19

Chapter 19: The Hero Killer

The train ride was rather calm to start. Izuku and Ms. Joke made light conversation about whatever came to mind, but internally, Izuku's brain was on other matters. He had tried to check in on Iida, but his friend read the message and didn't respond. That was highly unusual for him, and it made Izuku anxious. Peering out of the window and seeing that they were passing through Hosu only exacerbated his worry.

"Something wrong?" Ms. Joke asked from beside him with concern of her own dressing her face.

"I'm worried about my friend," Izuku revealed. "His brother was attacked and crippled by the Hero Killer, and he's been shutting us out recently."

Her concerned frown became a sympathetic one, and she patted his shoulder. "I get that. People grieve in their own ways, and pain like that takes time to heal. He'll come around when he's ready, so be there for him as best as you can in the interim."

"Woah, that building just exploded," a passenger muttered.

"I'm really trying," Izuku sighed, though he paid attention to what was going on in his periphery. "I'm worried that he's going to do something stupid and dangerous, though."

"Like personally seek revenge?" she asked.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "He's interning in Hosu and I strongly suspect that it was for that reason alone."

"Yo, the fuck is that flying out there?" the same passenger muttered again.

"Well, as morbid as it is to admit, we'll be avoiding Hosu as much as we can," she revealed, keeping aware of what was happening in her periphery, as well. "The place is on high alert with the Hero Killer around, so general crime will be pretty nonexistent, but I'm not comfortable taking you there with the Hero Killer present despite that. Personally, I don't think any interns should be there right now."

"That's understandable," Izuku nodded, but their attention was refocused when an announcement came over the train car.

"Attention passengers, please hold onto your seats-"

The announcement was interrupted when a pro hero in a white parka was slammed into the train car by a tall, grotesque, sickly-grey creature. Closer inspection revealed the creature to have 4 eyes poking out of an exposed brain, and Izuku went pale.

"Nomu!" he cried.

"Nomu?" Ms. Joke asked.

"A creature that helped attack the USJ," he quickly explained. "Sick, dangerous science experiment!"

"Stay back and protect the passengers!" Ms. Joke ordered before rushing to the aid of the pro hero that the Nomu had accosted. She got in between them and batted the creature's arm away from him before it could squeeze his head, and she punched it right in its exposed brain. The creature, while momentarily stunned, was otherwise unaffected, but it was more than enough time for Izuku to slam a green fist of his own into the Nomu before it could retaliate, blasting it out of the train entirely and through a brand new hole in the guard-wall beside the track.

There was no moment to rest or celebrate, though, as the Nomu got up with an angry screech and set its sights back on the train.

"You two, go on and take that monster down," the downed pro coughed to the mentor-intern duo. "I'll hold down the fort here."

Before Ms. Joke could protest and order Izuku to stay, he bounded through the hole in the train and met the Nomu's charge. Ms. Joke huffed and followed suit, clicking a hidden trigger in her gloves that protruded spikes from her already-reinforced knuckles. She got down to the ground in time to see her student knock the creature away again with a hard right hook.

"Are these things sentient?" she asked as she got into a stance beside him.

"Not really," he denied. "I don't even know if they're human."

"Then Outburst won't work here," she sighed in agitation. "Guess it's the hard way from here on out."

"Such a brazen villain attack?!" Manual gaped before motioning to Iida beside him. "This isn't good. Come on, we're rolling!"

As Manual ran, he took in the sounds of chaos and distress around him. It was only when they were nearing the blaze of an explosion in a cluster of buildings did he notice the lack of footsteps behind him. When he turned around, his intern was nowhere to be seen.

"Goddamnit!" he cursed. "I'd hoped he'd at least think a little harder about it."

Manual looked back at the fire, and the screams of terror and panic emanating from the area echoed in his ears. He spared a final glance back in the direction he came from, and he cursed again.

"You'd better pull through, kid. Please don't make me have to bring that news to your family."

With that, Manual darted in the direction of the fire and chaos, readying his quirk to put out any and all flames.

Izuku, blanketed in yellow fire, bounced around from wall to wall while the Nomu swung wildly at him from the street. He was glad that the area they were in was relatively isolated, and anyone that had been there initially had long since fled. Ms. Joke, meanwhile attacked the rampaging monster in its blind spots while it's attention was focused on Izuku. Having an extra set of eyes slightly towards the back of its head made that prospect a little more difficult, though.

"Beacon! Any way you can hold him still for a sec?!" she shouted.

"I'll try my best!" he responded as he bounced off the wall of a building and bulleted toward the awaiting Nomu.

