Chapter 11: The Daily Life of Mastermind
"Be careful today? I don't want you getting hurt on the way to school…" Inko fretted.
Izuku rolled his eyes, "Mom, I'll be fine. Aldera High School is literally a 10 minute walk, I don't even have to take the train."
Inko brushed imaginary dust off the shoulders of his blue uniform, "I know, it's just that there's so much more crime nowadays with Mastermind on the loose and...I just worry about you, you know that."
Izuku sighed internally. Yeah, he knew that Mom worried. He also knew she'd worry less if he'd been born with a quirk. He hid his frustration behind a smile, "I gotta go Mom. I don't want to be late for the first day of high school!"
She waved at him with the famous Midoriya tears in her eyes as he shouldered his backpack and walked down the road toward his new school. It had been pretty easy to get into. He'd applied a few other places, including a few that had a track that specialized in analysis and hero support. All of those had taken one look at the red Quirkless written on his ID and promptly let him know that he "wasn't the right fit" for their schools.
In the end, it was better this way. Going to a prestigious school would bring attention, something that Izuku couldn't afford right now. The police hadn't tried to arrest him since he'd started his hostage situation, but he was almost certain that Nedzu was working hard to try and uncover his identity. It's what Izuku would do. If they could find out who he was, then they might be able to find the computer program he'd hired La Brava to write that would release his murder plans if his arrest or death was ever trending on the internet, or they'd go after Giran, who also had instructions to release the plans if anything happend to him.
But Izuku knew from experience that no one expected anything from a quirkless kid, especially one who didn't even stand up to his own bullies. If Izuku Midoriya was ever a suspect for Mastermind, his lack of quirk would instantly clear him of any suspicion. If the police looked past that, then the fact that none of his bullies had died mysteriously in the last year would be brought in as evidence that he obviously "wasn't capable" of being the villain. What the police wouldn't know is that Izuku Midoriya, quirkless deku, was a mask. And if they managed to look past all that? Well, then they were smarter than Izuku gave them credit for and maybe, just maybe, they deserved to arrest him.
"Hey Deku, haven't you thrown yourself off a bridge yet?" The bully, Makoto Ito, was big, stupid, and obviously trying to fill the void that Katsuki had left by going to UA if the crowd of sycophants surrounding him were any indication. Izuku resisted the urge to glare at him.
"H-hi, I-ito! H-how are y-you today?" It was amazing how quickly people saw weakness when Izuku stuttered. He smirked internally as Ito puffed his chest out and sneered at him.
"Don't try to be friends, Deku . You're worthless and don't you forget it!" With that, Ito shoved him to the ground and turned on his heel to enter the school, followed by his entourage. Izuku stood and brushed himself off. He'd gotten worse from Toga on their first day of training.
He smiled as he thought of his friend. He'd have to remember all the dumb things his bullies said and tell her later. She'd get a kick out of it and they'd giggle about all the ways they kill the idiots. It was a good friendship.
By the time Izuku got to class, he was back to wearing the mask of a weak, quirkless deku, but underneath, he felt stronger than any of them.
Izuku walked around the apartment and checked the security system one more time. From the outside, it just looked like any apartment in the red light district, but the walls were heavily fortified and the security system could probably put UA to shame. And it was all his.
Izuku sighed, he could finally stop smuggling his villain outfit out of the house and changing in Giran's office!
"Nice digs, kid." Giran leaned up against the doorway in the kitchen.
"Thanks for finding this place for me, Giran. I feel like I've finally made it, you know?"
Giran chuckled, "Sorry to have to tell you this, but you 'made it' a while ago. I can count on one hand the number of villains that have the balls to threaten a top 50 hero on national television, not to mention all of them at once. If you're not careful they'll start calling you the number 1 villain in Japan or some other bullshit."
"Well, it was always my dream to be like All Might."
"Why don't you just live here full time, kid? You don't have to keep living with your mother and doing the whole song and dance routine at school like you're not one of the most powerful villains in Japan right now."
Izuku pulled a soda out the fridge, "Disappearing would call too much attention to me right now. Missing posters, the police looking for me in two identities. There would be too many chances for them connect the two, and it would just be too much work when it's easier to just avoid the whole problem. Plus, I'm not ready to leave Mom yet. Despite how much she worries, I still love her and she's been the only one who ever cared about me until the last year. I don't want to put her through that, and I'd miss her too much."
Giran shrugged, "Suit yourself. You ready for your meeting tonight?"
Izuku nodded, "Just need to get dressed and I'll be on my way. I've been going to these meetings for months, Giran, you don't need to worry about me."
Giran held up his hands in surrender, "All right, all right, I get it, you've got your big boy britches on and everything. I'll just be on my way, don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Izuku crossed his arms, "Giran, would you have threatened all 50 top heroes?"
Giran chuckled, "Good point, kid. Have fun." He waved and walked out the front door. Izuku went to the closet and pulled out his villain costume. Time to get back to work.
Izuku walked into the Blue Dogs base with his head held high. The gang leader was already waiting for him.
"Mastermind, pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Tanaka. Please, take a seat."
Izuku sat in the chair offered, "So, what can I do for you?"
