Chapter Fourteen:

Despite the bumpy road, Izuku could barely keep his eyes open. In the seat next to him, Ochaco chattered about the pretty scenery. But Izuku's lack of sleep last night had taken its toll on him. He hoped they wouldn't immediately be asked to jump into training after they arrived at camp. Right now, even a punching bag could defeat him by falling on top of him.

"Excuse me?" A child's voice asked.

Izuku cracked one eye open. "Wah?"

Hisashi leaned over him. Izuku suppressed a flinch. After what he'd seen in his last vision, Hisashi's face instinctively made him want to jump away. But that wasn't fair. This kid hadn't done anything. Izuku had already resolved not to treat the boy any differently. Now he had to follow through with that. He pasted a smile on his face. "Sorry, what is it?"

Holding out a water bottle, Hisashi said, "You looked a bit green around the gills. I thought you could use a drink."

"Thank you," Izuku said, feeling even worse about his earlier, instinctual reaction.

Both Hisashi and Yoichi were coming along on the class training trip because after the Stain incident, All Might refused to leave them alone. His mentor believed All for One might send even more villains to target the children. From that point forward, where All Might went, they went.

Their tutors had given them some work to do while they were gone. Yoichi currently sat in a bus seat reading from a textbook. Hisashi had abandoned his own homework to come check up on Izuku.

Izuku took a sip. "I'm just tired, mostly. I didn't sleep well last night."

"It looks like your class has stopped fighting," Hisashi said, a question in his voice.

Izuku nodded. "Everyone has been getting along lately." Thanks to your advice, went unspoken. Izuku had used the script Hisashi had given him to talk his friends into no longer picking fights with Katsuki. The class party had helped with the mood. He'd suggested a training exercise to Aizawa to force the class to work together.

That wasn't to say everything was back to normal. Katsuki basically only spoke to Denki, Hanata, and Mina. He still wasn't talking to Kirishima. He certainly wasn't talking to Izuku. By some newfound wisdom, Aizawa had paired Katsuki up with Denki for the final exams, and the class had made it through the exams without a teamwork meltdown.

From the window seat, Ochaco waved. "Hisashi, I know I've already thanked you several times for saving my life, but thank you again! I owe you. If you need me for anything during the training camp, please let me know."

Hisashi's cheeks pinkened. He shuffled his feet. "Haha, you don't owe me anything. But if you did want to repay me—"

Leaping up, Yoichi elbowed his brother in the side. "We've got to get back to our seats," he said, dragging Hisashi away.

"What was that for?" Hisashi demanded as soon as they were seated.

Yoichi rolled his eyes. "Demanding a girl's hand in marriage in repayment is something only villains do, big brother."

Hisashi crossed his arms. "So what? I like villains."

Yoichi sighed. His big brother was lucky to have him around to save him from his mistakes. "How often do villains get the girl, big brother?"

"Oh." Hisashi pondered. "I need to be more subtle about leveraging this debt. I see now."

"She's too old for you," Yoichi said.

"Then I need to wait longer before I call in the debt. You provided good advice for once." Hisashi ruffled his little brother's hair.

Since Yoichi had saved his brother's ass, he now considered it his sworn duty as a younger brother to balance out this good deed by being extremely annoying. Under his breath, he started humming the tune of "Hisashi and Ochaco sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

Hisashi flinched and went red. Only he could recognize the tune of a 21st century children's song, but he looked around as if terrified someone else might notice. "Knock it off," he hissed.

Yoichi hummed louder.

Hisashi lunged across the seat and put him in a headlock, until Toshinori came to pull them apart.

Izuku's eyes kept drifting shut during the Wild Wild Pussycats' speech. He hoped they weren't saying anything important about the camp rules, because he wouldn't remember a word of it.

Mandalay said, "This is my nephew, Kouta Izumi." She pushed forward a small boy with a sullen expression.

Izuku yawned. "Hi, uh—" He was blanking on the boy's name. He'd just heard it seconds ago, but he still couldn't remember it. Also, something about the boy's last name was familiar, but his brain wasn't working today.

Kouta punched him between the legs.

With a howl, Izuku doubled-over clutching his crotch.

Kouta bellowed, "Don't you dare look at me with pity!"

Through tears of pain, Izuku remembered where he'd heard the last name Izumi—this boy's parents had been killed in the line of duty as heroes. He'd like to say that he hadn't been looking at him with pity—it had been sleep deprivation. But he didn't think it would be heroic to argue with an orphan. Izuku had been through worse pain; he could shrug this off.

Hisashi ran over and lifted Kouta up by his hair, then raised a knee to kick him.

