Two weeks have passed, sun is shining till past 10pm and it is time for a new chapter.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom

Chapter 8: a Villain in Training

Izuku stepped out of Kurogiri's warp gate still smiling. The Nomu himself followed through, and moved to Izuku's father's side. They were in a large industrial-feeling room, probably some form of a warehouse. It was dimly lit like the medical room Izuku had first met his father in before. It might well have been the same building. A loud thump took his attention as a large somewhat humanlike creature stepped out of the darkness behind his father. It was taller than anyone else in the room, with a muscular body, a greyish skin and…

It had its brains visible on the outside of its skull.

"Dad… is that a Nomu? Kurogiri isn't the only one?"

"Yes. I am glad you remember my earlier explanation. That saves time, though you should know that this Nomu is mindless, essentially a walking corpse or a biological robot.

"Who did you use to… make it?" Izuku asked.

"Don't you recognize him?" Izuku could hear the smirk in his father's voice. "Then again, he did give you brain damage."

A fuzzy image of the original owner of the vibration quirk flashed in Izuku's memory along with his last screams of terror as the man was engulfed my Kurogiri's mist.

"You… you…"

"You saw me kill one of them. Did you think I would spare others after what they did? Kurogiri could have killed them, but deemed this a better punishment, and I agreed. This way they can pay you back by serving you."

Izuku breathed in deep. He knowingly chose this life and the man had earned this fate. When Izuku was in their hands he had heard them talk about having killed other people before, they were murderers, they deserved this.

"Why is it here?" He asked.

"For your training of course. The first phase of your training will be to strengthen your body, skills and quirk until you can defeat this type of Nomu reliably. It is a low-tier Nomu, but if you can defeat it you can easily do the same to street thugs like those that kidnapped you and even low-level or non-combat oriented pro heroes. If you plan to exist in my world this is the absolute minimum you have to be able to handle, regardless of what you choose to do."

"I know," Izuku said as he stared at the Nomu towering over him. "I don't want to be that helpless again."

"You should also know that I am much harsher as a trainer than as a father," the smirk had disappeared from his father's face and voice. For the first time since Izuku had learned who the man was, he was feeling like he was talking to the dangerous villain All For One rather than just his long missed father.

"What should I do?" Izuku asked.

"We will start by seeing what you can do now. Fight and try to kill the Nomu. Use everything you know and all of your quirks the best you can," he paused for a moment as Izuku processed the instructions. "Nomu, attack."

The creature screeched in an ear-shattering high pitch and charged. Izuku barely jumped out of the way but didn't exactly land graciously. He yelped as his arms hit the hard floor.

"Nomu stop," All For One commanded. "Izuku get up."

Izuku scrambled to get up, holding his wrist that took the worst of the fall. He winced.

"I hope you won't be slowed down by that amount of pain. You don't want to be helpless like when you were kidnapped, like your mother was."

Izuku's head snapped and he stared at All For One like even All Might wouldn't dare.

"Yes, let the anger flow through you. If it helps you get stronger it is good. Your reaction speed was good, faster than I expected, but it is no use unless you know how to take advantage of it instinctually. If you dodge, you must stay mobile after the initial motion and counterattack, not become a child who slipped and needs daddy to help with the booboo."

Izuku gritted his teeth.

"We are going to do this again," All For One said. "Try to stay on your feet this time and use your vibrating blade. You should be able to evade and attack at the same time with your quirks... Nomu, attack."

It wasn't the last time Izuku met the floor during the hour that All For One repeatedly sent the Nomu after him. In the end, gasping, Izuku was held against the wall by the Nomu, his arms held above his head, full of bruises and scabs. The Nomu had a burnt cut on its arm, but that didn't seem to even slow it and the wound was already closing at a visible speed.

"I think that is enough testing," his father said, his tone back to normal. "There is much to do. Kurogiri."

A warp gate opened under Izuku's legs and the mindless Nomu lowered him into it. Izuku welcomed the familiar feeling of the mist flowing along his legs. His feet hit something soft, and he laid in a half-sitting position on a familiar hospital bed. His father and Kurogiri stepped through another warp gate. Kurogiri reached into a third smaller one and pulled out a bottle of cold water. He handed it to Izuku.

"Thank you."

As he drank, his father sprayed something onto the scabs on his legs before using a quirk to make them close properly.

"Are you feeling ill in anyway or feeling pain other than from your bruises?" He asked, sounding like a completely different person than he had been the past hour. All For One had done his job for the day and Izuku's father was back. Izuku smiled.

"My right wrist. It has hurt to move since the second, no, third time I hit the floor."

