On the Job Training

Izuku leaned back after a long day of analysis and working out. He was a bundle of stress, Kanaya had contracted him for a kill. It was unexpected that the 12-year-old would be interested in killing a rival idol. She already paid an impressive amount of money, well over 1,000,000 yen upfront. Izuku knew the day would come where he would have to perform an assassination, but he did not like the idea of killing another kid. He had expected to have more time before being forced to perform this aspect of his duties, one month was nowhere near enough time to prepare himself, let alone a week. Finding out information about the idol was not overly difficult, Kanaya had actually offered to invite the girl over for practice to ensure the job was done in person but Izuku had vehemently denied her request. It sickened him that she would order a job like this.

Getting up from his desk he stretched before returning to his stealth training. While wearing iron sole shoes, he would attempt to move and practice his fighting forms without triggering a sound alarm. The training was hellish, appropriate given how tight of a time schedule he was on, learning the basics of lockpicking had been child's play compared to moving quietly. Intentionally handicapping himself by wearing iron soled shoes was certainly making it harder, but he needed to be strong if he wanted to succeed. His practice lasted for hours and included some light gymnastics and acrobatics, forcing him to balance himself and land softly. His quirk made feats of physicality more achievable, but did not help whatsoever when it came to stealth, this would be his greatest challenge in training.

After a few hours Izuku dropped back onto his hands and knees, panting heavily. He had found that the experiment the doctor had done on his lungs made him able to fight full bore for extended periods of time, but he could still breath silently for up to 3 minutes while fighting as hard as he wanted. The alarm sounded, it was an annoying sound which gave Izuku a headache, he had been tempted on more than one occasion to destroy the damned thing. Getting up and shutting off the alarm he walked back to his desk and began to look over his information regarding the target, Takane Shijou. She was very pretty, with long white hair and violet eyes, as fate would have it, he already had been to where she lived in the Koru district.

Over the week he had learned as much of her schedule as he could, it felt weird to be effectively stalking someone. It was easier and more comfortable to hack into her home security and rig a backdoor he could use when it came time to do what needed to be done.

He knew when it came time to kill her, he would not have any real trouble, his quirk had burned cold throughout his body for the past months, but he could still feel that murderous fire deep down. The composition of his quirk was confusing to Izuku, perhaps because he was experiencing it so directly it made it harder to understand beyond an intrinsic level.

Tomorrow was when he was supposed to kill Takane Shijou, it also happened to coincide with when he was planning on going to sleep, he figured he only had around 16 hours of time left to prepare for the kill. There was still some work to do, namely he needed a better, quieter bike. As much as he loved Ren's the exhaust was loud as hell and would broadcast his presence no matter where he went. He leaned forward and check the website he had been using to hunt down a new bike, the search had started shortly after receiving the forward payment and had gone slowly. The trouble was that he needed a fast bike that was also as quiet as possible, a rare combination, one solution would have been to set up a quiet exhaust but he was tight on time and doing so would have been even more of a stretch.

> Is the Edgeshot Special still for sale?

> Yeah, 750,000

> could you do 600,000?

> sorry lowest I could go is 700,000

> alright, could I swing by today to pick it up? I have the money already.

> Yeah sure, but I have work in a few hours so you'll have to be quirk

> [Location.gps]

> that's fairly close by, I'll pop over now, I'll be on foot and wearing my helmet. It looks like a skull

> Edgy

> It was a gift

> of course

> come on over

This was good luck; the man had an Edgeshot Special and was willing to part with it on short notice, yes 700,000 was massively over value for the bike but getting the bike on short notice was still unbelievably fortunate. The seller lived only around 30 minutes away, donning a hoody and his helmet he popped out the warehouse and began walking over.

The seller stood next to the bike in question with a box and a handful of tools. This was not a sight Izuku had expected. The man noticed Izuku approaching and gave him a wave.

"Heya how's it going skullface?"

