A woman was seated in a newsroom, a neatly arranged stack of papers in her hands and a bright smile on her face as the program began.
~Breaking News~
Twenty villains being held under police custody were reportedly found dead earlier this morning, the killer being described as a masked man wielding either a gun or possessing a gun-type quirk.
These villains were said to be part of the infamous villain league, the same group involved in the heavily hushed UA incident one week ago.
The police department has condemned the crime as violent, thoughtless, and a sheer disregard for the justice system.
The hero organization at this point has failed to give a response and as such are under heavy criticism by the—
The TV flickered off, drowning the room in silence.
"To think that so many villains will be murdered under our noses, what a disgrace." Endeavour barked, tossing the remote to the table.
In one of UA's hidden strategy rooms, several notable heroes were gathered. There was the number two hero, the flame hero Endeavour…
The giant heroine and the Arbor hero, Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods.
Resting at the edge of the wall, slowly dozing from overwork was the erasure hero, Eraser Head, while the man sipping on a bottle of cola was the winged hero, Hawks.
Finally, the number one hero, All Might, was sitting on the couch, still staring at the TV that had gone blank, his thoughts racing.
Right in front of the heroes was a round table with the entire map of the city, as well as marked spots where they suspected the killer would strike next.
All Might let out a tired breath and began massaging his temples. "How many incidents now?"
"Seven…" There was a hint of irritation in Endeavour's voice as he spoke.
Although the news was only now carrying this, there had been signs of this villain over the years, but the incidents were small, never this pronounced.
The irritating part was that they had never managed to catch him, and now he seemed to have gotten far more active and audacious, following the attack on UA.
Endeavour glanced at the heroes beside him, Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady.
"How did your investigation go?"
Kamui slowly shook his head. Because the area was mostly known for high villain activity, they had expected to at least catch traces of him there, and yet they had found nothing.
It was almost as if he knew they were coming and prepared accordingly.
"He seems excellent at hiding himself, there wasn't a single sign of him by the time we left."
Endeavour's frown deepened while Kamui continued. "Is there any chance he is the same person as—"
"No." Endeavour replied boldly. "The man I fought is not cowardly enough to use a gun in a fight, he is far too talented for that."
The room was silent, the heroes gathered wondering if he just complimented the vigilante they were after.
Mt. Lady raised her hand before speaking. "Maybe it is an internal conflict within the league?"
Kamui slowly shook his head. "If that was the case, then he wouldn't take the risk of killing villains already going to jail."
She gave it a little thought then nodded in agreement.
All Might breathed out tiredly as he thought it over. He had to cancel his plans with his students because Hawks had come to him with urgent news, news that he could not possibly ignore at the time.
'Maybe if I was there…'
Saying it out loud would be an insult to Endeavour's competence, but he wished he could have at least gotten a glimpse of the masked man.
All Might stared at the marked spots on the map. "It looks like we have a new one popping up every day now. Could they all inspired by Stain?"
Stain was also known as the hero killer, a man who pushed a hard ideology concerning heroes being fakes.
His ideals had already inspired a lot of heinous acts in the past, but like his name suggested, the hero killer targeted only heroes, not villains.
Yet, the two new troublemakers both went after villains, at least for now… which was where their similarities with Stain seemed to end.
The discussion continued for a few minutes, the heroes trying to figure out a way to put a stop to both individuals that were currently plaguing them, when Eraser Head
raised his hand for the first time since the meeting had started.
"I think one of the most important things at this time is finding out if the midnight vigilante is somehow connected to All For One."
He was right, possessing multiple quirks was hardly something that could happen naturally. There were hybrids like Shoto Todoroki who could use ice and fire, but even people like him were rare.
This man, on the other hand, was said to be able to use multiple abilities at the same time.
So far they had outlined super strength, blood manipulation, and oxygen manipulation quirks, as well as a few others.
The only documented person capable of doing this was All For One, and if truly he had once again resurfaced, then they were in for darker days and must prepare accordingly.
"Ahhhh…" Hawks sighed happily as he finished his soda. He tightened back the bottle cap before placing it on the table.
"You need to catch two vigilantes, and figure out if one is related to All For One…" he began.
"The murderer shouldn't be too hard, all we have to do is follow the trail of blood he leaves in his wake." Hawks yawned and walked toward the table.
"As for the midnight vigilante, if he is really a scion for All For One, then all we need to do is bait him, lure him into a trap…"
Endeavour's eyes narrowed, his arms folded across his chest as he watched Hawks. "And how do you propose we do that?"
Hawks picked one of the pins from the table and placed it right over the image of UA.
Eraser Head quirked a brow while Hawks smiled.
"Why don't we offer our vigilante an offer he cannot resist? An excellent quirk, and a student too weak to actually protect themselves."
All Might's face hardened as he watched the pin. "Are you saying we should use one of our students as bait?!"
Hawks' playful expression fell and he leaned on the table slightly. "Their safety will be one hundred percent assured, you can trust me on that."
There was a short moment as they all deliberated on it.
It was not exactly the best plan, but it was the only plan they had, so at the end of the day, they all had to accept it for lack of options.
Hawks smiled and turned to Aizawa. "Remind me, when is the sports festival starting?"