Chapter 348 - My CO Stash #48 - MHA: World's Finest by Ld1449 (MyHeroAcademiaXBatman)

-This came out of nowhere and i'm digging this Batman! Pre-MHA fics do be great, we get to see young All Might throwing his backpack like his future successor and the midget grandpa now with some height!

Synopsis: Nana Shimura as the holder of One for All was ready for a great many things.

But few can ever be prepared to meet a certain Bruce Wayne.

Rated: ???

Words: 13K

Posted on: forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mha-worlds-finest-bnhaxbatman.868273/ (Ld1449)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1-3 (exceptional)

Nana Shimura could recall the day she met him in vivid detail.

Given how he liked to operate at night, she knew now how strange it was to have her first meeting with him during the day; but that's when it had happened.

There'd been a robbery, some kind of shoplifter with a quirk that could make anyone he wanted forget about him for five to ten seconds.

That's it. That's all the quirk did.

She'd nearly lost the guy before she thought fast and scribbled a note on a lil notepad and clutched it in her fingers.

Every time she forgot she'd look at the notepad and remember, and resume the chase. Gran Torino had zoomed in to catch him, only to forget what he was doing mid burst and just kept on going. Who knew where he was by now.

The guy obviously hadn't thought this little escape through, he likely thought his quirk was enough to get everyone that might give chase the slip by just erasing the memory of him for a few seconds while he rounded the corner.

It should have worked.

But she was stubborn, and he had thoroughly pissed her off.

She floated above the air, avoiding pedestrians and keeping one eye locked on the bad guy and the other locked on her notepad. Gritting her teeth every time her mind blanked out.

Now this guy was just constantly spamming his quirk cutting off every thought.

That was just rude!

People pointed and wondered, some looked confused at the running man and her floaty, angry looking self but no one really moved to interfere.

At least not til he did.

He stepped out of an alley, dressed in a pair of cargo pants and a heavy green jacket. He had a dark beard and blue eyes, so different from the usual clean look she knew now that he favored, but a week on the streets would do that.

And before she could even blink, the guy held out his arm, and the oblivious, panicking villain got clotheslined so hard it made her wince; a feeling of pity briefly rose above her frustration.

The guy flipped end over end, choking before crunching down into the pavement face first.

Mr. Beard reached down and picked up the stolen goods.

Nana drifted closer as she saw the criminal moving to get to his feet.

Then she saw the knife.

She moved fast, One for All surging beneath her flesh as she closed the distance in an eyeblink.

She didn't need to bother.

The guy shoved the knife at Mr. Beard.

And his wrist was caught, twisted and damn near broken before Nana could blink hand held out half way to intercept.

Mr. Beard held out the stolen goods with his free hand, not saying a word as his victim screamed and tried to pull free.

She looked at Mr. Beard, a bit confused and kind of impressed. Did he have a mental quirk of some kind? Or just a lot of practice. She smiled as she grabbed the stolen goods, jewels, wallets, credit cards and some cash. All here. "Well thanks for the help. It was getting a little annoying."

Mr. Beard didn't answer, and now that she was this close she could spy a few things.

One, he was definitely not Japanese. Westerner. Maybe American, so he might not speak the language. And underneath the beard his cheeks look sunken, there were bags under his eyes, she got the impression that he was homeless.

Sorahiko rushed in, air pressure boots hitting the ground with a sigh. "I was halfway to Nanjo before I remembered." He growled. "Glad you caught him."

Nana smiled. "Mr. Beard did the heavy lifting! Didn'-cha big guy!"

Silence again and Sorahiko raised an eyebrow. "Foreigner. Maybe he doesn't speak the langua-"

"I speak it fine."

His voice was a shock, rough, almost a growl, like he hadn't used it in a while.

Then he smiled a bit, just a quick quirk of the lips. "It is however, the first time anyone has called me 'Mr. Beard' So it took me a moment." His accent wasn't as horrible as others she'd heard but it was present.

"Well what's your name big guy? Otherwise Mr. Beard it is!" She smiled cheekily.

The man looked at her, amused.

"Bruce. Bruce Wayne."

(X)(X)(X)

She offered to buy him some food at a nearby truck. Seemed like a nice thing to do for a good samaritan homeless guy that helped take down a rather annoying villain.

