Aizawa(stiffening): Queen Bee...

Tsukauchi: Midoriya had better not get too deep into this...

Mic: You do realize who you're talking about right?

Izuku didn't like being famous. It made him paranoid. He ducked his head any time he passed someone, even though he knew that if the videos going around were enough to identify him, the police would have already arrested him. Or tried to. They probably wouldn't be very successful due to the whole no quirk thing, but it would make his mom worried and even though she s aid she didn't want him to be worried about worrying her, he was still worrying about it. What? It was worrying!

(a few people awkwardly snorted)

Anyway, he was paranoid. Every time someone glanced at him, he was convinced that they were going to come up to him and ask if he was Viridian. Logically, he knew that it probably wouldn't be the end of the world even if he was recognized, but he didn't want to disappoint anyone. From what he'd seen online, everyone thought that Viridian was this badass vigilante who went around punching guys three times his size and kept his quirk a mystery to keep villains guessing. He knew it probably wasn't healthy to keep count of the number of youtube theorists that had already made speculation videos about his quirk, so obviously he wasn't paying attention to those.

That number was three, by the way.

(everyone laughed)

The most popular theories Izuku had seen were some sort of speed or analysis quirk, both of which were corroborated by police and hero speculation, which had almost thrown him into a full panic attack when he'd learned about it. Izuku didn't know why it was such a shock to learn that the police had a file on him. It made sense, since he was a vigilante, or acted like one at least, even if he was using a technicality that no one knew about, but he just... he hadn't thought he was important enough to make a file on. Eraserhead would probably be annoyed if he heard Izuku talking like that, something about the problem child not knowing his own worth again or something like that, but then again, Eraser would probably also be angry if he knew what Izuku was planning on doing right now. Oh well, he'd forgive him when it all worked out... hopefully.

Uraraka: I hope it works out...

The problem with tracking down and capturing a live bee from Queen Bee's swarm was that every time Izuku had seen them so far, the bees were already doing their thing and injecting random people with trigger, so Izuku didn't really have any idea what they did when they weren't injecting people. Where did they hang out? Did they just fly around? Or did Queen Bee make them as she needed them so that she didn't have to worry about them being discovered while inactive? How did she make them, even?

Aizawa: No idea how she makes them but...

Midnight(shuddering): Trust me you don't want to know where she keeps them...

Izuku was currently working on the assumption that Queen Bee made them with her quirk, rather than by hand, because that seemed standard for most quirks that involved creating other consciousness. The main hero he was using as an example for his theory was Ectoplasm. His clones were made from the ectoplasm his body produced, but they were capable of independent action just like the bees in the swarm were, but that meant there was a limit to the number of clones he could produce at one time.

Ectoplasm: Yeah but... Kayama where do the bees go?

Everyone involved with trigger: Seriously you don't want to know.

The bees seemed to function slightly differently from Ectoplasm's clones, though, in that there were many more of them, but there was still that theoretical limit that Queen Bee would run into, depending on what she used to make the bees. Whether she used the nutrients in her body, the metals she physically had access to, or even just her body fat or stamina, she would eventually run out, but since the bee he'd examined hadn't poofed into nothingness when it was damaged, Izuku assumed that once a bee was created, it no longer took any input from her quirk to keep it alive. That meant that the smartest option would be to create them in small numbers and store them somewhere until she needed them.

Because the robots looked like bees and seemed to act like them for the most part from what Izuku had seen, it was logical to assume that there had to be some sort of hive where Queen Bee was able to keep the ones that she'd already made when she wasn't using them. Bees were a naturally occuring insect and observers wouldn't actually be able to tell they were quirk-created robots unless they looked too closely, so the least suspicious course of action would be to have them out in the open like any other beehive so they could hide in plain sight.

Tsukauchi: No that's not... no...

Recovery Girl: This will not end well will it?

Gran Torino: I hope you're wrong, Chiyo...

When he'd realized this, Izuku had, of course, hacked into all the exterminator services databases and looked at swarms that had been reported in the past several months. He only paid attention to the results where the extermination had failed, then prioritized the remaining hives based on how many times people had tried to get rid of them, since the robots were probably immune to the poisons that would kill real bees. Izuku had then spent the past three days wandering around, visiting each of those locations, and using his laptop to search for the wireless signal that the bees used to communicate with each other.

Which was why when Denki had asked if he was healed enough to hang out, Izuku had immediately suggested going to the diner that they'd gone to a few weeks ago. He really shouldn't have been surprised to find the diner on his search list, considering that Denki had said that the owners hadn't been able to find the hive and get rid of them, but oh well. At least with Denki he had a good excuse for hanging around the diner long enough to run his search. Some of the other places he'd tried had been... well, much more awkward, to say the least. There was one where he had resorted to just hiding on the roof, rather than having to talk to the residents of the apartment building. Thankfully those bees had been normal, just like all the others he'd checked, so he hadn't had to hang around for longer than necessary.

(a lot of people snorted but those involved with the trigger investigation just got more worried. They knew Kohaku was most likely Queen Bee's host and Midoriya getting involved like this looking to capture one of her bees... someone was going to get hurt)

Izuku rushed into the diner a few minutes late and helplessly looked around until he heard the waitress who'd served them last time softly laughing at him.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry!" Izuku clutched his laptop bag closer to his chest and tried to look as small as possible, memories of Kacchan's laughter echoing in his head. "Your name's Kohaku, right? I'm just supposed to be meeting a friend, he's... well you know who he is, obviously, he comes here a lot, but..."

