Aizawa Shouta looked around carefully. He was conscientious enough to ensure that his gaze wasn't obvious. He'd learned how to do that professionally as an underground hero. And despite it being ten years or so since he had been a hero, he hadn't forgotten his skills. There was no one watching, and the camera in the corner was his feed.

He unlocked the door, opening it just enough for him to slip through before it closed again. He stood in the dark for a few moments before flicking on the light. He paid extra for the storage unit to have power. It was for these times.

He looked at the boxes. They contained the regalia of his time as a Hero and some of his first cases after his reintegration. His examination was sharp. Shouta breathed a sigh of relief when he took in that nothing had changed. His capture scarf was still hanging half out of the top of one, and some of Hizashi's gear was strewn haphazardly around. All was in order.

Aizawa stepped through the boxes, working his way between them until he was standing at the back of the storage unit. At least that's what it looked like. It was a false back. It concealed barely five centimetres of room. That small was not noticeable, and could be explained as a measurement error should anyone come in here. Carefully he began moving the concealing boards, stacking them to the side.

Behind the wall was a cork board. Photos, printouts of news articles, and other random things were pinned onto it. They were all joined by several spools of different coloured threads. The board would make no sense to anyone looking at it. But the board was rather incriminating.

The former pro-hero sighed as he looked at it.

At the centre there was a picture of Representative Imoku Kakurete. A large question mark was over his head. It was symbolic because after so many years, Shouta seemed to always have more questions about the man and precious few answers. Threads connected him to just about everything on the board. There were pictures of the League of Villains, heroes and vigilantes. Other Representatives were pictured as well but nowhere near as prominently.

If you spent some time looking you could see a pattern. Some of the photos had black thread. That lead to those who were dead. It was mostly on the Hero side. Others had gold thread, and they tied back to Imoku Kakurete the closest.

Shouta let his eyes trace over the images, seeing all the connections.

So much had changed in the past few years. Not all of it for the better but he was one of the lucky ones. When heroes had been forced to integrate, as they called it, he had other skills to fall back on. Most combat heroes just took the offered positions with the Police, Fire Brigades or sometimes with the Military. Rescue heroes took positions with the Emergency Services... and any hero that had a healing quirk just walked into a hospital and was welcomed.

On the surface it looked as if everything was neatly dealt with. Heroes were integrated. New study courses were made for those who passed the renamed Hero Public Safety Bureau's psyche assessment. They had been renamed the Quirk Usage Assessments, and were performed by the Centre for Responsible Quirk Usage. The committee was still there, but they were far more closely monitored by a House of Representatives oversight committee. The committee that was headed by Imoku Kakurete.

The argument there was that since he was an Independent Representative, he wouldn't be influenced by the major parties. Aizawa didn't buy the public line. He was far too used to heroics, where the truth was seldom what it seemed.

And that's why the board existed. He hadn't taken employment with the Police. He saw where that was going. The heroes who had taken that option, had been forced to hunt down those who had become vigilantes. That had broken most of them, and they'd resigned, generally to retire to some other profession, after some retraining. In that way, the old Hero Public Safety Bureau had been generous. They had allotted more than enough funds to allow for retraining.

He'd adapted. He'd used the skills he'd learned as an underground hero and had become a private investigator. Shouta had made sure he kept his cases simple. Things that wouldn't attract the wrong type of attention. He appeared to be fitting in.

This was the longest case of his life.

His red eyes bored into the image of Imoku. The man's green eyes were visible from under green curls over his confident smile. Representative Kakurete was a man who knew his power. He didn't flaunt it, but he certainly used it. And he was adept at keeping it. He had won a second term by a landslide. Rumour had it that there had been serious debate in party rooms to decide if they should even bother running candidates against Imoku. He was very popular with his electorate. He was very popular with Japan. The major parties had run against him.

It just made their loss all the more spectacular. But Imoku was only one man, and he had only one area, which should have limited his power.

