And with the spring sun come MHA anime season and All For Some chapter.

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Umbra Lycan and DATUXS: Here is some more.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom.

Chapter 4: Father and Son

"I'm going mom," Izuku announced while putting on his shoes. His voice, as most days recently, was more cheerful than it had been in years. His mother rushed into the hall to see him.

"Not until you tell how you are feeling, honestly."

"Bit of a headache and I think I'm still getting tired faster, but no dizziness since last week. See," Izuku responded. To prove he was telling the truth he raised his left leg and stood on one foot before hopping close enough to hug his mother.

"Don't listen to your classmates. Don't stay with your father too late, and don't believe a word he says."

Izuku chuckled at his mother's standard instructions. Despite her words and… a reasonable suspicion towards his dad, Izuku knew she had been happier since they had been reunited even if she told him to stop 'spying' on her. It might have been solely because Izuku was happier to have both his parents in his life, but he was grateful for anything that made his mother happy and didn't mind wearing the tracker watch either.

There were still issues in his life. His mother's first instruction was even harder to follow now that he knew his father was a villain, and they made Izuku think more about his words violating his mother's third instruction. He forced those thoughts out of his mind before pulling away from the hug. His mother deserved this happiness without starting a discussion on the flaws of society. Instead, he grinned.

"I'll try not to stay too late, but dad promised he'd start teaching me more about my quirk…s since I've gotten better now."

Izuku pushed the door open and left before he made either of them cry. He didn't want to go to school in wet clothes even if the weather was sunny. He walked enjoying the spring day, completely ignoring he'd still have to spend hours in the hellhole they called school. At least he had a lesson with Kuro-sensei after lunch. His calm ended when a loud roar echoed along the street. He looked to the side on an intersection. A giant man was standing on an elevated railroad roaring. He swung his arm, knocking down one of the support pillars of the overhead electric cables. Izuku gasped but something grabbed the pillar before it could prove a real threat to the bystanders, and he could hear people start talking vibrantly about the hero Deatharms. Izuku already had notes on him so he focused on the giant criminal.

"A gigantification quirk," Izuku muttered. He pulled out his notebook to add notes about the unknown giant as someone nearby verbally mocked the giant for doing small crime with a quirk like that. It wasn't like he could use the quirk much with how the laws were without breaking the law or managing to become a hero. Did they want him to commit worse crime then? Not that going on a rampage like that made sense either. Considering how agitated the giant seemed to be he was probably at his max size and it came with some mutations in his head shape.

Something whooshed over Izuku. It didn't take long for him to recognize the hero Kamui Woods. Izuku forgot the simple gigantification quirk and focused on the hero's Arbor quirk. On the surface the wooden body that could stretch and split was obvious, but Izuku didn't have a clue about the actual limits or capabilities of the quirk beyond the that. After evading a few swings, the hero prepared to launch his special binding move only for another giant person to appear and kick the criminal out of the way, causing considerable collateral damage to the street below in the process. No one cared though since the giant "hero" was a good-looking young woman, and people were more interested in taking pictures than complaining about unnecessary damage. Izuku put his notebook away and continued towards school.

The school day, first of the new school year, started normal enough with no one talking to or approaching Izuku. He for his part focused on thinking of how to get his parents to get along better. Despite being about family conflict, it was a hopeful train of thought to him. He barely noticed the glares of his classmates as he walked past them to his lonely desk. The teacher came in the classroom right after Izuku. He was one of the worst ones in the school and had for years ignored anything Bakugo and others had done to Izuku with no consideration for how his own actions might impact the ostracized student. Not surprising considering how he always praised students with strong showy quirks, talking about how he dreamed of having a student of his become a great hero someday.

And so began the first lesson of the school year.

"You are all third years now," the teacher started and grabbed a pile of papers from his desk. "It's time to start thinking seriously about your futures. I would hand out these future career forms, but… I assume you all want to be heroes."

He threw the papers in the air with the final declaration as the entire class got exited and started showing off their quirks. Izuku held back a grimace. Encouraging was one thing, Izuku had desperately needed someone to do so for years, but there was no way everyone or even most of the class would ever become heroes. The man completely failed to guide any student who wasn't up to the most demanding and selective career path there was. The man continued talking.

"Yes, you all have wonderful quirks. But you know that it's against the rules to use them in school."

The reminder of rules was not especially stern.

"Sensei!" Bakugo shouted. "Don't lump me in with these losers. As if I had anything like their crappy quirks. Heh."

