Izuku finally is face to face with All For One. What is the supervillain's plot this time?
I have been so excited for this chapter its been done for multiple days, but I waited till now to post it so as to have some backlog. Still, I hope you all enjoy!
Izuku came to blearily, his head aching and his entire body feeling like he'd been shoved through a meat grinder and then set on fire, with how his body burned. He blinked rapidly, trying to see only to realize that everything around him was dark. He went to flick his vision to the energy sense, only to feel a sudden searing pain in his arms and wrists, his eyes watering from the shock as he failed to activate it.
It was at this time he realized he was seated in some uncomfortable chair, his arms bound behind his back with what felt like cuffs of some kind. He could feel some type of wire/cable/tube wrapped around his chest and his arms, and something metallic was around his throat, holding him upright in the chair and preventing him from looking down.
A 'click' in front of him drew his attention to a bright light that nearly blinded him, making him wince as he narrowed his eyes to try and see through the glare. After a moment, he could finally take note and realize he was staring at a monitor, situated on a desk in front of him. The residual light spilling from it revealed he was in what appeared to be a large, empty building of some kind…a warehouse, maybe? Hard to tell. He tried to shake his head, but the restraint around his neck kept him stuck staring forward, and the buzzing in his arms and chest was getting worse by the second, making it hard to concentrate.
"Good evening, Izuku Midoriya," a smooth, soft voice came from the monitor before Izuku, the white screen flickering for a moment before revealing a man…or at least, what he assumed was a man, as all he could really see was a large, black metal helmet and broad shoulders, the rest of the person hidden from the camera. Izuku blinked, confused for a moment, but the sudden pang in the back of his mind made him catch on.
"All For One," he whispered, narrowing his eyes at the figure.
The man before him chuckled. "How very astute of you. Yes, I am All For One. I'm terribly sorry for the poor accommodations, but since I need something from you, it felt prudent to be as prepared as possible."
"If you think for a second I'm giving you One For All, you're delusional!" Izuku snarled, jerking forward as much as possible as he glared at the figure in the monitor.
"My dear boy-"
"Don't call me that!"
"My dear boy-" All For One began again, a gleeful tone entering his voice at Izuku's defiance. Izuku didn't bother replying this time, trying instead to save his energy…which was acting oddly. He realized belatedly that he couldn't quite grasp onto it, it felt slippery, falling through his fingers like rain dripping off his form. He couldn't hear the vestiges in his mind, just a vague sense of anger and worry, but it was distant, muted…and Danger Sense wasn't activating. His attention was ripped away from his internal verification by All For One's deep chuckle once more. "Oh, I see you noticed, haven't you?"
"What the hell did you do to me? And where's Kota!? He was with me when we got taken!" Izuku replied hotly.
"The boy with that lovely water Quirk? Oh, he's fine. For now. He's with the rest of your classmates…in fact, would you like to see them?" All For One didn't wait, his hand reaching out and tapping on something out of Izuku's view. The monitor shifted, no longer showing the villain's face, and instead became a series of security cameras looking into a dozen various rooms, all sealed metal. Within each one, one of his classmates was seated, trapped in a chair not unlike him…some unconscious, some awake enough to be barely moving, a few jerking at the restraints and looking like they were trying to escape as he had done before. It flickered again, showing another nine cells, eight containing his class (and he was enraged at the sight of Ochako, half conscious, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth), and one containing Kota. The young boy wasn't tied up like the others, but he was cowering in the corner, clearly crying even if no audio was available. A split second later, the screen flipped back to All For One's mask, the grin evident in his tone even if it wasn't visible.
"See? All accounted for and safe."
"Safe? What do you want with them?! This is between you and me, leave them out of it!" Izuku shot back, finding his breath cut off as a sudden surge of pain went through his body. It felt like his chest was becoming fit to burst, breathing getting harder and harder as he realized he was sweating, feeling unusually hot.
"Now now young man, no need to get so worked up. In fact, for your own sake, you likely wish to avoid that. No no, it's quite simple really…Quirk suppressor technology isn't very advanced, but the good Doctor is quite capable of disabling them temporarily. Which is why you can't call upon my brother's Quirk right now, nor your own. And all your friends save the boy are in the same place. But that's not the reason we're here, you see."
Izuku gulped, feeling the sweat beading on his forehead. He wanted to wipe it out of his eyes as it began to trickle down, but still unable to move his arms he settled for glaring with narrowed eyes. "Will you get to the point already? I see why Nine works for you, you both love to hear yourselves talk."
