3 Glimpse

The night was cold, the previous evident by how each of Katsuo's exhales were visible.

Spring was in full swing, but the cold nights of winter seemed to still linger despite the fact.

The moon shone bright in the dark sky, street lamps buzzed, heads were pointed down to avoid eye contact, legs moved quickly and quietly, and hands were at the ready or hidden amongst pockets.

Hosu's night life was grim, the only etch of color from neon signs blinking, LED lights from clubs peeking from under doors, and also the occasional police cruiser with its lights on that slowly moved down streets.

Katuso wasn't having second thoughts, he knew how dangerous the job might be, but that couldn't be said for the dumbass next to him.

Kotawe held both sides of his head, "We are gonna die."

Rin, the gentle giant, just scoffed, "We haven't even started the job yet, will you shut up."

Katsuo grunted in agreement, dark blue eyes constantly on the move, especially lingering on rooftops. Underground Heroes used the night just as much as others, and it seemed their track record was just as black.

They were allowed to kill.

Of course, investigations would always follow such dramatic action, but when they rarely got press like Limelight Heroes there was less of a reason not to.

They were just elevated policemen, which is why Katsuo scrounged up every tidbit of knowledge on them that his Grandpa had talked about.

'They will be behind the lights, so they can look out, while you can't look in. They wear normal clothes, and they blend in impossibly well.'

Katuso narrowed his eyes at a seemingly regular looking man smoking a cigarette at a bus stop, though instead of sitting on the bench where he would be illuminated, he stood off to the side, shrouded in relative darkness.

"Yo Katsuo." He was pulled from the observation by Katowe's words. "We're here."

The building wasn't run down, abandoned, or anything of the like. No, it was a bowling alley and bar that was still open, a few groups of drunks walking out, and the place even had a security guard stationed at the front.

"This is the place?" Katsuo let his words carry his confusion, but on his face he made himself relax and seem casual. It would be too obvious if he glanced around and looked like it was his first time here.

Kotawe placed a hand on his shoulder, hand running through his locks of crimson hair as he smirked, "Yeah, we go in, meet at the back, load up in a van, move some crates, and we get a burner phone for next time. Simple eh?"

Katsuo nodded, making sure if there really was a next time, he asked more questions, he didn't quite enjoy being so much in the dark.

"Let's go," Rin said, his massive frame making him look naturally older and also eliminating any trouble the security guard might have made.

Six foot eight did that to people, especially when Rin didn't let himself be skinny, though on the other hand it also made him more memorable.

Katuso didn't flinch from the scents that assaulted him when they entered the place. The smell was an amalgamation of alcohol, piss, dust, fried food, nicotine, and something else that just smelt weird.

Kotawe scrunched his nose up though, the idiot trying to act sneaky as he leaned over and even put up a hand to cover his mouth like he was a genius, "Look, it's Okokiri."

Katuso followed his friend's gaze, seeing the lanky neighborhood drug dealer that usually looked a second away from a panic attack. The bug like eyes that looked like a fly hammered the image home, his head flicking unnaturally side to side to check his surroundings constantly.

Rin was still at the front, meaning the big guy met Okokiri first, quiet words exchanged between them before the drug dealer led them to a back room and then into an alley.

Katsuo's breath hitched as he saw the four black vans that just screamed shady shit, but he dropped his gaze and focused on listening in on the current conversation.

"-Telling you three, this Shigaraki guy is next up," Okokiri smiled wide. "You guys may never meet him, but apparently in eleven months he is planning something big, get his name out there like Stain did before he went dark."

Kotawe was eating it up, hands in the air as he cheered, "Alright, and all we got to do is be some henchman, easy money."

Thankfully, Rin was more on edge, "Why do they need a bunch of randoms off the street?"

Okokiri nodded once at Rin, "DNA mostly, if whatever we do goes belly up, it all comes back to us, and since we don't have any actual ties to the main group, we won't have valuable information if we get caught. Honestly, who cares, I was tired of selling Spark to a bunch of kids bro, shit was lame."

