NOTE: This story isn't intended for sensitive readers. Readers on the lookout for trigger warnings are advised to give Singlehandedly a pass.
Pulling himself up and out of the sewer grate, All Might grumbled, "…not another one." With his vision swaying, he didn't bother to use the energy to set the sewer lid back in place. The backlash for pushing my time limit must be getting worse. He set down a plastic bag with two empty soda bottles inside.
In the shadows of the underpass, was another hostage situation. A green villain made of viscous sludge had completely ensnared its victim, rippling, and morphing as it tried to force itself into the victim's body. Standing still with a strained grin on his face, All Might took a muscled swing. A gale of air created by the force of the punch splattered the green villain across the dark brick and concrete. This villain had eluded his capture once already. It was not going to happen again.
Picking up the bag from the floor, All Might uncapped the empty soda bottles and sped around in a red, blue, and yellow blur, the colors of his hero costume, and shoved the villain inside the bottles. Finished with that, he leaned against the curve of the wall, breathing erratically.
As he began turning the caps of the bottles closed, All Might was interrupted by a series of coughs from the victim—coughs that soon developed into vomiting as their body expelled the invasive slime.
With the villain neutralized, now split between bottles in the plastic bag he carried in one hand, All Might stopped using his quirk and deflated in a cloud of steam, his hero costume swallowed his now thin body. And so Toshinori Yagi hobbled as fast as he could towards the young victim. They were still vomiting up the last of the slime, green-tinted fluids spilling to the floor.
Toshinori patted the kid on the back until it stopped. Then a young boy with green hair and dressed in threadbare clothing looked up at him, his eyes half-lidded. Neither he nor his clothes look to have been washed recently.
"You okay?" Toshinori asked, empty hand resting on the boy's shoulder—his grip wasn't tight, but he could feel the boy's thin shoulder from under the skin. Though, he of all people couldn't judge, so he didn't think much of it.
This boy studied the hero's face carefully as Toshinori spoke, a few seconds of silence followed, and the boy nodded.
"You were attacked by a villain." Toshinori continued in a low whisper, "All Might was here and took care of the villain, but he had to go." He hid the bag with the two bottles further behind his body as he knelt next to the boy, "I'm Toshinori Yagi. What's your name?"
The boy's eyes had not moved, studying his face intently with narrowed green eyes. Toshinori began tapping his fingers on his leg, slightly impatient, as he waited until the boy answered with a large smile, "Akatani Mikumo."
And Akatani stood up. Faced with that almost familiar smile, Toshinori had to pause, the boy's voice sounded a little odd, but he looked about the right age to be going through that so he shrugged it off, "Okay Akatani, just so 'ya know, All Might signed one of your books over there, he wanted me to let you know. You should also know that you were very brave today, do you want to be a hero when you grow up?"
Akatani's face stayed blank, the boy still seemed to be in a bit of a daze it seemed—likely leftover shock from the attack. Then Akatani just smiled wider and nodded confidently.
"That's a great path to aim for young Akatani," As Toshinori said that he stumbled before managing to regain his balance, "Umm, sorry, I've really got to go now. Can you make it home?"
"Go home?" Akatani clarified, straining to get the words out, focusing again on Toshinori's face.
Toshinori stood up a little taller, fighting through the encroaching fog in his brain to clearly speak out each syllable in his response, "Yes, home, will you be able to get home safely?"
Yet another pause, shorter this time, "Yes." Akatani seemed less confused this time around. Being attacked by a villain would often leave communication with the victim difficult, it seemed like this was one of those times.
Not wasting a second, Toshinori whipped around to leave the small tunnel, his breathing still labored as he limped into the sunlight, he felt a light brush of a hand against the back of his hero costume. Toshinori didn't turn around and quickened his pace not allowing himself the time to consider what the boy's pursuit was for. The second he turned out of sight he inflated into All Might and leaped away. Sorry kid, but I'm out of time.
-o-o-o-
Izuku—not Akatani, Akatani was his fake name—turned around the corner out of the tunnel, stunned as he felt a rush of air. All Might wasn't very good at protecting his identity …Sure, he waited until he turned the corner. But I can still see him flying off into the distance and his hero costume is very recognizable even when he looked very different. Even I can remember to give the right name after being attacked, though, he did look sick, he's probably just doing his best on a day he's not feeling 100%.