Toshinori grabbed Hisashi just before he could strike and yanked him away. "Hisashi!" he cried. "I'm upset that he hurt young Midoriya too, but you can't attack a child smaller than you. That's bullying."

"Good point." Hisashi pointed. "Little brother?"

"I'm on it!" Yoichi leapt forward and kicked Kouta in the stomach.

It happened too fast for anyone to stop him. Toshinori scooped up both boys and dragged them away, trying to apologize to Mandalay. Yoichi squirmed, protesting, "We're not that different in age! If he can kick people, why can't I kick him back? Hey, ugly, you can dish it out but you can't take it?" Then he launched into truly impressive curses in three different languages before Toshinori clamped a hand over his mouth.

Mandalay helped Izuku stand. "I'm so sorry about that."

"I'm fine," Izuku wheezed. "Is he all right?" He jerked his head at Kouta.

Kouta lay flat on his back taking deep breaths. He didn't look completely conscious. Yoichi had landed a brutal blow straight to the solar plexus.

"Oh, dear," Mandalay said, running to help.

Izuku rather wished he could pass out, too.

That night, when Izuku's much-needed slumber was penetrated by a noise, his first instinct was to sit up and shout, "This had better be a villain attack!"

Tomura chuckled. "Right on the first dialogue option, little brother."

Suddenly, Izuku was wide-awake.

Tomura bent over him, the scar on his lip gleaming in the moonlight. "If you come quietly, then we won't hurt anyone else." He gestured at a shadow portal hanging in the air.

The heroic part of Izuku wanted to agree. The practical part pointed out this was clearly a lie. Past incidents had proven that Tomura and All for One were targeting both Yoichi and Hisashi, one for kidnapping and one for death. Tomura must be lying when he said he would only take Izuku. Which meant he might very well be lying about targeting the other hero students. This could be the start of a large attack.

Izuku opened his mouth and screamed, "Villain attack!"

The force of his shout even made Tomura flinch away. Izuku was already moving. Tomura stood between him and the door, so he jumped out the window.

A bush below scraped at his bare feet. Behind him, Tomura swore. The entire wall decayed away.

"Villain attack!" Izuku screamed again. Lights went on inside the building. He ran—not into the forest, but toward the room shared by Hisashi and Yoichi.

Izuku was completely certain that if he'd been targeted, so had the two brothers.

Yoichi woke up to a scream of "Villain Attack!"

He rolled over and shook Hisashi, lying in the same double-bed. "Big brother, this had better not be your plan to force Class 1-A to work together. If so, you went too far again."

"Huh?" Hisashi mumbled. He'd always been a heavy sleeper. He'd slept through a small earthquake when they'd been children. He wore his favorite Batman pajamas, and Yoichi had Superman pajamas complete with a print imitating a belt and small cape. Toshinori had ordered them custom-made since both comic book characters had been out of print since long ago.

"Got you!" A young voice cried. Kouta threw a bucket of water at the bed.

Yoichi mostly dodged. Hisashi's left half was soaked. He leapt out of bed, red eyes blazing with fury.

"Then the villain attack was your prank?" Yoichi asked the younger boy.

Kouta lowered the bucket, the whites of his eyes looking big in the darkness. "What villain attack?"

The door to their bedroom exploded in a shower of splinters. A blonde man with scar tissue covering one eye and his arms bulging with muscle fibers leapt into the room. "Huh? Why are there three brats instead of two?" His eyes settled on Kouta. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

A weirdo wearing a straightjacket with only his mouth visible staggered after him. "Remember the mission, Muscular. I remember the mission. Bring back the teenager with curly green hair and the child with straight white hair. Do not eat them. Eating them would result in my swift and miserable demise." He drooled. "No matter how tasty they look…yes, I can eat the boy with white curly hair! That will be permitted!"

Muscular's prosthetic eye twisted with a whir. "I do know you. You're the son of the heroes who took my eye. Hey, Moonfish, if we have time to kill one child, then surely we have time for two?"

Yoichi's heart rate sped up. This villain meant to kill his older brother. "Hisashi, get behind me. They want me alive," he hissed, spreading out his arms protectively.

Hisashi grabbed his arm. "Quick! Give me back all my quirks!"

"Oh, right." Yoichi felt three warm sparks dancing inside him. Or maybe two? He shoved them all at his brother.

He couldn't tell if he'd transferred all of them before part of the wall smashed in. The force of the wind knocked all three children backward.

Izuku leapt in between the villains and the children and raised his fists. "Don't touch them!"

