Chapter 40: Kamino Ward
Shinji Nishiya leaned against the wall of a dingy alleyway doing his best to look inconspicuous. That was made slightly more difficult due to him being in his hero costume, although in the shaded areas of the alleyway it wouldn't look too out of place in Kamino ward. What made it very hard to stay inconspicuous, though, was Mt. Lady standing right next to him. Even without her quirk active, her costume was designed to catch the eye. In a shady part of town like this, it would likely draw attention for reasons unconnected to it being a hero costume.
Honestly, though, Shinji wasn't sure why he worried so much. It didn't really matter how inconspicuous he and Mt. Lady were (or weren't) being when there was an entire platoon of police officers out on the main street. It was like they had never heard of stealth in their entire lives. A handful of sidekicks from their agency were scattered amongst the police officers, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.
Most of Edgeshot's pre-merger sidekicks had decided to join the Lurkers. Tiger Shadow and Hisshi stood together amongst the officers gathered, ready to perform their duty as rearguard. Longstep was among the urban aid and rescue heroes organized under Thirteen nearer the warehouse raid, ready to help where needed.
Takeha was the only one of Shinji's pre-merger sidekicks that had decided to make the jump to the Lurkers, but as soon as he had heard what the operation was going to be, he was eager to join in however he could. He, too, was standing with the police officers, but Shinji could tell that he was eager to do everything he could to help save Midoriya. Hopefully it would not come to that.
Shinji was just as eager to save Midoriya, although for slightly different reasons. He had never had his life saved by the boy, but the sludge villain incident and the incident with Gentle Criminal had forced him to reevaluate his own career arc.
There had been a part of him that had wanted to join Death Arms in criticizing the young quirkless boy who had rushed into a dangerous hostage situation, but even in the moment he had known that was just frustration boiling over from his own inability to aid in the situation. He had justified it at the time as the fires around the villain and hostage being too intense for his primarily wooden body.
Even then, though, he felt that Death Arms could have and should have been the one to rush in and begin to rescue the hostage. Since he had failed to do so, it later became obvious that it should have been Shinji himself, despite the increased danger. The incident had reminded him that heroism was not all about quirk matchups and that it did require some measure of risk.
Midoriya saving Takeha's life from Gentle Criminal, on the other hand, reminded Shinji of the everyday dangers of heroism as a career. Even a simple convenience store robbery could, in an instant, turn into a lethal danger. Shinji had seen other heroes, highly ranked heroes at that, who had confronted this reality and turned from it, focusing instead on doing what they could to protect themselves, to make sure that they made it back from each patrol.
There was a different lesson in that incident though, Shinji thought. A quirkless, teenaged, bystander had been the one to step up and rescue Takeha. For every villain that lurked in the shadows, there was a hero in every way except license amongst the civilians. It was the reminder that Shinji needed to reinforce his dedication to helping everyone, to not lock himself away from the people he was supposed to protect.
In their own way, each incident had led Shinji to become a better hero, at least in his own opinion on the matter. Shortly after the Gentle Criminal incident had come Edgeshot's offer of a teamup, and from there, the rest was history. Shinji wasn't sure if he would have taken the offer if not for the changes to his perspective from his interactions with Midoriya.
And then the boy had gone and developed an incredibly late-blooming quirk, earned admission to U.A and won the first year of the sports festival. It was no surprise that he had caught the eye of the semi-mythical quirk thief. The boy's quirk was obviously powerful, and All Might had said that All For One was something of a collector of unique and powerful quirks. Late-bloomer quirks, even those as late as Midoriya's, were not completely unheard of, but they were generally quite weak. Something as powerful as Midoriya's certainly seemed to fit All For One's preferences.
What Shinji couldn't figure out was why it was so urgent that he had Midoriya kidnapped in the middle of an on-going attack with completely different motivations. Hosu had seemed too big of an attack to be for the purpose of drawing out Midoriya. Beyond that, he had only been passing through the city with Gran Torino when the attack started. Perhaps it was just a spur of the moment thing.
Ultimately, it didn't matter. What did matter was the rescue operation that would be starting any minute now. Several minutes ago, Nezu had begun his press conference to discuss the kidnapping and U.A's actions moving forward. Midoriya's story had captivated the media, and so they expected all eyes to be on the conference. At the very least it would keep the media from covering the buildup of heroes and police around Kamino Ward. It might even leave the villains distracted.
The comms snapped on and Edgeshot spoke. "Beginning the operation now." He left the comms on as he entered the building with a half-dozen police officers, finding their way to the entrance of the bar.
Shinji and Mt. Lady, however, had a different way to get into the building. Mt. Lady enlarged herself to her full size, Shinji grabbing onto her left arm as she grew. They barely fit in the alleyway at her full size, but they didn't have to wait long. They both soon heard over the comms Edgeshot's final approach to the bar entrance followed by a knock on the door and his voice. "Pizza delivery."
Mt. Lady wound up the best she could and threw a right punch into the wall of the building, collapsing the outer wall of the bar. As she withdrew her hand, Shinji used it to swing into the room, both arms extended as far as they could, prepared to restrain any villains that happened to be visible.
"Lacquered Chain…" Shinji began. He cut himself off, however, when it became obvious that the bar was absolutely empty. A television on one wall played only static, although the lights were on and the liquor behind the bar was freshly stocked. Rushing forward to check behind the bar itself, Shinji was both surprised and somewhat relieved to find it empty as well.
"Main bar is clear." He said into his comms. Almost immediately thereafter, Edgeshot used his quirk to slip into the room through the gap in the doorframe, unlocking it and opening it for the police detachment behind him.
"We weren't expecting much resistance here, it's true," Edgeshot spoke. "But we weren't expecting it to be deserted."
"Do you think they were expecting us?" Shinji replied as he continued checking the small bar for any sign of the villain's presence, peeking into the small room behind the bar and finding just a small kitchen.
"Possible. I'll let the main group know." As Edgeshot sent his message to Thirteen, the back line coordinator for the warehouse group, Shinji found his attention drawn to a pile of sludge on the bar top. It beggared belief that the last person to clean the bar would fail to clean the sludge sitting right where people would drink.
