Chapter 39: Smothering the Flames
Summary:
Endeavor talks with a distant relative, and the training camp continues.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Endeavor dialed, tense. He'd been in tougher situations before, with villains and natural disasters, but dealing with people was always much more chaotic. Luckily, the recipient answered after three rings.
The video screen opened to a red haired, freckled middle-aged man sitting in his living room in the early evening, who said, "Hello, Hisashi Midoriya. How can I help…" he then noticed the face in front of him. "Enji-nii-san…" he finally said, astonished.
"Hello, Hisashi-kun," Endeavor said. "It's been a long time. I apologize for not following up on my first sidekick sooner."
Hisashi smiled at that, "You had more important things to deal with. Though I'm surprised you remember me. We're third cousins, and I was only with you for a brief time."
"Perhaps, but you were not as forgettable as you seem to believe," Endeavor sighed. "And I was reminded recently, thanks to your son."
Hisashi paled, "What's going on? Is he hurt? Or… oh, is this tied to the Sports Festival? I know Izuku's speech went viral, and he said some things-"
"It is about the Sports Festival, but it's nothing bad, Hisashi-kun. At least, not for your son," Endeavor said. "I met him there, but I didn't realize he was your son. Between your changed surname and his vastly different Quirk, I didn't make the connection."
"Yeah, that Quirk is incredible," Hisashi stated. "And wonderful that he finally accessed it after being misdiagnosed…"
"Misdiagnosed?" Endeavor asked.
"His doctors said he was Quirkless at age four," Hisashi said. "But, that's personal."
Endeavor frowned, "I'm afraid that this conversation is going to get personal, Hisashi-kun. I'm having troubles and one of my colleagues suggested that you may be able to aid me."
"A pro Hero recommended me?" Hisashi stated. "I'm honored, but a little shocked that any of them would. I tend to focus on corporate investigations and rarely get involved with Heroic agencies…"
"It wasn't a professional recommendation," Endeavor said. "All Might is romantically involved with your ex-wife."
Hisashi was taken aback, "Holy… Yaoyorozu-sama said that All Might was Izuku's mentor, but I had no idea… Wow! I'm so happy for them!"
Endeavor didn't expect that reaction, which, given Hisashi's smile, had to be genuine. He hoped that was a good sign for what he was about to talk about, "I'm going to be blunt, Hisashi-kun. I consulted a few Heroes, including All Might, about issues I was having. One of the things that was discussed was my family life. I was told that speaking to you would be helpful, but I wasn't informed of why."
Hisashi's good mood evaporated. He sighed, "Well, Enji-nii-san, out of the cornucopia of terrible relatives I've had, you were the most decent to me. And you were the first person to ever actually help me with my Quirk, rather than tell me to get it under control, not tell me how, and then get mad at me when I failed. So, I'll allow it. Though I don't know why you would be told I could help you. I divorced my wife over a decade ago and I haven't been in contact with them or sought out another marriage since…"
Endeavor stroked his chin, "That perspective may be more useful to me than anything else. I must ask why you are in such a position. Was it because of your son's Quirkless diagnosis?"
He hoped it wasn't. Endeavor had done horrible things, but outright abandoning a family because of a Quirkless child was a step too far.
Luckily, Hisashi scowled as if those words were something foul-smelling, "No. The divorce was simply because Inko and I fell out of love. Our relationship got rocky before Izuku was born, and it didn't improve. Then I was hired to an overseas post within my company and found that I was thriving. I divorced her simply because I didn't want her to be tied down to an absentee husband. Izuku was two at the time, he wouldn't be diagnosed until a year afterwards."
Endeavor nodded, "And the lack of contact?"
Hisashi blinked, "Really? You're the one asking me that?"
Endeavor was taken aback, "Why would I know why you chose not to contact your son?"
Hisashi was equally taken aback, "Well, I'd have thought you of all people would empathize with ending the cycle of abuse in our family!"
Endeavor's blood ran cold, "Abuse?"
Hisashi's jaw dropped, "You… How could you not realize? I mean, I got thrown to a lot of family members, and not all were related to you, but your mother was one of the worst caretakers I'd had. The strictest rules, the worst corporal punishment…"
"... That wasn't normal?" Endeavor finally asked.
