Sorry that this has taken so long- to tell the truth I simply lost all motivation to write for a few weeks, and then just as I regained it I caught COVID. Still, it's finished now and the schedule will hopefully pick up again.

Fun fact: when I decided I was going to write an MHA crossover this was not my only idea. I also considered a Skulduggery Pleasant crossover, with the titular Skeleton Detective getting similar treatment to Red Hood in this, and an alternate Legacy where it was a couple of Batman villains rather than Jason. Still, it's nice to have something without complicated powers.

Either way, I hope you enjoy.

Sitting tied to a chair, Izuku wondered if Shinsou was regretting taking the hand Aizawa had offered. Personally Izuku thought it was a bit much to test stealth and improvisational thinking by staging a hostage rescue situation with an excessive number of the exam robots, but since he wasn't the one currently being pummelled by a pretend kidnapper he'd let it slide for now. Izuku had spliced the cameras in the Training Ground into a small HUD on his helmet, so he had the dubious pleasure of watching Shinsou awkwardly roll under the robot that had him pinned to a wall and smash the off button with rather more force than precision.

"He's definitely improving," Aizawa said, linked into the same camera system and still on Izuku's communicator, "He might actually make it to you on this attempt."

Izuku sighed, just loud enough to be picked up. In only one way had Aizawa been merciful to Shinsou: the scenario lasted for fifteen minutes after Shinsou was spotted, to give him a chance to get to Izuku. After those fifteen minutes Izuku was 'executed', and they had to start again after a short break. Having been sat in this chair for almost two hours, Izuku was almost ready to free and rescue himself.

"You said that on the last two attempts, sir."

In Shinsou's defence, he couldn't have predicted that half a dozen robots would ambush him on his last attempt. If there was a flaw to the AI the robots used, it was that sometimes it was a lot smarter than anyone would like.

"At least I told him about the off button. How long do you think you would be there if he didn't know about that?"

"I'm sure he would have figured it out, sir," Izuku said, mainly because someone had to express faith in Shinsou and Aizawa certainly wasn't doing much of it. Aizawa grunted thoughtfully- he'd been running through various scenarios with Izuku to pass the time, although he hadn't commented on Izuku's solutions much.

"I suppose there's one advantage to his approach," Aizawa commented as they watched Shinsou clumsily body-slam a robot and hit it over the head until he caught the off button, "At least there'll be a clear path out."

Izuku didn't comment on that, although it was true enough. Given that most hostage Heroes had probably caught a fairly severe beating either before or after their capture having a clear exit route was a good idea. Izuku suspected that Shinsou hadn't thought of that, though, it was just that his stealth wasn't on a high enough level to avoid the robots. Not that they were particularly easy to sneak past, at the moment- Izuku was fairly sure that Aizawa had put them on a level suited to an end of year First Year student. Aizawa very obviously believed in sink or swim teaching methods. Aizawa was quiet for a few minutes as they watched Shinsou continue. Izuku idly pulled at his bonds, testing them. He could always pop the blades on his gauntlets and cut his way free, but that would be boring- and not something he could rely on.

"Not to question you, sir, but do I really need to be tied up?" he asked. Aizawa made an amused noise down the mic.

"It's to keep you in place and make sure that you don't make it easier for Shinsou. Or harder. And it's testing your patience."

Izuku didn't make the comment that it definitely was testing his patience, much as he wanted to. Aizawa made a thoughtful noise as against a wall for a moment, visibly catching his breath.

"Maybe I should convince All Might to run this exercise for your whole class," he said, tone musing, "Although they'll probably manage this version fairly easily."

Izuku imagined giving Bakugo fifteen minutes to stage a rescue and nodded to himself. Fifteen minutes was more than enough time for his classmates to annihilate the robots and rescue the 'hostage'.

"There's a Third Year version of this exercise," Aizawa said, continuing his train of thought and breaking Izuku's, "That's more difficult. But I'm not supposed to put students into impossible situations, so changing the grace period to a minute might be too much. Most of your class aren't suited to hostage situations anyway."

Izuku didn't say anything, carefully testing his bindings. He didn't make the mistake of thinking that Aizawa couldn't see him, but Aizawa didn't say anything, choosing instead to speculate on how Class 1-A might manage in a hostage situation.

"Todoroki's 'freeze everything' strategy might work, depending on the hostage taker," Aizawa said thoughtfully, "If the hostage and the villain are separated. But if the villain has a gun, or a ranged Quirk, then it would probably just provoke them. Iida, perhaps, but negotiating is his weakness. Very much his weakness. Not that it's unique to him."

"Aren't hostage situations usually resolved by specially trained people, sir?" Izuku asked. Jason's training had involved a bit of hostage negotiation, but a lot of the Gotham Rogues Gallery hadn't really bothered. Either they had a psychosis that could be exploited or, like the Joker, they tended to just outright murder their hostages before anyone could even begin to reach them. Batman's foes had tended to use hostages as distractions, more than anything else.

"Usually, yes," Aizawa said, answering his actual question, "But it depends on the situation and on the Hero attending. There are hostage situation trained Heroes, but sometimes others just go in gung-ho. If they're careful, and lucky, it can work out."

Izuku noticed that Aizawa didn't say what happened when those heroes weren't careful or lucky, but he could guess. After all, if you had a gun to the head of some civilian- how long did it take to pull the trigger when your door was kicked down? How long did it take to plunge in a knife? The Joker, Izuku remembered with a twisting sensation of past fear in his chest, had liked to poison his hostages and leave them dying. Force Bruce to make a choice, saving the hostages or chasing the Joker. Izuku closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose, suppressing the memories. He hadn't expected to have any real reaction to being tied up, but hostages, the Joker, being tied up…Izuku breathed in, held it, let it go slowly, recentred himself. Jason's fears. Jason's memories. Not his.

"Usually we get Midnight to demonstrate an effective hostage retrieval," Aizawa said, unaware of Izuku's brief episode, "Since her Quirk is well suited to it. Maybe I can have the Third Years demonstrate instead, kill two birds with one stone. Out of interest, how many guards do you think you have?"

The corridor immediately outside the room didn't have any cameras in, so Izuku was forced to guess. However, Shinsou had gotten this far once before, before being dogpiled, and the robots weren't quiet or subtle.

"Three, I think?"

Aizawa grunted, a neutral noise that didn't indicate if he was correct or not. Izuku pulled at the rops keeping him in place, feeling them twist slightly. If they'd been pressing against his bare skin he'd probably have a nasty rope-burn, he thought as the loop around his left wrist loosened enough for him to slip his hand free. Correction- his right hand would have a nasty rope-burn. His left would be just fine.

"Not bad," Aizawa said, "Took a lot longer than I expected. Going to try to escape, Midoriya?"