All For One waved dismissively at Izuku. "Oh dear me, I see the younger generation has no respect for the classics. Witty repartee is part of the whole hero and villain discussion, you know."
"My brother is a walking bomb with the temperment to match, I'm not into the evil monologue, so spit it out already!"
"Very well, I'll make this easy for you, Izuku Midoriya. Its quite simple, really. Your friends are not far from here, at all. The rooms they are locked in are entirely within the lethal radius of your Quirk when it overcharges."
Izuku's eyes went wide, his breath coming out in short pants as the memories flooded unwillingly into his mind…and suddenly recognizing the growing pain in his chest, causing his heart to beat faster and faster, anxiety and fear creeping into his veins as All For One paused, one hand up on his chin gently stroking it.
"Of course, such an event would be even more catastrophic than the one in your childhood, wouldn't it? Between the training you've offered your Quirk, and the empowerment from One For All, why…it would be like a bomb going off in the middle of downtown. Many civilians nearby, along with your classmates and that young boy. But…some of those classmates are your partners, are they not? Wouldn't that be fun, Izuku, if your Quirk were to…be charged?"
"...what the fuck do you want from me?" Izuku asked, his voice nearly a whisper as he felt himself sag in his restraints, the words All For One was painting in his mind flooding it with imagery of the very thing the villain was saying.
"You already know. I want my brother's Quirk back. My Quirk back. But don't worry, I don't expect you to give it to me yet. You see, it takes an ironclad will to take it, one that can override all of the vestiges, as well as the wielder…but I imagine that after you have murdered the people you love, for the second time, as well as who knows how many innocent civilians…why, I believe you'll be ripe for such a transaction."
"T-the heroes-" Izuku began, his words stumbling out of his mouth as he felt another surge of pain run through him.
"-will do nothing. Nine and his crew are already prepared to wreak havoc upon the city as soon as you hit your limit…and then I will unleash the hundreds of Nomu we've been storing up for this time. They will be too preoccupied with the monsters in the streets to pay attention to the monster that had been lurking in their midst this entire time," All For One gleefully explained, one hand gesturing vaguely in the direction of behind him where glowing tanks were barely visible to Izuku.
Izuku panted, finding it harder and harder to breathe as the pressure in his chest started to grow, feeling the power surging through him somehow. He still wasn't certain how these damned cables were forcing energy into him, and he fought back against them, struggling both internally and externally to try and find some give, some leeway, some way to halt the absorption, but was finding it increasingly difficult to focus enough to even keep his glare on the villain before him.
All For One chuckled once more, Izuku becoming real sick of the sound of his voice already. "No reason to struggle so. Why waste your last moments in futile defiance? Don't worry, I'm not cruel…once I've taken back my brother's Quirk, I'll give you release from this life. Wouldn't want you to have to continue to live after all the atrocities you've committed. Because let's be honest with ourselves…you and I both know you are and always have been…a murderer who slew his own parents."
All For One leaned forward, until his massive black helmet filled the entirety of the monitor, his voice soft and laced with gleeful menace as he spoke once more.
"Isn't that right, Izuku Midoriya?"
Himiko was getting real sick of these restraints. She'd never been a fan of feeling trapped, and this was taking every one of her phobias and ramping them up to eleven. Not only was she tied down, not only could she not access her Quirk, but there was no actual fucking door! Clearly the portal villain had been the way she got in here, but that wasn't her first concern. No, her first concern was finding where everyone else was.
She'd been one of the last to fall, her agility allowing her to leap out of the initial cloud just in time to see Ochako falling, followed by most of her classmates. Tsuyu had managed to dodge it as well, but the Nomu had surged forward and Himiko had to watch, horrified, as her girlfriend was knocked unconscious by a powerful blow to the head, sending the smaller girl to the floor, blood slowly oozing from her as the dark cloud of the portal villain swallowed her up.
That brief moment of hesitation had been what caught Himiko, cursing, as she was clipped by another Nomu and then body slammed into the ground by a second one, losing all of the air in her body before she was knocked unconscious, coming to consciousness in this room. And now she was trapped, with no idea how everyone else was doing. She struggled again against the chains wrapped around her, but to no avail. She was strong, but not breaking metal strong, and without her Quirk she couldn't shift into someone to try and break them that way.
