54

Mineta easily blended into the shadows as he watched Slugger hesitantly scope out the alley. He hung back for a long moment before he realized no one was there and he relaxed, stomping into the alley in frustration. He walked around for about thirty seconds before he huffed and activated his comm, "Yeah, It's a bust. Prank call probably. No, there's no one. Yeah, I'll be back soon. Might go get lunch on the way, or something though."

He cut the call and muttered under his breath, "Stupid kids. Wasting my time. Could've been…"

He trailed off and Mineta grinned as he followed Slugger's gaze and caught a glimpse of Stain's scarf before he disappeared into the shadows again. It looked like his prey had taken the bait after all! Good, it would have been annoying to have to go through all this work again.

"W-who's there?" Slugger put on a brave face. "I'm warning you, I'm a pro hero, so you don't want to mess with me! Come out where I can see you!"

A can clattered behind him and Mineta rolled his eyes as Slugger turned toward the sound. Really? Falling for the oldest trick in the book? Society really had too high of expectations if this was what they called a hero. 

The moment Slugger turned his back, Stain made his move. He struck hard and fast like a viper, stabbing Slugger's arm and licking the blade before the hero even had a chance to return the blow, "Another false hero for me to cull. How lucky."

Luck had absolutely nothing to do with it, but Mineta wasn't about to criticize what a serial killer said to his victims before they died. He just needed to wait until Slugger was out of the way, then he could make his move. Just a little longer…

Unless, of course, Stain started monologuing, "It's cowards like you who are corrupting the word hero. You use your abilities for your own selfish gain rather than dedicating them to saving others. It's a tragedy that you were even able to get your license in the first place."

It was a good thing that Slugger's agency thought he was out to lunch, because Stain sure was taking his sweet time getting rid of this guy. After another minute or so of rambling about the evils of hero society and fake heroes in particular, Stain finally, finally, got around to actually doing his job and raised his Katana.

"You're a fake and don't deserve to live." Stain declared seriously. "I will stain myself, but at least the world will be clean of your filth."

Mineta tried not to flinch as the blade came down. It wasn't the first time he had watched someone die, and he was sure it was far from the last, so why should he let something like that phase him? He had chosen to work with the villains and this world was a dangerous game. Slugger just wasn't playing on the same level as the rest of them were.

Stain stood and started to wipe off his knife on what was left of the hero's costume and Mineta took that as his cue. He pulled the rope beside him, dropping a net that had dozens of his balls stuck to it down onto where Stain was standing. Stain couldn't fight heroes the way he did if he didn't have good reflexes, but he also wasn't prepared to fight Mineta's quirk, he didn't even know what it was. So while he mostly managed to dodge in time, one of the balls caught on the loose fabric of his pant leg and he would have cut it off if Mineta hadn't immediately dropped two more nets on him. Better safe than sorry. 

Once he was sure that Stain was mostly immobilized and his knives were just as stuck as he was, Mineta used the balls he'd scattered around the alley to bounce down so that he was standing behind Stain, just outside of his field of vision, and pulled out his phone, "Kurogiri? Tell Sensei that I finished his little assignment."

Shouto stared at his dinner as his father went on yet another tirade, which had been happening more and more frequently since internships ended. It had only been a week, but Shouto already had all of the go-to phrases memorized. He resisted the urge to mouth along as Endeavor repeated himself for the third time.

"...completely unprofessional." Endeavor huffed. "Honestly, Shouto! How do you expect to be taken seriously as the number one hero when their first introduction to you isn't a rescue or a villain takedown, but a cat meme?! Really?! You're not going to be a gentle hero, Shouto, that's not how you get to number one. You need to be ruthless and willing to do whatever it takes. Who cares about a stupid cat?"

"The internet, obviously." Shouto drawled. "There are three pages of results when you search for the memes."

Endeavor glared at him, the room becoming almost unbearably hot as his moustache flared, "That is exactly the problem Shouto. You don't want to become known for the wrong reasons. And even if you were gaining notoriety for something actually worthwhile, you don't even have a hero name for people to know you by!"

"I do have a hero name." Shouto pointed out. "It's Shouto."

"Your name is not a hero name." Endeavor growled. "The number one hero doesn't just let everyone call him by his first name and he doesn't stop on the street to pet stray cats. I raised you better than this, Shouto. If you keep this up, people are going to see you as weak."

"Most people are weak, Father." Shouto said innocently.

"You're not most people."

Shouto shrugged and took another bite, "It makes me seem relatable."

"You don't need to be relatable, Shouto." Endeavor looked like he was about to explode. "You need to be the best."

Shouto met his father's eyes, "Are you only saying that because you never accomplished either one?"

"Shouto!" Fuyumi hissed. "Stop! Please! Are you trying to get kicked out again?"

"Maybe." Shouto challenged. "It's better than staying here."

Endeavor glared at him for too long and Shouto was prepared for an explosion, but instead, his father went dead silent and left the room. He felt himself go cold. He'd messed up big time, hadn't he?