Katsuo knew what Spark was, a drug that gave a slight boost to someone's Quirk, but even then it was so minuscule most just took it for the adrenaline rush that came with it.

Small time criminals and petty Villains loved the stuff, but honestly it was never worth the price, especially with rumors of the Yakuza having a part in it.

"You guys are the last, take these masks and glasses, we probably won't get caught, but security cameras are still a thing." Okokiri grabbed a bag from the driver's seat of one of the four vans, simple medical masks and sunglasses inside.

Katuso took his share, swallowing the feeling in his throat that the path he was taking was wrong, since this was what he wanted to stop. He knew whoever this upstart was would be putting innocents at risk, they always did.

They wanted to do big things, ideals held up by huge egos that let them step on the little guys without remorse. Katsuo hated them, not because they killed his parents or anything, because they hadn't—his parents died in a car wreck—but because he could see their effect on society daily.

How families stopped going to parks, how once upon a time children could walk the street and not be accosted, or how there use to be smiles instead of weary gazes.

All Might was definitely a deterrent for a lot of them, but with him all the way in Tokyo he was too busy focusing on bigger issues. Plus, Villains were not doing country wide attacks like a hundred years ago thanks to his presence, but small stuff like drugs, thievery, and vandalism never went away.

Katsuo wasn't going to give the number one Hero any flak for not stopping some small-time drug peddler or the everyday thief, He should be focusing on the S level Villains, ones like what Kastuo suspected Shigaraki was trying to be.

"Load up, we are heading to Kamino Ward, next to the red light district, we unload the cargo then bounce, simple shit." Okokiri practically yawned as he gestured for them to get in the back of a van with two other people.

Katsuo met both of their gazes briefly, mentally writing down the duo's height, hair color, and build.

They piled in, and within a minute were heading out, moving relatively fast down streets.

The suffocating silence in the van was thick, though Rin seemed in his element, staring directly at the wall and not moving an inch. Kotawe was making finger circles on his pants, while Katsuo just observed the duo across from them without making it obvious.

One of them had art gloves on both hands, meaning his Quirk was probably touch based, while the other was in really thick clothes, pointing toward a mutation Quirk they were trying to hide.

These were just observations from Katsuo, but eight out of ten times he was usually right, and if stuff went sideways he might have to be wary of them.

The vans came to a stop twenty minutes later, the windows tinted black so Katuso could not gleam any distinctive sights to try and guess their location. He was crushed at that, but just kept his glare on and followed orders.

Those orders being to get out of the van, head towards what looked like an abandoned arcade, and start unloading wooden crates off of pallets that came from four eighteen wheelers parked side by side.

There were almost fifty people, or forty eight as Katsuo started counting the second he got out and joined them as they moved crates like lines of ants.

Katsuo stuck back, but stayed close enough to the main group that he did not look too suspicious.

Thankfully, his two friends followed suit, staying in the background, head on a swivel, and making sure anything they carried wasn't too heavy so they would be able to run at the drop of a hat.

Everything was so orderly, and only a few people shouted orders here and there, but most looked like thugs just here for grunt work.

An exhale left Katsuo's lips, but in the next instant was when everything went wrong, some idiot with a shark head dropping a heavy crate and causing its contents to spill out.

In the relative silence of the night, the people in the vicinity turned to look at the noise, everyone's eyes widening in horror.

It was… a creature of sorts, black as night, brain exposed, but only two meters tall and more akin to a skeleton than anything; unmoving too.

Dead.

It had to be a mutation Quirk, but the eerie-ness of it was evident, making the shark headed man pause. He absently stared down at it, unblinking, like most others did.

Katsuo only glanced, grabbed his friends and pushed them forward to keep working, though kept an eye on the situation just in case.

A purple portal suddenly opened to his surprise, and the contents and the shark guy fell in, whatever scream the guy started cut off upon the same portal swirling shut.

"Continue," A voice spoke normally but was heard clearly by all people present.

