Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to My Hero Academia. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am just a humble writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: This idea has been building for a while now, but up until recently I wasn't sure how to put it in a light that worked for me. I've always wanted to do a Villain Deku story. It was the concept that actually introduced me to fanfiction in the first place. Now recently I finished my latest reread of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries (for the hundredth time) and the idea dropped like a lead weight in my mind. I suddenly knew exactly how to create my ideal villain version of Deku. The mastermind, the Napoleon of crime, the ringleader, the kingpin. I present the new version of Izuku Midoriya, or how the world will come to know him, Moriarty.

Note: Deku is smart as hell in the manga and it seems strange that that aspect gets pushed aside for more plot focus. The dude was analytical on a whole other level. I plan to write him as someone who is always thinking of the angles.

Note: Just a warning, the world of MHA is a bit prejudiced in ways that the manga hints at but never straight up addresses. I'm gonna be working toward it and I'll no doubt end up bashing quite a few characters in the process. Just warning ya'll.

Note: Those who have read my previous works shouldn't be surprised that this is going to be a harem story. What can I say, the writer created a bunch of great female characters and I can't make myself settle for only one of them.

Note: I think the new bearer of One For All is going to shock a lot of you, but in my opinion they were the natural choice from the very beginning.

The Criminal Consultant

Chapter One - Moriarty Is Born

What Will Be

The Tokyo Central Police Station was a hive of activity like nothing seen before. First responders ran out the doors to save those still trapped in the debris, SWAT teams bustled about, either gearing up, down, or awaiting orders for their next assignment. Craziest of all however was the number of heroes gathered in one place, many of whom were lining a very particular hall and waiting in ready stances. As if they were expecting trouble at any moment. With who they were guarding the thought made complete sense.

It was to this scene that All Might, Principle Nezu, Aizawa, and Sir Nighteye arrived to witness as they walked in the heavily manned door.

"All of this…" All Might whispered as he stared at the maelstrom of disorder, "for just one man?" The former symbol of peace was powered down to his skeletal form, a badly fitting suit practically falling from his frame. The battle with All For One had taken the majority of his strength and he now only had enough power for sixty seconds of hero work a day. It wasn't much, but he could make it count if necessary. Especially with what was to come.

Outside, a fresh series of explosions sounded in the distance. The shockwave causing the glass in a nearby window to flex, but not break. Nighteye took the sight in stride and responded, "That 'one man' is more dangerous than anyone you've ever faced before, All Might."

"Surely not more than All For One?" Nezu asked as their group carried on. By that point they'd reached the group of heroes and after showing their ID's to prove their identities carried on down the line. Each man and woman standing with looks of fear on their faces.

Nighteye nearly groaned at the sight. His vision of the future was becoming all too clear, no matter what steps he had taken to stop it. "Infinitely more so. All For One, for all his villainy, was predictable. He was a bastion of physical might, but we knew what he wanted and roughly how he would go about getting it. That's how All Might was able to beat him. But this man… His power isn't just physical. It's financial, political, and metaphysical."

"Metaphysical?" Aizawa questioned.

"The invisible webs he's snared informants, spies, and agents inside. I don't think any of you realize how damned lucky we were to apprehend him when we did, or how hard it is going to be to keep him."

Any further conversation was cut off as the group reached the end of the hallway, a great vault door stood before them along with the chief of police. "Are you ready to proceed?" He asked.

Nezu stepped forward and looked up at the grim man, "We are."

"Very well then." The chief turned around and placed his hand on an imprint reader before leaning his head forward for an eye scan. Following this he entered a nineteen digit code in the reader before finally, the door swung open. It closed with a resounding clang behind them the moment their feet were clear.

Inside was a smaller room, cut off by a two way mirror looking into an interrogation chamber and another locked door. No one looked inside yet. Instead they turned their eyes to a pile of notes laid out on small table and a fancy looking black suit coat.

"What's all this?" Aizawa asked, eyeing the items out of the side of his goggles.

