"Give me one good reason not to kill you, kid."

Izuku was standing in an alleyway, between a pile of cardboard and trash. His back was firmly put against the wall, his hood up and his eyes covered by too long black bangs.

"You don't know what I'm going to say, at least wait 'till I'm done," he told Stain.

He had waited a few days before the villain finally reached out. They hadn't said much, only agreed on a time and a place to meet up again, alone this time.

The villain stood tall above Izuku, his shadow cast from the fire escape on the floor a few meters away. The moon was almost full, casting enough light for the teen to see the man's posture. Stiff, careful, no weapon drawn but hand on the hilt of his sword. Stain's face was still covered by his mask but his eyes shone with silver light, observing and attentive.

"We both know that our society is flawed. I don't know when or how, or even who made you come to this harsh realization, and quite honestly I don't care. We agree on one thing : it needs to be changed. The question is how? Do you truly think that killing heroes left and right is going to change anything?"

"I'm killing fake heroes!"

"They're almost all fake! I can count on my hand the heroes that I consider actually worth the title! And not a single one of them is a broadlight hero. You cannot spend your entire life trying to kill every single one of them. It's too slow!"

Stain stared at him harshly. In a blurry of movement he got down and went right up Izuku's face.

"Name them. Name your heroes."

"Thirteen, rescue hero, EraserHead, underground hero, P-"

"And where is All Might in all of this?"

Stain was now right into Izuku's space, looking down harshly, his hand gripping the weapon.

Anger filled Izuku and he let a humorless chuckle escape him.

"All Might? You want to talk about All Might? This has to be a joke." Izuku's eyes met Stain's, hard green against furious red.

The villain raised a knife, rage shimmering underneath his mask.

"If you touch a single hair of mine, you'll be no better than those heroes you pretend to clean the world from. You'll be just another joke, a guy thinking too big of himself. And what a disappointment, Stendhal ."

That got him to stop.

"You want to hear a story? About your so-called true hero? Open your ears, you're going to love this."

Anger, cold and violent, made breathing hard. He took a step off his wall, entering Stain's space just as the man had done before, almost too angry to realize it might be a wrong idea; but the villain seemed stunned and Izuku didn't do much more.

"It's the story of a child, barely a teenager. One of those people that society discarded as useless, I let you have the freedom to imagine what the child looks like, why they are hated, mutant, weak quirk, strange one, not one at all. Your choice. This child's dream was to help. And this child's true idol was All Might, because he is powerful, and strong, he always smiles, never breaks a sweat and always saves the day. The child couldn't imagine a better hero. But one day, as he was trying to run from his life, the bullies from school, the judgmental looks of the teachers, he got attacked by a villain. Alone, scared, he almost died; but no one would have cared would they? That's when his idol arrived. Tall, strong, just like the pictures, his voice booming. He saved the kid, merely but he did it. He didn't get a statement from the child about the villain attack, didn't try to make sure he was okay. The one thing he did was to tell the child that he couldn't be a hero. That he was too weak to help like he wanted to. And he left. The child was left behind, scared and hurt from the villain, his dream shattered. Now tell me. Forget I told you the idol was All Might. What would you do, what would you call the kind of hero who came to 'save' that child?"

The silence hung heavily in the chilly air of the night.

"I wouldn't call him a true hero." He answered himself, Stain still quiet.

"Now what matters is whether or not you believe me, and agree with me. Will you really fall for the hero charm just because it is All Might? Is it really impossible that the 'true' hero is, in fact, not? We don't know anything about him, after all. He never said anything about his life, always coming in front of the camera, smiling big for the pictures and leaving right after."

Izuku started taking some steps back, toward the street. Stain was still standing, sill as a statue, barely breathing.

"Don't come saying that some true heroes exist if you can't even differentiate the right from the wrong. You have goals, Stain, ideas and ideals. People understand that; they look up to it. Now you have to think about how far you're willing to go for those ideals."

Still no answer.

"Some people, even when their dreams are shattered, still want to help, right the wrongs and offer guidance to some who never had it. On which side will you fall?"

