Chapter 17

Tenya Iida was trained from birth to become a hero. He knew this yet he didn't resent the decision. His brother, Tensei, became a hero before him. Seeing his brother risk life and limb to save people. It made him proud to be related to him and made him want to strive to the same heights. To be a person who could change the world like his brother had. It made all the training worth while.

Reaching UA wasn't a problem, even is he had been kicking himself for failing to notice what his classmate, Akitani, had about the Entrance exam. However, he didn't let that hold him back. He continued to strive to make not just himself better, but all his classmates as the class representative. It pained him to have to abandon people in need at the USJ but all the proved is that he needed to become stronger. Faster. Someone people could rely on. He just had to.

The Sports Festival was a turning point. He at first strove to make his brother and parents proud, striking through the first two rounds at a good pace. He didn't mind losing to his good friend Momo in the first round of the tournament. He was just happy it was too someone he knew deserved the victory. But then, as he was still reeling from a destructive end to the second round, he got a phone call. He never made it to see Akitani in the nurses office. He ran like a shot down to the general hospital to see his brother.

During the Sports Festival, while on patrol, his brother, the Pro Hero Ingenium, was ambushed by the Villain Hero Killer Stain and had barely gotten out with his life. Even still, he was paralyzed from the waste down, ending his hero career. As a hero, Ingenium was dead even if Tensei Iida had lived.

When he was younger, he remembered that Tensei had temporarily retired as Ingenium. His actions had caused a young man to get killed. Tensei, to atone, decided to retire for a few years, train to make himself better so that such a thing wouldn't happen again and then retook the hero license exam later. It was the biggest mistake he'd ever made and he made sure Tenya knew. He told his brother to be better than he was. And Tenya promised to be so. Even still, despite everything, he knew his brother wouldn't approved of what he was doing. But he felt he had to. In his brother's name, he decided he would strike down the Hero Killer Stain.

Stain was sighted in Hosu just before Internships began. So that was where Tenya went. He took an internship with the Pro Hero Manual that was offered with him. It was all a front. He wasn't really interested in the usual hero work that was offered under Manual, though he did try to learn as much as he could from the veteran hero. Manual was an old friend of Tensei, the two having gone to UA together. Manual was a few years younger than he was but Tensei had ended up being a mentor to him and a lot others in UA at the time. As part of his years Big Three, Tensei was an icon. It was for that reason, he couldn't let his near death be in vain.

The event that gave him a break begun one night four days into his internship when a mysterious trio of villains began attacking Hosu. Tenya took this opportunity to slip away from Manual and begin his hunt in earnest. From what Tenya knew, the likes of Endeavor, Native and Uwabami were in Hosu, along with their sidekicks and interns. They didn't his help. So he searched and he searched. Main streets. Back alleys. He searched everywhere. Until, he found him.

Stain was busy taunting the Pro Hero Native when he arrived. Tenya tried to sneak up on him from behind. However, it didn't work. " You're armour makes you loud, boy." Stain said mockingly, looking behind him. Tenya tensed up. " You look like some Ingenium fanboy."

" You hurt my brother!" Tenya growled. " That is why I am here!"

" Huh? So not some Ingenium fanboy but a vengeful brother." Stain turned his full attention to Tenya. " Let me guess. Whole cities going to hell thanks that bastard Shigaraki but you came to deal with me."

" For my brother's sake, I have. I am Ingenium and I will strike you down, Hero Killer."

" Eh? Strike me down?" Stain laughed, pointing his Katana at the hero in training. " You know. Hero is a title for those who have achieved great things in life. But you? You'll never be anything but a fraud who prioritises his own desires. You being attached to the same tree as your brother has made you just as rotten as he was." Suddenly, Stain pushed forwards. Tenya moved to dodge, grunting in pain as he was caught in the side. " Pathetic." Stain raised the blade up to his lips. A sudden pain flooded Tenya's body as he collapsed to the ground. Stain raised his sword up, ready to finish him. Tenya cursed. Was this all he could do? Was he going to die like a dog in a back alley in Hosu? Never to see his brother again? Never to avenge him? He couldn't allow that. He couldn't.

