Chapter 9: Midoriya Izuku IX

A/N: Well, this chapter definitely ran away from me. So, you get a bit more than I expected! Hope you all enjoy; it's time for some action.

"I hope that you don't mind, but I sort of… want to talk about some things with you today. Now, I really, really, don't want to pry. It's not my place, I know that. It's your life, and I'm invading your privacy by doing so. But by this point I've already told you multiple times that I'm technically spying on you with my quirk, and you haven't shown any signs of being mad at me over the fact. But, I mean, I could be wrong considering how stoic you set yourself up to be and— And I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

Izuku sighs, taking a moment to reconfigure his thoughts. To his left Todoroki Shoto is sitting in his usual spot on the shoreside bench of Lake Sanaru. The boy's usual aimless gaze morphs, eyes narrowing as his body turns to face Izuku.

"Oh!" Izuku squeaks. "You're looking at me! You barely do that; the only times you do are when you're interested! Like when I was talking about the use of ice quirks within tropical regions, that soba place I went to in Yokohama, or that—"

Todoroki tilts his head.

"Right, right." Izuku clears his throat. "Back to topic. Umm… Well, you see… You've probably been wondering why I've been… Well, stalking you, really. Truth is—"

"Your father," Todoroki suddenly announces, unperturbed despite the subject matter at hand.

Izuku balks. "You spoke! Wow, this is a first and— Ahem." Izuku slaps his cheeks. "I mean… that's only part of the reason. The other part is that… well… I was worried for you. Living with… Endeavor, that is."

Todoroki grunts in response.

"Like I said, it's not really my place. But, uh, since you're acknowledging me for once, let's start off with… Well, what I believe is the cusp of the problem, honestly. Your quirk."

Todoroki furrows his eyebrows.

"I've noticed that during your… well…" Izuku shakes his head. "I've noticed that you only use your right side; your ice side. Now, I think that I can guess where you're coming from; flames equal Endeavor, right? I mean, I know that I definitely wouldn't want a constant reminder of someone that I utterly despise and…"

Izuku quickly notices Todoroki's open glare.

I suck at this! Izuku takes a moment to breathe. Okay. Calm down, slow down. Get to the point.

"Okay," Izuku begins, "hear me out. My own quirk… Most people think that it's just enhanced hearing. Nothing flashy, nothing cool, nothing that I can physically show off. Normally, something like that wouldn't have second glances pointed its way. I mean, I still have a quirk after all."

He shakes his head. "But when someone at the top of the food chain has a personal vendetta against you, well… Facts can be twisted fairly easily, and suddenly you're the target of dozens of people out to have some unsupervised 'fun.'"

Izuku looks Todoroki in the eyes. "Now, the truth is… This situation that's my life? I could avoid it completely. I haven't told many people, but my quirk isn't just enhanced hearing — it's sound manipulation. And it's nothing to scoff at either. And I know what you're thinking: 'if it's so strong, why do I hide it,' right?"

Todoroki gives a slight nod.

"Well," Izuku starts, "I train the greater aspects of my quirk in secret not because I'm ashamed, nor because I'm mad at what my quirk means about me. But the people who torment me because I have a so-called 'weak quirk?' They don't deserve to know the truth, not when knowing the truth means that they'll just do a complete one-eighty in the way they treat me. I don't want to have friends because of my quirk; I want friends who like me for being me."

"And besides," Izuku continues, "there are all the other people in worse situations than me. Like… There's this girl in the same year as me. Her quirk allows her to force mental projections of your deepest fears to manifest into reality. I can think of hundreds of applications for her quirk in hero work, but she's too afraid to use it."

Izuku sighs. "It makes sense; all her friends left her at an early age when she accidentally used it on them. And now she has almost no practice with her quirk, and nobody wants to socialize with her; all because of the stigma of so-called 'villainous quirks.' She's allowed herself to be consumed with fear, never taking a moment to relax."

"When you consider that… I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did what I could to improve my situation — not when it would take attention away from me and double down the things done to her. Especially not when I know that she's already teetering on the edge, and wouldn't be able to handle any more than what's already on her plate."