His father simply grabbed the wrist held it straight, causing a little pain. With a green glow all of the pain was soon gone. That quirk, or quirks, were really efficient. Most healing quirks drain stamina but Izuku didn't feel drained by the treatment at all. Then again, his injuries were minor, and father had once mentioned that the healing works better when he was more rested. Izuku started muttering about healing quirks under his breath even as his injuries were healing.

"You truly inherited my interest in quirks," his father said. "It is very useful, especially with our quirk."

"Yes," Izuku said, "There is one thing I don't understand. If you have such a good healing quirk, or quirks, why are you still so…"

"Injured, deformed, barely alive?" He finished the question. Izuku nodded.

"While my healing quirks are powerful, there are limits to what they can do, and they do not work passively. I was only saved by a different quirk that allowed my memories to be stored in my spine before All Might crushed my head."

Izuku squeezed his hands into fists, being reminded of what had happened to his father and by whom.

"That let my consciousness survive until the doctor got to me and re-assembled my skull with surgery and other healing quirk users, but it could only work to a point. We did not possess any quirks that could reverse such total damage. I still require regular treatment, but that is more to maintain my current condition rather than heal anything further. We recently acquired a more powerful super regeneration quirk, but it is a blunt tool, excellent if you already have it in battle, but unable to effect wounds that have already closed."

"So, there is no way to…?"

"The doctor is still researching possibilities, but so far there is only one way that isn't more likely to kill me in the process. I need to combine my other healing quirks with One For All.

"One for," Izukus started. "Is it a quirk related to All For One?"

His father nodded slowly. When he spoke, he didn't seem to focus on anything in the room. His voice was best described as nostalgic.

"It is a generational stockpiling enhancing quirk I accidentally created in my little brother. I believed he was quirkless and gave him a power stockpiling quirk that I thought might help his weak body. Only later we found out he already had a quirk. It was a very much useless ability to transfer itself to another person and nothing more, as far as I know. Somehow the quirks fused into one, something that took the doctor a century to replicate artificially in Kurogiri. I doubt I need to explain to you what combining those two powers means."

Izuku was already thinking. He rubbed his chin with a now fully healed hand and started muttering to himself.

"A quirk to stockpile power and quirk to transfer itself… generational stockpiling enhancing quirk… normal limits of quirks… human lifespan… passing on the quirk itself, not just inheriting genes." Izuku's eyes widened. "Does the quirk also transfer the power it has already gathered?"

"Yes, and it has already been wielded by eight different people for more than a century."

"Accumulation type quirks that can constantly grow rather than just needing a charge time to use, have much more potential than more stagnant quirks, theoretically unlimited potential if they weren't limited by effects of aging and human lifespan. If this quirk can bypass that and be passed on faster than normal human generations," Izuku stopped mid-sentence. "By now a quirk like that could make its holder one of if not the most powerful person in the world."

"You could say so," his father said. "One For All is currently possessed by All Might."

Izuku stared at his father for a moment, but it did make sense. He gestured at his father's head and mask.

"So, he did this to you with a power you created."

"Yes, though the only surprising thing was that he won. My younger brother did not share my visions or ways of getting there. He used One For All to try and fight me and everyone that has inherited the quirk since has continued the fight. I believe there was one who disappeared for several years, until someone else appeared with the quirk. I have tried to take it many times, but it is the only quirk that has been able to resist my All For One.

"You couldn't take it?" Izuku asked surprised.

"No, so-far it can only be passed on willingly. In hindsight it would have been better to just kill one of them and end the quirk, but I wanted it. I have wanted it since I realized what I had created, so even though they all have sought to kill me, I had to let each of them pass the quirk forward in the hope I could one day take it. But I was careless, and while All Might was hiding in the United States, I got… tired. I no longer ruled Japan and the hero society was already rising, but my underground empire was still vast and stable. After a century of fighting and plotting I started questioning my way of life. I had already created new identities to act as covers and took a step back from my organization to try something different, a vacation of sorts to rest before All Might would return. Then I met Inko."

"How did you meet?" Izuku asked, holding back tears from the mere mention of his mother.

"We accidentally bumped into each other at a café. She was so flustered and apologised repeatedly, as if it was some serious situation. I thought it was stupid for an adult, but something about her was endearing. I had never spent time with someone like her as a villain. I asked if she would like to sit down with me. One thing led to another and you were born two years later." He paused and ruffled Izuku's hair like no one else had ever done. "I still took 'business trips' but most of the time I could enjoy regular family life for the first time since my own childhood, and those weren't peaceful times. Some days I even imagined putting my ideals aside to stay like that, at least until you grew up. What would eighteen or twenty years be for a struggle longer than a century? Unfortunately, All Might returned to Japan while Inko was pregnant with you. I had to split my time with you two and one other while trying to maintain what I had built, but… in the end it took all my time to hold him back and Inko started getting suspicious. I came up with the working abroad lie. Then my fight with All Might happened."