It became more than a little obvious shortly afterwards that while Bruce was as hungry as a homeless person might be, he wasn't homeless, or at the very least, he hadn't been homeless long.

For one thing, he didn't order the most expensive thing on the menu, he didn't slouch overmuch when he sat or when he walked. When he did walk he moved like he owned the street, the food truck and the buildings everywhere around him. It was... just this self assuredness in his body language.

He also had impeccable table manners.

Like, better than her and she was a native Japanese girl. For a foreigner to make her feel inadequate while using chopsticks was almost insulting really.

"So where are you from Wayne-san?" She asked, popping a Dango into her mouth.

"America." He answered.

Nana rolled her eyes and had to stop herself from flicking the Dango stick at his head. "I know that. Be specific."

He smiled. "Not a place you've heard of, Gotham,"

She nodded sagely. "You're right. Never heard of it."

She thought he looked a little sad for a moment, but it was gone in a flash.

"What about you?" He asked blowing lightly to cool the fried eel and rice. "Where are you from.

"Native born girl, raised right here." Her eyes crinkled in her smile. "Been coming to this food truck as long as I can remember."

He nodded. "I don't blame you. It's rather good food.

They kept eating for a little bit longer. She talked. A lot. Him not so much. But he did pay attention, she could tell.

Finally after almost an hour of chatter long after they'd both finished their respective orders, he seemed comfortable enough to breach a subject of his own accord. "You're a… Hero. As a profession?"

She raised an eyebrow. Was that so strange to him? Heroes were everywhere, of course they were paid. Otherwise no one would do it. Like cops. It was hard enough as it was.

Maybe things were different in America?

"Of course." She scoffed then winced a bit at her own tactlessness.

He nodded again, "I see. How long have you been doing it?"

Ohhh, about twelve… some odd years now. Shit that makes me sound old. Do I look old? I hope not!" She was dismayed. "Were you trying to ask me my age!?"

He smiled again. "You seem to be doing well no matter what age you are."

Her smile turned wolfish. It'd been a while since anyone had the balls to flirt with her

"Careful big boy. Don't start anything you can't finish."

"I never do."

She choked on her drink with the laugh that tried to escape her windpipe, sputtering and coughing before eyeing him outta the corner of her eye.

"And here you looked like the serious and silent type was more your game. You're a shameless flirt."

"Not completely shameless." He defended as he wiped his mouth with a napkin, still sporting a hint of a smile under the beard.

Finally he turned, looking to the sun in the sky, just beginning its descent into inevitable sunset.

Bruce stood. Bowing at the waist, just enough to be polite, but not so far as to seem grovelling. "Thank you for the meal, but I should leave before the shelter is filled."

She waved him off. "Thanks for the help." Then the latter half of his sentence caught up with her brain. "You're staying in the shelter?"

"It is what homeless bearded men do while homeless and bearded, I believe." He smiled.

She eyed him and he seemed embarrassed at his lack of money as she saw him almost reach for a wallet that wasn't in his pants pocket. The smile vanished, replaced with a clear grimace of distaste and wounded pride.

Her smile grew a bit.

"Tell ya what-" She hedged. "Come with me. I'll let ya crash at my place for a week or two."

He turned to her, eyebrow rising high to search for real estate near his hairline. "Why would you do that?"

She shrugged. "Dunno. I like to think I'mma decent judge of character, believe it or not. An I got a good feelin bout ya." Came her easy reply. "So, crash at my place for a bit, get a job, get back on your feet." She closed one eye hand rising to point at him. "Don't think this is a free ride though. I see you tryin to freeload and not actually trying, I'll kick your ass to the curb three ways to sunday."

He shrugged. "If you ever get that impression, you have my permission to proceed with the ass kicking."

She chuckled. "I think we're gonna get along just fine Mr. Wayne.

(X)(X)(X)

Sorahiko grumbled and muttered and frowned in that oh so disapproving way of his and warned and heckled and did all those pesky "worry" things Sorahiko does, like telling her that 'She was being an idiot' and that 'You don't even know the guy' but in the end, he did give her a few clothes of his for Bruce to wear. They were almost of a similar height and build, though Bruce was a little taller and a bit more broad shouldered.

