Chapter warnings: mild gore

10:29pm at the Midnight Sun Speakeasy~

Kagero Okuta, villain name: Giran, walked down the eerie, underground hallway, his loafers clicking against the smooth wood with each step he took. The cigarette dangling from his lips was already half gone and Giran resisted the urge to put it out on the pristine oak flooring. The building itself was a remodeled speakeasy, so there were still remnants of the gothic architecture and decorations. Of course, the hidden room that had once been an illegal liquor bar many decades ago was now transformed into something much more sinister.

Giran reached the end of the hallway and stood in front of a large mahogany door. He knocked quietly, feeling an uneasiness in his spine. This was a common feeling right before he had an audience with the man behind the door. There was a murmur from the other side of the door and it swung open, revealing the masked figure of Jin Bubaigawara, also known as the villain Twice, standing in the doorway.

"Giran! Right on time as always. You're late!" Jin exclaimed, his eyes the only part of his face that was visible through his villain attire.

"How are you, Jin, old friend?" Giran replied jovially, peering into the room behind him. The room itself was not very big, with a wooden desk on one side and a dresser on the other. There was a high back armchair by the window that faced away from him. A blonde girl with messy space buns grinned at him from beside the armchair.

"Never better. Just terrible!" Twice stood aside to allow Giran to fully enter the room.

It was dimly lit, with only a small lamp on the desk for light. The man in the armchair was shrouded in darkness, so Giran could not make out his face. But he could see his hands, scarred and slender, which were using a wicked looking switchblade to cut slices from a green apple. The man passed a slice to the girl beside him, who took it and devoured it eagerly. The girl still appeared to be a teenager, still sporting a schoolgirl uniform, and there was something eerily feline about her yellow eyes and wide smile. Giran knew this girl to be Himiko Toga, an innocent looking girl who was the main suspect for a series of gruesome murders that had been kept out of the media.

"I suppose you have some analytics you want to discuss." The cold voice coming from the armchair sent shivers down Giran's spine. He pretended not to notice, pulling out a binder from under his arm.

"Yes, I do. Ticket sales have continued to rise. I've had to stagger some of the fights to alternate nights since we have run out of space in the amphitheater on more than one occasion thus far." He cleared his throat and waited, but there was no response from the man in the armchair, so he continued. "There has been a bit of a demand for higher profile challengers, as most of those we have are still relatively unknown. The most popular nights are those with Rock Lock and Mr. Brave."

"There's always a thirst for higher quality blood." Giran paused at those words. He waited again, thinking the man in the armchair was going to elaborate, but again, he did not continue and instead took an apple slice between his teeth. Giran took a breath and turned a page in his binder.

"Speaking of our challengers, it seems that we may be in need of more as this lot seems to be worse for wear. I am not sure how many more nights they will be able to endure."

"Perhaps..." Giran stopped as the man in the chair began to turn and he emerged into the lamplight. "It's time for a new starting lineup." Giran's face paled as the villain known as Deku came into view.

This boy couldn't have been older than eighteen at the most, but he still managed to chill Giran to the bone in every encounter. He was dressed in the same white button-up shirt with long sleeves, covered by a black vest and tie along with the matching black pants and shoes. But it wasn't his outfit that scared him, it was the cold expression on the boy's face that only ever changed when he smiled. He had soft, boyish features with messy green hair and a splash of freckles over his cheeks that would have made him handsome, if it weren't for the pure maniacal evil in the boy's gaze.

"I think we should put on a melee." Deku murmured, a dangerous glint in his cool green eyes.

"A melee?" Giran asked, trying to keep his voice level, even though he was squirming under the boy's gaze.

"Let's make the monkeys dance." He grinned and Giran felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He had an intense urge to run as Deku twirled the knife in his hand dexterously.

"Oh, that's a great idea, boss! It'll be a battle royale! Let's hear something else." Twice clapped his hands, dancing in place. There was a whine of protest from Toga, and she wrapped her arms around Deku's neck and slid into his lap affectionately.