After that, Izuku made a quick escape. He pushed down his hood and walked across the street to enter a subway station. He went down and slipped into the bathroom, taking out his phone and texting Kurogiri for a quick Wrap.

He ended up at home, restless from the adrenaline and the anger still running in his veins. The night was going to be long, and he had plans to make.

—

Izuku didn't hear from Stain for the next few days.

But his life wouldn't stop for that.

With La Brava, they worked on another prank against Endeavor. As the number two hero, whatever he did, whatever happened to him tended to make a lot of noise. The media talked about it for days, most of them loving to exchange opinions and theories of all kinds about the whys, the whos, and the hows. And unlike All Might, Endeavor wasn't always liked, people criticized his habits and destructive tendencies, his rough 'hero persona' even if the persona part was still to be proven for Izuku. All Might also, was very secretive of his life outside of his career, no wonder when you knew he had a tiny skeletal form hidden somewhere, and was far more easy to find.

And Izuku had investigated the hero's life. He had tug up some stuff, when hard work had tried to bury the precious information. He had find names and codes, addresses.

One of the most intresting, and worrying, thing he learned was about Endeavor's wife. Enji Todoroki, fire quirk, father of four, one of the children dead, had married Rei Todoroki, ice quirk. Weirdly, already, those two quirks could balance each other. But Izuku could be paranoid. He felt less so when he discovered a strange and concerning series of events, after some digging in places where people aren't suppose to look, read in files from the hospitals and the police. First, Rei is interned in a mental hospital, she was a danger for herself and others around her. At the same time, the youngest boy, Shoto Todoroki, age 5, is hospitalized for a third degree burn on his face. Burn by boiling water and 'eased' with ice, the burn had known both extremes of temperature. The person who did it wasn't specified on the record but putting both elements together, it was easy to guess that the mother went rogue and burned her son, then realized her mistake and tried to prevent more dammage, only doing the opposite. Soon after, Toya Todoroki, age 13, eldest son, dies. In less that a year one son is scarred for life, another gone and the mother put away. The whole family is probably traumatized, loosing two of its members. Yet, as much as Izuku searched for it, he couldn't find any words from Endeavor, any signs that he took some time to mourn, to help his family, to get away from the public's eyes.

Endeavor, in the face of his family falling apart, continues his job. He burns a building but there is no civilian inside, he screams at the cameras when they ask for apologies for the families who lost a house, a home.

Izuku dug and dug and dug some more, ending up in the servers of Endeavor Agency. He looked for some decade-old proofs that the so-called hero tried to take at least one day break when everything happened but he found none .

So Izuku decided that Endeavor will be his main target for pranks and annoying shit to happen, to publicize his action and Gentle's, to work a bit on his reputation maybe.

Izuku wanted to make an appearance, shall it be minor, as Guidance before the beginning of the year at UA, so it wouldn't be too obvious that he had waited.

But he couldn't wait to make the number two hero fall once he would be secured at UA, perfectly sure that the League could go rampage and he'd still be safe.

If the public decided that someone like Endeavor, who probably paid a kidney to keep the medias out of his life with so much bullshit going on, could be number two, then they would realize their mistake and they would suffer for it.

Izuku had send his plan to La Brava, knowing that Gentle would heard about them and would probably agree. They would strike the next day, hoping to make as much noise as possible and touch the right people. Guidance would make his debut and, hopefully, reappear alongside Stain if the man made the right decision.

—

Izuku, hair died black back again, face hidden behind a green scarf and eyes shadowed by his bangs, waited on some roof, ready to strike.

La Brava was waiting beside him, her short stature holding on a camera. She was wearing her full villain attire, pigtails and all.

They hadn't seen each other for a while. They didn't need to meet anymore as Izuku was done with his learning and when they worked together they usually didn't leave their seat at home. Her gaze was heavy on Izuku's side as he observed the street underneath them, scanning the crowd for Endeavor patrol.

"Shoot, get it over with before we begin." He said to the woman, feeling her nervousness and desire to say something.