It was Nighteye that answered. "It's everything we've managed to gather about the prisoner, but almost all of it is circumstantial reports and heresay. Nothing that would stand up in court. We need a confession of guilt or his lawyers will tear us apart. Its been hell keeping them out this long as it is."

"What? But we found him at the scene of the crime!" All Might exclaimed.

"That in itself doesn't prove anything as no one saw him do anything illegal there. He could have just been a bystander. It doesn't help that no one else captured is willing to testify against him, or that none of the criminals we know met with him ever saw his entire face without a mask. We could argue similar facial structure mixed with a couple of other identifiers but it's entirely feasible that with all of the contacts and favors he's built over the years he could even beat those." the chief cut in gruffly.

"What are you saying, Chief?"

"I'm saying that for the first time I can recall, I have no idea what to do with a prisoner."

"Hm." Nezu looked over at the suit coat as his associates went over the documentation. "Was there anything incriminating on his person?"

"Nothing in his pockets but knives, cash, and lint."

"What about his… augmentations?"

The Chief flinched at those words. Quirks were readily accepted in this day and age, but body altering surgeries were still frowned upon. "Though distasteful, none were exactly illegal. As far as we know nothing he's been chronicled as doing is. All we have is your direction and suspicions."

All Might stood up then, Nezu and Nighteye flanking him. "Then it's time we verified those suspicions." The three walked to the final door in the chamber leading to the interrogation room. "Buzz us in." The others gave wary looks at the glass as the chief did so. None of them wanting to be the ones to enter that small a space with the suspected criminal.

Once the latest door closed behind them, the heroes took their seats at a long table and stared across the expanse to a man chained by handcuffs to its surface. Contrary to his current circumstances, he seemed far from troubled. In fact the calm folding of his hands and slight quirk of his lips implied amusement more than anything else.

His green hair was long and wild, the clothing on his body fine and well tailored in the form of a black dress shirt and pants with a grey vest combo that exposed a healthy dose of muscular chest. But it was the eyes that caught most of the new guests attention. The glowing red, robotic, orbs that stared into their faces as if they were capable of reading their very souls.

Nezu cleared his throat and dropped a file onto the cold metal desk. "Shall we begin?"

The villain's grin turned into a full smirk as he leaned back a bit in his chair to get comfortable. "Why not? I've got some time to kill before leaving this shit-hole."

All Might glared, "You actually believe you'll be leaving this place a free man?"

He shrugged. "Why shouldn't I? As far as the law is concerned I've done nothing wrong. At least, nothing that can be proved. And I highly doubt you've come in here with anything new."

Nezu cleared his throat to bring attention back to him and flipped the file open. "We shall see. You know, it's actually a pleasure to finally meet you. Your exploits have been rather interesting to piece together. Most people would have thought them random to be honest."

"But not you?"

"But not me." The bear looked directly across the table to the haunting dead metal that made up his foes retinas. "I greet you, Moriarty. Or would you prefer The Crown Prince of Crime? The Napoleon of blackmail? Kingpin? Or perhaps… Izuku Midoriya?"

The young man laughed deeply and jerked forward, the motion jostling his hair forward to cast his eyes in shadow. "Izuku is fine for now. Oh I think I'm going to enjoy this."

What is

Izuku Midoriya stared at the vast drop before him, the tips of his sneakers already hanging over the edge, just waiting for the rest of him to follow. It was all for nothing. His life, his passion, his hopes and dreams. All Might was gone, he'd left fifteen minutes ago after crushing what little hope he had left in his heart.

The words he'd heard from his idol and countless others over the years just kept bouncing around his skull.

"I'm sorry, but without a quirk you cannot become a hero." All Might.

"Stupid Deku, you're nothing to me. Just a useless waste of space. Why don't you jump off a ledge? Maybe you'd be reborn as someone useful with a quirk in your next life." Kacchan.

"I'm sorry honey, but there's just no way." His mother.

