63

Shouta wasn't late to the meeting, but he wasn't early either. By the time he finally managed to get the majority of the glitter out of his hair and change into a new uniform, pretty much everyone was already cramped into the secure conference room Tsukauchi had reserved. Edgeshot and Best Jeanist were the only other heroes present, but the hero commission had also sent Mera over so that they could stay updated. The hero killer wasn't something that the commission could afford to ignore. 

Tsukauchi looked up as Shouta sat down in one of the empty chairs, "Thanks for taking the time to come, Eraser. I know your class keeps you pretty busy."

"The hero killer has a connection to at least two of my students." Shouta said tersely. "It's only logical for me to want to be involved in whatever the hell is happening, if only to keep my students safe and in line."

Jeanist raised an eyebrow, "You don't think the Iida brothers will try going after this new hero killer, do you? They're not nearly recovered enough to even think…"

"Ingenium is a good hero." Edgeshot interrupted. "I wouldn't underestimate how fast he can get back on his...well, you know what I mean."

"I think they both have a long way to go." Shouta said firmly. "And while we're working on Tenya's anger issues as much as we can, if Stain somehow survived or spawned a successor, I can't say I trust him to not go rogue again."

"Well, we can confidently say that Stain himself did not survive." Tsukauchi started handing out files. "We double checked the body and the autopsy. We also asked around and it seems everyone is in agreement: Stain was killed by a shadow villain who goes by the name of Trapper."

Mera sighed as he looked over the photes, "You do realize that makes it worse, right?"

Shouta nodded, "The new hero killer has shown evidence of having Blood Curdle, STain's quirk, right? Do you think the league might be involved? It's possible this new hero killer is some kind of Nomu. It would explain his single mindedness at the very least."

"Our current theory is that the new hero killer, Spinner, is most likely an illegitimate child of Stain's or at least some blood relation." Tsukauchi explained. "That's pretty much the only way that he would have the same quirk, so that's what we're working off of right now."

Shouta looked at him skeptically, "Stain was obsessed. You really think he had any time or desire or a relationship?"

"It could have been a one night stand?" Edgeshot suggested. 

"Still unlikely." Shouta rolled his eyes. "I knew him for years. Even if he wanted that, which I doubt, no woman in their right mind would go for it."

"That doesn't automatically mean he's a nomu." Jeanist pointed out. "But in the end, our main concern shouldn't be how he got his quirk but what he does with it. Spinner has killed in a month almost as many as Stain killed in ten years. He's a spree killer, which means that he was most likely highly lacking in mental stability when he started his kill streak and what little balance he had is long gone by now."

"We at the commission agree." Mera yawned. "He hasn't confirmed any connection to the league, so we'll cross that bridge when it comes to it. For now, we just need to worry about stopping him."

Look, Tomura apparently wasn't sure of a lot of things in his life, but if there was anything he was sure of, it was that this lizard guy was crazy. Then again, maybe he didn't really have any room to talk...but at least he shut up sometimes. Spinner hadn't hardly taken a breath since he'd started rambling about his precious Stain. The guy was obsessed. Was this how Tomura sounded when he talked about Sensei? No wonder the chat had been concerning. This was annoying!

Spinner started repeating himself again and Tomura groaned, "So, like, are we actually gonna do this raid, or…?"

Trapper rolled his eyes and Tomura seriously wondered where that little twerp hid all the audacity. Sure, Sensei liked him and Tomura had to admit that he was actually a semi-decent spy, but like, he was sticky and two faced, so Tomura tried not to spend more time with him than he had to and left most of the necessary communication to Kurogiri. But hey, if Trapper was willing to be responsible for Spinner, then that meant Tomura didn't have to do it and it was worth keeping him around. For now. 

"Yes!" Spinner slashed Stain's katana in midair a few times before sheathing it. "Let's go kill some fase heroes."

"That's pretty much everybody." Tomura muttered under his breath, but followed Spinner and Trapper through the portal. He really preferred solo missions, usually, since his teammates more often than not just pissed him off, but apparently this was essential to linking Spinner to the league. Why they'd want to be linked to yet another crazy person, Tomura didn't know, but whatever, Sensei had a plan and he was smarter than the rest of them so it had to be a good one. Hopefully. Unless Todoroki was right and Sensei was just using him...Tomura shook his head. Stupid chat distracting him and making things more complicated than they were. Sensei cared for him. Why would he have saved him if he didn't care about him?

