"Dad."
Goro Hanazuki looks up from his work and smiles at his daughter. She is wearing the bright orange jacket he bought her for Christmas, waiting patiently at the threshold of his office. She knows well enough not to enter without permission.
There is so much she is too young to see. His office is secured well, primarily by virtue of the Imperial security staff that protect his household, but the office itself isn't particularly well guarded. He doesn't want her to see his mission reports or any number of assassinations he has performed. Especially not when the assassination of the Spanish President is still so fresh on the news.
"Yes, darling," he says, flipping over the final mission report.
She walks with perfect composure, back straight hands folded demurely before her. Goro may not agree with it, but he accepts the etiquette training his wife, Ino, insists their child have. And if it gets her to stop insisting he take the same lessons then he is willing to let Akane suffer the lessons in his place.
"Do you think we can go outside? I know mum doesn't want us to but I'm tired of only seeing the villa. Can we go see where everyone else live?"
He considers her request. Things are getting more violent with the Sinking of Taiwan and the assassination he performed so recently. Having a quirk is perhaps not the best thing in the world right now, especially not for people wearing the perfect white of the Imperial Household.
It may not be the safest thing to do.
"Please."
And just like that, his composure shatters. He has never been able to say no to his perfect daughter. She looks so much like her mother that it steals his breath every time he sees Akane. That weakness is why Ino always asks him for favours.
"I'll talk to your mother about it," he says after a long few minutes of silence that have her fidgeting in place. Best not to let her think he caved immediately.
She smiles radiantly. "Thanks dad." She walks around his desk and hugs his mist body quickly. "You're the best."
He ruffles her black hair. "But you'll do all of your homework and attend your lessons without complaining."
"That's not fair."
He chuckles in amusement. "There are consequences to every decision. Nothing is free."
"You're a big meanie," she says, poking his grey vest. "I'm the princess here. You're supposed to listen to me."
Oh, but I do. I could never say no to you.
He does not let his warm affection affect his demeanour. Sternly, he says, "Go before I change my mind."
She sighs extravagantly. "Fine."
Goro Hanazuki very soon comes to regret that decision. He had very specifically chosen a safe region, one patrolled extensively by hero's and with an Imperial base. It should have been one of the safest places in Japan considering the rising tension.
The broken and mutilated bodies of his daughter and wife are testament to that foolishness. His mind is blank as he stares at the cooling corpse of his beloved daughter.
"Sir, we've tracked the hero responsible," one of the Imperial security officers meant to protect them says warily.
Goro doesn't react outwardly to that. He is very carefully restraining himself from opening a warp gate on the officer's neck.
"It was Boomerang. He was battling rioters with weapons and the return arc of his weapon… I'm sorry, sir."
Very slowly he turns his head, hardly noticing how his misty body hisses with his grief and rage. The officer steps back in fear, clutching the hem of his white jacket.
"Where is his agency?" he asks, voice flat as a whetstone sharpening a sword.
"Three kilometres due south."
He considers killing the young officer for his failures. Then he decides against it. There are crueller ways to punish him.
"You are to report your failures to the Royal Guard," he says slowly, taking joy in how the officer pales. "They will decide an appropriate punishment for you failure. And if they do not, I will do so myself."
He generates a warp gate and leaves without waiting for the officer's words. He does not care any longer. The two people he loves most in the world are dead and there is nothing he can do to bring them back.
But he can avenge them.
Boomerang's agency is in a smaller office building. It is very unlikely more then ten people work there. He enters the office building.
A person in a grey costume looks up from her desk. A sidekick perhaps. "We're clo—"
Her body falls to the ground with a wet squelch, blood spurting from her neck. He walks past her now headless corpse indifferently and heads deeper into the agency. He has neither pity or mercy for anyone even vaguely responsible for this.
"Who the –"
Another body falls to the ground.
"You fucking kil—"
This warp gate opens inside the man's chest. He collapses clutching the space his heart once resided.