Oh, and a Razor, she'd gotten him a razor too.

So now, after a rather extensive shower, Bruce walked out of the bathroom looking like a whole new man, and Nana felt her own eyebrow hiking a little high now.

"You clean up nice Mr. Wayne."

"I try." He smiled, and yup. She was positive the guy had not been homeless long. Clean-shaven with a physique that coulda been cut outa marble, if he was homeless she was the queen of Japan.

She gestured towards the couch behind her. "Whelp, its all done up nice for ya. One rule though, the apple juice in the fridge is mine."

He nodded, "As the kind lady who took me in demands, so it shall be."

"You learn quick." She quipped. Then yawned. "Well, I dunno about you but its been a bit of a day, I'm gonna head to bed. Watch TV, use the computer or whatever just make it quiet, Gotta get up early."

Bruce turned, looking at the clock. "Not a night person?" He asked.

"Not really. I like sunshine. Makes me smile…" She paused, then- "At least when its not insanely hot." She added as an afterthought.

Then at another thought her wicked smile returned and she eyed him up and down again. "I get the feelin you're the kinda guy that'll say he can go all night."

He chuckled, the twinkle in his eye saying he'd caught the joke.

"Something like that."

(X)(X)(X)

Over the next few days they fell into something of a rhythm.

Nana would head out, do some work on the streets, make her patrols and sometimes Bruce would be out when she got back, sometimes he wasn't. On the days he was still in the apartment, on the days he was there…

Well…

She could very easily forgive his not being out still job hunting on those days.

First time he did it, he cleaned her apartment.

Top to bottom.

Only place he didn't touch was her room because he didn't think she'd appreciate the invasion of privacy.

He was right… but her room really was a mess damnit.

Second time he was in the apartment, He cleaned and refitted some of her neglected support gear.

It was neglected because she hardly used it anymore, what with One for All having made a lot of her old items rather obsolete; but still, it was the thought that counts.

He'd done a damn good job too. Some of the pieces worked even better than she remembered when she just got them.

She distinctly remembered that grapple hook not having the strength to lift her full on weight. She had a quirk to float after all. The motor was only supposed to help her move a little faster when she needed to, not full on lift her, now though, it could lift her, even without her quirk being active.

She didn't know what the hell he'd done before he clotheslined that thief, but he was damn good at it.

The third time she caught him in the apartment, he'd made dinner using a recipe he'd learned from someone he just called 'Alfred'

It was delicious.

Bruce said Alfred cooked it ten times better than anything he could do, no matter how much he tried to get it perfectly.

If that was true;

She didn't know who Alfred was.

But she wanted to marry him.

And possibly have his children.

But Bruce didn't spend all his time at her apartment, he frequently went out job hunting and at the moment had secured himself some employment at a temp agency of some kind. He got a signature and a record of his arrival and departure, every day he was there and showed it to her, every time, without fail.

She tried to tell him it wasn't necessary but she understood his diligence. She had given him a condition for his stay after all.

He returned with money sometimes, not much, but what he did get he forwarded to her to help with the rent and groceries.

"Right now though, she was so grateful he was in the apartment and the smell of cooking food was wafting through the air. It had been a long day.

Apparently, either the sound of her heavy footsteps or perhaps he could telepathically feel her exhaustion because he didn't even look up from where he was chopping onions when he spoke.

"Long day?"

She huffed out a breath as she plopped herself down on a booth by the kitchen island.

"You can say that again."

Smoothly sliding a glass across the countertop and pouring a generous helping of her favorite wine, Nana could kiss the man right now.

"Tell me all about it." He smirked.

"There's been some vigilante going around recently." She groused. "Might be a mutation quirk or something, lotta the bad guys he beat up are complaining about a bat.

"Sure its not the baseball kind?" He snarked.

"Nope. Full on blood sucking rat with wings." She shook her head taking another sip of wine.

"Very few of them actually suck blood you know."

She shrugged. "Ehh- anyway. Police chief wants him taken down. You know how quirk laws are."

"So why not take him down? What's the issue?"

"He's a pain in the ass to track down that's the issue!"

"For you?" Bruce's smile was downright teasing. "Maybe you should write yourself a note."

