24 Speculation

Oni stood still as a statue; arms crossed over his chest as he stared down into an alleyway. The same one he'd been watching for the past hour now. He wore a small scowl on his face, and was ignoring the slight chill in the wind in favor of focusing on the loose feeling of 'Ghost' as it kept him hidden from view.

It had been two days since he'd woken up in Yueii's infirmary. Just long enough for him to recover fully, or at least as close as he could get before he grew too restless to sit around and wait any longer.

It wasn't just the desire to go out and patrol though, that made him so restless; it was the need to get answers. Answers that he found he desperately needed in the wake of the invasion.

Despite learning the names of the two leaders – Shigaraki and Kurogiri – he still didn't know near enough about them; not even their goal, or what their little group had chosen to name themselves. For there was no chance whatsoever that a group that was so bold as to invade the top hero school in the country didn't have a name.

He did have a decent enough guess at their goal though. What with their clear powerhouse, the Noumu, being so boldly labeled the 'Anti Symbol of Peace,' but he needed to be sure.

And though they could've come from any number of places with such a powerful teleportation quirk as their method of transportation, they were Japanese, which meant that – obviously – there was a decent chance that they were based in Japan. If that were the case, then his target tonight would know about them.

Oni was considered something of an information broker, though that label was really only given to him and passed along by the criminals he faced. Really, his 'brokering' mostly just extended to selling information to the occasional vigilante or underground hero. And his information primarily came from the people he took down.

Oni's target, on the other hand, was a true broker, and not just of information. He dealt with shadowy figures of all backgrounds and all occupations, buying and selling anything and everything from individual names to secrets that could land politicians or heroes in prison, to even drugs and specialty equipment that couldn't be found anywhere legal.

He was so deep into it that he no longer even needed physical protection to guarantee his safety. His protection came in the form of the leverage he held, and the organizations that regularly sought out his services – good, evil, or somewhere in between – that had the power to retaliate harshly against any offenders. Most wouldn't even dare to raise a fist in his direction when he had that level of power at his back.

But Oni wasn't most people.

Granted, most people wouldn't try to touch Oni either – including those same organizations – though for very different reasons. He didn't have the means to blackmail people or ruin lives by slipping the right bit of information to the right person. Nor did he have shadowy organizations at his back to scare threats away.

No. His own safety was assured by his reputation as a merciless combatant, and by the examples he'd made of those who had tried before.

Towards the beginning of his nightly work after he officially took the name 'Oni,' – not long after his eleventh birthday – and before he had really established himself and put a stranglehold around the criminals in his city, there had been one such organization that didn't take kindly to a lowly vigilante sticking his nose into their business.

They'd targeted him, actually putting a legitimate bounty on his head, that more than one shady individual and hitman took up. And for a while, he welcomed it. He enjoyed the challenge, the regular fights against opponents that had some level of skill and that were worth the air they breathed, and the quirks that he ended up with afterwards.

That is, until one of them had the brains to figure out where he went when the sun rose.

He��d been woken up in the middle of the day – as he didn't have 'Insomnia' just yet – by 'Proximity' alerting him to an intruder, and by Rei yelling for him.

By the end of the day, he and Rei had relocated to a new apartment – their old one now sufficiently ruined, what with criminals being aware of it and with blood splattered across a significant portion of it – and he had come up with a plan to avoid being followed home in the future; primarily the backwards route he took every night to get home, as well as a few contingencies in case that failed, one of which being Rei's panic button.

And by the end of that night? By the time the sun was rising once more?

By that point, everyone associated with that organization was being carted away to hospitals across the city, to be put behind bars as soon as they were healed. That was the moment that law enforcement actually started paying attention to him, concerned by the level of brutality displayed against so many in a single night.

Oni had even heard that the detective in charge of it all – not Tsukauchi just yet – lost their most recent meal when they found the organization's leader missing both of his arms.

That organization hadn't even been a particularly large or powerful one, especially when compared to ones such as The Triad, but nonetheless, after that night the message was clear: you didn't target Oni unless you were fully prepared to lose the ensuing war.

And as much as Oni was rumored to have an active knowledge on the entire criminal world of Musutafu, this person's web of knowledge extended across all of Japan, and maybe even some distance beyond.

Oni had never met him before, but was well aware of him, and knew that the man was just as aware of him in turn. Oni knew enough about him to know that this particular alleyway was one of his more heavily visited meeting spots.

In most cases it would be stupid – borderline idiotic, really – to have such a regular pattern that anyone could figure out where he was, especially when in the business of information and smuggling. But part of this person's status meant that he could do that with next to no risk. Besides, part of the reason he was so big in the underground was because he was easy to meet if you had the means and the money to do so.