Aizawa snorted. Representative Kakurete was very good at making sure all the major parties liked him. Somehow he hadn't made enemies in politics.

Somehow...

Shouta knew exactly how it was. An gift of a very expensive wine here, a vote of support there, a popular legislation and Kakurete had enough political capital to spend, along with his very real fiscal capital. And he didn't have any dirt to dig up. Shouta knew he wasn't the only one looking. He had encountered others looking. Either the Representative was as clean as he looked, or he was far better at burying his past that most others.

Nedzu had pointed him at Kakurete, so Shouta knew exactly which option he leaned towards. It was somewhat scary to know that Nedzu hadn't been able to work out Kakurete but Aizawa liked to think it was more that the Principal didn't have time, rather than couldn't. The rat-human was one of the casualties of the changes. He hadn't been killed, or taken for experimentation, he'd simply died. With Nedzu's intelligence it was easy to forget he wasn't completely human. He'd aged and died.

That was the easy path, really. Others hadn't made it quite as well.

Snipe had settled into the Police SWAT teams. He was their crack sharp shooter. Hizashi devoted himself full time to radio. Midnight had launched a brand of perfume but it hadn't done well. He wasn't sure where she was. Cementoss worked in construction with Power Loader. Vlad King went in a completely different direction. Shouta understood he was working as an Environmental Consultant these days. Lunch Rush had opened a restaurant and Recovery Girl was retired but occasionally worked on difficult specialist cases when called in. Thirteen was working in the space program. It was slightly amusing, she was actually in space for a lot of the time, cleaning up the debris from the 20th century, which made clear space lanes for now. Most of UA's staff had moved on to find other work. It was the last thing Nedzu did for them.

Other schools weren't as adaptable. Ms Joke had tried to work for the Police and for a while she was a great hostage negotiator but in the end that hadn't worked. She now did stand up comedy with a quirk license. Those going to her shows knew she was using a quirk but people wanted to laugh.

He'd like to say that they wanted to laugh in these dark days but society hadn't crumbled into shambles with the disappearance of Heroes. It had changed but it was still trundling along. As far as he knew, the League of Villains still existed but they didn't appear as active. Unconfirmed rumour had it that many of the members indicated it wasn't as fun without Heroes to fight.

At least that meant the students, those who had been training to be heroes weren't having to deal with them. Most of the students had moved into other courses, though the transition had been difficult for those who came from hero families. Uraraka had formed a business partnership with Power Loader and Cementoss and was now one of the largest construction companies in Japan. Kirishima was with the Police and was a front line tactical expert for when they did confront quirk related crime. It was the closest position to a combat hero that still existed.

The support students were mostly in business for themselves. That was another thing Kakurete was responsible for. With the removal of Heroes as a job, the restrictions on support items were lightened. The public had never been happier. And in some ways, Shouta was forced to admit it was a good thing. He had been on a stake out a year or so ago now, and had spotted a mugging. He wasn't dumb enough to go and interfere. That would make him a vigilante and he had no desire to be imprisoned. But he had been willing to activate his quirk from a distance to render the attacker quirkless. No one would have seen him. It hadn't been necessary. The victim had pulled out something, he wasn't sure what it was given the distance and then had calmly walked away. On that front, Aizawa couldn't fault the change but... He was curious to know how many were misusing support items to conduct heists?

There was never any data on that. Perhaps he should ask Asui to collect it? She had taken a position with the Coast Guard, but had enough access to Police records. Perhaps not, he had enough to complicate matters.

He sighed again, and pulled some of the threads up. They had dropped off. They connected Imoku to the League of Villains. There was a connection, Shouta was sure of it but he wasn't quite sure how. The thread was grey to represent his questions.

He was left staring at a knife.

Aizawa stiffened. His mind automatically assessed the knife. It was a short throwing blade. It was embedded in the image of Imoku, directly between his green eyes, but thankfully had missed all the threads.

"Your situational awareness has gone down, Sensei."

He blinked at the sentence. He knew that voice.