And more importantly, why couldn't she use her Quirk!? She wasn't an idiot…she knew All For One was responsible for the kidnapping, since that warp villain (Kurogiri if she recalled correctly), was involved. But it didn't feel gone, it just felt…muted. Dampened. Like it was just out of her reach. She could still feel the blood reserves within her, the sensation of the people she loved carefully laid within her soul, but she just could not call to them.
She shook her head to clear it. This wasn't important. Her Quirk couldn't help her right now, she needed to focus on what she could do. Which meant figuring out what she was actually trapped by. Her neck was restrained by a collar (which was a whole other thing right now that she was not in the mood to address), which made it difficult to get a view on the chains around her, so instead she relied on feel.
She closed her eyes and focused, breathing deep and slow, letting her fingers dance along the chain links and the cables they could reach, touch by touch, memorizing what she could. No padlock she could try to pick (not that she had anything to pick it with). No latch or weakness she could feel. Unless they were somewhere out of reach, but that didn't help her. Moving her feet as little as she could, she tapped along the chair legs and the chains holding her to the chair, still finding no indicator of a way to free herself.
She was getting frustrated beyond belief. There had to be something! She needed to find the others, now. Even as she thought that, it hit her how forceful that thought was. It was…like it was her thought but amplified. Like she was thinking it, but someone else was thinking it too, and it was being magnified.
She blinked, trying to focus on that idea, that concept. She'd felt Izu's Danger Sense earlier…could this be related? Maybe it was Danger Sense when it was passive? No; something in her told her it wasn't Danger Sense. It couldn't be, Quirks were disabled. So what…what was going on?
She needed to figure this out, and fast. Something told her she didn't have a lot of time before…something happened. Himiko took a deep, bracing breath…and started trying to work her way out once more. She wasn't about to give up, not now, not ever.
Izuku took a moment to catch his breath, ignoring the burning in his veins as the energy was forcibly shoved into him. He lifted his head enough to glare at the metallic helmet that obscured All For One's face, his voice calm and almost casual as he spoke. "You know, if you'd said that to me even a week ago, I might have agreed with you. Go back a couple years and I'd entirely agree with you. But you messed up. You took too long. You failed. Because the people I love, the people who love me, they made me realize who I am. Made me confront myself, and my past, and everything I ever did, and taught me to treasure not only my bonds with them, but the life I've built so far."
He took another deep breath, the pressure in his chest growing with every second, but refusing to give in he held it back, straining against the pain. "So instead of listening to you babble on with your demon lord bullshit, instead of listening to you tell me who I am, let me tell you who I am."
Izuku's hands shook for a moment, flickers of green sparking at his fingertips against the suppression cuffs wrapped about his wrists. "I am the child of two wonderful parents, who cared for me as long as they could before they were taken from this world." Unbidden, the image of his mother, her soft smile and sparkling green eyes gazing upon him warmly, the image of his father beside her, messy black hair and omnipresent smell of smoke and warmth wrapped in his memories.
He focused on the energy in his veins, forcing it back inside, forcing it to fall under his control. "I am the adopted son of two people who took me in when I had nothing, who saved me from growing cold and lonely." Auntie Mitsuki, a fond smirk on her face as she gently scolded him for arguing with Katsuki…Uncle Masaru, exasperated and yet kind, always there for him.
The energy began to scream, to rage, to roar beneath his skin as he kept his eyes locked on the false demon lord in front of him. "I am the brother of a man who I know will go on to become one of the greatest heroes of our time." Katsuki, always encouraging, always uplifting, driving forward with no brakes, no time to quit, never willing to surrender an inch when confronted with a roadblock.
His skin was burning, blazing, and yet he felt nothing but contempt in his heart for the thing in front of him, nothing but love and kindness for the people in his memories flowing through his mind. "I am a hero student at UA University." Memories of his teachers…Aizawa, Midnight, Mic, Nezu, etc, all there standing before him, giving him guidance in his quest to become a hero. Memories of his classmates, his friends, the games they played, the talks they had, the words and hopes and dreams they shared
It was no longer pain, the energy screaming inside beyond that, beyond words, and yet he would not yield. "I am the beloved of so many people," memories of Ochako, her soft smile and steely spine, of Himiko, her frenetic energy and passion to protect, of Shoto, his sweetness and soft naivety, of Momo, her intelligence and desire to help, of Mina, her effusiveness and joy in life, of Tsuyu, her honesty and emotional understanding, of Toru, her cheer and hope, and of Kyoka, her gentle snark and talent.
