Wow, it is already the summer. Time has really flown recently. Lucky for you that means another chapter and plenty more in the future. Also this stretched into a bit longer one.

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comments:

Flashyyyyyyy: I'm sooo glad you found this story :D

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Proofread by 3DPhantom, except a bit I added later.

Chapter 10: a New Villain Is Born

Liquid dropped around Izuku, leaving his skin sticky as he was pulled up from the tank. As soon as his feet touched the floor they gave up and he collapsed on his knees. He was shaking and breathing hard in his oxygen mask.

"Doctor?" His father's voice sounded somewhere nearby.

"Minor state of shock and residual pain, unsurprising since he is still fully human and the quirk has a strong impact on his physiology, even if he can adapt to it and didn't require other changes. I could administer him sedatives to ease it, but he will properly recover faster without them."

A firm hand landed on Izuku's shoulder. It stayed there until Izuku's shaking eased and his father took away the oxygen mask and pulled him to his feet for long enough to reach a nearby hospital bed with a pile of towels already there. Izuku grabbed one to clean his face. The sticky feeling was disgusting.

"How are you feeling?" He had to wait for a moment while Izuku wiped his face.

"Like…," Izuku could barely speak, his breath still heavy, "never doing that again."

"Gaining quirks that involve physical or physiological changes can be unpleasant and implanting them artificially like this needs to be done with enough time. You will not need to endure the same while acquiring quirks with your own," the doctor assured.

"How long was I in there?"

"Just over two days. It is Sunday evening."

"Will I feel better by the morning?"

"Mostly yes," the doctor said. This time Izuku could actually see the doctor. The old man seemed really familiar, but Izuku couldn't place the face.

"You survived going to school with brain damage. You will survive this. You can pretend to be sick for a day if you need to."

"No," Izuku responded, shaking his head. "We have our history presentation tomorrow."

The doctor looked toward father. "At least she raised him to be conscientious."

"That she did. I could already see it in his training."

Izuku looked away while wiping himself. He still wasn't used to receiving much praise outside of his mother's. The doctor pulled a tray closer and turned to Izuku.

"Don't bother. It won't go away until you get a proper shower. I will take blood samples for a check-up and then you can go."

"Do you think it succeeded?" Izuku asked. The doctor looked at him for a moment through his big goggles. He put down his still unopened needle for taking blood and picked up a scalpel, which he held in front of Izuku.

"That is up to you to test," the old man said. Izuku took the scalpel and stared at it. His hand started shaking again.

"You don't need to try it now, but you should be able to endure much more pain than that," his father said. Izuku gulped. He knew that, and the scalpel would be little compared to some of his training sessions. Cutting himself just went against fundamental human nature. He held open his left hand and brought down the scalpel with the right. He winced as the blade cut skin and drew blood. He cut about a one centimetre long cut and stared at it, feeling a little ill. At least he would have stared at it, but after blinking he couldn't find the wound anymore and there was no pain.

"Wow," Izuku gasped.

"Excellent, now you can survive actual training, and with the summer vacation you will also have time for much more of it."

Izuku's hands weren't shaking anymore, but the cold shiver was almost as bad. Concern for what 'actual training would mean, made him forget any worries about the presentation. He was still feeling like he might vomit if he got up from his seat too quickly. He didn't even scowl at Uehara when he had to stand with her in the front of the class. Uehara started with the basic facts of the era. Of course, she blamed the quirkless majority of the time for everything depicting spread of quirks as the reason for things getting better. He even briefly imagined reaching to the girl and demonstrating All For One for the presentation, but restrained himself at least that much. The teacher didn't interrupt or even scowl at Uehara's bigotry.

Ida at least stuck to the script discussing the 'rise of organized villainy' and first points about the 'emperor of villains'. Then it was Izuku's turn.

"Despite being often referred to as such in modern history books when they mention him at all, the sources of the time do not seem to use that name as it only appears in sources written decades after he rose to power. We also could not find any reliable source about his original name. Most sources from his lifetime seem to refer to this man as All For One. This was the name of his quirk and secret to his power and influence," Izuku explained and tried to stand steady despite a growing nausea he was feeling.

