Chapter Three:

Izuku woke up to blinding light on his face and the sensation of dry lips on his forehead. He moaned, then his stomach growled.

Straightening, Recovery Girl said, "I can't do anything about him being hungry. My quirk doesn't work like that. He's probably a bit stressed out. I get a couple students in here with upset stomachs at the start of every new school year."

All Might boomed, "I'm glad it's not a serious illness." He leaned over, the light glinting off his broad smile. "How do you feel, young Midoriya?"

"Urk," Izuku said. The real All Might was next to him, close enough for Izuku to touch one of the legendary hair tufts. Izuku wanted to ask for All Might's autograph. He wanted to throw himself at All Might's feet and beg to be saved. He wanted to warn his hero. Since All for One had specifically asked about All Might, that meant All Might was almost certainly the villain's target. But Izuku did none of those things. His mother's life hung in balance. Izuku told himself that All Might was the number one hero and could surely take care of himself whereas Mom had only Izuku to protect her. Gods, Izuku felt like scum. He would have thrown up again if his stomach hadn't been empty.

All Might's smile faded as Izuku stared at him without speaking and the silence stretched on too long. "Is there something in my teeth?" He chuckled.

Izuku kept staring, no words coming to him. Anything he might possibly say felt like he'd be betraying someone. Maybe this would all turn out to be a horrible nightmare. All Might showing up at U.A. felt a little too contrived. Yes, this was all a dream.

Leaning sideways, All Might covertly checked his teeth in the infirmary mirror. Finding nothing, his smile returned. "Young Midoriya, I'm sure your first day at hero school must be nerve-wracking. I'll let you in on a secret! Even I was nervous during my first day at U.A., afraid I'd let my mentor down. But you have nothing to be concerned about. You're going to become a fine hero. I saw you at the entrance exam when you saved young Uraraka, and I was most impressed."

Tears hovered in Izuku's eyes, not quite falling. He'd been complimented by his favorite hero, just as he'd dreamed about ever since he'd been four years old and running around in an All Might onesie playing heroes and villains. But it was all a lie. Izuku was a horrible traitor who would have to put All Might in danger. Any second now, Izuku would burst into tears and break his cover. Then his mother would die. Izuku glared like he'd never glared in his entire life, desperately trying to stop his tears from falling.

"I'll go now," All Might said meekly, turning and leaving.

Recovery Girl laughed. "Whoa, Midoriya, you must be an extreme antifan! I haven't seen anyone glare at All Might so hard since he tried to congratulate Endeavor on making number two hero."

Oh, no. Izuku's hero thought that he hated him. Izuku fell back on the bed and pulled the covers over his face. Please, this had to all be a bad dream.

But of course, it was no dream. That night, Izuku messaged his "uncle" All for One the news that All Might was teaching at U.A. He knew that it made no difference what he said. This would become public knowledge very soon. All for One had probably already known or he wouldn't have asked such a specific question. The request had merely been a test. But Izuku still felt like the biggest scum on the earth as he remembered All Might's big smile as he'd complimented Izuku.

Izuku got very little sleep that night.

When Izuku staggered to U.A. the next morning, bleary-eyed and head pounding, he was greeted by a crowd of reporters. A stranger thrust a mike in his face and demanded, "What's it like learning from the legendary All Might?"

Izuku's temper snapped. He growled, "I don't see why All Might is teaching at U.A. when the number one hero must have more important things to do. It's certainly not because he has any skill or experience at teaching." Then he stomped off. He knew he wasn't being fair. The real reason he was upset was about being forced to spy on All Might. He felt so tired, it had popped out.

When U.A.'s door came clanging down to lock out the reporters, it was a huge relief.

Aizawa held class president elections. Izuku didn't even bother to vote, and as a result got zero votes. Aoyama got two votes because Hitoshi Shinsou voted for him, and Momo also got two votes, so they played rock-paper-scissors for it and Aoyama won.

The quirkless kid had become class president. Apparently that could have been Izuku if he hadn't taken a deal with a supervillain as a five-year-old. Why had he ever believed he couldn't become a hero without a quirk? Why had he given up? Izuku seethed in his misery.

At lunch, Katsuki sat down next to Izuku without needing an invitation. Slamming down his tray, the blond boy said, "If you weren't going to vote for yourself, you should have voted for me! Then it would have been a three-way-tie, and I would have crushed at rock-paper-scissors."

