Izuku wandered into the streets, lazily analysing the visible Quirks he could spot on the people. There was one with a snake's head, he wondered whether it was poisonous or not. It would certainly be useful if trained properly. It was a shame that it had gone to waste.

Never having a Quirk, he had taken it upon himself to break down every Quirk to its core. Now he had one, but it was as good as being Quirkless. He destroyed the Quirk of a boy who was beating up another boy and left before they could find him. He was bored, and he needed something to occupy his mind before the voices came back.

Technically they never went, but sometimes he did enough work to drown out their sounds. He assumed that it was his conscience, a long forgotten part of him which he had buried after his first kill. He wished that he could say that all these crimes were entirely done out of his own volition.

The first one had been an accident.

Tomura hadn't been at home and Sensei had told him that he needn't feel sorry for self defense. His Quirk was a Quirk after all and he had simply used it in reflex to when the other one had used their own Quirk on him. In the buzzing streets, he could almost feel a layer inside, an oily corrupted layer covering the old Izuku Midoriya. The seed had been sown in his childhood with Kacchan, and Sensei's manipulation had allowed it to grow and take bloom.

And now society was reaping what it had sowed.

Heroes and villains.

Flimsy titles. Society just puts them in random boxes, categorising them as if they were different, yet both of them conducted the same acts. Heroes were just weapons of violence used to quell violence.

And violence for violence bred more violence.

He admitted that All For One had a point there, but it was a negative view, not a neutral one as he wished to sound. Society categorised fucking Endeavor as a hero and Shoto as a villain, but that didn't mean that it had to be true. Bitterly he recalled Makoto's horrified face before her death. He remembered the bruises and scars on Shoto, he does remember the horrific scarring of Dabi's entire self.

He took a deep breath and switched his phone on, sending a message to Kurogiri.

Moments later, the mist man had arrived at the alley, his head cocked, atleast Izuku assumed it to be. He would never be Makoto, but he seemed reliable, more reliable than her, and he did care. He tried to help as well, instead of redirecting their emotions, which frankly didn't help in the long run.

He would make some random jokes, which sounded like he had made them before, with someone significant. He would watch Eraserhead's and Present Mic's fighting videos, seemingly glued to them for an inexplicable level. Izuku didn't think much of it, but looking at him made him wonder whether there was a history.

(Which could serve as a leverage against Eraserhead).

"Kurogiri, mind if I ask you a question?"

"You already did, but proceed."

"What did you do before All For One got you to look after us?"

He noticed how the man just froze, like a puppet with its strings cut.

"I honestly don't remember. All I know is to take care of Tomura Shigaraki and you. That is the only command I know."

Izuku bowed his head, deep in thought. Kurogiri's mist was flickering slightly, and he didn't fail to notice how Shoto didn't make the list. All For One had probably laid off manipulating him, figuring that his abuse at the hands of Endeavor and overwhelming love for Izuku and Tomura would be enough to keep him in check. Well, he technically wasn't wrong, but it also meant that it was easier for him to agree to the eventual plan of killing off All For One and the Doctor. He wanted to let Kurogiri live, the man was nice and had been nothing but good to them, sneaking in food at times when All For One decided that it would be hilarious to let them decrease the amount of food they consumed, little by little.

"You don't remember anything at all? What about Eraserhead and Present Mic? You must have been an avid fan of them, to watch their videos so religiously."

Kurogiri shrugged.

"I don't know. It's just.....there is an compulsion to keep a watch over them, even though it isn't a direct command."

"I see. Brainwashing then. Grand job, Sensei."

Izuku's words were spoken to the thin air, for All For One was in Tartarus at the moment, silently plotting his escape. He just needed to send one signal to the Doctor and then he would be free. Izuku was perfectly aware of that, and therefore he couldn't sit around, twiddling his thumbs.

Kurogiri gave no answer, but Izuku hadn't expected one.

"Say, could you bring me the Nomu research files from the Doctor? I would need it for six hours or something."

Kurogiri nodded and disappeared with a, "Sure," leaving Izuku alone in the alley.

He pursed his lips and hummed silently, deep in thought.

Bakugo and Shinso exchanged a look as they walked into the Nighteye agency. They had really been cursed by the Shonen luck, much to their apparent dismay. According to Mirio, Nighteye had wanted to see the current holder of One For All and the boy who had taken Mirio down.

"Crack a joke," Mirio had said, cheerfully, face not falling at Shinso's "dead inside" look and Bakugo's sullen glare. They were perfectly sure that they couldn't crack jokes randomly, and Shinso was probably the only one with enough mental power to crack one if the circumstances were dire.

They entered the office, and to their shock and horror, they found a girl, Bubble Girl being tickled to death in front of them by a machine, supervised by Sir Nighteye, himself.

"This is sick," Shinso mumbled. Bakugo would have said something, but just at that moment Nighteye's eyes swept to find the two of them. The machine stop and Bubble Girl gasped, tears running down her sides. Her hands and legs were still shackled, which made cold creep up their spines. Being kidnapped for three days and spending the time awake shackled to a chair was enough to leave some sort of mark.

Mirio didn't drop his smile but went to free Bubble Girl, who hunched over as if her stomach hurt after laughing so much. Laughter was a good medicine that was true, but this was pure torture, because she didn't have a chance. And Nighteye, well, Nighteye apparently deemed it hilarious enough to do this, knowing damn well she wouldn't make a move against him because it was HIS agency. It almost made Shinso walk straight out of this place, but he held his ground as Nighteye started the questions.

"Who are the both of you?"