Speaking of; Oni's eyes snapped to one end of the alley as his thermal vision from 'Spectrum' revealed two figures rounding a corner. They walked down the alley in relative silence, before coming to a stop almost directly beneath Oni.

He watched them for a few minutes as they whispered quietly to each other, clearly waiting on something – or someone, Oni knew – before he picked up someone coming from the opposite direction.

He walked with a strut. One that seemed to come from complete confidence that no one would ever attack them.

Oni narrowed his eyes as he watched. The strut was more than likely fabricated, a smokescreen, both to change any patterns of movement that might make him more recognizable and to make him seem that much more untouchable.

Otherwise, if he were actually that confident in his safety and the strength of his supporters, then it was confidence greatly misplaced.

He watched for several long minutes as the three individuals spoke. He didn't pay much attention to what was being said, not particularly caring in the first place. Eventually, he saw money being handed over by the two strangers, and a slip of paper being handed back by his target.

As soon as the money was pocketed, his target's hands flashed out and latched onto the duo's heads, before disappearing back into his pockets just as quickly. Then, without any sort of reaction from any of them at what had just happened, all three turned and started back the way they'd come from.

Despite never meeting him, or seeing him in person, Oni was almost certain that the man had an intelligence quirk of some sort. One that specifically affected the memories of others. He'd never had the opportunity to use 'Appraisal' on him, but there were patterns he'd observed that pointed towards that being the case. The fact that he dealt in information to begin with, and was so successful, was a large indicator on its own; the ability to affect the memories of those you dealt with would be invaluable when it came to protecting your true identity.

Disregarding the duo entirely, he trailed behind his target, walking silently across the rooftop.

As soon as he rounded the corner, definitely out of site of the others, even if they were to turn around to look, Oni watched the man's entire demeanor shift.

His strut vanished entirely, that and his slight slouch giving way to an almost ramrod-straight posture, and his hands were pulled from his pockets, straightening his jacket before pulling a pack of cigarettes from within. He slowed to a stop as he pulled one out.

A façade then. Interesting.

Oni stepped off the roof, slicing through the air in silence as he fell. He let 'Cushion' slow his momentum, before touching down a few feet to the man's side.

He let 'Ghost' slip away, and felt himself become noticeable again.

"Hello Giran." He greeted, forcing his mouth to upturn into a grin.

To the man's credit, he barely even reacted to Oni's sudden arrival. He took a long drag from his cigarette, blowing out a plume of smoke before turning to look at Oni.

"Hello Oni. What brings you all the way out here to Kamino? So far from your usual hunting grounds."

He let out a small laugh. "Funny you should ask that, Giran. You see, I very recently stumbled upon some very interesting news. About a very bold group of villains that took it upon themselves to invade Yueii itself."

"I found myself ever so intrigued, and knew that I just had to learn more. And I thought to myself, 'Who would be the best person to talk to about these newcomers? Who is the one, single person in all of Japan that would be more likely to know than anyone else?'"

Giran huffed in apparent amusement, blowing a plume of smoke right at Oni. "Well now. Normally that sort of information would set you back a few million, especially considering who you're talking about, these are some dangerous people after all, but I would be remiss if I didn't do my favorite vigilante a tiny favor just this once."

"You flatter me, Giran. Really, I'm touched. To think that someone like me would be your favorite. But I appreciate your willingness to do me such a favor."

Izuku sneered internally at the false friendliness, even as he maintained his grin. If Giran didn't hold such a precarious position, whose disappearance would throw the entirety of the Japanese underground out of balance, then Oni would've already broken him and left him for the police to clean up.

"Why of course, my friend! Now, what sort of information were you looking for?"

"I want to know what they're calling themselves, and what their goal is. You don't just break into Yueii unless you're hoping to achieve something big."

"And here I thought you were going to ask me where they are. I was almost certain you were going to try to go after them."

He paused, taking another drag from his cigarette. "They call themselves the League of Villains. Not exactly the most fearsome or creative of names, but it suits their needs. As for their goals? All I know is that they want to kill All Might. Beyond that, I haven't heard anything."

Giran was lying about the last part. Oni knew there was more to it than that, but he also wasn't going to press the issue but so much. He knew their name now, if he needed to, he could start doing his own research later.

"I don't need to know where they are just yet." He said. "And I know you wouldn't have told me anyway."

"Ah! You've seen straight through me." Giran said with a grin. ���You're right though, there is a limit to my generosity, even towards my favorite vigilante."

"Now," he continued, dropping his cigarette to the ground and pressing his shoe down on it, "Was there anything else you needed? Surely that's not all you sought me out for, is it?"

"You're so right." Oni responded, finally dropping the false grin. "There was just one more thing."

