Izuku scowled as he made his way down the street and itched at his nose for the millionth time that night. While he was perfectly fine with the mask, something about using it as a disguise was making his nose itch. Seriously, he'd worn masks like this before with no problem, but now he put one on with the express purpose of hiding his face and his nose just had to itch up a storm.

To be fair, everything he was doing right now was different from how he would normally do things. His clothes were dark and bland, the mask was one of the million disposable thin blue tissues you could buy in bulk. The only usual thing about him was the hat pulled down to cover his green hair. Sure, he normally wore discreet clothing while he was out doing less than legal things but dressing dark like this before you even got anywhere just made you look suspicious as all hell.

Not that it mattered tonight. He wouldn't be doing anything to implicate himself tonight, much less actually doing anything obviously illegal. Other than talking to a serial killer, that is. If he can even find the guy. All of Izuku's research said he should be somewhere around here still. He hadn't even had his second kill yet.

To be fair, Izuku was trying to search an entire city for a man no one ever actually saw unless they were one of the heroes he left crippled instead of dead.

A quiet thud came from an alley just as Izuku was about to pass it causing him to stop in his tracks and listen.

"Please," a voice rasped. "Please don't kill me."

"Huh," another, deeper voiced huffed. "Pathetic."

Yup, that was the guy. Izuku turned and strode confidently into the alley. He only had to turn one corner before he found the scene he was looking for. He had hoped to find Stain while he wasn't… busy, but this would have to do. The hero, Anchor, was a relatively low-level hero with the ability to more or less turn himself into an immovable object at will. Now, he sat slumped against the wall, terror written across his face as he stared up at the masked face of Stain. Stain himself just glowered down at the hero, katana in hand, with his distinctive red scarf trailing behind him and his knives glistening across his chest.

Izuku cleared his throat just before Stain was about to finish the hero off. "Hello," he said, turning all attention onto him.

"Please," the hero begged, "help me!"

Izuku ignored him for the time being, watching Stain instead. The serial killer hesitated before stepping away from his prey.

"What do you want?" Stain asked slowly, keeping his eyes locked on Izuku.

Izuku gave a tired smile behind his mask. "To talk. I'm interested in your philosophy." That was partially true, but he figured the two of them should be aware of each other at the very least, so as to avoid stepping on each other's toes.

"I'm not interested in teaching," Stain answered.

Izuku raised an eyebrow. That wasn't what he'd call a good sign. "First of all, who said I wanted you to teach me? Second of all, since you at least seem to have some kind of message, shouldn't you want people to know what you're actually thinking. If you don't talk to anyone, all they really see is some mindless mass murderer."

"K-kid?" the hero sputtered. Izuku glanced down. Whatever hope Anchor had felt on seeing him was quickly dying.

Izuku turned his attention back to Stain, who was watching him closely now. "If I'm just some mindless killer, then why do you think I have a philosophy?"

Izuku shrugged. "The police do actually have some good psychoanalysts," he answered. "While they do think you're off your rocker, so to speak, they also know what you think you're doing. It helps that you tend to monologue to the handful of heroes you leave alive."

Stain nodded slowly. "Give me a moment to clean up this mess, then we can talk," he said as he turned back to Anchor.

The hero's eyes went wide. "What. No! Wait!"

"What did he do?" Izuku asked.

Stains sword came down silencing the last of Anchor's pleas. "Embezzlement and tax evasion, mostly, though there are accounts of excessive use of force. And one account of assault that I haven't managed to confirm yet."

Izuku nodded. That sounded about right. A bit petty on the first few charges, but the rest were good enough for him.

"So," Stain said as he turned back to Izuku, "what do you want to talk about?"

"Why do you kill them?"

Stain huffed to himself. "I tried talking first, if that's what you're concerned about. No one ever listened. They didn't want to listen. Content to live their lives ignorant of the corruption that controlled them."

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, that would be a problem. I still don't agree with killing them, though. Society doesn't change just because you kill the people you don't like."

