A/N: Shit hits the fan 2: Electric Boogaloo. AKA: All For One pulls a Regina George on the entirety of Japan.

This one's a doozy! The longest chapter in this book, as well as one of the most action-packed!

Quick translation note (please correct if I'm wrong!): daredare (だれだれ) - Who; essentially a term for any such-and-such person.

As always, I'm taking extensive liberites with law, especially with Japanese law.

Hisashi's eyes narrowed, and his fists clenched. "That damn rat did what to my son?" His voice came out in a low hiss as he addressed the captured villain.

"He... he told us to attack if the traitor said anything," Choker cowered in his chair as his frightened purple eyes looked up into those of All For One. "He didn't tell us not to go after anyone else!"

The poor bloke looked as if he were staring a god right in the face. Just for a moment, All For One allowed himself to humor the belief that he actually was.

"And you thought..." he took a calming breath, his voice unnervingly nonchalant, "... that attacking my boys, specifically both my successor and my biological son, when I was your target, would win you any favors with the deal you were given?"

Choker just trembled, pathetically whimpering, "I- I'm sorry, sir! I won't target your family again!"

All For One smiled, reaching out to touch the man.

As soon as his hand made contact with Choker's face, the villain seemed to realize what was happening and began thrashing around as much as he could in his ropes, muffled screaming vibrating against the villain's palm.

"Hush now," he soothed with a wicked grin. "When I'm through with you, you will never be able to target anyone ever again."

The man's screams grew louder and more agonized and his thrashing more violent, until five seconds later, he abruptly stopped. His clenched fists went limp. The resulting silence pervaded even as Shigaraki Hisashi took his hand away, revealing the villain's eyes to have rolled back into his head so far that red veins were the only things visible against the pale white, his mouth still hanging open in a silent scream.

All For One flexed his hand for a moment before chuckling. "Ah, it seems the Quirk from that fellow in Kyushu some fifty years back proves useful once again."

His body became engulfed in black, and in a few moments he all but disappeared from the room, only the corpse of the villain left behind.

"Aizawa-sensei!"

Am I dead?

"Aizawa-sensei!"

Someone's calling me...

"Please, wake up!"

Could it be...?

A face flashed through his mind, cheerful and bright. A girl practically swallowed by her uniform, raising a hand to greet him in the morning, her sparkling brown eyes radiating a friendly aura. A girl lecturing him fondly about falling asleep so early in the morning.

"Aizawa-sensei! C'mon, wake up!"

"I... zu... mi?" He rasped, feeling someone's hands pushing on his chest.

"He's awake!" A very distinctly male voice exclaimed, and he felt someone's hands on his shoulders. "Hey, hey, come on! Midoriya can't hold it up forever!"

Slowly, he tried to crack open his heavily-lidded eyes.

Bright light hit him and he groaned, immediately squeezing them shut again as his head began pounding. So I'm not dead. Shit, here we go again... I have got to stop getting knocked unconscious.

"Come on, Aizawa...!" This time, he knew what he was hearing.

"Shinsou..." He croaked. His arms were too weighted to lift, but he could feel the teenager grab his hand and the dread in his gut began to lift.

"Yeah, we're alive." He could've sworn his pupil was on the brink of crying with the amount of relief in his voice. "Midoriya was able to catch the pillar before it crushed us, but it broke off halfway and I think you might have a concussion... anyways, you need to get up! I think his arms are about to fall off with how hard he's exerting himself!"

Ah shit, here we go again, he grumbled once more to himself. Midoriya's breaking bones with no regard for his own safety... sheesh, I wish I brought the staff bingo card. I think I was one space away from winning.

He tried again to open his eyes, and when the pounding in his head receded somewhat, he opened them wider, only to reveal a blurry purple shape holding his head.

He blinked, and he could feel moisture fall into his irritated eyes. That made it marginally easier to see, and as his vision cleared, he noticed Shinsou holding his eyedrops.

