[MHA] Shoto Todoroki : Modern-Day Terrorist

[Nar_cisse]

Shoto's blood ran cold.

Why now ?

His jaw clenched so hard he could have broken his teeth.

"Dad, we've got to go"

Endeavor didn't even look at him.

Shoto shoved his mobile phone under his nose.

Endeavor frowned, pulled his nose away from the screen, his eyes squinting at the three letters and the location.

"What the-"

"All for One is in Tokyo"

President Pantu's head snapped towards him so quickly that the muscles in the back of her neck almost cracked.

"What did you just say ?"

*

The alley was a capital 'I', crossing in front of and behind Aizawa.

Nearly a dozen men were on the rooftops, the majority on the ground equally in front of and behind him.

Aizawa saw the curtains of one of the small houses move.

He hoped no civilians would go out because he had no idea how he would go on protecting them.

Aizawa acted quickly.

He raised his gun and fired two shots at chest height into the group in front of him.

Simultaneously he spun on his feet, pulled his capture scarf from the hand holding the knife and threw it at one of the soldiers behind him.

The man fell to the ground and slipped on it, white band wrapped around his hands, his feet flapping against the ground like a fish out of water.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the street.

With a sharp flick of his wrist Aizawa brought the man towards him, making him almost trip on his feet.

He shot the man between the eyes and then used him as a human shield as he crouched down in the protection of a doorway.

At the same moment, those on the rooftops opened fire.

The walls around him were riddled with bullets, cement and stone fragments flying like shrapnel in all directions.

Squinting to avoid collateral damage, Aizawa clenched his teeth and held on to the body.

It trembled between his hands, shaking from the spasms caused by the onslaught of bullets, and Aizawa had to hold the corpse closer to his body.

Tears of blood from the pierced forehead dripped onto Aizawa's left ear, staining his scarf and rolling down his sweater.

He wouldn't last long like this.

Aizawa quickly considered his options.

"The greatest good for the greatest number", Nezu's perfidious voice whispered in his ear.

Aizawa really had only one option.

He disarmed the corpse, stole his pistol and clipped it to his belt.

Leaning forward slightly, he then threw his weight against the door behind him, his left foot raised to act as a battering ram.

He thought he heard people screaming from behind the cacophony of rain and bullets.

The wooden door vibrated but didn't give way.

Aizawa struck again and again, his blows becoming more violent and desperate.

Aizawa couldn't see the roof, but when the volley of shots stopped, he knew they would soon reconsider the Quirks' option now that he had no one in his line of sight.

With a grunt, Aizawa tightened his grip on the corpse with his left hand and lifted it so that its torso protected Aizawa's face and its legs hung limply at knee height.

In one motion he placed the body between himself and the door, closed his eyes and shot the lock.

There was a clang covered by the sound of the rain.

Aizawa kicked the door open and it slammed against the wall.

He stepped straight into a small living room overflowing with furniture, his red eyes scanning the room in a flash.

A trembling couple stood at the thresold of a closed door.

The woman was holding a knife and the man, half-hiding her behind him, put his trembling hands in a triangular position in front of his torso.

He murmured a few words, then closed his eyes : he opened them a few moments later, confused, before realisation made him drop his position.

"You- you are...."

The rain, driven by the wind, came in and stained the wooden floor.

Aizawa, standing on the threshold facing the street, didn't answer, his eyes fixed on the gutters around the roof of the house opposite.

He tore off a very long piece of his shawl, wrapped it around the corpse's right wrist, then expertly threw the other end into one of the gutters, where it caught.

The corpse, slumped against Aizawa's torso, jerked upright like a puppet whose strings had just been reattached, its feet dragging on the ground, then rised on tiptoes before finally floating out of the house's recess.

The reaction was immediate : the dragged corpse strafed.

Aizawa, his hair sticking to his jaw, pressed himself against the right wall of the doorway, raised his rifle to the left and fired at all the soldiers who had stepped forward.

He fired three shots with expert precision.

Two men landed on their back, the third - a spray of blood that exploded like a bomb from his skull - hit a window sill and then slid down the wall, leaving a trail of crushed brain in his wake.

The dark street was lit by a flash of lightning.

Aizawa backed into the house, his hand on the doorknob, catching the image of the corpse he'd used as a decoy hitting the opposite facade, dangling like a hanged man.

He slammed the door and jumped back before throwing himself on the ground.

"Down, now !", he shouted.

The couple fell to their knees and Aizawa, lying on the ground, clenched his teeth and sent a lasso of white tape around their throats like a noose.

He clenched his teeth and pulled brutally forward ; the couple collided, shoulder to shoulder, hiccupped and fell face first. The man shot him a look of betrayal.

In the next instant, the entire living room was blasted by shots.

Aizawa pressed his forehead to the floor and closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around his head to protect them.

The small window by the door exploded.

Shattered glass flew in all directions as if it had been blown in by a bomb.

Bullets ripped through the walls like a sieve.

The TV shattered, the sofas shook as if there was an earthquake, the porcelain knickknacks on the shelves blew up in all directions like fireworks.

The door creaked under the onslaught of bullets and Aizawa stretched out his foot to hold it shut.

Foam, glass and cement fragments flew in all directions.

Something hit Aizawa's spine, right in the centre of his back.

He clenched his fists and tensed but didn't move, still covering his face

His eyes were his most precious possession : the rest of his body was worthless in comparison.

The shooting stopped.

Aizawa opened his eyes.

They must be going back on formation right outside.

His gaze met the man's.

Aizawa moved his lips without making a sound.

'Alone ?'

The man, trembling, catatonic, eyes wide open, was in shock.

It was his wife who pointed to the door behind them, shaking her head.

Her throat was red from the strangulation marks of Aizawa's scarf.

Preferring not to remove the scarf in case someone was looking through the window, Aizawa tore it off to relieve the pressure.

The remains of the scarf fell like ribbons on their shoulders.

Aizawa pointed at her and her husband then at the door behind them.

Then he showed his left hand - the one that still held the knife - and his five upturned fingers.

Looking into the civilian's eyes Aizawa silently counted down, lowering his fingers.

Three, two, one !

The woman jumped to her feet, pulled her husband by the collar of his shirt and opened the door.

Aizawa rose like an uncoiling snake, his gun pointed at the window, the handle of his knife wedged between his teeth.