Tomura ignored the million and a half ridiculous answers that came to mind and flexed his hands as he looked around. Trapper and Spinner had already disappeared up the walls and Tomura cursed as he realized he was the only one left out in the open. Of course he had the lowest stealth stat of everyone. Was Trapper trying to use him as bait or something? Oh, he'd make that stupid little twerp regret ever…

"Yeah, and like, it was totally unfair, you know?" Mt. Lady's voice echoed through the alley and Tomura shrunk back into the shadows that were growing in the twilight. 

There were three of them, just like Trapper had said there would be. Mt. Lady, Kamui Woods, and Death Arms, none of which were very high ranking, but Tomura supposed that most of the top heroes usually worked alone and Trapper had been looking for a group. The three heroes walked through the alley, chatting idly on their way to dinner or wherever they normally went after their shift, completely unaware of Trapper landing behind them and setting up an entire minefield of his sticky balls at the entrance. When he disappeared into the shadows again, Tomura took that as his cue and strolled into the light, "Hello heroes."

All three of them stopped and took fighting stances, but Kamui was the first to attack, shooting one of his branches forward, "You're one of the villains that attacked UA!"

Tomura rolled his eyes as he dodged and grabbed the branch, disintegrating it into dust, "Yeah, that was game over a while ago. I had to respawn and start over."

He strode forward again, which made Mount Lady instinctively take a step back right onto one of the sticky traps. Her eyes widened when her foot didn't move like expected, but she'd already shifted her weight and she went down hard, landing on enough of the balls to stick her entire body to the ground, "It's a trap! Wait..."

"Of course it is." Death Arms muttered and grabbed a dumpster, lifting it above his head. "They're villains, so I'm not surprised they'll sink this low...ow!"

Death Arms dropped, the weight of the dumpster pinning him to the ground as the paralyzation set in. Spinner's sharp tooth smile almost glowed in the darkness as he licked the blood off his lips and crawled off the dumpster, "It looks like we've caught two false heroes already! Stain would be proud!"

Kamui gasped and sent his branches to wrap around Spinner, "You're the new hero killer! You're despicable!"

"So are you!" Spinner hissed and started hacking through the branches with his Katana. "Fake heroes like you are unworthy of the title! You make me sick!"

Trapper shot him a look from the shadows and Tomura huffed before reluctantly rushing forward and distigrating Kamui's remaining branches, which was enough of an opening for Spinner to lunge forward and nick him with the Katana. Two seconds later, he licked the blood off the blade with a crazed look in his eyes and Kamui fell to the floor, "And that makes three."

"Spinner, you finish off Death Arms, not that he'll give you much trouble, since that Dumpster already probably broke half his bones." Trapper strode forward, pulling out his knife. "Shigaraki, you take Kamui Woods."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Tomura snapped. 

"M-Mineta?" Mt. Lady actually sounded genuinely distressed, but maybe that was just because she couldn't move. "I...when I saw the balls…."

"Don't both trying to use your quirk." Trapper cut her off. "This alley is way too small and there's a park nearby that will get all the dust and asbestos if you destroy these buildings on either side. Actually, I'm pretty sure my balls sticking you to the floor will prevent you from growing anyway, but best not to risk it, right?"

There was a small grunt and Spinner started licking blood off his blade. Mt. Lady had tears in her eyes as she looked up at Trapper, "Is this because of the internship? I swear, I can be a better mentor just…"

"I only interned with you because you were ditzy enough not to notice when I disappeared for hours on end." Trapper knelt down beside her. "Although, being able to memorize your patrol schedule was an added perk."

As Trapper finished her off, Tomura turned back to Kamui, who was staring at him stubbornly. He reached forward, but stopped a half inch away from Kamui's face. Did he actually want to kill him? Did he actually enjoy killing at all? Sensei said he did, but if he asked Endeavor, he'd probably say that Todoroki enjoyed training and they both knew that wasn't true. Was he killing Kamui because he actually hated him and wanted to destroy him or was he killing Kamui because it was what would make Sensei happy? 

"What's the hold up, Shigaraki?" Spinner hissed. "Kill him already?"

Tomura snatched his hand back and swallowed, "Nah, he's not worth the attack points. Low Level enemies like him don't piss me off enough."

Trapper narrowed his eyes questioningly, but Tomura didn't flinch as he stubbornly turned his back. Why had he done that?! Why hadn't he just killed him?! Without thinking he reached out to hit the wall, disintegrating a large chunk right out of it. So much for self control...

"Lucky for you, false heroes piss me off more than enough!" Spinner sliced with his Katana and it was over in half a second. "Now, we're done here, right?"

"Almost." Trapper answered, taking out a spray bottle. "I just need to...modify the evidence."

Tsukauchi's face hardened as he read through the briefing one of his officers had just handed him, "A crime scene was just found that links Spinner, Trapper, and the league. It's time to cross that bridge."