Looking around the room, though, Shinji realized that it was not the only pile of sludge in the room. There were five or six piles across the floor, even one or two on the ceiling. "Edgeshot." He called to his partner to warn them of the oddity.
Edgeshot, however, seemed to be engrossed in communications with the warehouse group. Taking a moment to further inspect the sludge, Shinji noticed that the piles seemed to be getting larger. He opened his mouth to call out a clearer warning when Edgeshot preempted him. "We've lost contact with the warehouse group!"
As he said that, the piles of sludge suddenly grew, each disgorging a nomu into the bar with the heroes. Both Shinji and Edgeshot were veteran heroes and reacted quickly to the sudden intrusion. Shinji wrapped his arms around as many of the nomu as he could while Edgeshot shrank himself to the size of a needle, piercing the brain of the nearest nomu as quickly as he could.
The nomu were hellaciously strong and Shinji felt his arms beginning to crack as they strained and fought against his restraint. Gunfire echoed inside the bar as the police officers opened fire as well. An echoing boom sounded from outside, but Shinji couldn't spare the attention to figure out what was happening out there.
Edgeshot continued to shoot between nomu, maintaining his thin, needle-like form. As he passed through the brain of each creature that Shinji had restrained, he felt them go limp in his arms. Within thirty chaotic seconds, the bar was still once again.
The sounds of fighting still echoed from outside, though, as Shinji and Edgeshot ran to the gaping hole in the side of the building. Over a dozen nomu rampaged on the ground amongst the police and sidekicks and were faring much better in a more open environment. Tiger Shadow was already down, huge chunks of flesh ripped from his side, as were several of the police officers. Hisshi was fighting a pair of the nomu to a stand-still, while Takeha had a nomu on the ground and was stabbing at its brain. Mt. Lady stomped on a nomu that was threatening a wounded police officer, but another pair of nomu began clawing their way up her leg.
Neither Shinji nor Edgeshot hesitated as they leapt down into the fray. They would support the warehouse group as soon as everyone here was safe.
---
The collection of heroes prepared for the assault on the Kamino warehouse was quite a sight to behold. It was the first time in Sekijiro's experience that so many faculty from U.A had worked together all at once.
The group was anchored, naturally, by All Might, flanked to either side by Hound Dog and Gran Torino. Present Mic and Power Loader followed close behind, taking more of a support role. Eraserhead, Rock Lock, and Snipe had already split off from their main group, taking up their positions in the surrounding buildings.
Sekijiro and Cementoss, on the other hand, were positioned to the rear of the group. Since they were in an urban environment, Cementoss was the second most powerful hero they had, behind only All Might. However, for all of his power, he did not have the same durability as the number one hero, and so that left Sekijiro to protect the cement hero. They were prepared for a heavy push back from nomu during their assault on the warehouse, and Cementoss was the key to make sure they were not overwhelmed by sheer numbers. After all, as soon as All For One showed up, All Might would be preoccupied in dealing with the ancient villain.
A few moments ago, Nezu had begun his press conference. The media had been chomping at the bit for any sort of information on the Midoriya kidnapping case. While there had been enough going on in the immediate aftermath of the Hosu attack to keep their demands to a dull roar, now that the most urgent crises had been dealt with, Midoriya's kidnapping was the topic of the day for the media.
More than a handful of commentators had been openly critical of U.A's first-year internship policy, claiming it put untrained children in harm's way. Others were asking why students had been in a dangerous situation like Hosu to begin with, casting blame on Gran Torino and Rock Lock for Midoriya's kidnapping and Awase's injuries. Interestingly, neither Endeavor nor Gang Orca seemed to ever receive any criticism. Nezu fully expected to be raked over the coals for this and had been looking forward to defending their educational policies to the public.
Beyond that, it would likely be good television and draw eyes away from what they were doing in Kamino right now. If what All Might had said was true, All For One would likely be watching if only to celebrate his victory over the heroes.
That distraction was probably the only reason their strike force of heroes had managed to get so close to the warehouse in front of them. Now that they were here, it was time to begin.
At All Might's signal, Cementoss reached down to touch the ground, shaping the concrete between them and the warehouse. A wave of concrete flowed towards the building, glowing softly green. As it met the wall, the cement defied gravity, flowing upwards across the wall and into whatever cracks and crevices it could find.
Once the concrete had reached the roof of the warehouse, Cementoss roared, flinging his hands to either side. The cement on the building mirrored his actions, tearing apart the walls as if they were made of paper.
Inside stood rows of glass tanks filled with green liquid and underlit with harsh, industrial lighting. The majority of the tanks had nomu floating in them in various stages of completion. While some of the ones that Sekijiro could see looked nearly complete, others were no more than a brain suspended in fluid.
Present Mic stepped up next to All Might, taking a deep breath before letting loose with his quirk. Sekijiro did his best not to flinch at the sudden volume despite being well away from Present Mic's target. The first few rows of tanks shuddered and shattered, spilling lifeless forms on the floor as the green liquid splashed and sizzled on the ground.
The remaining rows, however, remained intact. The tanks must have been sturdier than Sekijiro had thought, knowing through first hand experience just how loud Present Mic could get. Cementoss began to form another wave of concrete, this one aimed at the tanks.
He never got a chance to unleash it, though, as the eyeless nomu from the USJ and Hosu leapt from the darkness, smashing the wave to bits with its strength. Following it was the white, rebreather wearing nomu, gathering the liquid on the ground around it. As the two previously encountered nomu approached the heroes, the remaining tanks began to drain of liquid, electricity sparking between them.
And the nomu inside started to move.
All Might flung one hand to the side. " I'll deal with the big one. Keep the others from causing too much collateral damage. " With that, he leapt towards the eyeless nomu, pounding it into the ground with a cry of " California Smash! " The nomu caught his fist but could not stop his momentum, being driven into the ground.