He was currently in a blind spot.

The front door was to his left, the couple to his right, a long sofa facing the window a step away. Diagonally to his right was a corridor leading to three closed rooms.

Aizawa took a deep breath then made a half circle behind the sofa, his gun sweeping over the street outside as he raced through the living room.

At the threshold of the hallway, Aizawa caught a glimpse of the porch through the window.

He saw part of a back and shoulder sticking out.

Aizawa fired once.

It gave away his position, but he needed to distract them from the civilians.

Aizawa slipped into the darkness of the corridor as the living room was hit in the approximate direction from which he had just fired.

He moved away, his gun slightly lowered, his back to the doors.

He had to get out : there must be a window overlooking the other-

A blade pierced Aizawa from his back to his stomach.

 

[Nar_cisse]

Aizawa flinched, his legs weakening momentarily before he turned and elbowed the man behind him in the temple.

Aizawa felt something crack.

The soldier's head hit the wall so hard that it shook.

Blood - Aizawa's blood - dripped from the metal cone that served as his forearm.

Aizawa's eyes flashed red.

Aizawa raised his gun to fire, but someone - coming from the back door - slammed into him shoulder-first and tackled him.

Aizawa was knocked to the ground, and a searing pain shot up from his spine.

The man straddled him, his thighs blocking Aizawa's access to the weapons on his belt. He pressed down on his stomach as if squeezing a sponge, drawing more blood, making Aizawa groan.

The man punched him in the jaw.

Aizawa's head hit the ground and bounced two more times.

Black spots danced in his vision. Acid bile crawled up his throat.

The soldier raised his fist to strike again.

Aizawa lifted his torso as if to welcome the blow then threw up in his eyes.

The soldier let go of Aizawa to wipe his eyes.

Aizawa's vision suddenly cleared.

Ignoring his own vomit dripping down his neck, ignoring the sour smell burning his nostrils, he grabbed a ring of his capture scarf with both hands, pulled it around the soldier's neck, interlaced the bands and squeezed.

The soldier, still blinded, put his hands on his throat, tried to tear apart the tape, grabbed Aizawa's forearms and then punched the hollow of his elbow to make him let go.

Aizawa, his arms burning, a vicious gleam in his eyes, squeezed harder.

The soldier punched Aizawa more desperately, his soles slipping on the ground as he tried to get up but was constantly pulled forward by Aizawa's weight.

His nails clawed at Aizawa's jaw and neck, hitting his torso, sliding down until he found the wound in his stomach.

He stuck three fingers in and pulled the flesh out.

A sudden burst of rage gripped Aizawa.

He yanked the scarf and broke the soldier's neck.

The soldier collapsed on top of him and Aizawa, heart pounding, threw him aside as he rose to his feet.

His stomach felt like it had been torn in two.

A tsunami of pain hit Aizawa and he feared he would pass out.

Half bent over, one hand on his stomach, Aizawa blinked and staggered in search of his weapons.

His knife had cut the corner of his mouth when he fell.

They were at the foot of the first soldier, still slumped against the wall, shaking his head as if trying to wake up, his muscles rigid as if he'd been paralysed.

The back door opened again ; Aizawa drew the pistol at his waist and fired at two more soldiers.

The first shot missed, wasted, hitting the door frame, and the soldiers ducked their heads into their shoulders.

Aizawa, eyes blazing, hit one in the throat and the other in the cheekbone.

They collapsed in a heap, leaving the door open behind them.

Aizawa's muscles spasmed. He felt dizzy and weak.

With heavy steps, Aizawa reached the one still sprawled in the middle of the corridor.

He put the cold barrel to his temple to avoid missing and shot.

*
Rain and wind were against them, whipping their skin and blowing their hair back.

But it wasn't enough to stop their respective Hell Flames.

They flew across the city so fast they looked like meteors ripping through the dark sky.

The storm rolled and roared like waves above them, lightning flashes intermittently illuminating the city.

Shoto had an idea as to why All for One had come out of his lair, and he hoped more than anything else that it was just his paranoia playing tricks to him once again.

Blood sprayed diagonally across a flower painting.

The body collapsed on the commode.

Foggy minded, Aizawa searched the body until he found his gun, clipped it to his belt, then retrieved his own weapons.

Aizawa inhaled three times to clear his mind.

His clothes, soaked with cold rain, blood and vomit, scratched his skin and chilled him to the bone.

He tightened the grip on his knife with his left hand - his fingers were trembling - and took three deep breaths without making a sound.

Aizawa ran to the door on the other side of the corridor and kicked it open, his red eyes glowing in the dim light of the room.

A sweating soldier was waist-deep in the floor, a vortex of blue light swirling around him.

The moment Aizawa caught sight of him, the man let out a howl and tried to hide his face with his forearms.

An armed hand shot out of the glowing hole, followed by a body as the vortex visibly shrank.

At the same time, the front door was kicked in.

Aizawa glanced at the living room then at the relentlessly shrinking vortex.

He could end his torment, but that would mean losing another bullet.

'The greatest good for the greatest number'.

There were sounds of running.

Aizawa ran to the only window in the room, past the soldier trapped in his own tunnel.

The floating curtains swayed like shimmering waves.

Leaning on the ledge with his knife-holding hand, Aizawa jumped out with both feet.

The soldier's screams in the vortex became hysterical as his own domain closed in on him, crushing his ribs and tearing him in two.

Blood and guts splattered the walls up to the ceiling.

Aizawa landed bent over on the floor.

Someone grabbed his left shoulder. Aizawa freed himself by stabbing him in the solar plexus.

A soldier slapped his right wrist to make him drop his weapon, and Aizawa stabbed him in the throat.

The drops of blood that splashed onto his lips were the same color as his angry eyes.

A gleaming blade flashed across the edge of his sight, and Aizawa threw his head back.

The blow sliced his right bicep and Aizawa suddenly stumbled.

He pressed his gun against the soldier's stomach and fired at close range.

He saw two bodies fall on top of each other.

Aizawa shook his head to clear his mind, head painfully aching.

He covered his face with the hand that held his knife and swept the street with his gun, movements slow and pasty.

The falling rain prevented him from seeing well.

Aizawa lowered his weapon.

His breathing was fast and shallow, his skin icy.

He had lost - was still losing - too much blood.