Once he finishes, Izuku senses a shift in the features of the boy beside him. He turns, noticing the confused look splayed on Todoroki's face. Izuku lets out a nervous laugh in turn, running his fingers through his hair.

"Point is…You can't let your life be dictated by your quirk. Your quirk is an integral part of you; it's not something that you can just ignore and cast away. You can be better than Endeavor; prove that you can be better!"

"Why would—"

Despite their rarity, Izuku interrupts Todoroi's impromptu words in an attempt to make his words hit home. "You want to be a hero, don't you? Because you won't be one if you don't use your quirk to its fullest. You can't be your best self when you are holding yourself back. One day you'll find that you couldn't save someone because you only used your ice. Do you want that?"

There's a few moments of silence, Todoroki and Izuku staring the other down unblinkingly. Eventually, and rather abruptly, Todoroki pushes himself off the bench. Without a word, he stands up and walks away.

Izuku sighs, leaning back on the bench. "That could have gone better," he mutters to himself. But it's probably best to peel off the bandaid now rather than later. It'll save him the trouble."

He looks up to the sky, eyeing the sun's position in the sky. "Six o'clock. Looks like it's time to head home.

He narrows his eyes. "Or, I suppose that I have time to head over to Shiozaki. And, even if she's not there… Well, there's always the bar."

Izuku walks into the bar and is immediately greeted with its characteristic desolate atmosphere. The distinct sparseness and lack of customers isn't anything unusual when you consider how far into the slums the place is. But then again, when you consider who owns the place, or the fact that an over reactive, living disintegrator lives on the premises, and well… Izuku honestly wouldn't have been surprised to learn that the common folk had deemed the bar hazardous to those seeking a long and healthy life.

However, one thing did surprise Izuku the moment he stepped through the door. He hadn't considered it beforehand on the way to his destination, but now that he was physically standing in the bar, he didn't sense a living soul within it. Neither his eyes nor his quirk gave any signs of Kurogiri standing behind the counter, or the loudmouthed Tomura cursing away at his games in the corner.

He freezes, instinctually immersing his all into his quirk. Thankfully, a quick purview over the surrounding kilometer radius proves that no, he hasn't been compromised. There isn't a team of police and pro heroes waiting outside to assist in his arrest… Unless someone out there has a quirk capable of concealing such a force's entire presence. Or that they were watching him from outside his range.

Let's just not entertain either of those ideas. It'll help maintain my sanity.

Further digging has him walking further into the bar to search for any signs of a struggle; which there are none of. The only thing out of place is the apparent lack of Tomura's television and game console from their usual corner in the bar. From this, Izuku can gather one of two things.

Either someone powerful enough to take down both Kurogiri and Tomura came in here and took them without a trace — which in that case, I'm screwed — or...

"It was a planned evacuation?" he asks aloud.

"An evacuation hints at panic," Kurogiri's voice says from within a growing portal, causing Izuku to jump in place. "But I can assure you Midoriya, that our departure was very much a controlled event."

"Oh," Izuku mutters, steadying his breath. "It's just you, Kurogiri. For a second there I was afraid you were the cops."

"Hmm… A possible outcome at the current moment, I suppose."

Izuku jerks his attention towards Kurogiri. "Wait, what?!"

"I was alerted by the Master that you had arrived here," Kurogiri says, ignoring Izuku's unsaid question. "Come. It is best that we steer clear of any of the Master's properties for the day."

"We're…" Izuku gulps. "You're not compromised, are you?"

Kurogiri shakes his head. "This is merely a precaution. For the time being, I will take you elsewhere. I shall engage you in an activity to act in place of whatever training we would have done otherwise, if that is alright with you."

Izuku takes another quick examination of the surrounding area before quickly nodding. "Better anywhere than here if even Sensei is scared. I wouldn't want to be on the end of whoever is gunning for him."

"You would not, indeed."

Izuku walks through the portal, stumbling somewhat on shaky ground as he reaches the destination on the other side. Once he adjusts, he notices Tomura huddled up at the far end of the cramped space Izuku finds himself in. The boy in question is sitting on the floor with his legs to his chest, but quite unlike the usual glare or unamused expression Izuku's grown accustomed to, Tomura's actually giving off a slight smile, with unabashed glee filling in his eyes.