" Killing kids now, Stain?" A voice called from the other entrance to the alley. Tenya was barely able to look up. There were three figures in the way. The one in front, their entire body covered in simple black armour and their face covered with a theater mask of Tragedy, pointed a steel bat at Stain. Her voice, indistinguishable due to a modulator, laughed. " What? Is he one of your unworthy now too?"

" Man. You're the person my lover looks up to?" The second, a girl in a sleeveless top and with pink skin and black eyes, jeered. " What a joke."

" Let's get this over with." The final figure, a man in a mechanical lion's mask, a black suit with a red tie and a long coat, sighed. If they could, Tenya's eyes would have widened. Two of the figures were people from the League of Villains. The Lion Masked Villain, Crucible, who attacked Momo and Mina Ashido, part of the serial killer pair of herself and Himiko Toga. That must mean the Mask of Tragedy was a new member.

" What do you League dogs want?"

" Isn't it obvious?" The Mask of Tragedy asked. " You're attracting too much attention."

" So you're here to kill me, Forge? Don't make me laugh." Stain crouched slightly, getting into a fighting position. " Even with your gang of idiots, you can't beat me. You're just trash like the rest."

" Oh, can I kill him, Forge? Please? Please? Please?" Ashido begged. " He's so-ho-ho obnoxious. It hurts me emotionally AND physically."

" I want first shot." Forge said. She muttered something just out of Tenya's ear shot. Before Stain could move, Forge swung her bat. Stain looked at her in surprise. Then, suddenly, a slash mark appeared, cutting through his costume. Stain grunted.

" Tricky bitch. So that's your quirk." Stain growled. Tenya didn't know what he'd just seen. She swung from range but still cut him. Perhaps, he thought, Forge's quirk was a long ranged quirk. Even if she was using a bat, she could still cut. The most likely answer was that she could create wind blades by swinging a her weapon. But she didn't see wind channel into her weapon like it did when Akitani used his quirk. Did she not need to do that? Forge made some more swings. Stain charged at her, leaping above where swings would be.

" Crucible." Forge commanded. He nodded. From his left side, a large amount of ice shot forwards. Clicking his tongue, Stain flipped backwards, avoiding the flurry of icicles. However, as he landed, something odd happened. Stain grunted in pain. His ankle had started bleeding. As he checked that, two slashes appeared on his chest. The slashes from Forge from earlier? How could that have been possible? Before Stain could question it, Ashido ran in, laughing. Stain countered with throwing a pair of knives. As Ashido dodged around them, one cutting through her arm, Stain swung with his sword. Mina countered with her acid, which burned straight through the metal. Ashido laughed. It was at this point Tenya knew something. Not only did Stain not know his opponents quirks, since he would have dodged out of the way of Ashido instead of letting his sword get broken, but the League likely knew his. The team they set up was perfect and keeping him away, not letting them be cut, while also creating great pressure at range.

Stain rushed in again at Ashido, know using the broken sword as his edge. Ashido stepped out of the way, allowing Crucible to cover her. However, Stain just kept charging. He picked up one of the thrown daggers and, with a horrific smirk, brought it to his tongue. Ashido grunted as she collapsed, the same trick Stain used to paralyze Tenya being used on her. He turned his attention back to Forge and Crucible. " I'm going to kill you!"

" Big words from a small man." Forge jeered. She thrust her bat like a rapier. Stain leapt to the side, jumping around the large amount of ice. The moment he stopped however, a stab wound appeared in his side. Tenya was confused. How was this working? Forge was making actions with her bat, but when those actions hit Stain were seemingly random. A sudden heat rushed through the alley. At first, Tenya had thought Endeavor had arrived, adding more chaos to the fight. However, when he looked up and saw it's source, he was shocked. The flames were coming from Crucible. Fire and Ice? Who were these people? Not caring about his opponents anymore, Stain charged forwards, using the ice as cover to avoid Crucible's attacks and to block Forge's quirk. He propelled himself into the air and dropped from above on Forge. The girl raised her bat to block only for Stain to change his movement at the last moment. He dropped to the ground and swung up with his broken blade.