The Nomu opened its maw, and its tongue grew and sprouted a myriad of tentacles that ensnared the yellow blur before he could reach it. Izuku struggled to free himself, but the hold was incredibly constricting, and he could feel it tightening while the Nomu made to take another swing at him. His yellow flames flickered to crimson, and he quickly heated himself up, severely burning the tongue's tentacles and forcing the Nomu to release him in the process.

Ms. Joke wasted no time appearing beside the Nomu, and she drove her spiked glove into the Nomu's kidney (where a kidney would be on a regular person, at least), puncturing its tough skin and digging into the side of the creature. She wasn't done, though, and she activated another switch within her glove to unleash a very potent electric shock, about 500,000 volts.

It only succeeded in stunning the Nomu for a brief moment, as the creature appeared to absorb the electricity entirely. Ms. Joke only had a second to jump backward before the Nomu unleashed that same electric shock onto the surrounding area, and she thanked her lucky stars that a blanket of orange fire covered her from head to toe just before the electricity reached her. She shot her intern a quick thumbs up with a grin before flicking her wrist and shooting a retractable baton from her thick, metal wrist guard.

With a quick point upwards and a slam of her fist into her palm directed towards Izuku, she reengaged the Nomu. Izuku immediately understood his instructions and leaped onto the sides of the buildings, bouncing from one to another in another yellow blur until he was nearing the top of one of them. Deciding he had more than enough height, he flickered back to green and plummeted toward the ground with his fist ready to slam into the creature's exposed brain, and slam he did. Just as the Nomu slapped the baton away and grabbed a hold of Ms. Joke's wrist, Izuku pounded down onto the unholy creation with the force of a missile, cratering it into the street and out of commission.

Izuku stared down at the creature for a considerable amount of time as the adrenaline was beginning to wear off, but a faint twitch and moan from the Nomu indicated to him that he had not killed it, and he released the breath that he didn't realize that he was holding. Ms. Joke stepped into the crater and placed a hand on his shoulder, and she offered him a bright grin with a proud thumbs up. Izuku couldn't fight the smile that came to him in response.

"I didn't know you had so much support gear in your gloves," he remarked as they stepped out of the crater.

"Like I said before, Outburst isn't impossible to escape, and there will be times where it's wholly ineffective," she explained with a cheeky smirk. "Gotta have ways to incapacitate the target without it so that I don't get caught with my pants down. No decent pro is a one-trick pony, after all."

"You know, I heard that from Eraserhead once," Izuku reminisced.

"Who do you think I picked it up from?" she answered with a wink.

"Nicely done," approached a deep voice from further down the street.

The two looked up and were surprised to see Endeavor surveying the scene. He was flanked by his sidekicks and, surprisingly to Izuku, his own son, Todoroki (Shoto? That was technically his hero name, as well, and he probably preferred to be called by that name, anyway). His sidekicks sprang into action and restrained the Nomu that had begun to squirm, and the large man looked over Izuku for a moment before turning to Ms. Joke and the others.

"I will deal with the other villains," he firmly declared. "Come, Shoto. You have much to learn."

The teen in question only sighed and followed his father after sending Izuku a nod. Izuku turned to his mentor to say something, but she beat him to the punch.

"If anyone asks, I granted you full permission to use your quirk in defense of the city and safety of those in harm," she told him in no uncertain terms. "I will handle any potential fallout from this, but I don't really foresee any. Still, better safe than sorry. Let's go assist the rescue efforts."

"About that," Izuku began, and Ms. Joke quirked an eyebrow, "I need to find my friend. I have a very bad feeling that he's going after the Hero Killer."

"Absolutely not-"

"I'm not going with the goal of fighting him, just to prevent my friend from doing something stupid."

"Then I'll go with you!"

"I'd be much faster going alone. I'll send you my location right away if I land in any trouble."

Ms. Joke was clearly not on board with the plan, but Izuku did not have time to waste. He lit up in a yellow flame and offered her an apologetic grimace. "I'm gonna grab him and be right out. Give me any punishment you see fit!"

On that note, he bounded off into the city towards the back alleys, leaving an angry and worried Ms. Joke behind. Izuku frantically made a mad dash through the city in search of his friend. He could only wish to himself on repeat that he wouldn't end up being late. Sweeping through the labyrinth of dirty, dingy alleys of Hosu, Izuku eventually happened upon the exact scene he was looking for, but not the one he wanted. Before him, the Hero Killer himself was standing above Iida with his bloody sword poised to end the teen's life.

Izuku momentarily saw red, and he closed the distance between them and leveled Stain with a hard punch to the jaw, saving Iida from certain death.

"Don't you fucking DARE lay a finger on him!" Izuku snarled.

Iida gasped in his paralyzed state on the ground. He couldn't really see who had arrived, but he recognized that voice. "M-Midoriya?"