His gloved hand flashed out, closing around Giran's neck in an instant and lifting him into the air. The man struggled for a few moments, gripping at Oni's arm. Oni clenched his hand just a bit tighter in warning and Giran seemed to understand, dropping his arms back down to his sides and looking at Oni expectantly as he struggled to breathe.

What a smart little weasel.

"I want you to pass on a message for me." Oni said. "Tell this 'League of Villains' that they need to watch themselves, and take care with who exactly they're involving in their fight."

"I couldn't care less what their actual goal is, and they're free to try to kill All Might as much as they want. But if they value their continued existence, they will leave the students of Yueii out of it."

"All Might is a grown man, and is the number one hero for a reason, but the students have nothing to do with that, and won't until they get their licenses."

He brought Giran a bit closer, keeping part of his focus on the man's hands in case he felt the need to try anything. "You know me, Giran. You know my reputation. But believe me when I say that you don't know the half of it. I could be so much worse if I wanted to, and so much worse besides if I really needed to."

They were face-to-face now, separated by mere inches. "Pass my message along. Tell them that if they refuse to leave Yueii and its students out of their little vendetta, I will personally see to it that they burn."

He squeezed a bit tighter, until Giran began to struggle again.

"Now, run along, Little Insect, and be a good messenger."

He tossed the man away, sending him tumbling down the alleyway. Before Giran could come to a stop, Oni had activated 'Ghost' once more and launched himself into the air. Perched back on the roof he'd dropped from, he watched the man scramble to his feet and look around for him almost frantically, reaching for the gun that was no doubt tucked away in his jacket.

After a few moments, seeing that Oni wasn't there anymore, Giran did his best to calm himself, running a hand through his hair while the other massaged his throat. He pulled out a phone as he took off at a brisk pace in the direction he'd been heading.

Oni didn't wait around long enough to listen in on the conversation; Giran would either pass along his message, or he wouldn't and Oni would have to burn someone to the ground. Either way, he'd accomplished what he intended to, which was to let this Giran know that he was watching this 'League of Villains' and was prepared to fight them if he needed to.

He was tempted to go after them anyway, if only because they were a group off villains that were dangerous enough to invade Yueii, but wasn't particularly interested in expending the effort it would take to track them down. He'd already repelled them in the USJ and stopped their plan in its tracks, and now he'd sent them a warning. Their next move would be the deciding factor. If they chose to stay in the shadows and never show their faces again, then there was less reason for him to care.

And who knows, maybe he'll have a particularly boring night at some point in the future and track them down for the fun of it.

With Giran now out of sight, Oni dropped 'Ghost' once more, stretching his arms over his head and his wings out behind him as the feeling faded away. He let out a sigh as he settled back down. Now that-that matter had been addressed, it was time to have some fun.

He launched himself into the air, rising higher with each wingbeat as he put some distance between himself and that alleyway.

As he flew, he sorted through the quirks in his chest, picking out a few that had held his attention for the past two days. The ones he took from the Noumu.

He'd gotten a taste of them during the fight, but with most of his attention focused on keeping up with the beast, he didn't have the time to get more than a basic understanding of them. Granted, none of them were overly complicated. The strength and speed quirks were nearly identical to his own, with the exception of how powerful they were, and the healing quirk was fairly simple. The shock absorption was the one that he knew the least about.

That was his primary focus for the night, to understand them all a bit more.

Picking out a spot that would suit his needs, he let himself glide down towards it. He settled on a building, five stories up off the ground.

First up was the shock absorption.

From what he'd observed in the fight, he knew that it negated the effects of kinetic energy acting upon his – or whoever had it, the current user of the quirk – body. From what he could tell, all of the energy was directed straight through the body and out the other side.

So he knew the basic function of the quirk, but he didn't know hardly anything specific, and he didn't know its limits, just that they were fairly extensive judging from the amount of force he and the Noumu had been throwing around. He also didn't know for sure if it only affected the energy applied from an outside force – such as the Noumu's punches – or if it also affected the backlash of his actions.

Looking down at the ground below him, he pulled the quirk from his chest, feeling it settle into place.

He didn't have much doubt that the quirk would work at this height – assuming it worked this way at all – and that he could probably jump from much higher. But all the same, he had his durability quirks in place as well, and knew from experience that they would work at this height. Better to be sure than end up with broken legs.

Well, they would heal almost instantly anyway. But that wouldn't stop it from hurting.

He stepped off the edge, watching as the ground sped up to meet him and resisting the urge to spread his wings to slow himself.

When he hit the ground, he let his knees bend with the momentum, dropping to a crouch. He stayed there for a moment, waiting to see if everything was as it should be.

He stood up after a few moments, eyeing his legs as he did. He lifted one of them up, bending it at the knee and rolling his ankle experimentally. There wasn't any discomfort, so that was good. Even with his durability quirk, that fall would've hurt normally.