Izuku grunted. His stomach had been growling at him again but he couldn't choke down any food. He pushed around the rice on his plate.

Katsuki said, "Seriously, nerd, you're starting to freak me out. All Might is teaching us and you didn't even fanboy. Is your old man's condition that damn bad?"

For a brief moment, Izuku wanted to spill everything to his childhood friend. Katsuki was the only person at U.A. who would care about Inko as a person, not just a civilian hostage. But that was a terrible idea. Izuku couldn't get a friend mixed up in this and destroy his hero career. Also, Katsuki had zero acting ability. He would make Izuku's current lousy performance as a spy look like an Oscar award winning act. Their middle school play had driven the drama teacher to a mental breakdown. Katsuki would get them both caught by U.A. within five minutes, and then All for One would kill Inko because he had no further use for Izuku.

Unfortunately, Katsuki already suspected something. There was a fine line between acting like a lone wolf and acting suspicious, and Izuku suspected he'd landed on the wrong side of it. He had to pull himself together. If he got caught, then his mom would pay the price. Izuku seized on the excuse that Katsuki had offered him. "Yeah, my father might be dying."

Katsuki shook his head. "Would that be any loss to the world, though?"

Izuku burst out laughing. He laughed so hard that tears streamed down his cheeks. It felt like he finally had an excuse to cry the tears he'd been suppressing. Other students were definitely staring at him but he didn't care. Izuku finally felt alive, and with it came his appetite. Reaching for chopsticks, Izuku said, "Thanks, I needed that—"

The loudspeaker overhead sounded. "Security Level 3 has been broken. All students, please evacuate in an orderly fashion."

Izuku's mind went white. All he could think was that this was all his fault. All for One must be making a move to kill All Might. Why was it happening so soon?

Izuku quickly got separated from Katsuki in the crush of students. He glimpsed reporters breaking in. In his panicked state, Izuku could only think that he had to save All Might. It was ridiculous to imagine a high-schooler could save the number one hero, but still Izuku's feet took him to the teacher's lounge.

It was empty. All Might wasn't even here. This had been foolish.

"Hey, it's you! The info dump NPC!" A white-haired young man with desiccated skin stood in the hallway. He had his hands in the pockets of his black hoodie.

Standing in the doorway, Izuku blinked. "Do I know you?"

Cracked lips widened into a grin. "I'm Tomura Shigaraki."

After a pause, Izuku admitted, "I still don't know you. I'm sorry, I've had a very exhausting last couple of days. Are you a teacher's aide?"

Tomura scowled. "Sensei didn't tell you about me? I'm All for One's successor—"

Izuku uttered a high-pitched squeak, then grabbed Tomura by his collar and yanked him into the teacher's lounge. "Don't just say that in public! Are you trying to get me caught?" If this fool outed Izuku as a spy, then his mother would die even though it wouldn't be his fault. His headache returned with a vengeance.

Tomura looked around. "Hey, is this the teacher's lounge? What a loot chest! I was just hoping to steal an itinerary." He went to Aizawa's computer, plugged in a flash drive, and started copying files.

Izuku felt sick. He'd accidentally helped the villains, even though he'd resolved to do the bare minimum for them. "Maybe you should leave before you get caught." Izuku put a hand on Tomura's shoulder.

Tomura flung the hand off, growling, "Don't touch me, NPC!" Spittle flew from his mouth. His red eyes were wild.

Izuku took a step backward. "I'm trying to help." That was a blatant lie. Izuku tried to express himself in terms a gamer would understand. "Don't get so distracted on a side quest that you fail to defeat the final boss."

"Good point." Tomura yanked out the flash drive. "I have what I need—U.A. will be taking a field trip to U.S.J. It's the perfect chance to kill All Might." He leered down at Izuku. "Find a place to hide out of sight, little NPC. The lower-level players don't know about you. We plan to slaughter a couple hero eggs as a cheat code to lure All Might into our trap." Then Tomura sauntered out of the office.

Izuku stood still and frozen. Those words kept replaying in his mind. Kill All Might… slaughter a couple hero eggs… All Might was the number one hero. Surely he was strong enough to survive a villain attack, right? But there was no guarantee all of Izuku's classmates would walk away. Someone might die. Because of Izuku.