"Good, your eyes aren't unfocused. I figured you'd need them," he said with a breathless smile. "Are you okay? I'm sorry for making you protect me."

"I will always be there to protect my kids," he replied with a serious stare up at the teenager. "Now forget about me, what about you? Any injuries? Did you get burnt?"

Shinsou shook his head, still trembling. His lips twitched, but his smile didn't drop. "I... I'm okay."

"Aizawa-sensei!" Midoriya called from above. When the teacher looked up, he grinned. "Sorry for disturbing you, but I think my arms are going to break, and I really want you out of the way in case you get hit again!"

"Didn't I expressly tell you to stop breaking things that shouldn't have to be, Problem Child?" He asked, exasperated. "Hasn't your mother talked to you about this? Don't push it, or you're grounded."

"But you were still unconscious, and I don't wanna push it the other way, because there are other pillars that'll fall if I push it to the side, and because then Todoroki and Endeavor might get hurt if I let it go the opposite direction. I don't want to make Endeavor move after how hurt he got..." he trailed off, and all three looked up at where Endeavor was sitting with his unconscious son pressed against his chest, for once not engulfed in orange flame from head to toe. The tall man appeared to be fighting tears, even as he stroked through Shouto's disheveled white-and-red hair with a shaking hand.

"Dabi really shook him up," Midoriya sighed. "Todoroki too. I think the stress made him pass out."

He nodded, testing his body's strength. When he lifted his arms with little resistance, he glanced up. "I'm going to roll over."

Both boys nodded and Shinsou let go, watching him roll slowly across the ground out of the pillar's range.

Once he was out of the way, Shinsou crawled after him, and Midoriya shifted before letting go.

He sighed in relief as soon as the rest of the pillar dropped, an echoing boom rattling through the gym and making Endeavor's head shoot up, startled, before he tried to relax a moment later. He let his arms fall limp before commenting, "Whew. I haven't felt tension like that since I was first getting started with this Quirk."

"What about Tokoyami?" Aizawa questioned, suddenly realizing the boy's lack of presence.

"He left for backup. Apparently Tomura needed more help to restrain Dabi after you got hit, because he was ready to go on a rampage." Midoriya grew quiet for a moment before admitting quietly, his eyes flickering with emotion, "I was so afraid that I wasn't going to make it in time. I was so afraid that you would die."

"You threw yourself at me with no hesitation," Shinsou added, his voice wavering for a moment.

"Because I needed to protect you." Aizawa's voice became incredibly soft in both tone and volume, and he had to swallow hard to fight against his rising tears. "I can't have another student death on my hands. Not again."

A heavy silence settled over the three.

"I had a student in my first year teaching at Yuuei," he began. "Her Quirk had to do with using her bodily fluids to propel a stream of water out of her mouth. Not very useful compared to some if the Quirks her classmates had, but she was incredibly adept at handling it. She was primed to become one of the strongest heroes of her class."

After a moment of hesitation, he continued speaking. "One day, during one of the class's outings to the mall, she was caught up in an armed robbery. Since she had her license, she attempted to subdue the villain, but he panicked and shot her." He took a shaky breath. "I was too late to protect her. I only noticed the robbery after she texted me an SOS, and even then I foolishly thought it was a prank due to the ones she pulled with some others just that morning."

Shinsou and Midoriya exchanged haunted looks.

"People have said it wasn't my fault, but as her teacher, I should have been ready to respond to any SOS, real or fake." He admitted. "Her death has haunted me for years. So much so that if anyone proves to be dissatisfactory at first, I expel and re-enroll them to make them work for it."

Then he looked at Midoriya, his watery eyes so full of guilt that the student couldn't help but put a hand on his shoulder. "That's why I panicked so hard when it was brought to my attention that you might be the traitor. That's why I rushed into things without thinking. Because if I could save my students from any sort of hellish fate that might result in their deaths, I would do it in a heartbeat. I would sacrifice my life if it meant that my students could live and become the heroes that I know they all can be."

"Aizawa-sensei..." Midoriya whispered, tears dribbling down his face.