He narrowed his eyes down at his legs. There was something else, too. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he'd felt something at the exact moment he'd landed. It wasn't pain or discomfort, just something different.

A few short seconds later and he landed in that spot again, this time from a greater height. Just as with the first time, there wasn't any pain, but this time he focused on the new feeling.

It was almost like a tingling sensation traveling up from his feet, dissipating before it even reached his knees. It wasn't even the force one might feel when they stomp too hard or land from just a bit too high either. No, this almost felt like…

Oni's eyes widened. It almost felt like one of his energy stockpiling quirks. With those active, there was a constant, extremely faint buzzing beneath his skin. He didn't even notice it anymore, not after so long with them active, but this new sensation felt almost exactly the same, just a bit more noticeable in his legs.

"I wonder…" He muttered to himself. "Maybe my calling it 'Shock Absorption' was a bit more accurate than I originally thought."

At first, despite calling it that, he'd thought that it was really some form of shock displacement or direct nullification, but with what he was feeling, absorption might be more fitting.

"What's that?" Rei spoke up in his ear. "Are you experimenting with quirks?"

"Yes." He replied, somewhat absentmindedly. "I'm jumping off of buildings to test something."

"… I'm going to ignore that in favor of the less stressful part of what you just said. What are you trying to figure out?"

He considered his thoughts for a moment, taking off into the air to head to his next destination.

"I think that one of the new quirks, the shock absorption one, is working with the energy stockpilers to directly absorb some amount of the kinetic energy that it cancels out."

"So taking hits can basically recharge you now?"

"I believe so, yes. Though most likely not to any useful degree. I didn't notice it at all during the fight at the USJ, and those hits were carrying a significant amount of energy behind them. I only noticed it tonight because I was specifically focusing on the quirk alone."

"Still though, it's something else to recharge you."

He nodded, enjoying the wind blowing across him as he glided through the air.

"Very true. However small, it is still helpful. And besides, that isn't even the quirk's primary function, it's greatest benefit. It's the fact that it can withstand forces seemingly at the level of All Might himself. And from what I've gathered in the few minutes I've been testing it, it doesn't just work when I take hits, but also when I do something that would result in backlash, like when I hit something or land on the ground."

"What the actual fuck." She exclaimed. "You and these quirks that make you ridiculously strong. You were already smarter and stronger than everyone else, but now basically no one can hurt you. Not to mention the new healing quirk. It's bullshit, honestly."

He grinned, he could hear the smile in her voice.

"Hey. It's not my fault that there are so many criminals that are practically begging to have their quirk taken. Most of them have no clue how to use their quirk properly. I'm almost doing them a favor. Besides, it's also not my fault that those villains basically giftwrapped these quirks for me."

"Yeah, yeah. You with your excuses. Go terrorize some helpless criminal or something."

"I think I will, but later, for now I'm going to go jump off a skyscraper."

"Oh God dammit. You're going to give me an aneurysm with this shit. You know what? Do whatever. I'm going to go get a snack. I'll be back in a minute, don't get yourself killed in the meantime."

Oni's smile widened, pretending not to hear the barely concealed laugh on the other side. "Sure thing. I'll do my best, but I promise nothing."

---

Oni's smile was still in place – if anything it had only gotten wider – as he observed the cracks in the ground around him. His hands were held out in front of him, and his body felt like it was thrumming with energy, though whether it was from the fresh energy that had just rushed through him, or from the excitement of having just jumped off of the tallest building in Kamino and was completely fine at the bottom was a mystery.

"Oh I feel like I'm going to have such fun with this." He said, clenching his fists.

"Now, time for the next piece."

Leaving 'Shock Absorption' – he'd decided that-that name was fitting enough for the quirk – where it was, he pulled on his new strength and speed quirks, the ones from the Noumu. He pulled them into place all at once, and waited for the subsequent drain to hit him.

A small laugh bubbled up from his throat as he felt it, and it was much less intense than he was expecting.

One of the most tiring things about his quirk, aside from some of the more strenuous drawbacks from the quirks that he had tucked away, was when he activated too many quirks at once. Something about his body changing to accommodate the quirks just chewed through his stamina, like he'd run across the city and back at a dead sprint.

But something that he'd noticed though, was that-that aspect of him could be trained and developed just as anything else could. He could already activate and deactivate quirks nearly instantly, and could take them from others just as fast, but when it came to pulling on more than one at a time, he always played it safe, never wanting to strain himself more than necessary.

With the very notable exception of the USJ invasion.

Before that day, the only occasion in recent memory that he'd pushed at his limit like that was during the Trigger dealer incident over a year ago, and even then it hadn't even come close to the USJ. There he'd gone past his limit and then kept going. He'd had to, in order to survive.