In a brief, mad impulse, Izuku opened a word document on Aizawa's computer and typed in all caps VILLAINS KNOW ABOUT CLASS 1-A'S TRIP TO U.S.J. Then he wiped the keyboard of fingerprints and fled.

Once in the hallway, Izuku's breathing came out short. He felt like a heavy weight had settled on his chest. He wanted to cry, but the tears seemed stopped up inside of him. What had he done? If the villains figured out, his mom was dead. Oh, god. He was stupid, so stupid.

Thundering footsteps announced that students were pouring back into the building. Izuku couldn't be caught here. He slipped into the bathroom, where he vomited up the two bites of lunch he'd eaten.

Peering over Aizawa's shoulder, Nezu stared at the message on the screen. "My, this is interesting."

Aizawa said, "A large number of files were copied off my computer. I wouldn't have noticed if not for the message."

Nezu beamed and clapped his paws together. "This is the perfect opportunity to set a trap for the villains responsible. Don't tell your class that the field trip has been canceled until the last minute."

Aizawa grunted. "I'm worried about whoever left this message."

Nezu nodded. "It seems that whoever broke in during the reporter mess was threatened to steal your files. I wonder who and why? I'll reach out to my sources in the underworld. At the moment it looks like the spy came from outside U.A., but I'll look into the files of our new students just in case. We need to be cautious about this, or our informant will be in danger." Nezu's eyes narrowed. "Say nothing about this. Not even to the other teachers."

Izuku had nightmares, but that was nothing new. His nights had been full of nightmares since his mother's kidnapping. Once again, he arrived at school with raccoon sized bags under his eyes.

Hitoshi slipped Izuku a can of coffee and whispered something about how he found warm milk at night helped him sleep. Izuku suspected he must be in bad shape indeed if even the boy who hadn't seemed to like him much was taking pity on him. He had to keep it together before he broke down in the middle of class.

When Aizawa announced the field trip to U.S.J. had been canceled, a groan went through the class. Izuku kept his face studiously neutral, but he was panicking. The heroes were almost certainly planning a trap. Why else had they waited until the last minute to announce the change of plans? As soon as the villains' plan got ruined, they would be looking for someone to blame. Tomura had told Izuku about the plan. If only the stupid game-obsessed weirdo hadn't opened up his big trap and made Izuku into a prime suspect. Last night, Izuku had tried to convince himself that maybe All for One would get caught at U.S.J. and then this nightmare would be all over. But Izuku didn't seriously believe that. Mr. Life Support seemed more like a behind-the-scenes villain. Also, there was a very real risk that All for One had arranged it so Inko would die if he died.

Izuku was doomed. He would go down in history as the worst spy—and the worst son.

If Izuku threw up one more time, his teachers might try to make him take sick leave from school. So he slipped outside and sat on a park bench on the school lawn. Placing his head in his hands, he inhaled deeply. Tears exploded from his eyes, spraying in all directions.

A sound like a balloon deflating made Izuku's head shoot up. A tall, scrawny man with a trickle of blood coming from his mouth stood next to a tree. He coughed. Looking at his hands, he muttered, "My time limit is getting any shorter…why are my feet wet?" He glanced over at Izuku. "Kid, are you all right?"

"Are you all right?" Izuku asked, pointing at the blood.

The stranger mopped his lip with a tissue. "Just an old injury acting up." He held out the packet of tissues to Izuku.

For a moment, Izuku hesitated to take anything from the stranger, wondering if another spy of All for One's had snuck into school. Then he realized he was being ridiculous. No one would send a spy who left an incriminating and DNA-identifying trail of blood everywhere he coughed. This man looked so weak, even Izuku could probably defeat him in a fight. "Thank you," Izuku said, taking the tissues. He blew his nose. "Who are you?"

"Me? Um, yes, of course, you want to know who I am. Uh. I'm just the school janitor, Toshinori Yagi. You wouldn't have seen me around much. I mostly do my work out of sight."

See, Izuku had been paranoid. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Yagi. I'm Izuku Midoriya."

Toshinori sat down on the bench. "Do you mind me asking what is wrong? You don't have to tell me."