"Today with quirks so common they are widely considered an inherent part of a person like any organ or thoughts in your head, so most people naturally find this hard to believe, but based on sources from the time All For One possessed an unique quirk that allowed him to take other people's quirks as well as use and give them away. It is not known if the quirk had any limitations."

As expected, the statement caused muttering across the classroom. The teacher seemed thoughtful. Izuku continued explaining how All For One gained power with his quirk, leaving out details he would not have found from their sources and leaving in some falsities that he did. He was still careful to not refer to his father as a villain except in the sense of how modern society described him.

"As for how his story ends, we don't really know," Izuku lied. "There are no reliable records of his death. We have read some stories talking about him being around even in modern times, some online conspiracy theorists even claim All Might stopped him but… that would make him well over 100 years old. Either way trying to fit him in the modern hero villain dichotomy with names like the emperor of villains, is inaccurate and fails to explain how things were back then and his role in all of it. Looking at him without falling into using our modern standards, it seems he sought change in the society as it was at the time like many others did but was over time simply left on the losing side and labelled a villain for opposing what we consider the norms today. Winners write the history after all. That is the end of this presentation. Thank you for listening."

He got an applause that seemed more cautious than the previous presentations had received. Izuku glanced at the teacher who scribbled notes and then turned to face them.

"That was an interesting presentation, especially many of your conclusions went beyond what is generally required. I am curious of what sources were they based on? You especially didn't seem to question the existence of the quirk All For One much, even though it's supposed ability runs contrary to our current understanding of quirks."

"The so called 'current understanding' of people in this society includes many ideas, especially about quirks,' Izuku said and glanced at Uehara, 'that doesn't make them true. If you look at the actual sources and statements from the time without bias, they are consistent on the basics of his power. The sources are listed in the notes of the slides. I had to go to the National Diet Library for the most important ones. The most surprising part is that he seemingly had massive influence on the country, but almost no one today seems to remember him beyond vague stories of an emperor of villains being a major villain a long time ago. No other history class I have been to has even mentioned him, at least not by name."

"Did you go all the way to Tokyo to visit the library?" the teacher asked.

"Only Midoriya did," Ida admitted not knowing how easy travel was by warping. "He found most of our material that wasn't online."

The teacher nodded and wrote notes.

"I also liked how you discussed people's different views back then compared to today."

"Good thing people have learned and evolved since then," Uehara commented. "Too bad Midoriya wouldn't properly discus the flaws of the ideas of people like this All For One. Just because people didn't realize to call him a villain doesn't make him not one."

"You think that every idea that disagrees with yours is flawed," Midoriya added.

"And you can't see the reality. Probably because you barely got a quirk and can't properly appreciate it."

"At least I don't shit on people for how they were born. You are no better than the people that treated first people with quirks like monsters," Midoriya turned to face Uehara.

"Okay you tw…" the teacher paused mid-sentence as Izuku stumbled and brought his hands to his mouth. He spun towards the door a bit unsteady, but it was already too late. A single gagging noise was the only warning before Izuku's lunch came up and onto the floor.

"Hah," Uehara laughed even as Izuku rushed to a nearby trashcan, "seems you can't stand even your own ideas."

"Uehara," teacher said, "go back to your seat. We will talk after the lesson."

Izuku would have been happy to see a teacher doing at least something to her, but that little wasn't exactly enough to distract him from vomiting in front of the whole class. Maybe standing around for a long presentation hadn't been the best idea the day after finishing a quirk implantation. The regeneration quirk was really exacting a price for its power.

It was still worth it though, as proven by his shattered arm the next time he trained, when his father let the Nomu fight more seriously. At least the creature stopped when Izuku told it to. His father came to kneel next to Izuku. Izuku yelped and bit his teeth together at the pain of burns and broken bones and the reformation of those bones as his body healed from the damage. Thankfully, the quirk worked rapidly. He could see his arm twisting back to its normal direction at a visible speed and soon the pain too started disappearing. Not long after the injury was gone and the only sign of it ever existing was Izuku's heavy breathing that took a while longer to calm down. He raised the formerly broken arm, flexing and turning it. The only pain he felt was in his head from adapting to the powerful quirk. He got up to face his father.