Blades shot out of Moonfish's mouth, shattering the ceiling and then falling down at Izuku. He weaved and dodged, punching them away. A flash of motion caught his eye. He stepped aside as Muscular's punch whistled past him.

"Heh. Not bad reflexes." Muscular laughed, his arms bulging even wider.

Izuku heard more fighting in the distance, but he couldn't afford to think about that. Not when he had two villains in front of him and three children to protect behind him.

Hisashi darted around Izuku and raised his hand. Fire blaze forth along with a massive wave of sound that left visible ripples floating through the air. The fire was so strong that Moonfish's blades melted away. The soundwaves knocked the villain backward through the roof.

Yoichi cheered. "Big brother, I think the quirks melded together! Did I do that?"

Izuku had many questions about why Hisashi had two quirks and what Yoichi meant about them melding together. But this was no time to indulge his love of quirk analysis. "Get behind me," he hissed at Hisashi.

Hisashi said, "You realize I'm the kid they're allowed to kill? If we lose, I die. Let me help."

Izuku had trouble arguing with that. His arms strained as he blocked a punch from Muscular. "At least stay back and hit them from a distance." Unfortunately, he could already hear Moonfish coming back.

"As if I'd let you!" Muscular took the full force of a Detroit Smash and shrugged it off. Izuku's arms screamed. He'd probably cracked a bone if not broken it.

Muscular hit him with punches over and over again. Izuku couldn't move out of close combat without giving the villain a clear path at the children, and Hisashi couldn't unleash his fire without hitting Izuku too.

Kouta whimpered behind him. Izuku clenched his teeth and punched with his same injured arm. A crack of pain ran up it. That had to be a break.

Moonfish crawled down through the broken ceiling. "Pretty. Pretty flesh. Gotta do the job. Can't get enticed." Blades shot down from his teeth again.

Hisashi blocked with a wave of fire. A bit of molten metal hit Izuku's shoulder.

"Sorry!" Hisashi cried at the same time Muscular struck, aiming for the burn injury.

Izuku wasn't fast enough to avoid the blow. He tottered, his vision blurring. Sweat and a bit of blood dripped into his eyes. The familiar yet agonizing pain of a broken bone burned down his right arm.

"It's over," Muscular said with satisfaction. "Do you think you can handle it if I hit you again, or will you die? Hmm, taking enemies alive is hard."

Izuku took a page out of Kouta's book and kicked Muscular in the crotch.

Muscular's one remaining eye crossed and he howled like a baby. Izuku had delivered the kick with his maximum output of One for All's power. He followed up with a swift kick to the head. Finally, the villain went down.

Hisashi flipped past Izuku—what, now he had Yoichi's flexibility quirk too?—and threw a fireball at Moonfish. Although the villain dodged around the flames, he couldn't run from the successive soundwave.

Even out of the direct sound path, Izuku winced in pain and stuck his good hand over his ears. Moonfish collapsed to the ground, blood dripping from where his ears should be inside his hood.

Like a tough bastard, Moonfish was already struggling to rise. Hisashi dropped to the ground, put his finger in the villain's blood, and licked it. Izuku wondered why he'd do something so unsanitary (yet another quirk?), but Moonfish stopped moving.

Was it over? Izuku stood, panting, wondering if he should tie up the villains with a bedsheet. Then he needed to follow the sounds of fighting and help. For now, he allowed himself one sigh of relief.

With a shriek, the already-damaged wall decayed away. Tomura Shigaraki stepped into the room. From the blood streaking his cheek to his missing sleeve, he looked like he'd been in a fight. The source of the ashes on his clothes quickly became evident—he held up an unconscious Katsuki Bakugo.

"Brought you a present, little brother," Tomura said cheerfully. A masked man in a top hat and a yellow trench coat followed him.

Izuku barely stopped his punch in time after seeing it would be blocked by a human shield. While he was still off-balance, the man in the magician's hat grabbed Yoichi's shoulder. With a swirl and flash of light, Yoichi vanished, replaced by a marble.

"Little brother!" Hisashi screamed in rage and fury.

Izuku darted forward and dragged Kouta behind him. Tears streaked the child's face, but fortunately when Izuku pushed him toward the bed, he hid under it.

At Hisashi, Izuku hissed, "Stay back! Tomura has decay and the other one could turn you into a marble too if you touch him. Don't use your fire, it could burn the marble holding Yoichi."

"I'm not stupid," Hisashi growled. Izuku didn't entirely trust the boy's calm. His red eyes were bloodshot and blazing.

Tomura tossed Katsuki to the ground. Odd move, to release the hostage. The impact partly woke up Katsuki, who groaned.

