Quirks Not Required
Chapter XVII
Kato looked around. He was surrounded by darkness, the floor was grey and there seemed to be an unending grey path leading towards a pillar of white. He found himself slowly being dragged forwards, he tried to will himself backwards but found that wherever he was the powers that be were stronger. "You fucking idiot, but you're here now, my descendant we need to talk." It was a rough voice, one that sounded way too much like his grandfather's.
"Three, calm down!" A voice, this one female chastised.
"CALM DOWN! SEVEN! YOU FORGET YOUR PLACE! MINE OWN DESCENDENT MIGHT WELL BE THE ARCHITECT OF OUR DESTRUCTION!" Three thundered.
"Yo, Three, Seven…calm down yo! Give the boy a chance to speak his mind." Another called.
"Five, must you intervene…I thought I taught you better." Another rang out.
Kato struggled and this time managed to drag himself back a few feet back from the light, but as he did so black coils lashed themselves at him "Kid, I get it, you're freaking out…now are you going to show us the spine that you should have and face us like a man or be dragged towards like a villain?" This was Five, he was a well-built man, bald head and clad in leather.
Kato sighed and allowed the man to reel him in. He found himself in a white conference room with eight chairs, of which six were occupied, the other two occupants were against a wall. One was determinedly not looking at them, but the third had his eyes fixed firmly on Kato. "You complete and utter fucking idiot." Three growled as he stalked towards Kato.
Kato locked eyes with him "By what fucking right do you have to judge me so? You haven't lived the life I have, you've never made the choices I've had to make." He snarled back, Three began tapping his fingers and flexing his wrist, Kato saw that the man's hand was turning a shimmering purple.
"To prove your point, you're going to hit me with your quirk…how truly…heroic of you."
"You're right…you're not worth the quirk usage. Anyway, I guess, welcome to the Fade. Specifically the Fade of One For All, what's your name?"
"Daiten Kato…why?" Three paused "Pleasure to meet my dumbass descendant namesake. What possessed you to join The Enemy? What did he offer you? Power, no you're not that dumb which is a good thing…justice and vengeance along with a chance…"
"Three…please what the fuck is going on?"
Kato looked at his descendent "The men you're working with or for known as All For One and Garaki Kyudai, two men who have been creating an underworld of villainy since the Dawn of Quirks. You are my descendant and since I had children after I inherited the One For All Quirk, all of my descendants have got the chance of coming here."
"Not just yours, Three, you grouchy bastard." Five rumbled, his own eyes narrowed, as he focused on Daiten "I saw you interacting with my great-great-granddaughter."
Daiten smirked "Can we get to the fucking point of this pontification? I'm currently having several operations being done…"
"About those operations, I'm Seven, just why would a young man like you need operations done by our collective murderer?"
Kato sighed "Any of you heard of a Pro by the name of Endeavour?" Seven nodded "He was breaking out at the time of my demise."
"He's now Japan Number Two Hero, I'm out doing a grocery store run and he totals a car with his quirk, taking down a villain and that car broke my spine…making me a quirkless paraplegic instead of a genius quirkless student."
That stopped all the heroes, Number Two even turned around momentarily. Even Kato took a step back "You're quirkless, not that concerns me, I had a quirk when everyone was quirkless…genetics and evolution eventually erodes one or the other. I can understand, I dislike it."
Daiten carried on "I got carried away with my brilliance, Garaki-sensei gave me a chance, I'm a quirkless paraplegic genius in a world where we, the quirkless, are shat on and along comes a man who takes one look at my dissertation proposal realises I've read his work flat-out offers to sponsor my dissertation."
Two grunted "That's how they've worked. Offering a helping hand to those in need, be seen as the good samaritans and then it's only when you're in too deep…"
Daiten smirked "Oh I know I'm in too deep. I went willingly to them, nailing myself as a Super-Villain…but even they know I'm planning to betray them. I mean…all I've got to do is keep being indispensable. I just wanted to be remembered as the guy who 'reversed para and quadriplegics but to do that…"
The Heroes nod "You're no Hero but you're not a Villain. A Vigilante at worst an Anti-Hero at best, it seems your blood rings true. Do you know what else they're doing?"
Kato paused "Something about giving me what should be mine…a quirk of some sort."
Three chuckled "It feels like they're giving you my quirk and a bit more…"
(Garaki and All For One)
The centuries-old friends watched with interest. Although Garaki's was more to do with slight fear more than anything. He'd grown to Daiten Kato, now he remembered the name…he'd been the third wielder of Shigaraki Yoichi's fusion quirk, something that Garaki had been tracking throughout time.
Time, such a powerful thing…in a century he and All For One had effectively vanished from the history books. Granted they'd done a bit of that and as had the world.
The Dawn of Quirks, what a time to be alive. Back then being a hero hadn't been about the money but it had been about going above and beyond and the Heroes…oh those heroes, forged in the fire of humanities crumbling faith and the anvil of their adversaries, it was true as the War Doctor said 'Great men are forged in fire, it is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame'. Or perhaps a line from the 'The Present Crisis' would be more apt "Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes,-those who stood alone…" Garaki smirked, yes Heroes were mighty when they stood alone but the Avengers and the Justice League when Heroes worked together and joined forces they were Legendary.
Sadly, they were all gone. All For One and He had killed a fair few of them, not all, The Joker had claimed his share. Zoom, Reverse-Flash; speed-quirks powered by science, genetics and something still undetermined. "Something wrong, old friend?" Shigaraki rasped beneath his mask.