"Oh-ha ha." Her mild irritation was forgotten as her housemate pulled out a steaming hot confection of cheese and meat from the oven. A true blue "Alfred Lasagna special" as he'd called it.

By the smell alone, it was official.

She was finding Alfred.

And she was marrying him.

"Any idea what he's after?" Bruce asked, sliding the full to the brim oven pan onto the countertop to start cutting. "It might help you get ahead of him."

The suggestion wasn't a bad one. She shrugged. "I'll ask Gran Torino tomorrow. He always had a better head for this kinda stuff than me."

"Good luck then." He smiled as he served her. "Let me know if I can help."

(X)(X)(X)

Chapter 2

Nana was really growing to hate 'The Batman'

At this point, after almost two months of chasing after the bastard she didn't even know what the hell his quirk even was.

Her own personal theory was something like "Fear aura"

Because holy hell she needed something to explain how completely useless the villains were in identifying it.

At this point, her tally had everything from a possible mutation quirk where the guy was actually a bat, some minor super strength quirk, a combat thinking type quirk like better reflexes or some crap, possibly some precog, all the way up to a quirk that could move people, invisibility, flight and anything in between.

Every day he kept going was another day the authorities got more and more riled up. And more and more on her case. Anti-quirk laws were just approved, having someone breaking em willy f.u.c.k.i.n.g nilly was not a good image.

And at this point, it was a point of personal pride really.

One did not evade Shimura Nana for two whole months on a wild goose chase without consequences damnit!

So when Gran Torino finally managed to track down a pattern in the attacks and had narrowed down the next vector to just two possible sites, she was completely and totally on board for the stakeout.

Turns out, stakeouts were borning.

Really f.u.c.k.i.n.g boring.

Stakeouts for three days with criminal activity happening right infront of her were even worse.

But, it did give her an opportunity to write down everyone's names (or makeup some of her own) and imagine the many many many ways she was going to punch the living hell out of them after Batman was dealt with.

It was honestly a little more entertaining than it should be.

Maybe she was a closet sadist?

Did that have something to do with One For All?

Maybe she had taken on personality traits of other users.

Wait…

Did that mean one of the previous users was a sadist?

That was worrying!

People had to be careful when choosing successors! They couldn't go picking sadists… or… women who rambled to themselves about possibly non existent personality trai-

Her phone rang.

She didn't need her quirk to jump that high.

Fishing it out of her pocket she found Gran Torino's caller ID staring back at her.

"Hello-"

"He's here!"

One for All thrummed through her body, and the smile that spread over her features was almost manic, sadism concerns or not.

Float worked as advertised, it allowed her to… well… float.

With One for All however, her body shot through the sky like a bullet, accelerating so fast it made her head spin, all but shattering the sound barrier in an instant as she flew across town towards the second site where Gran Torino was located.

She made it there in under three minutes, Gran Torino was still waiting outside, he wouldn't go in without backup if he could avoid it. It was how they usually worked.

He turned, looking her way with a smile. "Ahh, nice of you to join us."

"So where's the big bad bat?" She asked, half with malicious intent, half with genuine curiosity. Honestly, after two months could you blame her?

Torino gestured to the nightclub down below. "Down there, from what I've gathered the goods they're smuggling is in the sub level."

"How do you know he's down there the-"

Gran Torino held up a single hand held walkie talkie, something he'd probably snagged.

He switched it on.

Instantly, the sound of gunfire, screams of pain and shouted orders made her jump.

Torino clicked the walkie off.

She whistled, thoroughly impressed. "Damn, the soundproofing down there must be amazing. I can't even hear the gunshots."

"Oh yeah They spent a hell of a lot on it. Well, shall we?"

She bowed. "Age before beauty Gran-"

"Pearls before swine!" Torino snarked back, leaping off the ledge.

She huffed.

The nightclub's loud music was pounding in their ears, entering through a backdoor the two heroes slipped through, apparently the same route that the Bat had come through, given how the guard at the door was out cold.

So was the one at the security elevator.

And the ones in the hallway at the sublevel entrance.

Gran Torino and Nana walked through the halls, taking note of an ever increasing tally of groaning, injured and very beat up bad guys.

She saw one guy twice her size with three times her muscle mass with his head stuck in a wall.

