Change of Generations

As he turned around, his son stood two steps away from him. Quickstep still had her hand on his shoulder. She scowled angrily.

"I'm not your hero taxi!" she growled.

"Just stay away and come back when we need you," Shoto ordered, not caring for Quickstep's complaints. He didn't even look at her, instead, he scowled at his father. "It's been almost an hour since Natsuo arrived. I thought…" He bit his lip. "You're overheating. Take a break."

A big junk of ice had appeared just behind Enji. Sighing in relief, he leaned against it for a moment. It started to melt and vaporize on his skin. He would only allow himself a moment, though. He couldn't afford a longer break.

The sudden arrival of the young heroes had put the villains on the defensive. He knew that wouldn't last long. Deku, Bakugou, and Shoto – who now also joined the battle – were promising young heroes, but as it was now, they wouldn't defeat Shigaraki and the League alone.

Then, before the ice could give Enji any real relief, it crumbled below him. Had something happened to Shoto? But no. It wasn't Shoto's doing. It was Touya. Raining Man's quirk allowed him to control Shoto's ice as soon as it was created. It was falling apart, and the remaining splinters rose into the air to shred Enji and Shoto with sharp edges.

Both Todorokis used their fire to melt the ice before it hit.

"Since when—" Shoto started, confused.

"A stolen quirk," Enji panted. "Don't use your ice until you figure this out."

An inferno of Shoto's fire lit up the crater, as the boy attacked with the other half of his quirk. "How troublesome."

Meanwhile, Deku, Bakugou, and Shigaraki had taken their fight into the air. Hawks and Rocklock attacked Spinner, Toga, and Mr. Compress. The tides were turning.

Enji feared neither Shoto, nor Deku and Bakugou would be able to take out their opponents alone, but they could hold out long enough on their own.

He was distracted by Toga rushing him. The knife glinted in the sun. Before he could so much as make a move against her, she suddenly stopped mid-stride.

"You take care of the other two," a familiar voice ordered Enji. "I came as fast as I could." The fabric of Toga's clothes had turned against her, strangling her tight.

"Back from the dead?" Enji greeted Best Jeanist. "Did you enjoy your vacation?" Enji gave him a tired smile.

Best Jeanist didn't appreciate the humor it seemed. "You tell me." Then he made a sharp nod in Touya and Shigaraki's direction. "I can't hold those two. The others I can deal with."

Enji nodded.

First Touya, he decided. The boy was the easier opponent. Then they could all converge on Shigaraki.

Together, Enji and Shoto could corner Touya. He was a ferocious beast. Leashing out, burning everything in his surroundings.

"Shoto!" he yelled at his brother "Yes! Call Natsuo back. We can have a family meeting." He laughed crazed, but then Touya had to take another step back, retreating from one of Enji's attacks.

His flames became hotter, Enji noted. As Touya's despair increased, so did the heat of his flames.

He's killing himself.

Enji knew it. But there was nothing to do against it, and in any case, he had arrived at a point where he couldn't hold back for that reason. Going soft on Touya would lengthen the battle, which meant Deku and Bakugou – who were already on the defense against Shigaraki – would have to fight alone for longer. Even with Aizawa still erasing Shigaraki's quirks – and Aizawa was getting increasingly tired, the intervals between Erasure shortening – they couldn't deal with him on their own.

So, Enji had to take out Touya as soon as possible. He still hoped he could avoid killing him, but it wasn't his main concern anymore. Despite his fear that Natsuo would never forgive him, his obligations weren't just as a father to Touya, but also as a father to Shoto, as a mentor to Bakugou and Deku, as a superior to Brazen and Shrinking Girl, as a comrade to Hawks, Eraser Head, Best Jeanist, and Rocklock… As a hero to Japan. He couldn't risk all that for Touya.

Even if Natsuo would never forgive him.

Even if he would never forgive himself!

He would end this now. He would end it before Touya could get even hotter – before Touya would turn his flame up too high for even Enji and Shoto to reach him.

"Take a step back," Enji warned Shoto.