Izuku thought it would be easier to stick to one lie so he wouldn't forget it, so he used the same story he'd fed Katsuki. "My dad is very sick and probably dying."

Big blue eyes filled with sympathy. "Oh! I'm so sorry to hear that. I lost my adopted mother at a young age, and it was very rough."

Adopted mother? "Then you lost three parents?" Izuku shuddered. "That's horrible! I'm sorry."

"Not exactly." A rueful look twisted Toshinori's face. "My birth parents kicked me out for being quirkless."

Izuku felt a sudden surge of sympathy for a fellow quirkless person—even though Izuku no longer qualified. "My dad ditched me and mom when I was pretty young." Oops, had he just shot a hole in his own cover story? "So I guess I shouldn't feel so broken-up about this."

"That's not the case at all," Toshinori said firmly. "You're allowed to mourn as much as you want. There's no right or wrong. This might be presumptuous to say, but please don't feel like you have to force yourself to be fine. I know there's a lot of pressure on U.A. students. But there's a family leave policy if you need it. Don't push yourself so hard that you burn out."

This was probably good advice, just completely irrelevant to Izuku's real situation. If he left U.A., his mother died. He grunted.

Toshinori said, "Mr. Aizawa might seem like a grump, but he would be understanding if he knew about your circumstances. I know you're an antifan of All Might, but he's actually a nice person."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked through watery eyes. "Why would you think that I dislike All Might?"

Toshinori coughed. "Uh, rumor has it that you threw up at the sight of him and then glared at him with the hatred of a thousand villains. Also there's a video clip of you trash-talking his teaching currently playing on news stations around Japan."

Izuku waved his hands. "No, no, I'm actually a big All Might fan! He's the coolest hero in the world! I was nervous around him because I wanted to ask for his autograph, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I think it looked like I was glaring because I felt sick."

"Oh, I see." Pink tinged Toshinori's cheeks. "Ah-ha, it's good to see that kids these days still admire a fossil like All Might."

Izuku stared at the tree. "I wonder what a hero like All Might would do in my situation."

"I'm sure All Might would tell you that it's okay to be sad and you should take a break if you need one."

"No, not that." Izuku gnawed on his lower lip. "I have another dilemma. I have to choose between protecting two things. It would be objectively right to pick the first thing, but I want to protect the other one more."

Toshinori asked, "Then why not protect both?"

Izuku shook his head. "No, I can't do that. I might lose everything. I might have already failed to protect my most important thing while trying to have it both ways."

Toshinori said, "In comic books, villains often try to make a hero pick between two hostages. But the hero always tries to save everyone. I know it's not always so easy in real life. You might fail. But if both things are important to you, then you should try." Toshinori grinned, a broad smile that suddenly reminded Izuku of All Might. "Heroes are selfish like that."

"You're right." Izuku stood up. He handed Toshinori back the tissues. "I won't give up on protecting everything just yet. Thank you, Mr. Yagi."

No matter what the consequences might be, Izuku would try to save his mother.

Amazing, how easily Izuku was able to walk into an office building of a company he had no affiliation with. He looked like a polite, neat boy and walked at a casual pace holding a bento box. Everyone assumed he must be bringing lunch to a parent. Izuku's heart hammered as he stepped into the elevator. He got off at the roof. There was a fence around the door but he climbed over it.

To get out of class, Izuku had faked another stomach ache. He only needed to cover his hand over his mouth and pretend to be about to barf again to get Mr. Aizawa to let him go. Luckily his quirk made a good excuse for constant stomach trouble. He'd better make this fast so he could get back to school before anyone noticed he wasn't in the infirmary.

Pulling out his binoculars, Izuku looked at the dome of the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. He'd swiped these binoculars from the support staff classroom, and they were unusually powerful. Fortunately he could see through the windows at the base of the dome.

While waiting, Izuku calculated out a clear line of fire for his laser. From past experience, he knew his laser could move infinitely far if uninterrupted. He'd picked this building carefully for its view. Where was the attack? Surely his treason hadn't already been noticed? He hadn't even used his laser yet but his stomach already felt upset.

A huge mass of villains warped into the U.S.J. using black shadows. The crowd included many of those undead monsters with brains exposed. Tomura, from the way he gestured, seemed to be the leader. However, Tomura had been impulsive and unstable. Izuku assessed the man with shadows for a face as the mission coordinator and probably the babysitter.