"Run away before he infects you with his quirklessness!" Every student on the playgrounds growing up.

"Izuku, stop calling me. I can't risk my coworkers here finding out my son is quirkless like they did in Japan. Do you even realize how shameful that was for me?" His dad.

"Look at that freak. He has no quirk you know." "Why's he writing in those stupid notebooks of his? Everyone knows they'll never amount to anything." "I heard his dad took a low paying position in another country because he was too ashamed of having a quirkless child to face his coworkers." All of his classmates.

It was all just… too much, and Izuku was too exhausted to bear it any longer. The one thing that had helped him to hold on all these miserable years was the dream of becoming a hero, of helping those in need with a smile on his face. But now… when the symbol of peace himself tells you there is no hope, what options are there? His only regret in the world was leaving his mother behind. She'd tried more than anyone else alive to make him feel loved and accepted, but it just wasn't enough anymore.

Closing his eyes, Izuku released the bar that was holding him in place, and started to move his center of gravity forward, not wanting to see the ground coming up to meet him, but a second later something slapped into his face and he reeled back in shock, tumbling backward over the rail back onto the safety of the roof in the process.

Once his heart stopped hammering in his chest he rolled over and threw up everything he'd managed to eat that day. What had he just done? What had he been about to do? He started to shudder violently and curled up into himself. Did he really want to die? Did he? The thought kept rolling around in his head as his mother's face, smiling and happy to see him, kept slamming into his thoughts. How could he have thought to leave her like that? She would never forgive herself if he did something that stupid.

It took a long time to get some measure of control over his body back, but when he did Izuku sat up and for the first time saw what had knocked him back from the ledge. It was a page of wickedly scribbled writing. His writing. A page from his hero notebook then. It must have ripped free from his stuff when he landed on the roof with All Might and then blew into his face with the wind after the fact.

Taking a second to look it over he saw it was from a fight he'd witnessed between the speedster, Comet and the villain, Orichalcum. The speedster hero had defeated him with a supersonic punch that had cracked through his metallic skin and rendered his vulnerable body unconscious. The attack had leveled an entire neighborhood as collateral but that had been beside the point as far as the papers were concerned. What really mattered to them was that the hero had been victorious once more. Now that he thought about it, Izuku realized that there were a lot of cases like that. Ones where the collateral damage didn't seem to matter to heroes as long as their quarry was brought in and they got the credit for it. There were even more cases like that for villains as well.

Of course the collateral could be set aside as long as justice was being done and the crime rate and villain numbers went down right? Right?

Izuku's mind flashed back to his room where dozens of other notebooks remained from years of similar battles. The villain rates were not going down. If anything they were rising, most likely to compete with the number of new heroes entering the scene. The system didn't work. It was unclean, disorderly, and destined to continue on as it was unless someone did something about it. Unless someone took control of it.

The green haired boy took another look at his notes and smiled as he saw all of the ways that he'd thought of to deal with both the Comet and Orichalcum. This was information that he could use, that he could sell, and if given to the right people under the right circumstances, then it was the tool he needed to make a difference.

With new purpose in his heart, Izuku Midoriya stood tall, the paper that had saved his life clenched tightly in his fist, and stared out across the city before him as the sun began to set. Yes, he was decided. It was clear that he could never be a hero, but maybe his world didn't need another hero right now. Maybe what it really needed was a villain. One that was capable of creating order out of chaos.

But he would need a name. If he was going to be interacting with the scum of the earth then he couldn't very well bring his true identity forth and let them find his mother in the phone book. No, he'd need a pseudonym, a stage name. Something to represent him in the criminal underworld he intended to rule.

A memory came to him then, of his mom sitting him on her lap and reading out loud from her favorite western story book, 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson'. The memory brought a name forth. One synonymous with intellect, criminal mastery, and intrigue. Yes, Moriarty had a very nice ring to it.