Izuku turned his gauntlet over, twisting his wrist to make sure that his gauntlets hadn't been damaged.

"No, sir. No point when Shinsou is probably going to make it this time."

"You think he's up to facing three robots at the same time?" Aizawa asked, sceptical. Izuku shook his head.

"He's been trying to sneak around them, sir. He just needs to lure them away."

"Trying and failing," Aizawa growled, "Although he tries, I'll give him that. He's got the right ideas, at least. About as good as I expected."

Izuku forbore to point out that Aizawa didn't sound like Shinsou was meeting his expectations. Since there was no camera to watch Shinsous current progress Izuku was forced to lean against the door, listening carefully. The guards clanked quietly, marching back and forth. Well, rolling back and forth, mostly. Two one-pointer robots and a two pointer, if he had to guess. He pictured the corridor in his mind, the two-pointer standing just outside his door while the two others marched back and forth. Back and forth.

In theory, flinging open the door would buy Izuku all the time he needed to take all three down. The robots had a slight delay programmed in, to simulate surprise in a sentient being, so Izuku could use that to take down the two-pointer. Two one-pointers would be easy prey afterwards. But this was Shinsou's exercise- and really, in a real situation the door would be locked. Izuku decided to pretend that was the case, instead looking around the room for a vent, or a door, or some other way of exiting.

There weren't any vents, sadly enough, but Izuku thought he might have found a way out regardless. The ceiling of the room was false, with broad foam squares making a bland pattern along it. Izuku climbed up onto the chair he'd been tied to, carefully putting a boot on the back of the chair and balancing precariously on one leg. The blood beat harder in his head, the concentration straining him before he found an equilibrium and could reach up.

"What are you doing, Midoriya?" Aizawa asked, more curious than anything. Izuku huffed out a breath and planted his hands against one of the ceiling squares, pushing hard. It lifted, popping up, and he grinned.

"Finding another way out, sir. Just in case."

Aizawa made an exhausted noise- Izuku didn't have any other way to describe it- but didn't say anything as Izuku reached up, curling his fingers around the frame that held the false ceiling in place and lifting himself. His helmeted head poked through into a dark, dusty space and Izuku made a mental note to add an actual torch to his equipment. Thermal vision was well and good, but options were always better. He squinted, peering through the murk and grinning to himself when he saw that the walls didn't stretch into this cavity. Satisfied, he lowered himself back through the gap, dropping to the ground just as the door opened and an exhausted Shinsou almost fell in. Izuku caught him by instinct, steadying the taller boy.

"You alright there, Shinsou?"

Shinsou made a fairly pathetic wheezing noise, like a squeaky toy on its very last leg, and Izuku blinked in alarm.

"Just so we're clear, sir," he said, trying to gauge if Shinsou was likely to collapse or not, "If he faints, then…"

"Carry him out, yes. Or drag him. I don't mind."

Shinsou looked up at Izuku from his hunched over position. Izuku gave him an awkward shrug.

"I don't recommend you pass out," he said. Shinsou wheezed again and flapped a hand at Izuku, slowly straightening. That was a good sign- if Shinsou had fainted Izuku probably wouldn't have been able to carry him. A disadvantage of being several inches shorter than the other boy.

"There we go," Izuku said cheerfully. He tilted his head as Aizawa spoke again.

"Alright, carry him out. He's done enough for today. You can carry him, right?"

Izuku carefully turned Shinsou around, slinging the taller boys arm over his shoulders and taking most of his weight.

"I can carry him, sir."

Shinsou wasn't a dead weight, his feet slowly settling in front of him as they made their way out of the building, but he was exhausted. He'd pushed himself further than was probably wise, most likely in his determination to not let Aizawa down. Izuku could sympathise with feeling the need to push yourself as far as you could go, at least.

"Shouldn't we be fighting robots?" Shinsou muttered, slurring slightly in his tiredness. Izuku snorted.

"You're in no condition to be fighting robots," he said, "And trying to fight robots with one hand is harder than it sounds."

If he'd had his guns, it probably wouldn't be too tough. He was fairly sure that the adhesive rounds would gum up the basic robots very effectively. Idly, Izuku wondered if Shinsou had noticed the metal hardness of the arm that was holding him up. He might well have given away his identity, but he supposed that was information gathering in and of itself.

"I've deactivated the robots, Midoriya," Aizawa said into his ear, "Though I was tempted to leave them active and see how you did."

How would he have dealt with that, Izuku wondered. He'd have to put Shinsou down, he concluded, and eliminate all the robots before continuing. It would have been a nuisance. Aizawa was waiting for them when they made it to the doorway, and he nodded at them both. Shinsou, slowly recoverin, perked up as Aizawa nodded at them.

"Good work, Shinsou," he said, "Put him over there, Hood."

Izuku carried Shinsou over to the bench that Aizawa had indicated, setting him down and retreating a few steps. Aizawa gave Shinsou a thoughtful, assessing look.

"Not bad," he said, "Now, let's move on to information gathering."

Izuku wasn't sure how he'd been roped into a mass video call the first night of his internship. Well, no, that was wrong. He knew how. Mina, Tsuyu and Kirishima had asked, and he wasn't very good at saying no to them. It wasn't as though it would hurt, he'd thought, to keep up with what his friends were doing. And a couple more people ducked in as well- Yaoyorozu, unenthusiastic about being more like a model than a Hero. Kaminari, always cheerful, and Uraraka. Uraraka probably hadn't meant to all but kill the mood, but when they were almost done and she'd spoken about Iida…well, they were all worried about him. And now that he'd done some more research, Izuku was worried as well.

"Something to say, Midoriya?" Aizawa asked, keeping one tired but sharp eye on Shinsou as the other student ran laps. Izuku folded his arms across his chest, feeling the comforting weight of his vambraces pressing against his chest.

"Some of us had a video call last night," he said, careful and probing. Aizawa raised an eyebrow, a silent invitation to continue.

"Uraraka said that she's worried about Iida," Izuku continued, "And she wanted to know if I'd speak to you about it."

Aizawa sighed, a sour noise of tiredness, before speaking again. His voice was particularly rough today, a harshness like boots crunching through dry sand coating his tones.

"You've already done some research, I take it?"

Izuku nodded slowly.

"I…yes. Uraraka said that Iida's working with Manual, who's based in Hosu. Hosu's where Iida's brother was attacked by the Hero Killer Stain, and Stain's a pattern killer. He's never left an area without at least three attacks, and so far Ingenium was the only one."

Aizawa scraped a hand down his chin, fingernails rasping against stubble and a sardonic grin curling the edges of his mouth.

"And here I was thinking that only a couple of your class would be trouble."

Izuku didn't really have a good response to that, but Aizawa didn't seem to be expecting one.