"And that's why I will forever regret what I- what we did to you, Midoriya. I am so sorry that I allowed you to be victimized. I am so sorry that I didn't realize that I was acting out of selfishness."

"No, no don't say that," the green-haired boy pleaded. "It was only logical-"

"Don't use my own words to defend me," he begged. "I know you have self-hatred, insecurity due to your unstable Quirk, and a savior complex the size of the sun, but please... please allow me this one time to admit that I was not acting logically. That I was just acting out of impulse. You have no idea the hell that my own actions have caused me, and while I know you'd forgive even Shigaraki even if he robbed an orphanage, much less me for what I've done, I am ready to admit that I don't deserve it. I am sorry for being so harsh on you for so long. While I acted with good intentions in the beginning to whip you into shape, after a while it evolved into something that I'm not proud of, and I need to let you know that I should have never continued to single you out, and that I regret it immensely."

Midoriya just shook his head, staring at his former teacher with a sad pity.

"I'm afraid it's time we had a chat, Principal Nedzu," a voice from the doorway of the staff lounge made everyone inside tense and the animal in question to look up from his tea.

Nedzu smiled politely at the seven-foot villain standing in the open doorway, even as the rest of the teachers turned and stared in horror. "Ah, All For One. So good to have you join us."

"The pleasure is all mine," the infamous man replied, flashing a toothy smile. "But please, in the company of others, I insist you call me by my given name, Midoriya Hisashi."

Several teachers gaped. Nemuri and Hizashi turned to each other with faces full of dread.

"Such a great name, isn't it?" The villain continued cheerfully, ignoring the shock of everyone present. "My wife gave it to me graciously. She was so excited that I consented to having her name, you know, given that it went so well with mine. And of course, who was I to say no to such an ingenious cover?"

"As you wish, Midoriya," Nedzu capitulated with a hum. "So the rumors are correct, then?"

"Yes, Izuku is my son." Hisashi's red eyes gleamed, and as he shut the staff room door and locked it, the room slowly became more and more tense. "And if you don't mind, I'd like to have a few words with you about how exactly I don't appreciate treating those I care for."

"Well by all means, have a seat." Nedzu gestured to an open chair. "I don't suppose you'd like my staff to leave...?"

"Oh no, they can stay. I wouldn't mean to kick them out of such a nice, comfy room." Hisashi smiled again as he settled into a chair near the principal's. "After all, I am a visitor, am I not?"

"True, true, you wouldn't have any command over them technically, given your lack of status in my school." Nedzu's eyes flashed with hidden emotion before he schooled his features back into a polite smile.

Hisashi began to laugh at this, causing murmurs to stir among the teachers.

"Oh, Nedzu," he sighed, wiping his eye. "Dear, naïve Nedzu... I do believe that between the both of us, the one with dominion here would be me."

Then he leaned forward, and all traces of friendliness were gone from his face as his tone dropped to something more serious. "Starting with how you thought it permissible to send rogue villains not just after my agents, but especially after Inko."

The startled gasps arising from the circle of staff made something inside the ancient villain rear its head in pride.

Nedzu said nothing for a moment, eyes darting about, gauging everyone's reactions.

"I know it's quite one thing to work together with the Hero Commission, of all agencies, to take me down," he continued, "but to actively extend a pardon to any daredare who can successfully manage to take either myself or my successor down... and not mentioning the most obvious link that could be used against both of us, the one person besides my wife - who was still attacked in her own house while I and the others were away, mind you!-" he rose his eyebrows. "-what does that say about the kind of person- oh, excuse me, the kind of animal you are?"

At this accusation, the principal set his tea cup down.

The other teachers instinctively tensed their bodies.

Nemuri and Hizashi held each other, afraid of what was about to happen.

God forbid I need to put in an order for my students to help me repair the school again, Cementoss thought irritably.

Nedzu took a breath.

Then he smiled, and several onlookers got a chill down their spines at the sheer intensity of the hatred behind his eyes.