"Clever, what's going on with the bike?" Izuku asked referring to the box and tools.

"Oh, I'm just stripping my exhaust from it, I have a few mods on it that I'd like to keep."

"How long do you think it will take, I'm in a bit of a hurry." Izuku said, some edge slipping into his voice.

"Oh, just an hour or two, shouldn't be too big a deal, right?"

Izuku could not believe the nerve of this fat stupid man. He had posted his bike for sale as is and hadn't even had the decency to strip his parts already. "What parts do you have on there?"

"I was going for a build based on Ingenium, y'know big power, but still wanted to keep it as authentic as possible, you know? Keep it a bit quieter?" This was a gold mine for Izuku.

"How much for it with the mods?" Izuku asked quickly

"I don't know man, I kinda want to put them on my next bike- "

"I'll pay retail for the mods on top of the agreed price," Izuku interjected.

"For real!?" the man asked stunned by the skull headed buyer. "that'd be like something like 1.4 million!"

Izuku pulled out his phone and checked his balance. "Give me an hour, I'll be back with another 700,000." With that he turned and walked toward the nearest bank, leaving the man stunned.

Izuku was elated, no wonder the man thought his bike was worth 700,00, he dumped that much into it in the first place! Still, if the mods were in as good of condition as the man seemed to imply then Izuku would be set for a while with his bike situation.

Returning 45 minutes later, he found the man sitting outside by the bike sipping on a can of coffee.

"I've got the money, let me give the bike a test drive and I'll hand over the money." Izuku stated blandly, the man didn't show any issue and tossed Izuku the keys. Throwing his leg around the bike, Izuku knew it would be a bit large, but otherwise the seat felt fine, it was a sport bike better suited to laying down that upright seating. Starting the bike up Izuku was happy to find the exhaust note really was as quiet as an unmodified example. After giving it a minute, he pulsed the throttle a few times to test the engine. It happily revved up. Izuku then gave the man a thumbs up and drove it up and down the block quickly, slamming on the brakes to make sure they worked well. Everything about the bike seemed perfect, stopping back by the man, Izuku tossed the man an envelope with the money. After checking over the contents the man walked up and gave Izuku the title to the bike – not that he intended to ever register the bike legally.

Izuku nodded at the man and sped off, intentionally testing the bike more throughouly on his ride. It performed admirably, slipping between cars and taking corners tight. Playing around a bit in the industrial park surrounding his warehouse Izuku noticed something that would be a problem. Hopping off the bike, he inspected and found that it was leaking coolant slowly. Izuku didn't want to have to try his luck with another seller since this bike was in such good condition otherwise and rode to a radiator shop to get the bike checked out.

3 hours and another 100,000 yen later, the bike was fixed up with a new radiator and Izuku sped back to the warehouse. The trip had taken him a few hours and brought the amount of time he had to prepare down to just about 11 hours. Dismounting he started to cook himself a meal, consisting of instant soba, tuna sushi, a protein shake and growth hormones he had been advised to take by Sensei. Eating took around an hour leaving him with only 10 hours before he would go and perform his first kill.

Izuku sat down on the floor and began to mediate, intentionally lowering his quirk. He needed to deal with some of his negative thoughts before the job or they might become an issue. Stepping his quirk down the point of feeling emotions was an act of extreme precision, too far and he might accidentally drop it without being tired enough to pass out, too little and he wouldn't actually have emotions.

M̷o̴n̴s̷t̸e̶r̷

Further still…

K̴̞̈́ĩ̵̜̌l̴̮̲̚l̷̰̆̏e̴̡̢̽̓ȓ̷̹̙͐

A little more…

Y̷͔͆̕͝o̸̖̿ȗ̶̲͙̱̿̍̇͝ ̵̟͕̫͉̣͋̆k̸͙̟̟̗̎̅̓̽͝ͅḭ̶̢̯̀l̷͈̪͕͊̈́l̷̫̋e̶̝̩̝̲͔̽̈́d̷̡͙͓̝̙̑̌̓ ̷͉̣̝̙̇̑̀͊K̵̢̏͝a̶̭̤̺̿͊̂c̶͍͉̣̖̀̑͘ć̷͕̰̤̙̤̀̂ḧ̴̦̤́̉͑͝a̷͈̒̌̂n̷̨͈̜̰̖̉̓

Too far!