Sekijiro could see the beast's regeneration kick in almost immediately, repairing its shattered leg bones. All Might didn't let up, though, raining blows down on the nomu. It raised an arm and attempted to impale the number one hero with one of its arm spikes, only for All Might to casually sidestep the attack and snap the metallic spike with a twist of his hand. The nomu roared in pain and anger, even as the metal itself seemed to begin to regenerate. The beast was doing all it could to simply regenerate the damage All Might was doing to it, let alone do any real damage in return.
It was a spectacle, one that Sekijiro was ashamed to admit he had gotten caught up in. As he refocused on the greater battle, it had already descended into chaos. Dozens of nomu were skittering out of the tanks in the warehouse, swarming into the remaining heroes. Sekijiro itched to be with his comrades, but knew that he had an important role to play next to Cementoss.
Despite the fact that they had been given authorization to use lethal force against the nomu, Cementoss was unwilling to do so. Instead, he shaped the concrete into walls and corridors, isolating the nomu and blunting their numbers advantage. However, this took all of his focus and skill with his quirk, meaning that Sekijiro was to be the one to make sure he stayed safe.
As he looked out over the battle, he caught flashes of what his comrades were going through. Hound Dog had latched onto the nape of a nomu's neck with his teeth, tearing away at the flesh a twitch of his head before turning his claws on another enemy. With blood soaked into his fur and staining his fangs, he appeared just as fearsome as any of the nomu on site.
Present Mic began to use hypersonic screams, if the fact that Sekijiro couldn't hear him was any indication, using his quirk on one unfortunate nomu that began to simply melt away under the assault. What neither Present Mic nor Cementoss seemed to notice, however, was a second nomu creeping up behind the sound hero ready to clamp a hand over his mouth. Sekijiro didn't know what covering Mic's mouth would do when he was using his quirk, but didn't think it would be anything good.
Thankfully, Gran Torino came dashing in out of nowhere to bat the hand away and kick the offending nomu into a nearby concrete partition, dazing it, before jetting off to elsewhere in the battle. Before the nomu could come back to its senses, Power Loader dragged it underground, leaving only the nomu's head visible.
Nomu had already come at him and Cementoss twice, correctly identifying the concrete hero as the best target on the field. Normally Sekijiro used his quirk to restrain, wrapping villains in ropes of his own blood. The nomu were too strong for that, breaking through his restraints easily, so Sekijiro moved to his more lethal techniques, forming his blood into razor sharp blades. Each of the nomu that rushed him were cut down in short order, apparently lacking the regeneration quirks that the one fighting All Might possessed.
Overall the battle seemed to be tilting in the hero's favor. All Might continued to keep the eyeless nomu pinned down, unable to do anything but regenerate. Thankfully, even that regeneration was appearing to slow. The other four heroes were slowly but surely working through the mass of nomu that had appeared.
And then things got worse.
It started with the white nomu barreling through one of the concrete partitions in the yard, charging straight at Cementoss. Like the others that had tried to attack the immobile hero, Sekijiro formed his blood into a razor sharp whip and aimed it at the creature's neck.
Just before it impacted, though, he felt a tug on the blood, dulling the edge. Instead of cutting through the nomu's neck, it splashed harmlessly across its skin. Sekijiro pulled on the blood, willing it to return to him, and found that for once he faced resistance. His blood wasn't doing exactly what he told it to do.
Thankfully, though, the nomu halted its charge on Cementoss to glare directly at Sekijiro. Apparently it was as unused to water not obeying its commands as Sekijiro was to blood not obeying his own.
The two began a tug of war over Sekijiro's blood, the nomu trying to pull as much out of Sekijiro as possible, while Sekijiro tried to use it to kill, blind, or otherwise incapacitate the nomu. Neither made much headway, being evenly matched in their control over the fluid. Sekijiro always kept an eye on Cementoss, though.
Therefore, when yet another creature out of the mass of nomus broke off to attack the concrete hero, he spared some attention to take a separate whip of blood and slice its head off. That gap in focus on the hydrokinetic nomu, though, proved fatal.
As soon as Sekijiro's attention was elsewhere, he felt a brief pain at his waist and then began falling to his left, uncontrolled. He tried to use his legs to catch him, but they didn't respond. Looking down, he saw that while his torso was falling to the left, his legs remained standing where they were.
He had been bisected by his own blood.
Sekijiro hit the ground with a grunt, air forced out of his lungs. The nomu stared at him for a second longer, something resembling satisfaction on its face, before turning towards Cementoss with Sekijiro's blood floating around it.
This wasn't ok. He could keep all the blood in his body, and possibly even survive by doing so. It would take all of his concentration though. And with the hydrokinetic nomu about to bear down on Cementoss, it would certainly leave his co-worker and friend to a grisly demise. Once Cementoss went down, the rest of the strike force would lose their support as well.
So no.
He was Vlad King. Blood was his domain. And this upstart of a nomu thought it could challenge him?
Sekijiro gathered as much blood from his body as he could, pulling it out for one final attack. The nomu was mere steps away from Cementoss at this point, already pointing a hand to use Sekijiro's blood against his friend. Sekijiro yanked on that blood with his quirk as hard as he could, adding it to the sphere of blood he had floating just above his open hand.
For a moment, the nomu seemed confused. Then Sekijiro struck, flinging his hand and the blood above it at the beast.
He made a web of blood. Easily as tall and as wide as the nomu itself, each strand sharpened to a razor's edge. The net encircled the beast, still not having realized what was about to befall it. Sekijiro clenched his hand into a fist, his vision darkening quickly.
The net snapped shut, each strand slicing through the nomu's body as if it weren't even there.
A moment passed.
Another.
Sekijiro's vision was nearly black at this point, as he only remained conscious by force of will.
There was a distant boom, and the nomu began to fall to pieces, no regeneration at all evident.
Sekijiro sighed, thinking of Hikari. She had always known this was a possibility.
But he had done his job, and so Vlad King died with a smile on his face.