"Manual is a competent hero," Aizawa said slowly, "He has to be, to pass the vetting process for taking on an intern. But I don't know anything more than that. Whether he can keep up with Iida…normally, we teachers are encouraged to let our students make mistakes on their internships. Builds character."

Aizawa turned his head, watching Shinsou's running with a critical gaze before continuing. Shinsou was on his final lap, flagging a little but still pushing gamely onwards.

"But getting killed by a serial killer isn't just a mistake. I need to know more about Manual before I can make assumptions. I'll contact his agency and find out when he's going on patrol, we can run a joint patrol. It'll be good for both you and Shinsou to see how a patrol works, and it'll give us time to assess Manual and Iida."

Aizawa cut off as Shinsou came towards them, his laps finished. He was breathing heavily, hair already slick with sweat, but he was recovering. Aizawa lazily threw a bottle of water to him.

"Drink slowly," he advised, "You'll make yourself sick otherwise. Hood, I have something for you as well."

Aizawa turned and picked a briefcase from the ground near to his feet, handing it over. Shinsou drifted closer, an expression of curiosity on his face as Izuku knelt and popped open the case.

"Ah," he murmured, excitement and satisfaction mingling into a warm thickness in his chest. Shinsou briefly choked on his water.

"Are those-"

"Looks like it," Izuku said, reaching into the case and prying one of the handguns from the moulded foam interior. Safety checks, running over the safety, make sure that it was unloaded before he spun it on his finger, on his palm, testing the weight and balance. A sharp, wolfish smile settled onto his face, curling his lips and baring his teeth.

"Power Loader told me that he'll have two more ready in the next few weeks, but rushed those through in case you need them," Aizawa said. Izuku nodded slowly, dissecting the gun in his hands and piecing it back together with quick, sure movements. Shinsou edged even closer.

"Is that…is that safe?"

"It's a gun, of course not," Izuku absently replied, "But the safety's on, it's unloaded and I haven't pointed it at anyone, so we're as safe as we're going to get."

Satisfied with the state of the weapon, Izuku put it back into the moulded plastic. There was a holster to match, but it could stay there for the moment. There were also full magazines with strips of colour along the tops, indicating their payloads.

"So what bullets have you got?" Aizawa asked, his curiosity evidently overcoming his general reticence. Izuku scanned the sheaf of paper that had come with the weapons, nodding to himself.

"This one," he said, picking up a magazine with a strip of white across the top of the black plastic, "Holds adhesive impact rounds."

He glanced up at Shinsou, elaborating for the sake of the other student.

"Essentially, they contain a compressed mixture that expands into a sticky foam on contact with the air. It's breathable and breaks down in roughly an hour or so, but it's good for holding people in place. I don't think it would hold someone like All Might or even someone weaker, but it's a good start."

Izuku waited for the quick nod from Shinsou before continuing.

"The yellow stripes are Neural Disruptor rounds, although they're mine. They release a small electrical pulse on impact, calibrated to disrupt the nervous system. These are mine- they're not nearly as powerful as the ones Hatsume designed, but that makes them a lot safer. There's a good chance that Hatsume's version would send someone into cardiac arrest if they hit the chest, and if they hit the head…with mine we're looking at temporary shortness of breath. Headshot still something to avoid, though. And the black are rubber bullets, just in case. There's some other types in progress, but we haven't gotten them fully functional yet."

"No net bullets, like Hatsume used in the Sports Festival?" Aizawa asked. Izuku shook his head.

"The adhesive rounds are better in pretty much every way, sir. Hatsume's net rounds are…alright, for a given value of alright. But they take up more space in the magazine and they're shorter ranged. I was surprised that she didn't use the adhesives in the Sports Festival."

"Probably a side-effect of them technically being your design. Can't build a career on other people," Aizawa said. Izuku sat back on his haunches, nodding slowly.

"That makes sense," he admitted quietly, "She's still been hinting at some sort of partnership, so maybe she doesn't want to steal my thunder, so to speak."

Izuku picked up the gun again, tilting it in his hand and mimicking a draw. He nodded to himself.

"Hatsume's been talking about making a modular system that would allow me to alter these into a rifle while in the field," he said, "Although I think that might be crossing the line from Hero to paramilitary."

Aizawa looked thoughtfully distant.

"No," he eventually said, "I wouldn't recommend it. There are some…image problems with that."

Lady Nagant, Izuku thought. Most of what she'd done was covered up- enough that Izuku's paranoia just screamed 'conspiracy'- but there was enough left to tell that she'd been a Hero with a taste for guns, and a Villain with a taste for long range murder. That said, if he had to- laying down suppressive fire was a lot easier with a rifle than a pistol. Easier to control the recoil. Nobody had to know. And in the event- it was looking less and less likely that he'd have to run away and become a vigilante, but in the event he had to- he could make his own bullets, and a sniper rifle was a lot of use for that sort of work. If you didn't care to leave people functional, a bullet to the knee tended to stop most crimes pretty short. But Izuku tried not to think about that, because that way lay madness.

"Why not tranquilisers?" Shinsou asked, sounding curious. Izuku shrugged.

"Tranquilisers are…alright. But they can be difficult. You need to take into account weight, height, age, regenerative abilities, allergies. Power Loader has tranquilised Hatsume before, but I've seen some of the work he's done- he's got access to all of her allergies and knows her size, so he isn't at risk of putting her too deep. Besides that, tranquilisers aren't always quickly effective. Someone who's on an adrenaline rush can take a couple of minutes to go down, that's a couple of minutes where they can cause a lot of damage. Midnight gets away with it because her Quirk isn't purely chemical, I think."

"You think, or you're sure?" Aizawa asked. Izuku shrugged, lifting the holsters for his guns out of the case and starting to fiddle with them as he spoke, finding the best way to attach them comfortably.

"It could be a chemical. But Quirks work like magic most of the time."

"Like…like magic?" Shinsou asked. Izuku felt a sliver of vague annoyance, squashing it by reminding himself that Shinsou didn't know he was Quirkless. There wasn't going to be any 'but you don't have a Quirk, what do you know' here.

"Sure," he said, shrugging, "I know that Quirks are supposed to be biological, but biology doesn't work like that. For instance, how does your Quirk work? Your voice somehow…hits a certain frequency that causes complete and total hypnosis, something like that? Well, how? Do you have a different throat structure, is your voice box different, how doesn't it have any other side effects? Yaoyorozu just creates items directly out of her skin, how does that work from a biological point? It doesn't. Quirks are…reality warping, in a lot of ways."

"You think about this much?" Aizawa asked, his usual gruff drawl softening slightly. Izuku clicked the buckle of the holster into place, sitting comfortably on his hip as he stood. That had better not be pity in his teacher's voice. Christ, he hoped it wasn't pity. He was much more comfortable with their current cool professionalism.