Though as much as it had exhausted him then, forcing him to sleep for three whole days, he could feel that his limits had increased. The fact that he'd just pulled on eight quirks at once – quirks that weren't exactly insignificant – and barely felt it was a testament to that fact.

Humming to himself, he sorted through locations for The Triad that he'd memorized.

He was still in Kamino, so why not have some fun while he's testing things out?

Picking out a suitable target on the other side of the city, he flexed his hands, dropping into a crouch.

"Let's have some fun."

"You going after The Triad tonight?" Rei questioned. "Do you want me to let Shadow know?"

"That's up to you." He replied. "You can invite him if you want, but something tells me that if I make enough noise, he'll show up anyway."

"Alright then, I'll call him if you decide you want his help. Have fun."

"I intend to."

The pavement beneath him cracked further as he launched himself.

He laughed out loud as he ran, even as he almost crashed into a building with how much the speed surprised him. It was faster than what his older speed quirks allowed, and there were more of those. The thought that so few simple little quirks had essentially doubled his physical capabilities sent thrills through him.

It wasn't even a full minute since he'd started running that he arrived at the location he'd picked out. That realization sent another small thrill through him; he'd just run nearly six kilometers in about fifty seconds.

He hummed to himself as he moved closer to the building, barely containing his excitement as he walked. As he did, he removed his gloves, tucking them away into a pocket before rolling his sleeves up to his elbows.

This particular location, which from the outside held the appearance of an innocuous three-story office building, housed reclamation teams. These were criminals that were tasked with retrieving or eliminating anyone who escaped The Triad's grip. Not only that, but these were also the people that would be sent to punish anyone who betrayed the organization, or to set people in line. They were the criminal organization equivalent of police, only generally much more dangerous and usually leaving bodies behind them.

His expression turned bit darker. This meant that just about everyone inside would be more dangerous than the usual. They were all specifically tasked with fighting.

This one, along with a few others, had been put towards the top of his list of priorities as soon as he'd found out about them. It wouldn't do much good to free victims if people like this were allowed to run around.

His ungloved fists clenched as he pulled on his claw quirk, feeling the sensation of scales forming down his arms.

He sighed, feeling his heart start to increase its tempo in anticipation.

"Oh I do hope you'll be as interesting as I expect."

With that, he launched himself through the air, aiming for one of the windows on the top floor.

He crashed through the glass, feeling the shards slice into his skin and then feeling his new healing quirk pull it back together an instant later. Rolling as he hit the floor, he jumped up to take a look at the room around him.

It was set up as one might expect, a cubicle farm shrouded in darkness at the late hour. A quick glance around him revealed nothing, and 'Proximity' wasn't showing anything either.

Not exactly surprising, given that it was the middle of the night and they probably left most of the building for whatever their cover was, but slightly disappointing nonetheless that he wasn't fighting anyone yet.

He sped around the floor, searching for any sign of the criminals, but found nothing. The floor below it was just as empty.

"Hm." He hummed as he got to the stairs that would lead down to the ground floor. "Oh Phantom. I do believe that there is more to this place underground. Would you mind finding the way down?"

She got to work just as he reached the ground floor. On a whim, before he set about searching, he activated 'Ghost' to hide himself. And as he went through, he found one, single person sitting at the front desk. A middle-aged man.

Oni watched him for a few moments as Rei worked, standing in front of the desk just feet from him. The man was most likely a criminal. Even if the cover business was entirely legal, and hired regular people, it was the middle of the night. There wouldn't be much reason for this to be the only employee present.

He was broken from his thoughts by a phone ringing on the desk. The man barely hesitated in picking it up. Oni couldn't hear what was said on the other side, but he got the information he needed from the man's side of the conversation.

"What do you want?" … "With the red hair?" … "Yeah that's him. He's the one." … "Yeah just bring him back here. Boss wants this one alive."

Oni snorted. Well, at least that sorted that out. He wrapped a hand around the back of the man's head as soon as the phone was hung up. The man was oblivious to the contact. With a quick jerk, Oni slammed his head into the desk, where he stayed, unconscious.

"Alright." Rei spoke up. "Give me a minute, I'm almost there."

He stared down at the unconscious man for a few moments, before curiosity got the better of him. Straining his eyes, he activated 'Appraisal.'

[Name: Hoshiko Minami]

[Quirk: Hotbar]

[Emitter-Type that allows the user to 'store' up to ten items to be used later at their discretion.]

"Oh~? How interesting."

He reached a hand back out towards the man – Hoshiko – pulling his claw quirk back as he did. Scooping the hand underneath Hoshiko's head, he lifted it up, his hand wrapped around the man's forehead.

"What fun this night is turning out to be."

Oni pulled the quirk into himself as quickly and painlessly as possible, not wanting to bother with punishing Hoshiko when there was still so much fun yet to be had.