One Hour Later

Izuku didn't go home right away. He was late enough to make his mom worried already so taking a bit more time wasn't going to make things any worse than they already were. He took his time, walking around the neighboring blocks, shuffling through alleyways, thinking of the best story he could give, the best reasons for why he was going to be gone as much as he was and not applying for schools like UA as she thought he would. Or any schools for that matter.

By the time his hour had passed he had a plan and a story in his mind and ready for delivery, so with legs still shaking from his fading adrenaline he marched the rest of the way to his building and climbed the stairs to their apartment.

His mother ripped the door open before he could finish turning the handle and the green haired boy found himself wrapped in the tight embrace of Inko Midoriya as tears of worry fell down her cheeks.

"Oh Izuku, where were you? It's so late, and you weren't answering your cell phone. I was so worried!" Eventually she eased her hold and pulled him the rest of the way inside, only to take note of his severely dirty and rugged appearance. "My god, what happened to you?"

Having prepared his story in advance, the greenette made himself look suitably miserable as he said, some stuff happened today after school, mom."

As he expected, Inko fretted over him like crazy after that, wiping his face with a rag, wrapping him in a blanket, and sitting him beside her on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate. "Tell me everything, I'll make it better I swear."

Once more Izuku felt a pang in his chest as if an arrow were piercing his heart. How could he have been about to leave such a wonderful person as his mother that night. And worse, without a message of any kind to explain why he did it in the first place.

"After school, Kacchan and his friends ran after me. They burned one of my notebooks and beat me up before leaving me bleeding on the roof. The things he said to me… he's not really my friend is he mom?"

Inko's face went dark at those words. It was times like these that she wished she hadn't left her hero days behind so she could go after that Bakugo punk with impunity. But no, she'd needed to stay with her little boy, and she'd never once regretted it. Besides, her sister was more than happy to have the limelight for a change. "No honey, he isn't. And I will be calling his parents and the school later. I cannot believe that none of the faculty noticed what was going on. What he did to you is unacceptable. Was that where you were all this time? On the roof?"

"No." Izuku shuffled his shoulders and took a sip of coco to prepare himself. He really needed to sell this part, and the best lies were often told with grains of truth. "When I was able to move again I went for a walk, I needed to clear my head and think about things." He looked his mother in the eyes and said, "I don't want to be a hero anymore. I realize now how impossible that dream was."

"Oh Izuku, I'm so, so, sorry." Inko rubbed his shoulder soothingly as she listened to the rest of his tale.

I was ripping up pages from my notebook and throwing them in the street behind me, when this man ran up to me with a bunch of them in his hands. He showed me his business card and apparently he works for an up and coming hero support company. He read a few of my thoughts and ideas of ways to improve hero tactics and equipment and he wants to hire me in an entry position right away."

Inko looked troubled at those words, but she wasn't wearing the blank expression that usually precluded shutting him down. "You're sure his card was legitimate? And what about school?" She wasn't really sure what to think about this. On the one hand her son was turning away from a life of hero work, one she knew from experience would see him dead or horribly injured. But on the other he would be forgoing the next step in his education for a job she really knew nothing about.

"I stopped at the library after meeting him and googled his company. It is legitimate. As for school, well, I can take distance learning courses online to finish my requirements while working if I have your permission. Mom, I want to do this. I can't be a hero, but I can use the information in my notebooks and ideas in my head to make this world a better place. Please, say yes."

It all came down to those eyes. Those sparkling emerald eyes that had captured her heart the moment she'd seen them for the first time all those years ago. Inko couldn't have denied him if she tried.

"Alright, honey. You have my permission. What do you need me to do?"

"Thanks mom!" Izuku grinned wide as a cheshire cat and explained the process for mailing permission and request forms to the national highschool registry so that he could take his courses online, then explained that he might be keeping odd hours for the foreseeable future because of his new job. Inko hadn't liked that last bit but she understood. She'd had to do something similar when she started working again after Hisashi had left them. He still sent some money back because they were still technically married, but it wasn't enough for abandoning ones family for no reason. Looking for babysitters had hurt like the dickens.