Who would I tell anyway?
In the wake of the man who had checked on him after the attack, a man who was apparently All Might, Izuku stood frozen. That is until he saw a bottle nearby his feet. It only caught his eye when he saw it begin rolling away on its own, his mind registered what it was.
Izuku rushed forward to grab it, nearly tripping on his feet along the way. The bottle hadn't gotten far before it was in his grasp, he could see a single eyeball inside staring right back at him. Floating among swirling dark green sludge.
Izuku tightened his grip as the bottle tried to jump out of his hands, he turned his gaze to the sky towards the direction All Might had leaped towards. In the distance, All Might faded away and as Izuku turned around, he caught the sight of something fall from All Might's silhouette in the corner of his eye. Izuku whirled back to look again. Something was falling.
That had to be the other bottle All Might put the villain into…he tried to hide the bag with them inside behind his back. But he forgot to continue hiding them from my view when he turned away. And why didn't he secure them? WAIT. That bottle will break when it lands, and I can't count on that killing it.
Now Izuku's attention turned back to the bottle which ceaselessly tried to jump out of his hands. Still-sentient sludge was leaking through the loosely closed opening and the sludge began turning the cap further open.
After tightly twisting the lid shut, Izuku held up the bottle to his face. Turning it around a few times but couldn't see the villain's eye anymore. What are you trying to do? He began running away from the scene, he can't afford a phone, so calling the police is off the table. I can't ask someone else either. That requires actual conversation. Which requires explanations. That requires answering specific questions. I can't even do that. Not to mention how I look…shoot-shoot-SHOOT! This would need to be taken directly to the police.
But my stuff. Izuku glanced back at his things strewn across the underpass. When he was attacked, he had it in his hands, looking for something. Double-checking he'd printed off the right review sheet at the library. Come on, priorities! Izuku knocked himself on the head. But I can't lose my stuff either. He broke into a sprint. Gathered up his things into his backpack, making sure to zip it up, and threw it into some bushes nearby before sprinting back towards the city. I can't let that slow me down, the sooner I get to the police the sooner someone can find the other half of the villain…
And as Izuku turned onto one of Musutafu's busy streets he headed in the direction he believed to be towards the closest police station. Izuku felt the sludge struggle harder as he weaved through the crowd of people. After several minutes, he swerved onto a side street and cut through several alleyways, pushing through the burn of his lungs and ache of his stomach.
Once he made his way back to a large street, Izuku stopped for a moment to gasp for air against the cool brick wall of a storefront. I think I'm about halfway there. Arms resting at his sides he felt the bottle tapping itself against his leg. His hands were sweaty, and the bottle had become increasingly hard to grip, so he shifted the bottle to hold it between his upper arm and side so he could wipe his hands off on his clothes. Then he used his left hand to firmly grip the top of the bottle. Still, it tapped against his leg. Annoyed, Izuku thwacked the bottle against the wall and resumed his run through the crowded walkway. Only to skid to a stop the moment he felt the bottle tugging behind him.
Izuku waved the bottle around his periphery, ignoring the stares he got from the surrounding crowd of people. The villain wasn't just trying to escape from Izuku's hands, it was tugging toward a specific direction. It must be towards the other half of the villain. Glancing around Izuku could see other people looking across the street. Looking in the same direction the sludge villain was trying to escape. It must be free and already making some sort of noise then. That's All-Might's problem, I need to get this guy to the station.
…But something was wrong with All Might, and there was no guarantee that the hero had even noticed what he'd dropped soon enough to get there on time. Or if the situation would be visible enough to find from wherever All Might was. In the middle of a crowded walkway next to a busy street, Izuku thought, I can't tell if the villain said something before he tried killing me, but he seems to be looking for a hostage, that would make the situation much more difficult for any heroes other than All Might to deal with. At best, Kamui Woods, Death Arms, Backdraft, and others will all be there and can easily take care of the situation, but I can't count on that.