" What?" He gasped. A loud metallic clang echoed around the alleyway as Stain struck what seemed to be thing air. Tenya looked closer. A strange static rippled across the air as Stain pushed down reminding Tenya of an out of focus television set. Something was there. A humanoid shape, both arms raised holding two daggers. They were invisible. Tenya's eyes widened. That explained it. How Forge's "quirk" had worked. It wasn't air blades at all. That's what Forge wanted them to think. Instead there was a fourth person, invisible and striking as Forge had.

" Too bad, hero Killer. This is the end for you." Forge brought her bat down on Stain's head with a sickening crunch. The man fell to the floor. Tenya couldn't tell if he was alive or dead. He watched, paralyzed, as the Villains stepped forwards. Crucible froze Stain's legs to the ground and stepped forwards towards Ashido.

" You good?" He asked.

" I've… been… better." Mina joked. Crucible sighed. Tenya noticed something as Forge approached him. He felt blood rush back into his body. Whatever Stain had done, it was over. Forge stopped next to Native. The bat in her hands vanished. The black armour around her body parted as a new weapon came from her hand, a katana identical in design to what Stain's had been. Tenya tried to get up. He had to save Native. These hopes were dashed by a sudden weight on his back.

" I wouldn't." A quiet voiced told him. The Invisible Villain. He swore.

" 37 accounts of drunken lawlessness." Forge began. "22 accounts of Domestic Abuse. 17 accounts of Public Endangerment. 6 accounts of injuring people while driving under the influence." Forge drove the blade through Native's neck. " That's Native's list."

" List of what?" Tenya asked.

" List of crimes he's been reported for over his life time that should have been guilty verdicts. They were over turned by the Public Safety Commission to keep his public image up. Victims silenced. Judges paid off." Tenya remained silent. " 4 accounts of property damage. 1 account of manslaughter via negligence." She listed off. " Those were the crimes of Ingenium."

" My brother-"

" Was a good man." She finished. Tenya looked surprised. " 4 accounts of Property Damage paid off with his own wages. 1 account of Manslaughter via negligence he pleaded guilty to and worked hard to make sure it wouldn't happen again." She turned to face him. " In general, heroes are scum. They hide behind the powers that be because they know that they'll be protected for any crime if they do. Some heroes have taken more lives than we Villains. I won't pretend we're saints either. But some people deserve death. Stain's doctrine was warped. He viewed every hero that wasn't All Might as corrupt scum without looking at the facts. All Might is scum, but there are those like your brother that actually deserve to be called heroes." Forge began leaving. " Be like that and we probably won't meet again." She glanced over at her allies, raising a hand to her ear. " Kurogiri. We're done." A black, smokey portal appeared at the far end of the alley. Crucible helped Ashido through first. Tenya felt the weight on his back lift. Finally, it was Forge's turn. She drove the Katana through the Hero Killer's back before walking off and disappearing into the night, leaving Tenya lying there in the dark alleyway with two corpses.

Tenya was questioned for days about the Hero Killer incident, seeing as he was the only one who made it out alive. He told the story a number of times. Four members of the League of Villains appeared, killed Stain and Native, spared him (no, he didn't know why) and vanished. Two of the Villains were known. Two were unknown. They didn't ask for quirks so he never told them. Apparently, the three villains who had attacked were three Nomus like the one at the USJ. However, they were far weaker. Endeavor had killed two of them on his own.

After finally being let go, Tenya had his own time to reflect on the incident. In the USJ, Tenya had seen only one Villain in action: Kurogiri. He'd ran away before Tomura got to Aizawa and he wasn't around to see the others that hadn't been captured. However, this incident proved one thing. The League were far too strong of a force. From only four of their members, he knew that. Mina Ashido's Acid burned through the steel of Stain's sword insanely fast. Crucible could use both Fire and Ice at an insane degree of power. The invisible villain, Forge called them Violet, was fully invisible making trying to predict their attacks and movements impossible. Finally, there was Forge who seemed to, as her name suggested, could summon weapons from her body, like Momo but he prayed less versatile.

