The Four Sons
Chapter 7
-Shoto-
Silently, Shoto followed behind his sister as she exited the train at the station closest to UA, his twin spotting some of his classmates and waving eagerly their way. The three top scorers of the Quirk Assessment test, one of whom had earned the animosity of All Might himself.
Letting his sister run off ahead, Shoto let his mind wander as he thought back to what he'd eavesdropped on the day before. The secrets of his father's motivation, of why Endeavor hated All Might, of the Commission supposedly threatening to murder the three of them. And then there was the proof he had shown Fuyumi of the brutality of their grandparents.
-Flashback-
"H-how brutal was it?" Fuyumi paled nervously at the statement that what Endeavor had gone through was anywhere remotely worse than what Shoto had had to suffer. Their father seemed to study Fuyumi silently, seemingly confused on why she was asking before he sighed, relenting. From his hidden spot he was able to glance inside as their father took off his jacket, turning around and lifting up his shirt as he had to work on holding in his bile.
His own scar was a horrible reminder, a scar blatantly obvious for everyone to see. But he could still see out of that eye. The scar wasn't debilitating.
On their father's back, under what was easily hidden by a shirt, he could see a myriad of scars. The most prominent one was a handprint burnt into their father's back, the skin charred black and dead.
"…My parents believed pain was the best teacher for strength, discipline, and respect…" their father's voice was soft, distant, and cold as Shoto realized it was almost exactly like what he himself sounded like whenever anyone asked about his home life "I had tried to intervene when they were pushing your aunt further than she could handle. This was my punishment."
"I have an aunt?" Fuyumi was surprised as was Shoto, having never heard of either of his parents having siblings.
"You had an Aunt." Their father's voice went from cold and distant to a burning growl of fury as he tugged his shirt back down, hiding the scars that Shoto now realized seemed deliberately placed where they wouldn't be easily noticed "When I was at UA, I wasn't around to help her as much. When I was gone on a training trip with the School, they pushed her beyond what she could handle. The tossed her ashes in a ditch for being 'weak'." As much as he might not get along with his father, and Natsuo even more so, they could always tell when he wasn't being honest. His brother's eyes showed he could tell that Endeavor hadn't told a single lie while talking to Fuyumi either.
"Her name was Fuyumi." Their father's voice became sad and somber again as he looked out the window, seemingly lost in memories "She…she wanted to be an artist. To use her fire quirk to be a glass blower. Our parents didn't care."
"What happened to them?" Fuyumi's voice was soft and horrified upon learning both the existence and fate of her namesake in such quick succession.
"I found a Hero, Crimson Riot, and told him what they had done. He arrested them and since they used their quirks to hurt people they were tried as villains." Endeavor answered, "As far as I know they're still rotting in Tartarus."
-End Flashback-
Seeing Fuyumi split off from her friends to head down to the General Studies wing, Shoto shook off the memories and studied the trio ahead of him as subtly as he could. He had several questions and wondered if they might have any answers. The only other one he might have would require him to have to face his mother once again. And he wasn't sure if he was ready for that. He wasn't sure if he'd ever be ready.
Taking his seat in class, he decided to instead focus on something else. His father's opinion on the current field of Heroics, of why he pushed Shoto so hard.
With Pros running around with names like 'Captain Celebrity', or his classmates such as Mineta who openly admitted they only tried for the Hero track to 'score' with girls, he couldn't really argue with his father's statement. In point of fact, the more he thought of it, the more heroes he could think of who just coasted. Who were out for popularity and didn't seem concerned about trying to improve. 'Because All Might will pick up the slack'.
He wasn't sure what he thought of his father, how to handle all these revelations.
But he could completely agree with his opinions on that area.
Pulling out a notebook, Shoto hesitated for only a moment before writing a title on the cover 'Path of the Mighty'. While he waited for Homeroom to begin, he began writing out every idea he could think of on how to train, on how to improve.
With ever idea he thought of how to train his body or his ice though, a little voice in his head pointed out that he was just as bad as those others if he wasn't going to use his fire. To use everything at his disposal.
He would have to use his fire if he planned to actually embrace or adapt the 'Path of the Mighty', and he couldn't do that till he faced his mother.
-Izuku-
Taking a deep breath, Izuku started changing into his Hero costume along with the other guys in their class. All Might had burst through the door with the bravado the number one was famous for, but the wide smile didn't reach the man's eyes. Those were cold and locked dead on Izuku. Something many in the class had picked up on as All Might had announced today would involve battle training, giving them their costume cases, and stated where to meet before leaving.
"You alright man?" Denki asked softly as Izuku slipped on his costume's gauntlets.
"No." Izuku gave a weak laugh as he tightened the straps, "I told my parents about the situation last night. I had to keep dad from heading to Might Tower spitting flames. Mom didn't seem far off from joining them."
"My folks were just as mad." Denki nodded, "And I know Raka had to keep her folks from trying to start something. At least Aizawa's in your corner, yeah?"
"Yeah." Izuku gave a grateful nod to Denki as they put on their remaining pieces of gear.
"Now come on, let's go kick ass and take names." Denki held up a fist as Izuku grinned, meeting it with his own. Side by side, they walked out of the changing room and towards the training room observatory.
Denki's hero costume was mostly black with bright yellow accents and additions that accented the outfit like circuitry. The entire thing was highly conductive given the amount of wires and metals woven into the fabric. It also had places all over to slot in various pieces of support equipment that Denki could power with his quirk.