Running his hands through his somewhat greasy hair, Izuku still hadn't moved. But what can I do? Not even a second passed before he grinned and looked down at the bottle he was holding. Oh, I have a hostage of my own. Then he took off, weaving through cars in the street, ha they must be honking at me, letting the villain guide him.
One might have found the situation beautiful in a way, everything framed with glistening skyscrapers from the evening sun. The amber colors matching the colors of the fire that had broken out. But this was not something Izuku would have noticed because what he saw was repulsive. An abundance of heroes on the scene, more than he'd hoped for, were largely doing nothing but watching. As Izuku approached he pulled up his hoodie to cover his hair and hide most of his face—the media was there.
Even from behind the police barricade keeping back the growing crowd of spectators separated from the fight, Izuku felt the force of explosions coming from what looked to be the villain. That must be the quirk of the hostage. Pushing his way to the front for a better view, Izuku could see them now. A blond-haired boy thrashing around, his red eyes wide in panic, trying to break free and breathe. More frequent and increasingly large explosions went off as the hostage panicked more, a cry for the help that was there, but not coming to his aid.
The property damage was already extensive, the explosions caused fires to break out and had spread, Izuku could feel the heat grow stronger with each explosion from the victim's hands. Hands? Explosions? There was also the smell of something he couldn't place. Izuku couldn't place the hint of familiarity that was there.
He eyed a shard of glass a couple of meters inside the barrier. The heroes hadn't made any progress, they would be great spectators. Do I actually know this kid? It felt like he did. Izuku began inching forward as he tried to meet the eyes of someone desperately searching for anyone to help.
Eye contact came easier than expected. That spark of familiarity grew and the word just came out of Izuku's mouth, "Kacchan?" He gasped, he knew this person, he didn't know how, but he knew what to call him. That vague familiarity seemed to be shared as the blonde's focus zeroed on Izuku, who was already running. Now more confident he yelled, "KACCHAN!"
Having leaped over the police barrier, keeping his head down, Izuku reached down to snatch the shard of glass from the ground with his left hand—the bottle already in his right. The heroes must have been calling out to him because the focus of the sludge villain was on him now. Izuku stopped, not too close to the villain and far enough away from the heroes. Holding the bottle by its cap, he sliced open a small hole.
Sludge began squeezing through the new opening, gushing out and moving towards the villain, soon Izuku could see his target, the eyeball. It pitifully struggled to push its way through the small hole. He swiftly brought up the shard to stab the eye, but the glass slipped through his sweaty fingers.
Stumbling for a moment, he could see the villain looming over him, its size nearly doubled. It began wrapping around him again, so Izuku dropped the bottle as well and crushed the eye beneath his foot. The villain recoiled and seemed to be howling in pain. I was right, if it can control unattached pieces of its body, it can feel pain from those pieces as well. Not wasting any time, Izuku reached out, grabbed Kacchan's forearm with two hands, and yanked the boy out with every ounce of strength he had.
Of course, Izuku hadn't expected to screw his plan up at the last second. After dropping the glass shard and fumbling around, he'd lost too much time to get himself out of danger. Nearby was the boy he was calling Kacchan, who is on his hands and knees gasping for air. Kamui Woods, thank goodness, had reached out with his quirk and a branch carefully wrapped around the boy's torso and pulled Kacchan to safety.
As for Izuku, it was too late, but he still smiled. The sludge villain wasn't distracted anymore, and it enveloped him entirely. Izuku wasn't conscious for much longer after that.
-o-o-o-
Among the spectating crowd was Toshinori Yagi. Who took a minute to recognize him, but the small glimpse he got confirmed that it was Akatani he saw jump over the police barrier. Akatani proceeded to ignore all calls to stop voiced by heroes, police, and paramedics as he remained laser-focused on his goal. The crowd quieted down as everyone watched to see what happened next. The authorities moving, but not fast enough, stop him. In the boy's hand was the second bottle of the sludge villain he had lost, still full.
But not for long, after cutting it open the sludge had escaped and a single eye was now visible. After dropping the glass, Akatani crushed the eye underneath his foot and then pulled the blond-haired boy free. Leaving All Might to glimpse that hauntingly familiar smile on Akatani's face. Thankfully, Kamui Woods brought the newly freed hostage to safety. Only by the time Toshinori turned his eyes back to Akatani, he didn't see him.