Pulling the new addition up from his chest, he felt it settle around his hands. As he went to activate it, he could distinctly feel – almost inside himself? – ten different segments to the quirk. They were almost like pockets? It was odd; the feeling was definitely coming from inside his body, but it felt distinctly separate from him. Along with that, he somehow found himself able to distinguish that all but one of the segments were full.

Picking one out, he activated the quirk.

In the blink of an eye, he felt a weight in his hand. Looking down at it, he saw a keychain in his hand, complete with a set of keys.

"Interesting." He muttered, before activating the quirk again to reverse the effect, watching as the keys vanished instantly, without a trace or anything suggesting that they had been there at all.

Picking out another segment, he repeated the process and found a handgun settling into his grip.

"Huh. Always useful I suppose."

"Alright I got it." Rei spoke up again. "Northeast corner. There's a staircase hidden in a supply closet. It'll take you down past the normal basement layer and into the main area."

He stared down at his hands for another few seconds, storing the gun away and wondering what might be in the other slots. Now that he'd picked out and activated two of the slots already, he found that he could distinguish between them all. He could specifically pick out the two he'd already checked.

A moment later he lowered them, setting off towards the area Rei had pointed out and dropping 'Ghost' as he did.

His grin returned as he walked.

"Interesting indeed."

---

Oni took a deep breath as he reached the door at the bottom of the flight of stairs. This time, he could feel all of the people on the other side, spread out and doing whatever.

Taking a step, he kicked the door off its hinges, sending it clattering into the room.

The room was absolutely silent as he stepped into it, the stunned faces of the criminals scattered throughout it all turned towards him. He stopped a few steps in, forcing a confused expression onto his face as he looked around at them.

"Oh. Do I have the wrong place?" He asked. "I was told this was where the party was? And that there would be snacks?"

That seemed to break them out of their shock. His lips began to upturn once more as the shouting started up, the first few already charging at him.

"Alright fine. No party then." He said as he ducked around a fist, kicking its owner across the room. "But I want you to know that I fully intend to empty out your fridge as payment. I want the food I was promised."

His smile widened as more began to flood the room from elsewhere, adding to the chaos. This would absolutely be a party.

A laugh bubbled up from his throat as he charged in to meet them.

---

Oni stepped back as the criminal slid down the wall they'd just been slammed against, turning to look at the room. His eyes fell on the last one standing.

He licked at his lips; their fear was almost palpable.

Nonetheless, the criminal stepped towards him, raising a hand that transformed before his eyes. Within the span of a second, their entire arm below the elbow held the appearance of metal, and instead of a hand, their arm ended in a sharp spike.

Looking at it, and using 'Appraisal' to confirm that-that was all there was to it, Oni got an idea. There was something he wanted to test.

"You are exactly what I need right now." Oni said as he took a step forward. "Just what I've been looking for."

The criminal ignored him, charging straight at him despite having just watched what Oni did to their comrades. Oni didn't falter, continuing to walk towards them, even as they pulled their arm back to strike, right at the center of his chest as far as he could tell.

He watched as it sped towards him, slicing through the air. Right at the last second, Oni jerked his body to the side, and watched as the spike sunk into his chest, several inches off-target.

He ignored the urge to recoil away from it or to strike the criminal, even as he felt the spike grind against his collarbone.

"Izuku, what the fuck!?" He heard Rei exclaim in his ear. "What are you doing!?"

Oni also ignored the smug expression that had quickly replaced the criminals fear, choosing instead to observe the injury. He could see the smallest amount of blood attempting to leak out past the spike, and the skin around it seemed to be twitching, likely a result of the healing quirk attempting to close the wound.

"Ha! Is this all it took to take care of you!?" The criminal shouted. "And here I thought that you were strong!"

The criminal jerked his arm as he spoke, and that time Oni did wince as he felt something tear.

Grimacing, he grabbed onto the spike with a scaled hand, holding it still.

The criminal let out another laugh as he did. "Still trying to fight? After taking a hit like that?"

"Oh shut the fuck up you utter waste of space." Oni snapped. "I don't know if you were paying attention or not, but you're currently surrounded by your unconscious friends, all in various states of injury."

He pulled his free arm back, tightening his grip around the spike as he did.

The criminal tried to pull away, to take his arm back, only for it to not budge from Oni's hand.

"Wha-?" They tried to ask, before Oni cut them off.

He brought his arm forwards, striking his palm against the metal.

The weak material – some form of aluminum as far as he could tell – gave immediately under the force, shearing away with an awful screeching noise.

The noise was replaced by screaming as the criminal fell away, clutching at the mangled, bloody remains of their arm.

Oni took a swift step forwards and kicked them, sending them flying into the wall and silencing the screams.