---
From his perch in one of the buildings next to the warehouse, Shota had a view of the entire melee that was occurring below. As the battle started he tried erasing the quirks of the nomu below, only to find that it did not make a difference. Whatever quirks they were using must have been mutation quirks, at least for their strength and speed. Thankfully, the majority of them did not appear to have any sort of regeneration, just the eyeless nomu that All Might was taking care of. Shota had lost sight of that one some time ago, and so didn't know if his Erasure would remove the regeneration as well.
He had managed to successfully erase the hydrokinesis quirk of the nomu fitted with a rebreather, but had lost sight of it as the beast moved towards Cementoss. Thankfully, Vlad King had managed to kill it, but Shota was worried about the amount of blood the man had used to do so. Whatever had happened between that nomu and the vampire hero had been blocked from his sight by one of Cementoss's walls.
A sudden boom from inside the warehouse, however, drew Shota's attention. All Might was the closest to the warehouse and the first to see exactly what had caused it. " All For One! " he bellowed. It was as much a cry of recognition as it was a warning for the other heroes on the ground to move away from the warehouse. It was about to become very dangerous nearby.
"My, my, my." All For One's voice drifted from the darkness inside the warehouse, easily audible despite the distance. It was a refined, baritone of a voice, the sort that Shota associated with politicians or businessmen. Idly, he wondered if the villain was using one of his many quirks to project his voice as far as possible without shouting simply for intimidation. "I must admit that I did not expect to see you so soon, All Might. And with so many friends. You are looking somewhat… healthier… than the last time I saw you."
" Considering that I smashed your skull to dust last time, I guess you are as well. Barely. " All Might growled back at the man. By now, Shota could see a faint outline of a man hovering two feet over the ground, slowly approaching All Might. A moment later, All For One himself floated into the light and Shota could see exactly what All Might was referring to.
A massive breathing mask took up all of All For One's head, tubes and wires disappearing down his back. While his torso and arms were roped with lean muscle under his business suit, his legs hung uselessly below him, swaying minutely in the wind. It was unnatural to look at, but Shota shoved his concerns aside, ready to try to erase All For One's quirks at a moment's notice.
Shota reached for the communication device in his ear, tapping it twice, the signal that he was ready and in line of sight to All For One. A moment later he received three taps from Snipe: the man was also ready and had line of sight.
All Might would have heard those taps as well, and begin his distraction momentarily. Due to the unknowns about how Shota's quirk might affect All For One, they wanted to make sure that all of his attention was on All Might before their plan went into motion.
"Well, we've all had our failures from time to time." All For One continued. "Thanks to you, I should be able to rectify one of my greatest ones. I suppose I should thank you, Mr. Symbol of Peace." Even if Shota couldn't see All For One's face and didn't know exactly what he was referring to, he could hear his sardonic smile.
" Over my dead body. " All Might replied before immediately leaping at All For One yelling out "Wisconsin Smash! " All For One merely held up a single hand towards All Might and the hero's attack stopped dead inches from All For One's face. Wind blasted in every direction from the impact and a sound like a gong tolling rolled across the battlefield.
"That's the idea." All For One whispered. Red lightning flashed from All For One's hand, striking across All Might's body, focusing on his twisted scar underneath his costume. "Damage Reflection. Do you like it?"
"Now." Shota spoke quietly into his own communicator, before activating his quirk on All For One. As soon as he did, there was a searing pain in his head, but he pushed through.
Shota couldn't see it, but he liked to imagine an almost comical look of surprise on All For One's face as he fell from where he was floating, landing on his useless legs. Shockingly, despite their atrophied appearance, he managed to stay standing as he landed.
An instant later, a crack sounded across the city and All For One exploded. Snipe was sitting in a sniper's nest four blocks away with a custom built anti-material rifle provided by Power Loader loaded with high explosive rounds. Smoke and dust kicked up around All For One, and for a moment, all that Shota could see of the villain was his breathing mask bouncing away across the ground.
"I'm keepin' this." The gunslinging hero drawled in response, already altering his position for a second shot if needed. Shota snorted, but kept his quirk on, despite the dryness bothering his eyes. It wasn't immediately clear that All For One was dead, and if Shota let up early, his regeneration quirk might kick back in.
As the haze from the explosion cleared, it became obvious that keeping Erasure active was the right choice. All For One's body was still standing, despite missing most of its torso. Even as Shota watched, the flesh in the gaping wound began to twitch and surge, internal organs regrowing themselves.
"I must thank the Doctor for recommending a mutation based regeneration quirk." Somehow, All For One was able to keep speaking despite missing both of his lungs. Of course, he also seemed to be able to see despite scar tissue covering everything above his nose on his face. "It's no super regeneration, but it will do."
All Might didn't speak, simply leapt forward with another massive smash. This time, All For One caught it with one of his hands, the bones in the arm immediately shattering underneath All Might's assault.
"And a mutation based super strength quirk. Or four." All For One continued to speak in the same calm, measured tone of voice as before despite the pain he must have been in. "I admit that I'm impressed you decided to bring Eraserhead to this fight. Last time you were all too willing to do it by yourself."
" A mistake. One that I refuse to make again. " All Might growled as he threw another punch, this one caught by All For One's other hand, again shattering one of the villain's arms. Now, though, both of his fists were caught in All For One's grasp.
"Indeed. I would have done the same. I tried to get Erasure, once, you know?" All Might growled as All For One continued talking, but Shota felt his blood run cold. When had he been targeted by All For One? His eyes were burning but he refused to blink, given how much the villain was able to do even with his emitter quirks erased.
"I dosed a villain to the gills with trigger and let him loose where I knew Eraserhead was patrolling. This must have been, oh, over a decade ago. He was still in school at that point."
No.
It couldn't be.
Shota couldn't believe this. He wouldn't believe this.
"If I remember correctly, the villain's name was Garvey. He didn't manage to kill Eraserhead, but we managed to pick up some useful quirks regardless."
Oboro.
Abruptly, Shota realized that his eyes were burning from more than just his dry eye as they filled with tears. It seemed unlikely that All For One was lying or bluffing; he knew too many details about an event that he would have no reason to know about otherwise.
