In the stormy night sky above Nevada, two figures stared each other down.
On one side was All for One, the Demon Lord of Japan, Quirk Thief, and now Controller over most of the Alien Systems.
On the other stood Star and Stripe, the Number One Hero of America (and the world, depending on who you asked), wielder of the reality-bending New Order, and flanked by a half dozen top of the line experimental jets.
'Alright. I can make this work.' All for One thought as the wound from his own rebounded lightning bolt finally healed. This wasn't a totally unmanageable scenario.
Sure, he had planned to confront Star and Stripe and steal her Quirk after returning One for All to himself. And yes, he had planned to do so from within the improved body of Tomura Shigaraki. But he always knew that such an ideal scenario was unlikely to happen, so he had prepared himself.
Besides, his body was fully recovered, and he had his own fancy flyer now. Not to mention that if his other half could take back One for All and assimilate with him, he'll have more than enough power.
He could do this. He just had to do it before All Might arrived.
'Let's see. What do I know about New Order?' All for One thought quickly, making use of his Quirk-powered eidetic memory. The U.S. could try all they like to keep her Quirk confidential, but with his connections even their systems let info slip. 'Quirk: New Order. It lets the user add a rule to things. To create a Rule, she must fulfill a certain condition, likely some form of physical contact, otherwise she'd have killed me already. There is almost certainly a limit to the number and strength of these Rules, but the limit of both is annoyingly a mystery.'
All for One called the Flyer to him. He needed its speed to move himself into a favorable position. Both of their Quirks operated by contact through the hands, and both were deadly enough that a single touch could mean defeat.
He landed on the top of the smaller saucer, and commanded it to fly backwards, putting distance between him and the approaching Star. His first objective was to take out those pesky tag-alongs of hers. She was reliant on them for her maneuverability. Taking them out would slow her, or at the very least force her to use one of her limited Rule's on substituting them.
His sensory Quirks went off and he focused back on Star, only to see her say something and bring an arm back, hand clawed as if she was about to grab something. All for One didn't notice anything at first, but the shift by the storm behind her clued him in.
'Current Observations.' He activated the oft-used Quirk, allowing him to view water and wind currents more easily, and that's when he saw it.
The wind had seemed to solidify into the shape of the Hero in front of him but scaled up to gigantic proportions. A hundred times? A thousand? Whatever it's size, it mimed Star's action, and he could see the phantom hand shoot forward towards him.
No, not at him. At the Flyer. The solidified atmosphere gripped his transport, and Star raised her hand up in the air, taking him and his ride high up. He commanded the Flyer to pull and shoot itself out of the giant's grip, but it appeared its strength wasn't enough. Star's arm reached its apex, and All for One launched himself off his ride in a panic.
It was fortunate he did so, as a second later the Flyer was spiked into the earth at blinding speed.
"Status report!" All for One commanded to the Flyer as he stared down at the plume of dust. Using one of his vision Quirks, he could see it wedged into the ground like a coin edge side up.
[Unit functionality still at operational levels. Error! Currently trapped within the ground. Require assistance from other units!]
"Seriously?!" All for One growled out as he saw Star's squad approaching him. It appears they had the same idea about removing mobility. He tried to call up the Quirks for a lightning spear, only to notice Star's hands coming together in a clap and remember the invisible giant. "Shit."
With no time to dodge, he called upon as many physically defensive Quirks as he could. But calling upon each Quirk took up a moment, and he found himself squished on both sides in an invisible sandwich.
As Super-Regeneration automatically activated, he began calling upon his Strength Augmentation Quirks to push himself out. But as he pushed against the titanic hands, a half-dozen lasers shot toward him.
'Damn! I need heat resistance!' He quickly switched focus to Heat Resistance and Barrier Quirks, losing his strength as his attention changed mid-use. As the lasers hit him, he prepared to reflect and fire them back with Barrier + Scatter, yet just before he activated the combo, he found himself being dragged away from his current position….
Towards his own storm.
'Oh, this is getting old!' All for One found himself preparing Wind and Lightning Resistance Quirks now. He could command Nine to cancel the storm instead, but that would obviously result in its own set of problems. As another set of defensive Quirks were activated, he felt a headache coming on.