"Sometimes, sir," he admitted. Aizawa nodded slowly, his gaze shifting to Shinsou.

"Shinsou," he said, still sounding a little softer than normal, "Let's move on. While Hood makes sure that his new gear fits, we can walk through your attempt to identify him."

"I- yes, Eraserhead," Shinsou said, stuttering just a little on the name. Izuku thought he saw Aizawa roll his eyes just a little, but he distracted himself by sliding a gun into his holster and moving around, trying to make sure that he could still move comfortably. Aizawa gestured and Shinsou took a seat on the bench, his hands rubbing together in a nervous motion. Izuku stretched and grimaced as the gun shifted, digging into his hip. Not quite right. He adjusted it as he listened to Shinsou talking.

"I…I think I might have worked it out, sir?" Shinsou said. Aizawa grunted a laugh, or something in the ballpark of it.

"Walk me through it, then. We'll see how well you did."

Shinsou cleared his throat- Izuku suspected that he'd nodded.

"Uh, yeah. Okay. So, I assumed that Hood is a part of class 1-A? You gave me the doctored files for 1-B as well, but you said he was one of your class, so…and then I assumed that he's male as well. Um, his body structure…and his voice sounds male. I thought that he might be disguising his gender, but I couldn't really see why someone would do that?"

Izuku could think of a reason or two, but it was a mostly valid statement. A lot of work for not much profit. He ran through some stretches, finding the holster much better this time. Nodding to himself he picked up the second, aware that the first would probably need even more alterations once the second was on. Behind him, Aizawa spoke.

"Valid assumptions. So you cut it down to the male members of class 1-A. What next?"

"Ah- I went through the files to try and narrow it down by size. I met a lot of your class in the Sports Festival, so I could see how tall a lot of them are. So that cut out Mineta, Sato, Koda, Shoji and Iida. The lack of a tail removed Ojiro, the helmet shape removed Tokoyami, and his arms don't look like Sero's although I wasn't as certain on that."

Izuku clicked the second holster into place and frowned as he moved, the crossing straps of the two holsters catching at his waist. He shifted and moved them, adjusting with unconscious care.

"I took out Todoroki and Bakugo by their attitude," Shinsou continued, and there was enough spite and self-loathing in his voice when he said Bakugo that Izuku stopped and looked over. He thought that Aizawa had noticed it as well, but the teacher didn't show any reaction as Shinsou continued, "so that left Kaminari, Aoyama, Kirishima and Midoriya. Uh…I didn't see Aoyama that much, but his personality didn't seem to match. And Kirishima's Quirk doesn't seem like it would work with Hood's costume?"

That wasn't bad detective work. Izuku briefly wondered how well Kaminari would actually do as an Underground Hero. If he could stop throwing all of his strength into his first attack he might be quite potent.

"So that left either Kaminari or Midoriya. I didn't meet Midoriya at the Festival," Shinsou continued, more quietly, "So I don't really know what he's like. But when I really thought it over, I didn't think that Kaminari would act like Hood does. So…by process of elimination, I suppose it has to be Midoriya. I don't know his Quirk, though, or why he wasn't at the Festival."

Izuku settled the second gun into place, finishing his stretches. Much better. He turned to see that Aizawa was looking at him, one eyebrow raised. Izuku tilted his head, a mannerism that he used to imitate a questioning look, and Aizawa sighed.

"Might as well take the helmet off, then. His reasoning isn't perfect but he got the right answer."

Izuku huffed out a soft laugh, reaching up and popping the clasps on his helmet. That reminded him, actually, he should make some changes to that. The block of C4 that Jason had sometimes liked to have in his helmet was probably excessive, but a canister of potent tranquiliser gas attached to a set of false clasps might have uses. He took a moment of amusement in thinking that, so soon after telling Shinsou that tranquiliser darts had issues. Maybe nerve gas, although that was probably taking it too far. Izuku mentally shrugged, brushing the thought aside for the moment.

"Hey," he said, forcing something that probably resembled the inbred cousin of a smile onto his face, "Nice to meet you, Shinsou. I'm Izuku Midoriya."

Shinsou shook his hand with narrowed eyes, a thinness to his lips. Izuku idly wondered what was going through his mind.

"Nice to meet you," he said, and Izuku wondered if he remembered Izuku standing in the 1-A classroom when Shinsou threw out his declaration of war. Shinsou pulled his hand back after shaking, glancing down and to the side.

"Why weren't you at the Sports Festival?" he asked, blunt and straightforward. Izuku supposed he could see why Shinsou would ask- it smacked a little bit of favouritism, if someone didn't know about the USJ. Izuku glanced at Aizawa, who offered him a shrug, and nodded to himself. He reached down and unclasped his gauntlet, tugging it and the attached vambrace off as he started to speak.

"I wasn't allowed to," he said, "Since I had some injuries left over from the USJ attack."

Izuku glanced up just in time to see Shinsou raise his eyebrows and smiled slightly, tucking his gauntlet under his right arm and shaking back his left sleeve.

"It left a bit of a lasting impact," he dryly said, watching Shinsou's eyes sweep over his prosthetic arm before he paled. Sleek metal instead of flesh, light glinting slightly on it, and Shinsou looked almost ill.

"Let's just say that I don't advise trying to fist-fight something with super-strength," Izuku said, shrugging before shaking his sleeve back down and replacing his gauntlet.

"Uh…noted."

Izuku briefly wondered what was going through Shinsou's mind when he saw the prosthetic arm. Izuku himself was becoming used to it, although he still suffered very intermittent phantom pains. He'd been assured that they would fade away, at least. Slightly more concerning were the nightmares. Or at least they would have been concerning if Jason hadn't already kindly donated his own nightmares to Izuku. It made a nice change. The cost, he reasoned, of living a life of adventure and excitement.

"Now that you've reminded Shinsou that actions can have consequences," Aizawa dryly said, "Let's get back to actual Underground Heroism. We'll be running a patrol tomorrow, Midoriya- I've already told you this, right?"

Aizawa waited for Izuku to nod before he continued.

"Exactly. Breaking it down to its most basic, Underground Heroism isn't just limelight Heroism in the dark. For example, while I do patrol at night and break up crimes as I come across them, this isn't all of my work. This is mostly useful to maintain a presence on the streets- it doesn't prevent crime, but it lowers the chances if criminals think a Hero can drop on them from a rooftop."

Aizawa looked thoughtful, as though he was organising his thoughts.

"However, that isn't all of my patrol work. Sometimes, I just observe. For example. A mugging is a mugging, crime in progress. I break it up. A drug deal? Well, that depends. Any idea why I wouldn't drop on them both, Shinsou?"

Shinsou blinked.

"Because…you're looking for a supplier?"

Aizawa nodded.