Aizawa moved forward, stumbling over a body, clutching the wall with the hand that held the gun.

His nails scratched the rough, cold surface.

His left arm tingled.

He felt dizzy.

He froze momentarily against the wall, the rain pushed by the wind whipping his skin.

His shoulder had left a trail of blood on the stones, rain making it look like watercolors.

Aizawa, shoulders hunched, dragged himself heavily and slumped against the wall.

He could no longer feel his left hand.

Aizawa blinked.

The rain was an indistinguishable fog, choking him.

Aizawa dragged himself forward.

He left a trail of blood-soaked soles behind him, soon erased by the storm.

Aizawa kept going.

A gradual chill spread from the ends of his limbs to his chest, running up his arms like an icy ripple. Palpitations shook his heart, making it pound painfully in his chest.

Aizawa kept going.

His eyelids grew heavy, his eyelashes fluttered more slowly, his vision dimming.

He stopped.

A blurred silhouette stood in the rain.

Aizawa lifted his chin to get a better look.

The rain that hit the ground was like bullets in his ears. The world was gray and cold - hostile.

Aizawa, in agony, his head pressed against the wall, raised his gun with a heavy hand and put the barrel in his mouth.

"Don't do it"

The figure appeared before Aizawa. She didn't have to use the slightest force to make him lower it.

Aizawa's arm fell back against his body. His hand was shaking so much that he failed to bend his fingers to pull the trigger.

His gun slipped from his palm and fell into a puddle, water splashing his ankles.

He hadn't even realized how long it was since he'd lost his knife.

"Your stubbornness is admirable"

Aizawa's head rolled back against the wall, his throat exposed to the sky.

His eyes flickered slowly. The sky was gray, the storm raging.

A yellow lightning struck the clouds.

The rain trickled down his cheeks like tears.

He was so, so tired.

"Be proud of what you've accomplished"

Cold hands gently touched his face.

Aizawa continued to stare at the sky, his red eyes blazing like two lush fires on his pale skin.

"From now on, let me take over"

Fingers moved delicately up his face, stopping at his eyelids.

They pulled as if they wanted to nail his skin to his eyebrows.

Aizawa's eyes began to sting. The rain was like a needle salvo.

He stared at the sky as long as he could.

"It's time to rest, Eraserhead"

Aizawa's eyes rolled back in their sockets.

All for One, his hand illuminated by a reddish halo, gently stroked his cheekbone.

Then he dug his fingers into his corneas and gouged out his eyes.

 

[Nar_cisse]

There was a heartbreaking howl, as if an animal was tortured to death.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

At the same moment a bolt of lightning, bigger and more powerful than any of the previous ones, streaked across the sky, cutting through the night like a white flash.

The surrounding houses and buildings were momentarily flooded with light, shadows drived away before they snapped back like a rubber band.

My eyes darted to the right.

There was a river of blood running down an alley.

"This way !", I shouted to him

I turned right, Hell Flame blasting red from my feet.

The wind blew against us, pushing us backwards.

Dad went ahead while my hands flashed at full speed.

Tiger, ox, dog, rabbit, snake.

A tornado of wind sprang up and hurled us across the city at high speed.

My ears were ringing.

The city glided beneath our feet, the outlines of buildings blurring.

"Left !"

Dad spun around and suddenly we were above the bloody alley.

I could barely make out the area over his shoulder.

Three bodies lay motionless, slumped against a stained wall, as if their skulls had been smashed against the-

Someone was standing in the alleyway.

The figure was bathed in total darkness, head down, features indistinct.

The moment it raised its red eyes towards us, my heart leapt into my chest.

Aizawa.

The relief I felt was indescribable.

Nothing had happened to him after-

Suddenly, my father's Hell Flame was snuffed out and he free-falled in front of me.

My eyes widened as he plummeted like a bird that had just been shot.

What the-

The man turned his head towards me as he raised his hand.

My body froze in mid-air, as if caught in a web.

My blood pounded in my ears : I clenched my teeth and tried to free myself, but not a muscle in my body moved.

A thunderous bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, brightening the alley.

All for One was standing there, hand outstretched towards me, drops of water trickling down his skin.

His wide red eyes were locked on me.

He moved his hand carelessly to the right and my body followed at full speed.

I barely had time to strengthen my body with chakra before I hit the building head first.

My head flew back under the impact, my teeth grinding so hard it felt like they would break.

The wall shattered like straw while I clenched my jaw and closed my eyes, flying headfirst through four flats and half a dozen walls.

Pieces of cement, stone, broken furniture and shattered paintings flew in all directions in a spray of grey dust. I heard people screaming.

I didn't even have time to think, hitting each wall faster than the last, each new layer of concrete hit sending a shockwave that spread from my skull to my feet.

I opened my eyes to fresh air and icy rain.

I had emerged from the building, head fuzzy and my body aching, frozen in mid-air once more.

My eyelids fluttered open and I saw All for One about fifty meters away, still standing in his alley, staring at me coldly.

His lips moved and I read them as if I could hear him.

"Not enough ?"

The next thing I knew he was hurling me through Tokyo's tower 322 meters of steel.

First the metal bent and shattered as I flew through it. Then I bent and shattered.

Blood flowed from my hair to my forehead; I forced my eyes open again as the next metal beam approached at full speed.

My chakra fully flooded my body : kawarimi.

The next thing I knew I was crouched on a beam at the edge of the void, panting.

A screwdriver had taken my place, going through the next three hundred meters of the tower vertically at supersonic speed, its plastic handle disintegrating at every succinct impact.

All for One stood two hundred meters away, still in the alley, his red eyes following the decoy's path as it continued to traverse the tower.

He widened his eyes and turned just as I looked up at the fireball falling from the sky towards him.

Hidden in the flames of it was my father, face hardened.

His foot, engulfed in flames, crashed into All for One's jaw with such force that All for One's head snapped down and he spat out two teeth.

All for One was thrown into the tarmac, carving a twenty-meters-long gash in a straight line.

Dad landed heavily on the ground, rattling the alley. The ground cracked like ice beneath his feet, cracks spreading like a spider's web across the street and up the walls of the buildings.

His skin turned blue, flames flickering down the left side of his body as if he were about to burst into flames.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on my son in front of me"

He was furious.

All for One stood up calmly, back to my father, spat blood and dusted off his suit.