All this Quirk use was starting to tire him. Had Star figured out his weakness, or was she merely getting lucky? While All for One theoretically allowed him to use any of his stockpiled Quirks as he pleased, there was always a limit to how he could use them.
All for One was like a library, and each taken Quirk its own book within. Whenever he used a particular Quirk, he had to find and 'read' it within this hypothetical library. Not all his Quirks were always active, after all. But the time it took for each Quirk to be read also depended on the amount that its factor changed. Emitters were usually the quickest, followed closely by Transformation, and then Mutant in dead last.
It frustrated him to no end. Mutant Quirks, in his opinion, were far more useful on average. They often could do things that would require multiple other Emitter or Transformation Quirks in a single Quirk. Not only that, but he could also turn them off and on as he wished like a transformation Quirk, meaning he didn't have to worry about his appearance permanently altering once he took one. So why didn't he use them more often?
That was because of his second weakness.
He could only use so many Quirks in his stockpile at once before they began to get deactivated. If he were to keep up the metaphor of a library, then he needed to keep the books on hand to read them quickly. But he only had so many 'hands', and if he tried to keep too many Quirks at once active than it was only a matter of time before his mental grip slipped and they 'returned to the shelves', so to speak.
That was why he was never able to accomplish the feats that some of the Doctors High-End Nomu's accomplished. His self-proclaimed Anti-Symbol of Peace could only function by fusing together so many Quirks at once that it would make even him brain damaged always keeping them all up. But such mental faculties weren't important for mindless corpses such as them.
And it was also why Mutant Quirks were a pain to use. He only had so much 'reading space', and Mutant Quirks due to their nature of permanently altering the body, had long 'books'. On top of that, due to their deep-seated alteration of the body, any other Quirks used on top of them also have to 'read' that book in order to properly manifest.
All for One was thrown out of his introspection as he felt himself get dragged out of the storm by the invisible grip. The giant arm swung low, scraping him along the ground before holding him up and subjecting him to lasers from Rogue Squadron again.
He activated the previous set of Quirks for laser defense but knew this was only a stop gap. The longer this fight dragged on, the closer it got to All Might arriving. Due to his Super-Regeneration, Star may be doing little more than annoying him currently, but between both her and All Might, he would find himself unable to counter their combined assault.
'Damn it all!' This was why he needed Tomura's body! His body would have been perfectly modified to exceed his current limit by the Doctor. To go Plus Ultra, as that blonde oaf loved to shout so often. All his weaknesses were coming to the forefront, and it infuriated him to no end!
If only he could have some way to fuse his Quirks together into a single Quirk that he could call upon to fit his every need!
'Wait a minute,' All for One reached an epiphany in the middle of his current entrapment, and red double-helix's ran across his body. 'I can do that myself. I don't need the Doctor here to modify my body anymore. And Quirks have genetic components, meaning…'
Reaching out experimentally, he focused on his three copies of Strength Enhancement that were currently active. They weren't literal copies like the ones that the Doctor made. He found that completely identical Quirks had steep diminishing returns within All for One. The Doctor theorized that his Quirk treated them more like appendices to the book that was the Original Quirk.
These strength boosting Quirks had instead all been obtained by a family who by good fortune passed down a generic strength booster of increasing power with each generation. All for One had tracked them down after their youngest had made it as a Hero, believing he might be the Fifth User of One for All. It turned out to be an incorrect suspicion, but he made sure to off-set the disappointment by climbing up the Heroes family tree and taking such useful Quirks.
As he continued to focus on the family of Quirks, he turned Genetic Manipulation towards them. The Quirk gave him a greater understanding of the physical portion of the Quirks, and he quickly began to tie the three together. It was an easy first experiment, as they were all so similar to each other, allowing him an easy understanding of how to combine them.
He could feel his hold on two Quirks disappear from his grip, yet his strength remained the same. As he deactivated Genetic Manipulation, he tested his newly boosted Strength Enhancement. His resistance against Star remained the same, yet he now could call upon two more Quirks with ease.
'Experiment successful!'
Was this how the Doctor felt whenever his own projects succeeded? It was exhilarating! But it wasn't enough. He needed even more. More Quirks. More power. But for that, he needed focus.
"Flyer!" He shouted out to the still-trapped UFO, activating Controller. "Focus attacks on Star. Keep her from attacking no matter what."