"Aw, but Deku, you said I would get a chance to cut them before we got rid of them." She whined, playing with his hair and fidgeting in his lap. Giran looked away, instantly feeling uncomfortable by the display of affection between the two. Well, from the girl's part at least. Deku appeared not to even notice that she was sitting on him.

"You'll get plenty of chances to cut, Himiko." Deku crooned. He stood up and the girl slipped off his lap. Giran was surprised to see that she didn't appear put off, instead skipping over to stand next to Twice, who was still posing exaggeratedly.

"Raise the prices for the next event." Deku said, and Giran nodded quickly, scribbling in his binder. "That'll lower the attendance enough, but still allow for a good bit of revenue. We'll throw all the challengers in the ring. A fight to the death." Deku smiled, tilting his head as if imagining the bloodbath and reveling in it. "Then we'll dispose of the bodies somewhere... conspicuous."

"Conspicuous?" Giran asked before he could stop himself. "Do we really want to attract attention from the pro-heroes?"

"Of course. It's about time we threw them a bone." Deku chuckled to himself and Toga and Twice both grinned. "The poor idiots have been flailing for a lead. Let's make them really understand what's at stake for their society. It's high time we created a little chaos."

1 week into the UA school year~

"AP Shot!" Katsuki shouted, aiming his quirk at the pile of boulders on the other side of Gym Gamma. The concentrated blast exploded from the point in his hand and pierced straight through the solid boulders. He grinned and pumped his fist when the boulder formation stayed perfectly straight, save for the hole where his blast had connected.

"Very nice, Bakugo." Mr. Ectoplasm, one of UA's teachers, noted, visibly impressed. "You've been practicing hard."

"That's a wrap, everyone! Please return to the changing rooms and get ready to go home!" Mr. AIzawa's husky voice echoed across the large gym as Class 3-A reluctantly stopped their quirk training. Katsuki wanted to try the move again, but Mr. Ectoplasm stood in front of the boulder formation, as if reading his mind. Katsuki rolled his eyes, but turned away and started to walk toward the gym entrance, congregating with the rest of his classmates.

Everyone was chatting animatedly, discussing their training over the summer, the new moves they had developed, and the excitement for being in their third year. After this year they would be full-fledged pro heroes. Some already had placements for when they graduated. For example, Kaminari and Sero had already received sidekick offers from different members of the pro-hero group The Lurkers. Others, like Iida, were looking to start their own agencies and work together in groups. Katsuki didn't speak during the conversations as the class headed to the changing rooms.

Truth be told, he wasn't sure what he was going to do after graduating from UA. He figured by this point he would have been easily strong enough to just be a pro-hero without needing to be a sidekick first, but it seemed that everyone else was starting that way. Not that he ever cared to follow what everyone else was doing in the first place. All he really concerned himself with, at this point, was being the strongest student in the hero course and getting top marks by a wide margin. He didn't just want to be first, he wanted to be first by a long shot.

"Do you guys hear that?" Katsuki looked behind him at the others. Jirou was tilting her head and looking curiously in the direction of the UA entrance gate. Katsuki stopped and listened.

There was a low rumble of voices coming from the gate. It sounded like a massive crowd had formed in front of the entrance, all shouting and clamoring desperately. It didn't sound like cheers at all, it sounded more fearful, like something horrible had happened.

"Let's go see what's happening." Kirishima said, starting toward the path that would lead to the entrance.

"No, Kirishima! Mr. Aizawa gave us instructions to return to the changing rooms!"

"Come on, Iida, it'll only take a second. Aren't you curious as to what's going on?"

Katsuki ignored both classmates and instead started to march toward the entrance. After a few murmurs of reluctance behind him, he could hear the others following after him. Kirishima fell into step beside him, looking apprehensive.

"I hope everyone is okay." He muttered quietly.

"It's probably just the paparazzi harassing one of the teachers or something." Kaminari said, but even he looked concerned.