"Of course not! I mean, I've had neglectful caretakers as well, but I did see some more normal families thanks to my friends. And your mother was the only person in my life who beat me black and blue over a failed test then refused to let me eat for three days afterwards…" Hisashi said, working his way into anger at the memories, flames visible in his mouth as he talked. "Honestly, I was thankful when she threw me out! And she was just one of them! If there was even the slightest chance I'd fuck up my son the way they'd fucked me up…" He realized he was getting riled up, and took a few calming breaths and a long drink of water. "Sorry about that."
"It's understandable," Endeavor said, reeling. "So, you feared that you would abuse your son if you were in his life?"
"Maybe not intentionally, but it's likely," Hisashi said. "That's the family situation I know. And when I get angry, it's hard to maintain control. I didn't want to be the monster haunting my son's nightmares."
"Ah," Endeavor said. "I now realize why you were recommended to me. You see, I have made the exact mistakes that you strove to avoid..."
As Izuku feared, once the last of them reached the Sharing Bond, the training intensified.
Nejire was harrying them constantly now. Unlike most of them, her reaching the third stage of Bonding didn't give her Quirk any additional bells and whistles. What it did, however, was to boost Wave Motion to frankly ridiculous levels. Wave Motion was tied to her vitality, so being plugged into One for All gave it nearly infinite power. While the twisting beams had been slow once, now they moved so fast that their circuitous route didn't matter. Not to mention that Fa Jin was ported over in its entirety, meaning that her own movements could now power Wave Motion. And most maddeningly of all, while her Quirk converted her stamina into energy beams, now that she had alternative sources of energy, she found out that she could convert those additional sources into stamina.
In short, Nejire was now a perpetual motion machine.
"Gotta say, Midori-bro, giving Nejire-senpai access to your stockpile might have been a bit too manly," Eijiro said as they ate lunch, to the shock of everyone around him. The idea that the boy could view something as "too manly" was outside anything they'd considered.
"I didn't plan for it," Izuku stated. He was currently producing smoke at a constant rate, and he was changing its color as he did so. He found that in addition to making the smokescreen transparent to himself and anyone he wished, he could change its color, write words within it, and create a flashbang effect from the cloud.
He was also covered in glowing blue coin-sized discs. When he attempted to shrink a meter-diameter Laser Disc, it burst into about two thousand of the smaller versions. In addition to making a great massive attack, he found that placing them around his body allowed them to function like scale mail armor.
Ryouji had fumed. When he was alive, doing that would have probably taken an hour and the discs would have melted after one attack.
"Is there a reason Monoma's going nuts right now?" Mina asked, pointing at the twitching boy.
"Probably because he can't see us," Toru said. She was currently visible and wearing her P.E. uniform.
"More of Prez's bullshit Quirk?" Setsuna asked.
"Basically, yes," Toru replied, happily. "Anything I touch can turn invisible! If I want to be visible to certain people and invisible to everyone else, I can be! I've got a field in a ten meter radius, and I can turn anyone inside it invisible, too!"
"And that's not getting into how her refraction power has improved!" Izuku said brightly. "In addition to being able to maintain visibility more easily, she can actually create blurring effects and visual mirages! With some more fine control, she…" as Izuku descended into his mumblestorm, Toru's smile at him nerding out over his Quirk was blinding.
Hisashi didn't interrupt as Endeavor explained his situation, his history, how he'd treated his wife and children, and the situation he was in now. He sat, calmly, allowing the pro Hero to explain it fully, absorbing the fullness of the situation.
When Endeavor finished, Hisashi said, "Thank you for your candor, Enji-nii-san. I'm sorry, but I'll need to take a quick break. Do you mind if I step away for a bit?" The younger man's mouth was smoking as he spoke.
"Go right ahead," Endeavor agreed.
As Hisashi left his seat, he walked down to a door visible on the camera. He entered the room and shut it firmly. Once shut, the man let out a primal roar of absolute fury, the lines of the door glowing incandescently as the sound of rushing flames poured out. This continued for about five minutes, with only a few reprieves for Hisashi to catch his breath. Finally, Hisashi walked back outside, the only sign of his outburst being a collection of soot around his mouth, which he wiped off with a handkerchief. He returned to his seat and said, "Enji-nii-san… the fuck?!"