[Such an order is predicted to result in the loss or severe damaging of this vessel. Continue with directive?]
"Yes."
[Affirmative.]
The ground that the Flyer had been wedged in exploded as it literally blasted itself out, speeding straight towards Rogue 2's jet and the Hero on top of it. It slammed into the unprepared aircraft in its starboard wing, which pitched it to the side and threw Star from the top.
"Damn!" Star cried out as she tumbled through the air. All for One felt her grip on him disappear as the UFO turned to continue the pressure on her.
"Everyone cover Star!" The radio chatter turned into a scrambled mess as Rogue Squadron all turned their focus on protecting their leader.
That left him all the time he needed to begin his work. He used his Quirks to form the strongest barrier he could around himself, forming a cocoon of sorts. An apt description, as through this evolution he will now become an incredible being compared to the form he had before.
Firstly, he called upon some Complex Mutant Quirks.
'Bear, Dog, Mole, Oni, Cat, Chameleon, Gorilla, Tiger, Wolverine, Bat, Shark, Eagle, Crocodile, Pteranodon, Minotaur, Manticore, Dragon…'
After a couple dozen mutations, he moved on to other Quirks within him.
'Scalemail, Body Bulk, Air Walk, Muscle Augmentation, Transforming Arms, Hardflame Fans, Strength Enhancement, Kinetic Booster x3, Spearlike Bones, Rivet Stab, Multiplier, Impact Recoil, Springlike Limbs, Air Cannon, Tool Arms, Super Regeneration, Shock Absorption, Shoulder-Mounted Jets, Eyebeam, Bone-Manipulation, Gigantification, Energy Saver, Fierce Gains, Fire Generator, Ice Formation, Lightning Rod, Temperature Resistance, Redundant Organs…'
He felt himself calling upon more and more of his stockpile. Dozens upon dozens of Quirks, many of which he hadn't called on in decades, having found better Quirks in recent years. But that didn't matter now. The more the merrier!
Through the work, he could vaguely make out the warnings from the Flyer. It warned of its damages, but that was fine. It would hold out long enough for his masterpiece to complete itself. He felt his transforming body push against the shell he had formed, but he continued combing through his collection.
'It is time to put all my years of collecting to good work.' All for One thought. 'Let's see how strong one woman's Quirk is against the combined might of hundreds…'
David Shield found himself returning to awareness in a flash of light. He quickly focused his eyes, glancing around at his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was checking into the hotel in Tokyo and double-checking that the Scanner was still working.
He was… not in Tokyo right now.
Glancing around the room, he saw it lined with empty pods, all leading to the central platform he currently stood on. Nearby he could see two men about his age, three children, the principal of U.A. (he had never met Nezu personally, but it certainly fit Yagi's description), his work partner Sam, and-
"Dad!"
"Melissa?" He braced himself as his daughter ran up and tackle-hugged him. She cried into his chest, and he looked down at her in confusion. "Honey, what's going on?"
Nezu raised a paw to answer. "You see Mr. Shield, it all started almost two weeks ago when-"
"Aliens kidnapped everyone with a Quirk, another bad guy is in charge now, and we need your help." One of the men, Japanese from what he could tell. "Sorry Nezu, but we're on a bit of a tight schedule. Hurry up and get All Might ready."
"If we must." Nezu sighed, clearly upset at being interrupted before he could complete his speech.
David looked around in further confusion as his daughter led him off the platform. "Sorry, All Might? Does that mean Toshi's been captured by these… aliens too?"
"Yes. We plan to releasee him shortly, but first we plan to use the technology here to heal him, if possible." Nezu explained.
"That's possible?!" David couldn't help but grin. "Then his Quirk would be as strong as before!"
"Err… he might still need some help." Melissa said, dragging him over to where Sam was. His eyes widened when he saw what he was working on.
"How do you two have these?" David asked as he looked down at the Q.A.D. and Scanner. They appeared to be in pieces, either purposefully or accidentally depending on the device.
"I found the Scanner after everyone else disappeared." Melissa responded, giving him a look that told him she also saw the note. "And Sam helped us get your device after he was taken hostage by some Villains. It was the only thing that saved us."