Of course, he only cared about the superiority of his quirk, not that most of the class had the drive to really become heroes anyway. Izuku hated to admit it but Bakugo was the one with the best chances, ignoring his attitude. His behaviour was far from that of a hero, but no hero school entrance exam had a test for garbage personality. Everyone in the class recognised this, shouting at the bully to get over himself only to be called extras.

"Ah Bakugo… you of course," the teacher started, his voice getting more enthusiastic with every word. "… must be aiming for U.A. high school."

The declaration made the class gasp, reciting the difficulty of getting into the top school. Bakugo jumped on his desk to stand over the rest of the class and declared his greatness and his goal to become the best hero. To become rich mainly, he wasn't afraid to say.

He was the poster child of why hero schools needed better vetting for their students, not that they cared. The heroes teaching at the schools obviously benefitted from the high-paying celebrity status no matter what kind of people it attracted. While Bakugo was posturing the teacher decided to drop a verbal bomb on Izuku.

"Weren't you also going for U.A. Midoriya?"

Bakugo fell silent for a moment along with the whole class. It ended as soon as it had begun when they burst into laughter and mockery.

"Huh Midoriya?! No way!"

"A villain at the top hero school? Yeah right. He'd have better chance if he was quirkless!"

"He's seriously still thinking that he will be something."

Izuku stayed in his seat, eyes focused on his notebook without responding to the garbage he'd have to take for another year at least probably rest of his life. The teacher did nothing to stop it. Izuku tried to distract himself by imagining how things would have gone if it was Kuro-sensei's class, but thinking of what Kuro-sensei might have done in this situation made him remember what happened to the man that had caused his brain damage, how his face had twisted in horror and his screams had filled the room they had been in. Izuku shivered and focused on staring at his notebook.

Eventually the teacher concluded that, despite his ignoring the career guidance process, he would still hold some form of a lesson and told the class to sit and quiet down. The remainder of the lesson passed for Izuku in a haze. It was nothing new but the contrast to his earlier happy thoughts was a big one. The incident at the beginning of class had also reminded him of another problem.

What would he do with his life?

For most of his childhood he had dreamed of becoming a hero. That's why he had also expressed interest for U.A. Recently he had not been so sure. The more he thought about everything wrong in the world, the less attractive being a hero seemed even if he wanted to help people, even if becoming one would have been the biggest possible middle finger to Bakugo and their classmates.

Meeting his father and talking about the meanings of heroes and villains had done nothing to make him more exited of being a hero. Still, he didn't know anything else he wanted. What career could he do, let alone want to do? He just said U.A. if anyone asked what school he wanted to go to, got laughed at and moved on. If nothing else, it was a prestigious school even outside the hero course.

The class came to an end with Izuku still in his thoughts, not even scribbling anymore, his notebook laying closed on the desk. A hand reached out to grab the notebook and took it away before Izuku realized what had happened. He followed the notebook to Bakugo who had already taken a step back from Izuku's reach. He had his usual arrogant expression with a tint of wariness in his eyes that did not slip past Izuku's notice.

"We ain't done here Deku."

"What's that Katsuki?" One of Bakugo's goons asked.

"Quirk analysis for my future? Seriously, this guy… are you looking for good quirks to steal?"

"Oh come on," Izuku said, tired of the shit. "Give it back."

Without a word Bakugo slapped his hands on each side of the notebook, releasing small explosions from both. Izuku froze for a moment. The notebook's covers were all torn up and the whole thing was blackened and smoking.

"Why," he whispered.

Bakugo just tossed the notebook over his shoulder and out the window.

"The best heroes out there, well…" Bakugo started. "They showed signs of greatness even as students. I'll be the first and only hero from this crappy public middle school. The first to win the honour of becoming a student at U.A. high hero course. Guess I'm just a perfectionist."

Bakugo held his hands open as smoke rose from them. Izuku turned his head away, looking at the open window rather than listening to the walking garbage fire.

"In other words… Don't you dare to apply to U.A. nerd, not even the general studies for losers that can't be heroes."

Failing to get a reaction, the trio of bullies started leaving as Izuku still stared out of the window. Of course they kept jeering at him as they went. Then Bakugo said it.

"You wanna be a hero so bad? I've got a time saving idea for you. If you think you'll have a more heroic quirk in your next life… go take a swan dive off the roof!"