"I've been getting that sentiment a lot lately," Endeavor stated.
"To think all those years ago, I thought about getting back in touch, and I stopped myself, thinking that you'd believe me to be some hanger-on trying to ride your coattails," Hisashi scowled.
"To be fair, I can't deny I may have responded in such a way," Endeavor stated.
"If I had even the slightest chance of steering you away from such an asinine idea…" Hisashi took a few more breaths, before saying, "Okay, I need to remain calm. The past is the past and cannot be changed. 'Should have' doesn't matter, we deal with 'is'. Now, I'm an accountant, I don't do public relations, though I do keep tabs on such things when investigating, but I assume you have better people working on that."
"Indeed," Endeavor said. "I plan on publicly revealing this, as I've discovered that it will inevitably be brought to public attention despite my best efforts."
"Smart. So, then, my best advice would be dealing with your family. And I suppose you're better off than me in one regard there," Hisashi said.
"And that would be?" Endeavor asked.
"I sometimes wonder if I could have been a good father. If I made the right decision. If my absence hurt my son more than my presence would. I'll never know, and while I believe this is the best decision I could have made, the doubt will be with me to my dying days," Hisashi said. "You, on the other hand, have screwed up about as badly as a person could have, and thus you can be certain that this upcoming course of action is the best you can do to mitigate it."
Endeavor's anger instinctively flared at that, but he stamped it down, "I can safely say that you're correct on that front. What do you suggest?"
"First of all, your duty as a father remains. I send most of my salary, minus my own meager living expenses, back home to my ex-wife and will continue to do so until my son turns twenty," Hisashi said, referencing the age Izuku would legally be considered an adult in Japan. "I consider this my ultimate responsibility. Even if Inko won the lottery or married a rich businessman or got a high-paying job, I would still do this. You must do the same, perhaps even more, given that you have a lot of reparations owed to Rei-san."
"Do you recommend I divorce her as you did?" Endeavor asked.
"At the moment, no. Though, if she chooses to do so, don't contest it. Heroic pensions won't be granted to her should she divorce you," Hisashi said. "Speaking of, she should be brought home as soon as possible. She isn't a danger to her children anymore, and you said that she and Shouto reconciled?"
Endeavor nodded.
"Then the next step you need to take after securing her release is to move out of your home," Hisashi said. "Tell your children that you plan to do so. Afterwards, do not contact them unless they specifically request it. You have surrendered your right to be part of their lives. It's now a privilege that they can give or take at their leisure."
"I understand completely," Endeavor said, bracing himself. "What else do you recommend?"
"So far, that's all the advice I can give you. Anything further depends on the reactions you receive," Hisashi said.
"Thank you very much for this, Hisashi-kun," Endeavor said. "Before I go, I must ask, are you doing well yourself? You seem… alone."
"Oh, I'm doing very well, Enji-nii-san!" Hisashi said. "I may not have a wife and child, but I'm far from alone. In many ways, I'm married to my job. It's interesting to me, I love my work, and it helps me uncover criminals that evade more traditional means of justice. And, honestly, I love the team I work with. We've been working together for years, and we're the closest of friends. They're wonderful. Here, let me show you My manager's on the left, the rest of us are colleagues…"
Hisashi proudly shared a photograph with Endeavor. It was him with a group of five women around his age, all of whom were looking at him longingly.
Endeavor blinked, "Are… are you certain that you and your team are merely friends?"
"Well, yes?" Hisashi said. "I mean, I'm a divorcee and as close to a deadbeat dad as you can get. There's no way women as wonderful as them would be interested in that…"
"Hmm…" Endeavor said, noncommittal. "It has been good talking to you, Hisashi-kun. I hope to do so again, hopefully with more pleasant news."
"I wish the best for your family, Enji-nii-san," Hisashi said, firm but not unkind, as he ended the call.
Endeavor had a number of thoughts swirling through his head, but with that last revelation, one thing stood out.
The rumors about his son's rival in the other Hero class had merit.
The sun was beginning to set as Izuku watched as the 1-B student next to him made a desperate run for the toilet.