No one hesitated any longer, Katsuo breathing a sigh of relief once he went inside the arcade and placed his box on a table that still had a rotting piece of pizza on it. He could not get the image of the shark guy falling out of his head, the scene on constant replay because of how abrupt it was.

Was the guy dead? Was he just going to be talked to about what he saw, or would he end up in a crate himself eventually?

Katsuo shook his head, making sure that after this was all over he talked some sense into his friends. This was not worth it, whatever 'this' was, henchman or not Katsuo was over it.

There was no next job, he would keep his head down, finish junior high, and move on with his shitty life.

That was a dead body in that crate, a sickening sight, and again the turmoil in his stomach stirred.

"Let's get this over-"

The explosion that rattled the entire building cut Katsuo off, causing only a small second of silence before shouts and screams rose up in concert.

Katsuo was moving already, heading toward the exit where he last saw his friends not two seconds before. However, three steps into his sprint and the door burst open, Kotawe and Rin rushing inside.

Kotawe was already sweating, eyes wide in fear as he started babbling, "They're killing everyone, some hand guy came with some purple mist asshole, saying 'they saw it and have to disappear'. The Purple Mist guy kept telling him to calm down, then the Hand guy fucking killed someone… he killed Okokir bro, he-"

Katuso swallowed hard and cut his friend off, "We go now, together."

This was stupid, it was too much to go from some Quirkless delquints to being part of whatever this was. He berated himself as they exited the arcade, sticking to the wall and moving straight toward the opposite way in which they lived. They were not gonna give any clues if they possibly were hunted down later.

Fortunately, there had been about fifty 'grunts', and most of them had Quirks, light shows flying to and forth while consonant purple portals opened up to swallow them.

"Keep running east, once we get far enough away discard the glasses and mask, go for a love hotel or just something, make a payment so if you go missing it will be traced back to this general area."

Katsuo spat out those words, his friends nodding and continuing to press on. They had just cleared the two blocks when they were startled by sudden movement.

A dog went running past them, toward the chaos and yipping happily all the way.

The absurdity of the sight baffled the trio, but when the ground shook again they instantly dropped it and sprinted forward, only to be befuddled once again by another figure.

This time an older man, rugged and in patched clothing while using a cane and shouting, "Runa, come back here you damned dog."

His words were a little slurred, his drunken stupor obvious, plus his willingness to walk toward was definitely going to be a news story come tomorrow morning.

The trio just continued running past, but for some reason with each step Katsuo covered less and less distance until he came to a complete stop, his mind screaming at him but his body for some reason wasn't listening.

Kotawe and Rin didn't seem to notice his sudden desire for a death wish, and he didn't want them to for their sake.

Katsuo, for all that it made sense, had some part of his brain just whirring nonstop for him to turn around and sprint toward the old man.

He did exactly that.

"Hey geezer, you need to turn around." Katsuo said, panting and glancing toward the fires that made black smoke rise from the spot where it was all going down.

The old man waved him off, "No, I got to get Runa, dumb dog never listens, need her to keep me warm, tonight's cold as balls."

Katsuo's eyes almost fell out of his head, "Do you see the fire, do you hear the explosions old man? whatever that dog means to you can wait, your life-"

"Fuck off," The old man grumbled, still walking toward a disaster with not an ounce of worry on his face, seemingly drunk out of his mind.

Katsuo palmed his forehead, struggling internally to decide if he should just pick up the man and run, "How much did you drink?"

"Huh? Me, drink? Bah, I only had water." The old man scratched his white head of curls. "Though the water did taste like soju."

Katsuo was done, mentally at least, physically he grabbed the old man and started to drag him away.

"Unhand me! Villain! There is a Villain kidnapping me?" The old man started to shout, loud enough that Katsuo let go out of instinct.

"Fine damnit, you wanna die, be my guest." Katsuo said, turning to leave.

He got down one alley when he heard a nasally voice speak from behind, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"Who the hell is this, was he part of the NPC help?"

Another voice answered the first, one Katsuo recognized from when the shark guy had been taken, "No young master, he is just a homeless man, probably stumbled upon this place by accident."