"I will properly yell at you about this when we're not in mortal peril," Izuku scolded. "For now, we need to get to the street and get help from the pros."

"I… I can't move my body," Iida strained. "It must be his quirk. Since he cut me, I've been paralyzed."

"Shit," Izuku cursed. "So, cutting must activate his quirk. That tracks with what his survivors have said about him."

Only then did Izuku notice that they were not alone with Stain in the alley. He saw another pro hero, Native, laying prone against the wall past where Stain was standing. That truly complicated matters. Getting Iida out of there was one thing, but getting them both out while avoiding Stain's attacks was another thing entirely, and he wasn't sure that he could protect both of them while also protecting himself enough to escape with them. It wasn't like he could sacrifice himself for them to escape; they clearly couldn't move, so they literally relied on his mobility in order to survive. He couldn't cut any corners or be needlessly self-sacrificial, otherwise they would all die.

"Midoriya, please," Iida ground out. "Don't get involved. This has nothing to do with you!"

"Out of the fucking question," Izuku almost snarled back, much to Iida's consternation.

"So, you came to your friend's rescue," Stain began. "You even made a big entrance. Unfortunately, I have a duty to kill him and this fake masquerading as a hero. When your friend chose to fight me, it guaranteed that the weaker of us would be culled."

Stain's eyes narrowed at Izuku. "So, he who seeks to rescue the damned, what will you do?"

Izuku gritted his teeth, and he covertly fished his phone from his suit to send his location to Ms. Joke. For added measure, he sent it alongside a haphazardly typed message to Shoto on the possibility that he'd bring his father with him. Loathe as he was to admit it, Endeavor was exceptionally powerful, and taking Stain down would be all but guaranteed with his inclusion.

'Until then, I need to kill time. Every quirk has a weakness, and every ability has a limit. Maybe I can find out what his is if I get him talking.'

"You know of me?" Izuku asked in reference to the "he who seeks to rescue the damned" comment.

"Of course," Stain rasped. "You're the boy who wants to extend a hand to those left behind by society, the ones that not even All Might could save. An admirable sentiment, but why?"

"Someone has to be there for them, especially if no one ever has been. If I can do that, then why not?"

"Why not succeed All Might? Why not be there for everybody?"

"We're only here right now because All Might can't be there for everyone himself. He may be inhumanly powerful, but he's not omnipotent. And who's to say that I'd do any better of a job at it than him?"

After a brief moment of silence, Stain nodded. "Good. As blasphemous as part of your premise is, it's certainly an admirable one, one befitting a true hero."

Stain's gaze narrowed even more, and his bloodthirsty smile returned. "That is if you truly are one," he finished with a flick of a knife to the downed Native.

Izuku flashed yellow and was in front of the knife in less than a second, snatching it out of the air and throwing it back at Stain. Unfortunately, Stain wasn't there any longer, as the attack on Native was a distraction to get him away from Iida. Before Stain could gleefully impale the boy with his sword, Izuku flashed a bright orange, and a wall appeared between the murderer and the hero-in-training. Izuku seized control of the barrier before Stain could make sense of it, and he made it curl around the man before slamming it into the wall of the alley. Quickly returning to yellow, he grabbed Native and deposited him on the ground next to Iida, and he protectively stood over the two as Stain moved to attack once more.

Izuku met his charge head-on and ducked the swipe of his sword before springing onto his hands and mule kicking Stain in the head before he could turn to face him. Stain weaponized the force of the kick to quickly grab one of his holstered blades and swipe again at Izuku, but the boy twisted in the air to avoid the blade's edge and gave Stain another kick to the head for his troubles, sending the man to the ground.

Stain's foot narrowly sailed past Izuku's face in a last-ditch effort to get some offense in on his way to the ground, and Izuku ignited in an emerald blaze before grabbing Stain's leg and slamming him into the other wall of the alley. Izuku went for a final punch to knock the man out, but he just barely escaped the blow and created space between them. Izuku shook off the fist-sized dent he created in the building, and he caught Stain's eye just in time to see him stroke the spikes in his boot and lick his finger. Immediately, Izuku froze, and he collapsed to the ground full of panic.

"SHIT!" Izuku growled out as the man slowly meandered past him.

"That was a stellar effort, kid," Stain complimented with a keen eye on the boy. "Your instincts and technique are solid, but you were at a major disadvantage in experience. That'll be fixed with time, though, but it won't be enough today."

"There are countless false heroes around here that are all talk, but you're different," he continued as he stepped toward the downed duo at the other end of the alley. "You stuck your neck out to save the lives of these two potentially at the cost of your own, and you didn't prioritize the life of your friend over the life of a stranger. You're worthy of staying alive, unlike these two."