"Exactly. Looking at the bigger fish. Infiltration and investigation- that's a job most often left to Underground heroes, even if limelighters might be called in for the combat portion. Two halves of the same coin. There are some Underground Heroes that specialise almost entirely in the information aspect- Sir Nighteye, for example- but most of us operate like I do. That said, I don't do as much infiltration work, though I've done some. Infiltration tends to require a level of time commitment that a teacher can't manage."

Izuku couldn't help but be amused and impressed that Aizawa didn't even look at him while talking about infiltration, while making it look natural. It was impressive- indicative of a probably healthy level of paranoia.

"That said, the patrol Midoriya and I will run tomorrow will be of the first variety. There are criminal groups in Hosu, but I'd prefer to avoid taking an intern into a clash with them. We might not get the choice, however. There are always Villains operating, although the most infamous at the moment is Stain, the Hero Killer. Midoriya. Basic rundown on Stain- how many victims does he have?"

"Seventeen deaths and twenty-four crippled, all Pro Heroes. Other deaths unknown. The most recent was Ingenium, the Turbo Hero," Izuku blandly reported. Aizawa nodded.

"He's well past the point of starring in his own Serial Killer documentary in a few years. Several people have wondered if he used to be a vigilante- you don't just appear from nowhere and operate for several years without any training. In addition, I've taken a look at his list of attacks- very few of his victims have been Underground Pros. That suggests, at the least, that he avoids them."

"Unless he knows he's less likely to get the drop on them?" Izuku suggested. Aizawa rubbed at his chin, nodding.

"Possible. You think it's likely?"

Izuku shook his head.

"If he wasn't stealthy enough to hide from them, they would have engaged him. He's got an obvious MO and his pattern of attacks has been obvious for a long time."

"Mm. You aren't wrong. Forty-one victims, at least, is significantly above the average."

Aizawa tucked his chin into his scarf, hiding most of his expression.

"Somehow he's flown largely under the radar. I think Ingenium was actively hunting him, but it's hard to be sure. That said, Stain's methodology remains consistent: ambush activities, making use of bladed weapons. His Quirk is unknown, but we can guess that it isn't especially flashy. Either way, Midoriya and I will not be splitting up. Shinsou, if you're willing you can stay here, or at your home, and watch through a camera linked to Midoriya's helmet. At least you'll get second hand experience that way."

Shinsou nodded slowly, hesitantly.

"Is Stain really…that dangerous?" he asked, carefully, "I know he's attacked a lot of Heroes, but are they…good?"

Aizawa glanced to the side.

"Can't speak for a lot of them," he said- there was a flicker of frustration in his voice, the gruffness leavened with a new harshness of irritation, "But Ingenium was skilled. I'm trying to get the reports, but the Agencies hunting are protective of Ingenium. They probably think I'm trying to steal credit, or something. Should have brought Underground Heroes in from the start."

Aizawa drew in a sharp breath through his nose.

"If we're lucky, we won't even encounter him. If we aren't- Midoriya, make sure you've got plenty of smoke bombs. If I can't stop him we'll get out of there and send someone stronger after him. Maybe Endeavour. But no heroics. I don't want either of us to be numbers eighteen or twenty-five."

Izuku nodded sharply and Aizawa stared at him, as though trying to peer past the red helmet and armour and into his soul. Izuku couldn't tell what Aizawa saw there, but eventually he nodded.

"Alright. Now, we'll run some obstacle courses. Make sure that those guns aren't slowing you down, Midoriya. I don't have time to coddle anyone."

"Ready to go, Midoriya?"

Izuku looked up from his seat, snapping his notebook closed and tucking it into his backpack. He would leave the pack where it was until they returned to U.A., it would be safe enough. And it wasn't as though there was anything in there that might cause trouble- he'd left his detail notebook at his home. The only thing anyone could get from that one was that he intended to build a nice exoskeleton armour, and anyone familiar with Hatsume would be far more frightened of what she could do with it than anything he built. And, speaking of his armour, Izuku stood up and took his helmet from Aizawa.

"Camera's been installed next to the left eye," Aizawa said, brisk and business-like, "And Power Loader assures me that it's just as tough as the rest of your gear."

It should be protected anyway, being built into his helmet, but Izuku appreciated the reassurance.

"How are we getting to Hosu, sir? A train?"

Aizawa shook his head.

"There's one running, but it's not exactly subtle. We'll take a car- Nedzu has plenty of unmarked here. So long as we bring it back."

Izuku nodded. Jason had preferred a motorbike- and that brought a pang of nostalgia into his chest, remembering the bike that Jason had meticulously tuned, altered and modified to his taste. Like every other vehicle owned by the Bat family, it had been tweaked to within an inch of its life, teetering on the knife edge of high performance and disastrous collapse. Like almost every other vehicle owned by the Bat family, it had been destroyed during the years of the Regime. Izuku nodded.

"Alright, sir."

The car itself was fairly non-descript, a three-door car. Izuku briefly wondered what was under the hood- he doubted that Power Loader and Nedzu would have left it stock. He tilted his head, listening to the noise the engine made as Aizawa slid the car into gear and pulled out of the concealed garage.

"That's not normal for this brand," he observed. Aizawa grunted, although it sounded slightly amused.

"Power Loader lets the Third Year Support students loose on them sometimes. If we had an empty road we might be able to keep up with the bullet trains."

Izuku blinked, slightly alarmed.

"I don't think the car would…um, survive that."

A side glance let Izuku see Aizawa's grin, sharp edged and glinting in the dark.

"That's what I said, but Power Loader assured me I wouldn't die."

Izuku considered the mess of chaos that the Support students seemed to constantly exist in and doubted, although he said nothing. Aizawa probably knew anyway.

"Do an equipment check for me," Aizawa said as they hit the highway, "So I know what I might have to expect."

Izuku's fingers drifted over the guns holstered on each thigh before he nodded.

"My helmet has a communicator, thermal vision and a basic gas filter. It can also be sealed completely, although the air supply is limited. My armour hasn't changed. I've got my two guns, they have semi-automatic and automatic fire and tasers on the butts. Two shock knuckles, two grapples. Four smoke grenades, two pepper grenades and two adhesive grenades that Power Loader recently finished. And nano-filament blade in each gauntlet."

Aizawa nodded.

"Adhesive grenades? Like the bullets?"

"Yes, sir."

"Alright. If we have to do any fighting…we'll try not to do any fighting. We've not practiced fighting alongside each other to the extent that it'll work out."

Blunt, but probably true. Izuku didn't want Aizawa to end up jumping in front of his guns, after all.

"When we get to Manual's Agency I'll talk to Manual, impress on him the danger of the situation. You talk to Iida."

Aizawa kept his eyes on the road, his grin melting into a more sombre expression.

"I wouldn't ask this of you if I had another choice, Midoriya. I don't know if he'll listen to me."