Katsuki and his classmates fell silent as they reached the gate. There was a huge swarm of people outside, shouting and hollering at something that was just outside the gate. The police had blocked off the area as best they could, but people were still clamoring to get through. Most of the people were ashen faced and horrified by the sight. Even the news reporters seemed unsure what to ask the police as they stared agape at whatever it was outside the gate.

"Hey!" Katsuki shouted, getting the attention of one of the police officers. He turned and his face paled when he saw the students. "What's going on?" Katsuki demanded.

"You kids shouldn't be here. You need to go back to your class, now!" The police officer spread his arms out as Katsuki tried to peer around him at something that looked like a large pile of rocks.

"Oh my god..." This from Asui, who was short enough that she should see through the gaps in the police officers limbs.

"W-What is it?" Mineta stammered, hiding behind Shoji, who was trying to use his dupliarms to see properly.

"Excuse me, students!" A high-pitched voice came from behind the class and they turned as Principal Nezu and Present Mic emerged from the path. Katsuki and the others stood aside as the teachers made their way to the gate and it slowly started to open.

"This is a private campus, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to-" Principal Nezu's words were cut off by Uraraka's scream. Katsuki went rigid, nausea churning in his stomach. When the gate had opened, it had made just enough room so that the entire class could see what the crowd had found so appalling.

Corpses. At least a dozen piled one on top of the other in a horrific, inhumane pile right outside the gate. The bodies were of men and women, dirty and disheveled, their clothes ripped and haggard. Katsuki could see awful bruises, cuts and gashes on them, and some had limbs that were snapped in an odd angle. Some had their eyes closed, but there were others who had the glassy, stone cold stare that only the dead had. Katsuki felt himself stumble back as sobs and cries of horror could be heard from his classmates.

"I-Isn't that..." Kirishima whimpered, raising a shaking finger. Katsuki looked and his stomach flipped when he recognized three of the corpses on top of the pile. It was hard to tell from how mangled and mutilated they were, but there could be no mistaking it. There were three pro-heroes that Katsuki knew from his work study efforts. The Sand Hero: Snatch, Mr. Brave, and the Lock Hero: Rock Lock.

"Children, please return to your class." Present Mic and Principal Nezu had snapped out of the initial shock and were now trying to herd Katsuki and the rest of them away from the gate.

"P-Principal..." Yaoyorozu sniffed.

"Now, please. Class representative, take your classmates back."

After a few seconds of pure horror and shock, Iida stepped in front of the scene, ushering the class back. Katsuki felt numb as Iida forced him and the rest of the class away from the gruesome sight.

~~

Back at the dormitories, Class 3-A sat together in the common area, still reeling from what they had just witnessed. No one was saying anything, most were staring, aghast at the floor or the wall. Katsuki couldn't dispel the image of the bodies from his head. He saw Rock Lock's glassy, dead eyes every time he closed his own.

"W-were those... they were a-all heroes..." Uraraka stammered, breaking the silence for the first time in almost an hour.

"Who would do something like that?" It was unclear who had spoken, but it didn't matter. They had all been thinking the same thing.

"Did you see how many there were?" Kirishima whispered. Katsuki looked at him. "Fourteen." He said, answering his own question. A look of understanding passed over several of the others. Katsuki felt his heart leap into his chest.

Fourteen bodies. In the past year, he knew that there had been fourteen reports of missing heroes. Heroes who had fallen off the face of the earth, no leads or traces of them anywhere.

"We don't know that that's..." Mineta started, but his voice trailed off.

"What else could it be?" Kirishima argued, heaving an exasperated sigh. "They never found any bodies for the missing heroes. What if they were all taken by the same person? That person killed all of them."

"And left them on UA's doorstep." Kasuki finished, to a hushed silence from the others. Nobody said a word, but they were all thinking the same thing.

It was no coincidence that the bodies were left in front of UA. Someone wanted to send a message. It was almost as if they were saying look what I can do, and you can't stop me...

The door to the dormitory opened and all twenty heads turned to see their homeroom teacher, Mr Aizawa step solemnly through the door. He looked over his students, all of whom watched him in anticipation. He sighed, closing the door softly behind him.