At the moment, Izuku was continuously blasting, both with Laser Disc and with his new Hadoken. The Hadoken had greater range and destructive power upon impact, and he wasn't limited to firing it out of his hands, but since it was tied to Fa Jin, he could only use it after storing enough kinetic energy for a charge. Laser Disc, despite its shorter range, was quicker to use and could be spammed more easily. And, if he combined the two…
So, he was pouring as much of One for All into those Quirks as possible, to see if he could increase their range or power. While doing that, he had six Blackwhip strands lifting weights to work on his parallel processing.
Aoyama was next to him, continuously blasting lasers from his belly button, his face screwed in discomfort, until he inevitably lost the ability to withstand the pressure on his GI tract and had to relieve himself. Luckily he seemed to be increasing his time between breaks.
When the blonde boy returned, Izuku asked, "Are you okay?"
Aoyama gave a weak smile, " Ne t'inquiète pas, mon ami. I am used to this discomfort."
Izuku smiled back, "Well, I know what it feels like to have a Quirk that hurts you…"
Aoyama blinked, " Vraiment? Your Quirk hurts you? And you use it so stoically?"
"Not to the same degree. It can hurt me, if I'm not super careful with it," Izuku explained. "The first time I ever used it was in the Entrance Exam."
" Oui, oui! I remember seeing you dash straight in to save Mademoiselle Uraraka from that Zero-Pointer!" Aoyama said. "Ah, yes, you broke your limbs while doing so. And again when you fought Monsieur Todoroki."
Izuku nodded, "If I go beyond my threshold, it breaks me. I typically stay just within the safe zone, pushing myself just enough to let me improve."
"I suppose it makes sense that we share this as well," Aoyama said. "You see, mon ami , I too am a late bloomer."
Izuku blinked, "Wait, really?"
" Oui , my Quirk did not show up until I was six years old," Aoyama said, his smile even more forced than it had been due to pain.
"I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories," Izuku said.
" Mai, non! It was merely a minor unpleasantness," Aoyama reassured Izuku. "After asking Maman et Papa why I was different, they spared no expense in finding a specialist to aid me."
"A specialist?" Izuku asked cautiously, as he and the Vestiges noticed the red flag.
"Yes, a Japanese doctor who had a history of unlocking people's hidden Quirks," Aoyama said.
"I haven't heard of anyone like that," Izuku lied. He had heard of a few people like that. None of them were credible, though. Unlocking hidden Quirks was a common scam, and it was one of the cruelest lessons he'd learned.
Aoyama replied, "Not to flaunt, but my parents are diplomats, rich and well connected. They likely had avenues most do not."
Izuku nodded, concerned, "Was there a unique activation requirement that allowed you to use Navel Laser?"
"If there were, I do not know. I was sedated for the procedure," Aoyama said.
"Izuku…" Yoichi said cautiously.
"I know. This Quirk doesn't seem like one that would have a crazy activation condition. Only two people could have done what he's claiming, and I know one of them had an alibi…" Izuku responded. "Sorry if I'm prying. I just like Quirks and they interest me…"
"Indeed, Monsieur Shinso and Monsieur Akira vouched for your suggestions. I hope I have inspired you to grant me some as well," Aoyama said, glittering with anticipation.
"Of course, Aoyama-kun!" Izuku replied, smiling, as Mandalay called for them to stop for the night. He looked at the other boy's feet. "Nice shoes. Where'd you get them?"
"My family's cobbler. I have worn bespoke footwear my entire life. The Aoyama family trusts no one but Gaston to protect our feet!" Aoyama said.
"Neat! I may be the same. Mei made me some custom shoes herself! I don't know if I'll ever go back to brand name shoes again!" Izuku said, pointing to the un-transformed All-I-Gaiters on his feet. Those, along with his Ultimate Gauntlets, had scarcely been off his body since his birthday. It was just some small talk.
Small talk that Izuku hoped would conceal the alarm bells going off in his head. "Dad!" he called out to All Might telepathically.
"Young Izuku! What's the matter?" All Might asked, worried.
"Get to Nezu! I have reason to believe Yuga Aoyama got his Quirk from All for One!"
Dabi looked around at his group, the "Vanguard Action Squad", as their raisin-skinned leader called them. Honestly, he wouldn't trust most of them with a ball of string, but if this succeeded, they would serve their purpose. And if they didn't, fuck it, he'd burnt a forest down and survived once, he could do it again.