"Just reminiscing…the old times, the better times, the uncertain times. Back when the likes of En Sabah Nur, Omega Red, Mandarin, Plagueis, Ultron and Magneto were still alive."
Shigaraki chuckled "Back when, even as dangerous and powerful as I was then but a small fish. It is still surprising even now that Britain, the USA and Germany came out of those times unscathed."
Kyudai snorted "They didn't. They were the best at hiding it at the time; I know for a fact that Britain's only just about getting rid of the Last of the Rippers."
The Last of the Rippers, a now-defunct villain team from all over Britain, in the opening six decades of what was termed the 'Dawn of Quirks' or 'Dark Age of Evolution' had gone on a killing spree of such skill and precision that it rivalled 'Jack the Ripper' a notorious name that still carried weight. Some things in history pre or post quirks were refused to be forgotten.
Shigaraki turned in Kyudai's direction "You know for a fact…do you?"
"I initiated it. You were tracking down Two or Three…I think."
"Fair point. How is he?"
Kyudai looked at the medical devices "His spine has been repaired, the quirk combination seems to be holding steady it's thriving. Putting him under was the easy bit, the hard part is now going to be waking him up…give him 48 hours Shigaraki."
Shigaraki nodded "I have some instructions, a few lessons to teach and maybe make a few calls."
Garaki nodded "Please pull through…I know you will."
(Nemuri et al.)
The phone rang "Kaiten family and friends? It's me Ujiko Daruma, I'm letting you know that provisionally that Daiten Kato's procedure is so far proceeding safely…but there have been a few developments and as a result, Kato hasn't woken up yet. I am informing you that he's probably going to be under anaesthesia for at least 48-72 hours."
"Doctor, what IS going on? It's my son's life that is at risk." Asuma snapped.
"I understand…from what it looks like reading the dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline and various other neurotransmitters…communications in the brain your son is…awakening. Awakening a Quirk…" There was silence.
"I thought…"
"Just because Quirks have a general manifestation rate up to four years of age, Kaiten-san does not mean that it is the scientific standard. It is the presumed scientific standard as a result due to this quite frankly scientific marvel that I'm keeping your son under."
Asuma grunted "Thanks…this is…"
"His life's work. I know, and no matter what happens, your son will get the recognition he deserves."
(The Fade)
"All eight of you, seven, not including All Might as he's not dead yet were all killed by the friend of my backer and teacher…you're all incensed that I'm knowingly and willingly working with them. For the most part, you're right I am knowingly and willingly working with them, but I did not know that they'd killed all of you. Heroes fucked my life up, they've helped me unfuck their life and are allowing me to assist them to achieve all our goals. I want the world to know that the Quirkless doesn't mean useless. I want my son to grow up in a world where people are much more open-minded. Yes, my ways of doing it are villainous but that's how the nature of time is, the ways of old must give in. It's the nature of time that the new ways come in sin. When the new meets the old, it always ends the ancient ways. And as history told the old ways to go out in a blaze."
"Don't go quoting Pre Quirk music to me, youngster, I was there when it was made. Anyway, we trust you to do the RIGHT thing."
"Aye, stick to All For One and my Teacher at the right time and submit to judgement…the judgement of inept, corrupt and scared fools who can easily be intimidated."
It was Six who spoke "Do what is right, not easy, we're dead and echoes; I told Nana this and she told her Successor 'If you can face yourself, smile and tell yourself you're doing the right thing no matter how horrible, you'll always win.'"
'Heroes who smile are the strongest, Kato, you can be a hero…one who made terrible choices but you can be a hero.'
Kato nodded, he bowed to his grandfather and nodded to the others before vanishing from the Fade.
"Three, I'll get Nine, we're ready."
"Fine…I'll integrate first…god his use of our power is atrocious."
(Midoriya and Jiro)
He eyed Jiro, he could feel his temperature rising. This was going to be painful "I...I understand the need but I need to send a message to someone, first."
Kyoka nodded, she watched as the boy pulled out his phone and hastily texted, being whilst not attached to her phone but used texts often enough to read the thumb movements. "We need to talk, it's important." She chose not to read into it.
The duo felt the day drag by, even the fact that they were working together in this particular Heroes vs Villains exercise didn't pass the time. Thankfully, Midoriya hadn't broken anything as he adjusted to his increase in skill; although that was partly due to the fact that One-For-All was actively merging with the Ninth User.
The bell rang, finally, Class 1-A getting the hint that something was going on between the two, left them to it. Kirishima and Ashido suspected something was up but the red-head pulled his friend away.
"You better be getting me some answers Izuku…" Kyoka stated the duo had gotten used to calling each other by their given names. They found themselves in front of the staffroom.
"Young-Midoriya, Young-Jiro, What can I do to help you?" Asked the skinny man.
"Midoriya, I thought you said you were going to be bringing me to your mentor…"
"That is my Mentor…The three of us need to talk."
"Just what is One For All? How does it tie into my Grandfather, Daigoro Banjo? And just who are you, Toshinori-sensei?" Kyoka questioned.
(Secret Base)
Garaki didn't see it as opposed to he felt it. There was silence followed by the sound of a bed collapsing.
He turned and moved with inhuman speed to the resting room. A smile crossed his face as standing stock-still clad in nothing but his hospital gown, pulsing with purple electricity was Daiten Kato.
"How are you feeling?" He might be a villain but even Villains cared about their subordinates, if the subordinate was worth it.
"Never better, Sensei. Act II is coming to a close. All the World's a Stage after all."