"I'll do my best, sir."

Izuku wasn't lying- he certainly would do his best- but how was he supposed to even begin to approach it? He couldn't help but suspect that Iida wouldn't be all that open to reason, and emotional appeals were…well. It wasn't like Izuku could say that he knew what Iida was going through, he was an only child. Ironic, really. He could never admit it, but he did know something about loss. Jason had, after all, lost two brothers in the line of duty, and Izuku had woken up with his face wet with tears, throat tight and raw with the pain of loss, heart thumping hollowly in his skull as recriminations chased themselves around his skull. But he couldn't exactly use that to persuade Iida, could he?

No. Best to rely on cold, hard logic and hope that Iida would see sense. And if that didn't work? Well, there was always the emotional angle. Using Iida's brother as leverage probably wouldn't win Izuku any friendship points, but he'd rather have Iida's dislike on his conscience than Iida's bloody death in some alleyway. Izuku had, through Aizawa, gotten access to some of the coroner's reports on Stain's victims. They weren't a pretty sight. Not quite as bad as some of the memories, but…they tended to have a lot of blood and a lot of splatter. Stain was a messy killer. Izuku lifted up his helmet and settled it into place, letting the clicking of the mechanisms soothe his thoughts before the crimson plastic hid his expression.

"Have you heard anything more from the OMC?" Aizawa asked, his eyes not moving from the road in front of them, "Nedzu hasn't heard much from the bugs."

Izuku shrugged.

"There's been some talk on the forums," he said, "About a villain- Overdrive, maybe? Bennet said she wasn't sure about the name. But Over-whatever, apparently he's anti-Quirk. The OMC is taking it a bit personally. I think…I think they might be planning something against him."

Aizawa sucked a breath in through his teeth.

"I've never heard of him," he admitted, "But there's plenty of villains who I couldn't name off the top of my head. Doesn't mean he isn't dangerous. And anti-Quirk? For people to know he must be fanatical about it."

Izuku nodded.

"I didn't even know there were anti-Quirk villains anymore," he admitted, "I thought they all gave up decades ago."

Aizawa glanced at him.

"You've been doing research, Midoriya?" he asked. Izuku nodded.

"As much as I could, sir. I wanted to know if there had been any other Quirkless Heroes before me."

A soft grunt of acknowledgement.

"Did you find any?"

Izuku looked out the window of the car as they slowed, seeing the bright sign of Manual's Agency ahead.

"None in Japan, sir."

Aizawa didn't comment as he parked and they got out of the car. It was almost like working with Bruce again, Izuku whimsically thought, someone who was almost aggressively repressed. It was almost comforting in its familiarity. Izuku fell into step with Aizawa as the man marched towards the Hero Agency, just a step behind. It wasn't a large building: Aizawa led Izuku through a small, currently unmanned reception area into an office crammed with desks, files and computers.

"Manual, Iida," Aizawa said, "good to see you."

Izuku raised a hand in greeting but didn't remove his helmet as the two others in the room turned. It was only the four of them, Iida looking most visibly surprised.

"Eraserhead," Manual said, smiling just a little nervously, "glad to meet you."

Manual was about average height, a little shorter than Iida, with a mess of brown hair and an athletic build. He offered a handshake to Aizawa and then Izuku, looking less uncomfortable with Izuku. Iida was still staring at them- there was a tiredness in his eyes, and a suspicion.

"Eraserhead and Red Hood are patrolling nearby," Manual explained to Iida, "Will you excuse us? I need to plan our route with Eraserhead. You know Red Hood, don't you?"

Iida nodded stiffly.

"I do, sir," he said, his voice a little emptier than normal. Manual nodded and followed Aizawa back out to the reception area and Izuku reached up, unlocking his helmet and putting it down on a desk. He himself leaned against the desk, feeling it press into the back of his legs as he rested his hands on it. Open body language, to prevent Iida from becoming confrontational. Or to try, at least.

"I didn't know Eraserhead patrolled Hosu," Iida said, ever bit as uptight as ever. Izuku nodded, trying to calculate the best way to approach the conversation before deciding that it was best to just rip the proverbial bandage off in one go.

"Normally he doesn't," he said, "but normally he doesn't have a student looking for revenge."

Iida's posture, already painfully proper, didn't change. His eyes, however…his empty eyes gained a gleam of fanatical fire and Izuku felt a chill hand twist in his heart. He could recognise the almost crazed look of obsessive vengeance more than well enough. Still, Iida was aware enough that he wasn't going to just admit it. Izuku saw the denial coming long before it left Iida's lips.

"No, I-"

"Iida," Izuku interrupted, "Don't. Please, don't. We might not really be friends, but…I know you better than that."

Iida's expression hardened, closed over, and Izuku was hard pressed to maintain his relaxed, almost lounging position.

"It's fairly obvious," he continued, before Iida could say anything, "Stain's a pattern killer, he'll still be here. And no offence to Manual, but he doesn't seem like the kind of Hero you would work with. So there has to be another reason you're here."

Iida took a long step towards Izuku and Izuku forced himself to let his fingers uncurl from their instinctive, white-knuckled grip on the desk. Ah, paranoia, his ever-active friend. Izuku briefly glanced over Iida, analysing his costume and looking for weak points. As far as he knew Iida's costume wasn't as well protected as his own, more aesthetic than real armour, but he still doubted his ability to punch through the more heavily armoured sections. If it came to a fight he'd have to take advantage of his smaller stature, get in close and attack the less armoured joints.

Izuku really hoped it didn't come to a fight.

"Aizawa didn't need much convincing," Izuku added, "but he seems to think that I'll have better luck persuading you not to do anything stupid."

Iida lurched into Izuku's personal space, his cold expression cracking with anger and Izuku let go of the desk, straightening in preparation. He half expected Iida to grab him by the collar- uncomfortable comparisons with Bakugo- but Iida stayed frozen instead, looming awkwardly.

"Stain crippled my brother," Iida hissed, his voice low and foreign with fury, "you think I can just let that go? He's here, and if no-one else will do anything I'll-"

"What?" Izuku interrupted, "You'll hunt him down and kill him?"

Iida flinched back and Izuku felt his eyes widen, surprise blooming in his chest before it warmed into anger.

"Really, Iida?"

Iida stepped back, his right hand rising and chopping across his chest.

"No, I…I…"

Izuku uncoiled from the desk as Iida backed away, still shaking his head. There was a desolation in his expression, as though hearing someone say it had brought it home to him, and Izuku watched a medley of emotions chase each other across Iida's face before it settled into stubborn hardness.