"Damn. Honestly I kinda wanna see this guy work."

"You just might get the chance." Torino replied.

She heard it then, the sound of fighting.

The two of them started running.

They made it right to the end of the hall, they heard a gut churning crack a scream and then-

The door infront of them practically flew off its hinges, snapping off its moorings and frame completely, Nana's whole body braced arms smashing into the wood and shoving it aside along with the body behind it.

The guy hit the ground, face bruised, eyes rapidly swelling shut and blood pouring from busted teeth and an equally busted nose.

She looked inside.

And there he was.

Had to be him.

Either that or there was some kind of secret convention of "Horned black suit guys" running around and no one told her.

It vaguely resembled a bat she guessed.

It was actually pretty high quality for a vigilante. The body armor was form fitting, but easy enough to move in that a throw like what he did to the guy he broke the door with possible, it looked strong, maybe good enough to stop bullets. She could spy a utility belt peeking just past the shroud of the cape.

Torino moved in first, his quirk activating, allowing him to hover, flying up to swoop down. The room was taller than normal and the second she stepped through the door it didn't take her long to realize why.

They were in a lab.

Nana blinked, eyes turning this way and that way. There were people here. Five of them, laying on beds, IV tubes in their arms she vaguely recognized one as a boy that had been kidnapped just recently. He had some kind of groundquake quirk or something.

"What… is this?" She asked, looking at Torino. "I thought we were tracking weapon shipments."

Her old friend looked just as confused as she was.

"The weapons are three doors down to the right." They turned, looking to the vigilante.

His voice was gutural, low and deep, almost growling. "This… this is something they're doing on the side."

He turned beginning to march away towards the main computer.

"And what the hell is 'this' supposed to be?" She asked, marching after him.

"All the victims have one thing in common." He said.

"You dragging it out for suspense?" Gran Torino groused. "Spit it out."

"Powerful quirks." His hand reached out, finger smacking against the clipboard at the foot of the bed.

Nana froze.

The bat kept walking. "I trust you two can call this in."

"We can." Torino said. "But you're coming with us."

The Bat never even broke his stride. "Not happening."

Torino darted through the air, coming to a stop infront of the Bat. "Sorry, wasn't a request. You're in violation of the anti-quirk vigilante laws."

She could almost feel the man smiling. "I doubt that."

Torino's face twisted with displeasure, reaching up to place his hand on the man's shoulder, his other pulling free his handcuffs "Don't make thi-"

That's as far as he got.

He's fast. Fast enough that Nana has to wonder if its a speed quirk of some kind. The Bat's fist sn.a.k.e.d out, punching Sorahiko dead in the center of his chest. Her old friend gagged, all but retching as he choked on air, the quirk in his legs sputtering like a choking engine.

She rushed forward.

Batman threw him right at her.

She stopped mid charge, rapidly adjusting her stance to catch Torino who still kept choking and sputtering as he tried to suck down a greedy lungful.

The Bat stepped back, hands falling into the folds of his cape as something clinked onto the tiled floor.

Then the room was swallowed by smoke.

Nana grit her teeth, One for All pulsing through her body as she threw out a single, solid punch.

The smoke was blasted to the back of the room.

And the Bat was gone.

She set Sorahiko down, her old friend still coughing, trying to breathe as she stepped into the room, head on a swivel.

The only door was behind her. But somehow… he was just gone.

Nana snarled.

"You bastard! Get back here! I haven't even gotten to punch you yet!"

(X)(X)(X)

She went home that night, irritated.

She was tired and angry.

But most of all…

She was scared.

Opening the door she found Bruce diligently cleaning and preparing some food at her kitchen.

He looked to her, offering one of those smiles of his that kinda said "I know something you don't"

Right now, she didn't have the mind to play games, fun as they tended to be sometimes.

"Long day?" He asked

She sighed.

"Yeah… yeah you can say that."

The cops were still going through the area.

The weapons were definitely there, so were the drugs. One of the cops with a specialized quirk said that some money was missing. Actual cash money taken recently from where it had been.

She suspected Batman had taken it.

It's how most vigilantes funded themselves without official backing or sponsors, but she could hardly prove it without catching the guy.

But that didn't matter, not really. Weapons were bad, drugs were worse.

The missing people though…

They worried her.