Four Weeks Later

Izuku was ready. Finally. It had taken him a while to figure out everything he would need to create his presence in the criminal underworld and start off on the right foot, but he'd made a list and it was just about complete.

First, he needed an outfit that would distinguish him and suit his need for anonymity. He accomplished this by purchasing a professional black suit with a red shirt and no tie and a face mask that rose over his chin and nose and ended just below his eyes. A businessman's criminal. (A quick search of the internet and his own recollections had assured him that there were millions like him with green hair so a head covering was far from necessary.)

Next was a professional place to set up shop. If he wished to create an image of the consulting criminal, then he needed to have an office with which to work out of. He had an image in his mind of a traveling office in the back of an armored SUV that never stopped moving, but that was a plan for later in his career. Right now he had chosen a decent set of offices in the seedier part of town. One where questions weren't asked, like how a highschool aged kid had the money to put a three month deposit down on office space and stock it with a fine hardwood desk and other furniture.

To answer that question, Izuku had invested his allowance money wisely over the years and was tapping into his returns. It hadn't been hard really. With his analytical ability he'd watched heroes that he was sure would become big names and invested his money into their marketing brands and toy lines. It was almost as if his younger self knew he'd need a nest egg to work with someday. That being said he was far from supremely wealthy so he was frugal in every way he could be that didn't relate to his appearance or bearing. Young as he was, he knew the power of a strong first impression.

There was one step still remaining however. A partner. One that could introduce him to the criminal elements of the city and vouch for his ability. There were two options for this. First, a low level scumbag that had worked for multiple different organizations. Completely untrustworthy, and likely to turn on him for the right deal with the police. Useful for sure, but problematic in the extreme over time.

Then there was the other option. The reason for which he was standing alone, suited and masked in a very particular alley in the narrows of Musutafu. The green haired boy had paid strict attention to the news, followed the map of slayings, and compared his own observations in his notebooks about this man and had come to the conclusion that the serial killer would appear in this alley very soon. Not that the media had figured out he was a serial killer just yet, but he knew that was just a matter of time at the rate he was going. Four deaths was a pattern, but heroes were in a high risk profession so no one was looking for that many connections yet. They would soon enough though.

A slight rustle behind him had the teenager turning slowly, avoiding sudden movements, and coming face to face with the form of a heavily armed man squatting on top of a large trashbin looking down at him with a jagged katana bared and ready.

The hero killer Stain stared at the solitary figure and said, "You've been waiting there for a minute now. What are you waiting for?"

"You." Izuku stated simply.

Stain nodded having assumed as much. "You in that much of a hurry to die? You seem a bit too young to have done enough to warrant my blade."

Smothering the nerves in his stomach those words set rolling with an iron fist of will, Izuku said, "I've been studying your work, Stain, and I have an offer that I think you'd be very interested in hearing."

The serial killer eyed the smartly dressed young man and against all odds found himself chuckling at the absurdity of the sight before him. What kind of teenager actively seeks out a monster like him? "I highly doubt that, boy."

"I thought you might say that." So saying Izuku reached into his pocket and threw an object from inside it to the hero killer.

"What's this, kid?" He asked as he unfurled a piece of paper wrapped around a crimson vial.

Leaning against a nearby wall Izuku said, "A vial of my blood, and a taste of the product I am planning to sell." At Stain's startled look he elaborated a bit. "Yes, I've figured out how your quirk functions and I am effectively giving you the perfect way to kill me. This is insurance for you that I am meeting you now in good faith. That page details the information on a corrupt hero by the name of Lamplighter. He's responsible for ungodly amounts of collateral damage and has never once paid reparations. I have listed on it his strengths, weaknesses, and no less than four possible strategies for taking him out with the smallest chance of civilian death and collateral. I am giving this to you knowing that you will use it to take his life."

Stain was speechless. The information on the page was exactly what someone like him needed to remove this blight on the hero society they lived in, but he was confused. "You'd just give it to me? Like that? Why? So I'll come back and buy more info from you?"