"Dumbass." Oni muttered as he looked back down at the injury. With the criminal's weight no longer behind it, and with the weapon having a tapered structure, it was slowly being forced out of his body. The healing quirk was evidently strong enough to do that.

That was the whole point of letting himself get injured. He wanted the chance to see how it handled a relatively severe injury when he wasn't otherwise distracted or in a chaos-induced haze.

He was about to pull the spike out so that he could see the wound close up close, when he heard another voice sound out.

"Oni!"

"Hm?" He looked over at the door he'd come through, only to see a mass of shadows fading away across the floor. An instant later, Shadow was emerging from the ground directly in front of him.

"Oh. Hello Shadow." Oni greeted. "How's your evening going? Well, I hope?"

"Oni be quiet and let me take a look at that!" The other vigilante exclaimed, crouching slightly to get a better view. "It doesn't look like it punctured your lung, otherwise you'd already be coughing up blood, but it could still be dangerously close."

Oni smiled at the vigilante's fretting. Who knew that Shadow cared that much?

"Shadow." He said. "As touching as it is to know that you care so much about me, you need to calm down."

It really was touching to know that. Not like the fake kind of touched he'd displayed with Giran earlier in the night. It felt nice to know that he mattered enough to Shadow to warrant this sort of reaction.

"Oni you have a giant metal spike in your chest. You should not be this calm right now. I'm not even sure how you're still standing, this kind of injury should've had you on the ground."

"What, this little thing?" Oni asked, gesturing at the spike with his free hand, the other still gripped around it. "Give me a break. This hardly even qualifies as an injury."

Before Shadow could do anything to stop him, Oni pulled the spike from his chest in one swift movement. It sent a few drops of blood flying with it; considerably less than what would be expected from that sort of injury. Maybe the healing quirk did something to speed up coagulation of the blood?

He wiped the bloody spike on his shirt, cleaning it as Shadow continued to fret over him. Best not to leave too much of his DNA lying around.

"Shadow please. It's fine." He reassured. "Look, there isn't even a scratch there anymore.

Oni poked a finger at where the spike had been – and where there was still a hole in his shirt and his vest – showing that the flesh there was good as new.

"See? I'm fine."

Shadow took a step back. "What the hell? Since when can you heal like that, Oni? I didn't know you could do that."

"Since don't worry about it. Just know that pretty much any injury I get will heal exactly the same."

As he spoke, he knelt to the ground, handkerchief in hand, to wipe away the blood that had dropped to the floor.

The other vigilante let out huff. "Alright I guess. But shit, Oni. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Aren't you like, thirty?" Oni asked, standing back up and directing his attention to the spike in his hands, turning it over to look at it. "You're too young to be having a heart attack. You should think about taking better care of yourself."

"Really rich coming from the guy who was jumping off of buildings earlier tonight, and who just let himself get stabbed." Rei chimed in, a bit more bite to her voice than normal.

"You're the whole reason I'm going to have a heart attack, Oni." Shadow responded. "Somehow none of my normal vigilante work is as stressful as when I work with you. And I have no idea why."

"That's because you're smarter about it than I am." Oni said. "When I go out, I focus entirely on using direct, overwhelming force to get the job done, because that is what's best suited for my quirk. Your quirk is better suited for you to work from the shadows. Pun fully intended."

Oni pointed at the man with the spike. "I'm reckless like this because I can afford to be."

"Now, there's still stuff to do here. So if you intend to stay, and don't mind helping out, you could go around and make sure no one is too seriously injured and in need of medical attention."

Shadow huffed in mock annoyance, but complied all the same. "Alright, fine. I'll stay to help. If only to try to make sure you don't get yourself hurt again."

Oni hummed in acknowledgement as he continued to study the spike in his hands. It was odd.

For starters, it didn't transform back when it was separated from the criminal. With a lot of transformation types, when a limb that was changed separated from the body, it would change back immediately.

How he knew that was unimportant.

But then, there were two main types of transformation quirks in his experience. Those that required constant focus to maintain, such as his metal claw quirk, or 'Metallum,' and those that could be 'toggled.' Activated once to initiate the transformation, and then held until it was deactivated again, such as the claw quirk that currently suffused his hands.

Looking at the end of the spike that had been attached to the criminal's arm, he could see that all of flesh and muscle had been changed into metal, leaving only the bones in the center unaffected.

"What a weak quirk." He muttered to himself.

He wasn't usually one to belittle other quirks, usually able to find the smallest bit of value in it and expand it from there. But while this one was good enough in concept – transforming one's arm into a sharp spike was fairly simplistic but held decent combat potential if properly groomed – it was made so much weaker by the type of metal it was changed into. If it were steel or a steel alloy or, even better, titanium or something even more durable, then it would be so much better. But no, it was aluminum. Just pure aluminum as far as he could tell. It wasn't even structured in a way that would make it more durable.

