When Izuku walked through the front door of his father's old compound, the air shifted. Only a few personnel were in the immediate area, but all of them froze as he entered. It hadn't been long since he'd last been there, only seven years. Most of the faces he recognized as underlings of his father's. They knew who he was and what he had done to their former boss. 

Izuku fought his laughter, Shigaraki was using his father's sloppy seconds. 

He didn't utter a word as one of them finally regained movement in his limbs, ushering Izuku down the hall and into a room. Shigaraki and Chisaki sat on the same tattered purple couch that had always been there, a brown loveseat was placed in front of it. 

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you both," he said, crazed amusement flooding his voice. He sauntered over to the brown loveseat, making himself at home as the two men watched his every move. 

"I believe we have five, don't we, Shigaraki?" Chisaki threw a lazy glance at his partner, his mask warping in shape every time he opened his mouth. 

"Well?" Izuku prodded, resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. "Go on and reveal what it is you're banking your lives on this time." His head tilted to the right, just a fraction as he sized up his opponents. 

"We'll save that surprise for later," Shigaraki said, a sick glint in his eyes. "Let's talk business first." 

"What business could we possibly have to discuss?" Izuku asked with a flippant roll of his eyes. "I told both of you rodents to stay out of my city, I should kill you just for being here." 

"Your threats are growing tiresome, Midoriya," Chisaki said with a tsk. "We asked you here to form... a partnership." 

Izuku couldn't help the laughter that bubbled out of his chest. They couldn't be serious, could they? There is no one in the world he hated more than Shigaraki, they had to know he'd never agree to work with them. "Why would I ever agree to that?" he asked once his laughter had died away, but amusement still lingered on his features. 

"I want my guard dog back," Shigaraki continued, ignoring Izuku's question. "The heroes," he spat the word like it was poison on his tongue, "are getting more and more confident. There are raids on at our sites every other week. We need someone to keep them in check." 

Izuku wore a mask of indifference, growing bored of their voices. "There's a higher chance of me assisting them than you." 

Chisaki chuckled behind his mask, sitting up a little straighter. "Did you think sending the Seros to America would stop us from getting to them?" 

Izuku felt his heart stop beating and his lungs seize. What the hell were they talking about? Aya and her daughters were already on the plane, he'd made sure of it. Once they touched down, he had lackeys ready and waiting to tail them. They were under twenty-four-hour surveillance. 

"Poor, naive dog," Shigaraki tutted, leaning further into the couch and letting his arms rest on the back of it. "You, of all people, should know how easy it is to double-cross someone." 

Izuku quickly regained his composure, trying to best to not let the other men see him rattled. He shrugged. "I can still just kill you, right here and now." 

Shigaraki cackled across from him, the noise was grating and sent shivers down his spine. "You don't even know where they are! If you kill us now, they'll be dead before you leave this room." 

Izuku took a breath, sitting back on the couch with his hands folded in his lap. "You see, Shigaraki? I just don't believe you." 

He felt his stomach drop as Shigaraki's smile grew more wild. "I was really hoping you would say that." He reached into his pocket, fishing out a phone. "Would you like to speak to them?" 

The temperature of the room spiked, his flames raging against the chains he kept them leashed to. Something he had come to learn about the first quirk he ever stole, was that the flames he created were almost sentient. They held vague notions of emotion and memories, their own as well as his. Hanta was the first person to not fear them, but Hina was the second. They adored that little girl from the first time she'd laid eyes on them. The mere thought of her being in danger sent them into a blind rage. 

Izuku's breath became rapid as Shigaraki dialed a number. It only took seconds for a voice to cut through the static. "Yes, boss?" 

"Put her on," Shigaraki instructed, the skin on his face pinching back as his smile became impossibly wider. 

"What'd you want with us?" A terrified voice cracked through the receiver. 

Izuku knew that voice. "Aya." 

"Izuku? Izuku, is that you? What's going on?! I did what you asked, but-" 

Shigaraki abruptly hung up, letting his phone drop to the couch beside him. "Have we changed your mind, dog?" 

Izuku shook his head, a smile forming on his lips. "You're dead fucking meat." 

"All we're asking for is a temporary alliance," Chisaki said with a shrug. 

"You're asking me to roll over and be your bitch," Izuku corrected, a pointed look in Shigaraki's direction. 

The blue-haired man waved him off. "This squabbling is pointless, we all know you can't refuse." 

Izuku raised a daring brow. "And if I do?" Testing the waters, that's what he was doing. He had to know exactly how far Shigaraki was willing to go. 

With an overdramatic sigh, Shigarki picked his phone back up with only four fingers. The answer was even quicker than it had been previously. "Make her scream," he instructed. 