Shaking off his initial unease, Izuku takes hold of his quirk to piece together his current location. And suffice to say, he is definitely intrigued and curious of what he discovers.

"Why are we in the back of a box truck?" Izuku asks.

Tomura grins. Actually grins, which Izuku finds hard to look at after being so used to piercing glares and scowls from the boy.

"We don't need to worry about speed when we have Kurogiri," Tomura answers. "We just need to make a sharp corner turn and have Kurogiri use his quirk to escape the cops."

Izuku blinks, the information taking a few moments for him to fully process. "What?"

Tomura frowns, loudly slapping the wall he's leaning on three times. "You didn't tell him?"

A portal appears in the midst of the room, no doubt for Kurogiri to speak without him having to leave his spot in the driver's seat. "I merely wanted Midoriya out of the bar as soon as possible. The Master insisted on such."

Tomura quietly grumbles to himself — various things that make Izuku ensure he doesn't show any signs that he heard anything — before looking back to the truck's resident green-haired boy.

"We're going on a heist," Tomura announces, unable to hide the delight in his voice. "And we get to join in without having to do any of those repetitive and infuriating setup missions beforehand."

"What the young master means is that we are preparing to rob the Florruhm Municipal Bank in the city of Masuda," Kurogiri's voice supplies.

"You mean all the way in Shimane?" Izuku asks.

"He means just a few blocks away," Tomura says. "And we're going with the loud option!"

"We are not," Kurogiri counters. "We have gone over this, Tomura."

Tomura growls in return. "But I fucking hate the smart options."

"Wait wait wait," Izuku interrupts. "Why the hell are the two of you robbing a bank?! I mean, considering who Sensei is, he probably makes more money than a big city bank does in a week! In fact, I doubt that there's more than ten million yen in that bank!"

"Hey!" Tomura pipes up. "We're robbing a bank today. As in the three of us, not just two."

"That's what you got out of that?" Izuku questions. "Didn't you just hear—"

Before Izuku can continue, Kurogiri speaks up once more. "Do not listen to the young master, Midoriya. We merely wish to show you something; no need for active participation if you do not wish it."

Tomura huffs. "Why the hell is he here then if he's just going to be sitting on his ass?"

"This will be a learning experience for him," Kurogiri says. "Besides, this way, you gain the ability to take down more enemies for yourself. Would you not like that?"

Tomura narrows his eyes in confusion. "But you said—"

"We must engage in stealth during our infiltration," Kurogiri says. "But once we are inside, everyone we encounter will be considered an enemy."

Izuku sends a panicked glare towards the portal. "Kurogiri!"

"No civilians, Midoriya," the man says. "We are going after hours. The only people there will be… Well, you shall see."

Izuku opens his mouth to send out another retort, only for him to snap his jaw shut. In his mind the pieces all start coming together, his eyes slowly widening in realization. "This is about Slugger, isn't it? It can't be a coincidence that you're robbing a bank in Shimane when there are hundreds of other banks all across the country."

"So what if it is?" Tomura calls out, his voice bleeding with nonchalance. "We're doing this with or without you, brat. So what's wrong with just tagging along? You yap and yap on and on about wanting to be a hero. What's the difference when it involves some criminal-on-criminal justice?"

"But how can robbing a bank be justice?"

"You shall see Midoriya," Kurogiri simply responds. "You will see."

It's around ten in the night when Kurogiri drives the truck into the alleyway behind Florruhm Municipal Bank. As Izuku finds Tomura hopping out the back of the truck, he undergoes a sudden urgency; specifically, a sense of panic as he realizes he doesn't have a way of concealing his identity.

He starts taking his things out from his bag — Who needs eyes when I can basically see everything with my quirk? — only to be forced to stop midway as his senses alert him to a nearing hand. He jerks his possessions away just in time, glaring at the otherwise smirking Tomura.

"No need to worry," Kurogiri says, coming into view. "Your identity will remain concealed for as long as you wish it."