It all led to one unpleasant conclusion: Oboro had died in an attack that had been aimed at Shota. Tears flooded his eyes at the realization and, against every heroic instinct in his body, he blinked.
As soon as his quirk shut off, a massive air blast buffeted the building that he and Rock Lock were sheltering in. Thankfully, Rock Lock had used his quirk on the wall and floor so there was no danger of the room they were in collapsing.
Shota opened his eyes to find that the entire battlefield had been swept clean. A dust cloud obscured where All For One and All Might stood. All of the other heroes and rank and file nomu had been blasted to the sides, and the rest of the warehouse had been leveled. In fact, several of the buildings around the epicenter of the explosion had been demolished, as well.
Even the one that Shota and Rock Lock were sheltering in had taken significant damage. Windows were shattered and walls collapsed all across the building.
"Ah, that's so much better." All For One's voice sounded from the dust cloud. Shota strained his eyes, trying to get a good view of the villain to cancel his quirks once again, ignoring the tears streaming from his eyes. "Now then, to deal with an annoyance over ten years in the making."
From within the dust cloud, a bright white light suddenly appeared, growing rapidly in intensity. "Die."
"Get down!" Rock Lock dove at Shota, pushing him to the floor.
And then Shota's vision went white.
---
"As an institute, U.A stands by first year internships as an important learning opportunity for our hero students. There has been no discussion about depriving any of our students of their internship experiences." The screen in front of Izuku showed Nezu continuing to field questions from increasingly frustrated reporters. Izuku hadn't expected his kidnapping to be such a large story, but the reporters in the room were not giving Nezu any quarter. What U.A should have (or even could have) done to prevent Izuku's kidnapping was beyond him, but the reporters were out for blood. He physically couldn't look away from the screen, but he tried not to pay the press conference too much attention.
Instead, Izuku strained against his bonds, pouring just a little bit more energy into Fa Jin. His arms and legs burned with the strain, but at least it helped distract him from the pain of what All For One had done to him. Izuku didn't know what quirk (or quirks) the villain had used on him, but he swore he could still feel the sensation of fire crawling just underneath his skin. In contrast, the electric burn of One For All and Fa Jin was a pleasant distraction.
Again, Izuku strained against his bonds, storing away a bit more energy for Fa Jin. All For One had claimed that the torture had only lasted a few minutes, but Izuku was sure that it had lasted hours. Seeing as how he was strapped to a medical bed in a room with neither windows nor clocks, however, it was something of a challenge to accurately tell time.
Izuku was about to put a little more energy into Fa Jin when the room shook. Or at least, Izuku thought the room shook. The press conference continued on, Nezu currently taking a particularly pointed question from a blue-skinned Shoowaysha reporter, and none of the medical equipment so much as flickered.
Then the room rumbled again, slightly more violently. This time, it hadn't been Izuku's imagination, as the television in front of him flickered once or twice before stabilizing.
Something was happening.
Izuku wasn't sure if that something was an earthquake or a rescue attempt, but his heart leapt into his throat either way. For the moment, he paused his efforts of depositing energy into Fa Jin. He didn't want to miss any further indications of whether it was an earthquake or a rescue attempt. After all, it wouldn't do for him to show that he could break out, only to be caught in the midst of a simple earthquake.
Izuku's heart was racing, making it hard to want to stay still long enough to figure out what was going on. Nezu's politely vicious responses to truly absurd questions in the background were not helping. Roughly a minute passed as nothing changed, and Izuku's heart had begun to slow down. It was becoming less likely that this was a rescue attempt with every passing second.
Something dark and poisonous began whispering deep within Izuku's mind. All Might wasn't coming. The heroes didn't care. It was Izuku's fault that he had been kidnapped after all. All Might wouldn't have let himself be kidnapped; the fact that Izuku had meant he was a failure as a successor.
Izuku tried to banish his intrusive thoughts, reminding himself that it hadn't been that long since he had been kidnapped. Had it? How long had All For One truly spent interrogating him? It couldn't have been that long, right? After all, Nezu was only just now giving a press conference.
Even if it had been a long time, All Might saved everyone with a smile. And beyond that, Izuku was still holding One For All. The way that All Might talked about the quirk made Izuku think that he would rather die than let the quirk disappear, or worse, get stolen back by All For One.
Having held One For All, having spoken with some of the previous holders, Izuku found himself agreeing with All Might more than he might have otherwise expected. The energy within One For All surged slightly, behind the quirk suppressing electrical pulses that kept it caged, and Izuku smiled. He could hold on until All Might found him. It was a when , not and if .
Izuku's smile faltered somewhat as the room he was in suddenly shook far more violently than before. It was a truly disconcerting feeling to not be able to brace himself as the table he was on shook left and right, nearly toppling to the floor. Half of the medical machines fell from their shelves onto the floor, and the television cut out entirely. Unfortunately, the electrical shocks keeping him from reaching One For All continued.
All of that was no matter, though, as there was obviously something happening outside. Something violent. Something like All Might coming to his rescue.
With a burst of Fa Jin energy, Izuku tore through his restraints like they weren't even there. In retrospect, he probably hadn't needed to use all of the energy he had stored up to do so, but the motion it was associated with was otherwise useless, and he didn't want to leave anything to chance. He tore the electrodes and monitoring equipment off of his body, sighing a little in relief as he felt One For All race back through his body, before quickly reining it in to ten percent. He needed to be on alert for villains; he wouldn't likely get a better chance to escape.
Slowly, quietly, Izuku crept towards the door out of his room. Even if the building he was being kept in was under attack, it still wouldn't do to go making too much noise and announcing that he had escaped. One of the villains might see him in the act and ruin everything. As he approached the door to the room, every step seemed to send a dagger deeper and deeper into his forehead, just between his eyes. Maybe it was some sort of side effect of the electrical shocks that had been blocking his quirk.
Before Izuku could grab the handle of the door, it swung outward to reveal Tomura Shigaraki. For a moment, the two stood stock still, staring at each other in surprise.