The old man's slurred voice came next, "Have you gentlemen seen my dog, a golden retriever, named Runa, dirty as hell?"

Katuso was still a good twenty feet away, hidden by the fact he hadn't gone straight down the alley but took a right into another one. He wouldn't be seen, they wouldn't know he came this way.

He was safe.

"Who cares, he might be another witness Kurogiri, we can't have any of those. I hired these under leveled companions to try and seem smart, but of course they messed up, low leveled bastards always piss me off, this will set back the Nomus by another month. Damnit….damnit, damnit!"

Katsuo knew the guy was crazy, every word inching closer toward madness while accompanied by the sound of something seemingly scratching sandpaper.

It came as a surprise why Katsuo was still standing idle, and not running like any smart person would do. Even more so when he was actually silently walking back, peeking around the corner while crouching at knee level to be more hidden.

Katuso was sick at what he saw, a blue-gray head of hair, a face hidden by a pale severed hand, and nails that scratched his neck hard enough to draw blood. Next to him, was what Kotawe must have been talking about when he had mentioned 'purple mist asshole', the description accurate save for the nice tailored suit he wore.

"Shigarki, calm down, you made a mistake. Remember what Sensei has taught you. One does not fail, they learn."

The apparent Shigarki stopped his maddened panic attack, turning toward the Mist guy and hissing, "I should have been here Kurogiri, have had a part in this, killed someone to show an example. If I had done that they wouldn't have opened the crates and asked questions after the guy dropped his, then they wouldn't have thrown their pathetic lives away when we needed them for our first boss raid."

"Good assessment young master," Kurogiri's yellow eyes gleamed, "You now understand that a leader must set an example by participating. Now go, I will deal with the filth."

A portal opened up behind them, and Shigarki muttered something as he stepped backwards into it, "Back to the lobby, for now."

The silence after his departure was heavy, the old man still rambling on about his dog to the mist guy who Katsuo could only peg as the ringleader of the whole operation.

He just stared at the homeless man in seemingly disgust.

"I will not dirty my Quirk with the likes of you," Kurogiri summoned another portal, a guy dropping out from it with a thud. The man had rock-like yellow skin and beady black eyes which searched around in panic until they spotted Kurogiri.

"What the hell is going on?" He growled.

"You wanted to be a part of the League of Villains, fine, kill the old man and report back to me when you're done. Don't disappoint me, even if you do it doesn't matter." Kurogiri replied with an audible sneer in his voice.

Then, like that, he disappeared into his own body, purple mist swirling before dissipating into nothing.

Katsuo wasn't sure what he saw, but he knew he should never have seen it. The duo, especially the hand guy, screamed 'I am a Villain', and not the kind that just said they were.

The real deal.

However, Katsuo's sprinting mind could wait, because he had not looked away at all. His focus was on the rock skinned man wearing a wife beater and joggers, rage evident from him as he flung curses that even Katsuo would be hesitant to repeat himself.

"Stuck cleaning up trash, fuck them." The man growled, facing the old man who seemed oblivious to his own life being threatened, still drunk and asking the new arrival about his dog.

"I ain't seen you're ugly ass dog, now I gotta kill you or whatever, just don't make this difficult."

When the rock man stepped forward, it was like Katsuo finally got control of his body. The first thing he did was confirm he was an idiot, a full fledged dumbass who should have been at the very least a mile away with his friends by now.

His stupid sense of heroism had him here, hiding and witnessing things beyond his pay grade, and he wasn't even getting paid in the first place because everything went to hell.

However, there was no going back, and for some reason Katsuo knew he would lose sleep if he turned away from this situation; as bizarre as it was.

It was just one guy, clearly having a mutation Quirk, and willing to kill some homeless guy to join a group with the corniest name alive.

League of Villains, the name wasn't household, so this had to be one of their first operations. Seeing as the leader left without being particularly mad, they had probably killed everyone sans Kastuo and his two friends.

Luck, he had survived purely off luck, and the fact was pissing him off.