Izuku's was a more 'generalized' hero outfit given what his quirk was capable of at full. He had a pair of armored pants and metal plated boots, an armor cloth shirt with a padded vest over the top. The whole thing was full of pockets so he could store various pieces of needed equipment or supplies. At the moment they were full of various types of seeds for him to use with his main quirk.
Reaching Ururaka, he noted that she was going for a more space themed outfit given her love of the Space Hero: Thirteen. It was full of pouches for her to hold 'ammo' that she could remove the gravity of and control, along with gauntlets possession cables for her to swing around once her own gravity was removed. He was positive Denki was only noticing how form fitting it was on her though.
Falling into step with his two best friends in the world, he walked into the observation room, the rest of their class not far behind. Up ahead he could see All Might's towering silhouette, blue eyes shining out of the darkness and boiling with fury, making Izuku think more of a 'Demon Lord' than a Hero.
-All For One-
Steepling his fingers, All For One worked to subdue his impatience "Is it ready?" he demanded from Garaki, the Doctor one of the few he would trust in this sanctum alone with his diminished form.
"Just finishing up some last checks sir." The Doctor answered hastily "Mechanics aren't exactly my field so I'm having to compare the notes from your chief mechanic."
"Very well." He huffed, surprising himself at how eager he was for this little 'experiment'. A thought he'd had after listening to little Izuku brainstorming quirks, a remotely pilotable robot that he could control through one of his various technopathy quirks. It was needed given the meeting he was arranging.
"There, it should be functional sir. At the very least I'm positive it will not harm you." Garaki finally voiced as All For One searched out for the machine with his mind, entering it as the systems powered up. It felt odd being inside this cold steel shell, but he could move again like this. He could see like this. He had no access to any other quirks but the one that allowed him to pilot this mech for the present moment, but it was still a glorious taste of Freedom that he had missed.
"Kurogiri." All For One called out, pleased that the robot's vocal processor was tuned perfectly to his own voice, "Open the Portal and stand ready."
"Of course, Master." The fog like Nomu nodded deferentially, opening the billowing warp Gate as All For One's current Mechanical shell stepped through.
He'd barely taken a step through the gate when a chipped and rusted Katana was held to the cables at the machine's 'throat', "Who are you?" the Hero Killer, Stain, glared at him, seeming surprised for the briefest of moments at seeing a machine before brushing it aside.
"Someone who is quite the fan of your work." All For One admitted honestly, "Someone who has intel you might find quite interesting."
"…I'm listening." Stain narrowed his eyes but adjusted the grip on his sword, likely realizing that destroying an iron shell would do nothing in the long run.
"What are your thoughts on Endeavor?" All For One asked, Stain blinking in surprise before scowling.
"That False Hero?" Stain's voice was filled with cold derision.
"Oh, and what makes him False?" All For One was curious as to what made that distinction in the Hero Killer's mind. He knew the man went after those he deemed unworthy of the title of Hero but hadn't seen a clear pattern.
"His wrath burns deep inside him." Stain snarled, "His eyes don't shine with hope, he does not smile to calm the masses, he burns with fury and greed. He is far from All Might!" Silently thanking the mechanical form's programming keeping him from twitching in disgusted hatred at the latest user of his brother's blasted quirk, All For One leaned forward.
"And what if I told you that much of his rage was caused by the Hero Commission and their threats to keep him in line?" He observed Stain who seemed surprised for only a moment before their expression became disgusted.
"Threats to his precious 'position' as the Number Two Hero?" Stain snarled in disgust, his anger towards Endeavor seeming to grow.
"Threats to murder his children." All For One corrected as Stain seemed to become as still as a corpse.
"…Go on." Stain's expression went from wild and manic to cold and calculating in an instant.
"I have my own resource and found out that Endeavor noticed a pattern." All For One was curious how Stain would react to this, "No man is perfect. I would even say being imperfect allows one to keep striding to improve, wouldn't you?"
"I would." Stain admitted, "What does this have to do with any threats against Endeavor's children?"
"Endeavor noted that much of All Might's record was faked." All For One kept the glee from his voice at spreading that juicy little tidbit "Oh, don't get me wrong, his strength is certainly real, and he has saved many lives. But to have never failed? That was a lie crafted by the commission who covered up the villains All Might killed accidentally as well as the victims he was unable to save. Kept All Might in the top spot artificially to help 'preserve the status quo'. Endeavor confronted them and they threatened to murder his children if he continued to look into that or go public. It would seem that his burning rage and drive are because he's terrified of how the slew of fake heroes will collapse under the strain the instant All Might is gone from Heroics."
"He seeks to end the False Heroes as well?!" Stain's eyes burned with curious hope.
"He seeks to train his son to be better and hopefully inspire others to not simply coast on All Might's 'peace'." All For One corrected as he handed over a flash drive with the documents he'd poached from Endeavor's systems. He'd have been tempted to set this swine after All Might but clearly the serial killer was as much a Fanboy as that fool Sir Nighteye.
"…I'll look into this." Stain promised nothing more as he took the flash drive.
"That's all I ask." All For One smirked, or would have had he had lips, as he stepped back through the once again open portal. Now to see about doing something nice for Aizawa and Nezu, given their opposition to All Might's mistreatment of little Izuku.