Toga was the only other one of Giran's recruits that Handjob decided to keep. The broker sent them other applicants, but the manchild didn't even give them an interview. Said something about having enough elite units or some bullshit. She was utterly giddy waiting for the opportunity to see her "love". Sickening.
They had two death row prisoners brought in from a prison transport. Muscular and Moonfish were infamous even among other Villains. They were the kinds of Villains that were as dangerous to other Villains as Heroes were, possibly more since Heroes were supposed to prioritize nonlethal methods unless necessary. Moonfish was a cannibal, for fuck's sake! No matter, just point them at the students and watch the carnage happen.
The rest were all a bunch of ex-Yakuza who mostly wore variations on plague doctor masks. All of them wanted to head in to avenge their boss, who one of the Hero kids brought in and who got killed. Only two of them had codenames before, but Handjob made it clear that keeping track of them was annoying, so it was either pick a codename or get one assigned.
On this, Dabi and the Handyman could agree.
Some of them probably shouldn't have been on the front lines. The one they called Inquisitor had a Quirk that forced people to answer his questions truthfully (Dabi made sure to stay the hell away from that guy). More useful for information gathering than anything else. But the guy had a gun, was supposedly their best shot, and apparently had some kind of trick bullets or something that the other Yakuza thugs thought were the best thing since sliced bread.
Then there was Gluttony, a generic-brand version of Moonfish whose Quirk let him eat anything he wanted, but left him constantly hungry. And Larceny, some guy who could pull objects out of a person's hands into his own. Nothing truly special, but these creeps were in it to the death because of some shit their dead boss did to earn their eternal loyalty.
The other thugs had some merit. The most obviously useful guy was this giant motherfucker called Siphon, who could drain the strength right out of someone and add it to his own. Chronostasis could slow down peoples' movements, always a plus. Zirconium could create crystals, which seemed weak at first but provided a decent form of defense and weaponry. Mimic seemed like shit due to the fact he was walking around in a creepy doll, but when he demonstrated that he could merge with much larger objects, his usefulness wasn't questioned. Punch Drunk, at first, seemed like a liability, since he drank more than anyone else at the bar, but his Quirk could make someone else as dizzy and unbalanced as he was.
Dabi wasn't sure if Punch Drunk had to be three sheets to the wind in order for his Quirk to be effective, but it was fine as long as he wasn't in the dude's range.
One of the bigger masked guys called himself The Rapper, and he was gunning for a fight almost like Muscular was. Hell, at the rate things were going, he half expected that he'd challenge Muscular immediately afterwards. Then again, that guy was going on about fighting with just your fists being the only true way of fighting or some other horseshit that made Dabi's eyes glaze over. What the fuck was the point of that?
There was some guy called Canopy with a forcefield who hung around The Rapper with exasperation, apparently because their Quirks combined to make a perfect offensive-defensive combo, until Hands-Off Management said that he didn't give a single fuck who he was paired with and that if The Rapper wanted to hare off on his own, just let him. Canopy seemed perturbed, but agreed to it.
Dabi prepared himself. They were going to teleport right into the fray, guns blazing. They couldn't case the area beforehand, since the kid that Handjob called Player Two apparently had some kind of sensory Quirk and they'd be spotted immediately. Suited Dabi just fine.
This was going to be sweet. He'd get to burn some kids who thought they knew what they were getting into, including his baby brother. He wanted to kill Shouto right now, but no, baby steps. The brat was spoon-fed everything Touya had ever wanted, lived an easy life, was living the life that he was promised over and over, damn it! First, he'd break Shouto, make him see how inadequate he was, then reveal to him and the entire world that the precious father who'd spoiled him was nothing but a dumpster fire. And then, he'd kill Shouto, right in front of Endeavor's eyes, to let the last thing Endeavor saw be his failed experiment defeat his "masterpiece". It would be perfect.
Of course, that had to come after he revealed Endeavor's dirty laundry to the world, let Japan see what their Number Two Hero was really like. So that, when Endeavor died by his own son's hand, the world wouldn't mourn, but collectively say, "Good riddance."
It was going to be so sweet…
(Dabi, along with the rest of the Vanguard Action Squad, would not be watching television or accessing the Internet that day in preparation. He wouldn't see what the news cycle would be obsessing over prior to their attack. It wouldn't be pretty when he learned.)