"Wait, what?" He looked over at Sam in worry. While he was worried about his friend being taken hostage by Villains, the fact that it ended with the Q.A.D. being released sounded… fortunate. And a lot like a certain plan that Sam himself had suggested.
Sam much have realized that was what he was thinking, as he held up his hands defensively. "They had a user who could shapeshift. They had threatened Melissa if I didn't follow their orders, and I had no way of guaranteeing her safety until the Villains themselves arrived and were accounted for."
"So that's how they got to you." Melissa said, looking suddenly downcast. "I had no idea I had caused so much trouble."
"It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have been so easily fooled by Villains." Sam said honestly.
David let out a sigh. So, it really was just a coincidence. He turned back to his work, currently in pieces. "So, what are you doing with the two devices now?"
"The Q.A.D. was damaged in it's previous battle." Sam pointed to the snapped off left prongs. David nodded, not too surprised. The current model was designed for testing, not combat. "We're seeing if we could cannibalize some parts from the Scanner in order to bring it to at least partial functionality."
"Is that all?" He laughed, kneeling down and looking over their current status. "Well, first we can…"
As the team of Scientist's all began tinkering with the devices, Oguro leaned over to Nezu. "How goes getting All Might up and running?"
"I have managed to locate him thanks to the shared DNA transferred through One for All, as provided by so helpfully by young Shield and Midoriya." Nezu assured.
"And the healing process?" Oguro asked.
"Still figuring out where it is exactly." Nezu said, as his eyes turned to the monitor once again. "Let's see, if I select a person, but select this button instead… Eureka! There's a tab listing previously run commends. What have we got here. Genetic Manipulation? That sound's promising."
He pressed the icon on the monitor to activate Genetic Manipulation, and All Might's holographic appearance appeared in the middle of the room, and likewise on the monitor. Another set of windows opened up, and Nezu let out a hum.
"What now?" Oguro asked again, feeling like a broken record. Nezu never simply explained things to others.
"It seems that I will have to manually make the changes to his body on this device." Nezu said. "I will practically go through each part of him I wish to change with a fine-tooth comb and make the exact edits, otherwise it could cause… complications."
"That doesn't sound possible for anyone to do." Oguro admitted.
"Maybe not to the average human. But I am not average… or human!" Nezu said far too happily. "I am rather familiar with the genetic makeup of humans among many other mammals, as I studied them extensively in attempting to discover my own origins. And I am also part of the team involved with observing and healing his injuries, so I know exactly where his body is hurt. The only problem is that it will take a while to complete."
"At least it's possible. That's more than we can ask for." Oguro sighed, looking back at the others around him. "So, what are we going to do about Kagome?"
Nezu quirked an eyebrow. "Whatever do you mean?"
"I mean that Midoriya won't kill her. Which is all well and good, except for the fact she's probably currently possessed by the evilest Villain in existence. We can't have Eri rewind her to before she got the Quirk right now. We don't have any Quirk-Erasing Bullets, and they only work for a couple hours at a time anyways. And there aren't any high security prisons active right now to throw her in." Oguro went through each point tiredly, clearly having thought it all through. "Midoriya's won't do it, and I honestly don't know if All Might will be willing to either. You must have realized this by now, right?"
"I am aware of my current students upstanding moral compass." Nezu assured him. "I have given the topic much consideration, but I had also come up with a blank."
"Had?" Oguro gave him a questioning look.
"I happened to catch one of the previously launched commands on the terminal. I believe it may be the solution to Kagome's current predicament, but there's just one catch." Nezu glanced up at the central platform.
"I'm guessing you mean catch in the very literal sense there." Oguro guessed. That would certainly be difficult to pull off. But if it's the only way…
"I'll let young Midoriya know of the option. I have hope that he will come up with something that will surpass my expectations. That boy hasn't let them down yet." Nezu turned to the side. "Captain, could you see if the Scanner and Q.A.D can be converted to communicate with each other and your team? It would greatly improve our odds of success."
"I'll see what I can do." Wedge said, walking over to the I-Island team. He had given his communicator to Star so that she could communicate with the team, leaving them in the dark. "Honestly though, I'm willing to bet that Star will have the whole thing wrapped up before All Might's awoken. She can handle anything!"