"Do you understand now the reason I have pushed you so hard? Imagine if a hero or villain did that to you. Even with the regeneration you were completely incapacitated and vulnerable. As powerful as this quirk is it does not make you immortal."

"And it still hurts," Izuku said and looked at his healed arm. He barely noticed his father's arm moving just in time to lean away from an air canon blast.

"Then train until no one can hurt you. I am an elderly man stuck to a breathing machine and still need to hold back."

"An elderly man with hundreds of quirks," Izuku pouted.

"Actually only ninety-four," father responded, "I used to have more but even for me it was quite a mental strain at the peak of the number of quirks. After my injuries it became too much. In a single day my near unlimited potential was diminished to a fraction of what it used to be, so I shed some and decided to be more selective. I think my limit now is around a hundred depending on the quirk and the doctor worries even that will yet decline. I have already noticed greater strain in using my quirks."

Izuku stared at his father for a long moment uncertain how to respond.

"You still have the potential I lost. You only need to work to build on it. So," father stepped away, "Nomu Two, destroy."

One of the Nomus waiting at the edges of the room charged forward, reaching to grab Izuku who jumped out of the way. A long and thin blade of flames appeared behind his right hand as he activated the Dragonblade and Vibration. A rapid swing cut the Nomu's hand off, that much he had managed before, but the other hand was coming in for a punch. Even as he had swung with one blade, he was forcing the other to gather and thicken against the back of his other hand. Manipulating the shape of the fire he could use, it was a small shield instead of a blade, but if he was too slow again, or the shield was too thin again, he would need to rebuild an arm again. The fiery shield hummed from its rapid vibrations until the noise was covered under a loud thump.

Izuku flew backwards, feeling his bones creaking as they barely held together. He stumbled as his feet touched the ground a fraction of a second later, but this time he remained on his feet. The Nomu continued its assault, charging forward with its cut and singed arms spread wide. After enduring a shattered arm, that was one bearhug Izuku did not want to experience, unless the creature was planning to tear him in two.

Izuku's first instinct was to scream and run.

His father's training was to attack. With adrenaline running through his veins Izuku charged forward, ducked under the Nomu's arms, and shoved his right hand upwards. Hot droplets fell on Izuku, making him to jump away just in time to avoid being trapped under the falling body. He crouched to stare at the Nomu, the dead Nomu, with its exposed brain split in two and not healing.

"Excellent," his father said. "Your first clear victory and you didn't even need the regeneration."

"I didn't mean to do… to kill it. My body just moved before I had time to think."

"That means you are developing proper fighting instincts. Your analytical abilities are impressive, but sometimes you must be able to just move, unless you find a quirk that increases the speed of thought," he declared, waling close enough to ruffle Izuku's hair as he spoke in a softer, warmer tone.

"I know it is a bit shocking to you. With Kurogiri around it is difficult for you to accept this Nomu was just a brainless creature, but you still did good. In fact, I have a gift for you. Nomu One, bring the suitcase." The Nomu that had broken Izuku's arm before took a large black briefcase and brought it to the father and son. The father took it and held it open in front of Izuku.

Izuku simply stared at the contents for a moment until he reached in and took out a black facemask reminiscent of the lower half of his father's helmet. It wasn't as thick and wouldn't have covered its user's neck, but the front had a thicker shield-like part than his father's. It didn't have pipes coming from it, but the black metal had silvery horizontal lines that mimicked their look.

"Is this…?"

"Heroes have their unique costumes to help in creating their public image. Many 'villains' have them as well, but primarily to hide their identity," he said. "You told Tomura you want to change the society instead of just complaining about it, something I have been waiting to hear. If you are going to be involved with anything without abandoning your normal life, you need a costume and a new identity. Go take a shower and try it on while I clean up this mess."