"I told you you shouldn't go messing with the wrong crows, kid."

"I was already messing with them before I met you. I'm sorry I'm not the weird little kid you thought I was."

"I'm pretty sure you're still the weird little kid I met at the restaurant. You just grew some confidence." She glanced at the ground but quickly turned away from it, checking on her phone instead. They were waiting for Gentle's signal. "I can't lecture you on anything, I have no room to talk. But shit, I didn't think you'd be planing stuff like that. What will you do if you're caught?"

"This is nothing. Don't worry for me, I won't. I think we should talk, with Gentle I mean, when this is all done. You guys might be interested in some of my projects, now that you saw what I could do 'just for fun'."

The woman kept an eye on him for a minute before shrugging. They'd have to wait for it.

Her phone rang, they saw Gentle's form jumping in the horizon, coming toward them.

Izuku turned fully serious, switched from the little teen to Guidance. He couched down and saw Endeavor with his team, making way through the street, gathering a small crown around them. Ine of the sidekick was moving wildly, probably smiling and ranting about hero bullshit. He heard La Brava turn on her camera, introducing herself and Guidance, as well as the little group down the street.

Things were going to be fast.

La Brava jumped down once Gentle was close enough, going around with his quirk, activating her own with red light.

Guidance waited some more, he had seen where Gentle's platforms were as the duo was making his way toward the hero. The villains had begun their speech, accusing Endeavor of being a major dick and so on. Izuku hadn't shared the results of his research but they had enough on the guy from what the public could know.

When Endeavor walked right where Guidance wanted, he pressed a button on his bracelet, successfully sending a signal to Kurogiri.

Pounds of water fell on the fire hero, right from the closet river. And all of his little fire sidekick.

And Guidance jumped. He released a banner from under his shirt, leaving it to fall on the hero. It read 'fake ass hero, can't protect things for shit'. It wasn't much, but as he was jumping around a bunch of messages were put on the internet by bots about many things that the hero did and tried to cover up. Nothing about his family because this was just too big and would impact far more people than just the man and his lawyers. But it would leave some damage.

The final move was Guidance leaving a bright green arrow on the hero, right where his fire-hair should be but had been extinguished by the water. It was kind of a post-it, but extra sticky and resistant to both water and fire.

He got farther away from the crowd, right beside La Brava who still had her camera on the scene, and sent another signal to Kurogiri. More water fell on the heroes, drenching them to the bone.

Guidance finally turned toward the heart-themed villain and said to the camera : "People should be more careful about who they trust. It's time so guidance is offered to those who need it."

A final signal was sent, Guidance disappeared from the frame and no one saw the cloud of puprle which swallowed him aside from his two partners in crime.

—

They hadn't done as much damage, real one, as Izuku had hoped.

Endeavor's people had tried to erase everything from the internet, but documents and videos came back again and again. They had claimed lies, nothing but inventions to hurt the hero's career. There was very little to no actual legal procedure following the man, police's investigation or governmental workers coming to check on everything that was released.

That was how far gone society had gone.

But the public had given a different answer.

First, the answers to the video was treating it as a very funny prank, skillfully going against a known hero. Gentle Criminal was known to try and have as many views as possible, not caring a second about the law to make the best content for his followers; that's how it was perceived at first. Then people started to notice Izuku, or Guidance, his words, what he tried to show.

With the publication of the documents, more people started making noise about it, victims of burns and destroyed goods who had to keep silence until now, parents of children whose favorite hero had been rude to, worries about the real nature of the man.

They started looking for more details about Guidance, his green arrow which showed corruption, his cold tone. People on forum talked about him and questioned his existence and actions the same way they did for Stain, even less critical as Guidance hadn't, as far as they knew, killed anyone.

Tomura was very proud, happy to know that the second most important member of his League was actively working for their goals, excited to enter the big world too.

Sensei had been less pleased but played it off just nice, saying that he would have preferred if Izuku had come to ask for advice before but very proud of him for making his first big step.