Izuku gives a slow nod, deciding to trust Kurogiri's word. He steps off the truck — leaving his belongings behind — and onto the uneven ground of the Masuda pavement. He swiftly moves to catch up to Kurogiri and Tomura, who are already at the backdoor to the establishment.

Of course, with all the pent of anxiety and nerves, it's only then that Izuku realizes that the large congregation of people he had been sensing for the past two minutes of driving were originating from the building before him, somewhere underground and within the depths of the bank. The sounds the group are making — a whole fifteen individuals in total — aren't exactly ones Izuku fully recognizes; he can only vaguely recall hearing them elsewhere before.

With his mind deeply entrenched with his preview of the bank, Izuku doesn't have the time to ponder the methods Tomura and Kurogiri have thought up to infiltrate the bank. Instead, he's given a firsthand experience of Tomura's quirk in action.

Izuku can only watch in unbridled fascination as the wall separating the insides of the bank to the external world slowly fades away from existence. The sight of Decay is different from the few times he had seen it before; there had never been enough time to appreciate what was occurring.

From the near instantaneous disintegration of a napkin to the crumbling dust of a glass, the receiver of Tomura's wrath was always too small. But seeing Tomura's quirk go to work on something so large, slowly crumbling away at it, was a far cry from that.

That's one nice quirk.

"Hah!" Tomura cheers. "You ain't seen nothing yet, pipsqueak!"

Izuku shakes off the fact that he had been speaking his thoughts out loud again — Still need to work on that; highly disadvantageous in a combat scenario — in favor of speaking up about something else.

"Wait!" Izuku harshly whispers. "What about the security systems? Won't they pick something like that up?"

"We didn't use explosions," Tomura derides. He then clumsily places one foot through the hole he's made in the wall, weaving through the giant ash pile left by his quirk. "Thus, no ear-splitting alarm. Shouldn't you know this? I thought that you were supposed to be smart."

"I meant more for the cameras," Izuku counters.

"We have someone who can work the system!" Tomura yells. "Now quit yapping and get in here so we can move this along! We're still at the boring part!"

Izuku winces at the uncontrolled outburst, expecting the cops, an alarm, or something to signify the fact that they've been made. But… Nothing comes except for the encouraging look Kurogiri gives Izuku which outright convinces him to take the dive and walk on into the bank.

It doesn't wake long until the trio are in front of the enormous vault door. Like before, that too gives way to Tomura's rather flippant use of his quirk, hardened steel and bolts slowly decaying to dust.

Izuku's eyes gleam upon the rows upon rows of safety deposit boxes, and even a cart holding a few unorganized stacks of hard cash. When again no alarms go off (or in the case of a silent alarm, that still no cops have arrived) Izuku lets out a sigh in relief.

"Well," Izuku shakily laughs, "that was easy."

"We have only concluded with the first step," Kurogiri explains.

"Of course." Izuku pinches his nose in exasperation. "I'm guessing step two has to do with the fifteen yakuza members hiding out just under our feet? And yes, I can tell that they're yakuza. They're conversations are telling enough."

Kurogiri nods. "Now, if you would be so kind as to point us in the direction of the entrance?"

"Hmm." Izuku points his finger to the far side wall. "That group of safety deposit boxes seems to be the entrance. I can hear their voices bouncing off the walls and traveling up a stairway that starts from there… That's some nice sound-proofing they have on the walls. With all their yelling we'd be able to normally hear them from here. It makes me wonder if—"

Tomura ignores Izuku's rambling, moving instead to disintegrate the wall of safety deposit boxes he was pointed to. The action immediately reveals a doorway, as well as filling the bank vault with the slight taste of the rambunctious noise from below.

Tomura almost sprints ahead, but is narrowly stopped by an errant arm from Kurogiri.

"Hold, Tomura," Kurogiri says.

"Oh come on!" Tomura pulls in a useless effort to release his captured arm. "What do you want now?!"

"Guns? Or hands?"

Tomura blinks. Then, a wide grin grows on his face. "Well why didn't you just say so? Guns!"