Y̶̮̙̌̃̈ỏ̷̢̧͓̝͕̉̒̌ų̷̠̭͖̫̓̍̕̕ ̷̛̩̮͉̪̖̯̓̀̾̓a̷͉̲̭̭̣̟͐͒r̷̢͉͚̅̌̓͊̚͘e̸̩̩͕͠ ̴̢͉̲̱͔̉̓͂â̴̳̩͇͈̮̗͋͌̀ ̷̢̡̹͌͋̆͛̓̍̚ṿ̷̀i̶͕̥̮̭̤͉̒̿̽͑͝l̶̥̣̗̖̱͌̿͆̓̌̽l̷̨̖̬̼͖͎̉̔͒͌͘a̴̲̦̳͑̃̈́̀̕͝i̵͕̍͌̒̿̚͝n̵̥͔͙̩͇̖͔͒͌̏̑̀͋

Y̶̰̝̰̥͔͎͑̒͂̕͜͝ͅǒ̴̢̢͍͕̟̜̇͗͋̊̔͑u̸̪̥͆̒̐̓͑̾͛ ̷̲̲̽͆͐́̊͗͜d̴̡̺̣͎̽̄́̇̕͘ô̶͉̘̠̲̂̔̓̿n̶̤̰̰̙̆̋̏̀̍͂ͅ'̷͖̒͒͛̿̌͋̕t̷͙̭͍̖͙̮̥̞̩ ̴̢͖̟̩̮͙̍͐͠d̷̛̖̹̓͒̑̓̓̉ȇ̷̼̲̟̠͕͈͈̈́̃̀̉́̓ͅŝ̷͚ę̵̟͕͉͉͎̟͆̂͗̈́͒͑͝͠r̵̳̮͚̠̅ͅv̶̧̢͇̞̘̠͕̄̿̅̈́̾̈̚̕̕͜ẻ̷̢̡͉̦̟̻͙͖̳̓̀̇͒͝͝ ̷̢̝̘͕̈́̿ţ̵̲̯̭̞̟̤͓̜̑̈̊̏̚ő̸̼̟̬̹̃͊͜͠ ̸̢̲̳͚͇̼͉͆̉͗̈͝l̵̮̘i̴̮͔̣̲̮̳̯̽̈͒̑͒̅̿v̵̢̳̮̠͇̳̠̜̄̽͛̂̕͝͝e̴͔̜̋ͅ