Fuyumi had tears in her eyes, "Why, Shouto? You know he doesn't like it when you talk back to him."

"Well maybe I don't like just sitting there and taking either." Shouto snapped. "I'm just...it's hard to keep it all inside, Fuyumi. It jumps out."

She looked at him sadly as Endeavor came back into the room, slamming a duffle bag down on the table, "You really think the streets are better than my house? Fine. There's a hundred dollars and some extra clothes. Let's see how long it is until you come crawling back."

"Dad, please." Fuyumi begged. "You don't want to do this! Shouto, just apologize!"

But Shouto had already grabbed the duffel and started walking toward the door, "See you later, Fuyumi. Have a nice life, Endeavor."

"Why you little…"

Shouto slammed the door behind him before he could hear whatever insult Endeavor had come up with and took a deep breath as he started to walk away down the dark street. At least he'd already been adopted by a cat mom. Hopefully Epurr would let him stay with her for a few nights.

Mineta had never really seen All for One before. Sure, he'd heard the rumors and Shigaraki talked about him all the time, plus he was even intimidating over the phone, but somehow his presence managed to be overwhelmingly intimidating from the moment that he stepped out of the portal and into the alley. He turned his head, taking in the scene despite the lack of eyes to do it with, and tilted his head as he turned to face Stain, "You gagged him."

"I wanted to make sure he didn't alert any passerby." Mineta explained. "But it's just one of my balls over his mouth, so I can take it off if you want to talk to him."

"That won't be necessary." All for One replied smoothly. "Good work, Trapper."

Mineta found himself smiling at the praise, especially since All for One was notoriously hard to please. Anyway, he deserved to be a little proud of himself! He'd captured the hero killer! Sure, he hadn't really fought him, but that still counted for something!

All for One knelt down slowly, careful not to touch anything sticky as he reached through the net and put his palm over where Stain's nose should have been, "Yes, this quirk will be quite useful in the right hands. Unfortunately, Stain, you have proven that those right hands aren't yours."

Stain glared at All for One as his quirk was taken, but Mineta wasn't sure he really understood who he'd just spoken to, because there wasn't any dread or devastation in his expression like he'd expected. Who knew, maybe Stain's conviction was just so strong, he thought he'd be able to continue to carry out his mission without a quirk. The poor guy was delusional. 

"What are you going to do with him?" Mineta asked as All for One straightened up. "Do you have something in mind?"

All for One didn't bother turning around as he gave Mineta his orders, "The hero killer has outlived his usefulness. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what might happen if it's linked back to you, do I?"

Mineta swallowed, "Of course not, Sensei. Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

"Good." A portal appeared in front of him and All for One walked through it. "I don't take well to disappointment."

The portal closed and Mineta turned to see Stain glaring at him, daring him to actually do it and Mineta's expression hardened. He was so sick of everyone telling him what he could and couldn't do. If it wasn't that he was too short, it was that his quirk was too silly, or that he was too much of a coward, or that he wasn't good at head to head fights, or that he shouldn't because that wasn't what good little boys did. He was done listening to what society thought as possible. 

He was going to prove them all wrong in whatever way he could and that way was right in front of him. Mineta reached past the net and unbuckled one of the knives on Stain's thigh, "So, what do you think, Stain? Do you think I have what it takes to be a true hero?"

Stain's glare didn't falter when Mineta stabbed him the first time. Or the second. Or the third. It wasn't until he had finished bleeding out that Stain's expression finally went blank and Mineta drew in a shaky breath, wiping his hands down on his jacket before digging his backpack out from behind the dumpster and taking out a spray bottle. It was actually Mina's quirk that had given him the idea, and then some of the research he'd done into some of the older support course students had helped him actually accomplish it. His balls didn't really unstick, but Mina's acid could dissolve them until they were unrecognizable as his quirk. 

As he sprayed each ball, the chemicals made them turn green and dissolve, expanding and bubbling until they almost resembled clumps of moss rather than purple balls. By the time he was done, the scene would have looked almost like a scene from a forest if it weren't for the bodies tangled in the nets. Mineta lifted his head and made sure his bloody jacket was stuffed inside his bag alongside the spray bottle before walking out of the alley like nothing had happened. It was time to go home and go to bed. 

He still had school tomorrow, after all.

Epurr had jumped in his lap and immediately started kneading at his thighs and purring the moment he plopped down in the alley. Storming out had felt good at the moment, but now he was wondering if he'd been an idiot. Actually, scratch that, obviously he'd been an idiot, but the question was how big of an idiot had he been? He shouldn't have pissed off his old man like that, especially since Endeavor had phrased this entire ordeal as a challenge. Going back home now would just be letting his father win, and Shouto was too stubborn to let that happen. 

He scratched Epurr between the ears and leaned his head back against the brick wall, perking up slightly when he heard someone walk into the alley. 

"I'm surprised Endeavor would let his masterpiece sleep on the streets." Shigaraki rasped as he sat down beside him. "It's good to officially meet you, Shouto Todoroki."