The masked teenager shrugged a bit before gesturing to some wall space next to him. Stain thought about it for a few moments before shrugging and hopping down to stand next to him instead of above him. "You gonna explain now?"

"Yes." Izuku nodded. "Stain, I think you and I are a lot alike. We both have a vision in our minds of what this world could be, and we both see how dark and corrupt it really is. You think the only way out is to simply remove the bad eggs, and I am not slighting that idea in the least as it has the possibility of being adequately effective. For a time. However, I have thought of another way to accomplish the same goal. A way to ensure that this broken society we live in can be fixed once and for all. However it requires the aid of someone with your expertise."

The hero killer had started this conversation mostly out of boredom. His latest target hadn't kept to his usual patrol pattern and was instead spending time with his second mistress, so he'd been intent to just wander around and find a mugger or thief to stick with his blade. Instead he'd found a masked chump in a suit looking for all the world like he was waiting for someone to fuck up his day. He'd approached him intent to have a simple conversation or end him, but now he was facing a boy, no a man, with words of pure conviction coming out of his mouth and it was astounding.

"Before you say anything else I need to know what set you on this path, kid. What set you in motion? If I'm to consider anything further you have to say then I need to understand you."

Izuku looked into the middle distance as his mind drew up painful images from the scrapbook of his life. "I was born quirkless and suffered for it endlessly. But even then I held out hope that I could become a hero of justice. Protect this world in my own way with a smile on my face you know? But then I met my idol, a hero amongst heroes, and asked him point blank if it was possible for someone like me. Do you know what he said?"

Stain could guess. Probably the same thing that had happened to him so long ago when the usefulness of his quirk had been cast aside. "I'm guessing no."

"You'd be right. That was the last straw for me. I got on a roof, put myself on the edge, and believe me I was ready to jump."

"What stopped you?"

"A circumstance you wouldn't believe if I told you, but in that moment when I was sure I would die and then didn't, my life flashed before my eyes. I saw the weakling that I was, the broken world I lived in, and all the faults that no one seemed willing to acknowledge. Do you know what it is, Stain? To stand upon that edge, to stare into the abyss?"

The vigilante nodded stoically, "That I do."

"If no one else wants to step up and fix the problem then I will."

The hero killer fingered the vial of blood in his left hand and tapped his boot with the sword in his right. "Alright, you've got my attention. What is this plan of yours and how do I fit into it?"

"I'll answer the second question first. From you, I need a partner, contact, and teacher."

"The fuck?"

Behind his mask Izuku couldn't help smiling. It was a strange thing, flabbergasting someone as stoic as the hero killer. "This enterprise is going to be intense to say the least and there are going to be places that no matter what I may wish I will not be able to go. I need my partner to be able to do so. To do the things I cannot. I also need that man to serve as a contact to some other darker elements in this city at least at the start so my name and product, my information, can become distributed in the ways I prefer and envision. Finally, you may have noticed from my build that I am not a fighter. I have never trained in the martial arts and that needs to change. As my organization grows my subordinates will need to fear me and I'll need to be able to make them."

Stain was quiet for several moments as he considered what he had just heard. He wouldn't lie, a full scale plan to fix this fucked hero world they lived in sounded preferable to his plan of just killing everything dirty and rotten. At the very least it seemed more likely of having a lasting effect. And he wouldn't mind taking a student. Finally he said, "What is the plan?"

Izuku turned off the wall and moved to stand directly in front of Stain. "Crime can never be eradicated. History has shown us this again, and again, and again. In every society, in every country, in every age it exists."

"What is your point?"