Katsuo stood, knowing himself enough that he was going to intervene. He had dealt with Quirks before, and this one was obvious enough to make it less of a hassle.

However, he wasn't a complete idiot, so quickly he turned, grabbing the lid of a trashcan next to him as protection and peering inside. Most of it was rotten food or cloth, but once he saw two glass bottles he grabbed them both and prepared himself.

"Man you fucking reek." The Rock Guy cringed before lifting a hand to throw a punch, so simple yet with his Quirk possibly deadly. "Now die for me."

He would have attacked, if not for yelping in panic from the cola bottle that popped uselessly on his head.

Katsuo didn't give him any time to get his bearings, garbage lid raised with both hands and brought back down with force, hitting hard and ringing the man's head like a bell.

He slumped over, cracking the asphalt slightly as he thudded to the ground, now unconscious.

Katsuo breathed in, adrenaline dying as he tossed the bottle he hadn't needed to use to the side, slightly disappointed by how easy the whole ordeal was, however still grateful nothing else happened.

He grumbled how he should have been at home studying right now as he walked over to the old man and glared, "Let's go get your fucking dog."

"Thanks young man, what an upstanding citizen." The homeless man grinned. "But no worries Hero, Runa is right there."

Runa, the dog that caused everything, happily barked as it came and jumped against the old man's stomach.

"Who's a good girl? Next time you do this I will take away your treats, well...." The old man petted the golden retriever, "Maybe next-next time."

Katsuo risked his life for this, but deep down he was happy he had not run away. Yeah he definitely over heard some things he shouldn't have but he had saved a life today.

A drunk, homeless man's life, but nonetheless it was something.

"Where do you stay at? I will get you there, you seem drunk and vulnerable." Katsuo spoke, thinking he might as well see it through. Also there were sirens in the distance, and he needed to be anywhere else but here.

"The bridge heading toward Hosu, I think, or was it the abandoned arcade that's now on fire?"

Katsuo contemplated ripping his own hair out, but his gun metal gray hair was a buzz cut so he couldn't even do it if he wanted to.

"Just walk, I'll follow you."

And so, for events Katsuo did not foresee, he escorted a homeless man into a suburban area next to a factory yard, yet once he got there he realized not a single house seemed in use.

The whole place was suspicious as hell, but after listening to the drunk homeless man go on and on about random things, he just wanted the whole ordeal to be over and done with.

Finally, the man had also gotten a bit more sober, no longer talking as much. He stepped up to a house that had cracked red paint with wobbling legs. The whole neighborhood being vacant was probably due to Japan's population moving closer toward hero agencies as of lately, dilapidated places like these rare but still present in every prefecture.

"You live here?" Katsuo asked, checking his phone to see it was one am.

"Yes," The old man nodded, turning and scratching his beard. "Though I don't have any money on me."

Katsuo sighed, "Don't need your money, I risked my life to save you for some stupid reason, but I walked you home to make sure it wasn't in vain."

"Hmm, even then, you do still need a suitable reward. I have morals ya' know," The old man stroked his beard with exaggeration, and Katsuo swore he saw a light bulb turn on above the man's head. "Ah, I got it."

The next thing he knew, the Homeless man reached toward his left hand's palm, then the most bizarre thing happened as his actual hand sank into said palm like it was a liquid.

Then, he pulled back in one swift motion, revealing a black katana that made Katsuo take a step back.

"Here, take it." The old man tossed it, and only by instinct did Katsuo catch the weapon, almost dropping it since it was heavy as hell. "There you go, however it's only part of the reward, be back here tomorrow."

Katsuo raised both brows, his face for once not glaring, "What, be back here tomorrow? Granps I don't want or need to come back, and this." He held up the sword with some effort. "I don't need this so just take it back."

The old man furrowed his eyebrows, "I can't."

Katuso scoffed, "You can't?"

The man nodded, "Yes, once I give my Quirk away I can't get it back."

Katsuo froze, "Excuse me?"

Give his Quirk away?