"Sai!"
Another warp gate and another hero dead. He walks through the bloody floors, not caring for appearances.
It takes him two more deaths to realise the red he sees is from an alarm system. He blinks slowly at the blaring buzzer before shrugging and entering the office of the main hero.
A boomerang cuts through his vest immediately. Goro looks down at the long rip.
"I liked this vest," he says numbly.
"You fucking monster," Boomerang roars. "I'll fucking kill you."
He considers the tall man and wonders if a long and drawn out death is worth it. It would mean spending more time with this slug than necessary. Ino would want the hero to die slowly, screaming in agony.
The hero's second attack brings him back from his thoughts. He instinctively opens a warp gate on the hero's wrist.
Boomerang stares at his stump of an arm. It takes him a moment before the pain registers and then he is screaming like a child, weak and pathetic.
He decides against a slow death. He refuses to spend more time than necessary with this creature.
A warp gate opens around the hero's waist.
"Goodbye."
Goro Hanazuki leaves the agency, his vengeance complete. Yet, it feels hollow and empty. He contemplates this on a mountaintop, observing the snow-capped peaks. He isn't sure how he got here nor does he particularly care.
His body will wither given enough time and then he will see his loved ones. Death is a small price to pay for his failures. There is nothing left for him in the mortal coil.
"I very much doubt that," a voice says. "All lives have value."
Goro glances to the side. A tall man with curly hair floats above the ground, observing the mountains. He seems incongruous in his pristine black suit next to Goro's bloodstained one.
"All For One," he says in greeting. "Are you here to steal my quirk?"
"Nothing so cruel." The great villain lets his feet touch the ground. Then he sits on the dirty stone, not caring at all what happens to his suit.
"Then leave me to die in peace."
"I will after you here me out." The villain smiles cruelly. Sincerely. "Will you let me speak?"
He meets the bright brown eyes of the greatest villain in Japan. He doesn't look like much, tall and spindly. No one would ever suspect this lean man to be the strongest man alive.
"Speak," he says fearlessly for he has nothing left to lose.
"Revenge is a fickle thing, you see. Killing those who hurt you and yours is simple. Easy. It took you less than an hour to kill Boomerang. But that won't solve anything. The blade kills but it is the arm that moves the blade. Is the arm to blame for murder? No. The mind moves the blade. Is the mind to blame? No. The mind has sworn an oath to society, and the dictates of that society move the mind. Do you understand?"
He watches a swirl of snow land on the lap of the villain. It melts, drenching his thigh in cold liquid.
"No."
"You destroyed the blade that took all you loved. But you did not damage the arm or the mind or the society that truly committed this crime. If you wish to attain revenge, then you must destroy society."
"That's an impossible task."
"Believe me, more than any other I know the difficulty of that task. But you see, society has this inevitable habit of making a single man the exemplar of all they stand for. They make a single person bear that weight. Inevitably, when they die, society changes irrevocably. Titan and Stormwind bore the weight of their respective lands, and when they were defeated we entered a new era. Hero's death ended the Golden Age. If you wish to truly get revenge, then join me and let us kill the new pillar of society."
He considers the white mountains and their indifference to his thoughts. They were here long before his birth and they will be here long after his death. But even they too will fade away, weathered by wind and water and mankind's quirks.
"It won't bring them back," he says after hours have passed.
The villain nods, patient as ever. "Nothing will. But by destroying this society and building something better, you can ensure it never happens to someone else. Will you help me?"
He sighs, hating the man but accepting he will follow him loyally. After all, should the villain decide Goro no longer has use, his death will be painless.
And that would just mean he meets his family.
"It can't be Goro Hanazuki who helps you."
"Kurogiri shall be your new name." All For One extends his arm. "Will you let me guide you?"
Kurogiri clasps hands with the villain, sealing an oath of service. This isn't the first but hopefully it will be the last.
"Yes, Sensei."