Steam rose from his split lip; he wiped the blood from it with the tip of his thumb, turned around slowly, and suddenly his lip was as good as new.

"You again, Endeavor ? You certainly have a knack for getting in my way"

He faced my father without the slightest fear, the fire on my father's body dissapearing.

All for One's hand twitched.

The very next moment my chakra-powered foot slammed into the back of his skull, sending him tumbling through two miles of buildings.

A cloud of dust and cement rose behind him : a hole in the shape of a human body cut through nearly three hundred houses and buildings.

There was sudden, furious honking, then the sound of pile-ups and crash.

"There's going to be casualties", I said, gaze locked on the prostrate form of All for One miles ahead.

He got up on one knee, spitting out bits of rubble and blood.

"I know", my father replied, phone to his ear, his eyes never leaving the gaping hole. "Masami, I'm in Tokyo" Break. "Yes, we are. All for One is here" New break 'Between Shibuya, Tokyo Tower and the Sumida River. Send a medical team for an urgently wounded Hero, evacuate civilians and contact the President, she's in the area"

The voice on the other end became clearer.

"I'll send the A and B teams to support-"

"No need", he said, "My son is with me"

Then he hung up.

All for One was now on his feet.

He watched us calmly over his dusty shoulder, sizing us up one by one.

A building halfway between him and us began to shake, chunks of wall falling onto another heap of rubble.

"He gouged out Aizawa's eyes", I said.

Aizawa lay prostrate against the wall behind us, chin pressed to his chest, hair plastered to his face.

There were two huge holes where his eyes used to be.

Blood ran from the empty sockets down his jaw as if he'd been crying tears of blood.

It was him I'd heard screaming earlier.

All for One blinked and my father lit up like a torch.

"All we need to do is make sure he does not see us coming, right ?", Dad said

Neither of us took our eyes off All for One.

My own chakra rolled furiously under my skin, coursing through my veins as if it were fire.

Above, the sky was quiet.

I regained control of the storm.

The rain became torrential, the wind destructive, the lightning deadly.

I hadn't liked Aizawa much lately, but he didn't deserve such a fate.

Arcs of yellow light crackled across my skin, straightening the hairs on my neck, electrifying my whole body.

I bent my legs, one hand going on the knob of my tantô hung on my back.

"Let's demolish him"

The moment the building between us collapsed, shielding us from All for One's line of sight, I disappeared in a shunshin, thunder bursting with a roar.

 

[Nar_cisse]

As the building midway between All for One, Shoto and Endeavour collapsed, a mighty bolt of lightning split the sky.

"Swap !"

Three lightning bolts struck almost simultaneously where All for One had stood a split second earlier, digging a crater and turning the earth upside down.

All for One leapt backwards four times in a row, thunder crashing behind him each time.

His senses sounded the alarm in his head.

On his left the wind whistled.

He barely had time to turn his head to the side and raise his hand to shield his face before a sword, bathed in a whitish, sizzling light, cut through his shoulder like butter.

All for One blinked in shock.

The sword sliced cleanly from his shoulder blade to his collarbone, went out of his torso, whirled and swung towards his throat.

Simultaneously, All for One heard the air crackle as if a thousand birds were chirping behind him.

The surrounding shadows stretched, driven away by an intense bluish light.

The sword grazed All for One's throat and froze, barely touching his skin, a trickle of blood rolling down his throat.

Standing behind All for One, sword in his left hand and chidori in his right, Shoto was once again immobilised by the invisible force.

All for One turned slowly and cautiously towards him, a triumphant glow in his eyes.

Shoto's gaze was cool, impassive.

All for One's fingers stretched towards him.

"You-"

A fireball as wide as the street slammed into All for One's back.

The second the flames struck All for One and sent him staggering forward, making him lose control of his Quirk, Shoto brought back his sword towards himself with a thread of chakra and shunshined to the nearest rooftop.

All for One was catapulted straight across the street.

He crashed through two parked cars which flipped several times from the collision then got turned to charred metal skeletons by the fire.

Endeavor walked slowly in the wake of his fireball, face hard and skin blue, flames running accross his forearms.

Shoto appeared to his left.

"Are you alright ?", Endeavor asked.

Neither of them looked away from All for One.

"Yes, I merely need to find a way of escaping his vigilance long enough to get inside his guard"

Shoto had a couple of seals on him.

If he got close enough, he could blow up All for One.

"I'll distract him", Endeavor said. "You finish him off"

Under normal circumstances, he would have made the safety and rescue of the civilians his first priority : yet All for One was far too dangerous for them to wilfully split their focus.

Shoto's sword blazed white, as if a thousand different winds blew back and forth across the blade in overlapping, opposing layers.

His sword sounded like a chainsaw.

"Alright", he said.

Between one thunderclap and the next, Shoto was gone.

All for One, who barely got through a second car, struggled to his feet, one hand on the ground for support.

Jaws clenched, he raised a bored eyebrow at the chaos before him.

He had landed at the foot of a road : civilians screamed at the sight of him and ran from their cars to escape.

The air was hot, for Endeavour was not far away, and even the tarmac beneath All for One's palms was warm.

Truly, he should have stolen his mother's Quirk when he had the opportunity.

The skin between his shoulder and neck swarmed as if alive while his flesh rebuilt itself.

His blood dripped down the hot tarmac, coagulating before his own eyes.

As soon as the rain hit the ground, it turned to hissing steam.

All for One's head snapped sideways : Shoto was half a step away, sword raised, red eyes glowing.

All for One decided on a new strategy.

He raised his palm then held it out towards Shoto.

The concrete beneath their feet rumbled then detached itself like a comma whose tip steered towards Shoto, before tearing itself fully off the ground and slamming into him.

The teenager's eyes widened.

All for One, his eyes irritated by the heat, blinked.

Shoto teleported to the wall of the neighbouring building, crouching vertically.

The building behind him was torn apart and chunks of cement and wall came crashing down on him from all directions.

Pieces of the street road broke off the ground and rushed towards him.

The boy dodged them, slicing some, hitting others and reducing them to dust, but soon everything turned into a hellish tornado of which he was the magnetized epicentre.

All for One didn't wait : he lunged at Endeavour, standing in the middle of the street.

Endeavour looked startled.

His flames went out.

