All The Power

19: Hosu

Izuku and Shoto sat side by side on a train to Hosu with part of Endeavor's agency in the same train car. It was nearing mid-afternoon as they finally reached the train station they would depart on. Izuku slipped on his gas mask that covered the lower part of his face and stretched as he got up to step off the bullet train. Everyone began to split off immediately after leaving the station as they already knew where their routes were. Izuku and Shoto stuck with Endeavor and Burnin.

Izuku had read up on Stain a while ago. From what he understands, Stain began to kill or critically injure heroes in a select pattern. He would target three or four heroes per city and move on to the next city. He had seen the pattern immediately after looking up the victim of Stain. They were heroes who were accused or guilty of some sort of corruption. Whether it be a scandal or being lax in their duty of being a hero, Stain had targeted them for that reason. Ideally, how they should capture Stain is using a hero that fits his parameters and using them as bait, springing a trap. No one knows what his quirk is but from what Izuku was able to gleam, they all died to a bladed weapon with little resistance of the victim. What he didn't know was that Stain's last target was Ingenium, Iida's brother.

Izuku never paid attention to anyone in, his class, other than to assess if they would be a threat in any way and Iida was the same. Now still was the same but he paid attention to his friends. He was sure the boy was devastated about what had happened to his brother but Izuku didn't notice how he was after the Sports Festival.

The four continued their patrol of Hosu with minimal activity. Minor issues Endeavor took care of without much trouble while Izuku and Shoto stood back and watched. There were many fans taking pictures as Endeavor walked but he paid them no mind. Burnin on the other hand posed for a few and tried to drag Izuku and Shoto with her, to little success.

The longer the day passed, the more Endeavor seemed to get annoyed with the lack of news of Stain. Izuku was sure that they wouldn't cross paths with him for one main reason.

"You won't find Stain this way," Izuku stated as they walked.

Everyone turned to Izuku and Endeavor furrowed his brows at the intern. "Explain." He demanded.

"All of Stain's victims were alone and in alleyways. Not once has he struck when out in the open or when the hero was in a group." Izuku shrugged as if it was obvious.

Endeavor thought about what Izuku said and grunted in agreement. "Then how would you try and find him, boy?"

"Bait."

Burnin spoke before Endeavor did. "That's dark, don't you think?"

Izuku shrugged. "Stain always targets heroes with set criteria. They all have been involved with something the hero didn't what to be revealed. Scandals, skimming money from employees, being too aggressive, being too passive, or the like." Shoto and Burnin looked at him weirdly.

Endeavor continued to stare at the boy. "How do you know this?"

"I research for any information on anything that seems valuable to me and I've done a lot of research." He stared back into Endeavor's eyes.

He had nothing to say in return and turned back to continue their route. The day dragged on and they stopped for a late lunch. It was beginning to get dark when Endeavor called his sidekicks that took other routes to call it a day and head back to the agency. They were a few blocks away from the train station when there was an explosion behind them. They immediately ran back to the scene and it was chaos. Buildings were on fire and some heroes fought familiar monsters, Nomu.

"Those are Nomu, the same kind from the USJ. They look different, the one at the USJ had multiple quirks. Regeneration, Strength, Speed, and kinetic negation." Flux spouted out for their benefit.