The energy began to consume him, the green escaping from beneath his skin, flickers of lightning, of flame, of power beginning to fall from him to disappear into the aether. "I am the ninth successor of One For All!" he snarled, the images of the vestiges flashing in his mind, their voices muffled by the suppressors and yet he still could feel their belief and faith in him. The image of All Might, of Toshinori, his mentor, his hero, another father to him, the man who trusted him with his legacy.
The green had suffused his body, suffused the very air around him, and with it, the chains holding him down melted from the sheer, unrelenting heat escaping from him. The suppressors snapped, his power flooding into his veins further as he managed to unsteadily climb to his feet, his eyes no longer glowing but now aflame with power, with energy, with his feelings and fears. All For One, the demon lord wannabe, the monster who kidnapped his friends and harmed his mentor, seemed to be a little concerned by his actions, visibly taken aback through the monitor he was speaking to Izuku from. "I am Izuku Midoriya," his voice was a whisper, echoing above the crackling lightning and slowly screaming energy.
As he focused within, remembering the words he'd told Shoto, the power that was his and no one else's, the Quirk he'd always feared and never truly accepted, he finally had to take hold of, to wrap himself around, to allow it into himself body and soul. "I am Tempest."
The energy rushing through him, begging for release, the power, the pain, all of it, every last bit of it, he would grasp in his hands and bend to his will, take inside, take a hold, and become more, become who he always knew he wanted to be.
"...and I…I…" Izuku took a halting step forward, watching All For One lean back from the monitor further. "I am…" another step, another retreat, the power now swirling about him in a massive, glowing green orb, bubbling and churning, the building he was trapped in beginning to warp and bend as the heat melted the metal around. He took one final, deep breath, calling upon every once of his will, of his power, of his drive and desperate need to save, and finally, finally, chose to accept who he truly was…As the green orb erupted, energy swelling and soaring into a tsunami of power as it screamed out of him, one sound, one roar, echoed through the night sky.
"A HERO!"
Himiko was exhausted. She'd spent all this time trying to escape, to break free or just slip free, and all she had to show for it were red, painful lines and bruises where the chains were wrapped about her. She coughed painfully, having gotten so anxious to get out she'd pressed too hard against the collar and nearly choked herself, her breathing now more raggedy and pained. She slumped in her chair, tired and drained, on the verge of tears from how frustrated she was by how helpless she felt. All she knew was the people she cared for were in danger and she couldn't reach them!
She felt something dripping off her face, belatedly realizing she was sweating. Which she would expect, but…she was sweating a lot. She realized then that the room she was in was getting hotter? A lot hotter. And she heard something…faint, but growing louder, a rumbling noise coming from in front of her? Getting louder and louder and louder, escaping from a quiet rumble to a snarl, to a growl, to a rumbling roar!
She winced, her sensitive hearing pained by the noise as it continued to grow in size and strength, as the room grew more and more heated. Sweat was pouring off her at this point, her bangs falling in her face, drenched. Her clothes were sticking to her uncomfortably, making her even more pained as she felt them pressing up against the bruises. Her breath was coming in short, pained pants, and she wanted desperately to cover her ears as the noise continued to rise and rise and rise!
That's when she glimpsed it…the metal in front of her, buckling and beginning to melt, the intense heat carving its way through the wall before her, the chains about her body beginning to twist and malform just as the walls were. Idly, she noted that if the metal was melting, she should long be dead, but somehow she wasn't?...maybe not for long, as the metal finally faltered and fell, revealing what was making the noise.
A wave of roiling, boiling, electrified green energy careening towards her, filling her vision and everything around her, a colossal wall of nothing but destruction headed directly towards her. With wide eyes, she knew what she was looking upon…Izuku's power, in its out of control state, the same one that killed his parents was now rocketing directly towards her and she had no way to escape.
She felt…she wasn't sure how she felt about it. She didn't want to die, not now. But that part of her was far quieter than the part that worried for the others…and for Izuku. Silently, unable to muster the breath to speak aloud, she prayed the others were safe somewhere else, and that Izuku could find forgiveness in his heart for himself, even as the green was a second away from reaching her. The light forced her eyes closed, unable to bear the brightness, and she braced, hoping that it'd be quick…and then it was upon her.
Pain, pain and agony, burning and freezing and electrifying, every nerve in her body alight at once as she was swallowed by the massive green wave of pure energy. Mercifully, it was fading nearly as soon as it touched her, her mind losing its grasp on consciousness as she found everything going black around her, falling, falling into the void…with one silent wish, a wish for the others to be okay…then she fell into darkness.
…and woke up underwater.