Stain leveled his blade at the head of the petrified Iida, and Izuku's heart sank further and further with every second. He slipped up and got nicked. He was stuck, and Iida was going to die.

Iida was going to die.

He couldn't save him.

Just as Stain lifted his sword to end the boy, a powerful stream of fire blasted in his direction, forcing him to move out of the way to avoid becoming a human-sized piece of toast. The sight of fire shocked all three paralyzed bodies, but the recognition that came afterward filled Izuku with unbridled glee.

"Sorry if I was a little late, Midoriya, but I got here as quickly as I could," came the aloof voice of Izuku's newest friend.

"Shoto!" Izuku cheered. "Holy shit, dude! Perfect timing!"

"You, too, Todoroki?" Iida asked in further dismay. His classmates and comrades were involving themselves in his battle, and they would get hurt or worse in the process.

"Just sending the location would've been cryptic enough to tell me that something was wrong since you don't do cryptic," Shoto began, "but the message you attached was pretty concise, if only poorly spelled. 'Iida in trouble, being a dumbass, send help.'"

Native snorted at the message while still paralyzed on the ground, and even Stain almost cracked a smirk despite himself. Iida, meanwhile, could only silently grumble.

Shoto stomped on the ground, and a large ramp of ice developed in front of him. Stain leaped into the air to get away from it, but the real goal was to get Izuku away from the Hero Killer and slide him back to their position.

"Shoto, don't let him cut you!" Izuku warned. "He paralyzes his opponents with a taste of their blood."

"So, he ingests blood to keep them from moving," Shoto confirmed as he readied for battle. "All I've gotta do is keep my dist-"

He was interrupted by a blade slicing through the air and cutting him on his left cheekbone.

"Much easier said than done!" Izuku shouted.

"Save the commentary!" Shoto shouted back as a wall of ice sprouted up to block Stain's sudden advance. Stain leaped over the ice to lick the cut on Shoto's cheek, but he flared his flames to force Stain to back away. Meanwhile, Izuku began to regain feeling in his limbs.

"Just stop it," Iida ground out. "Why are you both doing this? His fight is with me! I inherited my brothers name. I'm the one that should stop him. The Hero Killer is mine!"

"You're Ingenium now? Strange." Shoto remarked a bit sardonically while creating sharp, jagged walls of ice to keep Stain at bay. "The Ingenium I knew before never had such a hateful, vengeful look about him. Reminds me of myself."

"Don't block your own field of vision against a superior opponent!" Stain scolded, and he threw two blades at Shoto's left arm to prevent him from using his fire. Taking advantage of the momentary lapse, Stain made to impale the prone Native, but he was intercepted by a speeding Izuku and dragged across the wall further down the alley.

"Midoriya!" Shoto exclaimed.

Izuku grabbed Stain by the scarf and threw him to the ground in line for Shoto to attempt to freeze him with his ice, but the elusive murderer escaped the line of fire just in the nick of time.

"Goddamnit, he's too fast," Shoto bitterly grunted. "How did you break out of his quirk, anyway? Is there a time limit?"

"I have a few theories, but it's irrelevant for right now," Izuku replied in a crouch beside him. "You're right that he's too fast and too slippery. Getting those two out of here unscathed is next to impossible."

"Not if I provide a distraction for you to go," Shoto proposed. "You're fast enough to get them both out to safety while I keep him busy."

"I'm not leaving you behind, Shoto," Izuku immediately shot down with deadly seriousness.

"It might just be our only option," Shoto stood firm.

"Then we'll make another," Izuku stated with finality. "If we have to wait it out for his quirk to wear off so that those two can escape on their own power, so be it, but I'm not leaving you to go down alone. If we go down, we're going down as friends."

"This isn't the time for a damn speech, Midoriya," Shoto countered, but the faintest smile showed itself on his face.

"Why are you two doing this?!" Iida practically bawled. "This is my crusade! Don't kill yourselves for my sake!"

"Doing stupid things for the right reasons is the essence of being a hero!" Izuku argued to his downed friend. "It's what we're all training to be, and I'm for damn sure not going to go back on that when someone I care about is in danger!"

He glanced up at Shoto. "You've lost a lot of blood as it is, so I'm gonna distract him up close while you support me from behind. Sound good?"

"It's pretty risky, but we can do it," Shoto acquiesced. "We can protect them."

"Your dedication to saving lives is beautiful," Stain commended in a bittersweet tone. "The future may just be in capable hands if the both of you are any indication. But my mission still must be carried out, and those fakes will be purged!"

Iida could only watch in utter dismay as Izuku went up in yellow flames once again and began bouncing around Stain like a pin ball. The boy dodged a symphony of blades in his efforts to keep Stain occupied, but the man would dodge the surprise attacks of Shoto just the same, and the effective stalemate drew on.