Gritting his teeth, Izuku shot forth a laser across the sky and straight into U.S.J. Pain ate into his midsection. But he had to hold on. At a lower power and thinner beam, he could use his laser for a few seconds longer. At the feet of the shadow-faced man, he burned a message: TRAP.

Izuku had accidentally nicked the warper's foot with the laser, drawing a tiny amount of blood. At least this attracted the villain's attention.

The warper immediately had the sense to scuff out the message with his shoe, proving Izuku had made the right assessment of who was the smartest person in the villainous group. Then the warper grabbed Tomura and the largest monster and warped away.

Right then, the entirety of the top ten heroes exploded into view and fell upon the villains who'd been left behind. In short order, they were all captured.

Izuku fell over sideways, clutching his stomach. Through the pain, he remembered to send his text to All for One warning him about Class 1-A's change in plans. It was important that there be a record that Izuku had tried to warn All for One—and also important that the message arrived a bit too late so that Izuku had to save Tomura personally.

Hopefully this would be enough. Izuku had just risked himself to reveal the trap. That would surely prove he hadn't been the one to jeopardize the mission. Maybe Izuku was responsible now for anyone Tomura might kill in the future after his escape. But his mother would have died immediately if he hadn't taken action. He'd do his best to protect people from Tomura in the future. He'd made the decision to try to save everyone.

Nezu looked over the profiles of captured villains on his desk. It was a shame they'd missed the warper, but that had probably been inevitable. It would take careful planning to capture that one.

The undead monsters troubled Nezu. They seemed to be made from the corpses of humans. How disgusting.

Nezu's research into the U.A. break-in had delivered nothing. He had too little to go on when he didn't even know which villain was behind this attack. The young man with hands over his face had screamed something about the League of Villains before escaping through the portal. As soon as Nezu had more information about the enemy, he could figure out who might have been forced into working for them. He made arrangements to investigate the warper and the hand-faced man. How very, very fortunate that the warper had left behind a blood sample.

Inko sat on a futon on the ground. The cement walls around her had been painted light green. There was a bucket in the corner for necessities. A headlight had been placed on the floor, a small courtesy. That was her only source of light, except when the hallway lights came on when she had visitors. This place did not normally hold prisoners or living people—it was a morgue for corpses. Inko knew because she could see through the bars in front of her cell to the room across the hallway, stacked with layers of bodies wrapped in plastic. The stench drifted over. She'd heard the sounds of ripping flesh coming from the laboratory at the end of the hallway. She drew up her knees to her chest and breathed through her mouth.

Shoes with metal soles clacked down the hallway. Inko shivered. Horrible though solitary confinement might be, she had not yet reached the point where she wanted to talk to anyone in this place.

All for One loomed high above her, raspy breathing coming from behind his mask. Inko squeezed her eyes shut and resolved not to speak with him.

Casually, All for One said, "The U.S.J. attack was a failure, as expected. I never thought Tomura could kill All Might. I can't even let All Might die yet, not until I've obtained a certain special something from him. But it was even more of a failure than planned, because of the heroes lying in wait."

Oh, no no no. Izuku must have done something. Inko tried her hardest to show no reaction on her face, just in case All for One didn't know. He probably knew. He was probably here to kill her. She wished she could tell her son that it was okay. She'd never wanted him to let anyone else die for her sake.

All for One continued, "Fortunately, Tomura was able to escape due to warning from your own child."

Inko's head shot up. "That's good?" she asked. Dammit, she hadn't meant to speak.

"Tomura certainly thinks so. He was impressed with the little spy. From my perspective, I've been wondering how the heroes knew about the attack to begin with."

Inko gripped the front of her dirty, unwashed shirt. Her breath came out rapidly. She had to be strong, for her son's sake. She hadn't always been strong enough when she'd been younger. She'd cried all the time. It hadn't been good for Izuku to see his mother crying on a nearly daily basis. It had left him anxious and too self-reliant. Izuku had seen his father do some…things…to her that no child should ever see. Inko hoped Izuku didn't remember. He'd been barely older than a toddler back then. Surely he didn't remember those bad days. She was trying to be a better mother now. If only she could save her son from being used by this villain any longer, then she'd be at peace with dying.