"You." Shigaraki rasped.
"Me." Izuku agreed. His headache spiked and he leapt backwards away from Shigaraki's swipe.
"I can kill you while Sensei kills All Might. He'll be so happy that he won't even care that you're dead!" Again and again Shigaraki pawed at Izuku with surprisingly quick motions. Even having seen the villain's agility in person at the USJ, Izuku was still taken somewhat aback by the speed that Shigaraki displayed.
Not that it did him any good. With ten percent of One For All pulsing through his veins, it was straightforward for Izuku to avoid Shigaraki's clumsy attempts at touching him. Retaliating in kind was somewhat more difficult due to the villain's quirk, and Shigaraki made sure to stay between Izuku and the door so that he couldn't escape, but Izuku was in no real danger. It appeared that Shigaraki noticed that as well, tears of frustration beginning to form in the corners of his eyes.
"It's not fair!" Shigaraki's voice was thick with petulance. "Sensei told me I could have anything. That I could destroy anything. That I could make the heroes pay. But no, you keep getting in the way, you griefer! And now Sensei cares more about you than he does about me!"
"Trust me, I want to get away from your Sensei just as much as you want me away from here." It seemed like Shigaraki hadn't been filled in on One For All, and Izuku meant to keep it that way.
"I want you dead!" Shigaraki screeched, eyes manic, before redoubling his efforts. Izuku knew that he was wasting valuable time. The longer he spent down here, the less likely he'd be able to escape. At this point, his best option seemed to be using some amount of Fa Jin to disable Shigaraki just long enough to escape. No point in wasting time arguing with the villain.
Even after having fought with Stain and various attempts at escaping from the eyeless nomu and All For One, Izuku still had a little bit of Fa Jin charge in various punches and kicks. He didn't want to hurt Shigaraki too badly, just enough to give him a chance to get away. The next time that Shigaraki lunged forward in an attempt to Decay him, he struck.
It was a standard straight punch, nothing fancy or complex about it. Between One For All and a burst from Fa Jin, it would be too fast for Shigaraki to counter or dodge, and hit hard enough to take Shigaraki out of the fight, at least for a moment. As Izuku began to throw the punch, he could see Shigaraki's eyes widen, as if he could see what was coming.
Izuku had planned on only using a fraction of his stored Fa Jin energy on the punch, both to ensure he didn't injure Shigaraki too badly, but also to save some for the rest of his escape. As soon as he let a little bit into the punch, though, it was as if the floodgates had opened. Energy surged into his punch, green lightning flaring around his fist and arm.
Desperately, Izuku tried to pull his punch, to alter his aim away from Shigaraki. He only had an instant, though, and it wasn't enough. The energy from Fa Jin begged him to move ever faster, and his body listened.
And then he hit Shigaraki.
One instant the villain was standing there, arms outstretched for Izuku, eyes wide at the incoming blow. The next instant Izuku's fist struck him in the collarbone.
Shigaraki died on impact. His upper chest was annihilated, collapsing inward under the pressure of Izuku's fist. His head and face, somehow, survived, and Izuku could only stare into his suddenly lifeless, unseeing eyes as Shigaraki's body hit the wall behind him, now coated with his blood.
The shockwaves from the punch had silenced the remaining medical equipment in the room, and as Shigaraki's body slouched down the wall, the only noise remaining in the room was Izuku's shallow, panicked breaths.
The blood on Izuku's hand burned. He had killed someone. It was an accident. His quirk had misfired. Tears in his eyes fell unbidden to the ground.
Or had he really wanted Shigaraki dead? Shigaraki had certainly wanted him dead. But that wasn't fair. Izuku was going to be a hero who saved everyone with a smile, right?
Right?
The only thing that kept Izuku from hyperventilating on the spot was the growing thickness in his throat as he screamed and sobbed.
---
As the dust cloud obscuring the battlefield dissipated, Toshinori found All For One standing exactly where he had been before his massive air blast. The man was standing comfortably now, pointing one finger towards the building where Eraserhead and Rock Lock had been stationed. As the haze continued to drift apart, All Might's stomach sank as the building came into view, windows broken and walls collapsed along with a perfectly circular hole drilled through it. The hole was, of course, centered on the floor where Eraserhead and Rock Lock had decided to operate from. Several buildings behind it had been similarly affected.
Toshinori prayed that the two heroes had survived, but decided to operate on the assumption that they had not, for the time being. He tapped the communication device in his ear, speaking to the other heroes in the area. " Eraserhead and Rock Lock are down, All For One is uncontained. All heroes in the area should prioritize rescue and evacuation operations and watch out for any stray nomu. I will deal with All For One. "
"So selfless and brave." All For One's mocking voice continued to travel across the battlefield despite him not raising his voice at all. "They all start off that way at least. Only a few remain that way when they're looking death in the eye. How do you think Nana Shimura felt in her last moments?"
Rage exploded deep within Toshinori's chest, mixed with a regret and shame that he thought he had put behind him long ago. Nana had made the decision to face All For One by herself, and Toshinori and Gran Torino had respected her wishes. No matter how often he had wondered how things would have turned out if he had gone to support her, he had made peace with what had happened.
Or so he had thought. " Keep her name out of your filthy mouth! " Toshinori bellowed as he wound up for another massive attack on All For One. " Alaska Smash! " He leapt at the villain with a two-handed overhead hammer drop.
Once again, though, his fists met an invisible barrier just inches away from a hand held in front of All For One's cruelly grinning face. This time, though, Toshinori spotted the villain's arm twisting unnaturally beneath the impact, before snapping back into place. Red lightning again leapt from All For One's fingers, striking Toshinori with the full force of his smash, possibly even more.
As he leapt away, Toshinori had to force himself not to favor his injured left side. He was almost certain that his old wound had broken open once again, but didn't have any time to check. That Damage Reflection quirk was worrisome, especially in combination with the shielding quirk the villain was using, but both looked like they had a limit. Toshinori just had to find them before running out of time in his hero form. Despite rationing his time earlier today, he had already been running low before the fight began, and these reflections were sapping his strength faster than he had expected.