"Why were you all at the gate?"He growled, sounding defeated. The others looked at each other, unsure of what to say. There were definitely more pressing concerns, but Mr. Aizawa hated rule-breaking more than almost anything.

"We heard the crowd," Kirishima said, and Katsuki was impressed at how calm his voice was, considering. "We just wanted to make sure no one was getting hurt." Kirishima's voice cracked and he looked down, looking very green.

"M-Mr. Aizawa?" Pink-haired Ashido piped up. "Were those... who we think they were?"

Aizawa sighed, looking over his students. He'd seen these kids grow for two years, facing their fair share of horrors themselves. But this... this was something not even most pro-heroes would have been able to stomach. He could barely stomach it himself.

"We can take it, Mr. Aizawa." Kaminari said, despite the shakiness in his voice. AIzawa pursed his lips and nodded. There wasn't a way or any real reason to keep this from them anymore. They deserved to know the full story.

"Yes, those were the bodies of fourteen heroes."

"The missing heroes, right?"

"Yes." Aizawa said gravely.

"Who could have done something like this?"

"Why would they leave the bodies in front of UA?"

"Do the police have any leads?"

"Whose agency is taking point on the case?" Katsuki asked the final question, already feeling a need for revenge inside him. So, this villain could kill fourteen pro heroes on their own? He wanted to find them. Find them and prove that they have no idea what kind of heroes they messed with.

"Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi is taking point on this case. He will involve agencies as he sees fit, but he is the one on the force with the most information. As for any leads, the police are working to discover how the heroes were killed first, then perhaps a lead will present itself. So at this moment, we have no idea who could have done this. Nor do we have any idea why they would choose UA as their disposal site."

There was another cluster of questions thrown out, but Aizawa held up a hand, silencing his students.

"Please don't worry too much about this. The police and pro heroes are working diligently on this. I'm sure they will apprehend the culprit in no time. You should be concerning yourself with your training and being as strong as you can for when you become full-fledged heroes yourselves." Aizawa looked over at his students, most of whom looked unconvinced. He sighed and met the gazes of the several students who looked angriest.

"You might be thinking of retaliating, of getting revenge. This is a natural reaction, but you have to control it. You cannot go doing anything rash or stupid that will put more people in danger. Remember that information is power, and as of now we have neither. Do not think you can take the law into your own hands." Aizawa's eyes found Todoroki and Bakugo, the two students most likely to forgo the rules. "Please, leave this to the heroes and the police. Some of you may even be taking part in the investigation for your work studies. So, the best thing any of us can do is to train and be strong and smart to avoid the worst possible outcome."

It seemed that Mr. Aizawa was finished speaking to his students, so even despite all the protests, he managed to extract himself and leave the students to their dormitories to sleep.

~~

The next morning, Aizawa crossed the lawn toward the faculty building, the rising sun casting an orange hue over the landscape. He could still see a crowd outside of the gates, where the previous night, the police had extracted the bodies and loaded them into ambulances to take them to the morgue. This was unfathomable, that something so sinister could have happened right outside of UA. It made AIzawa sick to his stomach.

Aizawa made his way into the faculty building and up several levels to one of the conference rooms where the other teachers, Principal Nezu, and Detective Tsukauchi were having a meeting. He slid into a seat at the table just as Tsukauchi started to speak.

"The police are finishing at the site as we speak. Luckily, we were able to contain the crowd, and only a few of the students witnessed the scene." Eyes turned to AIzawa who sighed deeply. It's always my class...

"My students are strong and they understand what is expected of them." Aizawa said quietly. "It will probably take a little while for this to truly sink in, but this is something they will need to get used to. Hero work isn't always fruitful. Unfortunately, we can't save everyone."

"Agreed." Principal Nezu piped up. "As unfortunate as this instance was, we should feel grateful that it was only Class 3-A who witnessed it. They are the best and brightest and will no doubt become stronger for it." He took a breath and looked up at Tsukauchi. "However, this does not explain why this horrible thing happened right on our doorstep."