It was no wonder that it sheered so easily when he hit it.

He sighed, storing the spike away with the new quirk. 'Sub-par tier quirk at best.'

Oni froze. Tiers. That thought sparked something inside him, which he latched onto.

"Ah. I just had the best idea for classifying quirks."

How had he never considered ranking quirks on a scale before? For that matter, how had he never though to attempt to classify beyond the basic emitter-transformation-mutation types?

"What the fuck." He whispered. "I'm going to have so much work to do when I get home."

He would have to go through all the quirks he's analyzed in the past, sort through every single one to get this figured out.

'I could rank them based on a number of qualities.' He thought to himself. 'Combat effectiveness, maneuverability, general usability and function. And I could classify them in so many ways. Not just in their function either, but in their actual activation conditions as well.'

Shit. Now he was getting excited for a whole other reason. He couldn't wait to explore the concept as soon as he was done here.

He shook his head, refocusing as he noticed Shadow heading back towards him.

"There's still two more levels below us." Oni said. "Shall we go have some fun?"

"Sure. Fun." Came the bland reply as they already started heading for the stairs.

"Oh don't be like that Shadow." He said, raising a fist in the vigilante's direction. "Don't act like you don't enjoy taking criminals down at least a little bit."

Shadow shook his head, sighing as he brought a hand up to rub at his forehead, even as his other tightened into a fist and raised to bump Oni's.

"You know." Shadow said as they stepped through the door to the stairs. "I don't think I'll ever enjoy fighting, at least not as much as you do, though I doubt anyone could enjoy it more than you. But I will at least admit that it is at least more enjoyable to fight when you have someone watching your back."

Oni let out a laugh that echoed in the stairwell. "Well said. I couldn't agree more."

They reached the next level down a few moments later, and stopped in front of the door.

Oni let a smile creep onto his face. "Shall we?"

A rare grin appeared on Shadow's face as he responded. "I suppose so."

A moment later the door was sent flying as Oni kicked it, just as he had the one before.

"Then let's have some fun!"

---

Izuku leaned back a bit from his computer, hands on his head.

He'd returned relatively early from his outing, and had spent the last hour-or-so working on his quirk classification and ranking idea, now freshly showered and having already apologized to Rei for his particularly dangerous antics tonight. For despite her joking words through most of it and the confidence in his abilities that she always had, it still wasn't exactly pleasant for her to see him pull stuff like that, especially after he'd been injured at the USJ.

He sighed. The USJ has been on his mind a lot in the past two days. Particularly the Noumu. He couldn't stop returning to the fact that the beast had multiple quirks stuffed into it.

Even after mulling the possibilities over in his head for two straight days, he kept coming back to one in particular, every single time. It was the only path forward that he could see.

He needed to have a discussion with All Might.

If Izuku was correct, and the reason that the Noumu had all of those quirks was because there was someone else out there with his quirk, and that same person was the one who injured All Might, then the man needed to know. Someone like that was an immense danger to everyone.

Izuku himself could level buildings with next to no effort, and if he really went for it, he could likely erase a sizeable piece of Musutafu from the map before he met any significant resistance. And even then, he now had the quirks to match All Might in a fight.

If there was a villain out there with his quirk, they could very well be even stronger than that. And Izuku had only been taking quirks for just under fifteen years. Who knew how long this villain could've been taking quirks.

That wasn't all though.

Izuku didn't fully believe for a second that the League of Villains would actually heed his warning. There was a chance, obviously – Oni's name and reputation carried a serious amount of weight behind it – but someone that was bold enough to invade Yueii and attack All Might likely wouldn't be stopped by his warning alone, especially if that villain with his quirk was the one standing behind them.

There was a significant possibility that they would attack again. And given their failure on their first attempt, they would most likely prepare themselves to hit harder next time. Depending on what they did, Izuku might not be enough to deal with it alone, at least not without giving away his identity as Oni.

The rest of his class would have to be ready too. They would need to be prepared whether or not Izuku was enough.

Izuku sighed again as he considered what he was about to do, before steeling himself and leaning back towards his computer.

He opened the messaging service that he used on a regular basis, and typed up his message.

4:15 [Deku]-

-'Apologies for the odd hour. But I have an important question for you.'

The response was nearly instantaneous, not entirely surprising considering who it was.

4:16 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'No problem at all! Though I do admit I am rather curious as to what would have you contacting me at such a time.'

-'Ask away.'

4:16 [Deku]-

-'You've offered me a job a few times before. To work as Yueii's in-house trainer/analyst.'

4:16 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'Indeed I have. Why do you bring it up? You were rather adamant with your refusals before.'

4:17 [Deku]-

-'Is the offer still valid?'

4:17 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'Oh. Well this is interesting indeed.'