Enji was huffing and panting. His sweat vaporized as soon as it formed on his forehead. His skin felt dry and hot. He had a headache and his body only moved sluggishly, aided by his quirk. His back was still in agony but somehow, he was still standing.

"Dad?" Shoto asked, worried.

Their fight against Touya had already lasted longer than it should have. Shoto was sweating and panting. He too would have noticed Touya's escalation in heat.

"I'll end this…"

He didn't think Touya could have heard him, but maybe he had spoken louder than he thought.

"You think you can?" Touya screamed. He must've started to overheat, too. Even with Raining Man's quirk, it would give him a chance to cool down, but it wouldn't negate the overheating process completely.

Enji collected all the heat in his body. He had never done that before. Combining both his initial method of using Flashfire together with the new method. Maxing out all the factors of Flashfire. He had never done it, because he knew it would have a detrimental effect on his body.

Ever since he first found out about Touya being alive, he hadn't been able to collect as much heat and firepower in his body as before. There was something hindering him. Something holding him back.

Ootsu had called it a lack of fuel… Or rather the drying out of his old fuel source. What he had really meant to say, what Enji had only slowly started to accept, was that he was hindering himself. Finding out the truth about Dabi, had caused Enji to mentally shut down, to create a blockage in his mind that prevented him from pulling out his full power…

He could call it fuel so to make the concept of how his quirk worked easier understandable for himself, but that didn't change what it was:

A mental barrier.

A barrier he had tried to battle for months now, ever since his first meeting with Tanaka. The effects of therapy were slowly progressing. And he felt it was getting slower by the week. At first, he'd been frustrated, but at least he had seen constant improvement. In the last weeks as Tanaka began taking his life apart in their sessions, his process had slowed immensely. But it was still there.

He told himself that it had to be there. That all these hours of hard work weren't for nothing.

And now, he had to pull through.

Just this once, he had to smash through the barriers he had erected in his mind.

Then he condensed the heat to levels that he'd never been able to with his old technique.

Pulling his arms in front of his body, he prepared for his final super move. Plus Ultra!

Touya was standing far away. Their battle had sprawled over the entire crater. It had been a ranged clash of different fire moves, leaving the dusty ground smoldering, and earth molten. Opposite him, Touya mirrored his move.

"Prominence Burn!" Father and Son cried out in unison.

It was the mightiest attack Enji had ever used. A true hell of raging white fire, clashing against Touya's blue.

Touya's attack was smaller in size, not able to call forth as much fire as Enji did, but his flames were hotter. They still were. Enji knew that. No matter how much he condensed his fire, he could never reach Touya's heat. Even less so when Touya was enraged and putting his all into the attacks. But he could overpower him with technique and sheer will. He could use more flames where Touya used hotter ones.

Touya's screams, as he poured more and more energy into his attack, sounded distant to Enji. They were drowned out by Enji's own scream.

It was painful. His skin was frizzling, blood starting to heat up and pulsate agonizingly through his flesh. If it felt like that to Enji, how would it feel to Touya? This – he realized – was as much Touya's final attack, as it was his. Whoever would lose the encounter would be overwhelmed by waves of blue and white fire that neither of them would survive. And either way neither would have anything left after the attack. Fearful both for killing himself and killing Touya, Enji angled the attack upwards, trying to disperse the fire into the air.

A migraine was searing its way through his head. His vision turned blotchy then whited out completely. All he saw was his own white fire and stark black shadows, and then there was only white. His screaming died and left only a loud beeping sound in his ears.

It wouldn't be enough, he feared, as his energy was quickly draining out of his body. Touya would win…

And then there was a surprised whelp. Hardly audible over tinnitus in his ear. And then it was over.

The flames dispersed into the sky and over Touya's head. And the boy was sprawled before Enji. He hadn't lost the encounter, Enji knew. He had enough experience, that even half-blind, and half-deaf Enji was aware enough, to know he'd been in the inferior position. Touya had just…slipped.

Shoto appeared next to Touya long before Enji stumbled his way to him. There was a puddle of water below his body, soaking the villain's clothes. Enji hadn't seen it at a distance, but now that he stood close enough, his impaired vision picked up on the detail. Ice…Touya had slipped on a layer of Shoto's ice.