The sludge villain laughed, "HA! I'll trade one hostage for another, it doesn't make any difference to me!"
Young Akatani had sacrificed himself to save that other boy, he had run into battle without a thought and cleverly saved the hostage. Only by the boy's own small mistake did he jeopardize his escape. Toshinori may feel closer to collapsing than he would like, but he was confident that if One for All's backlash hadn't been so terrible today, he wouldn't have made the serious blunder in letting the villain escape thrice. Akatani was the only real hero around right now. But All Might wasn't done yet.
Sucking in his gut, Toshinori inflated into All Might again, and leaped on to the scene with a swing of his fist and a booming, "EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT NOW. WHY? BECAUSE I AM HERE!"
It was drizzling when All Might caught Akatani. The air pressure from the punch had altered the weather. The boy was freed from the sludge for a second time but the boy was still unconscious. Akatani seemed unusually light, but he is All Might, so most everything is light to him.
Then, feeling a wave of nausea, the hero hid his face from the crowd and coughed up blood into his hand. Then he turned back to the bystanders. In the few minutes I've seen this boy he's demonstrated more promise than any other successor candidate I've seen so far.
Although All Might could not be accurately described as an impulsive hero, he always followed his intuition. It had saved his own life and countless others over his career. And so, he sincerely thought, if only for a moment, I would be okay if this boy received One for All. I never thought I would ever see another person smile like Nana did, not to mention someone who also has the spirit and heart to be a hero.
Then All Might was hit with a dizzying wave of nausea and he brought up his hand to his mouth and coughed up more blood. There was so much he couldn't catch it all, so he quickly shook some excess off his hand.
All Might didn't see the drop of that blood fall onto Akatani's parted lips and roll into the boy's mouth.
With the other heroes and emergency services taking control of the situation, he handed young Akatani off to them. I'll need to talk to him later, as soon as possible really. I can get Tsukauchi's help for that.
As soon as he was free the media clamored, nearly falling over themselves, to get his attention. All Might waved them off. My work isn't quite done today. I don't have the energy to deal with them either. In a red, blue, and yellow blur All Might grabbed some two-liter soda bottles from a store nearby, emptied them, and shoved the scattered sludge villain inside. Taking the time to tightly shut each one.
"GOOD DAY CITIZENS!" he bellowed, a bit more breathlessly than he would have liked, and with a bottle secure in each hand All Might leaped away.
He landed on the back road to Musutafu police headquarters, deflated to appear as Toshinori Yagi. Trudging up to the steel back door he put his thumb on the pad next to the knob, when it recognized his fingerprint the door clicked and Toshinori stepped inside.
Already walking down the brick hallway towards Toshinori was Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi in a tan, wrinkled, trench coat, "I was told you'd be here with the villain before three."
"Apologies, there were several complications. You'll can read all about them in my report." Toshinori handed off the bottles, stumbling and catching himself on the wall along the way. He let out a deep sigh.
"It's been that kind of a day, hasn't it?"
"Worse than normal actually. Feels like I ran out of time too fast…How is it you're always here when I arrive?"
"Cameras."
"I should have guessed."
"It's the only way to get everything done and still sleep."
Toshinori focused on the tired eyes of his friend, "I wish you the best of luck with that."
They stood in silence until Toshinori mustered up the energy to continue walking through the hallway, they parted at an intersection of offices. But just a few steps after, Toshinori stopped and turned around, "Naomasa!"
The detective turned his head back, "Yes?"
"There was a boy who got involved with the sludge villain. I'll spare the details for now, name's Akatani Mikumo. He had green hair and eyes. Check with emergency services, you'll find him. I would like to speak with him."
Naomasa was already walking away when he responded, "I'll get on it immediately."
I don't deserve a friend like you. When Toshinori made it to a room to type up his report, there was one other hero there. Dark clothes, long black hair, and some sort of scarf were all he could see. Normally he'd wait for the room to be empty or change out of his hero uniform, but with his condition as it is and needing to speak with Akatani as soon as possible, he entered and fell into a seat by a computer.
