted, his voice barely above a whisper, "and I'm guessing there's nothing I could say to you for you to change your mind."
"Nothing at all, now get going, filth."
Izuku undid the apron he wore and pushed it into the man's stomach, with enough force behind the move to wind the man slightly.
"That could be construed as assault," he wheezed out, glaring as the large man began to walk out.
"All I did was hand it to you," Izuku said innocently, pushing a bit of his hair out of his face, "not my fault you're weak, amigo."
"Why you-"
"Enough, Rin!" the owner snapped, hobbling out of his office. Abe Tatsumaki was an older man, stooped and weak in his limbs; but what he didn't have in physical strength, he made up for with strength of character. "You've already ruined the man's life. No need to do more."
Rin scowled as Abe stepped forward, pulling an envelope out of his pocket. "Here, young Midoriya," he said gently, forcing the stoic man to take it, "to tide you over until you find another job."
"I can't accept this-" Izuku started.
"-you can and you will," Abe interrupted sternly, "for what it's worth I thought you were an excellent worker, and wish you all the luck in the world."
"T-thank you, Mr. Tatsumaki." Izuku said with a respectful bow.
"Think nothing of it," the old man said as Izuku walked out, carefully putting the envelope into his pocket as he walked down the sidewalk, hands in his pockets; many other pedestrians were giving him a wide berth, some whispering behind their hands to each other.
"Isn't that?
"It is! I can't believe he's out on the street."
"Let's cross the street just in case."
"He might snap at any moment..."
Izuku heard it all, and forced his anger down once more. "They're right to say it," he muttered as he rounded the corner, stopping short as he found two very familiar men in his way.
"Mr. Yagi," Izuku greeted warmly, his voice turning cold as he looked to the one beside him, "Aizawa."
"Young Midoriya," Toshinori greeted, ignoring Aizawa's scoff, "it's good to see you, son, I thought you didn't get off until four?"
"Was let go," Izuku said with a nonchalant shrug, his hand resting over the parting gift Tatsumaki gave him, "needed to find a new job anyways."
"What's that in your pocket?" Aizawa demanded to know, cutting off any kind of condolence that All-Might could give.
"None of your business, that's what." Izuku said bluntly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get home-" he stopped talking as slender hands grabbed his arm and spun him around, slamming him into the wall. "Get your fucking hands off me!" he snarled, already starting to struggle, stopping when a capture scarf wrapped around his frame and a large clawed hand planted itself by his head.
"There's no need for this!" Toshinori exclaimed angrily.
"I disagree. Uravity, What is it?" Aizawa asked his unknown assailant as they pulled the envelope out of his pocket.
"Envelope full of money," a female voice said, "where'd you get this kind of cash?"
"It was given to me." Izuku muttered.
"Well, aren't people generous nowadays," Aizawa snorted, "giving over eighty thousand yen for no reason. Seems likely. Where'd you really get it?"
"I'm telling the truth." Izuku grunted, wincing when Uravity pushed his arm up.
"Enough of this. Uravity, Aizawa, let him go."
The voice of Nezu had Izuku's muscles loosening as Aizawa's capture scarf retreated and Uravity let him go. Izuku turned around, receiving and returning a glare to Uravity. "Didn't think it was a crime carrying money around," Izuku said, looking up at Nezu, who was standing on Ryukyu's shoulder as the dragon heroine shrank down to regular size.
"It isn't," Nezu said, "and while I don't approve of the unnecessary force, you have to admit you were being secretive about what you had."
"I know my rights," Izuku muttered, "they've been read to me several times, after all."
"Indeed," Nezu said, "best to get straight to the point, there have been attacks this morning, all of them with their own body count."
"And the drug used for the attack is suspiciously familiar to your own," Aizawa said pointedly.
Izuku looked at all of them, bewildered. "You think I'm the one who orchestrated them," he said with a roll of his eyes, "Can't I get one fuckin' break today?"
"I, for one, have full faith that Young Midoriya was not a part of those attacks," Toshinori said immediately, glaring at Aizawa.
"As do I," Nezu said, looking at a tablet in his hands, "especially since his probation officer reports that Midoriya was in a meeting with him this morning at the time of the attacks."
"Great, can I go now?" Izuku asked.
"Not yet," Nezu said, "I wanted you to take a look at a sample of one of the victims, see if you can't make out what was used."
Izuku hesitated, then sighed, "Fine." he grunted, pushing past Aizawa and Uravity, "follow me into my office."
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Uraraka looked around the two story house in surprise. She was expecting a one-time villain like Bane to live in some small apartment, but the house he had led them to was decent, with children's toys strewn about the mostly clean floor, and drawings covering the fridge in the kitchen.
"My shop is downstairs," Izuku said to them as he grabbed what looked to be a lab coat off a nearby coat rack, putting it on as he input a code into a nearby door, with a pop of a lock disengaging it swung open.
"How does a minimum wage shop assistant get a house like this?" Uraraka whispered quietly to Ryukyu.
"Grandfather left it to me," Izuku said, making her jump in surprise.
"How did you-"
"You're way too loud," he muttered, walking down the stairs with the small group following him. They soon reached a second door, this one metal; when Izuku input the code it slid open with a quiet hiss, revealing a medium sized room full of sciency looking equipment and chemicals.
"Stay out of my research," he grumbled as he pulled a microscope off a nearby shelf, set it on the table and turned. "Do you have the sample?"
"Right here," Nezu said, pulling out a small vial of blood and handing it to Izuku, who went about preparing the sample while the other heroes looked around.
"You've been busy since the last time I've come down," Toshinori said, looking at several vials sitting in a locked glass case, the green liquid inside sparkling in the fluorescent light, "are these the final product?"