Proudly, Tomura pointed. "You can kill him now."

Izuku stared. It took him a moment to realize this order had been directed at him. "Excuse me? When did I become your evil minion?" He leapt forward, in front of Kacchan.

Tomura blinked. "Don't you want him dead? He used to bully you."

Even the League of Villains had seen that humiliating TV broadcast, how lovely. Izuku bared his teeth. "When you're a hero, you don't get to pick and choose who you save. Besides, I've grown accustomed to his loud, piercing voice over the years. Like a noise maker, I find it relaxing."

"Hey," Katsuki grumbled from the floor, still sounding semi-conscious.

Tomura frowned. "Then you don't want me to kill him either?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Strange, but I suppose it's your choice." Tomura's eyes fell on Hisashi. "But that one needs to die. I'm not sure why, but his death is vital to Sensei."

Izuku wet his lips. "Counter-offer: let both him and Yoichi go, and I'll come with you." With his injuries after the fight with Muscular, he couldn't win. He had no idea why Tomura seemed to want him, but he had to try.

Tomura said, "I don't want to hurt you, but I can't take that offer. Mr. Compress, grab—"

Hisashi backflipped over Izuku and landed before the magician villain. He blasted fire with one hand and grabbed for the marble containing his younger brother with the other.

Mr. Compress proved faster, leaping out of the way. Then Tomura grabbed Hisashi by the back of his neck, those deadly fingers digging into his skin.

A twisted smile on his face, Tomura held up his new hostage. His nails dug in tight enough to draw blood. "New deal. If you let Mr. Compress turn you into a marble, then I'll let him go."

Izuku didn't believe for one second that the villain would keep his side of the bargain. As soon as Izuku was unconscious, what would stop him from killing Hisashi anyway? Izuku had only seconds to form a plan. Raising his non-broken arm in surrender, he said, "Deal." He walked forward slowly, timing his movements.

Katsuki pulled himself to his hands and knees. His voice sounded woozy. "Wait…wait a moment. You can't…hey, Decay Asshole! You wanted me, didn't you?"

"No, you don't matter anymore," Tomura said, not taking his eyes off Izuku.

Cross-eyed, Katsuki addressed the ceiling. "But I can't let you take him away in front of me! I'm a hero! It's not fair!"

In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Izuku nearly laughed. He'd known the world wasn't fair for years, but it looked like his childhood friend was only just figuring that out. He heard footsteps in the distance. "Kacchan, the teachers and the Pussycats are coming. Can you hold out for a few seconds? That's all you need."

"Stop!" Katsuki screamed.

Izuku stepped into range of Mr. Compress. At the same time the magician's hand came toward him, he grabbed Hisashi with his broken arm. (His nerves screamed and burned, but he was accustomed to ignoring pain.) Then he bit Tomura's shoulder.

Judging from the look on Tomura's face, this was the last move he'd expected. Quite possibly trying to avoid hurting Izuku, he let go.

Izuku threw Hisashi in the direction of Katsuki. Then Mr. Compress' hand landed, and his world dissolved away.

Hisashi hit the floorboards and bounced, his flexible legs letting him shoot straight to his feet. Immediately, he leapt forward.

The explosive bully had the nerve to grab him and shove him behind him. Hisashi unleashed his merged quirk of flame and sound, not caring if he hit Katsuki as long as he got the villains.

But he was too late. Tomura and Mr. Compress vanished through a portal, taking Yoichi and Izuku with them.

Aizawa, Toshinori, and several Pussycats burst through the door, far too late, and Hisashi hated them for it. He hated everything and everyone for taking his little brother away. Most of all, he hated himself.

Hisashi dropped to his knees and screamed.

Toshinori had ordered the staff at Might Tower to refuse any communication unless it connected to the kidnapping of Izuku Midoriya and Yoichi Shigaraki. But when Inko Midoriya knocked on his door, he let her in immediately.

After ushering Inko to the living room, Toshinori paced before the couch. "Mrs. Midoriya…I…I'm so sorry!" He dropped to the floor and bowed his head to the ground in front of her. Embarrassingly, he felt so dizzy he might have trouble rising. He'd expended all his energy combing the forest for clues, and he hadn't eaten or slept since the nighttime intrusion.

Even if Toshinori tried to sleep, he knew he'd have nothing but nightmares. He had no idea what All for One wanted with Yoichi, and that provided one sort of terror. If the villain wanted to use Yoichi to experiment with time-travel, would it hurt the child? He knew exactly what the villain would do to Izuku, and that felt even worse. All for One would torture Izuku to make him give up One for All. It was all Toshinori's fault. He couldn't possibly bring himself to meet Izuku's mother's eyes.