"I… I can't watch this…" Iida nearly sobbed.

"You want to make your brother proud, Iida?" Shoto intensely regarded the inconsolable boy while he blasted the alley with an inferno that Stain still weaseled his way out of. "Then stand up and be Ingenium! Be the hero he wants you to be!"

Iida choked back his tears once again. 'How pathetic… can I even call myself a hero? My friends are risking their lives to protect me…'

The tears finally began to fall. 'Manual was right… I lost myself in my vengeance and almost lost everything. I refuse…'

Iida began to stir. 'I refuse to let my friends suffer for my mistakes! I will do right by them and my brother!'

Meanwhile, the exhaustion was starting to hit both Izuku and Shoto. Izuku was moving nonstop to keep out of Stain's range, and he couldn't afford to stop for even a moment to let the orange barriers rise because it would leave Shoto exposed should he miss with his ice or fire. Shoto, meanwhile, was pouring his energy into these attacks that mostly ended up being fruitless. He was running out of steam, and he had greatly underestimated just how long it would take help to arrive.

When Izuku was just a half-step too slow, the butt of a blade slammed into his chest, and he was sent tumbling to the floor and away from Stain. Stain used that moment to make for Shoto, expertly weaving through the ice and fire as if with practiced ease. Izuku scrambled to his feet to chase after him, but Stain had already gotten into Shoto's guard with his sword ready to draw the boy's blood.

"RECIPRO BURST!"

All Stain saw was a suit of armor literally blast into his field of vision and slam into him, launching him backward and breaking his sword in the process.

"HELL YEAH, IIDA!" Izuku cheered as he launched himself over Stain and landed beside his two friends with a pant.

"Todoroki, Midoriya, this has nothing to do with either of you, and I apologize for all of this," he began.

"Iida, don't-" Izuku started but was cut off.

"No, I'm okay," he assured. "I won't let the two of you shed anymore blood for me!"

Stain only scoffed. "There's no use trying to pretend you're a hero now. A person's true nature doesn't change in only a few minutes."

"Genuine question: have you ever actually given people the chance to change?" Izuku cut in.

The question seemed to rattle Stain a bit, and he took a moment to collect his thoughts with a scowl. "What's the point? Frauds that prioritize their own desires are rotten to the core. They are who they are, and that is immutable. They're the sickness that's infected our society and tarnished the name of heroes!"

"I suppose I can understand that rationale for grown adults," Izuku carefully phrased, "but you're condemning a teenager with room to grow and develop to the same sort of judgement."

"What difference does it make?!" Stain hotly retorted. "A fake in youth is a fake as an adult; the only difference is that the fake can do more damage as an adult. Culling the fake when he's young prevents that damage from happening in the future!"

"But you don't know that!" Izuku argued back. "You're not Sir Nighteye; you can't see the future! You don't know how a teenager will end up only with knowledge of where they are currently! I've personally seen the results of teenagers taking long looks at their choices and making changes for the better. People have the capacity to change for the better if you'd just let them, Stain!"

Meanwhile, Native, who was still paralyzed in Stain's quirk, was gawking at the scene in bemusement and incredulity, and that only grew when he saw that neither of the other two teens were batting an eye or lifting a finger.

"What the fuck is that kid doing?" he asked the other two in a semi-hushed tone to avoid drawing the attention of the Hero Killer, but it was unnecessary since the man's attention was solely focused on Izuku. "Why is he arguing philosophy with the fucking Hero Killer?! Why haven't you three just left already?!"

"He's buying us time to recover," Shoto responded. "He knows that a Recipro Burst like that takes a lot out of Iida's engines, and both he and I are nearing our limits. We were able to grasp that Stain enjoys monologuing, so drawing him into a frivolous debate is his way of letting us regain ourselves and kill time for help to arrive."

Just as he finished, a bright yellow blur tackled the two out of the way of several swords, and the three (with Native literally in tow) jumped backward to create more space.

"I might have agitated him a little bit," Izuku sheepishly admitted.

"I've entertained this for far too long!" the murderer practically seethed. "I will slaughter those two fakes and that is final!"

The Hero Killer launched himself at the trio with a vicious sort of reckless abandon, and it made him more dangerous while also more predictable. The desperation he was feeling to kill Iida and Native before help arrived was mounting alongside the impotent rage he felt at having his ideals challenged so blatantly by someone he refused to kill. Shoto bathed the alley in fire while freezing Iida's leg to cool down his engines for another go, and Izuku met Stain blow for blow to keep him busy all the while. The mixture of red-hot fire from Shoto and a colorful ignition from Izuku chased Stain up a wall to escape the onslaught.