Each and every single one of them said the same thing as soon as they'd regained consciousness

They couldn't activate their quirks.

So either she stumbled onto some hellhole where someone had found a way to remove people's quirks through science…

Or she stumbled onto a place where… he was harvesting victims… harvesting their quirks.

Both possibilities were completely terrifying.

...

She wasn't ready…

In another ten years… or maybe the next successor, if she found one… maybe.

But right now?

Right now if she faced him… she'd die.

She was strong. When she activated One for All she was faster than Gran Torino, stronger than most people with strength quirks could ever dream of being. She could fly, and she wasn't half bad thinking on her feet either.

But that wasn't enough.

Not nearly enough.

Not against him.

He'd been alive for centuries. His top lieutenants alone were enough to give her tough fights and he completely outclassed all of them by nautical miles.

She would die…

Just with the five quirks he took tonight… she couldn't even begin to think on how she could force her way past those potential combinations.

And he had hundreds; thousands more like it.

Bruce caught on to her mood it seemed, either that or her emotions were just obvious on her face.

"Something's wrong."

It wasn't a question.

Nana looked at him. She couldn't say she knew her housemate well, but after a few months...she did think of him as a friend.

A quirkless friend, one who would never see the Hero work she did, never be put in danger by it.

Never be in danger of crossing paths with All for One.

He'd be completely beneath his notice.

She couldn't tell him. Not everything.

But maybe something, maybe enough to vent, tell her own fears like she hadn't been able to do with her own family that she abandoned, or Gran Torino who she worried for…

But… maybe Bruce, just a bit would be okay.

"It's… kind of a story."

He pulled out two glasses and a bottle of wine.

The invitation was clear.

I got time.

(X)(X)(X)

Chapter 3

Talking to Bruce doesn't ease the fear.

It can't.

Because he's still out there.

It does give her focus however.

Not to mention that Bruce's advice is surprisingly good, almost tactical.

She can't beat All for One.

But that doesn't mean she has to let him do whatever he wants either.

She has a lead now, her foot in the door. Even if the thugs don't know everything, they know enough, they know who brought the victims, they know when All for one dropped by to take their quirks.They know the drop off points for the ones too important to just die, and the plans for the weapons, the drugs.

"Hit the foundation at his feet. No matter how powerful the criminal is, he needs a foundation to stand on."

He's right. She'd been too scared to think clearly, but once she's done being a coward, she knows he's right.

She calls Sorahiko the next morning.

Interrogations are slow to set up. Police still largely don't trust quirk users calling themselves heroes. Too much overlap, too many budgets being cut to sponsor top pros.

They stonewall, delay, but she's stubborn.

And a right royal bitch when she wants to be.

They get in.

Not for the grunts either but for people up the totem pole, people with answers.

Even so the process is slow, slower than she'd like.

He already knows one of his sites got hit. He has to.

She doubts he knows of her involvement. Not yet anyway. The Bat did most of the heavy lifting, so the Bat's name is the one he's hearing

The vigilante's good cover in that respect.

Doesn't change that he might come here soon. At the very least a lieutenant will be sent out. Someone to bring down the Bat.

Another reason to find the idiot.

He was in way over his head.

The bad guys give them something to work with. There were three things of interest there. Guns, drugs and victims. The guns and drugs are important, but not so much next to the victims.

She knows there are more.

So that's the trail she follows.

She's hoping that the interrogations would point her to one or, maybe, two guys. Fixers, wetwork specialists.

They don't. They know of four different people that were responsible for these particular victims being brought in… delivered.

Only one of them slipped up enough for anyone to know anything though. The 'newest' one, a doctor. The one who brought in a kid.

A kid half drowning in meds uttered his name loud enough for some to hear.

Ujiko.

Its not a lot. Likely an alias.

But she's had less to work with.

So she gets to work.

(X)(X)(X)

She gets home that night and Bruce is there, and she's grateful for that.

"Long day?"

She scowls, shambling over to the kitchen island where a covered plate of steamed vegetables and chicken is waiting for her.

"That question is becoming routine." she mutters.

"You seem to have a great many long days." He answers back, newspaper crinkling in hand.