Nezu's day was becoming a clusterfuck. Normally, the mammal would thrive on the chaos, but things were happening all at once.
The situation with Endeavor had gone over as well as he expected. He'd taken the advice his third cousin provided, and secured his wife's release, his removal from his home, and spoke to his daughter and second son about his decision before permanently moving into his emergency apartment within his agency. Then, he announced the press conference for noon.
Endeavor claimed that someone had found his personal information, and was going to use it to extort him or hurt his family, so he would reveal it to the world and remove their leverage. He then proceeded to air his dirty laundry to the nation.
The questioning afterwards was fierce, but Endeavor was entirely forthcoming. The most memorable part was his response when someone asked if he was planning to retire following this announcement.
"No. If the Hero Public Safety Commission revokes my license or has me arrested as a result of this conference, I will comply. Otherwise, I will continue to do my job. If my ranking takes a hit in the aftermath, so be it. If all other Heroes shun me, so be it. There are still villains that need to be stopped and crises that need to be resolved. I will mitigate the damage I have done to my family and continue to do what I must. It's been proven to me, definitively, that I will never be what All Might is, but I will do what I can to help keep Japan and its citizens safe. And if anyone thinks that these revelations will make me any less effective?
"Just watch me."
It was a bold move, to be sure. Predictably, immediately following the announcement, the backlash was swift and brutal. Sidekicks left the Endeavor Agency in droves. Companies canceled their sponsorships and merchandising deals. Pundits were going absolutely nuts.
The HPSC was on the backfoot following the announcement. They had yet to make a decision regarding Endeavor's Hero license, for the simple reason that Endeavor, not his agency, but the man himself, resolved more cases than any other Hero and to lose that for any reason would be detrimental. On the other hand, this arguably hurt the Commission more than it had Endeavor. There were only two options, either the Commission was complicit with Endeavor's actions, making them corrupt, or they had no idea, making them criminally incompetent.
Nezu grinned at the thought, knowing full well it was a mix of both with a heaping spoonful of "the ends justify the means."
All Might had been questioned about the situation, and he responded with his usual charisma. Two statements were making the rounds on social media. The first being his response to the idea of Endeavor continuing his Hero career, "Enji Todoroki and I are not friends and I find his actions appalling, but I would trust Endeavor with my life."
The second was a response to a reporter who wanted to know his opinion about the backlash and increased scrutiny on other Heroes and the HPSC as a whole. The reporter had specifically asked, "Do you think that this will disrupt the peace you've dedicated your life to maintaining?"
All Might had responded, "During my time in America, I often heard protestors shouting, 'No justice, no peace.' Most people believe this statement is a threat, that until justice is served, they will disrupt the peace. The fact is, the statement is a tautology. Without justice, there is no peace. Any so-called 'peace' that requires injustice is not peace at all, but order instilled through fear. In other words, tyranny. And I am not the Symbol of Tyranny. So, I welcome this change, because until justice is delivered to the Todoroki family, there can be no real peace. And if there are further injustices being covered up, they must be found and corrected as well."
Nezu was giddy about this massive shift until All Might barged in soon after, relaying Izuku's deduction that Yuga Aoyama had received his Quirk from All for One.
The inhuman principal hid his glee that his and All Might's shared protege discovered this potential leak. The staff had discussed the possibility of the League of Villains placing a mole within U.A., and now it seemed that this was correct.
Most of the evidence Nezu found was circumstantial, but together, it painted a grim picture. The closest thing to a smoking gun he'd found was trying to uncover the manufacturer for Aoyama's belt. The company name used was approved by U.A., but attempting to find the designer or the builders or the factory where it was produced only led Nezu to dead ends.
As it stood, since there was a chance the boy's medical records were doctored, the only way to tell would be for Recovery Girl to get an X-ray of the boy's feet. Nothing to do but wait until the opportunity arose when the training camp ended...
Of course, the minute he thought that, the school received an alarm. Izuku Midoriya pressed his panic button.
Then Mirio Togata. Then Tenya Iida. Then Nejire Hado. Then Shouto Todoroki.
Soon, every single student at the Forest Training Camp was indicating they were in lethal danger.
Nezu ground his teeth. It appeared that this would transcend his usual 'unpleasantness'. He would have to prepare for war.