"Recipro Extend!" Iida shouted once his engines were back online, and he rocketed up the wall with Izuku on the other side to pincer the cornered villain. A boosted kick from the armored boy and an iridescent fist wreathed in emerald fire slammed into either side of Stain's face, sandwiching the man between two thunderous blows and ripping consciousness away from him. A well-timed blast of ice from Shoto created a safe slide to the ground for the two boys and an icy prison for the defeated Hero Killer.

The three teens were silent as they looked up at the captured villain. Izuku sidled over to stand in between the two, and he simultaneously offered the two a fist. It was an awkward moment at first, but Shoto quickly met Izuku's fist with his own. Iida, meanwhile, stared down at the offered fist, and he couldn't help but feel unworthy of the boy's friendship. His turmoil must have shown on his face, though, and he soon felt a firm, gloved hand pat him on the back. Iida met Izuku's eyes, and the kind, friendly smile free of any judgement invaded his will and brought his fist to meet Izuku's.

"We go down as friends, right?" Izuku asked.

"We go down as friends," Shoto answered.

"To the depths of Hell," Iida added.

Ms. Joke was not the least bit happy. When she got Izuku's message with his location, she made a mad dash for whatever back alley he may have potentially found trouble in.

Then, she found herself getting smacked into a building by a hulking monster with scarred, black skin and an exposed brain. That wasn't very fun.

Climbing her way out of the wreckage left by the new, stronger Nomu was a task, as she could certainly feel that at least one rib was broken. She got to her feet in time to see Endeavor make it to the scene and incinerate the creature's head, but the situation only marginally improved since there was also a winged Nomu flying around with a hostage. While Endeavor went to take care of the creature, she slipped away from the crowd and hobbled through the alleys of Hosu as best as she could.

City on fire or not, she was going to find her intern. Not only had he truly grown on her, but he was brimming with potential that she wholeheartedly refused to see be wasted by some idealistic lunatic. It took a good bit of time and a fair amount of willpower to fight through the pain of traversing the city on foot with a broken rib, but she eventually found her beloved intern practically hanging off the shoulders of two other teens, one she immediately recognized as Endeavor's son and the other she slowly recognized as the Iida boy from the Sports Festival. Then, her gaze traveled to the smiling man next to them, who she remembered to be Native.

Finally, her gaze landed on the beaten, tied up form of-

"IS THAT THE FUCKING HERO KILLER?!"

The eyes of the three teens and Native shot up to see a frantic and rightfully apoplectic Ms. Joke storming towards them. More specifically, she was storming toward an incredibly pale Izuku.

"…Hey, Ms. Joke," Izuku weakly began in an attempt to placate the angry hero.

"Don't 'hey' me, Beacon!" she retorted. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?! You up and ran off to go rescue someone from the Hero Killer himself without help! You could have been killed!"

Izuku could only shrink at his mentor's scolding since it wasn't at all inaccurate.

"Excuse me, Ms. Joke," Native spoke up, gaining the irate woman's attention. "Had he not done so, two people would be dead, myself included. What he did was idiotic, but he definitely saved lives today."

Ms. Joke stared at him, then she stared at Izuku's sheepish grin, and then she stared at the bound and defeated Hero Killer. She sighed, and that was a mistake because it immediately reminded her about her injured ribs. Izuku saw this and quickly made his way over to her.

"Ms. Joke, are you okay?" he fretted, and a pink flame bloomed in his hands before he placed them over the area she was clearly favoring. "Here, let me."

"I'm okay," she tried to assure, but he wasn't convinced and applied his flames to her regardless. "Ran into another one of those Nomu on the way. So much stronger than the first."

The mention of Nomu got Todoroki's attention, as the only other Nomu he knew of was the creature from the USJ that All Might fought. Could the League of Villains been behind the attack? Was Stain apart of the League as well?

Iida, meanwhile, was staring wide-eyed at Izuku's pink flames. He was casually mending his mentor's ribs with apparently little issue, even though he was already exhausted. He had completely forgotten about his ability to heal. Maybe…

No, he could never request that of him. It's out of line, even for a friend, and there's no guarantee that he even could.

But…

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to inquire later on?

"Ha! Look at the pompous dweeb!" Tomura cackled at the scene beside Kurogiri from atop a building. "And Player 2 took him down at that, even better. No idea why Spinner is so obsessed with him."

"Is it wise to stand so close to the heroes in your condition?" Kurogiri asked. "We risk being spotted if we're in view, and you're still in no condition to fight."

"It'll be fine," Tomura assured. "You'll have us out of here before anyone that spots us could even get up here. As for my condition…"

His gaze lingered on Izuku's pink flames, and he seemed to be considering something. Kurogiri silently watched on as the young man cupped his chin and nodded. "Well, we do need a healer, after all."