"He would deserve it, Midoriya," he snapped. Izuku almost sighed. He'd thought, for just a moment there, that Iida would come back to his senses. But now there was the argument- and not one Izuku had an easy answer to. He knew that he should give the proper answer, the Heroic answer- Heroes aren't Judge, Jury and Executioner, Iida, Heroes are servants of the public, killing makes us as bad as them- but…well, Jason had left a convincing change. Izuku had just about enough faith in the justice system that he would only kill if he had no other choice. Izuku didn't have enough faith in the justice system to make those arguments convincingly.

"Even if he does," Izuku said instead, "do you think you could do it?"

That seemed to bring Iida up short. Izuku could guess why: it wasn't the argument he'd expected. Izuku continued before Iida could rally.

"Stain has attacked forty-one Heroes, Iida, and none of them have gotten away unscathed. They were all fully qualified Pro Heroes, and you're a student. Do you really think you could stop Stain? Or would you just be number forty-two?"

Iida rallied and Izuku felt a sharp pang of disappointment.

"I'm not the same as them," he snapped, "he caught them all by surprise!"

It was a weak argument at best.

"And you think you're different? You think you'll notice him, lurking in an alleyway or on a rooftop, before he drops down and cuts you off at the knees?" he demanded. Iida bared his teeth, eyes practically blazing with anger now. He looked positively feral, but Izuku refused to back down. He'd seen far more frightening sights than this.

"He crippled my brother!" Iida snarled, "Tensei will never be a Hero again! He'll never walk again, because some filth thought he wasn't good enough! I will take on my brother's task, and I will regain his honour!"

"You'll regain his honour?" Izuku said harshly, "How? By ending up dead in some back alley?"

"By stopping Stain! No matter the odds, I won't let the Hero Killer win! Ingenium will be the one who defeats him!"

"Every Hero Stain has killed has probably thought the same, Iida," Izuku hissed, stepping into Iida's personal space to keep his attention, "and they've all ended up dead! Being righteously angry isn't going to make that less likely!"

"I can't do nothing!" Iida shouted, raising his voice. Izuku gritted his teeth, forcing back a flinch as Iida swung his arm through the air, so sharply that it passed mere inches from Izuku's nose.

"I can't just-let that scum walk free! Tensei is- Tensei is crippled because of him!"

There were tears at the corners of Iida's eyes. Izuku blinked, holding it for a long breath. Personally, he didn't see- from what he could tell, Iida's brother had spinal damage. Given how far prosthetics had advanced, Izuku couldn't see how that was a completely unassailable barrier, but this wasn't the time to try and reason like that.

"And even if he can heal," Iida continued, fury lacing every word, reason lost in his ranting, "Stain broke his Engines! He's as good as Quirkless, how can he be a Hero!"

Raw fury lanced through Izuku, scalding hot and poisonous, and the next words that came out were far more bitter than he expected.

"No, I suppose he can't be," he said, his voice gone cold and cutting, "After all, no Quirkless could be a Hero."

Iida flinched, the anger choking and wicking away as Izuku brought up his left hand, holding it up as though gesturing to the sky.

"And let's not forget that he might need prosthetics. However could he manage?"

"Midoriya, I-"

"Save it," Izuku snarled, the noise that left his throat all Jason- all sharp-edged anger and raw-throated pain- "I don't want to hear it."

Izuku turned his back, stalking three steps towards the door and dragging in a harsh breath. It didn't cool the smouldering coals in his chest and throat, but it let him control it. Let him redirect it, away from Iida. He spun around to see that Iida's expression had curdled, somewhere between anger and shame, and let out a long sigh.

"Midoriya, I wasn't thinking. I…"

"You weren't thinking," Izuku agreed, cold, "Just like you aren't thinking now. You want to go charging off into the city, to try and stop Stain, because you want revenge. Don't bullshit me about honour, Iida."

Iida looked down, gesturing helplessly.

"I…you're right. I'm just…so…"

"Angry," Izuku completed, regaining control over the anger and banking it down. He couldn't quite smother it, couldn't put out that stinging, choking flame, but he could control it. Keep it directed. Keep it reserved, even if only for a little while. Iida nodded.

"Angry," he echoed, his voice soft and desolate. Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut for the count of three before opening them.

"And you have every right to be," he said, choosing his words carefully despite the hoarseness of emotion that dragged at his throat. Iida looked up at him, seemingly lost for words, and Izuku let out a short, rough bark of laughter.

"You think I'm not angry about this?" he asked, gesturing to his left arm, "You think I don't want to hunt Shigaraki down for it? You think I don't want revenge?"

Iida frowned at him.

"I never thought about it," he admitted. Izuku shook his head.

"Right. Well, believe me, I'm not pleased and happy about my arm. I just haven't lost my head enough to go and get myself killed trying to do something about it."

"It's not the same," Iida said, although he sounded less certain. There was less anger in his voice and more weariness, as though he was realising his recklessness for himself. Izuku nodded.

"No," he said softly, "It's not the same. I'm a single child, I can't tell you that I understand how you feel about your brother. But…do you think he would be any less devastated if you went out after Stain, on your own, and never came back? Do you think he would hurt less than you do?"

Iida staggered back, slumping down into a chair. He pulled his glasses off, dropping his head into his hands.

"I just don't know what to do," he admitted. Izuku went back to leaning on the desk, satisfied that there was no longer any danger of them coming to blows.

"Have you considered therapy?" he asked. Iida looked up at him, his expression weighed down by tiredness.

"Have you?"

"I have, actually," Izuku said. Iida blinked at him, clearly surprised, and Izuku shrugged.

"I lost an arm. It was pretty traumatic," he said, fully aware that his tone was almost unreasonably light, "but I haven't really had time yet. And I'm fully functional. You're…not."

"I'm functional-"

"You were planning to go, alone, after a villain who has made a career out of killing or crippling heroes who he catches alone. If I wasn't sure that you just hadn't thought it over, I'd suspect you're suicidal."

Iida scowled, but he didn't offer a rebuttal. Izuku nodded.

"All that said, I'm not your keeper. Just…don't run off on your own, Iida. Don't try and fight Stain without a lot of backup."

Iida bowed his head.

"No," he said, soft and hoarse, "I won't."

Izuku put his helmet back on, clicking it into place.

"Come on, then. Let's not keep them waiting."

Izuku led Iida back out into the reception area, where Manual and Aizawa were waiting. Aizawa gave Izuku a careful look, nodding almost to himself, and gestured towards the front door. Izuku followed him out, into a dusk that was thickening into night, and drew in a deep breath. The air wasn't as chill as it should be, filtered through his helmet, but it was still cool.

"Do you think you got through to him?" Aizawa asked. Izuku shrugged.

"Hard to say, sir. I think so."

Aizawa nodded, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialling a number that Izuku couldn't see.

"I made sure that Manual realised the importance of keeping an eye on him," he said, "we've done all we can. Is your camera on?"