"Ah, did I touch a nerve there? Oh that's right! You weren't there when I killed Nana Shimura. I had such high hopes for her, but she broke down at the end, just like all the others."
"You lie." Toshinori ground out, not bothering to take on his usual affect.
"It's true. She lay before me, broken and battered, the last sparks of her quirk spent and gone. And do you know what she did?" All For One's smile was so very cruel. "She begged. Not for her life. Not for your life. No. For her son's life. For Kotaro."
"No…" Toshinori felt a cold pit grow in his stomach. They had been so careful to keep All For One from knowing about Nana's son. And somehow he knew his name.
"And I am nothing if not a man of my word. I'm assuming it was a lucky guess on her part that she knew I was looking for the boy, but I let him go. After all, who am I to deny a dying woman her last request?" All For One had slowly begun walking towards Toshinori at this point, a demonic smile stretched across his face. "I kept an eye on the boy though, as he grew up and raised a family of his own. He hated heroes nearly as much as I did, if you can believe it. And when Kotaro's own son had a traumatic quirk awakening, reducing his entire family to dust, I was there to take him in."
Toshinori wanted to deny it, wanted it to be a lie designed to get under his skin. But somewhere deep inside he knew that it was true. The persistent sense of familiarity from Shigaraki. The fact that All For One knew about Kotaro in the first place. All of it added up.
Guilt swirled inside of Toshinori, mixing with the rage already filling him. The only thing he wanted to do right now was to knock that smug smile off of All For One's face. Thankfully, that coincided quite nicely with the fact that he also thought the best way to break through the shield quirk was to overload it and the villain had come close enough to reach.
" New England Smash! " Toshinori threw punch after punch at All For One. The villain threw his hand up and again, each and every attack was halted just inches from his out-stretched hand. Toshinori kept a close eye on All For One, though, looking for a weakness. Each punch got a little closer to actually touching the villain, and as every punch was halted, All For One's arm bent and twisted just a little bit more. Just a moment longer.
Now.
" Florida Smash! " Toshinori switched up his assault with a vicious uppercut aimed for All For One's sternum.
This time there was no invisible barrier stopping his attack. Toshinori's fist struck All For One in the chest, lifting him off his feet and flinging him across the field.
Perfect.
Toshinori immediately followed up on the attack, leaping after the villain and on his descent, swinging another hammer blow into All For One's back, sending him cratering to the ground in an impact that shook the remaining walls of the warehouse to their foundations and forced another cloud of dust into the sky. The same red lightning from before once again leapt from All For One's body, arcing towards Toshinori.
This time, when the lightning hit, it was far, far more painful than any time before, and lasted far, far longer. By the time the red haze dropped from Toshinori's vision, he was somewhat surprised to find that he had been screaming, his throat now hoarse. If his old wound hadn't opened earlier in the fight, it certainly had by now, staining his costume red with blood. He folded in on himself, caught in a wracking coughing fit, blood splashing on the ground in front of him before he could get a hand to his mouth. Maintaining his hero form was becoming more and more of a losing battle at this point, so much of his effort and focus having gone to simply enduring the pain of the Damage Reflection quirk.
Suddenly Gran Torino was next to him, dust covered and battered from fighting the nomu. "You look like shit." The elderly hero said.
"Thank you." Toshinori dryly replied. "I wasn't aware."
"Don't get smart with me." Gran Torino snapped back. "You're letting him get you all riled up, and look where it's getting you."
"It got him in a hole in the ground."
"You know very well he has at least one regeneration quirk. Think, Toshi, for once in your life." Gran Torino sighed and suddenly looked every year his age. "I heard all of what he said about Nana. About Kotaro and the rest. I don't believe for a second that Nana begged anything of that man. She was too strong for that. Once she made a decision, she committed to it with one hundred percent of her being. It was one of the things I admired most about her."
"Choosing to give up Kotaro was the hardest choice she made in her entire life. But she couldn't have known that her grandson would have such a destructive quirk. She couldn't have known that All For One would go through such lengths to track down her family even after she cut all ties. But there's no way she would blame you for doing what she asked you to do, nor for letting her fight alone. Nana knew what would happen when she fought All For One. She did it for you, Toshi." Gran Torino looked up and Toshinori, certainty written on his face. "Don't let it be in vain."
"Touching, truly." All For One's voice floated through the dust and haze. Squinting, Toshinori could see a silhouette that only vaguely resembled a man. Even as he watched, it twisted and shifted, approaching a more human form by the minute. If Toshinori had had more energy, he would have attacked yet again, but he was still reeling from the most recent reflection.
"I had considered using a combination of quirks to exceed your virtuosic skill in punching your problems away, but I have to admit, seeing you break yourself with your own strength is far more enjoyable than I thought it would be." All For One strode forward out of the crater formed by his body, left arm still writhing and reassembling itself. His perfect suit had been ripped and torn, both arms being left free and shown to be just as scarred as his face and head. "But now, you are starting to endanger my complex underground. You wouldn't want anything untoward to happen to young Midoriya, would you?" Toshinori flinched despite himself. Gran Torino was right; he had let himself get caught up in defending the memory of Nana and nearly endangered young Izuku as well.
"I thought as much." Sludge began collecting in a small pool just off the ground next to the villain. Unnoticed at the time, the eyeless nomu disappeared in a similar pile of ooze. An instant later, young Izuku fell from the sludge, apparently awake but otherwise unresponsive. Gran Torino jetted next to young Izuku, catching the boy before he could fall over.
"Ah, so that's why there was only one portal. I had Kurogiri take the Doctor off site as soon as your attack began for his safety, but Tomura Shigaraki is far more headstrong. Was far more headstrong, I suppose. Apparently your successor took matters into his own hands with Nana's poor grandson." Even from where he stood All Might could see the blood coating Izuku's right hand and splattered across his body.