There was another thing that bothered him. The numbers. They stuck. And when he looked them up, they matched. According to some old news stories from a rumor tabloid, Native was apparently a drunk and an abuser. He doubted his spouse would mourn his loss too much. Looking up recent deaths of heroes, it was hard to tell which one of the victims belonged to Stain and which were Forge. Even still, he looked up them. He found a lot of interesting facts. For one, all of them had been in some sort of drama over the years. A lot of drama in fact. A lot of the cases that came to heroes were settled out of court as to not cause a scene so it was hard to find official court records of cases involving heroes. Those that existed were usually probated by the Commission or the various Hero Agencies involved. But they always seemed to pop up in tabloids.

It was a strange rabbit hole Tenya fell down. He didn't know how Forge kept track of them all and what the crimes were. The evidence seemed all over the place. However, there were patterns. Destroyed companies. Disgraced journalists. All seemed to fall on more major stories. Endeavor. Gang Orca. Best Jeanist. All Might. These court cases were buried in the algorithm. But they existed. How many were fake? How many were real? It was impossible to say. That's when he changed tactics. He researched victims. Their stories. Most didn't end well. That's when he found it.

Venality. It was a blog that had been active for roughly a year at this point yet wasn't very active. A handful of users had posted stories online. The names were interesting. Usagi. Crucible. Violet. Brainstorm. Toxicity. Singularity. Blackout. Forge. They all had a story to tell. Tenya sat back in his seat. The names were very interesting. Tenya couldn't help but log in and have a chat. Nothing serious. But if he could prove they were the same, this could be a huge breakthrough.

-Steam has entered the chat-

Crucible: Huh?

Steam: Good Evening. I do hope I am not interrupting.

Steam: I am not a fan of clustered chat rooms.

Violet: No worries

Forge: You're welcome to stay.

Forge: But this is a bad time.

Steam: How so?

Crucible: We're discussing a friend.

Steam: A friend?

Brainstorm: hes in a coma

Steam: I see.

Steam: How thoughtless of me.

Tenya narrowed his gaze. The League had a casualty? Counting the names online, one was missing. Usagi. The sites founder. What had happened?

Brainstorm: its cool

Toxicity: Usagi.

Toxicity: He got into a bad fight with a bully.

Steam: That would be the quirkless boy, yes?

Crucible: Right.

Blackout: Parrantly, this bastard's been bullying him his whole life cause of it

Blackout: And now he went too far.

Steam: Despicable.

As Tenya thought about how best to respond, he received a message on another channel. A private message from Forge. He swallowed hard as he read it.

Forge: Leave now, Tenya Iida.

Steam: What are you saying?

Forge: Don't make me regret letting you live.

Forge: Drop this and leave.

Forge: You don't belong here.

Steam: My investigation brought me here.

Steam: I won't back down.

Forge: You tried to find us?

Steam: No.

Steam: I followed your numbers.

The screen went quiet for a bit. Then Forge replied.

Forge: How far are you willing to fall for true Justice?

Steam: What are you talking about?

Forge: Heroes aren't what you think they are.

Forge: Would you kill to change that?

Steam: Never.

Forge: Then leave.

Steam: Who are you? Why do you care?

Forge: You're a better man than I ever was.

Forge: Don't change. Leave.

Steam: How would you know the type a man I am

It took Tenya a few minutes before it clicked. The power to make objects. The long ponytail. The mastery of statistics. Her claim that she knows him. The he is better than her. Cautiously, he typed.

Steam: Momo?

A message appeared on screen.

-Your account has been deleted by a System Administrator-

" What is going on?"

He tried to visit Momo the next day but it appeared she was out with friends. This worried him. What he found on Venality had made him curious. But the fact Forge obviously knew him. The quirk. Everything. He needed to speak with her about this. So, he did something a bit unorthodox for someone like him. He camped outside the station until she got back.

