I'm back. Finally. I can't believe how long it took me to update this story.

Mirio is bouncing his foot, biting his bottom lip as he stares at the ground. He has been feeling like he was disappointing Sir Nighteye and All might at the same time. His grasp on One For All had been firm from the beginning but it seems that instead of growing and getting stronger with the quirk, his grasp and ability to actually use it started to slip. He cannot control the quirk no matter how hard he tries. His progression has come to a stop. It's embarrassing. Disappointing even. If his grip of control keeps getting flimsier, then how could he become a worthy hero? One that saves a million? He can't do that if he cannot progress! He has to keep going! He has to be able to control One For All!

  Mirio glances up to peer up at the sky. He sits outside the school on one of the stone benches, waiting for someone. His mentor, waiting for the man who he disappointed. And it doesn't seem that it'll be a long wait either. They are to stay on campus for their own safety. "Young Mirio?" comes the soft voice of his mentor. The voice while expected still surprised him.

  Jolting slightly, his eyes widen and he stares at his mentor. "All Might!"

  "Please, Young Mirio, call me Toshinori." The older blond's face goes from cheerful to opting a worried expression. He can see through him easily, knows that something is wrong. He doesn't have to look him in the eyes to know. He's known when he spoke for this meeting. "Is something the matter, Young Mirio?"

  Mirio takes a step back, feeling bad for having worried his mentor. It's almost like he can't do anything right, he only seems to fail. "I think you made a mistake in choosing me," he says bluntly. It's best if he just rips off the bandage, no use in skirting around the topic. If he hadn't done this, then he would've lost the nerve and where would he be then? Probably be in his room moping and regretting that he didn't say anything sooner.

  "What do you mean, Young Mirio?"

  "I can't control One For All! I just can't! I try and try and try but I can't! I just can't! I failed you! I failed Sir! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I can't be what you want me to be!" The blond teenager bowed lowly at his mentor in apology, feeling terrible that he chose wrong.

  "Mirio," says the retired number one hero, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't choose wrong. It's okay. You still have a long time to work with One For All."

  "But," he whispers, staring with wide eyes. "I haven't progressed in months! I haven't, I'm stuck. I'm stuck in the same place and it seems that I won't progress any more!"

  "You—"

  "Mirio!" The two blonds look up to see Mirio's friend, Najire come running up to them with fear etched onto her facial features. She looks horrified, eyes blown wide and tears spilling down her face. The young blond holds his arms out, catching her as she launches herself against him. She's trembling and in fear.

  "Na-Najire?" he whispers, running his hand through her long hair in an attempt to comfort the poor girl. He doesn't know what's wrong. She is usually happy and smiling bright smiles most days, rarely is she this sad. "What-what's wrong?"

  "It's Tamaki! It's—" She steps back to look her friend in the eye, bottom lip trembling a bit before she breaks down into sobs. "He's in the hos-hospital! It's, i-i-it's . . ." She gasps out incoherent words and wrings her hands with nervousness, big fat tears rolling down her face as she attempts to break the news.

  "Najire," he says gently. Worry and fear grip his heart, squeezing it harshly at hearing his friend's status. The reasoning behind him being admitted to the hospital is lost in the mumbled and stuttered words. Right now, he's attempting to calm the blue-haired girl down. "It's okay. Look at me, look at me. Shh, take a deep breath. It's okay." He rubs her back in between the shoulder blades, knowing that that calms her down quicker. "What hospital is he at right now?" he inquires, hoping to get her to speak just a little more.

  Acquiring the name took another few minutes before Mirio nods. "Let's get you to your dorm, okay? I'll go and check on him."

  "Bu-but," she weakly argues. Her shoulders drooping and her weak voice are a few signs of her exhaustion.

  With a little coaxing, he gets her back to her dorm and asleep in her bed. The blond sighs softly, staring at his sleeping friend with worry. He turns and leaves, meeting All Might back outside who gets permission for him to leave and check on his friend.

  The hospital is how he remembers one. He necessarily doesn't dislike hospitals when he's in one, but when people he cares about are. He grows a distaste for them. He wants nothing to do with them. The feeling of anxiety sets into his bones, he grows scared with each step he takes. The door is mocking him, keeping him from his friend. Najire couldn't explain and none of his teachers or the hero his friend was interning under would tell him. A million thoughts ran through his mind. He couldn't stop the impending terror. His heart beat too fast, his breath keeps getting caught, there's a pain in his chest as he gets cold. Cold sweat clings to his back and sends chills down his spine. He's felt scared before. But nothing like this. Is this what his friend goes through every day? Is it worse?

  The nurse who guided him looks at him with a sad glance almost knowing what he's going through, opening the door so he can see that his friend is safe and alive. Mirio forces himself past the threshold and closer to his friend who is crying. "Tamaki?" he says, reaching out. "Tamaki, it's okay." He grabs ahold of his friend and tightly hugs him. He listens to him and cries with him.

* * *

"And you want me to make a contract with this guy?"

  Green eyes flick from one person to another which sat around a table. Some of the teachers in the meeting room squirm uncomfortably under his scrutinizing gaze. The teenager locks gaze with Sir Nighteye, the man has a distaste for the younger and doesn't attempt to hide it. A chuckle bubbles in the boy's chest, slowly growing in volume. The boy holds his sides as the ire of the other heroes grow. "This is important, you ungrateful brat!"

  Izuku waves his hand from side to side, almost in a dismissing motion. "Sure it is! I just find it amusing how horrifying it is for someone to lose a quirk. Are you all that useless without one? Hmm? But no matter, I'll do as you say. After all, I always get something in return." The smile he gives is anything but friendly. A feral grin that resembles a predator staring at his prey. "If this is all, I must get going now. Sooner is better than later. Oh, and no hero escort, that'll only look bad and get me killed."