Most of his students had gone into other industries... Some had become vigilantes. Most of them had been arrested or had stopped activities. They simply didn't have the contacts, or drive to put up with the problems a vigilante faced. Not like some of the heroes, the ones who became vigilantes. They had more stamina in the business, at least until their former allies hunted them down.

Aizawa didn't blame his students. They had signed up to be heroes after all, and that meant a certain amount of support.

One had remained though... One who had left his class directly because of the Assessments.

Katsuki Bakugou.

As far as Aizawa knew, Bakugou was living underground and was... "You took out Compress?"

The boy... no, no longer a boy, the man snorted, and came fully into the space behind the boxes.

"Of course you did," Shouta answered his own question. "You do know he was almost released?"

"What?" Katsuki glared. Aizawa had to admit his glare had gotten sharper over the years.

"You are a vigilante," he explained, and waited for Bakugou to put the pieces together.

"That's bullshit!" He snarled. At least it wasn't accompanied by explosions.

"Those are the new rules." In the wake of the Heroes being integrated, the rules on illegal use of quirks and vigilantism had been tightened. Children were now warned if they couldn't or didn't control their quirk once they turned six. Those who simply couldn't control their quirks were given extra training. Those who didn't were put on suppressants, and it was up to the parents to ensure they were taken. Vigilantism carried penalties as harsh as if they were the perpetrators. Especially if the vigilante was a former pro-hero or student. There was now a recognised defense of wrongful arrest by vigilante. Compress hadn't managed to get away with that argument but it was a close thing. Thankfully the League member had a rap sheet a mile long, and the prosecution had known to bring out every charge because quite a few had been dismissed.

"Yeah, well, you obviously don't agree with them," the blond growled, reaching up to pull out his knife.

He said nothing.

Bakugou snorted again. "I don't do blackmail, Sensei... Unless it is that fuck," he added. If a glare could set fire to something (without a quirk), Katsuki's would have. There was considerable venom in his eyes.

"You know something?"

"I know that fucker's real name."

That got Aizawa's attention. And he could see that it was meant to with the way Katsuki smirked at him. "And what would that cost me?" He asked carefully.

Bakugou's statement guaranteed that Imoku Kakurete had another name but that didn't necessarily mean that he was doing anything illegal... though he could be. Depending on the circumstances there might be a case for misleading Parliament and that would be enough to get Kakurete thrown out. It might not change the current rules regarding heroes back but it would perhaps bring them into question.

"I want your assessment," Katsuki replied.

"My assessment?" Shouta didn't understand. If the boy was talking about a psych assessment, there was no way to transfer them.

"Your realistic assessment," Bakugou explained before he huffed. "I want to know if you think revealing it will do any good."

"You've always been good at knowing the consequences," Aizawa pointed out.

The boy looked disgusted. "Not with him," he whispered, glaring at the image.

That was interesting. That meant there was some deeper history there. "Tell me who he is," Aizawa said, agreeing to the price. It was something he'd have to do anyway, so he might as well get information.

Bakugou nodded. "His name is Izuku Midoriya," he said.

The name meant nothing, though Aizawa was sure he had heard it before. He focused on Katsuki's words while his mind worked.

"He's my age. Or at least he's meant to be. Quirkless, and went missing about a year before this Kakurete appears."

Shouta took a deep breath, thinking. "It would be very hard to prove," he murmured. Actually it might be impossible unless this Izuku's DNA was on record... which it was... Blood work was done on all newborns in Japan. But getting a sample from Imoku would be difficult. Correction, legally getting the sample would be difficult and then comparing it would actually violate several laws. And Kakurete had enough lawyers that if there was the slightest hint of impropriety, he would bury them.

And even if Imoku was this Izuku what laws had he violated? Shouta wasn't sure. Misrepresentation was a possibility but he was equally sure Imoku would have arguments against that... In fact... Imoku could argue that he was a victim of some quirk and had decided to make the best of his life. Except that didn't explain how he had walked into his directorships. Most of the companies had been groomed for him.