Then a wicked smile stretched his lips and he rolled up his sleeves.

"You want a repeat of your last beating, don't you ?"

All for One, surprised at first, smiled contemptuously.

He didn't even bother to reply and picked up speed.

His gaze landed on a piece of debris lying at Endeavour's feet.

"Swap"

The world distorted for a moment ; All for One blinked.

As the world stabilised, All for One was confronted by a curtain of flames crashing down on him.

Then a fist burst from the flames and slammed into his jaw with the force of four oxen, sending him headlong into the ground.

The blow didn't hurt, not really - All for One was too strong - but it hurt his ego, partly because Endeavour was a second-rate hero.

The moment All for One hit the ground, blackish protuberances sprang up from all over his body, lunging at Endeavour like snakes pouncing to bite.

The Hero made no move to retreat as his fire died.

Next the sword, accompanied by the hum of a chainsaw, sliced the protuberances perpendicular, shattering them as though slicing mirrors.

All for One, seeing Shoto, turned his head back to where he should have been, where a vast prison of concrete, rubble, lamp post and benches formed an uneven sphere.

A hole - as if someone had punched out part of the sphere - overlooked them.

All for One's muscles cracked as his head jerked back towards the teenager.

The chainsaw sword plunged into All For One's mouth, slicing the corners of his lips, going through his open mouth, shredding his throat until his neck.

Shoto, still holding the sword, raised his hand to the sky and twelve bolts of lightning rained down on him.

The lightning struck All for One and spread along the length of the sword, running across Shoto's crackling skin before he directed it all back at All for One.

All for One's muscles spasmed : the hole in his throat burned as if ablaze.

All for One, sword still in his throat, smiled, the corners of his dry lips torn by the blade.

It was the boy who had taught him that trick.

The lightning running on his skin turned black.

Shoto dropped the sword and stepped back, whirling towards his father.

All for One inhaled, storing the energy in his chest, then spat out a bolt of black lightning at Shoto.

The sword in his mouth was obliterated.

All for One blinked : the beam travelled in a straight line, bisecting the road in two and ripping through the ground for thirty meters.

Neither the boy nor his father were there anymore.

All for One got to his feet, red eyes sweeping the street, his damaged mouth and throat repairing themselves.

The boy was tenacious, he could at least give him that.

All for One wondered if he'd inherit his tenacity once he'd steal his power.

All of a sudden, his vision blurred.

He put his hand to his temple and blinked feverishly to clear his vision.

Had he made a mistake while transplanting the eyes ? Should he have waited longer before using them ?

But his healing Quirk should ensure that the grafting and assimilation went smoothly.

Even if he was unable to deactivate Aizawa's eyes, All for One had total and absolute control over them.

"Are you finally feeling the effects of it ?"

All for One raised his head to the sky where the voice had come from.

Shoto Todoroki stood on the edge of a roof, the dark, stormy sky, dancing in his back. White flashes of lightning tore across the sky behind him, colliding in a thunderous roar and then spreading out in a network of glowing webs.

One, stronger than the others, lit up the sky and Shoto's face.

His red eyes, alert, were locked on All for One, the black commas spinning lazily in his eyes.

He glared at him, chin raised, head tilted slightly to one side, damp hair falling across his forehead.

"You didn't think you were the only one who could use poison, did you ?", he asked

He pointed to his own throat, showing where he'd scratched All for One earlier.

Obviously All for One wasn't the only one who had learnt from his opponent.

'Two against one", All for One said, eyes going over the surrounding rooftops in search of the father. "It seems rather unfair"

The son didn't dignify the remark with a reply, and the father didn't show his face.

Bad idea. Endeavor was extremely dangerous if given time to do as he pleased with his Quirk.

Still, All for One smiled.

"You won't mind if I decide to shake things up a bit, will you ?"

All for One concentrated all his energy in his throat, then shouted:

"Rise !"

His scream - amplified by one of his Quirks - was so powerful that it drowned out even the roar of the storm, the echo reverberating throughout the city.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, across the city, blood-curdling bestial howls answered.

An army of Nomus emerged from the bowels of the city.

 

[Nar_cisse]

Even when the first Nomus rose from the sewers like an army of undead and spread panic and chaos throughout the city, Shoto did not look away from All for One.

Currently he was exhausted by the abysmal number of clones he kept active on his 'final solution' and other research projects.

He uninvoked a dozen of them, recovering chakra and accumulating more fatigue.

The roar of the Nomus scattered throughout the city barely reached his ears.

It was imperative that someone took care of All for One and as he had stolen Aizawa's Quirk and made it his own, the only person in the world capable of facing him was none other than Shoto Todoroki.

Shoto bent his legs. An ice sword appeared in his palm.

The Commission President's words were still lingering in his mind :

"You may not be an official Hero and you may have no credentials, it does not matter : help Endeavor and, if you get the chance, kill All for One. I want his head on a platter"

Shoto had never been one to follow orders, but he intended to follow this one.

*

The cries of the Nomus echoed throughout the city.

They sounded like angry, wounded beasts whose chains had just been broken and who were about to go on rampage.

A teenager emerged from a shop, bag in hand, headphones on, hunched over his laptop. His fingers scrolled down his screen at full speed.

A high-pitched sound suddenly broke through the cacophony of his music.

He turned back to the night shop's sliding doors slowly closing behind him.

He waited a few seconds, his eyes scanning the sidewalk left and right. Nothing.

He looked ahead again to where-

A huge hand closed over his face.

A scream crept up his throat, but he had no time to flee.

The teenager stiffened, jerked his chin back, and next thing he knew the thing clutched his skull between both hands, barely using its strength.

His skull exploded like an unripe grape.

Blood spurted like a fountain from his throat and splashed the shop's doors behind him.

Other Nomus shrieked across the city.

This Nomu let go of the body and screamed back to the sky, enraged yet exhilarated.

Excrement, garbage and dirt formed a dark layer over his body like a secondary skin.

Behind him the sewers he had freed himself from laid like a hole in the road, broken pipes jutting their sharp edges skywards.

Too much rain was pouring inside, pushing trash and dirt onto the sidewalk like sea foam.

The night clerk returned from the storeroom, whistling, headphones in his ears, the last three bottles of milk for the day in his hands.

His eyes wandered to the transparent doors stained by blood.

He screamed.