After putting his finger on another scanner, he began typing. Getting through the summary and up to exiting the sewers in the detailed account before his phone rang, it was Naomasa. He almost dropped his phone picking it up, his hands were sweaty. Toshinori wiped them on his clothing as he answered, "That was fast."
"There is no 'Akatani Mikumo' in today's emergency service records. I ran the name through our database he doesn't—"
"W-what? I handed young Akatani off myself…" Toshinori's heart froze.
Naomasa cut him off this time, quick to the point as always, "There are reports of a kid with curly green hair and green eyes assaulting and then fleeing emergency services. So why did you want to speak with this Akat—"
Naomasa didn't get to finish his sentence yet again as Toshinori dropped the phone and rushed out the room. Not even bothering to end the call. His mind was spinning, and he felt more nauseous than ever. I probably just got up too fast.
With a hand against the wall for support Toshinori rushed down hallways, I should start searching from under that bridge, he sped past offices, he had a backpack with his things scattered everywhere, and ran out the steel door in the back. I didn't see him carrying anything other than the bottle afterward. Yes, that's it. He must have gone back to get those. It would take quite a while to run back there on foot, it hasn't even been that long since I captured the villain and left. Right? I should be able to make it in time.
As All Might sailed through the air towards the underpass with a grimace on his face, struggling to keep up his muscled form. I'm already out of time, this is pushing it too far. Something also felt off, the flames of his quirk were diminished, he couldn't place why.
When he landed, he immediately deflated into Toshinori, waving away the cloud of steam that followed as he entered into the dark underpass. The lighting was minimal, but he could tell there was nothing, no notebooks or backpack there, no Akatani.
He whipped around when he heard footsteps, he called out, "Akatani, are you here? I need to speak with you." The steps stopped and the figure that Toshinori could make out was noticeably taller than Akatani.
They spoke, "He's not here. You were too slow." The voice distinctly male, "Shame, I know you wanted him as a successor." Toshinori shifted his stance.
Before he could respond. The figure, now in front of him, stuck something into Toshinori's neck. Some sort of syringe. He attempted to inflate into All Might. But was only met with more nausea, he had no time left and didn't have the mental functions to power through it. Beginning to hyperventilate. Why is there not enough air?
He fell to one knee, his face tightening in the effort. Every time he reached to use his quirk, it slipped through his grasp. Like the flames were being sucked out of his fingers. He still couldn't place why.
"Oh, no need to kneel All Might. Please call me Oki."
Hearing this, Toshinori shuffled backward as far as he could, only to lose his balance and fall to the side. Slumped against the floor, he could only writhe and suck in whatever air he could.
Looking up he saw a flat black mask. On it, a large white O, was now illuminating the hallway. Oki peered down at him—mask nearly touching Toshinori's face. The sharp light made his eyes water painfully.
Oki just stood there, waiting.
This man spoke, seemingly to pass time, "I guess you've heard of me; I have been making rounds around Asia, so someone like you would have been notified…and I must say, this is especially entertaining. So, I think I'll monologue a bit longer." A brief pause, "I must say, initially I was shocked, I expected All for One to have killed you already. But he'd pass it off as biding his time for the long haul, or perhaps he enjoys it as a game. But why not nip you in the bud before you can pass your quirk on?" Oki mused.
Toshinori felt his quirk continue slipping from his grasp. Did I pass One for All on? Then maybe Akatani…that…that would good. That was what he hoped. It was after this thought that the embers of his quirk died.
"That's what I'm here to do. The line ends here. So, the monologuing ends here too." The figure lunged, picking Toshinori up by the hair on the back of his head, pulling out a gun, and pressed it to All Might's chest, "Smile."
Toshinori glared. A single shot rang out. No one but the two in the underpass heard.
Standing over him, Oki took something off of a pocket on All Might's costume, opening it and then throwing it on the ground, he shook his head solemnly, "You're not going to bleed out. You'll suffocate on your own blood first."
And so Toshinori did. He suffocated under that bridge.
And Oki strolled away, out of the dark. Tossing the gun behind him. Listening to the number one hero writhe, choke, and sputter until silence filled the underpass.
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