The two watched the other pros that were fighting the Nomu arrive at the scene, and they began tending to the roughed up hero brats while Stain was watched like a hawk. Tomura admittedly started to get a little bored, and he was thinking about calling it quits and leaving with the remaining Nomu, but, as if it was summoned with the thought, the winged Nomu flew around the corner and into the fray. It attempted to yoink a hostage, but it only succeeded in spilling some of its blood in the area without nabbing anyone. The assembled heroes tensed and readied to battle, and, as a result, they took their attention away from Stain. The Hero Killer capitalized on this and escaped his bondage with a knife that he had stashed away, and the little weirdo licked the spilled blood to paralyze the Nomu.

"What the hell is he doing?" Tomura growled as Stain went into another monologue about purging the fakes and degenerate criminals. His eyes widened when Stain killed the Nomu and he inexplicably turned his gaze up to the two on top of the building.

"It seems that he is aware of our presence," Kurogiri dryly commented.

"The hell was your first clue?" Tomura snarked.

Then, things became interesting when Endeavor came onto the scene and locked eyes with Stain. The air around the parties on the ground completely changed, and Stain began emanating the most vicious and intense aura that anyone on the street had ever felt. Even the two atop the building were taken by surprise, as the sheer violent presence Stain permeated was only eclipsed by their Sensei. A thought occurred to Tomura, and he turned to his misty companion.

"How close can you get us without being seen?" Tomura asked more seriously than Kurogiri could remember him ever being.

"Close enough to hear them," he answered.

"Good," he responded, and the two stepped through a portal that Kurogiri spawned. On the other side, Tomura quickly fished out his phone and started recording Stain's impassioned final stand.

"You false heroes... I'll make this right. These streets must run with the blood of hypocrites. Hero... I will reclaim that word! Come on! Just try and stop me you fakes! There are only three that I'd let kill me, three true heroes. ALL MIGHT IS WORTHY! AND SO ARE THOSE TWO!"

Tomura lingered on the teens in question for a long moment before ending the recording when Stain finally succumbed to his injuries. "We've got what we needed. Let's go."

"What is this for, if I may ask?" Kurogiri questioned when they returned to their place on the roof of the building overlooking the scene.

"I'm sending it to Spinner and getting him to make a manifesto out of it," Tomura bitterly answered.

"But don't you hate Stain? Why would you intentionally do anything to aid his cause?" Kurogiri asked with clear confusion in his voice.

"We attacked Hosu with Nomus while Stain was also in the city," he lowly began. "As much as it fucking kills me, people will assume that Stain and the League are allied after tonight. Might as well take advantage of that and create some strong fanatics for our own cause. And if this little display sews discord among hero society by giving two UA brats the Hero Killer's own stamp of approval, all the better."

"That is surprisingly forward thinking of you, Tomura," Kurogiri responded.

"I'm not an idiot, Kurogiri, no matter how much Sensei seems to think I am," Tomura answered with an unreadable tone.

Kurogiri did not respond to that, and the two left through a portal back to the bar.

The next morning, the three teens were in the hospital and still processing all that had happened. They weren't terribly injured, but the heroes on scene took the precaution anyway, and Izuku didn't really have the energy to heal their injuries after doing what he could for Ms. Joke's ribs.

"So, the little rascals are awake," came a voice familiar to Izuku when their door slid open. Standing in the doorway was a nonplussed Manual in his hero suit and a slightly more joyful Ms. Joke in her own hospital gown.

"Ms. Joke!" Izuku welcomed with a smile that was gladly returned.

"And Manual, too," Iida spoke while wilting slightly under Manual's blank gaze. "I'm deeply sorry for the trouble I caused you-"

"Save it for now," Manual interrupted. "Someone is here to see the three of you."

In stepped a giant of a man with the head of a dog in a clean, black suit with a white, spotted tie in the style of a Dalmatian's coat.

"This is Hosu's chief of police," Ms. Joke introduced, losing her smile. "Kenji Tsuragamae."

The three teens stood when he was introduced as the police chief, but he waved them off.

"So, woof, you are the UA students who brought down the Hero Killer?" he asked in a voice that didn't quite fit his stature.

"We are," Shoto hesitantly confirmed.

"Stain has some severe injuries," the man began in a serious tone. "Severe burns and many broken bones. You three did quite the number on him."

The man's canine eyes bored into the trio as he went into a lengthy explanation about quirk use laws and the clear lines between licensed quirk use, self-defense, and vigilantism. Izuku wasn't really listening, in all honesty; the whole time, he was having a silent conversation with Ms. Joke. He could tell that she was trying to implore him to say that she authorized him to use his quirk in the defense of the lives of others so that he wouldn't get into any trouble. She was willing to take the full brunt of the punishment for him, but he wouldn't stand for that, and she could tell if the way her eye twitched was any indication.