Izuku took the suitcase in silence. He wasn't even sure what to think about this gift. He was grateful, but it felt like he was being pushed ahead faster than he was prepared for. He took off his shirt stained in Nomu blood and took a long shower to wash the rest off himself. As he was drying with a towel he stopped in front of the bathroom mirror to see if he had washed off everything. He stopped to stare at his reflection and wonder who was the person looking back. Some of the depressed tiredness he accumulated over the years was gone from his face, and his reflection looked older than he remembered, both his face and body, and the later was really starting to show the results of his training. His endurance was never bad, but in the past no muscles had been actually visible. Now he was at least as fit as Bakugo.

Just thinking the name made his expression darken and he went back to the briefcase. He was suspicious of what his father and especially Tomura planned, but someone had to stand up against the Bakugos of the world. Izuku changed into the new villain costume. Similarities with his father's usual dress were obvious, but instead of a regular black suit Izuku's costume was more akin to a formal military uniform with a solid black jacket and pants and, luckily, no tie. It actually reminded Izuku of his former black school uniform, which was the biggest problem that he had with the clothes. They were more comfortable than they seemed and didn't feel like they hindered his movements.

There were two exceptions to the simplistic formal look. It came with quite tall and heavy-duty metal reinforced combat boots, and gloves which also had metal at the back of his hands, fingers pieces like brass knuckles, and most likely fire protection for his quirk. Izuku would have preferred red boots though.

It took him a moment to figure out how the helmet worked. Besides the collar it had a thinner top half which the front side of folded inside the sturdier back side. The lack of clear eye holes worried Izuku a bit since, unlike his father, he still had his eyes, but from the inside he could actually see just as well as with no mask at all, despite how the outside appeared. The one-way lenses even had a heads-up display.

"Cool," he said, surprising himself with the distorted and low voice that came out of the integrated voice changer. Somehow the lower part of the helmet seemed to fit it, a communication device, a microphone, and what appeared to be filters for a gasmask.

He returned to his father. All of the low-tier Nomus were gone and there wasn't as much as a bloodstain left of the dead one. It was just his father, Kurogiri, and surprisingly Tomura.

"Hello… brother," greeted Tomura. The young mand looked at him for a moment and muttered: "Literally a miniboss."

"Looks good, just as I expected. How does it feel?" His father asked.

"Great, like it was custom tailored for me," Izuku responded.

"That is because it was."

"But I never got measurements taken."

"I had to replace my eyes with quirks. In some ways they are better than normal vision. Acquiring precise measurements was no problem. I even observed how you typically move. The costume was made to work as a formal wear inspired by military uniforms to look representative, while still being simple and practical in battle. The material is fire and stab resistant, but you will need something heavier if you plan to get shot. Not that getting shot would kill you anymore."

"Formal," Izuku muttered, "when you first introduced me and Tomura, you said something about being a representative?"

"Yes. All Might may have decimated my previous empire, but many separate operations still remain, mostly information gathering, secret research, and agents running my legal cover businesses. Things that cannot easily be stopped by punching. For years I have kept them under control from a distance, but sometimes a more direct contact is beneficial. Kurogiri can do only so much while Tomura and the doctor are busy with other matters."

"So, you want me to be your messenger."

"Depending on your choices, you can become much more, but let's start with something less dangerous at least until you are equipped with more powerful quirks, in case you need to fight during such a mission."

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked and activated his Dragonblade.

"Both your blade and All For One are already known to others. At the moment you can only rely on the Regeneration and Vibration quirks while wearing that suit, unless you are prepared to eliminate any and all witnesses."

"Dad," Izuku said, walking closer to his father, "there was a time I wanted to be a pro hero without a quirk, and if I practice with the Vibration enough, I think it can be almost as powerful as Tomura's quirk and even more useful, if I can control it enough to not give people brain damage."

Tomura huffed at the mention of his name and walked away. All For One looked thoughtful.

"I did not intend to understate your abilities, but can you blame me? Parents worry. Skill or quirks, I will make sure you will be strong enough that danger fears you. Starting tomorrow we'll focus your training on using the Vibration quirk alone. Until then I think you need a practice mission."

"You think I am ready?"