One of the bottles fell from his hands and rolled on the floor across the checkout.

It stopped in front of the bloody windows.

Red drops were already puddling inside.

The glass doors opened.

The night salesman, knees shaking, heart pounding against his chest, looked up at the hulking creature standing at the entrance.

Next to a headless corpse was a thing covered in shiny chrome scales that resembled an armour. It was so tall he couldn't see its shoulders.

The creature placed its hand on the doorframe, effectively preventing the sliding doors from closing. They hit his hand, retracted and hit his hand again, bumping against it as the limpid bell that accompanied the entrance of each new customer rang on and on.

Paralyzed, the salesman stopped breathing.

The creature tightened its grip on the doorframe its long, clawed fingers, dug in the plaster and made snowy clouds of white cracked paint rain.

The pool of blood grew, spreading across the entryway carpet.

The thing leaned forward.

Its broad, shiny, chrome shoulders appeared first.

Its head came next.

The moment its eyes fell on the salesman, the creature stopped moving.

Its malevolent eyes, slit like a reptile's, scrutinized the weak, fragile creature which, frozen, displayed its throat in submission.

He could hear its heartbeat - it sounded like thunder.

Suddenly his lips curled over black, dirty, wet gums.

The bits of skin that made up his cheekbones crawled up his cheeks, encasing his eyes in a prison of skin and scales, his eyes suddenly frighteningly.

The salesman pissed himself.

It looked like it was smiling.

*

Neito and Ochaco heard the screams only two blocks away.

Neito turned left first and Ochaco followed, jaws clenched.

They ran through random alleys guided by the screams, leaping over puddles, dodging garbage cans and stairs that sprouted from walls as if to trip them.

They leapt on the edge of a sidewalk in front of a road.

Someone honked in panic : tires squealed on the wet ground, yellow headlights illuminating Neito and then Ochaco.

Alarmed, Ochaco pulled Neito violently backward.

Blinded by the headlights she squinted, tucked her chin in her neck and backed away without stopping.

A deafening crash echoed through the area.

Someone screamed.

The piercing, gut-wrenching scream, sent a shiver of terror down Ochaco's spine. It sounded like someone dying.

She opened her eyes and saw the car embedded in the wall beside them, metal hood folded like an accordion.

Its front window was shattered, black smoke billowing from the engine.

The driver's head was buried in an airbag.

A trickle of blood dripped from the crushed beige balloon onto his seat.

His arms dangled from his body.

In the back seat was a baby, motionless, still in its seat.

Ochaco's heart pounded in her chest.

Neito pushed Ochaco away but she didn't even notice, her eyes still focused on the child.

"We have to help them", she said.

She didn't wait for an answer and went to the back door, pulling on the handle to open it.

The door creaked. It didn't move. Something seemed to have jammed the mechanism.

Using her Quirk purposefully-

"Move", Neito growled.

Shadows danced across his skin, licking the contours of his jaw.

His eyes suddenly turned black, sclera and iris altogether dissapearing.

Neito blinked and shook his head : they turned blue again.

He put his hands on the door.

The black shadow that inhabited his body darted to the car like ink.

The shadows wavered for a moment, running to the right then turning to the left, before dissolving into a million tiny dark snakes that slithered into the cracks of the door.

Ochaco tore herself from staring at the baby and glanced nervously over her shoulder.

She had no idea what was going on.

All for One had only asked her to let him know when she was alone with Aizawa : he was supposed to take care of him and nothing else.

"Please ! Please !"

Ochaco's and Neito's heads shot up in the direction of the apartments across the street.

The drumming rain mixed with the smoke from the car prevented them from seeing anything.

An ambulance siren wailed, blue and red lights illuminating the walls of the street. They could hear it but not see it.

Suddenly, there was the sound of sheet metal bending, as if a giant had just crashed into a mountain of steel.

Tires squealed in a high-pitched screech.

The rickety ambulance sped up from the left, honking alarmingly.

Something large and indistinct clung to its hood.

The ambulance slammed into the building in front of Neito and Ochaco, exactly where the previous screams had come from.

There was a sudden cacophony of noise and abruptly the building before them burst into flames.

The car door creaked open.

Ochaco struggled to push it open.

Even when she removed its seat belt with a click, the baby didn't react.

"It's okay", she murmured, looking nervously at what appeared to be his father in the front seat. "Let's get you out of here, okay ?"

The baby looked about two years old, maybe three. Old enough to understand and remember.

Ochaco forced herself to crawl further into the seat, hoping to hide the sight of the corpse behind the wheel with her shoulders.

A trembling hand pushed back the brown curls falling across the child's forehead.

All for One was only supposed to take care of Aizawa - civilians weren't-

Ochaco froze. Her breath got stuck in her throat. Her lips parted.

Her heart thundered in her chest.

He was dead.

The baby was dead.

High-pitched animal howls echoed down the street.

Neito glanced down the road, eyes squinting, trying to see what had made such a sound, when his gaze landed on a group.

Behind the black smoke and dust that clung to the crumbling facade of the burning building were three gigantic Nomus.

 

[Nar_cisse]

It wasn't until the ground beneath his feet suddenly heated up that All for One realized what was happening.

A geyser of lava erupted between his legs, both blasting and melting the concrete at the same time.

"Swap !"

There was barely time for All for One to switch places with the rubble of a destroyed wall further down the street.

Something squeezed his legs. He looked down.

Water tentacles were wrapping around his ankles.

He looked sharply up at Shoto.

The teenager's hands flashed so fast they were a blur, stringing together a series of odd gestures and positions.

All for One read his lips :

"Suiro no Jutsu"

A watery prison made of falling rain and stagnant puddles shut in on All for One.

All for One opened his mouth in shock, a 'Swap' at the edge of his tongue, whereas Shoto flicked his wrist.

Immediately, gallons upon gallons of water flowed into All for One's mouth and throat, painfully stuffing his stomach and bloating his lungs until they were on fire.

No matter how hard All for One looked at the boy, the water prison wouldn't disappear.

Could it be that he was immune to Aizawa's Quirk ? Or...

His mind flashed back to the summer camp and how the air around the boy had blurred at times, looking even illusory.

The boy had killed Bubigawara first - maybe because he knew better than anyone else what kind of threat he posed.

All for One, torrential amounts of water rushing into his mouth, raised his hand and shifted his full attention to Shoto.