Izuku shook as he heard the words. He spun around, his open palm up, power of All For One crackling within his body. Bakugo tensed and quickly took a defensive stance with one of his hands also raised, explosions flashing from it. He was holding his other hand much lower but open clearly ready to blast the entire room if Izuku moved.

"Don't you try."

After confirming Izuku wasn't moving Bakugo left with a sneer, leaving him alone in the empty class. Izuku sighed and, after waiting a moment, he departed the now empty classroom, heading to the yard. Of course, his notebook had landed in the fish pool that the school had. For a second Izuku thought he should do something. This was a new low even for Bakugo.

He gave up the thought. It wasn't like the school was going to do anything. Maybe if he didn't have his parents and took Bakugo's advice to jump off the roof. For anything less, it was pointless to complain to teachers about the school's number one candidate for future hero. He stayed there leaning over the water. He brought his free hand on his head.

"What's the point."

"Young Midoriya?"

Izuku turns to see Kurogiri in his human form, though with plenty of mist leaking from behind his ears. Izuku squeezed his hands into a fist, pulling his own hair and grumbling about the already abused notebook.

"Take me to my dad," was all he said.

Izuku stepped out of the darkness of Kurogiri's warp gate and squinted his eyes. He was not in the dimly lit room full of medical equipment. If anything, the room was as far from it as possible. He was standing in the middle of a luxurious living room with large windows on two sides that exposed the city below. It took a few seconds for Izuku to recognise the city as Tokyo and he was near the top of some skyscraper overlooking it. Was this where his father had lived all these years?

"Izuku?"

Izuku turned around to face his father. For the first time the man was not dressed in his fine suit but a simple white-collared shirt and black jeans. He had the lower half of his helmet on for its breathing assistance. He came closer to Izuku. Even with most of his face gone there was visible tenseness around the breathing mask.

"Did your symptoms get worse again?"

"No, school did," Izuku responded, gritting his teeth. He sat on the nearest sofa, slumped against the backrest, staring at the ceiling.

"I would ask what happened but Kurogiri has kept me well informed, better than you have with your mother," his father said and sat next to Izuku.

"Wha… what do you mean?"

"If she knew half of what Kurogiri has reported to me, you would not be in that place anymore. I'm surprised she had you go in such an average school in the first place."

"It's the school for the area we have always lived in and I don't want to worry her. It's not like things would be any better anywhere else anyway. I would still have had to either pretend to be quirkless or deal with them knowing I have your quirk… Sorry I didn't mean… it's just how people view it."

"That is okay Izuku. I know well how this society works. I saw its formation."

Izuku sighed.

"Some days I wish you could have replaced all of the teachers with Kurogiris."

"That might have been a challenge to do without raising suspicion even for me. It has been difficult enough to keep one of him from going too far. You should have noticed by now he has become protective over you, even beyond what his job requires."

"I did notice."

"He wanted to burn the school while you were sick to have you transferred without talking to Inko. I have wondered how much that was impacted by my genes and quirk within you."

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked and raised his head.

"It's a matter that concerns my villain activities, some you might find difficult to accept despite how you might feel about this society."

"I see." This time Izuku looked down. "But… if it's about Kuro-sensei… If our quirk does something to him…"

Izuku looked at his palm.

"I'll keep whatever you say secret, but I'd like to know."

Father got up and touched his chin. He stepped in front of Izuku.

"I guess it will help you decide if you can truly accept my presence without covering it in ignorance. Kurogiri is not fully human… anymore."

"Not… human."

"He used to be. Resisting the society itself and those who created it requires force with unstoppable power and unquestionable loyalty. The doctor has spent years studying myself to modify human bodies to sustain multiple quirks. You should never give people quirks carelessly by the way, at least no more than one and nothing highly powerful. Not unless you want to risk them becoming vegetables. Most people's bodies don't adapt to a growing number of different quirks like ours."

Izuku gulped.

"The injury won't be permanent if you remove the quirk quickly enough and people can usually adapt better if new quirks relate to their original ones, but even then, it is limited. So, the doctor and I found a way to create artificial humans that were created specifically to hold multiple quirks or quirk combinations."

"Before you said he was modifying human bodies, not creating them?" Izuku said. As his father kept facing him wordlessly, he had his answer. "Dad… was he dead or… alive when you changed him."

"Dying."

"So… you could say you saved him by making him..."