All For One swung his left hand in a swatting motion and Gran Torino was thrown to the ground. "Stay down for just one moment, old man." The villain raised his right hand pointing at young Izuku, and a familiar white light began to grow just in front of his index finger. "I had planned to take One For All back from your successor, but extinguishing the quirk in front of you will do just as well."
Toshinori's body moved before he had time to think about what he was doing or what shape his body was in. Forcing as much of One For All into his arms and defenses as he could, Toshinori leapt in between All For One and the closest things he had in life to a father and a son.
The laser fired a bare fraction of a second after Toshinori managed to get in place, and it crashed into him with the force of a firestorm. While the Damage Reflection quirk had been sparking, stabbing, tightly focused pain, the pain from this laser was a searing, bone-deep pain that spread over his entire body. With his eyes squeezed shut, Toshinori put his head down and dug his heels into the ground.
He would not let All For One claim one more victim!
No more than a moment later, although it had felt much longer to Toshinori, the laser eased up. A glance behind him showed that the laser had carved a deep trench on either side of Toshinori, but thankfully Gran Torino and young Izuku sat in a small window of safety. Looking back towards All For One, however, showed that Toshinori's arms had shrunk to their normal, skeletal state. The rest of his body felt somewhere between his hero form and his true form.
Apparently he had used more of One For All in resisting that last attack than he had thought. With a significant effort, he forced his arms back to match the rest of his body between his normal form and his hero form, knowing that he was well and truly scraping the bottom of the barrel of his energy.
"Prioritize the rescue." He spoke to Gran Torino. The elderly man took in a breath, presumably to argue, but Toshinori cut him off. "Izuku is why we are here after all. And don't worry about All For One, because I am here." He didn't emphasize his catchphrase the way he did in public. With Gran Torino, he didn't need to.
"All right, but you'd better survive, you damn zygote. I don't want to bury another one of you idiots." Toshinori heard shuffling behind him and Gran Torino's quirk kick into action, and allowed himself a small sigh of relief. No matter what else happened tonight, Izuku would be safe.
"How touching." All For One gloated. "But I do love a moving target." The villain moved to point at Gran Torino flying away with young Izuku, but Toshinori was faster. In the blink of an eye he had crossed the distance to All For One and grabbed his index finger in his hand. A simple twist and the bone in the finger snapped like twigs.
"Cute." All For One sneered as he yanked his hand away from Toshinori and leapt away. Damage Reflection was just a small bolt of red lightning this time. He barely even felt it.
The villain shook his hand out, finger reknitting itself nearly instantly. "You would really do this? Give up your life for a successor who breaks himself, who murdered your mentor's only living relative? I don't know if my brother's quirk attracts the mentally unhinged, or if it creates them."
All For One wanted to talk again? Toshinori was alright with that. He only had a little bit of One For All left in him at this point, and he wanted to make it count. Between whatever shield quirk All For One had been using and his regeneration quirk, Toshinori knew that he would have to hit as hard as possible to make it count, preferably when the villain was otherwise distracted.
And all of a sudden, Toshinori found himself laughing. "What's so funny?!" All For One demanded.
" You don't understand a thing, All For One. " Toshinori found himself slipping back into his booming heroic persona without even meaning to. A helicopter flew overhead, but Toshinori didn't notice. " People are not defined by their families nor by their quirks. They are who they choose to be. You twisted Tomura Shigaraki, stole his choice, molded him into someone who chooses to perform evil. Young Izuku has consistently chosen to do good. If young Izuku truly did what you say, I fully believe that it was necessary at the time. He is a good person through and through, and that is why I have implicit faith in him as my successor. "
" But he is not my sole successor. I will have dozens of successors! It will not be one pillar holding up the country, but a vast array! That is why I've dedicated myself to teaching, and why I cannot fail now! " Toshinori began concentrating all of his remaining power in his right arm, preparing for one last strike against All For One. " Having seen them prepare, I can tell you that the next generation will shine brighter than you could possibly imagine! I will be there to see it! You will not! "
"Bold words, All Might. All I see is a man powered by the last embers of his failing quirk! Go on, then! Show me what you can do, All Might!" All For One's right arm surged and bloated, muscles hypertrophing underneath his skin. The villain held his arm out, and a multi-colored shield formed in midair just in front of his hand. Toshinori didn't worry about any of that. All he could focus on was directing the last surge of power from One For All to do the best he could.
" United! " Toshinori bid farewell to One For All, his partner in heroism for the past forty years. It would truly be Izuku's quirk from now on, and he would do only great things with it. Already he had surpassed Toshinori by contacting the previous users and accessing their quirks. The sky was the limit for young Izuku.
" States! " All Toshinori had to do was defeat All For One and return to his students. All of them, not just Izuku. Izuku held a special place, but Jiro, Uraraka, Ashido, Kirishima, Yanagi, Kaminari, Asui, all of the students he had taught in the year prior to U.A were special to him as well. Beyond them, all of the first year students at U.A had endeared themselves to him. Toshinori wouldn't let any of them down!
" Of! " Toshinori raised his fist, now glowing with the concentrated power of One For All as the rest of his body began to deflate. All For One raised his own shields to defend himself.
There was a flash of red light from behind the villain and suddenly the shields were gone, his arm deflated to its normal size. Eraserhead had managed to climb out of the debris of the building he had been hiding in, glaring at All For One through the blood that covered his face. All For One's face morphed briefly to surprise.
" SMASH! " Toshinori's fist met the remnants of All For One's face and crushed the villain into the cement floor, leaving a crater over a foot deep. The sheer pressure of the attack kicked up a windstorm that carried debris high into the sky and knocked the helicopter above off course.
As the wind died down and the aftershocks from Toshinori's attack faded, he found himself standing over All For One's body just as he had six years ago. Again, the villain's head had been pulverized, but this time Eraserhead was on site to keep his quirks suppressed. The mutation-based regeneration quirk tried to begin repairing All For One's ruined head, but his body lacked enough energy to do so before shutting down.
It was over.
All For One was dead.
Toshinori allowed himself a single tear for his departed quirk, for the ruined body that was his only evidence of having been a hero, before raising his right hand towards the sky in triumph.