  "Good luck, Midoriya," states his teacher. With a swift nod, Izuku leaves the teachers to themselves and heads off to meet the man behind the drug which left one of the Big Three students quirkless. He has a man to thank.

  Upon arriving at the villain's base, the young teenager hums softly as he steps up to meet with one of the plague-doctors-look-alike. He wears his raven mask, grinning at the man who wears an inaccurate representation of the plague mask, but it matters not to the teenager. He is here to make a deal with the head of this organization. Midoriya flashes off his contract sigils to show just who he is. The villain nods and motions him to follow. The informant hums a soft tune, glancing around the place.

  He comes to a stop behind the male who knocks on what he presumes to be the office door. Raven hears the authoritative voice tell them to enter. He stills himself as he walks forward, bowing in front of the leader. He introduces himself like he usually does when he knows that this would be an important trade. He grins with a savageness of a wild beast.

  Overhaul—the head of the yakuza known as the Eight Precepts of Death—watches the pure teenager with a curious background greet him. The way he bows, his way of words and the tone he uses, the way he holds himself; all signs of a professional who has been taught by a professional and gets things done correctly. The aura around him, it's a dangerous one. Raven: the omen of death. That is this boy in front of him. The boy who is known for his lack of quirk. The boy without that dreadful disease. He looks happy. He knows he's happy. Seeing people be left quirkless must be entertainment to him. A pity that this drug only lasts a few hours. "Sit, Raven. Sit. This will be a good day for both of us to get what we want."

  Raven hums, staring at him with slight awe that masks his true colors. It's almost staring at a kid in a candy store but that store is full of weapons and the kid is an assassin. "You work with me and you get everything you ask for. But that's if you work with and not against. Understood, Overhaul? I know of your quirk." I know how to stop it. I know your every weakness. This goes unsaid but everyone in the room gets the message. "Information for information. Information for items. Information for money. Whatever you can offer me, I'll gladly take and give. Just know that information is quite valuable."This man is Chisaki Kai, the head of the yakuza, Izuku recalls. He can kill the informant if he is to find out just who he is and where he is staying. If the man is to find out that this job is from a hero, then he can kiss the world goodbye.

  "But before we start, I must say, I am quite impressed with your work. Ridding the world of quirks, that's quite the achievement." He leans forward, his elbows resting on his knees and his chin on the back of his interlocked hands. "How did you even come up with such an idea?"

  Flattery. Asking for details. Just small things, most wouldn't think to be a source of manipulation. Midoriya is putting his lessons from both his father and Nedzu to work, especially when it comes to such an important mission. The approval in his eyes is all Izuku gets along with a small thank you, but that is all. Hmm, well, flattery does not work with this man.

  "I could ask the same about you, Raven. How did the thought of becoming an informant for dangerous people cross your mind?"

  "My father is in the business. I'll be taking it over when I'm older. Might as well start young, don't you think?"

  They casually spoke after making a contract. A contract that benefitted both parties, but—what Chisaki didn't know—the deal benefitted Izuku more than what he believed. Something so simple that the man doesn't think twice on. The man who knows how to be mindful of spies is not mindful to the small detail of his informant. Raven isn't an ordinary informant and Chisaki knows this. The male is a rare purity and that clouded his judgment. A quirkless person—someone without the disease which plagued this world.

  Chisaki sits in his chair, watching the teenager leave his office. "In return for this, I want a sample of the finished product." He wonders why Raven will need the sample—he's quirkless. Who would he use it on? Chisaki does not know and does not mind. One less person to have the disease at least.

  Raven is a mysterious person. A mere teenager who put himself in the dangerous profession of being an informant. It is odd. Why would a teenager put themselves in this profession? Why wouldn't he wait a little longer before doing it? That is something that Chisaki Kai doesn't know the answers to and it messes with him. Finally, he calls one of his men in and orders them to look into Raven—find whatever little thing he can about the teenager. It shouldn't be difficult. The kid is one of the few without a quirk, so searching through the quirk database and limiting it to a certain mile radius will for certain be simple to eliminate any outliers such as age and gender.

* * *

"They have a girl with the quirk to rewind things to a certain time beforehand. With a quirk this powerful, they are able to incorporate her quirk into the drug which targets the gene that causes the mutation." Listening to Midoriya report this, it's chilling. He has a look of fury on his face: his eyebrows pinched together, mouth set to a thin line, his eyes lit with a fire that burns with a hot rage, and the fact that his hands are clenched tightly. If the boy had a physical quirk, Aizawa Shouta is sure that it would be going haywire. "I don't know much about her, I only overheard the Yakuza talking about her."

Nedzu sighs, beady black eyes staring at the boy who holds the raven mask in his hands. "And what do you plan on doing?"

A sharp grin full of bloodlust comes to his face. "I'm gonna save her."

  The heroes stare at him. "How do you plan on doing that?"

  "You'll see." He walks out with that statement. Midoriya doesn't need to spend his planning time on speaking with them. He needs to save Eri.

  The teenager spends that night working on a plan while working with researching and putting together information for his client. He is going to keep the information truthful—not gonna ruin his reputation on that, after all, he needs to have Chisaki trust him.

  The knock on his door is soft but loud enough to be heard. "Come in." Looking up from what he was working on, he locked eyes with Aizawa Shouta. "Oh. What do you want? Here to yell or get onto me?"

"I want to know what you're going to do to save the girl."

Midoriya narrowed his green eyes at the man with suspicion. "Why?" He placed his pencil down, rubbing his forehead.

"Because I want to help."

I am so sorry for this late update. The next chapter should be the last and the fight with Overhaul. That is what I'm hoping. I'll probably put up an epilogue if I have to clear anything up.