E̵̡̛̝̠̮͇̺͈͙̟͖͂͗̒͌̿̃̈́̔͘n̶͍͚͙̠̘̙̤̼͉̝͛̏ͅd̵̢̢̮͔̰̺͈͕̬͙̭̥̀̎̒͒̔̌͑ͅ ̴̡̙̝̯͈͎̪͉̳̎͐͆̇͌̾͝ÿ̴̭͆̋͛̑̊̈́̿̃̆́͒͝o̷̫͓̠̥̖̪͚̳̦͐̈́̋̓͂̊̔͒̉̓̒͐͠u̵̢͈̰̖̥̭̞͇̜͎̯͓̗̇̑̓̒̌͆̅̊͑͌͒͝r̷̨̖̲̱̦̮̰͔͑̈́̊́͜ ̶̭͍̭̻̩̙̹͓̰̓͊͆͗l̶̨̡̤͖̠̤̻̿̍͌̓̾̎̀̉̂̋̊͌i̶̧̻̐̄̈́͜f̴̢̢̖̝͓̼͉̩̬̫̩̺̥̾̓̅̇̎̐͝͠ě̶̛̬̭̗̂̓̐́̿̍͊,̶̡̡͙̘̻̳̙̥̭͖̟̅͐͑̓̍̅ͅ ̴̨̠͚̳̤͚̥͍͎͔̦̱̈́̿i̷̯͓͖̪͗͌́̾̅̊͌͒̇t̷̡͕̲̮̬̼͍͎̪͠͝'̷̦͖̾̿̆̒̽̄̍̿̉͒͂̂ş̴͇̫̥̱̖͉̙̈́͛̎̿̂̇̔̿̓̈́̄̆͘ ̶̧̯̝͕̠̘͔͒w̶̨̧͖̦̥̖͖̘̲̌̊̽̒͛͊̏̓h̶͓̊̌̃̐͛å̸̬̱̞͈̬͍̈͗͑̽͑̾͆̓̕͝ͅt̶͈̩͔̻̒͐̀͐̓̏͌̄͠ͅ ̸̧̡̢͙̺̙̖͍͕͛͌̋y̷̪̫͓͑͗̉͝ŏ̶̡̯̝̟̼̹̰̗̄̓̓̐̑̂̾̃͜͠ȗ̷̡̢̝̱̤͚̖̠̫̬͒̎̈̔̈́̏̐̂́̚͜͠ ̴̧͕̯͙̰̯͍̯̹̮͉̽͗̍̄̏̔̒͌͒͑̕d̴̙̘͎͔̯̱̦̈̓̾̚͝ȩ̴̢̟̿͋̿̿͐͝s̴̨̫̥̯͔͙̮̱̞͕̪̽̿̅̚͝e̷̼̳̯̼̤̼̼̰̳̠͆̂̎͑̓r̵͆̂͗̕͜v̸͖̮̳͇̱̥͌͂͛̑̉͘͠e̸̢̨̧̨̮̙̜̝̭̖͆͌̂̈́̽̽̌̈̈́̎̓̚͜

Izuku sat frozen in place, unable to move under the weight of his own thoughts. He felt his eyes glaze over as he fell further into his own thoughts. He knew that the thoughts were what he felt deep down, but he hates these thoughts. Giving them space was something he wanted to do, not something he needed to do. Yet here he sat, transfixed by his own emotional turmoil.

"End me…" Izuku whispered, squeezing his eyes shut as the last of his quirk fell. Wrapping himself in his arms he let out a cry that strained his voice. How long he sat there crying and screaming out for death was anyone's guess, but eventually he passed out.

When he came to, his eyes were still glazed over, too tired to feel anything – instead it felt like his quirk was pushed to its fullest. Looking down at his arm he found it pulsing over his body.

'I have to kill,' he recognized. Standing from his meditative mat he walked to his equipment and dressed in silence.

The combat suit was a black composite material, completely innocuous with no defining features, he had no plan to make a name for himself as a public figure, it would only serve to make life more difficult when he tried to become a hero. The suit was form fitting, with matte plates coated in an extremely dark black paint that could absorb obscene amounts of light, making him darker than black. Putting on the form fitting suit was a bit of a challenge, and took around 30 minutes. Looking at his clock he saw he needed to head out in just an hour. Izuku grimaced, tugging on his stealth shoes and clipping his dagger's sheath to his left arm. Picking up the dagger from the sharpening station where he had left it, examining the sharp blade and testing it against his ungloved finger, it cut painlessly. Izuku stuck his bleeding finger in his mouth waiting for it to scab up and heal before putting on a pair of red nitrite gloves, they were cheap gloves commonly used by people who did dirty jobs, over top he pulled his matching combat gloves. Bringing his hands together in a punch he was happy to see the knuckles were reinforced with Kevlar per his request. Finally, he pulled his gasmask over his mouth, it would muffle his breathing and help keep him quiet since it used sound deadening mediums for its filter material.