In seconds, Aya's pain-filled screams ripped through the room, paralyzing Izuku. The flames were pissed, slipping through his control before he could even fight back. The couch beneath him lit up like a Christmas tree, but they knew who their master was. The fire harmlessly licked at his skin, almost resembling the affection of a loyal pet. Izuku supposed that's what they were. 

"Fine," he shouted and the shrieking stopped, the flames sizzling as they abruptly went out in response. "Fine," he said again, this time much softer and resigned. 

"You'll come when called," Chisaki instructed in a casual tone of voice. He had known this outcome would happen, that Izuku would bend, and bend, and finally snap. "You're free to do as you wish in the meantime." 

"Just like any good dog," Shigaraki snorted, amusement dancing in his eyes as he watched Izuku stand. 

"We look forward to doing business with you," Chisaki called after him as he left the room, the door slamming behind him. 

The flames were still in a whirlwind, pounding on the walls he held up to keep them in. Eventually, he grew tired of keeping them docile, his grip on them slipping. Fire engulfed him where he stood, still on the main level of the compound. 

He made it back to the reception area before he saw anyone else. All it took was a slight movement out of the corner of his eye and the flames took off, devouring whatever poor soul they found waiting for them. Izuku heard the screams, but once they went silent, so did the raging fire, satiated for the time being. 

He walked home smelling of smoke and singed flesh. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was a block away from his apartment complex, so close to his own home, the one place he could properly break down. All he wanted to do was curl up in his bed and rest. 

A gasp of air left him as a solid body collided with his own, knocking him off his feet. He didn't even care, looking up at the man who now held him down in an alley. 

"You went to the fucking house?" Hanta yelled at him, one forearm pressed against Izuku's neck. "You killed someone, right in front of Hina! What the fuck were you thinking?" 

Izuku had no reaction, just stared up at him impassively. "I'm really not in the mood right now." 

"Yeah? Well, neither am I," the pro hero hissed. "What the fuck were you doing bringing all your shit to them? They could have died, Izuku." 

That made him snap. His flames burst free from their cage once again, knocking Hanta back, but taking extra care to remain cool to the touch. "You don't get to blame this on me," he snapped, sitting up and scrambling to his feet. "I told you seven years ago that I was a villain, that you should stay away from me. I begged you to stay away. You were the one that kept crawling back like a stray dog looking for scraps. This is on you." 

Hanta stared up at him from where he'd been thrown, betrayal and hurt written all over his face. "You really have changed." 

Izuku let out a harsh laugh at his words. "No, I haven't. I've always been this way, you were just too naive to see it back then." 

When it appeared that Hanta had nothing else to say, Izuku sighed. "You should know, your family's missing." 

"What?" The pro hero jumped to his feet, marching towards Izuku and grabbing him by the front of his shirt. "What the fuck did you do with them?" 

The perfectly expressionless facade Izuku always wore slipped at the question. All he had ever done was try to protect the family. "I may not be a hero, Hanta, but I'm not a monster. It wasn't me." 

"Then who?" Hanta growled, shaking the shorter man as if the answer would just tumble out of him. 

Hanta abruptly dropped him, Izuku's flames sizzled at his hands. He let them bite this time, minor burns marring the hero's flesh. 

"I'll get them back," Izuku stated, straightening out his shirt. "In the meantime, you should lay low, go on sabbatical or something, I don't give a shit. Just stay out of my way." 

"You just told me that my mom and sisters are missing, and you expect me to go on fucking sabbatical?" Hanta cried, ready to charge at the villain once again. 

Izuku sighed, his eyes meeting Hanta's. "I don't expect you to do anything. You're too hard-headed and stubborn to ever listen to me." 

Hanta ran a hand down his face, turning away from him. "Then what am I supposed to do?" he asked in a defeated tone. 

Izuku's cold, dead heart cracked, just a little. "Trust that I'll get them back safely. There are more moving parts to this than you realize, and if you charge in head first, you'll end up dead and of no use to them." It was harsh, but it was the truth. Hanta couldn't save them, not from Shigaraki and Chisaki, who had somehow outsmarted even him. 

With conniving, powerful, and pissed-off villains littering the chess board, heroes didn't stand a chance there. Their morals would get in the way, stop them from doing what must be done. Izuku, on the other hand, would burn the whole thing down and laugh at the destruction that surrounded him. 

"How am I supposed to trust you?" Hanta asked, his back to Izuku, and his head just barely turned towards him. 

"The list of things I care about has shortened over the years," Izuku admitted, walking forward so he was shoulder-to-shoulder with the pro. "I will do anything for the few things still remaining on that list." 

Hanta shook his head as Izuku continued out of the alley. "If anything happens to them-" 

"If anything happens to them," Izuku paused. "It'll be because I'm already dead." He looked over his shoulder, a fond smile forcing its way to his lips. "And you know how hard I am to kill." 

I adore writing psychotic and angry Izuku. It's my favorite version of him.