She turns, eyeing him; He has his own clothes now, gone are Sorahiko's hand me downs and she's not really surprised most of what he's bought is just dark colors all round, grays, blacks, the occasional dark brown that could pass for black.

Variety is not her friend's strong suit in his color palette.

"Anything in the fifty odd papers today?" She asks lightly.

That's something that she noticed damn quick.

Bruce read.

A lot.

Everything he could get his hands on.

He didn't watch TV unless it was news and most of his time at home could be spent on the newspaper job hunting really, he was diligent but with things as they were no one was really hiring "long term"

But, diligently, he kept bringing her every bit of cash he could spare, an envelope was resting next to her plate, with the full rent money. Not half as usual, full.

Part of her felt a little guilty for taking it, half was fair.

The other half was too stressed now to really consider fair… the extra cash would be useful in the coming months, especially if All For one or his Lieutenants were going to come around.

Informants needed incentive.

And sometimes money was it.

"Quite a bit." He answered, and as she took a bite of her lukewarm vegetables and chicken Bruce fished a folded up paper, placing it on the side of the couch closest to her.

Curious, she picked up her plate, marching forward.

Leaning over the couch, she eyed the paper in question.

It was a story of the takedown last night at the club.

She'd mentioned it in passing to Bruce. Her name was kept out of it, so was Sorahiko's by her request.

Even so it looks like he had enough to put the pieces together.

"That's where your 'Quirk thief' was operating from?"

"One of his places most likely." She answered, then sighed, rubbing at her forehead. "Bruce… what I told you last night… I told you to vent. I was scared. Don't go digging into this. This… quirk thief is bad news."

"He certainly sounds like it." Bruce said nonchalantly.

"Bruce…" She half warned half pleaded.

He turned his eye to her, blue gaze finding hers.

"Don't worry." He said with a slow nod. "I'm not looking to get in over my head. But this villain is worrying you, eating at you. So what's the harm in bouncing some ideas around? No one here but you, me and a hole in the wall."

She tried to look stern, angry even, but her will wasn't in it.

How many years has it been since she told anyone? The secrecy was necessary but it weighed. She'd tried to tell Sorahiko but every time she did she'd remember her husband… she'd told him. And All for one took his quirk, and his life. It was only pure luck Kotaro had been with her that day and not her husband. It had been his turn to take her boy to school.

If they'd both been killed...

Couldn't keep your mouth shut I see, eh Shimura?

She knew him, she could remember that smile and she had no doubt he'd do the same to Sorahiko if he could get his hands on him. Leave her alive again to watch and live with it.

But with Bruce... he might never hear Bruce's name.

He was quirkless, powerless… beneath All for One's notice.

It was a weak excuse, flimsy. Something to justify *her* wants. All for one would kill him all the same… it didn't matter.

But she was tired… tired of secrets, tired of keeping her mouth shut, tired of not talking of not planning, of running.

And Bruce made her feel like she wasn't just running.

"I may have found the name of one of his fixers. Doctor named Ujiko. My guess is he's a pediatrician, scouts kids with newly discovered quirks…"

"Easy victims." Bruce's features darkened.

She nodded. "Yeah…"

Bruce was quiet for a moment, eyes closed.

Then, abruptly, he stood marching away.

"Bru-"

He rummaged in one of the drawers on the computer desk he'd recently organized, pulling free a pen and notebook.

Then, he walked back to the couch and sat down.

With a click of the writing utensil he looked to her.

"Lets see if I can help you make sense of everything you know."

(X)(X)(X)

She learned something that night.

Several somethings. Not the least of which was just how much damaging information she actually had on All For one after almost a decade living in his shadow.

But more than that was how very… frankly, scary Bruce's intelligence was.

Definitely not homeless. Some kind of doctor. A psychologist or criminologist or something.

He'd asked her simple questions at first, gradually going into more and more detail, some of which she knew the answers to, a lot of which she didn't.

But even with the few scraps of concrete information she did have, Bruce's brain worked like he was fitting pieces to a giant jigsaw puzzle he could see in his head.

She didn't consider herself an idiot by any means but she would freely admit Bruce was frighteningly smarter than her after last night.

He'd started the beginnings of a psychological profile.

A psychological profile on All For One.