All for One said, "Oh, stop hyperventilating. I'm not here to kill you. I wouldn't throw away a useful tool at the first defiance. That threat was spoken in anger. I was only planning to chop off your finger and send it to your son."

"Ack," Inko said. The cement walls swum around her.

All for One continued, "But then I heard about how your child used his quirk to pass along a message. I appreciate brains, even from a silly child who thinks he can trick me. Even more than that, I appreciate creative use of a quirk. When you first told me that your five-year-old was another wannabe hero brat, I had my doubts he would ever use my gift for anything except blasting enemies. It's a very interesting quirk, though I chose to discard it because of the side-effects. U.A. won't teach him anything except to fire his laser continuously until he can make even bigger explosions. But it appears little Izuku has already realized on his own the many creative ways that lasers can be used. That child would be wasted as another brainless hero. Alas, if I take even your smallest finger on your left hand, then your son will never serve me willingly."

"Ack," Inko said.

The door at the end of the hallway opened, and Tomura Shigaraki entered. As usual, he had hands all over his body. Inko shrank back against her cell wall.

"You called for me, Sensei?" Tomura asked. "I'm sorry for failing you. I'll kill All Might next time, I swear."

All for One said, "This concerns your favorable report about Izuku Midoriya. I agree that he has potential. However, he's not currently a trustworthy ally since we're holding his mother hostage."

"Oh, yeah." Tomura glanced at Inko as if her life mattered exactly as much as pixels in a video game.

All for One said, "I'm assigning you the task of converting Izuku Midoriya to your cause."

Tomura groaned. "Sensei, are you sending me on a level one quest because I failed against the final boss?"

"If it's so easy, then you should have no difficulty," All for One said. "A leader needs to have charisma and the ability to lead others. Consider this a test. Talk to the boy and decide if he's worth the effort of conversion."

"Raising my charisma stat, huh?" Tomura shrugged. "Look, even I know that's my dump stat, but I'll give it a shot." He turned his ferocious glare on Inko. "What does your brat like?"

Inko's survival instinct prevented her from giving the truest answer: All Might merchandise. "Katsudon?" she whispered weakly.

Tomura stuck out his hand to his teacher. "Give me some cash to buy dinner for a hero brat."

"Remember, never tip the delivery person because we're evil," All for One said, reaching for his wallet. "Many of my best recruits came from the food industry. You never know, your lack of consideration to service workers could become their villain origin story."

Izuku had been minding his own business walking home when a shadowy portal appeared in front of him. A hand with dried skin yanked him through.

This was it. Izuku's ruse had been caught. He was about to be murdered. As he landed on the wooden floor, he readied his laser to go down fighting.

Instead, Tomura gestured at a bar counter holding two steaming plates of pork cutlet. "Welcome to my safe zone. I brought you dinner as thanks for the assist."

Izuku barely stopped his laser from exploding from his stomach in time. He gaped. Tomura had hands on his head and back. Why was the villain wearing hands? Were those real hands? Was the katsudon real? Surely it couldn't be real. The pork cutlets looked damn real.

Tomura scowled. "Your mom said you liked katsudon. Was she screwing with me or what?"

"It's my favorite food." Izuku leapt to his feet. "Thank you," he said to the murderous madman in order to prevent him from threatening his mom.

As the two of them sat down, the shadow-faced man poured bourbon whiskey into Tomura's glass. Tomura sniffed it. "You got the good stuff, Kurogiri."

Kurogiri turned to Izuku. "What would you like?"

"Green tea, please," Izuku said. A nice smell rose off the egg on the pork cutlet. He'd barely eaten anything all day in his anxiety. Since these two had no reason to poison him, he took a bite. It tasted…normal.

Tomura said, "I'm here to tell you about why society and heroes suck."

This would not be fun, but it was way better than getting murdered. Izuku nodded, encouraging the villain to go on.

Kurogiri returned with a can of green tea. He pulled out a napkin and mopped a crumb off Tomura's face.

"Don't treat me like a kid in front of the company!" Tomura hissed. "Get lost!"

With no expression in his shadows, Kurogiri departed.