"My point is that while it can never be eradicated it can be controlled, and more importantly it should be. Look around us, Stain. Look at the last twenty years. Quirks arrived, villains with them, and heroes rose to meet them. We glorify our heroes, raise them up on pedestals, but for all the work they do has villainy disappeared from the earth? No. It is in fact increasing. By my count every time a new hero graduates from one of the prime hero academies a new supervillain enters the scene at the same time. But hey, they'll just keep each other in check right? The scales balanced? Wrong. As you have figured out a great many heroes in our society are corrupt, or have let the fame go to their heads. Furthermore the nationally allowed amount of collateral damage and civilian casualties for their battles to defeat villains are only rising."

"You're not saying anything I haven't already figured out myself. What is your vision for fixing this?"

"A new system of checks and balances. A new scale. Me. I will provide information on heroes and villains to the appropriate parties at the appropriate times to ensure the rise and fall of those necessary to the continuation of society as a whole. This will include certain criminal bosses, allowing for me to take their place. Furthermore I will branch into the political and economical arenas of this country to broaden my control and area of effect. In the end, with your help, I will control the underworld of this city. I will rule all crime with an iron fist and only those with my permission will be able to act on their criminal plans."

Stain was really, really, liking what he was hearing. This boy not only had conviction, but vision as well. "And the corrupt heroes?"

Izuku shrugged, "Even a random cutpurse can kill a god if given a list of every single one of his weaknesses. Try it. I've given you that information on Lamplighter. Use it and come back to me when you have seen its effectiveness. Come back tomorrow night and I can have your answer then."

"I'll do that." Stain muttered before throwing a chemical caplet on the ground and disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

The Next Night

The criminal aspirant returned to the same alley from the night before, Stain was waiting with what was clearly a bound human in a giant burlap bag and a huge smile on his face. "That information worked out just like you said kid. His patrol route was as predicted and I got him by surprise in the perfect place without witnesses."

Izuku gave a deadpan look and pointed his chin at the sack, "Is that Lamplighter?"

"No, this is something else." The hero killer leaned the wriggling bundle against the wall and ripped open the end of the sack to display a bound and gagged man, perhaps in his early twenties. He was dressed in stylish clothes, had three earrings, and his nose and jaw had clearly been brutally broken. "On the way to meet you I caught this fuck in an alley trying to rape a girl ten years younger than him. I thought I'd bring him along for a final test."

"Explain."

"I like you kid, you got guts, and your plan makes sense so I'm willing to go along with you and see how things happen. But before I do anything for you, or teach you anything, I need to know something first."

"What's that?" Izuku asked as he stepped up to the man, already fearing he knew the answer.

Stain reached into his belt and flipped open a gleaming straight razor. "If you have what it takes to take a life and end a threat permanently. It's one thing to give the information to others and let them handle it, but I won't follow someone that lacks the conviction to finish the job themselves when the situation calls for it."

"And this one does?"

"This fuck is a rapist. I caught him in the act and his pockets were full of condoms and bags of roofies. Had he finished tonight he would have just gone on to do it again. This is a prime example of what we will need to rid this society of."

For a moment Izuku held the knife in his hand and stared at his reflection in the blade. He'd known in theory that someday he'd need to kill someone, if only to cement his image with his future followers, but now that the moment was here he found himself wondering if he had it in him to take a life after all. His mind flashed back to that day on the roof and he realized in a flash that indeed he did. If he was capable of taking his own life, why should it be so hard to take anothers?

Without stopping for further thought or hesitation, Izuku stepped to the side of the captive, took a firm grip of his hair to drag his head back, and slashed his razor violently across the expanse of clear throat.

As the precious life giving fluid launched across the distance of the alley like an exploding soda can, a door in the back of Izuku's mind clicked open, something dark got out, and a sickening grin spilt out across his face. Yes, he did in fact have it in him to take a life, and he found himself wanting to do it again.

Beside him Stain's eyes had a proud gleam glowing inside them. He'd been right about this kid. "Alright then, you have a plan, the conviction to see it through, and the will to eliminate your foes. I'll work with you as long as our interests coincide. What do I call you?"

Taking a deep breath the reel himself back from his newly realized bloodlust, Izuku said, "Moriarty. Call me Moriarty."