"Heh. Glad to see someone's still confident. Though I guess that's what happens when you're friends with the strongest Hero in America." Oguro smirked. "Although in my opinion, Midoriya will be just as impressive once he gets back One for All. Between it and all the previous users, that'll be what, almost fifteen Quirks? And all supercharged to boot. Sounds like too much power for one person to even use properly. I don't know how All for One manages with having hundreds of them."
"Oh, that's simple. It's because All for One is designed to be able to store a great number of… Quirks." Nezu suddenly quit typing as his eyes glazed over.
Oguro didn't need an expert to realize that meant nothing good. "What's wrong?"
"I may have made a major miscalculation." Nezu said, returning to his gene-editing at a rapid pace. "How silly of me! I completely overlooked the issue with the previous users! I knew I should have told young Midoriya about it, he would have remembered. Oh, who am I kidding, he would have done this anyways…"
Oguro glared down. "Nezu?"
Nezu shook his head sadly. "I fear that One for All returning will turn the tide of the battle, but not in the way that we had wished."
Izuku caught his breath again after a particularly long sprint with Overclock. He had been forced to use both copies of Cellular Activation to push himself as long as possible, to avoid the continued attacks from All for One. He kept throwing new combinations of Quirks at him and he kept responding in kind.
But something had changed. He didn't know what, but All for One seemed distracted by something for the past couple minutes. The Villain kept glancing up to the outside world, as if something were about to pop down and jump at him.
"Something on your mind?" Izuku asked. He could use some more banter to catch his breath anyways.
"Just thinking about how much of a nuisance you Heroes can be." All for One said with Kagome's voice. It was still deeply unsettling. "If I had known that pilot had DNA of Star and Stripe I would have killed him."
"Star and Stripe?!" Izuku exclaimed in confusion, before realizing what had happened. 'Star's charm! The one Wedge showed me during training! Wait, does that mean that Nezu unlocked the console?'
"It seems you know what happened. Not that I am totally surprised. It seems annoyances just naturally form around the wielders of my brother's Quirk." All for One let out a sigh, turning to look at him with a sneer. "Star was not an expected variable at his point, but it can still be dealt with. But if she's out, then he can't be far behind."
'All Might.' Izuku wasn't sure why he wasn't here already. Were they waiting to fix the Q.A.D. first, or was there some other complication? It didn't matter in the long run. He just needed to buy more time.
"I had hoped that One for All would be returned to me before All Might turned up. Rub it in his face and all that." All for One explained as the air around him changed. "But I can't let him slip by and distract the other me against Star. The current situation is too tenuous. So forgive me, Midoriya Izuku, but our games for now are on hold."
'Dodge!'
It was a faint feeling, but something told him exactly what was coming, and he moved appropriately. Overclock activated moments before All for One brought his hand up, and he slipped through a narrow opening as his surroundings were engulfed in a beam of energy.
'That was too close!' Izuku stared where he had just been standing. Even with Overclock's increased speed, he would have been fried had he not perfectly dodged ahead of time. But how did he?
'Up!'
Another feeling shot up his spine, stronger than before, and he jumped up just in time as a wave of flames shot across the floor from All for One. The flames lingered for a moment, and Izuku realized that he couldn't land yet. As if to answer his problem, a weightless feeling started spreading through him. He floated down to the ground slowly, letting the fire fade first.
'That was Nana's Float! And Hikage's Danger Sense! It was brief and weak, but they were there!' Izuku let out a smile as he landed. If they were back, then that must mean their parent Quirk was as well. One for All was returning.
All for One also noticed, pausing in his attacks as he observed Izuku carefully. "Of course, it comes back now. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had some sort of luck-based Quirk."
Izuku just got ready to activate Full Cowling, raising his fists as Mr. Oguro had shown him.
"Ninth!" The voice of the First shouted out in his head, and his spirit-like form appeared to his side in Scanning's view. That was certainly handy.
'It's good to have you all back.' He answered mentally, hoping that they could hear him.
"Likewise! But this feeling inside you… you have All for One?! What happened?" The First cried out, oddly panicked.
'I accidentally got Nine's version of it, along with the Quirks inside. Then the others gave me their Quirks so I could distract All for One until All Might returned.' Midoriya explained. Thankfully, it appeared that communicating with the Vestiges took significantly less time than normally talking. The power of pure thought, he supposed. 'Now that One for All and all of you are back, this should be simple!'