The twins had sent a common text saying '???' and then 'kid, wtf, you have to tell us thing', followed by a demand to come see them as soon as possible 'i swear we won't kill you but waw' had added Tenjiro.

La Brava and Gentle had both listened to him afterward. They met the next day and Izuku told him about his plan, without the details, of working for a better society and offering help to the people who were robbed of it because of stupid criteria.

They weren't into joining big organization, that what they thought the league was from the little comments Izuku let out about it. They also didn't want to end up in big troubles since their crimes were rather petty, maybe aside from La Brava's hacking but 'no one can prove any of that, I know how to do my job!' . But they were both willing to help on Izuku's project if he needed publicity of things like that. Gentle wanted to bring laughter to people in this sad world, and Izuku respected that.

The group agreed on helping each other out like that. Bringing each other fame out with their common goals and plans.

Izuku hadn't expected much from them, as they, as they called themselves, were rather small villains and even Gentle' s nickname clearly told what had to be expected from him.

That's when the Hero Killer reached out again.

Izuku had dug some more things about him, happily filling pages with informations in his notebook. And when the day came for them to meet again, he was ready and happy to make his word count.

This time, Izuku was the one to surprise the villain.

He was crouching on a roof, looking down toward the alley where they gave each other rendez-vous, much like Izuku had while waiting for Endeavor.

The teen came from behind.

"Akaguro Chizome, quirk : Bloodcurdle, blood type : B, age : 30." A blade immediately came flying in his direction but missed.

"Stop it, you agreed on the meeting, you didn't have to."

"How do you know all of this?"

"I'm smarter than I look. No worries, I won't say a word to the police. Though, if I die, some information could be spread in places where you don't want them, so I would like to leave this roof unscathed, thank you."

With cautious movements, he put back a blade in his jacket. "Talk."

"We want the same thing from society : revenge, but mainly create a safe place for the people who felt left out. Don't we?" Stain vaguely nodded, his eyes full of doubt. "I work with some people. I can't trust all of them but they want you to join us. We call ourselves the League of Villains. You haven't heard of us yet and it's normal; our big coup will come later in the year."

"Big coup? And what would that be?"

"I'd leave the details out but All Might's death is the goal."

Izuku saw Stain hand clench around something in his pocket.

"What? Still believe he is the perfect hero? People need to see what world we leave in. They try to ignore it, to live in the fake safety of their 'heroes' shadows, to turn a blind eyes on the ones who can't be protected by said shadow. They reject the difference and no one tell them their worng. They need to understand that no one will save them. That no one is perfect, not even All Might. He might not die, but weakened at least he will serve the purpose I kept for him. Even the mediocre heroes, who didn't do anything wrong but simply kept on with what society saw as 'normal' are wrong. They need to understand that. And the people who were wronged have to get the fact that they need to save themselves. Some people are willing to offer a helping hand if they truly want to stand back up, but they have to learn to walk alone, even when they are pushed around until they are the one doing the pushing, showing what they are capable of. That's what I'm trying to do. I will do it, with or without your help. But I think we could both use each other."

The silence hang in the night. The place was quiet, no the best part of town and no cars went around at those time. The lights from the streets a few blocks away was barely there.

"And what use would that be?"

"You are a figure that the people I'm trying to reach look up to. You avenge them. I want you to show them that I exist, and that they can learn to avenge themselves, that someone is going to fight for them finally. You, on the other hand, can use my information. As I said, I'm smart. If I can find out about you and you're identity, do you think bullshit daylight heroes can hide from my eyes? I'll give you what you need, targets, names, reasons and places to search for them. You join the League, you give us the publicity we need, we give you more means to achieve your goals. Even trade ain't it?"

"Can I use some time to think about it?"

"Time and more time, that's all you need. But alright. If you join the League though, I'd like you to keep quiet about the little deal that we made beforehand. I'd like to learn to defend myself at least. Quirklessly would be better."

Stain raised a brow but nodded. He didn't say anything else, and rapidly left in the night, done with the whole thing.

Izuku believe he saw some thoughtful look into the villain's eyes as he had observed him during their altercation.