Stain gave him a look. "It doesn't change if you leave them alone either."

"True," Izuku admitted. "We'll have to agree to disagree on methods."

"Fine, what even brought you out here? Even most villains don't want to associate with me. Unless you count those League of Villain punks."

Izuku snorted. "The League of Villains was little more than a child anarchist given too much power and the support to actually do something. They were always going to crumble. Their leader barely believed in their own goal, and after Kamino Ward, they simply imploded, so no, I'm not going to count them."

"Answer the question, kid," Stain growled.

"First of all, I'm 24."

Stain only glared at him.

Rolling his eyes, Izuku continued. "I'm quirkless. When I was little, I wanted nothing more than to be a hero. To be like All Might, just… I wanted to help people. Obviously, that didn't work out."

"Hardly a reason to want heroes gone," Stain interrupted.

"I'm getting there," Izuku snapped. "When I finally figured out I was never going to get into a hero course, I tried to settle for just living my life. But I'm sure you know how that goes. The schools treat you like shit and even if you do manage to actually graduate, no one is willing to actually hire you, so you wind up turning… elsewhere for money. I never did much, just a small-time thief. I only take enough to get by, and even then, I wind up giving a lot of it away or to my family." Izuku chuckled to himself, even barely getting enough to keep a roof over his head and food periodically in his stomach, he still couldn't get rid of his selflessness. "I was on a job with a buddy when a hero came across us. They murdered him. Even calling it excessive force would be a kind description for what they did."

Stain nodded. "You're not the only one with a story like that. Heck, if you hung out with other hero wannabes as a kid, you could probably name a few that should be down in the gutter with this bastard."

Izuku shook his head. "The only one I know that actually went pro grew up. Unless I find something new on him, I'll leave him alone."

"How sure are you that he changed?"

"I've got a handwritten letter and a video of him prostrating himself to my mother because he couldn't find me."

Stain had the decency to look surprised before he laughed. "Keep an eye on him. All that says is that he knows how to cover his ass."

"Again, agree to disagree," Izuku shrugged.

Stain grumbled but let it go. "If you don't want to kill anyone, how do plan on dealing with this whole mess?" Stain finally asked.

Izuku perked up, this was the part of the conversation he'd been waiting to get to. "We can agree that just telling people many heroes aren't doing their jobs isn't going to work," he began, with Stain nodding in encouragement. "But there's only so much evidence you can show them before they'll admit that something is wrong. Sure, some of them are going to slip through the cracks, but those with the worst offenses will be forced to confront them by the public."

Stain snorted and shook his head. "That's not going to work."

"And neither is killing them in back alleys like this," Izuku countered. "You've been at this since I was starting middle school, and nothing has changed. Your victims die martyrs, especially because people don't have a shred of an idea as to why you chose that target. They don't know what the heroes did wrong to make you believe they were false heroes. I won't kill them, I'll kill their image."

"You expect that to work?"

Izuku shrugged. "If I make things public enough, then yeah, it'll work. It's just a case of strategic planning. Really, I just want one thing from you."

"What?"

"If a hero is being denounced publicly, they're mine. Leave them alone."

"I can't do that," Stain said. "If I ha-"

"Then at least wait to see what happens," Izuku interrupted. "See what falls when you kick the hornet's nest. And see whether or not the people see justice. If they wind up in a prison cell, or on trial, leave them be. If it blows over, then you can have them."

Stain thought for a moment. "Fine," he grunted. "I look forward to seeing what you can do."

Izuku sat at his desk, mask tossed away. Sure, it was late, but it wasn't like he had anything to do in the morning, and he had a lot of research ahead of him. His first target was someone Stain wouldn't be able to take down anytime soon: Endeavor.

This is honestly the only real way I can see Izuku winding up a villain of his own volition. Inspiration comes from the video "How a Street Thug Killed a God" by Cloak and Dagger on YouTube. I suggest you check it out. Warning: lots of bigotry on the part of the so called "God."

Until next time,

NoS