Kurogiri nods, releasing Tomura. "Then we shall be enlisting Midoriya's help in this."

"Sweet!"

Izuku nearly has a heart attack as Tomura lunges towards him, and is surprised that he isn't already dead as he finds himself being pulled along. He's barely able to process the fact that he's still alive because Tomura's pinky finger is raised up — Nice control. But still, what the fuck! — when he suddenly finds himself being thrusted into the open doorway at the bottom of the stairs.

The grip around his shoulders disappear at around the same time the music and cheerful conversation within the room do. Realizing this, Izuku moves his eyes up. He finds himself faced with a room of frozen yakuza, all staring at him with looks of contempt or confusion.

Izuku gulps. "Uh…"

They raise their guns up and aim.

"Holy—"

Izuku flinches, facing away from his nearing death. He braces… Only for the bullets to never come, and for his personal space to suddenly be enveloped with laughter. He opens his eyes to find a portal acting as a barrier between the bullets and himself, as well as Tomura on the ground beside him cackling like a madman.

"The hell was that, Tomura!" Izuku yells, barely resisting his urge to kick the laughing boy in the stomach. "I could have died!"

"You kidding?" Tomura gasps between breaths. "You should have seen the look on your face!"

"That is not what I meant when I was asking for Midoriya's help, Tomura," Kurogiri chides as he appears behind the two.

"Oh, lighten up." Tomura makes his way to his feet. "He's alive right?"

Kurogiri merely glowers before turning to face Izuku. "Midoriya," he says calmly despite the mayhem on the other side of his portal. "Please pin down the positioning of any firearms within the room. Distance from myself and height from the ground should be satisfactory."

Izuku's eyes widen. "You want me to help you get rid of their guns?"

"Precisely." Kurogiri nods. "And unless you have already mastered your skills in canceling out specific sounds, I politely suggest that you hurry. Despite the sound-proofing in the room, the door upstairs no longer exists. We have no guarantee that the sound of gunfire will remain within this room and stay above the notice of the authorities."

Hearing this, Izuku glares at Tomura, who merely shrugs in return. Izuku shakes his head. "Fine."

After getting to work, Izuku found the process surprisingly easy. Coupled with his near-omnipotent awareness of the room and Kurogiri's pinpoint accuracy with his portals, a total of twenty-two guns are whisked away from the hands of the yakuza.

The sounds of panic had already been steadily rising during the process. Now that the yakuza have found all their weapons gone, the panic has only escalated.

Very few of their quirks are emitter-based (someone with laser eyes and another with ferrokinesis if all the flying utensils are anything to go by) but considering the nature of Kurogiri's portals, the attacks are rendered useless. The others, which are a mix of mutation or transformation types, are unsurprisingly unwilling to try their might against the unknown barrier blocking their path.

Before Izuku can find himself asking what comes next, he finds Tomura sprinting through a sudden opening in the mists.

Izuku turns to face the man responsible. "Kurogiri—"

"Cease you worries, Midoriya. Everything is going according to plan."

Before Izuku can ask for specifics, the first agonizing scream echoes against the walls of the room. He can hear the effects of Tomura's Decay gradually crawling up the length of the man's arm. His spine tingles as he hears the cracks run down the man's torso. And he winces as the man's spasms and screams as he realizes his fate.

Not long after the scream goes silent comes the second. And the third… The fourth…

They make Izuku wish that his quirk wasn't giving him a play-by-play of the events of the room. But still...

Just like how it was with the exterior wall, a small part of Izuku's mind can't help but be fascinated by the efficiency and skill portrayed by Tomura. And he hates himself for it.

"He's… He's handling them all by himself?" Izuku can't help but ask.

"I disable any of the problematic ones for the young master," Kurogiri answers. "Otherwise yes; despite the slow-acting nature of his Decay, by now the young master's skill makes him proficient in handling a few secondhand thugs."

Tomura's maniacal laughter follows the final fifteenth scream. Kurogiri drops his portal soon after, Izuku being greeted with the sight of a ferally grinning Tomura surrounded by piles of ash and dust, as well as a few still-crumbling bodies.

Izuku averts his eyes, intent on not having to look at the scene any longer than needs be.