Touya laid sprawled, panting and wheezing. His eyes were drooping. His skin was red and peeling off his body. His piercings had melted in his face. Most of his clothes were burned too, even the fire-resistant material not surviving the heat. He blinked as if confused. As if he couldn't understand what was happening. He obviously tried moving, but his body failed him. It was over. Touya was losing consciousness.

"Good—" work, Endeavor was about to say, complimenting Shoto when he doubled over gagging and retching. He fell on his knees as he spat out blood and bile.

His arms were trembling, where his weight rested upon them. He could barely move. Glancing up at Shigaraki, Deku, and Bakugou he couldn't see them, but he knew they'd still be there.

"You need a break," Shoto said. He created another block of ice, and this time with Touya unconscious, the structure remained intact. Enji didn't lean or sit against it. He just fell over it. The ice immediately started to melt.

"Touya," he forced the name through his lips. They had to capture him. Make sure he couldn't wake up and cause more trouble.

"I've got him," Shoto said.

It was difficult for Enji to make sense of what was happening around him. Shoto must've called Brazen over because Enji suddenly heard his voice. Then he heard Quickstep's voice.

"Go with them, Shoto," Endeavor commanded, but his voice hardly carried over the tinnitus in his ear.

"I'll go help with Shigaraki," Shoto replied.

Right… Enji still had a job to do. A new ice structure appeared under him to cool him down, but it was only getting better slowly. He pushed himself away from the ice to get a view of the battlefield. He stumbled as he followed to where he saw Shoto's blurry figure move on ahead.

"Stay here," Shoto warned. "Best Jeanist and us…we can deal with Shigaraki."

Best Jeanist? Enji had almost forgotten about him. But he didn't stop.

Enji didn't stop until something crashed into the ground next to him. He only recognized Bakugou when the boy was close enough to touch him. Deliriously, Enji reached for him and pulled him back on his feet. The kid was bleeding from his nose, dripping down his chin, but he still stood strong, as he glared up at Shigaraki.

"You look like shit," Bakuou declared with a glance at Enji.

"I still have an attack or two left," Enji said, though every word made him feel like retching.

He didn't know if it was true, but Shoto's ice must have counted for something.

"Not yet," Bakugou said. "We'll make it count. His healing is getting slower."

Enji had to rely on his words because he still couldn't make out any details. The combatants up in the air were no more than blurry and dark shapes.

"Good," Enji answered.

"That means three or four more attacks… We don't need that half-assed stuff," Bakugou grunted, "Give it all you got and smash his face in with it."

"Got it," he didn't even have the energy to be bothered by the fact that he was taking orders from a seventeen-year-old.

"You can do it?" Bakugou asked. There was clear worry in his voice, even detectable for Enji's befuddled mind.

"Yes."

It was true. His quirk didn't have a limit in the sense that it suddenly gave out on him. The limits of his quirk were the limits of his body. For as long as he was awake, for that long he'd be able to attack. Staying awake would be the challenge. So, he'd better attack sooner rather than later. Give himself as little chance to fall unconscious as possible.

There was one problem though… He still could barely see. Bakugou in front of him was clear enough, but he couldn't differentiate between the blurry shapes further away.

"Point me in the right direction," he asked Bakugou.

The boy grimaced. "Not a problem. Just hold on." A hand grabbed his wrist, where his gauntlets were long destroyed. Enji's fingers closed around Bakugou's forearm weakly, then finding his last strength, his hand locked tight.

A bright flash of light and the bang of an explosion and they were in the air. Bakugou's way of moving was jerky and unsteady and with every explosion that pulled Endeavor in this direction or that, his migraine was firing more sharp stabs of agony into his brain. But none of that was important. Important was the blurry figure they were rapidly closing in on.

Enji had no chance but to trust Bakugou, that it was the right one. That Bakugou was throwing him at Shigaraki and not at anybody else. And he did.

As Bakugou hurled him at Shigaraki, Enji pulled his body tight. Like a cannonball, he shot at the villain. He didn't have the energy anymore, to yell out the name of his super move, as his body unfurled for the attack. The second mighty Prominence Burn was completely silent.