The water squeezed his arm, forcing his hand down, yet All for One, jaw clenched, fought the pressure and kept raising his hand.

The more it rained, the larger his water prison grew, the drops fueling the bubble to titanic proportions.

Hundreds of gallons of water pressed painfully on his bones to break him.

All for One, muscles stiffened, fought until his hand was finally leveled to the boy.

If it truly was him, All for One was about to throw away all his plans.

Or maybe the doctor would be able to rebuild him from shattered bones and scattered flesh.

All for One clenched his fist.

Shoto, standing on the roof, widened his red eyes.

He exploded in a spray of blood and guts.

All for One waited, breathless, his eyes darting left and right as Shoto's bloody remains rained down on the street below.

The boy wasn't dead, of course. Too cunning to be fooled like that. He must have been hiding-

The water prison collapsed on itself, releasing All for One.

All for One, dripping, stared in amazement at the water trickling through his fingers.

What the-

An agonizing wail tore through the silence.

All for One looked up in time to see Endeavor coming out of an alleyway across the street from him. He ran towards the puddle of blood at the foot of the building where his son had been standing.

He threw himself into the red pool, right in the middle of the shredded flesh and scattered skull.

Blood dripped from the edge of the roof and down the front of the building.

Endeavor, kneeling in the wreckage of his son, looked completely mad as he brought back to his chest remains in armfuls.

All for One watched, stunned.

Certainly the child who could create Quirks could not die like this... ?

All of a sudden the storm subsided.

The thunder stopped rumbling, the rain stopped falling.

The clouds dispersed, driven away by the rising sun.

Something shone at the edge of his vision.

All for One turned his head.

There was nothing but an upside down street. Civilians were fleeing, looking over their shoulders as if believing he couldn't see them.

Endeavor's screams grew inhuman, turning into the moans of a wounded animal.

Crawling through his son's blood, his cries of pain reached hysterical levels. All for One turned his attention back to him.

He felt neither pity nor sympathy for the boy.

They had been two adversaries who did everything they could to outwit the other one.

He remembered when he'd lost his own brother, though the circumstances had been different.

Unlike Endeavor, All for One had never really been able to grieve because his brother had still been alive when he'd lost him.

Grieving for someone who was still alive was a strange and difficult process.

Still, All for One empathized with Endeavor.

He breathed deeply and looked at the rising sun high in the sky.

The clouds glowed pink and gold.

All for One, though still a little bewildered, decided to enjoy the moment.

He now owned Aizawa's Quirk - a Quirk he'd coveted for years - and the only being who could have posed the tiniest amount of trouble for him was now dead.

For sure the doctor could restore his body. Or maybe, with enough genetic material, he could even make a Nomu out of him.

A Nomu would be nice. They would finally be able to try and solve the mystery of the boy's Quirk.

All for One, in a merciful mood, decided to let Endeavor cry his heart out before being suddenly overcome by hatred and he tried futilely to kill him.

All Might's Quirk was next in line-

Something shimmered to his left.

All for One looked that way.

There was nothing there but the hole in the building the boy had shot him through.

All for One watched the ruins in silence.

He probably went through one or two misfortunate civilians on his way there, obliterating them before they got the time to realize what was happening to them.

His eyes roamed over the path of destruction he carved in the road.

Howls, shrilling and abrupt, could be heard at almost regular intervals throughout the city. To think he had brought out Nomus... he had expected the child to be a serious problem and thus foresaw an unexpected need for a distraction.

What a disappointment.

"Kurogiri"

The air behind him stirred.

Kurogiri appeared silently. He waited for his next orders.

The first sunbeams flooded the ragged street where they stood. They hit Endeavor at an angle, lighting both his back and shoulders.

Endeavor would come and find him, of course.

And then-

A warning rang in All for One's mind.

He watched Endeavor whimper in pain, puzzled, wondering what had drawn his attention.

"Master ?", Kurogiri asked.

All for One did not answer.

His eyes went from Endeavor and the heap of shreded flesh he had gathered to the half-destroyed buildings around them.

The sun was lighting up the street now and the shadows-

All for One's mind went blank.

This was it.

Neither Endeavor nor All for One nor anything else in this street had a shadow.

As soon as All for One realized it, the reality in which he found himself in shattered.

Cracks spread across his surroundings as if they were shattering mirrors.

Everything burst in a spray of shimmering splinters.

All for One blinked and suddenly the sky was stormy, the wind icy from the rain, and the world darkened from lack of sunlight.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the street.

Hundreds of wires were wrapped around All for One's body, tearing his clothes, digging deep in his skin, shredding his flesh.

Taped to his forehead, jaw, throat, heart, lungs, kidneys, elbows, hands, knees, and ankles were sheets of beige parchment bearing ominous ink symbols.

All for One heard only one word.

"Katon"

 

[Nar_cisse]

Glowing specks of fire flashed accross Neito's eyes while he stared at the burning building, whereas Ochaco rose from the car's back seat, aghast.
Crawling up the building's facade, the three Nomus let out high, inhuman cries.

One of them caught fire. He kept on crawling.

One floor above, a woman pushed open her balcony window, holding a boy on her hip.

Acrid black smoke rushed inside her apprtment, swirling around her. The woman coughed then covered her nose with her bathrobe's sleeve

The Nomus all turned to her.

The woman looked down as if to gauge the distance between her and the ground.

Neito bit his cheek, his eyes darting between her and the Nomus.

The fire was only one apartment away.

Oblivious to the danger, the woman held her child close to her chest and swung a leg over the window.

"Don't do it", Neito muttered

His worried eyes darted between her and the other three.

The burning Nomu climbed diagonally towards them.

Wind-driven smoke swept into the woman's apartment, hiding the Nomu in its wake.

She would not see it coming until it was too late.

Neito stepped forward then froze : his nails dug in his palms, leaving crescent creased flesh behind them. The fire cast shimmering shadows that flickered across his face.

If he shouted, he would draw the creatures' attention to them. If he made no movement, she and her child would die.

Neito clenched his jaws. His legs stiffened as if he wanted to move forward but his mind prevented him to do so.

Three Nomus...

He had seen what only one of them could do. He wasn't Todoroki : he obviously wouldn't be fast enough to pierce and destroy the heart of even one of them, let alone three nearly simultaneously.