Unfortunately, those plans are shot the moment three small, fast moving orbs register on his senses.

He doesn't think, doesn't take a moment to consider what he's doing. His feet move on their own, guiding Izuku to tackle Tomura to the ground. He's fast enough; he and Tomura narrowly avoiding the flurry of baseballs that miss their heads and embed themselves into the far wall.

Tomura raises an eyebrow at the sight, eyes alternating between the baseballs and the boy laying by his side. He mutters under his breath. "Huh."

Izuku, on the other hand, shoots right back up onto his feet. His quirk begins tracking a new individual who had just entered his range.

"What the heck was that?!" Izuku can't help but exclaim. "Slugger literally just entered my range; that means that he's over a kilometer from here! Has he been downplaying his ricocheting skills for all these years? I heard those things bouncing off walls and signs all the way here; even going so far as following the route we used to get in!"

"And his aim!" Izuku looks at Tomura. "Those baseballs were heading right for your head! Considering how fast they were, they would have killed you!"

"That was an unneeded recap, brat," Tomura grumbles as he stands up. "Now watch this: Kurogiri."

"Of course."

Kurogiri forms another portal that promptly deposits Slugger onto the ground. Or rather, slams him to the ground, which Izuku pertains to the fact that, the last he heard from the man before he was swept away, he was sprinting.

Tomura makes quick work in disintegrating the remaining baseballs (six in total) and grabbing Slugger's bat, ensuring his pinkies stay raised to maintain the integrity of his new weapon. By the time Slugger reorients himself, he's defenseless and laid before three unknown assailants.

Tomura pokes the man in the head with his bat. "How's it feel being pwned at your own game, huh?"

Izuku's expression shows his disbelief at the terminology used, all while Kurogiri remains as passive as ever.

"Now," Kurogiri says, carrying along the conversation, "you will answer any questions asked of you. Specifically, you will abide by what the young man here wants."

Kurogiri points to Izuku as he says this, the boy in question sputtering in disbelief. "Wh—wha… Me?"

Slugger scoffs at the display. "Please, who do you three think you are? I'm a pro hero for crying out loud! You think you'll get away with this?"

Kurogiri hums. "Tomura?"

Tomura slams the baseball back right into Slugger's stomach, causing the hero to kneel over and hurl.

"Please," Slugger slurs, "anyone can do that. You think—"

Tomura bends down, wrapping his whole palm Slugger's hand.

"AGH!" Slugger watches in terror as the decay climbs up his arm. He's only saved at the last second by Kurogiri, who forms and closes a portal around Slugger's arm, effectively cutting it off before Decay could spread.

In any normal instance, Izuku would be right into that, muttering about new findings and previously unexplored avenues of a quirk. He'd even be cognizant to take note of the sound of blood splatter across Kurogiri's body as the portal around Slugger's arm closes off.

But at the current moment, he simply can't. He's too petrified, and — no matter how much he hates to admit it — too… enthralled by the sight before him.

"Sure!" Slugger gasps as he stares at his newly gained stump. "Whatever you want! Just don't kill me!"

Another swing of the bat comes in, this time landing with a crack on Slugger's left leg. "Shut it!" Tomura sneers. "Your voice is annoying me! Talk only when spoken to!"

Izuku gulps, peeking at the carnage before him. "Was all of that... really necessary?"

"What?" Tomura laughs. "This?"

A swing, and the sound of cracking bone.

"Agh! My other fucking leg!"

"Tomura," Kurogiri calls out.

Tomura scoofs in return, backing away from his victim. "Oh, fine. Go ahead brat. Ask your questions."

Izuku gulps, turning his gaze towards the battered hero. He takes a breath, and asks the first thought that comes to mind. "You… You're Slugger, right? The Ball Throwing Hero?"

"Whoa!" Slugger sneers, blood running down his mouth. "Jeez, kid! Who knew? You can see!"

The sound of wood smacking against the floor echoes behind Izuku.

Slugger clears his throat, his quick smile disappearing as he stares at the ground. "Right. Sorry."