Mina: Yikes he's still really traumatized isn't he...?

Bakugo(quietly): Yeah...

Hound Dog: C-PTSD noted...

"I'm gonna cut you off there." Kohaku rolled her visible eye. "The flirt's over there."

Izuku looked where she was pointing and almost melted in relief when he saw Denki waving at him with a huge grin on his face, "Thank you so much! I'm so sorry to bother you!"

Kohaku snorted softly as he ran over to Denki, who pushed a milkshake toward him as soon as he sat down, "Hey, I already ordered for you. I hope you like raspberry, I wanted to get you something as sweet as you are!"

Momo: Well that's a bit better.

Izuku laughed and rolled his eyes, "Your pick-up lines are getting better. Not by much, but still, I guess it's an improvement?"

Denki laughed good naturedly, "Thanks, dude. I, uh, ended up looking into what you said. You know, heroes using flirting as a weapon? It was a deep rabbit hole to fall down, but it turns out that way more heroes than just Midnight use it. I just can't stop watching all their interviews and seeing how they interact with people! I don't know how I'm gonna apply any of it in a fight yet, but it's just so cool!"

Kaminari: That sounds pretty fun.

Izuku grinned as his friend started talking faster and faster, which was often the best indication that Denki was really excited about something. It was a habit that Izuku had picked up on since they'd started hanging out. As much as Denki liked to joke about being stupid, once he found something he was interested in, it didn't take him long at all to become an expert. Izuku thought that was so cool! It was kinda like how he was with quirks!

Tsu: Yeah, ribbit.

"So, are you healing up okay?" Denki asked. "Your injuries were kinda bad..."

"Not really!" Izuku denied. "I mean, they weren't that bad, not that they aren't healed. I mean, I get that it looked bad, but I mean, Mom bought that I was just sick, so..."

"I just think it's kinda weird," Denki said slowly, "that you got super injured doing parkour on the same night that new vigilante went viral..."

(everyone stared)

Kirishima: Wait did Kaminari figure it out?

Sero: I think so.

It took all of Izuku's self control not to freeze like a deer in the headlights. Did he know? But if he did, would it really be so bad? Yes. Yes it would be. If Denki knew he was a vigilante, he'd be so worried and would try to get him to stop, but Denki was so much more open minded than his old classmates and he was preparing for UA, so he might try to convince Izuku to try the entrance exam and be a legal hero. Izuku... he didn't think he'd be able to handle that. He was finally getting to the point where his desire to die was mostly quietly hanging out in the background most days, and some days wasn't there at all, but if he were to get his hopes up, only to have them dashed again because he was just so useless...

He wasn't strong enough to handle that.

Inko: Oh Izuku...

So he laughed, "Viridian? Seriously? Doesn't he have a speed quirk or something? I mean, he runs from all those heroes..."

"That's the thing though dude," Denki said, "nobody actually knows what his quirk is, and you know that nobody's just gonna assume a badass vigilante is quirkless."

Mirko: Yeah they're not.

"Well I don't know what to tell you." Izuku tried. "I got injured from glass, not thorns. You know that. And besides, I saw those videos. Didn't Endeavor set that poor guy on fire? He probably ended up in the hospital after something like that, not with mostly mild burns..."

Denki frowned, "I guess I hadn't really thought about that... sorry."

Mitsuki: You don't have to apologize.

Izuku inwardly sighed in relief, but figured it'd be best to distract him from that train of thought before he could find the holes in Izuku's excuses. Maybe if he brought up one of the topics that Denki tended to hyperfocus on...?

Bakugo: Yeah that's definitely going to distract him.

"So, are you learning a lot from the electricians at your store?" Izuku asked.

Denki brightened, "Yeah! It's really cool! I've been learning all about these different kinds of currents and...."

Izuku smiled slightly and took out his laptop as Denki started to ramble, "Sorry, I forgot to do this one assignment and it's due today. Do you mind if I work on it while we talk?"

Power Loader: He's going to try and catch a bee isn't he?

Aizawa: Problem child stop before someone gets hurt...

"No problem!" Denki gave him a thumbs up and Izuku booted up his computer as his friend started to ramble again.

Izuku would occasionally add an idea for a support item or ask a question about what Denki was talking about, but mostly he was using it as a chance to look for the wireless signal that the bees gave off. He honestly wasn't expecting to find anything. In fact, he was starting to think that this particular lead was a bust and he was going to have to find another way to capture a bee.

Which is why it was such a surprise when he got a match.

Midnight: Oh no...

Tsukauchi: Midoriya tell us... quickly...

Izuku's eyes widened slightly and he managed to pass it off as being surprised by something Denki had said, but his mind was racing as he looked around the diner. Now that he was looking for them, it was easy to see the slight movement in the upper corners of the room where small numbers of the robotic bees were hanging out, which wasn't normal behavior for real bees. Izuku let out a slow breath.

He'd found the hive.

Aizawa: No you haven't...

Joke: I have no idea what you guys are all panicking about but it's starting to make me panic so... Midoriya go tell them before you do something stupid.

Midoriya(swallowing): I don't think he's going to...