"Maybe not yet, this time you will be accompanying Tomura on one of his meetings. Get a feel of things in the shadows of the society. Tomura! He is all yours for the rest of the evening. Try to bring both of you back in one piece, without need for regeneration."

"Great, an escort mission, I hate those," Tomura muttered. "Kurogiri, make us a gate. We'll see how…"

He paused and looked at Izuku, a strange look in his eyes.

"What?" Izuku asked.

"What are we going to call you there?"

"Oh, right, I can't let people hear my name. I need a code name if I'm going to do things like this. What do you use?"

"Tomura Shigaraki," Tomura responded, annoyed.

"Your normal name?"

"This is the only name and only life I have. I don't need to bother with any other shit."

"Then you could call me Shigaraki too," Izuku said, "at least until I can think of an alternative name. We are brothers after all."

Tomura stared at him for a moment and turned around.

"Fine, just don't get into my way. Kurogiri, gate."

Izuku's favourite Nomu did as told, and a wall of mist rose in front of the two brothers. The darkness of the mist was replaced with an alley that wasn't much brighter.

"So where are we going?"

"To meet a small gang and recruit them for the League. I am no messenger. Sensei trusts me to create and lead the League to support our goals. I will build an entire army for him and destroy the so-called symbol of peace."

"Build an army. We are recruiting soldiers. Got it."

"Here," Tomura said and pointed at a worn-out backdoor. Izuku reached out to knock.

"Stop you fool. You are going to reveal we are coming."

"Aren't they waiting for us? I thought you have arranged a meeting with them."

"I am arranging a meeting with them now," Tomura said. "Have to show NPCs their place and what I can do right from the beginning. In the underworld strength matters more than being nice. Now get out of my way."

Tomura reached for the door clearly to turn the whole thing to dust.

"Wait, that might attract attention, I got an idea," Izuku said and pressed his fingers against the lock. It began shaking as he activated his Vibration quirk and sped up the vibrations until there was a metallic crack. Izuku poked the door, and it opened without resistance. He stepped aside and looked at Tomura who was scowling behind his face hand.

"After you."

"Remember, I am in charge. And try not to look too weak," Tomura said as they walked to a small room and headed down a narrow spiral staircase.

"I will follow your lead. You have more experience in this."

"Yes, I do."

The stairs creaked as they stepped on them, but as they descended that was covered under the sound of music coming from behind a door at the bottom of the staircase. When they got closer Izuku could also distinguish happy chatter. Tomura stopped and raised his hand with one finger up.

"This one is mine."

He slammed his hand and all five fingers against the door. Both already worn-out paint and exposed wood quickly turned grey and began shattering into dust. The chatter behind the door ended. Finally, whatever was holding it together failed and a cloud of dust fell on the ground. Behind it was a living room or lounge-type room with worn out furniture and a shelf full of alcohol. Half a dozen people were standing facing towards the former door. Most of them had mutant type quirks with all kinds of appearance-altering mutations, many on the more visible end of the spectrum. Izuku couldn't help but wonder if discrimination for those quirks had led them to this place. One of them, for example, had four arms and strange light blue skin with a lot of sharp edges, like some kind of rock. Another had four legs, each in 90-degree angles from each other. The most "normal" looking person was wearing a skull-like helmet and small lightings sparked between his fingers, an electric type quirk. Izuku was worried if the man could use the lightning from a distance.

"Mind if we come in?" Tomura said and stepped over the pile of dust he had created.

"Not if you don't mind dying," the four-armed blue man said and charged at Tomura. Izuku crouched into fighting position, but Tomura was faster. Tomura evaded the larger man's attack, tripped him and elbowed his back in rapid attack that slammed the man onto the ground. Without his father's harsh training Izuku couldn't have even followed Tomura's moves properly. Tomura put all but one finger on the man's head.

"If I touch him with the fifth finger, he will share the fate of your door," Tomura threatened. "I have come to talk, not fight. Stand down or die."