Tomura said, "Society is like one of those super-expensive games that gets extremely hyped up everywhere online but it turns out to be overrated and full of bugs. Then you learn that the gaming company paid for a bunch of fake reviews to increase their rating! Not only that, but the game is so buggy because they fired half their staff and forced their employees to work without sleep for a week before the deadline." His voice rose with indignation. "Naturally I had no choice but to decay the CEO. I'm taking about Golem Warriors II, by the way. Don't play it. It's awful."

Since Izuku's mother was being held hostage, he had to pretend to be persuaded by this largely nonsensical speech. It would be a real test of his acting ability. Izuku tried to keep his voice steady. "Trust me, I know that society sucks. I used to be quirkless before All for One helped me." Actually Izuku's gratitude for All for One was in the negatives. "My father abandoned me because I didn't have a quirk."

Tomura scratched his neck. "Is that so? My dad sucked too." He smiled. "We're bonding!"

"Yup. Bonding." Izuku tried to muster up a smile.

"Then don't you want to destroy everything you hate? Every living, breathing thing just rubs me the wrong way. This weight in my chest is driving me crazy. So why not destroy it all?" Tomura spread his arm wide, the intimidation of his maniac grin slightly ruined by the sauce smeared on his lip.

Izuku thought, At the moment, I hate you and your boss the most, and I'd kill you both if I had the opportunity. Somehow I don't think that's the response you're looking for. Also, you want to destroy society because you didn't like a video game? That might be the single stupidest villain motive I've ever heard in real life or fiction! On second thought, it's probably more about the daddy issues. That's still lame though. Playing with his chopsticks, Izuku said, "It sounds like you've suffered a lot too." He put the emphasis on the last word to remind Tomura of their common ground. "Was your father a hero? Is that why you hate heroes?"

Tomura scowled. "Ugh, no. My dad hated heroes. The only thing he was ever right about. Heroes act like they can save everyone even when they're helpless." His fingernails dug deeper into his neck, drawing blood. "Just like that trash All Might. He's everything wrong with the world."

With great effort, Izuku restrained his desire to object to the All Might slander. Izuku could tell he was treading on tender ground. He backed away from the family topic. Slowly, as if being persuaded, Izuku said, "Heroes haven't helped me lately. No one has noticed anything wrong with me." He faked a thoughtful look.

Tomura scowled. "Exactly! Those damn heroes only help people at their own convenience."

Do you think I'm going to blame the heroes for not reading my mind and saving Mom instead of you for kidnapping her? How stupid do you think I am? Izuku said, "That's true. I—wait, are you wearing an Eraserhead pin?"

Tomura froze. He shifted the pin on his shirt out of view. Two points of red formed on the villain's cheeks. Izuku felt faint. Was he about to be murdered for failing to keep his big mouth shut? Instead, Tomura mumbled, "Well, underground heroes aren't quite as bad as the rest. At least they don't trash talk with nothing to back it up. Eraserhead…is a little cool."

"Absolutely! You should meet him in person. He gives off stone cold cool vibes. Where did you get merchandise for him? I can never find merch for underground heroes."

"I had it custom-made." Tomura puffed out his chest. "Hey, want to see my latest product?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain with Mr. Aizawa wearing a black trench coat with a spiky black mask and a bloodred scarf. "Villain Eraserhead model! I stole the picture off his computer and then photoshopped on the villain costume."

Whoa, what a creepy invasion of privacy but also a cool keychain. Izuku's fingers itched to get his hands on the rare merch. "Awesome! Where did you order it?"

"Just some company online that makes keychains from photos."

"You should try some of the smaller sellers that handmake their products. You can even get figurines and cosplays."

"Figurines?" Tomura beamed, his first non-crazy grin.

Izuku pulled out his phone and opened up his list of saved online stories. "These are some of my favorite artists. They're pricey but worth it."

"The figurines have multiple costumes? Oh, very nice. Do they also do video game characters?"

"Of course."

Tomura slapped Izuku on the back. "Nice find for a noob! I owe you again!"

Izuku swallowed and ventured a risk. "Then do you think you could look after my mom? I'm worried about her."

Tomura shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I can make sure she gets a nicer room and food and stuff."

"Thank you," Izuku said, meaning it for the first time this dinner.

Tomura held out his phone. "Let's exchange numbers. Then I'll get Kuroguri to take you home."

"Uh, right." Izuku fumbled with his phone.

"No one finds out about the Eraserhead merch or you're dead, got it?" Tomura smiled, but Izuku did not think this was a joke. "Sensei must never know."