Then he'd gone and started using what little information she had in her own files and memory, along with the paper thin police record to begin narrowing down possible areas she could search both for the doctor and another Quirk harvest site.

There was still too many unknowns for a definitive hit on either target.

But she was gonna go digging.

He was good at this, better than Sorahiko, better than most cops she'd seen.

He'd managed to cram days worth of analysis into a handful of hours.

She wanted oh so desperately to ask. To prod and question what he did before he was 'homeless' but, she refrained. Not only because she herself was keeping a fair few secrets of her own from him, but because she knew somehow, that if she did, Bruce would be out that door in a heartbeat.

And his brain if nothing else was too damn good to lose as a resource now that she knew about it.

That and… frankly, she wasn't sure it mattered, outside of her own curiosity.

She'd told Bruce she was a good judge of character and so, secrets or not, hidden past or not, she still thought he was a good person behind the mystery.

As long as that held true, what he did before he walked out of that alley with a beard and kung fu grip action shouldn't and didn't matter to her.

(X)(X)(X)

Sorahiko, also known as Gran Torino, sighed quietly. The man grumbled to himself, removing his eyemask and unclasping the cape from his shoulders as he entered his little home.

It had been a long day of chasing dead ends.

Dead ends were always the worst, not only did they not catch anyone, not only did they not find any information that could lead to a future capture but it was another day where Nana had to smile and not mean it.

There were too damn many days like that, honestly.

She always smiled, because of course she did. And if he didn't know her as well as he did he would never know the difference.

But there were days when that smile came easy, when it reached her eyes and made her whole face glow.

Other days, days like today, it was just there out of habit, a force of will. Like she needed it to be there to avoid crying.

He hated it.

Ever since they found that… quirk lab, whatever it was it seemed like her true smile had burned away, replaced by the fake one.

She was sure there was another lab somewhere so sure of it that Sorahiko couldn't help but try and sniff it out, find it, if only to bring his friends' smiles back.

But he couldn't.

Why would anyone but a single offshoot mad scientist have a need for a quirk lab? Quirks couldn't be copied or erased unless by another quirk and it was only temporary. A hundred damn years of research proved it.

Even if they did find the doctor they were looking for, there was no wa-

He froze at the door to his room.

There, laying on the nightstand was a folder and a radio he most certainly had not seen before in his life, much less left there.

Instantly on guard, his hands flew to the lights flicking them all on and immediately checking every door and corner of his home before locking every window and entrance.

A minute later, he returned to his room.

The walkie was directly over the folder and Sorahiko had to look and check for tripwires or other traps.

"If I wanted to plant a bomb. You wouldn't have known until you lay in your bed."

The voice made him jump, and Sorahiko felt his lip curl in a sneer.

He recognized that voice.

Reaching gingerly for the walkie Sorahiko plucked it free from where it rested and eyed the thing.

Short wave. The range couldn't be more than a single square mile, two at the absolute most.

Had to be close. If he knew he was in his room enough to call he had to be damn close.

He clicked the transceiver button.

"Vigilante." He said, eyes moving this way and that way to the windows, searching for anyone that might be watching, down to the street to see anyone on a strange phone or hoodie.

Where was he…

"I'll keep this brief. On your night-table is a file. Its all the additional evidence I've dug up on one Dr. Ujiro. I know you're on the trail as well."

Torino's eyes narrowed, suspicion clear as he eyed the folder. "Why share it with us? You vigilantes don't play nice with licensed heroes. You dropping this?"

"Hardly. The both of you are… loud. With your official resources I'll be able to pick up new leads."

"Loud?"

"Loud enough for me to find your home. Haven't found hers yet. But I've narrowed it down to Nanta district. Shouldn't take me more than a few days."

"You stay the hell away from her!" Torino snarled. Nana did not need that, did not need some other villain showing up in her house. Losing her husband and giving up her kid had hurt her enough as it was.

"I don't care about either of you. All I want is to find that doctor before he hauls off some other kid to a quirk lab. If you want to keep playing at this little pissing contest, go ahead."

Gran Torino rubbed at his bearded chin, eyes still scanning the streets beyond his home, searching.

"You think he's taking kids to quirk labs too? Why? You know something we don't?"

"You have what you need. Use it, or don't."

The line went dead with a hiss of static.

(X)(X)(X)