Izuku reached up and adjusted it, clicking the button. A faint red dot glimmered at the corner of his HUD, marking the activation.

"It's on."

"Shinsou," Aizawa said into his phone, "do you have visual?"

Izuku couldn't hear the reply, but Aizawa nodded.

"Alright. Midoriya- let's head out."

The two of them headed up to the rooftops, where they could get a better view. Aizawa was forced to parkour up, using his scarf to help find holds, but Izuku skipped it with eh use of his grapple. He felt the slight recoil as it hit the side of the roof, the pull on his arm sharpening suddenly as the motors pulled. The ascension was quick, the momentum gained allowing him to overshoot the grapple point and land smoothly on the roof, and he heard Shinsou hiss in his ear.

"Are the communicators working alright, Shinsou?" he asked. There was a shuffling noise before Shinsou replied.

"Yes, it's all coming through clearly."

"Good," Izuku murmured, waiting until Aizawa swung himself over the edge of the building. The older hero looked around, his tired eyes sharpening.

"We'll run a circuit," he said eventually, "aim for a several hour patrol. A little shorter than I usually do, since you're new. We'll try not to engage in anything, just run off small-time criminals since- what the hell?"

Izuku turned sharply at Aizawa's deadpan statement, following the line of his teachers' gaze to a spot a few miles across the city where flames had suddenly bloomed. Aizawa dropped his chin into his scarf, a frown lowering his brows.

"That's not something usual," he muttered, "come on, Hood. We'll go and take a look, just in case. If there are villains there, try not to engage."

Izuku gave a verbal acknowledgement, following Aizawa across the closely packed buildings and closer to the site of whatever it was. Aizawa seemed increasingly uneasy, listening to something across his earpiece, but Izuku wasn't tapped into the same network.

"There's been a villain attack," Aizawa relayed to Izuku, "Sounds like a fairly big one. The description of the villain is…familiar."

That didn't sound good. That didn't sound good at all, and Izuku found his hands almost unconsciously hovering over his guns when they landed on a rooftop overlooking the fighting below. They arrived just in time to see a hulking figure with pitch-black skin and an exposed brain throw a Hero through a wall. Izuku felt the breath catch in his throat.

"Nomu?" he hissed. Aizawa threw a hand out, in front of his chest.

"Stay here," he snapped. Izuku looked at him.

"Sir-"

"Stay here, Hood," Aizawa repeated, taking a running jump off the edge of the building. Izuku stepped forwards, to the edge, watching as Aizawa descended and landed next to the other heroes, his mouth already moving. The Nomu roared and threshed, long arms flailing, and Izuku was almost too distracted to notice the way the air changed. A piercing shriek split the sky, and he turned just in time to see the second Nomu mid dive at him.

"A second one?" Shinsou yelped in his ear. Izuku didn't spare a moment to scream, throwing himself out of the way just before jagged claws would have torn through his chest. He hit the ground hard, rolling, and the Nomu was already on him, shrieking demonically through a gas mask that seemed grafted to its face. Izuku ducked a backhand swipe, threw himself under the forehand blow of the other hand, rammed the heel of his boot into the Nomu's Achilles tendon. The monster staggered, not as tough as the one at the USJ, and Izuku broke into a sprint for the edge of the roof, sliding to a halt and coming back to his feet at the very edge of the roof. The Nomu shrieked, dropping into a crouch, claws spread and wings broad behind it. Izuku gritted his teeth and drew his gun.

The Nomu charged. The Nomu charged, and because Izuku was a sensible and sane person he did the most obvious thing: he widened his stance, he flicked the selector switch on his pistol to automatic, and he dumped the whole magazine into the oncoming Nomu.

It was very satisfying. It was very, very ineffective. Izuku silently mourned that he was using Neural Disrupter rounds made by himself rather than Jason's Anti-Meta rounds. Tungsten-Titanium alloy with a C4 core as the chaser. That would give the Nomu pause. The bullets slowed the charge but they didn't stop it and Izuku jumped. He hurled himself off the roof, reached for his grapple, looked for a location to retreat too and the Nomu smashed into him like a ton of bricks. Izuku let out a gasping yelp, the air forced out of his lungs as the Nomu latched massive arms around him and dragged them both into the air, wings beating as Izuku wriggled around. It shrieked in his face, breath rancid even through his helmet, and Izuku swore loudly, kicking and headbutting. They wavered, wobbled, the Nomu struggling to stay airborne with half-numbed limbs, struggling harder to keep hold of him and Izuku tuned out Shinsou's yells in his ears, tuned out the shouting of the heroes below as he curled his fingers and drove them into the Nomu's eyes. It shrieked again, even more loudly than ever, and Izuku drove his thumb into a point on its' shoulder, felt its' arms go limp and then he was falling. The breath exploded out of him again as he hit concrete, rolling to bleed off the force of impact as he sprawled across the rooftop, gasping for breath. He would have liked to lie there for a few minutes, catching his breath, but a rough, rasping whisper sent him springing to his feet.

"I recognise that costume," whispered the voice, and Izuku felt his stomach muscles churn as he sprang to his feet, flipping away from the source of the voice. His stomach lurched as he saw the speaker, falling to somewhere in his boots. Pale, grey-blue hair. Dark clothing. A wrinkled, shrivelled hand clamped over their face.

"I recognise that hero," Tomura Shigaraki rasped, the scar of the knife-wound Izuku had given him livid across his throat. A crimson eye gleamed with crazed light behind the macabre mask.

"So kind of Nomu," Shigaraki whispered, "To bring me my preferred victim."

Izuku licked dry lips, swallowed against a dry throat, but a second voice spoke before he could.

"That hero won't be the only victim here, Tomura Shigaraki," grated a rough voice, and the firelight gleamed crimson on a drawn sword. Izuku shot the briefest glance towards the other man, taking in his hunched stance, the heavily muscled frame, the assortment of bladed weapons and the bright red bandana, choking down an inappropriate laugh. All that time talking Iida down, and now here he was.

"I've business to settle, Shigaraki," Hero Killer Stain continued, "And it isn't with that child."

Stain: I've no quarrel with this child.

Shigaraki: He's the one who tried to cut my throat.

Stain:...guess I'll kill you both then.

Something I was wondering as I wrote this- I wonder how the interactions between Overhaul and the MLA would be? Can't imagine they'd be anything but hostile, although I think Overhaul might be outmanned in that case. Also, I just realised that the next big event in MHA canon is the Final Exams, which are a nightmare all of their own. I considered doing the lazy thing and leaving it as canon, but I feel like there should be some lesson learned by the students even if they fail, and getting thrashed by All Might doesn't exactly teach Izuku anything other than 'there are some battles you can't win', which I feel he already knows. Guess I'll have to think on it.

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed and, as ever, I'll see you in the next chapter.