"I don't suppose you would know what a moral code is, All For One," he coolly replied. "Mind you, I've done my research on just who you are. Anything that could be dug up, whether legally or not. And I have to say, just based on your own actions... well, they make mine look rather tame, don't you say? I at least kept my dealings legal."

"Through loopholes, yes," AFO agreed, folding his hands together and resting his chin atop them as his elbows came down to touch his thighs. "My son was right when he told me that based on Japan's current laws on dealing with villains in the hero space, through a couple of conveniently-thrown contracts and 'direct access' law, you did indeed follow the books when it came to agreeing with the Commission to pardon criminals. But you forgot one thing about me, in all of your research, that makes all of your actions moot."

"And what might that be?" The animal challenged.

AFO smiled back at him, and the mere sight of it caused the room to become several degrees cooler. "You forgot just how far I would go to protect the ones I care about."

Compress hummed a show tune as he finished typing on a nearby laptop, Toga swinging her legs on the bench next to him.

"Is it done yet?" She asked, peeking over his arm.

"Not quite," he replied patiently. "It has to go through another minute of loading, aaaaand...!"

Toga's eyes lit up as the video appeared and began to play onscreen. She looked over as her phone buzzed, and when she checked it, it started to play there, too.

"Greetings, citizens of Japan," a deep voice droned as a very familiar black mask made its way into focus. "I'm sure you're all very surprised to see me once more."

She giggled madly, hugging his arm. "Shiggy is a genius! Bye-bye, mousie! Bye-bye, Commission!"

Compress allowed himself his own mirthful laugh, setting the laptop aside as he pulled a card from his sleeve.

The ace of spades.

"It's bittersweet to say farewell to such a long and storied school," he lamented. "But oh well, c'est la vie. One cannot deny that they would fall, sooner or later."

"I'm certain that you may have thought I was safe and sound tucked away in Tartarus," the video continued, as AFO let out a laugh. "Well, two months ago, it seems your fears were dashed."

Simultaneously, every phone in the room buzzed with a notification.

As the teachers confusedly checked them, their eyes widened as a video message came up onscreen. When they tapped on it, the same video began playing on all of them.

All For One answered his own message and held it up for the principal to see, a malevolent gleam in his crimson eyes.

"For two months, you have been lied to," he mouthed in synchrony with the voice in the video. "For two months, you have been lulled into a false sense of security by the very ones who have been conspiring against you."

Nedzu's eyes narrowed.

At Besupin Heroes Academy, students reacted in confusion at first, and then horror and surprise at the video message.

"For two months, Yuuei High School has been conspiring with villains of every caliber, harmless or not, to take myself and my associates down." The villain's voice cooled. "For two months, my own family has been in danger because of this conspiracy."

"All For One has a family?"

"Yuuei has been sending villains here? For two months?!"

"So that's why all of those villain attacks have been happening! My mom had to be hospitalized because of her acid burns last weekend!"

"How could they do such a thing?!"

Shigaraki's phone buzzed. Answering the video message, he smirked.

"Looks like Compress managed to do it," he chuckled, showing a confused Spinner.

"Whoa," the mutant gasped as he checked his own phone. Sure enough, the video began playing. Above them, the channel on the TV changed to that exact video, and the audio began playing in unison with his phone. "He's... how the hell did he manage to hack every single piece of electronic audio/video equipment in Japan?!"

"Not only that, but the Hero Commission, whom Yuuei has been working with, not only agreed with the parole offer towards the villains, but has been steadily covering up their own abuse of their young heroes-in-training for decades. The following is not edited in any way, shape, or form, security footage of what they deem 'training'."

"Sir, you might wanna see this," one of Hawks' secretaries called nervously, her wings fluttering.

The hero, who was sipping a cup of coffee, walked over to see what she was staring at on her laptop when his phone buzzed.

He sighed, checking it. "Hold that thought, Canary."

Suddenly, a video message began playing, one that made him tense as he recognized the footage playing out. "What the...?!"