"Hold on a minute!" Shoto heatedly spoke up, drawing Izuku and Ms. Joke's attention back onto the discussion at hand. "If Iida hadn't stepped in, then Native would've been murdered, and had Midoriya not done the same, then both Iida and Native would be dead. No one else had been able to locate the Hero Killer while he was in Hosu. Are you saying that we should've just stood by and watched people die?!"

"So, it's okay to break the law as long as it goes your way?" The chief calmly retorted.

Manual was pointedly silent at that, Iida noticed.

"But sir, isn't it a hero's job to protect people?!" Shoto argued back.

"This is why you're not full-fledged pros yet," the chief sighed. "I see UA and Endeavor haven't been teaching you nearly enough. What a shame."

Shoto practically seethed at the dismissal, and he took an angry step forward. "You damn mu-"

"Gonna cut you off right there before you say something that would make Tsu upset, Shoto," Izuku interrupted, and Shoto's eyes went wide before he immediately recomposed himself and sat back down.

Izuku turned his gaze back to the chief. "If the alternative is lives being lost for the sake of bureaucracy, then I don't think we did anything wrong."

"I really don't think that's what's going on here," Ms. Joke quickly attempted to interject, but the chief decided to challenge the position.

"Isn't it?" he questioned. "Quirk use isn't only regulated situationally for a reason. I could throw your asses in the pound for this incident."

"With all due respect," Izuku started, "I had the power and ability to save lives, and I did so, regardless of the laws. I get that these laws are in place for good reason, but if I could do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing, and I wouldn't begrudge anyone else for doing the same."

"That's a really slippery slope," the chief responded. "That line of thinking could easily lead to another Destro sprouting up."

That, he had to admit, was a good point. Unregulated quirk use was a slippery slope and it was the foundation of Destro's entire ideology. Still, laws that explicitly prevented unlicensed people from publicly wielding their quirks to defend themselves and others at risk of felony vigilantism charges were very often overly restrictive. However, where would that line even be drawn to determine what is and isn't suitable?

"It doesn't particularly matter either way; I'm not here to punish you as it is," the chief finally revealed, breaking Izuku from his thoughts. "What I said is only the official stance of the police department. Any punishment would only be necessary if this went public. If it did, you'd no doubt be applauded by the populous, but there's no chance of avoiding the consequences of vigilantism. On the other hand, we could say that Endeavor saved the day, and Stain's injuries would be consistent with that, but you wouldn't get any credit, woof."

The large dog-man removed his hands from his pockets and held them out like a scale. "You can either take the acclaim alongside the punishment, or you can skirt the punishment at the cost of the acclaim. It's up to you."

The three teens looked at each other in silent deliberation. It took them all of 5 seconds.

"Option 2," was the simultaneous answer of the three.

"Excellent," the chief said with a thumbs up. "I'd rather not damage any promising careers over something like this."

Iida stepped forward and bowed before Manual. "I'm sorry, sir. You were right about everything. I should've listened. I should've heeded your warning."

"You're right, you should've," Manual said with a sigh. "You're lucky to even be standing here right now, but I'd be a hypocrite if I begrudged you too badly. Just don't do anything like this again in the future."

"Allow me, on behalf of the police department, to thank you all for your efforts," the chief finished with a low bow. "A vicious killer was apprehended, and it is thanks to you."

Any prepared reply was halted when a figure smashed through the window and rolled into the room. What concerned them was that they were on the 5th floor of the hospital. What concerned them even more was that the figure revealed herself to be the Rabbit Hero: Mirko.

"YOU!" She pointed at Izuku with a heated glare. "You move-stealing sack of shit, I've been looking everywhere for you!"

That foreboding feeling he had during the sports festival and periodically afterward finally made sense.

"We're gonna spar since you think you're such hot shit to butcher my moves like that, and you'll get firsthand experience in what they feel like when done properly," she declared and grabbed the frightened teen by his collar, then she leveled a glare at Ms. Joke who had instinctively stepped up to defend him. "He your intern? Bring his suit."

With no further preamble, she jumped out of the hole she created with the frightened Izuku in her grasp. The remaining occupants (chief of police included), were positively slack-jawed at what they had just seen, and Ms. Joke only sighed in resignation before collecting his costume and leaving. Just then, a giant, reptilian eye peered through the broken window.

"Sorry about that," the gruff voice of Ryukyu in her dragon form intoned. "I didn't expect her to literally bust through the window when she asked for a ride this morning. I'll pay for the damages."