He had to wait a bit. He got dinner at a nearby cafe so he didn't lose her. She didn't come back until 9PM and even then, she was in disguise from the few people still wandering around. He stopped her with a hand to her shoulder. " Momo." He said softly. She sighed before turning around, feigning an unknowing smile.

" Oh. Tenya. Hey. What are you-"

" Venality." The single word made Momo flinch. Her body fell, giving up.

" Yeah. I figured you wouldn't give up just by me perma banning you." She turned and began walking back home. " Come on. Let's talk more privately. Mom and Dad know you. They won't mind you coming in late with me. Heck, they might even bug you to stay the night."

" I just need answers. I don't mind how long this takes. It's also been a while since I stayed over at your families manor." Tenya had a feeling that Momo didn't want to be in this situation. She'd tried twice to make Tenya not even follow this line of reasoning. As expected, the families staff and Momo's mother was happy to see him, asking about his parents and apologizing over his brother. The two escaped to Momo's room. Momo sat on the edge of her bed. Tenya took up a chair. They started after drinks and snacks were left on a tray on a central table.

" I've only been a part of the League for about a month." Momo explained. " It was after the USJ. A… friend of mine approached me during it. And he told me a lot of interesting facts that I never knew." Momo tossed Tenya a small notebook. Tenya opened it. There was a lot of calculations in there. Every few pages, there was a name of a hero. Some were already crossed out. Native was one of those names. Under each name was a serious of numbers and abbreviations. " He was right."

" A friend." Tenya mused. Armed with that knowledge, something else dawned on him. A male who could use both Ice and Fire as part of his quirk and was an old friend on Momo's. It all matched someone who went missing mid last year. " Shoto Todoroki."

" Right as always." Momo nodded. " See those calculations? Comparisons between online data and sets of data I found in my parents studies. They're all official cases that were brought to court. If they're in green, they're fake. If they're in blue, they were legitimately handled. The black is those that were paid off by the Commission."

" And the red?"

" Those done specifically by my parents." Momo said spitefully. " We've been lied to for our whole lives, Tenya. Heroes aren't what we think they are. Most of them are vile, abusing their power for their own selfish needs. Some are good, but not all of them. As Forge, I've been… dealing with the problem case by case."

" You mean murdering them."

" The road to hell is paved with good intentions. It may not be a clean job, but I'm doing this for the good of us all."

" And what of Himiko Toga? Or Mina Ashido? Even Tomura Shigaraki? Are they doing it for the good of us all? Can you justify the USJ with that line of reasoning?"

" You don't get it. I don't agree with some of their methods, but they're my friends now. They help me and I help them."

" So murderers get a free pass if they're your friends? Is that right?" Momo growled.

" This is why I didn't want you involved, Tenya. You're a good person. We need good heroes for the future."

" A good hero would turn you in." Tenya told her. " Which is why I'm not a good hero. Because I cannot do that."

" Tenya…"

" I don't support your actions. Even if I have seen the data myself, I don't believe it changes what you're doing is wrong. But I can't bring myself to bring you down. So I'll remain silent for now." He promised. " But can you promise me that the League won't hurt our class again?"

" I cannot. I'm sorry. But, if it makes you feel any better, Usagi made Tomura agree to a no killing students policy."

" That… both worries me and makes me a bit more relieved." Tenya admitted before rising from his seat. " I cannot stay any longer. I thank you for the information and I am sorry about your friend. But I cannot, for my sake, stay."

" I understand. I'm sorry Tenya. I hope, one day, you get it. But I know you won't." Momo walked over to him and offered a hand shake. Tenya accepted it. They both knew that their friendship had just ended. Neither could walk the same path any longer. Neither of them judged the other for it. Tenya left the Yaoyorozu residence with his heart in turmoil. Even so, he decided to stay loyal to his last promise and prepare himself for what came next. The League wouldn't stay dormant forever. He had to be ready to face that eventuality head on.