"I don't know how it happened, but the video just started playing on its own!" Canary stammered, tapping at the keyboard. "Nothing works! It just... keeps playing!"

Hawks' blood ran cold as he saw himself, a younger him, smacked down to the ground for not performing a move right in front of his instructor.

He sat his coffee down on the desk, dropped the phone next to it, and said, "Excuse me, I need the bathroom."

As he was speedwalking away, the audio caught up with the video, and a young Keigo Takami's pained cries and the cruel voice of his instructor commanding him to get back up filled the air and followed him all the way to the bathroom stall, even as he fell to his knees and began to vomit.

Enji stared brokenly at the footage, his eyes not quite matching up with his brain as he took in the beating of several younger heroes.

First Hawks, then another, and then another, and another.

On and on it went, until he finally sat his phone down so that he could hug his son just a little tighter, his teeth grit in agony, both from his burns and from the pain that the footage stirred up in his heart.

Touya's young voice crying in pain when he tried to train using his Quirk was the only thing that he could hear. "Dad! Dad, it hurts! Make it stop! Dad!"

Midoriya, Shinsou, and Aizawa's phones buzzed in unison.

Aizawa and Shinsou pulled theirs out in confusion, and when the video began playing, their eyes widened.

Midoriya's face drained of color as he recognized his father's voice.

"What you've just witnessed, as disturbing and horrifying as it is to those of us with children, is the way your future heroes are being treated. If they deem it acceptable to permanently traumatize them in such a way, there's a greater chance that somewhere down the line, when they do inevitably snap, hero society will brand them as 'broken' and no better than what you call me: a villain."

"Oh no," he muttered to himself, catching the other two's attention. "Oh no, oh shit."

"What's wrong?" Shinsou questioned.

"The public already knows about Dad's connection with All Might! They already know what his voice sounds like from the video at Kamino Ward when he was masked. And- and if he goes public with everything, if they put two and two together...!"

"Midoriya, calm down," Aizawa spoke up.

"I don't know how he's planning to pull this off, but if he pulls Mom and I into this, the entire country will know who we are!" His eyes were wide and scared.

"Bringing me into it is one thing. Really, I commend their creativity in dealing with the issue. Bringing my successor, Shigaraki, into it, is another." Then the villain's voice grew cold. "But going so far as to allow them to attack my wife and child while they are unattended in our own home while I am nowhere near them is something else entirely."

Dabi stared dully at the video on the television above, shifting his hands in the heavy cuffs that bound them.

"Well I'll be damned," he murmured to himself, the first thing said since he'd been incapacitated. "He actually did it."

"And if they were willing to go that far to target people whom have nothing to do with what I do," Hisashi continued to mouth along to the video, a smug, amused smile on his face, "then what then would they be willing to do to someone else in my shoes whom they consider important enough? What about your relatives, your friends, your coworkers? Who might be high-profile enough villains for them to consider going after you? What about your own children? What about the villains who have had families of their own?"

Nedzu picked up his teacup again, taking a long, measured sip.

"People of Japan, the time has come to reform the corrupt society that seeks to strike down innocents in the name of justice. The time has come to question your heroes: What would you do if my mother, father, brother, sister, cousin, friend, aunt, uncle, grandparent, was the one you were after? Would you target me too? Would you conspire with villains to kill me just as you would them?"

Nemuri and Hizashi shared a look of despair between them.

A sharp cracking sound brought everyone's attention towards the principal.

Dripping with tea, his paw was slowly welling up with blood from his lacerations, and a shattered teacup lay on the floor beneath.

Slowly, the being clapped, not showing any outward signs of pain as he stared the immortal villain in the eye.

"Well done, Shigaraki," he said, no trace of politeness left in his voice. "It seems as if I was wrong about your motives. Congratulations."

"What, did you honestly think I would just leave it at that?" He scoffed, pocketing the device. "Come now, High Spec. I'm disappointed. I thought you would be more intelligent than that."