He was so close to Shigaraki that he saw his face shift from confusion, to anger, to pain. Enji grabbed for his wrist, making sure the villain couldn't flee.

His quirks weren't erased, Enji noted, as the skin started healing while it was still burning. It healed as fast as Enji burned it. When his flames died down, Shigaraki was still in front of him. Still whole.

But there were wounds all over his body. He was overall intact, but his skin was scarred and cracked, and superficial burns remained.

He had reached the limits of his healing quirk.

"You!" Shigaraki's voice was weaker now. His constant ugly grin was gone. Only rage contorted his features. "You again." In his eyes, Enji could see the villain's insecurity. Shigaraki himself noticed that he'd reached his limit. "I'm sick of you!"

Enji saw the fist coming, but he wasn't fast enough to evade it. Something glinted in Shigaraki's fist. A small bit of metal reflecting off the light. Enji tried to raise his arm and twist away to protect himself, and then the fist hit his shoulder, breaking the bone. His grip was dislodged from Shigaraki's wrist. Enji fell to the ground like dead meat, trying and failing to activate his flames to break his fall.

"DAD!" Shoto screamed.

"ENDEAVOR!" he recognized Deku's voice. Then he crashed heavily into the dusty ground.

Belatedly, he realized that against all odds, he was still not dead…nor was he even unconscious. And as long as he was awake…he could fight!

He rolled over his good shoulder and used the only functional arm he still had to raise himself to his knees and arm…

Something shifted.

He froze at the odd sensation. His arm slipped away under him like his strength just left the limb. His vision shut down completely, for just a few seconds. Confused by the sudden betrayal of his body, he tried to push himself back up, but his arm wouldn't move right. Shaking his head, trying to think, his migraine flared up with a vengeance.

This wasn't right. This wasn't like his normal overheating…

This was…

He had no time to worry over whatever this was, he told himself, lifting his head to look at the fight up in the air again. It wasn't over. He could rest afterward.

But he couldn't see the fighters anymore. Instead, the colors of the world were merging and flecking together forming odd blotches of grey ground and blue sky. People were yelling his name, he knew, but he couldn't recognize the voices.

Then somebody grabbed his shoulder. The healthy one.

"Shit!"

Shoto…He thought that was Shoto's voice.

"They got you with a quirk erasing bullet."

What was Shoto talking about? Shoto's fingers brushed his injured shoulder. Then he held something in his hand. It was just barely close enough in front of his eyes for Enji to make out the needle and the broken remains of the small syringe.

"A quirk erasing bullet…" Enji repeated, feeling dread. But he felt like it wasn't important now. He could still fight without the quirk. That kid had done it too. Against the villain Overhaul… Enji had heard parts of the story.

He was being ridiculous, but in his one-track mind, that didn't occur to him. Part of him also knew to place the symptoms he was experiencing. He had had enough first aid courses under his belt to know… But reason had left him.

"I can still fight," he insisted. His words were slurring. "We almost have him… Once he's—" Once he's…? What had he been about to say?

"No," Shoto said. "You need… Something isn't right. We'll take care of the rest."

He flinched when Quickstep appeared right in front of him.

What was she doing here? She was supposed to take Natsuo and Touya and then stay away. But here she was again.

"I need to…," Enji slurred.

"You come with me," Quickstep interrupted him decisively.

"I didn't tell you to—"

"We made a deal. I can't cash in my side of the bargain if you're dead."

He shook his head despite the headache. He wasn't dead…

But before he could fight it any longer, he felt the nauseating effect of a teleportation.

Upon feeling solid ground again, he regurgitated what felt like his entire inner organs over his collar and chest.

"Shit, what is—"

Was that Natsuo? What was Natsuo doing here? Why was Natsuo back on the battlefield?

Worried, Enji grabbed onto the closest person to him. He hoped it was Natsuo's arm.

"You need—" he started. Scowling, he started again. "You need—You—"

But the world was lost to him before he even knew what he wanted to say.

Oh dear.