The woman's foot slipped. She barely held on the windowsill in time.

Neito was on edge.

The only relevant Quirk he had at his disposal-

"He's dead"

Ochaco's voice snapped Neito back to reality.

He blinked, tore himself from the sight of the struggling woman and looked at her.

Her head was bent over her bloodied hands.

"The baby's dead and it's my fault..."

She met Neito's gaze.

She was crying, tears running down her cheeks.

"He was only supposed to go after Aizawa, do you get it ?"

Neito's blood ran cold.

"He said that no one would get hurt and that once he had what he wanted-"

She hiccupped and buried her face in her hands, shoulders twitching.

Had she just confessed to him ? Had she really fucking confessed to him ?

Fury ran through Neito like lightning.

Was she truly responsible for Yaoyorozu and Iida ? Was it her veritably her fault Kaminari and Hagakure had died ?

"What did you just say ?, " he said slowly, anger making his voice shiver

Neito's fingers clenched in a fist, his Quirk instinctually activating.

This time it was All Might's power that swelled his muscles and shook his body.

"What have I done ?" she cried. "My God, what have I done ?"

The woman screamed.

Neito caught her distorted reflection on the rear window of the car as the blazing Nomu hurled himself at her, screeching, disappearing with her inside her smoky apartment.

Rage overwhelmed Neito's thoughts, smothered his lucidity, awakened all the resentment and frustration that Nezu and his damned 'don't do anything' had forced him to bury deep in his gut.

"Fucking traitor", he spat.

Ochaco lifted her head from her hands, eyes wide.

Neito, strength increased tenfold, punched her square in the jaw.

The wind whistled : Ochaco slammed in the wall in which the car was embedded.

It collapsed on her.

A cloud of blasted cement and dust engulfed them.

Between them, in the background, the fire was spreading.

Neito bit his lip and shook his fist to get rid of the tingling pain, eyes shining like steel.

He'd learnt to regulate his strength in order to hurt without breaking his own bones in the process, but he couldn't hit as hard as All Might did and remain unscathed.

Then again, no one needed to hit as hard as All Might when it came to dealing with regular people.

She coughed.

"You killed Kaminari, didn't you ?"

Stunned and shell-shocked, Ochaco was unable to answer.

It was as if pure fire had shot up from her jaw to her skull, throbbing painfully in her bones.

Dust hung like a curtain between them despite the pouring rain.

Neito stepped on the edge of the broken wall.

"Is that why you got out of his room when I was in the corridor ?"

The more he spoke the angrier he got, his wrath fiercly burning in his chest.

He was far from dumb : one Nomu was already far beyond his abilities but three...

He hadn't applied to Yuei because he wanted to become a Hero. Rather, he was interested in the perks of the job.

With his Quirk, Neito would have no trouble breaking into the top ten : fame and influence would be a boon for his family. They'd be able to run their business in utter peace whereas Nezu would cover for them as long as his uncle worked for him.

His uncle who, moreover, had raised Neito as his own son and had drilled into him that there was no worse vice than disloyalty.

He'd eaten his heart out when Nezu had told him to shut up and swallowed his frustration and anger every time he saw that Uraraka bitch strutting through the corridors of Yuei as if nothing had happened.

"What did you truly think I was going to do when you confessed being All for One's whore ?"

He clenched his fist, muscles bulking, shadows creeping up his legs until they wrapped around his neck, threatening to spill on his face.

The dust cloud cleared.

Ochaco lay on her back on a broken piece of wall, rubble scattered around her.

Pieces of wall shrouded in a pink halo hovered over her body.

"Tell me what he's going to do to Aizawa" Neito growled

Ochaco propped herself up on one elbow and shook her head, new tears drawing clear furrows across her dirty cheeks.

"I can't"

Even if he was unable to stop the Nomus, he could at the very least deprive All for One of a pawn.

Neito raised his hand : shadows shot out of his palm like arrows, aimed at Uraraka.

She widened her eyes and threw herself on the side, the flying stones intercepting the shadow arrows.

The rubble burst in a shower of yellow dust and pebbles.

Neito saw Ochaco's shadow spin to the left.

Probably hoping to get around him and escape through the hole they'd just come through.

He spun around to follow her, silent shadows shooting out of his outstretched hand wave after wave.

They pierced her from all sides.

She collapsed.

Neito walked quietly to her, his soles kicking up mushrooms of dust every time they hit the ground.

He stopped before Ochaco's inert form, yellow dust still floating between them.

The shadows whispered in his ear : he spun fluidly on his heels and raised his arm to shield his face, a wall of shadows joining his gesture and blocking the stones hurled at high speed.

Neito did not need to look over his shoulder to know that it was her jacket he had stabbed : she had played the same trick at the tournament.

Ochaco, standing inside the building, wiped her cheeks one by one.

Her voice was now clear of tremolo.

"I won't let you kill me"

Neito smiled wickedly, the shadows completely filling his eyes until they were nothing but black holes.

The tone of his voice thickened as if several people were speaking simultaneously.

"Too bad you have no say about it"

Ochaco bent her legs, resolute : a pink halo wrapped around the debris of all sizes scattered around her. Pebbles and broken bits of wall hovered around her like planets orbiting around their center of gravity.

Neito noticed she didn't need to touch them.

He wondered how many other things she'd lied about.

The shadows climbed up Neito's legs, curled in the creases of his clothes, seeped on his body until they covered the last bit of his skin.

His hair turned black from root to tip.

He looked like a shadow, his body was the embodiment of midnight.

He raised his fist : the very air shimmered, the shadows swayed, and even the flickering light cast by the fire could not lighten this dark corner of the street where the shadows grew and deepened.

Ochaco, jaws clenched, prepared to-

Someone grabbed Neito's wrist.

"Why are two Yuei kids fighting ?"

Neito raised his head at the individual, lips curled over his gums like a wild beast.

"Hey, calm down kid, you don't have to look at me like that"

Hair disheveled as if she'd just rolled out of bed, clothes rumpled and a toothy grin on her face : Mirko stood before them.

*

A/N : If you want to read ahead of schedule (and not stay on this chapter for the next 2 weeks) go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

 

[Eggmaster]

Nooooo mirko go away my Boi neither was going to do it.

AFO getting stuck in that genjutsu was hilarious.