Inko said, "I didn't disrupt your search for an apology. I came here for a more important reason. I know why the League of Villains kidnapped my son."

Toshinori blinked. He raised his head. "I don't think you do." Surprise and lack of sleep made him speak undiplomatically.

"I'm certain of it," Inko said.

"You know about One for All?"

"What's One for All? Don't you mean All for One?"

The two of them stared at each other. Finally, Toshinori asked, "How do you know about All for One?"

Inko twisted her hands. "I guess there's only one way to make you believe me." She closed her eyes, then opened them. "A little less than a decade ago, you received a tip telling you that you could find All for One at a warehouse in Kansai. That tip was sent by me."

Toshinori stared. He could barely wrap his mind around this information, but he had no other explanation for how Inko could know about the tip he'd received before heading to the fateful showdown where he'd obtained his injuries and All for One had lost his face. For years afterward, he'd wondered who the traitor had been and what had happened to them. After so much time had passed, he'd given up on finding out. Now he knew.

Inko Midoriya had been the one to give him All for One's location.

"Why?" he asked, followed by, "How?" How could an ordinary housewife know the hideout of a villain?

"The answers to both of those questions are the same." Inko took a deep breath and met his eyes. "All for One is Izuku's father."

Izuku returned to consciousness staring at darkness. For a moment, the cast on his arm made him believe he was in the hospital. But it was a little too dark.

He set bare feet down on the metal floor. Gripping the wall, he walked slowly. His body had no strength and his head spun. The small, metal room didn't have any furniture except for his bed. His fingers finally reached a square metal door with no handle.

Exactly like the bank vault of his visions.

OMAKE TIME!

Omake: If Yoichi Hadn't Stopped His Brother from Putting His Foot in His Mouth

Hisashi: You owe me your life, so I think two children would be fair in return.

Ochaco: Excuse me?

Hisashi: I've already picked out their names and their quirks. I think our genes together should be able to create a quirk allowing the user to both decrease and increase an object's gravity. Quite useful and deadly, but I also want at least one child with a variation of All for One. I'm wondering if it would be possible for your genes to add the ability for All for One to grant quirks to animals and objects, since you can use your power on those. This would be extremely useful in creating disposable minions, though I'm not sure how well it would work with objects. Hey, why are you looking at me like that?

#

Omake: Tomura Arrives During the Fight with Muscular

Tomura: Get your hands off my little brother! (Decays Muscular.)

Izuku: Excuse me? That was my cool moment. You already robbed me of my fight with Stain, and now you won't even let me beat Muscular? Big brothers are killjoys!

#

Omake: The Crack Chapter Ending

All for One: Tomura, you failed to kidnap either Izuku or Yoichi, but you still captured the primary target, so your performance was passable.

Tomura: Why was some pink-cheeked little girl a higher priority than my little brothers?

Ochaco: I also think there must have been a misunderstanding here.

All for One: Because the only way to get back my monopoly champion crown is to beat her. Nomu, set the board!

Later:

All for One: How does she keep brutally dominating every single game? Even teaming up against her didn't work. I always win when I play with the Nomu!

Tomura: I think you answered your own question there. Without human contact, perhaps you've gotten a little rusty? Psst, hero student trash, can't you let him beat you just once so we can stop doing this? I promise I'll let you go afterward.

Ochaco: Never!

#

Omake: In Which Izuku Still Refuses to Accept Reality/The Bank Vault

Izuku: (Lying on a sofa) Shouto, you've always been right. I'm All Might's lovechild. I have the Greatest Super Dad ever! I even bet he'd even pay my mom child support. Not like that weird, old as dirt villain who wears a stupid bucket over his head. He seems like he would be a deadbeat dad. I bet if I went after him for a decade of unpaid child support, he might try to pull something like, I dunno, family bonding inside a bank vault. Ugh, that would be terrible.

Shouto: (Sitting in a chair across from him writing in a notebook) Huh, what an oddly specific confession. But it's great that you've finally accepted the truth! First step of recovery!

Author's Note: Credit goes to HouseHermit for the hilarious last omake, thank you!

The good news is that Ragdoll is fine. All for One had bigger priorities than her, so he never targeted her. The bad news is that Momo never had a chance to stick a tracking device on a Nomu. No one has any idea where to find Izuku and Yoichi.

This chapter has been blessed with a stunning commission from arlcn, showing a scene from this chapter of Izuku and Hisashi fighting together. Delete the spaces to get the link:
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