Izuku wanted to comment on the hypocrisy in Tomura's statements, but he didn't want to upset the already dangerous situation. He tensed suddenly. Something nearly imperceptible moved at the edge of his vision, a step sounded against the floor. The attacker was fast, but not as fast as Izuku's father's air blasts. Izuku leaned out of the way of the near invisible attacker and slammed his fist at the back of the attacker's head. The chameleon-looking villain became visible again, groaning against the floor. In a split-second decision Izuku mimicked Tomura, holding his hand against the chameleon villain's head despite the dark memories that the action threatened to bring up.

"Stay down," he said, his voice made more threatening by the helmet's voice changer. "My quirk can be just as deadly as my brother's."

"Who are you?!" The electric man shouted. Izuku glanced at Tomura.

"I am Tomura Shigaraki, the leader of the League of Villains, and I have come to offer you an opportunity for something more than this," Tomura gestured at the shady room. Compared to it the League's bar was a high-end establishment.

"And who is your… brother?" The same electric man asked. Tomura growled at the question.

"He is observing."

"So, the mighty leader of the League of Villains needs a babysitter."

"Actually, I am here to learn from him," Izuku said, worried at what the seething Tomura might do. He took his hand away from the chameleon-like man and nudged him to get up and join his friends. "You can free the other if you listen."

"Fine, we'll listen, but that doesn't mean you get to leave alive if we don't like what we hear."

"You talk big, but do you have the guts to live up to your words? So far you have committed random street crime and killed small-time thugs. I am offering you an opportunity to go after much bigger prey, to tear down the society that has oppressed you for how you were born. I will turn it to dust." Following his declaration Tomura remained quiet, his eyes locked on the man in front of him, waiting for a response.

"So, you are going to destroy society," the electric man chuckled. "Even if we assumed you could do that, what then? What will you do when there is nothing left?"

Izuku could see Tomura's finger twitching, the only one that was needed to disintegrate the man under him. The group in front of them seemed similarly tense. Izuku wasn't yet sure about Tomura's full capabilities, but they were outnumbered, he didn't share Tomura's apparent confidence facing those odds. Not to mention Tomura's trouble answering that particular question when Izuku had asked it. He gulped, grateful that his face was completely covered.

"Destroying the current society doesn't mean there is nothing left," he said. Tomura turned to give him an angry stare, but it was too late to hold back. Tomura himself had told him to show strength.

"Everyone here should know the wrongs perpetuated by this society. I am sure all of us have experienced them in some fashion, whether it's discrimination by how we were born or being failed by those so-called heroes who the society has made itself dependent on by supressing everyone else and any change that might threaten their power. For anything to change those systems and people's belief in them must be destroyed, especially people's false confidence in the heroes."

"And that is going to benefit us how?"

"As long as a small minority dominated by people with specific types of quirks is allowed to dictate what people consider right or wrong, everyone outside that ideal are doomed to live as second-rate citizens. Without people's support it will be much harder for heroes to hold onto that power."

"Can't argue with that. At least you have a vision. It doesn't mean you can make it reality. How would you destroy people's faith in heroes?"

"By destroying their symbol of peace," Tomura said, hiding most of the anger he certainly felt. The electric man whistled.

"Ambitious, I'd tell you to go to hell with that delusion, but he," the man pointed at Izuku, "sounded like you have an actual plan. Personally, I am interested in seeing where this League goes. Now if you would let our friend go."

A while later Izuku followed Tomura back up the stairs in silence. It was hard to tell Tomura's real feelings. Despite his usual behaviour, he had actually kept cool in the meeting. They stepped back to the dark alley. Izuku saw the approaching hand just in time and jumped aside before Tomura could grab him. After failing at that Tomura started scratching his neck.

"You bastard. What did I tell you when we came here?" Tomura seethed.

"Ummh, don't be weak."

"No, I am in charge. You were supposed to shut up and stay out of the way."

"I was going to, but you still haven't figured your answer to that question. Dad would have been disappointed if the mission failed. You can take the whole credit if you want to."

"I don't care about the credit. The League is mine. Help sensei however you can but stay out of my way."

"Umh, okay. I'm not interested in the League. I just want to do best for my… our family."

Tomura stared at him for a moment, turned away and pulled his phone to call Kurogiri.

"Just stay on your own boss level."