Again, Aizawa could see that there would be reasons. The person who accidentally aged him felt sorry for him or similar. They were shallow reasons but they would buy off the public.

Except... why hadn't he told his real mother? Now that he was thinking, Aizawa felt his eyes wander to a picture of a green haired woman who was almost always at Kakurete's rallies. She was the mother of the missing quirkless Izuku Midoriya. Why had he been missing?

No, there were questions that had to be answered, though...

Shouta sighed.

"Well?" Bakugou asked.

"I don't know," he replied. "It would definitely cause some problems and raise quite a few questions which I'm sure Kakurete doesn't want to answer but I don't know how much trouble it would really raise."

"Why?"

"Money," Shouta gave the short answer. "And you know which companies he owns?"

The vigilante looked like he'd swallowed a lemon. Kakurete had an unfortunate interest in news and advertising.

"I'll take that as a yes. A couple of words to the right people and they won't publish. Even if they do, he can present himself as a victim of a quirk gone wild."

"Bullshit!"

"True," Aizawa agreed. "But he can spin stories to that affect and I can guarantee that the reporting will favour him."

"So it's pointless?"

"Not pointless," Shouta was quick to correct. "Avalanches have to start somewhere. I just don't think revealing a supposed identity is enough. Finding a genuine link between him and the League would be better."

"Of course it fucking would!" Bakugou growled. "But you know he's not that careless."

"But you know him," Aizawa pointed out. Katsuki had knowledge of Izuku that he didn't, and that could be the difference. "Though, how do you know it's him?"

There was a snort at the question. "He fucking told me!"

"He told you?" There was an understandable note of disbelief in Aizawa's voice with his question.

Bakugou's expression changed. It wasn't something Shouta would ever expected to see on the blond's face. It was a mix of emotion. Regret, resignation... even fear. There was definite history here. "He told me."

Shouta took a deep breath, before he reached back one hand, feeling for some boxes. He hoisted himself into a sitting position on them after checking that they would hold his weight. "Start at the beginning," he instructed. "Assume I know nothing," he added.

What else had Imoku told Bakugou? Did Bakugou know about Imoku's undocumented quirk? The Representative hadn't exactly denied having one, but, as always with Kakurete, proof was scarce to non-existent. And making an accusation of that nature would require irrefutable proof, especially as Kakurete had been correct. Government Representatives were routinely checked to ensure that they were not being influenced by a quirk.

He suppressed a shiver. That was not a good memory. Not the interview with Kakurete, one of his students. Shinsou... He should be there! In the Government testing team. Too young, they said. Too inexperienced. He'd instead taken a job with the Police as a Hostage Negotiator, and he'd been good. He'd proven to the world that his quirk could be used for good. Until someone set a trap. He couldn't be sure it was the League but it seemed like them.

One of the hostages wasn't a hostage.

At least it had been quick. It was a comfort Aizawa didn't like to think about. He couldn't prove it was the League but the way the woman had smirked made it clear. Shinsou wasn't a hero, but they wanted him gone.

"It starts back when I was four," Katsuki said, bringing Shouta's attention back to the present. The vigilante had taken a seat on another set of boxes and was staring into the distance. "We were so excited to get our quirks," Bakugou murmured. "But he never did. It wasn't too bad at first. It could be just late, but it never came. Eventually he was diagnosed as Quirkless. He has the toe joint and everything."

Aizawa nodded, indicating he was listening.

Bakugou sighed. "I wasn't good to him," he said. There was a catch in his voice. "That barely covers it. I was a villain to him," he altered his words. "Every opportunity I could I told him he was worthless. Every chance I had, I used my quirk on him. No one bothered to stop it. I was gifted after all." There was a bitter note in Katsuki's words. It wasn't all directed outwards. That was a change.

"Ten years. I never thought about it. I never wondered, I just did it because there's no way someone without a quirk was going to get in my way. No way, someone without a quirk would ever be a hero. I wasn't going to let the spotlight fall on him."