Izuku glanced over. "Yes," he said, a small smile gracing his lips, making the man look less like a thug looking for a fight, and more like a proud father looking at a picture of his children. "I've already sent the research notes and a sample to Yaoyorozu Industries. Hopefully, they'll actually look into it instead of throwing it in an incinerator when they see my name on it."
"Young Yaoyorozu isn't one to throw out good ideas," Toshinori said encouragingly.
"What is it?" Uraraka asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"D-233432-1," Izuku said as he carefully started looking into the microscope, "it's a serum for people whose quirks require certain levels of energy. Think of it as an energy shot, only ten times stronger. People like Nejire-Chan could feasibly take it and use their quirks for hours without any kind of drawback."
"And what's this?" Ryukyu asked, gesturing to another glass case and another set of vials, these ones filled with a purple liquid.
Izuku spared a glance. "D233431-4," he said, going back to his work, "quirk suppressant for people whose quirks are too unwieldy to handle."
"If I remember correctly you created that for Young Eri, did you not?" Nezu asked.
Izuku nodded. "She doesn't take it much anymore, she has a much better handle on her quirk, but I figured it wasn't a bad Idea to improve upon the formula, and now it's grape flavored."
"You're a saint." Aizawa said sarcastically, making Izuku's hand twitch.
"Never said I was one," he muttered distractedly, eyes narrowing as he examined the blood. "This...what is this…?" he said quietly.
"What did you find?" Nezu asked.
"I'm not sure. There's some kind of compound attached to the blood cells that shouldn't be there." He zoomed in on it, "it's replicating and mutating as we speak."
"Is it dangerous?" Toshinori asked worriedly.
Izuku shook his head, "No, it looks like it needs fresh blood to transfer, but that's not stopping the cellular divide and replication." He leaned back and scratched his jaw. "It's reminiscent of some of my early attempts at creating Venom, but it's definitely not any of those trials."
"How can you be sure?" Ryukyu questioned.
"Because all of the trials and prototypes were destroyed," Izuku said, "I threw them into the incinerator because of just how dangerous those variants were. None of them were lethal, mind you, but they definitely would've altered someone's physiology and mental state to the point of being irreparable...but all of that was unstable, it wouldn't work nine times out of ten and even when it did, it wasn't anywhere close to being effective.'
"Is there any way someone could've replicated your research?" Nezu asked.
"No, no way. Like I said, I would burn prototypes and research on these as soon as I could. And I was the only one with access to my former lab before it was destroyed." he ran a hand through his hair, "But this is too close to be a coincidence…give me a few days, I'll run some tests and see if I can't find out just what this crap is able to do-"
"We can't leave him alone with evidence like that." Aizawa interrupted.
"At least not unsupervised yes," Nezu said, giving Izuku an apologetic smile, "Sorry Young Midoriya, but you are still technically a parolee, and per the rules of your parole you are not allowed to create Venom or any variants of it. However, since this is a special circumstance, I will allow you to keep this sample to run tests, provided a member of either Ryukyu's agency or UA Highschool is here to monitor your work."
"I'd rather Ryukyu be here than anyone from UA," Izuku said, crossing his arms, "I'm okay with Toshi being here because he's usually here, but you'd probably see that as a conflict of interest-"
"You're not wrong," Aizawa muttered.
"And I hate Aizawa's guts so he's out," Izuku said, making the man glower at him, "like that was some big secret," he scoffed.
"Uravity can stay here for guard duty," Ryukyu said, making everyone look at her in surprise, "She's one of my most trusted sidekicks, and I know she won't have any problem dealing with Midoriya should things turn violent."
Izuku rolled his eyes. "Why not just go find another chemist?" he grumbled, "I'm sure it'd be preferable to working with an ex-con."
"Preferable, maybe," Nezu said honestly, "but you're the best at what you do, Midoriya, and I know I can trust you; besides, this could very well turn to your favor when it comes to your parole."
Izuku sighed. "Fine," he muttered, "but she can't be hovering over my shoulder the entire time."
"I won't." Uraraka said firmly, "I'll sit in the corner of the room out of your way, but if anything suspicious happens-"
"-it won't." Izuku interrupted, "Now, I'd like some quiet so I can start testing this."
"Of course," Nezu said, "Come along Ryukyu, Aizawa."
The two heroes walked out while Toshinori stepped up to Izuku, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I'll be back at four," he said, "and I'll pick up Eri for you."
"Thank you, Toshi, I'm glad I can count on you," Izuku said quietly.
'Think nothing of it, son," Toshinori said, giving Uraraka a small nod as he went up the stairs.
"Why does All-Might have so much faith in you?" Uraraka asked, looking at Izuku as he started gathering chemicals and beakers.
"He's been a father figure of mine for years now," Izuku said, not looking up from his work as he measured and mixed chemicals. "He was dating my mother up until she passed, and he stuck around after."
"So why did you...you know...become Bane?" she asked hesitantly.
She had heard the stories. Bane had burst onto the scene her first year and had quickly made a reputation for not only being immensely strong, but smart as well. He had aided in several bank heists and villain fights, and had even been a part of the attack on the summer camp in that same year. He had been a figure of terror to everyone, especially after he had crippled the Number 2 hero Endeavor and killing off two pro heroes who had arrived on scene to help in their second year. It hadn't been until his attack on a yakuza cell and subsequent fight with All-Might in the closing days of the number one hero's career that he was finally brought to justice. In all that time, no one knew his true motives.
Izuku rolled his shoulders, giving her a glance. "My reasons are my own," he said firmly, "that's all you need to know."
Uraraka sighed and leaned back. This is gonna be such an awkward assignment.