"We still do not know exactly how all fourteen heroes died, as we are still waiting on a formal autopsy, but we do have a bit more information on the culprit. Firstly, we now know that all the missing hero cases are connected and are most likely perpetrated by the same offender. Furthermore, we can be more sure now that we are looking at an organized group. It is highly unlikely that only one subject could kidnap and hold fourteen fully-fledged heroes. From this, we can deduce that at least one of these offenders has a warping or teleportation quirk of some kind. This would explain how they were able to dispose of the bodies without being noticed and how they were able to kidnap the heroes in the first place without leaving any evidence behind."

Tsukauchi sighed and moved toward the projector at the center of the room, turning it on. "I should warn you, some of these images might be disturbing."

The projector flickered to life, displaying a picture of one of the dead heroes lying on an autopsy table, their body completely bare. Aizawa swallowed painfully as his throat had gone very dry. Their face was so disfigured and swollen that he could not identify which hero this was. The body was covered in ugly discolorations that were still apparent through the ghostly gray pigment of their skin. Their nose was completely crooked and there were several cuts over their face and arms. Ugly bruises and rashes wrapped around their neck and wrists, which indicated they had been chained up.

"This is one of the more... tame injuries we saw from the bodies." Tsukauchi said into the icy silence. Aizawa could see Midnight out of the corner of his eye who was holding a hand over her mouth in horror. "It is very apparent that all these heroes were brutally beaten to an inch of their lives. The doctors gave me a rough estimate that most of these heroes died from these beatings through internal bleeds and brain damage. There is evidence of strangulation on several of the bodies as well." Tsukauchi clicked the remote and the next image appeared of a female hero in an even worse condition than the previous hero. Her neck was a complete shade darker than the rest of her body and dented in places, which indicated someone had choked her so hard that her flesh had deformed. AIzawa felt the urge to vomit, but he forced himself to stay composed.

"Because of the severity of the beatings, a lot of DNA was left behind on the bodies." Tsukauchi continued seriously. "We are running the samples through our database, but it will be a long shot. I highly doubt that any of our offenders will show up on the database." He clicked out of the images, much to Aizawa's relief.

"That's a lot of rage and anger." Vlad King spoke up from across the table. "Whoever did this clearly hates all of hero society."

"Well, this poses another big problem. The fourteen missing hero cases were all spread out over the past eight months, but according to the doctors, the earliest death only occurred two months ago. The rest all died within the week." Tsukauchi said, flipping through the pages in his hands.

"Why is that a problem?" Snipe croaked.

"Because that means that the offenders held these fourteen heroes for eight months and then killed them almost all at once. Then they disposed of them in a very public setting. This leads me to believe that they will be wanting to replenish their supply. I think this was a clear message that this is only the beginning."

A grim silence fell over the conference room. Present Mic, who was sitting next to AIzawa, was chewing on his lip nervously. He had yet to say a word, which was very out of character for him, not that Aizawa could blame him.

"What if this was an attack on UA specifically? What if the message is that they are going to go after our children next?" Midnight spoke, voicing the horrible thought that was plaguing everyone's minds. "Are the students truly safe here? The bodies may have only been outside the gate, but what if next time these villains are able to get inside? I think we should consider the possibility of sending all the students home."

"We have had threats inside our walls before." Principal Nezu spoke and even though he sounded calm, Aizawa knew he was feeling the most pain and pressure from the situation. "We constructed the Heights Alliance as a countermeasure to keep our students safe. I still think that they are as safe as they could be here under our noses. It is my opinion that they would be even more vulnerable if they were to go home."

"Regardless of whether this was an attack on UA, we can at least be sure that they wanted to get our attention." Tsukauchi said, turning everyone's attention back to him. "Whoever is behind this is not going to stop here. We all need to be on high alert. I'll be enlisting the help of several hero agencies to investigate this case. Right now, there is no other case that will take a higher priority. It is imperative that we apprehend these culprits before they manage to kill anyone else."

~~

A/N: Hope y'all enjoyed! Next part, we will jumping right into some action, so stay tuned for that! <3