Nedzu's fur bristled at the reminder. "Do not refer to me as my Quirk."

"You hold no power over me here." Hisashi leveled the creature with a single disdainful look. "You dug your own grave when you decided the safety of an entire city was worth less than the glory of having been the one to order a successful hit on the most prolific villain this world has ever seen. If I wanted to leave it at that, I wouldn't have even bothered to show the world the follow-up."

"Follow-up?" Someone hesitantly spoke up.

Hisashi nodded, his gaze not once straying. "But of course. Like you, I've done my homework. But instead of using it in much the same way a first-year brings up information about their favorite hero for a project worth ten percent of their grade, I took it a step further."

All at once, just as soon as the last video had shown up, another popped up. As the citizens of the country opened it, their fear turned to dread when some recognized their colleagues, their friends, their own family, or worse, themselves begin speaking.

"I'm really afraid to go out by myself some days," a young woman was admitting, clenching the strap of her purse tighter. "With so many villains out and about, I can't afford to leave my siblings alone to fend for themselves!"

"My sick parents depend on me for medicine and food," another man was admitting. "I can't express how much it would literally and figuratively kill them if I got caught up in a villain attack and died or was hospitalized."

"My auntie had to go to the hospital because her, um, arm was broken," a child, no older than a third-grader, spoke shyly, toeing the sidewalk with their hands clasped together. Someone else stood beside them, only their legs seen. It was likely a parent. "It really scared my mommy because, um, because it was really close to our house and we can't pay to move somewhere else right now."

"I can't afford to flunk my exams, but all these attacks have made it so hard to focus!" A university student was ranting, gripping the ends of her twin-tails. "I can hardly even sleep I'm so worried! What if my parents died? What if I died? Things need to chill out, man! I'm trying to get a degree!"

"Instead of assuming that I would stop at one step, you should have realized that I would go above and beyond," Hisashi continued with a sardonic smile. "Plus Ultra."

"All of these people... they were this affected?" Someone shakily questioned, staring at the video.

"Hey, I recognize the girl in this one!" Someone else spoke up when another child began speaking. "I think that's my niece!"

"That poor child, having lost her mother at such a young age," Cementoss commented bitterly at a little pink-haired girl with big blue eyes. "Those deaths could have been prevented."

"And that is why I went onward," Hisashi spoke nonchalantly with a pleasant expression, leaning back in the chair. "You didn't think I would stop at just making the country question their most shining elite, would you?"

"Very clever indeed," Nedzu agreed tightly.

"But I'm not done yet," the man continued. "No. What I have is one final step. Something that you will never even begin to recover from."

At that moment, everyone's phones changed videos yet again.

Midoriya watched in horror as he recognized himself bouncing around onscreen in an All Might onesie.

"Mama! Mama! I wanna be like Daddy when I gwow up!" He exclaimed excitedly. "I wanna be a hero wike him and Aww Might!"

"Oh, is that so?" Inko's voice replied, amused at his antics. "And why is that?"

"Because I would hewp a miwwion - no, a baziwwion people! And I'd make 'em smile weal big wike Aww Might does, and... and I'd be the bestest hewo with Kacchan! Because we'd wowk togevew to save people!"

"You wanna help people like Daddy does?" She humored him.

"Yeah! Daddy always says dat he's hewping people wiff no powews! An' he makes 'em happy! I wanna make people happy too, Mommy!"

"Well I'm glad you want to do that," she said, and the camera shifted so that the little boy was closer to the camera, his big, beaming smile still on full display. "I'll support you in whatever you want, baby."

"Yeah!" He fist-pumped the air. "I'm gonna be wike Aww Might! Daddy wiww be so pwoud of me!"

"Well, I can think of one thing you can do to start your hero journey," the mother said with a barely-contained giggle. "Why don't you accompany Mommy for lunch?"

"Okay!" The child announced. "I am hewe! Weady to eat wunch wiff Mommy!"

Stain chuckled, having paused a moment to watch the videos on the television in the seedy motel he was hiding out in.