Tanaka ran his hand through his hair and smiled condescendingly and Izuku tensed slightly. Something seemed off, but Izuku didn't know if there was something legitimately wrong, or if he was just among villains.
"We want to rob the Okane Bank. We're looking for a big haul."
Izuku nodded, "Should be doable. What are your quirks?"
One of the thugs snarled, "What do you need to know our quirks for?"
Izuku rolled his eyes, "Because it's normally advisable to use your quirks when robbing a bank. If you'd like a completely quirkless plan, I can do that, but most people don't go for that option, oddly enough."
Once he decided the thug had been sufficiently cowed, he turned back to Tanaka, who was still giving him that same smile that set Izuku's teeth on edge, "That's just Takahashi for ya, he's got a gas manipulation quirk, allows him to control any gas, including the air in people's lungs. He," Tanaka jerked his thumb toward another thug standing in the corner of the room, "can see in the dark and she," he pointed toward a woman leaning against the wall playing with a knife, "can throw any knife with 100% accurasy. I have a strength enhancement quirk and can lift three times my own body weight. The heavier I am, the more I can lift."
Izuku nodded. This matched up pretty well with the information he'd been able to gather before arriving. At least they weren't trying to lie to him, so why did it feel so off?
"All right, all that's left is the matter of my fee."
Tanaka's smile turned wicked and he pulled out a gun and leveled it at Izuku's head, "How's this for a fee, pipsqueak, you give us the plan and we'll let you walk out of here alive."
Izuku looked around the room to find the the other two men had their guns trained on him and the woman with the knife throwing quirk had two knives in each hand. He sighed, this explains why he'd been feeling off the whole meeting. He really should start listening to his gut more often.
As he scanned the room, Izuku weighed his options. He could just fight his way out: he'd escaped pro-heroes before. But then again, the pro-heroes weren't trying to kill him. He eyed the woman with the knives. With her quirk, he'd be walking out of here with at least one stab wound. Not the end of the world, but something he'd prefer to avoid if possible. Stabs were harder to hide than bruises and burns, afterall, and he'd rather not make his mom more worried.
On the other hand, he could just give them the plans, but he didn't want word getting out that you could just threaten Mastermind rather than paying. It was bad for business. Izuku thought for another moment before deciding.
"It sounds like you have yourself a deal."
Tanaka put away his gun and smiled, "I knew you'd come around, pipsqueak. Now how about you give us those plans."
As Izuku wrote, he smiled wickedly beneath his mask. Yes, he'd let them have their plans, but a fat lot of good money would do them with what they had coming.
Fun Fact: everyone has enemies willing to pay to bring them down.
"Detective Tsukauchi? There's been an interesting development on the Okane Bank case."
Tsukauchi gestered for the officer to continue.
"They're dead sir."
The detective did a double take, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"The perpetrators of the robbery are all dead." The officer said, "One was found strangled in his home alongside his family. Another seemingly died in a bar fight, although I doubt it's a coincidence. Another was found in a back alley, stabbed through the throat. The leader's body was left in front of the channel 9 news station. He appeared to have been starved and tortured to death. All the murders were done by different people at different times. The only thing linking them was that they were all members of the Blue Dogs gang that robbed Okane Bank last week."
Tsukauchi looked at the officer, "And you think Mastermind is behind it."
The officer shrugged, "It was pretty obvious he was behind the robbery. But why would he eliminate paying customers? Seems like a pretty bad business choice to me. I brought in a guy that had known dealings with the gang. Do you want to talk to him."
Tsukauchi nodded absently and grabbed the files on Mastermind and the Okane Bank robbery. He walked into the interrogation room, set the files on the table, and sat down opposite the twitchy young man waiting for him.
"All right, let's just get straight to the point. What can you tell me about the elimination of the Blue Dogs gang?"
The man rubbed his fingers together and looked around the room like he was expecting threats to pop out of the walls at any moment, "It was their own fault."
True
Tsukauchi tilted his head, "What do mean by that?"
"T-they screwed over the wrong person."
"You mean Mastermind?" Tsukauchi asked.
The man nodded, "Tanaka wasn't ever the type to play fair. If he could screw you over to get a dollar, he'd do every time. Word is he tried that on Mastermind. Held a gun to his head to get the plans for free," he rushed out, "He should've just paid. You don't mess with Mastermind."
True
"You think he killed them to send a message?"
To his surprise, the man shook his head, "Mastermind didn't kill 'em"
True
"Tanaka had enemies, they all did. But it wasn't a coincidence that all their enemies suddenly knew their every weakness right after they pulled that shit."
True
Tsukauchi stood, "Thank you. You've been a big help."
As soon as the door to the interrogation room closed, he sighed and rubbed his eyes. It took a major idiot to try to screw over someone who had managed to kill a hero while he was in police protection. He put the files back on his desk and stood. Maybe he should call Toshinori and go to dinner. Get away from this case for an hour or two. He nodded and grabbed his coat before calling his friend. At least Mastermind didn't know about Yagi Toshinori. Tsukauchi shuddered at what would happen if Mastermind figured out how weak All Might really was right now, but his friend had always been super careful with his identity, so they had nothing to worry about.
Right?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone