That smug voice made Tōya's hackles rise. If he couldn't tolerate false heroes like Endeavor. He loathed the self-serving disembodied voice in front of him. He begrudgingly accepted the man's help because their goals didn't exactly conflict… well up to the point where he'd be given the chance to finally kill Endeavor. But the details afterwards didn't matter, he wasn't thinking about the future. Tōya held him at a distance because he knew a snake when he saw one, Garaki had tinkered enough with his body.
What could he say? What did he want to ask the man on the other side?
"Young man," All For One said to catch his fleeting attention.
"It is my pleasure to welcome you into our humble sanctuary." A short crackling laugh followed the declaration, the static masking some nuance to his words. Hiding his amusement in a false veil of warmth, "The good doctor spent a monumental effort to bring you back from the cusp of death."
His tone turned into false worry as he continued. "You see, every organ was damaged. Your senses and ability to feel pain have been entirely stunted."
Tōya felt his surroundings give way as he listened to the self-assured man while studying the shiny skin on his arms. Faintly keeping his eyes solidly in one direction to hold back any tells in his demeanor.
"No part of you remained untouched. Your missing pieces had to be replaced with regenerative tissue… alas, you'll never be what you once were." He could make out a lilt to his tone. Pensive, as if the low circumstances Tōya found himself in personally pained the number one crime lord of Japan.
"You weren't able to fix me?" Tōya repeated, his gaze turning to the screen. Compartmentalizing his rising irritation at the obvious manipulation.
"We failed… to bring you back from the brink of death unchanged, my boy. Your body was burned to near nothing." All For One repeated in that mocking sadness, as if he needed to reiterate it to truly get the point across to the teenager.
Now wasn't that the truth…
Tōya's eyes dimmed.
"But!" The centuries-old man interrupted, "We MAY be able to restore your firepower to what it once was…what do you think? As our dear Mr. Sunny told you, you can become a part of our family, go to classes, have fun… Grow to be the strongest man in the world! Perhaps even become the Number One Hero of all of Japan."
"What do you say?" The voice on the other side of the monitor questioned.
"How many children are here?" Tōya answered instead. It was a resigned, muted question, as if the will to live had been stripped away by this newly grim circumstance.
All For One's voice was soothing as he listed off the number. "You've already met them all. They'll be your greatest companions." His digitized voice could not help but express his joy as he saw the expression on Tōya's face.
It seemed as if time had slowed to a crawl. Tōya didn't even have a fleeting second before he discarded the thought of joining the rest of the children to this asinine dance in hell. His head tilted down in resignation as if his strings had been cut. The white haired boy's eyes closed with finality, brows serene.
Even as the large heteromorph by his side lightly tapped at his shoulder.
"Young man…" All For One began again—
—His words were cut off as the world exploded into blue, engulfing everyone and everything within the small room.
Tōya Todoroki crashed through the burning door as he escaped his self-immolation and crawled away. With ragged gasps, he pushed himself up with as much force as he could and raced back to the classroom. Feet clapping against the tile of the hallway. His arm lightly clung to the wall to his right as he fueled the fire with his quirk. Smearing the flames along it as if it were paint.
Can All For One send his goons here through Johnny? Do the mini Nomu even exist yet? How much time do I have before I get dogpilled?
The hungry flame in his hand petered out as he neared the classroom, licking at his digits before they went out. The walls of the hall reflected the ominous glow of his blue flames behind him. He quickly turned his head at the other end of the hallway as he skid to a stop. And in a split second lifted Tōya his arm up in a way that only phantom pain and experience could produce.
The recoil from the large fireball shot out into the other end of the hallway. Sealing up the last conventional entrance that could grant the henchmen access to the classroom.
He dragged his arm out towards the large windows that overlooked the connected buildings. Superheating and melting the glass all in one go. As he continued to spit fire, the crackle and roar of the flames soothed his racing mind as it hungrily ate at the hallway.
Tōya could make out shadows in the distance from the flickering lights of the building across from him. Large enough for Tōya to be certain that they were adults. His right arm sputtered with the shockwaves of the exploding flames, bracing himself as the gulf of fire widened enough to hit more than half of the stone building's facade all in one instant.
Now, how am I going to spin this?
His racing mind questioned as he turned his head further and to the right, Tōya sprinted to the door and let out a yell. He fell through the door as he screamed out for help, ricocheting against the large figure who had started opening the door he went through. Despite himself, Tōya let out a sharp sound of surprise as the wind was knocked out of him. He clattered to the floor unceremoniously, knocking over a table and the chairs around him with a loud crash.
Spatterings of blue fire engulfed the grey sweatshirt he wore, he pulled at the rapidly combusting clothing in an attempt to keep the clothing from melting into his skin. The foam flooring of the mats went up in flames despite their fire safety resistance rating. He heard the screams of the children and an adult woman as he fell to the floor in a desperate struggle to put out his own flames. A walkie-talkie clattered to the ground right in front of his face.
"Help! I can't control it!" His voice became a tad more genuine and desperate as the flames began to lick at his skin yet again. At the corner of his vision, he could barely make out the children huddling away in a corner while the crescent moon-faced woman rushed to put out the fire that started spreading. The fire at the wall nearest to the hallway was climbing too fast to put out as it covered the ceiling.
The moon-faced attendant wore the same uniform and apron as Sunny, her figure tall and spindly, enough to be ominous as the clothing hung off her thin frame. And she turned back to him mid-quirk usage.
"Hold still, child. I can help you." The woman, whom he presumed to be Ms. Luna, soothingly, spoke in an absurdly calm voice in spite of the rapid series of events. Tōya thought she was just the cafeteria lady?
What was she doing here?
Tōya's face became a mask of near horror as he saw her emit a stream of frost. If she stopped him here, he would be condemned to life as an undead puppet.
He quickly calculated how much power he could emit without killing everyone in the room. The force of the flames should kill the fire around the room. His racing mind detached the emotions within as he took in the risks and decided then and there that he needed to put her down permanently. His eyes drooped and closed as his quirk exploded in intensity, blinding him. He could smell his skin cook with the heat and heard the woman cry in pain. The shrill cries of the children rang out in his ears.
His head hit the floor, and he blacked out.
---
His heart plummeted into his stomach as he woke up, his arms shook against the iron skeleton that crushed his ribs. He needed to put Endeavor dow—!
"It's okay, Sleepyhead," A little girl's voice soothingly said, ripping him from his delirium.
"Be careful, Miwa—he hurt Ms. Luna," An older boy voiced in concern to his left.
The children started bickering as he wetly opened his eyes. He was held piggyback style by one of the larger boys.
"W—what happened?" his lungs rasped as he weakly looked around at the boys and girls around him. Tōya couldn't find the moon-faced attendant among them. His arms were burned raw from the exertion; he couldn't help but shiver.
"Our home is burning!" One of the girls cried in genuine despair as she looked at the rapidly expanding fire, her pigtails swaying in the wind.
The building was a pillar of smoke that would no doubt attract the attention of the whole prefecture. Tōya's face slowly morphed into an expression of pure shame and guilt. Not for giving them all a chance to escape their fate as tools for a maniac. But for the trauma he no doubt inflicted on them by immolating the woman into a husk in front of their eyes. He winced at the quick turn of events.
What was I thinking?
...No this was the better outcome.
" —How?" Tōya weakly began to ask as he looked at the dim streets around them. He needed to get them out of here, to a police officer or a hero agency that was not paid off by All For One. And that meant leaving this prefecture entirely. Because if they waited here, then it would only give the ancient man more opportunities to pull them back into his web.
"We broke through the windows after you… blew up? Rie-chan slowed the fire before we.. well escaped." One of the boys with short dark gray hair answered equal parts questioning and in confusion. The younger boy had difficulties putting into words the rapid power struggle Tōya had with the moon-faced woman. Tōya was used to his quirk going haywire, that's why he kept his quirk under lock and key. But now? It looked just as unwieldy as he hoped.
"We couldn't find Mr. Saturn or any of the others. So we ran away," Another kid with a buttoned-up shirt said to fill up the silence that followed. As if that was a perfectly reasonable response to a house fire. They looked at Tōya in question as the silence dragged on.
"I— My quirk has never done that before, my flames weren't always blue. Like I showed you all before. Before I woke up, the flames never got that hot and," Tōya easily lied. "Sen-Sensei asked me to show him my quirk, and it— things went s-so…" Shaking his head, his sentence tapered off as his energy bled off. His skin felt itchy, and he could see blood seeping through the ripped clothing that the children had made-shifted into bandages that were covering his burns.
He honestly felt like shit, it had been a while since he had felt something other than the ant-like sensation that crawled up his spine after that final clusterfuck with his family. The rest of the children looked around, silently communicating with one another. Tōya's heavy head dug into the boy's back. And then the kids started to argue amongst themselves.
What should they do now? It was the prevailing question that was repeated; one of them even voiced that they should leave him behind. Of course, nearly all of their ideas would get them unknowingly captured again. A grimace crept up onto his face at the notion, he didn't stand a chance if All For One personally came to pick them up.
Tōya's body was starting to tremor from all the emotions he was bottling up… anger, anticipation, mostly rage.
" —We could go to Might Tower," The smallest child of the group said, their heteromorph body making them look more like a mix between an elephant and a rat. "It's not that far."
"We should wait for an ambulance," One of the brattier short girls yelled with conviction.
"Or a hero!" Another added.
"M-m-maybe the police," one of the more timid kids whimpered; however, the suggestion was promptly laughed at by the rest of them.
" —Let's go to Might Tower." Tōya's heavy voice cut off the rest of the children before another petty argument broke out. He wasn't interested in seeing the timid heteromorph getting bullied if he could help it. Tōya's face scrunched up as he continued. "My d—dad's Endeavor, All Might will remember my face. He knows who I am."
He stated with a bold faced lie, his head hung limply on the shoulder of the boy carrying him. The children began arguing again. They hadn't moved in all this time…
He was going to die here and become a Nomu alongside all these poor bastards. He did all this so that they could be lobotomized because they didn't know what to do? His desperate gambit was slipping between his charred hands, he needed to run. Ditch them and run away, dying in an alleyway was better than—
"Let's go to Might Tower!" The children suddenly chorused in unison, ripping him out of his stupor.
He let out a soft breath as the large group of children had finally decided to make the trek to the number one hero's agency. Plumes of smoke-laden blue flames illuminated their backs. Tōya could hear faint sirens in the distance.
He looked up at the smoky sky and felt grateful to whatever power had given All For One the lack of foresight to neglect telling the kids that they should wait in one place for assistance from the appropriate authorities. He'd never think that the golden tall tower in the distance looked like a shining beacon of salvation, until now, as he hung onto the red-haired boy holding him.
Tōya could just about make out the planet that sat atop the tower with its two rings orbiting around it.
His head swayed as he looked at the buildings around him, the seedy, dilapidated shape of the surroundings made his senses go on high alert. The effect of All For One's influence on the area made him nervous. Where were the junkies? Many of the buildings were boarded up. And several marks from quirk use were scattered among the walls of the storefronts.
The gaggle of children passed the streets littered with graffiti. It was nearing an alleyway that he distantly remembered being held by a street gang called the Hai-Iro Boys. He had burned them to cinders back then because they had reneged on a deal he had set up. If they weren't here, then another gang other than the Hai-Iro Boys must have set up shop in this sorry state of a neighborhood. But as he squinted his eyes further, he could see that it was truly devoid of the familiar markings of regular use. Tōya couldn't remember how old the group was or when they had begun operations, so he spoke up. He wasn't willing to come in contact with an unknown in this sorry state.
"Hey, let's take this intersection instead of using the alley," Tōya suggested. "It's faster if we can cut through a fence from that apartment complex at the far end." His eyes shifted about, still on high alert for any of All For One's men.
"But you've been asleep for three years." Hanako questioned, "What if there are bad people there. What if we can't go through?" She continued in worry.
"C'mon, don't be chicken! We're Sensei's family, we're going to be the strongest. A little fence isn't going to stop us." The tall boy with red hair remarked with confidence that only a child could produce. Holding Tōya, he showcased his quirk. The skin on his shoulder bubbled up and a cluster of crimson rocks ruptured out from it at high speed, embedding themselves deep into one of the plywood boards that covered a window frame.
"How accurate are you with that quirk of yours? Toji?" Tōya asked. As he observed the boy's skin knit itself back together. His hoodie was ripped apart due to the expansion of his bubbled-up skin.
"I'm the best in class, Sensei gave me the highest marks on my precision! And it's Iwao." The boy boasted.
Marks huh? This really was a pretty on-the-nose charade of a school. If he had his way, All For One wouldn't need your good grades…
"Let's go! C'mon. Sleepyhead looks like he's ready to doze off again. I don't think Sensei is going to wake him up this time." The ginger girl with long twintails on either side of her head added as she linked her arms behind.
"Misaki, if you're going to complain, then you go on ahead!" The red-haired boy growled, his attitude noticeably short with the girl. She stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry in his direction.
Tōya's left eye twitched at their attitudes. Why did I even think this was a good idea again?
"Yeah, Misaki, with your quirk, you can fly to the top and let All Might know himself!" an excited brown haired girl with braids added to his right.
The other kids started hyping the girl up as she shrank into herself from the rising attention.
Flight?
Tōya kept himself quiet as he looked at them. It wasn't a bad idea. If she got caught, then it would suck. But if she alerted the big blond man, then it would secure their safety.
"Eh, I don't know…" The girl began to say with trepidation, but as she looked into Tōya's droopy eyes, a few emotions flashed before her face. Her mouth began to waver, but she raised her hands into closed fists before her. The other children began to cheer for her as they circled around her. Tōya was still on high alert as he hung off the boy's back looking away from them in anxiety.
Tōya ignored the jets that sprouted from the little girl's shoulders, as the air around them was displaced. With a heavy squint he noticed some seedy men in hoodies a mile away hiding in one of the dilapidated buildings up on the third floor. The ginger yelled out as she shot up into the air at an explosive pace.
Only now, as Tōya looked back, did he notice the familiarity of the quirk.
Ah, Hood…
His lips parted slightly in recognition.
"We should get moving," Tōya announced with some reserve to get them moving again, the noise died down as they saw the girl blink away to the tower. The pool of blood from his makeshift bandages was building up on the dirty floor. "And be careful, I see a few syringes." Tōya lifted his left finger and shot out a stream of orange fire, the strain of restraining his quirk was a pain, but worth it. It illuminated the poorly lit street, when many of the light poles were bent and twisted.
It felt like a lifetime before Tōya could make out activity on this inky night, even the constant chatter from the carefree children could not beat the oppressive atmosphere. Tōya barely remembered a time where the streets had felt so wrong. Even the seediest alleys as Dabi felt safer as an adult.
He had to hand it to the Number One Hero; the man had made a difference.
Tōya's eyes wandered back and forth at a sedative pace, but they focused on several sparsely grouped figures who had started gathering around behind the alleyways. Barely noticeable, but his short life on his own, gave him the experience of watching his back for daggers in the dark.
"Hey, let me go, I see some thugs," Tōya gruffly growled, unlinking his arms from the tall boy's body.
"You too, huh? They don't look friendly." The tall boy slowly let go as Tōya shook his head and stretched his burnt right hand. Tōya stared down at the popped blisters on his hand, his skin was fresher than he was ever used to.
Yup, still can't feel much.
"Everyone, stay close!" Tōya yelled, eyes up, as they instinctively huddled together. He could make out sweaty and uncertain faces on the children. The figures were closing in, at this point they'd be blind to not notice.
A cloud of green acrid fog was slowly creeping into the narrow one-way street that they had found themselves in.
1… 2… 3…
Tōya snapped his hand forward, whipping the arm out into a wide arc, the inferno was like a tsunami as it set the unknown fog quirk back like a whip. The reaction between the two Meta-abilities set off a caustic explosion that lit up the neighborhood. It revealed the sheer number of hooded figures around them. He couldn't take a chance with that fog, best case scenario was that it knocked him out. And he was unwilling to think about the worst case scenario, but that single quirk usage set everything into disarray.
Men and women burst out of the smashed windows, making liberal use of their quirks. It would have surprised the average child into a flight, fight or freeze response. But Tōya's initial action fired up the huddled-up gaggle of kids, taking a cue from the white haired boy. Their meta-abilities sprung up into a devastating slew of chaos.
"Get them!" He heard a loud yell from one of the thugs, who looked more metal than skin on account of his many piercings.
Tōya shot a bright stream of fire aimed at a group of men who had radiated an aura of elemental quirks and more alarmingly, electricity. Tōya recognized the familiar signs of an emitter before their quirks were discharged. The only way to come out on top was to hit them before they did you. He was sure that he killed them because within the flames were limp figures prone and charred. Tōya ignored them, it wasn't his first kill and it wouldn't be his last. As he weaved between shots of fire, he alternated between both arms to avoid scorching them into ashy stumps. At the corner of his eye, he noticed a thin blue figure who likewise weaved between the groups of men and women. The man in blue knocked out the clustering adults. He moved with grace, less of a dance and more like he had repeated this fight for several lifetimes.
At several instances, the tall man had even nudged the hooligans that he was sure followed All For One. Sending the fearful children's clumsy shots which would have otherwise missed them a hair's breath away into sure fire hits. Several small, almost bullet-like objects shot out from the man in a wave. Taking out half a dozen hulking heteromorphs as they barreled out of the front of a building, their steps ruined the pavement as they crashed to the floor.
A grasping paw almost got Hanako and the small heteromorph boy if not for Iwao's quick quirk usage. His blood stone quirk turned the offending heteromorph into a pin cushion. The guy dropped to the floor, no doubt dead or heavily injured.
After no time at all, the street was littered with bodies. Small gasps could be heard from the children as Tōya looked back with one eye at the still standing individual. The lone figure looked intimidating, the dark blue suit that likewise took in the blue light from Tōya's flame flickered out of the darkness. The yellow tie and highlights from his eyes and hair gave him an almost animal-like appearance.
"Who—?" Tōya began to ask, makeshift bandages alight and sending up ashes into the air.
"I am Sir Nighteye, sidekick to the number one hero, All Might," he announced, standing atop a giant heteromorph as he flicked his glasses back into place.