"Understood! I'll die before speaking a word!" Izuku squeaked.

Izuku had just bonded with a villain over hero merchandise. What madness had his life become?

In her cell, Inko had nothing to do but worry. She'd bitten her nails down the bleeding cuticles. That maniac with hands on his head had galivanted off with her baby! Who knew what small offense might provoke the cruel killer to murder?

At footsteps, her head shot up. Two sets of feet approached this time. All for One asked his successor, "Did the dinner go well?"

"Yeah, Sensei. I think that kid is worth making my player two." Tomura stopped in front of Inko's cell. "That means we need to get her a nicer room with a real toilet. I promised. Ugh, she smells."

All for One knelt down in front of Inko to meet her eyes. In a mocking voice, he said, "You get to keep your finger."

Inko broke down sobbing.

OMAKE TIME!

Omake: Katsuki as Hamlet

Katsuki: To be or not to be, that is the question—oh, screw it, I'm killing my stepfather.

Drama Teacher: That's not your line!

Katsuki: Hamlet is an indecisive fuckwit. Less monologuing, more explosions.

Drama Teacher: Why? Why did Aldera Middle School force me to let the kid with the strongest quirk play the lead? There was a boy with an eye-color-changing quirk who would have made a great Hamlet!

#

Omake: Speedrunning the Fic Part One

Izuku: It's not like I can just tell this janitor that I've been forced into spying for All for One.

Toshinori: You can totally tell me that! I would immediately come up with a plan to feed you harmless information while I find and rescue your mother.

Izuku: Oh…it's a shame I didn't do that.

Toshinori: Yeah, a bit of a missed opportunity.

#

Omake: Speedrunning the Fic Part Two

Toshinori: When I was a teenager, I used to be quirkless—

Izuku: Used to be? Did All for One trick you into owing him a favor too?

Toshinori: What?

Izuku: What?

#

Omake: How Tomura Became an Eraserhead Fan

Little Tomura: Kurogiri, why do you have an Eraserhead body pillow?

Kurogiri: I'll tell you when you're older.

Tomura: Can I have an Eraserhead doll?

Kurogiri: As long as you don't tell Sensei.

#

Omake: Tomura with Izuku

Tomura: We've bonded.

Izuku: Ha-ha, this guy is a lunatic.

#

Omake: The Izukus Club

Dad for One Izuku: My dad is the worst. He's overprotective, he wants hugs, and he locks me in a bank vault.

"Walk a Mile in Another's Shoes" Izuku: (Speaking between clenched teeth) Whoa, I can't imagine going through my fic on easy mode with an archnemesis who won't ever kill me. An All for One who lets you mouth off to him and thwart his plans with few to no consequences? That must be so difficult for you. Sorry, I can't hear your whining over the sound of my mother being tortured.

Author's Note: Happy Hannukah!

All for One won't be playing as nice with Inko or Izuku as in a non-Dad for One AU. The consequences for U.S.J. aren't over yet.

Aoyama got lucky as a forced spy. He went along with everything All for One ordered, but no one died because of the genre of his manga. If someone had died, the heroes might not have been so willing to take Aoyama back. I don't believe for one second that All for One would have bothered to rescue Aoyama from prison. Aoyama would have been left hung out to dry. Furthermore, Aoyama was ridiculously lucky that his parents got caught along with him so All for One couldn't kill them in revenge. Frankly it was a dumb shounen villain move for All for One to have no safeguards to keep his hostages separate and stop them from defecting.

I don't intend to let Izuku be so lucky. If Izuku doesn't defy All for One's orders, then people will die. If Izuku gets caught disobeying, then Inko will die. If Izuku had decided to prioritize saving his mother and mindlessly obeyed All for One, then All for One would have used him for everything he was worth and then discarded him. If Izuku got arrested, All for One would have killed Inko, not even out of any particular malice but just because there's no point in feeding someone useless and she's already in the right place to be turned into a Nomu.

At this point, Izuku has two paths if he wants to save his mother: 1. Find a way to rescue her from All for One; or 2. Rise in the ranks as a minion and become useful enough that All for One doesn't throw him away. All for One is fully aware that Izuku plans to try for number one, but has his own plans to lure Izuku over to number two.