Izuku inspected himself in a mirror, looking for any defining characteristics. He had forgotten a hat and goggles. "Are you fucking kidding me? Seriously! This is the shit I forget to buy! Oh, this is just fucking perfect, now I've gotta figure out how the hell am I supposed to hide my fucking head! Fucking dumbass forgetting to get goggles and a fucking hat!" Izuku yelled at himself. "Fine, you know what? Fuck you!" grabbing his knife in one hand and hair in the other, he nearly cut his hair from his head before catching himself. "What a second…" Izuku put his knife back and made a call to Giran.

"Giran, this is Revenant."

"Yes, sir how can I help you?"

"First off, fuck you for not giving me something to cover my head, second off do you have someone who can permanently change hair color?"

"The first is your fault, don't blame me for your issues. Yes, I have someone who can change your hair color, is that all?"

"Arrange for me to meet with them in a few days. That is all, I have work to do"

"Of course you do, see you around Revenant"

Clicking the phone off, Izuku smiled at his own quick thinking, now he didn't need to worry as much about his hair being seen. He figured that leaving any evidence at the scene of the crime would only make life harder for an assassin, but misleading whoever ended up chasing him would be a boon. His DNA information was unlikely to be in any criminal database, and he was legally dead.

Izuku's alarm sounded, it was time to go over to the target's building and begin waiting to strike. Mounting onto his newly acquired, and repaired bike Izuku sped off, taking side streets wherever possible while skirting major spots of activity as best as possible. His appearance wouldn't arouse too much suspicion, at a glance he looked like anyone riding a motorcycle in the evening. Sure, some of the details on the bike stood out – Edgeshot was a major hero so heavily branding his merch was to be expected, but after this job he would replace as much of the body paneling with more extremely dark paints. Currently the bike bore a striking resemblance to the ninja hero's iconic hairstyle, it was expected of top 50 heroes to sell copious amounts of merch, lord knew how much All Might merch Izuku had owned.

Izuku arrived in the Koru district in less than an hour, it was around 2 in the morning and he expected the houses to be quiet. There was only one problem, the neighbors were hosting a party. Riding down the street, Izuku searched for an inconspicuous place to leave his bike. Jammed between to luxury cars wasn't the most ideal position, but it would have to do, backing up between them, Izuku left his bike and proceeded on foot towards the target building.

Izuku's stomach was aflutter with butterflies, making it difficult to focus. He was a bundle of nerves, he could no afford that and dug deep into his quirk, dredging up the smoldering fires that laid dormant since that fateful night. With a deep breath they ignited filling his body, his eyelids felt heavy, eyes glazed over, his mouth hung slightly as he embraced the feeling his quirk brought forth. He expected pain, but what he found was ease of mind, he felt relaxed, uncannily so.

Leveling his eyes on the target, he silently dashed forward, pulling out his phone and disabling security for the next 30 minutes. Pressing his body against the wall, Izuku knew he had a big smile on his face, it was incredibly exciting, the thrill of the hunt, his adrenaline was pumping. Sliding to the window he had practiced picking the previous night, he quickly unlocked the window and cut through the screen with his knife.

Hopping inside, Izuku landed softly on the wooden floor, not making a sound. His eyes were wide at the extravagance of the home. He knew how much some of this stuff would be worth on the market, and decided to leave it until after he had finished the job. The house was empty, as expected. The help lived off site, and would not arrive until 5 am to prepare for the father's breakfast and handle his mail. Izuku crept through the house silently, stopping as he saw a light on in the kitchen.

This was unexpected, deciding to investigate he stealthy cross the hall to the door way and saw someone with long white hair crying at the table over a pint of ice cream. His target was right there, that was Takane Shijou. Seeing her in distress made his heart turn, in that moment he wasn't hunting a spoiled idol, he was hunting Kacchan. Immediately he broke into a cold sweat, his quirk fighting every instant to rage further. Izuku couldn't believe his eyes as he stood there dumbly in the door frame. She hadn't turned to spot him yet. It would be so easy for him to kill her right then and there.