Izuku takes another breath, thinking about what to say. He considers why he's here, or even why Sensei would want him here. Izuku then thinks back, back to the whole start of this night. He recalls what Kurogiri had told him. There's something here that he can learn from.

"Why are you here?"

Slugger blinks, momentarily dazed. "What?

"Why were you running over here?" Izuku reiterates. "Why were you throwing baseballs at peoples' heads at lethal speeds? How'd you even know that something was happening here tonight?"

Slugger licks the blood off his lips. "I… run the joint." He scans the room. "Well, ran the joint, seeing as there ain't one now."

Izuku glares. Slugger takes it as a sign to further his explanation.

"I'm sort of an… honorary guard for the bank, considering I'm the only constant pro hero around these parts," Slugger divulges. "They allow me to get into their systems, you know? Like this whole second level to the vault that the bank hasn't used since before quirks were a thing. It was easy to sneak the boys in there and refurbish the place when I had control over the vault door's timer, after all."

"Oh, and you use the place for what?" Izuku asks jokingly. "Your base of operations for your drug smuggling ring?"

"Well, yeah."

The response gets Izuku to pause. Not only for the fact that Slugger's heart rate increased, but because as far as Izuku's previous knowledge held, Slugger was just running a protection racket.

"What else?"

Slugger looks up. "What?"

Venom drips into Izuku's voice. "What. Else."

Slugger gulps. "I, uh… Drugs, like I said… The neighborhood protection racket… some money laundering… some assassinations or death threats every now and then… and maybe a bit of a brothel for my men. But only on weekends!" Slugger quickly adds. "And the girls are all willing and comfortable the whole time!"

"I'm sure they are," Izuku scoffs. He turns away, looking at Kurogiri. "I get it. And I've heard enough."

"Are you sure?" Kurogiri asks.

Izuku nods, wrapping his arms around himself. He ignores the subsequent nod from Kurogiri, as well as the subsequent screams of terror that come out of Slugger's mouth as Tomura moves in.

Once all is said and done, Kurogiri walks up beside Izuku, placing a shoulder on the boy's shoulder. "I hope that today was not too much for you?"

Izuku sighs. "Did… did Tomura really have to do that? I mean, he was a pro hero and all, even if he wasn't worthy of the title… right?"

"Hey," Tomura calls out. "He saw our faces! You don't think that he would have ratted us out the moment he had the chance?"

"I—" Izuku takes a breath, turning to face Tomura. He wearily eyes the new pile of dust on the floor before he looks back at Tomura. "Yeah… I guess."

"Now you're getting it!" Tomura walks forward, slapping a hand on Izuku's shoulder. Izuku winces at the contact, still weary of the effects of Decay.

"I'll let you two clean up," Tomura says, starting his way back up the stairs. "I'll start gathering the loot we left upstairs!"

"We shall talk about using Decay on Slugger's arm later," Kurogiri remarks. "You know how much I dislike the sensation of blood coursing through my warp gates."

"That's what showers are for!" Tomura yells as he climbs up the stairs, feet thumping up the steps.

Izuku takes a breath.

"I can't believe it!" Izuku yells once Tomura's far enough away. "I didn't know that something like this was happening!" He gestures to the room as a whole. "I thought that he was just running a protection racket! Not all… this!"

"Not everything is broadcast to the internet or the street," Kurogiri intones. "Sometimes, no matter how deep you get, whether through the dark web or by knowledge of the underworld, some things are bound to escape notice. This operation is no different, in your perspective."

"Yeah, but…" Izuku shakes his head. "I can't believe how limited of a scope I've been running on this whole time. I guess that I still have a lot to learn, huh?"

"That is up to you. I, however, am glad that the events of today have borne fruit."

Izuu grimaces. "That's an odd way of phrasing it, I suppose."

Kurogiri nods, gesturing back up the stairs. "Best we are going. As I said, we have no idea if the authorities are to show up. And besides… The Master wishes for you to speak to him once more now that our business here has concluded. I hope that you are up to the task?"

Izuku's shoulders slump in defeat. "Yeah… I suppose."

A/N: And that confrontation will occur: Next time! See you all then!