He finished healing Izuku's injuries, even the smallest bruises. He helped Izuku sit up on the edge of the bed and sat down next to him.

"After that I decided it was best for both of you, easiest for everyone if I just stayed away."

"You were wrong," Izuku said quietly, looking down. "It wasn't easy."

"You made it quite clear the day all three of us were in this room," father paused. "Now it's too late."

"It is… for mom," Izuku said and leaned against his father. "You're still here. I don't care what you look like, never did."

His father chuckled and pulled him closer.

"How did a villain like me earn a son like you? Perhaps I should then act like a father. How was your first school day?"

Izuku stiffened. Somehow, he hadn't expected that question.

"It was fi…"

"Do not lie to me," his father said with a stern, threatening voice. Izuku shivered hearing it. "While I loved Inko, I know she was a bit… gullible. Don't think you can pretend in front of me like you did with her."

"Promise you won't let Kurogiri go to the school," Izuku pleaded, getting only a nod in response. The Nomu in question remained quiet and motionless but his glowing eyes were focused on Izuku.

"I pretended that the Dragon Blade is my quirk, but when they asked about my old school I admitted to being a late bloomer and what that meant. I don't think they are all the same, but some of them are pretty bad. Talking about evolution and comparing quirkless people to chimpanzees. I have never actually wanted to take someone's quirk before, but today…"

"I would not fault you, but that would cause problems, so unless you want them to experience a sudden accident…"

"No!" Izuku blurted out. "I… just need to figure out who are the decent people, if there are any."

"Have you noticed anyone specific yet?"

"Maybe one. He criticised people about little things and comes from a hero family, but… It's impossible to know how he would be in a different situation… He still felt like a decent person besides the annoying strictness. At least he criticized my actions, not what I am. He somehow got me to talk about how I feel about heroes on the walk home... He didn't judge me for it. Maybe he was just surprised."

"A hero family you say?" His father asked.

"Ingenium's brother."

His father was silent for a moment. Izuku couldn't read the expressions on his missing face and started getting nervous. Eventually his father got up.

"Not the worst of them. I won't involve myself with whatever you want to do with him. Just remember, he would still want to destroy us if he knew about me, so be careful. Even if your quirk is exposed, claim it is just a random mutation you hid to prevent bullying. If anyone asks, tell them your father breathes fire."

"Of course," Izuku said and followed his father, getting off the bed. "Thanks for… being a dad, I guess. Mom always asked how I did in school. I always lied. Maybe if I didn't, she would have…"

Something impacted Izuku's cheek with enough force to yank his head a bit to the side, air flowing past his head. After blinking a couple of times, he saw his father had his hand up, palm towards Izuku.

"Don't start blaming yourself for what ifs. Nothing good comes out of it and once you start it is difficult to stop. I know."

Izuku rubbed his cheek and looked at the floor.

"It is still tru…" This time Izuku saw the air blast coming early enough to flinch but it wasn't enough to evade it. "DAD!"

"I told you to not to do that. If you want a father in your life that includes disciplining you when needed."

"Is that your idea of disciplining?" Izuku asked, shocked.

"Actually it is part of your training, but works for both. I warned I would be harsh. This quirk is called Air Canon. I held back most of its power, so it won't cause serious injury, but its speed makes it excellent for training."

Izuku stared at his father but it was impossible to win a staring competition with an eyeless man. In the end Izuku could only pout. His victorious father continued talking about training.

"Your main limitations in the fight were skill, speed and agility both in evasion and attack. Strength isn't such a concern when you're using the vibrating Dragon Blade, which is the only combination you can use without raising unwanted questions. Unless an enemy has a powerful defensive quirk, you will be able to cut them. However, the quirk is useless if you get crushed by a stronger, faster opponent before you can use it or if you cannot hit the enemy at all. In the worst case you could be killed before even being able to fight back if you are targeted. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Izuku answered.

"Good. Your training will have three parts. You will follow a physical training regimen on your own to make sure your body is capable and healthy. I will help you control your quirks, all of them, and monitor combat trainings with Nomus as often as I can. I want you to be always alert even outside training, so I will use the air canon any time we are together. You must be able to evade sudden attacks also outside of training sessions. That is the only way for you to be as safe as possible."

"That's why you are so harsh right?"

"Yes," his father answered and put his hand on Izuku's shoulder. "I will also have the doctor provide you a copy of the super regeneration quirk a bit later. It is very powerful so we should wait longer for your body to adjust to holding your current quirks. You need to learn control in the meanwhile. We'll do that after your combat training sessions."

"So…" Izuku started, "now?"

His father smiled behind his mask.

"Very good."