"Hey" he spoke without realizing.

The teen straightened and turned around frantically spotting the green-haired assassin. In a quiet voice, "who are you?"

"Revenant. I've been hired to kill you" Izuku answered honestly. The shock in her eyes dried her tears.

"Do you have to? Who would even want a failure like me dead?"

"Eli Kanaya want's your spot, and sorry, yeah I do."

"Okay. Do it" she said, resignation filling her voice.

Izuku crept forward and pulled a kitchen knife from the block and came closer to her. "Are you okay? I know I'm supposed to kill you, but I'm kind of concerned." Izuku asked, his quirk slipping more and just seeing a sad girl.

"That spot Eli wanted? She's getting it. I was told I would be dropped next month. I don't really have anything more to live for." She confessed sadly.

Izuku gulped. He reached forward and gave her a hug. "It's okay. I'm sorry we couldn't meet in better circumstances; I'll make it painless." Pushing her back and staring at her in the eyes. "People will miss you; I'll make sure of it."

She nodded weakly.

Taking her hand and wrapping it around the kitchen knife, he held her hands and gently scraped it against his armor.

"What are you doing?"

"Making you someone who attempted to fight off a villain, you'll be remembered as brave. If I have to, I'll hack and change the news to make sure you are seen as noble. Kanaya paid a lot for your death, but I am going to make you immortal."

"Why would you do that? Why are you doing any of this?" She said weakly, starting to cry at the kind gesture.

"Because I want to be a hero, even if I can't right now." Izuku said, looking into her eyes. He pulled his own dagger, "are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be… Thank you Revenant"

Izuku plunged his dagger into her neck, slicing through her windpipe and severing her brainstem. She was dead in seconds. Izuku's quirk flooded back into his body, making him relish in the thrill of the kill. He was happy, both for killing her, and helping her in the last moments. Wiping the dagger off on her night gown, he laid a few blows on her corpse to show that she struggled against him more than she really had. Sheathing his dagger, he snuck through the house looking for something to hold onto as a keepsake. In a glass display case sat a golden headband, likely from her being an Idol. Opening the case, he slipped the band onto his head and stole away into the night.

Returning to the warehouse Izuku was overcome with exhaustion, but there was one more thing he needed to do before this job was done.

> ASL?

> Smol Light School. ASL?

> Revenant. The Job is completed. Her death will likely be reported tomorrow.

> Excellent work, do tell me how the brat struggled~

> She was able to land a glancing blow with a kitchen knife. She was in the kitchen enjoying a late-night snack.

> Fatass

> Her dying words were a sad admission that she was glad. She had been told she would be sacked in the following month.

> Are you shitting me?

> Are you fucking Shitting me?

> I didn't even need to have her killed then!

> I still expect to be paid. Your involvement will be easy to prove

> Yeah sure you can have the other 3,000,000

> if anything you proved that you can kill anyone, no matter how big they are

> I do hope you are going to ask me to kill any major government figures.

> Pfft of course not!

> But being able to get any producer who pisses me off killed is a pretty nice power to have.

> By the way, did my distraction help?

> Distraction?

> The party! We hosted a big party, my idea of course, to make it easier for you!

> Is that so? It was a poor choice, it drew attention. Finding a place to hide away was difficult, don't attempt to help again.

> Unless of course you have some quirk that would make my job easier

> that's unfortunate, I'm quirkless. So, you will have to be my power Mr. Revenant

> I suppose so

> Very well, I bid you adieu Kanaya. Please call upon the Spirit Network again if you find yourself in need of anything.

> Of course! Thank you Revenant!

-be my power Mr. Revenant

'How fitting' Izuku thought. He would be Kacchan's hero, but first he would become an Idol's power. The irony was not lost on him as he stripped and showered. Dropping down onto his bed, he dropped his quirk and fell asleep instantly.