"Nomu, and that depends on what you consider saving a person. Kurogiri's body might be a modified version of his old one, but his mind is entirely artificial. His body was more adaptive to new quirks than most so his brain could recover enough to build a new personality over time, though still with absolute loyalty, one tied to my genes and the quirk that helped create him, which you share. I never told him to obey you, only to protect, yet he seems to do both."

Izuku stared at his father and new tears started dripping to his already drying cheeks. He slumped down holding his face in his hands.

"Figures that the only person who cared about me did so only because he was forced to by my quirk."

"Oh, I very much doubt that. If his actions were solely directed by our quirks' power over him, I would only have needed to command him once to restrain his actions. Unless you commanded him to burn the school or leak mist whenever you get abused?"

The words were strangely comforting, but at best they left Izuku confused instead of grieving.

"Is there any way to know?"

"If you want to see what he would do you can watch your words. Avoid anything that he can consider an order and see what happens."

"I will."

Izuku sat in silence for a long time, still holding his face. His father left the room at some point. Only when he returned and spoke did Izuku raise his head and leaned back.

"You can sit here as long as you want, but if you want to use this time effectively there is more you should learn about your quirk. The risk of giving them is only a small part. Or perhaps you want to talk about school? Aren't fathers and sons supposed to talk about school?" He placed a jug of juice and a pair of glasses on a table in front of the sofa.

"I shouldn't listen to them. It's not like I put much value in their opinions, but it's the same every single day," Izuku sighed and stared forward at nothing. "I'm so tired of it."

They sat in silence for a moment before Izuku continued.

"Can we talk about quirks instead?"

"Of course. Have you tried using your new quirks?"

"I figured out how to activate them, but I can't control them well and… they remind me about how I got them."

"So, you need to learn control and help to get over those events. If we're lucky both have the same solution."

Izuku stared at him questioningly.

"If those quirks are tied to your memories of the events, then having control over them might help you control your feelings of those events. Now get up." They stood and he led Izuku to an open space between the sofas and a large dining table. "Show me one of the quirks."

Izuku did as he was told and a few seconds later an oval-shaped mass of flames lit over the back of his palm, licking his skin. It didn't quite burn him, but the heat was still uncomfortable. Seeing the flames, he started immediately breathing faster and turned his head. Father placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder as other came to the side of his head, pushing it back.

"Look at it. Forget where it came from. This is your power now, and it will bend to your will like all others."

Forced to look at the flaming quirk, Izuku was able to gradually control his breathing. He forced the memories to the back of his thoughts.

"You are in control of yourself. Good. Let's see if you can get it to change form to something more useful."

Figuring how to manipulate something that till recently did not exist in his body was even more challenging than Izuku had expected, but his father's advice and constant presence helped greatly. He soon forgot school and the crap people in his life. The day flew by. Izuku only realised the time when he looked out of the large windows to see the sun halfway below the horizon.

"Perhaps you should head home now," his father said. "You will need to study what you missed today. Kurogiri can cover your absence with school administration to a point but he cannot study for you or calm Inko."

"If you think so," Izuku said. One more time he activated the flaming blade, no, the Dragonblade he decided to name it, and forced it to stretch out into a more swordlike shape. He looked at it for a moment. It brought back the memories, but his breathing remained steady. He could control both of them, his lungs and his quirk.

"If you keep training, I will teach you how to combine and use multiple quirks simultaneously," his father promised, making Izuku smile.

Izuku soon stepped out of Kurogiri's portal in his own backyard. He wanted to say something to the misty… Nomu, but did not know what to say. He could only thank Kurogiri before stepping in the mist. He headed straight to the back door, a little surprised at the dark building. He checked his phone still on silent mode from school. There was one message from his mother about being out in case he returned first. She didn't mention anything about school to Izuku's relief.

His father had fed him, so he went straight to his room to study, just briefly glancing at a news feed on his phone. There were some titles about the fight in the morning, but most others were about something called sludge villain attack, one dead. Izuku would have read further but he reached his room. He put down the phone to change clothes, grimacing a little at singe marks on his sleeve. He was lucky to not have lit his clothes on fire.

He was just taking his books from his backpack when the doorbell rang. He headed to the door a little wary, taking his phone with him. They didn't have visitors often, maybe Bakugo's mom Mitsuki sometimes. The mothers had a much better relationship than their sons, just one more reason for Izuku to not talk about everything that happened at school. He opened the front door.

He did not expect two police officers and some middle-aged woman in civilian clothing, all of them with serious expressions. Izuku's heart skipped a beat.