Izuku reached inside himself, finding the wellspring of power that was the core of One for All. He called on his familiar visualization of circuits opening, preparing Full Cowling. The energy began to flow out and he felt it spread throughout his body.
"No, Ninth!" The Fourth shouted out in uncharacteristic emotion. "Don't-"
Pain.
His entire body began to break apart. Raw power ran up and down his arms and legs, cracking and splitting them as they ran uncontrollably through him. Inside, he felt things begin to break, and he fell to his knees as he coughed up blood. His head began to pound, like when he used to many of One for All's Quirks at once. But he hadn't? He tried to activate Cellular Activation and-
"GAAAAH!" He let out a wail as the Quirk activated, like someone had stabbed him right in the head. It tried to heal his body, but the power kept splitting him apart. One for All's power kept shooting through his body without command, trying to do something, and it was tearing his body apart in the process. As the pain in his head grew and his vision blurred, he looked up to see All for One standing over him with a smirk. "W-What is happening?"
"While I don't know the exact science of it, your body is dying of Quirk overuse." All for One explained casually. From the calm appearance on his face, the bastard had expected this to happen the entire time. "It's a lot like the Nomu. The brain can only handle so many Quirks before it begins to experience stress. If you don't believe me, just ask the Fourth. He only lasted a whole eighteen years before dying of One for All. And that was a severely weakened version of it. But you have an incredibly strengthened version my brother's Quirk."
Izuku recalled his discussion with Nezu on the ride to meet the children they were taking to U.A. High. There was something about the Fourth that Nezu had been hesitant to discuss. This must have been it.
"Then again, my own Quirk might be causing the issue as well." All for One admitted, and Izuku tried his best to raise an eyebrow at him from his position struggling on the floor. "From Kagome's memories, I know for a fact that you discovered that the version of All for One I gave Nine was severely weakened. You were scarily accurate in your analysis, but yet you didn't think about the consequences of using it yourself. Do you want to know the number of Quirks it can handle? Eight."
Two copies of Cellular Activation, Water Gun, Overclock, Scanning, Laser Bullet, Air Wall, Hydra.
'That's unfortunate.' Izuku realized through the pain.
"Overloading All for One's limit has many side effects." All for One began, as if he was a teacher doing a health lecture. "Uncontrollable activation of Quirks, heavy mental load, and eventually complete deterioration of the body and mind. Oh, and no, you can't just delete a Quirk to free up space." He held out a hand towards Izuku, as if to help lift him up. "But you can give them away still. What do you say, want me to help lighten your load?"
'He'd been planning this from the beginning!' Izuku finally put it together. All for One wasn't just toying with him for his own amusement but was trying to discover how many Quirks he had! All for One knew there was a good chance that One for All's return would disable him. He could give One for All to All for One willingly, but that would be pointless. Besides, he could likely take it by force in Izuku's current state anyways.
As the pain continued to grow, he felt his vision begin to grow dark. There had to be something he could do! But as he lost control of his body, he felt all his Quirks activate at once, and he finally shut his eyes, seeing a blinding explosion of rainbow light within himself as the world faded away.
When he opened them again, he found himself standing in the Vestigial world. Around him was a familiar crumbled room, surrounding him the shades of those that he had taken a Quirk of with All for One. They stood there expressionlessly, unlike the Vestiges of One for All's old users.
Speaking of them, he looked around, noticing an identical room across the chasm-like void where all nine of them stood.
'Wait… Nine?' Izuku raised a hand, only to notice a red strand of energy flowing from it like a string. Looking down he could see dozens of more strings forming on his body, flowing like a river across the void. He saw them all connect to a person on the other side, standing next to the golden form of All Might's shade.
The figure was also a shade, engulfed in an emerald light. But its form was unmistakable. It was the Ninth. The current holder of One for All. It was him.
"Return to me."
The realm shook, and the two rooms slowly began to converge. The crimson strand tugged the other him closer.
"Come back to me, Brother!"
He could tell now that the voice was coming from his side of the ever-shrinking side of the void. It spoke out in a voice that sounded just like All for One.
"One for All… I will stop at nothing until it is returned to me!"
Izuku could tell immediately. If One for All & All for One combined, if the two sides of him ended up rejoining fully, he would end up dead.
Next Chapter: One or All?