"I'll be damned," he said, sharpening one of his blades. "That's adorable, All For One. Maybe I should go ahead and pay 'em a visit as a thank-you."

"Oh, sweetie! You're already the number-one hero to me!"

"Yay!" The child's excited cheer made his friend and his former teacher chuckle.

Midoriya's ears burned with embarrassment as Aizawa and Shinsou looked over at him.

"You've always idolized that man, haven't you..." Aizawa's voice was exasperated, if not a bit fond. "No wonder you have such a self-sacrificing kick."

"You were cute as a kid," the purple-haired boy commented, giving him a smirk. "Your All Might thing went real far back, huh?"

"I am going to let Katsuki use his Quirk on me," his dull voice replied. "And then I'm going to go home and apologize to my parents. And then I'll let him blow me up again for good measure."

"This is the kind of thing you were targeting, citizens," Hisashi's voice came through again. "This is the type of people your 'best of the best' were planning to eliminate right along with me. I'm certain you've at least heard of the hero-hopeful, Deku."

There was a pause. Then, "Deku is representative of my own family. I have a biological son around this child's present age. I have a wife. I have a family."

Hisashi watched cheerfully as the staff looked between themselves uneasily, a video of Midoriya fighting against Shigaraki playing next.

"I know, I know, it's obvious to target a villain's family in order to bring them to justice... but I need to reiterate that they weren't planning to hold them hostage to get to me. They were planning to kill. They were allowing errant villains to try and kill my family. Is this-" here a picture of Izuku and Inko from his first day at Yuuei popped up on-screen, both of them smiling happily at the camera, "-really what you would want for justice? Is this what you were hoping for when you all cried out for my death? For taking down your Symbol of Peace? Targeting someone innocent, like this boy and his mother are?"

"He was so cute," Nemuri murmured to Hizashi with a heavy heart.

"I would never have wanted to hurt the kid, myself," he replied dully, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes. "I can't believe we didn't see the signs. What have we done?"

Toshinori abruptly coughed up blood and Inko's eyes widened as they both stared at the TV.

"Well, you've gotten what you wished for. Instead of letting my family be open to attack because of me, I'm going to give you the silence you've been craving. As long as I'm still in operation, you will spend every single last day of your lives paranoid of me, worried about what I'm doing underneath your noses. You will wake each morning wondering about if I've died, and you will fall asleep each night praying to whatever god you believe in that I won't be planning something that could potentially take away the lives of people you love."

"Did you know about this?" The blond croaked, wiping his mouth with a tissue as he turned to look at the woman.

"No," she breathed in disbelief as her eyes slowly moved to meet his. "I never... I had no idea that he..."

"And all this because you were too impatient. All of this because you just couldn't help yourselves. Well fine, if you want me gone, I'll do it myself. But you won't feel the peace you've so dearly craved. You will spend each day of your lives in fear, and me? I'll be sitting back, popping a bottle of champagne, and I will be celebrating your misfortune. I won't have died, but you'll wish I had."

With that, the video finally cut off, and the entire room was engulfed in silence.

"I tried to be civil about this, Nedzu, I really did," Hisashi gave a longsuffering sigh. "But you just had to force my hand."

The animal remained quiet.

"A pity, really. I quite liked your moxie. I could have used you as a powerful ally." All For One calmly stood from the chair, cracking his neck and shrugging his shoulders. "But I suppose it's for our mutual benefit that I hadn't had you, wouldn't it? All the time you thought you could beat me at my own game, I was slowly gathering the resources needed to completely obliterate not just you, but your entire party."

He smirked dangerously. "As my successor and son would say... I believe this is Game Over."

Before anyone could do anything, the animal finally reacted.

Nedzu lunged at the villain, mouth drawn back in a snarl, eyes alight with fury and hatred.

All For One calmly raised his hands.

A/N: Another cliffhanger, I know, I know! But hey, the end's in sight! Next chapter will be the last.

Please tell me what you thought!