We (Chibikaty and Gfan97) are back with another Christmas crossover! In fact, we will be posting two fics in this series before the end of the year. We hope you enjoy the true spirit of Christmas: bullying All for One.

FYI: We have a little bit of Yoichi POV at the start of the story to frame this as part of the series, but the story is mostly in 3rd person and can stand alone. We're using the Japanese naming convention of last names first in this fic, all for the sake of one gag in this chapter. This fic will update once a week on Sundays.

It was a week before Christmas. The holiday of Christmas seems to be a constant across all universes, popping up even in that one strange alternate reality where everyone was a giant green slime. In Japan, Christmas meant a massive run on Kentucky Fried Chicken, due to a highly successful advertising campaign convincing the Japanese public that fried chicken was a traditional Christmas food and this was definitely not a self-interested marketing ploy. Chicken orders had to be placed months in advance. Extra teenagers had been hired as temporary delivery workers dressed in Santa hats. But none of that is relevant to our story.

Due to Musutafu's northern location, the sun had already set even in late afternoon. The streets were chilly, dusted with a faint gleaming white of snow. A quiet mood had fallen over the suburban neighborhood.

A group of children played together under a streetlight, attempting to make snow angels in the very thin snow. One nine-year-old boy hung back, watching them from behind a bush. Midoriya Izuku knew he would be shooed away if he tried to join his classmates. But he desperately sought the feeling of overhearing their laughter and pretending he had friends. Another sad constant across all universes is outcasts and bullying. Where there are people, there will be the need to select someone to gang up on to make everyone else feel superior. Even the green slimes had picked a red slime to throw salt at, until he ended up guiding Santa's sleigh one night, and then they were all sorry.

Midoriya Izuku was a shy, sensitive boy. He talked too fast, talked too long on his favorite subjects, wrote far too much in those notebooks he hauled everywhere and had a nervous laugh that annoyed the other fourth graders. As a result, they didn't hang around him long enough to learn that he was brilliant, creative at coming up with games, and fiercely loyal. Those foolish brats didn't know what they were missing. My adorable, precious nephew was the best boy in the universe and any of them should have been honored to be friends with him. Ahem.

I'm Yoichi Shigaraki, and my mission is to find the perfect Christmas alternate universe to show my older brother in order to redeem him. Last Christmas, All for One had been a very stubborn redemption target. But it worked in the movies, and it ought to work for me if I could only find the right universe to humble my arrogant brother.

So far, this universe seemed promising. There were no quirks, and as a result, my brother had turned into a petty criminal. Without unlimited power, All for One had not been very successful in this universe. It turned out his arrogant and obnoxious personality didn't attract accomplices. As his brother, I could have guessed that. The once-great All for One had been lowered to working with teenage thugs to arrange robberies. This just went to show he never actually had any talent for villainy. My own alternate self was a superhero impersonator, with no real relevance to this particular Christmas story. I had to mention it because I was smug about it, though.

In this universe, Midoriya Izuku was the son of Midoriya Toshinori, a police officer who took his wife's last name. Midoriya Inko was a housewife currently away looking after her parents, who had come down with a contagious illness. Of course I always consider my dear Ninth holder to be my nephew, even in the universes where he is lucky enough not to get All for One as a father. I only wish I could have gotten All Might as a brother, too. Without a superpower, this Toshinori became an ordinary police officer, not a hero. But in his case, this was because he was a humble man who sought to do good in small ways.

In the Midoriya house across the street, Toshinori was making dinner. Izuku should have been playing in the backyard, but he'd crept out to see the others. He crept a bit further, listening to the boys chat.

Kaminari Denki declared, "Have you met the new girl who moved in across the street? Her house looks cool! I heard explosions all last night. Lasers came from the shed. The police were called. When she came outside to talk to the police, I caught a glimpse of her. She's pretty."

"Her name is Hatsume Mei, right?" Hanta Sero said. "We should invite her to hang out with us."

Izuku, who had spent years living in this neighborhood without getting such an invitation, felt a pang of jealousy. But he pushed it down, because he was a kind, selfless boy worth ten of every other boy in the universe (in my completely unbiased opinion.)

Denki said, "I'll go. Girls can't resist my charm." He'd gotten that line from television. He smoothed back his hair in a way he'd also seen on T.V., then went to knock on the door.

The other boys watched, very impressed by his bravery, as Denki stepped into the Hatsume home.

Just minutes later, Denki ran out of the house with literal white smoke pouring after him. His hair was singed. The girl stood in the doorway, covered in soot and holding a wrench. She said but one word: "Coward."

From behind the bush, Izuku snickered. He should definitely be forgiven for this, because the other boys had not always been kind to him in the past. Also because of the Spirit of Christmas.

The sound drew the girl's attention to the boy hiding behind the bush. She marched over. "You! I need a new lab assistant, the last one ran off."

Izuku, having nothing better to do and flattered someone wanted to play with him, nodded in agreement and let himself get dragged into the house. Even then, he suspected this was a bad idea. (That would be further evidence that my nephew is smart.)

Izuku went inside, following the strange girl. "What did you mean by lab assistant?" he asked. "Is it a game? Are you making like…one of those vinegar volcanoes?"

The girl whirled around, seemingly offended. "I made those when I was one! Ok maybe two, I don't remember."

Izuku doubted that. It sounded like one of Kacchan's boasts.

"I now make the cutest of babies!" she said, jabbing a wrench in his face. "The most cutting edge of science! The finest the world has ever seen!"

"Ok?" Izuku hadn't quite been taught how babies were made, but he was fairly certain kids didn't make them. Before he could ask anything, the girl had yanked him into her garage. The air smelled of smoke while the floor was charred black. On the floor sat some sort of burnt out wreck.

"Pick that up. We'll carry it out to the shed."

"Ok?" Izuku said. He knelt next to the destroyed machine and tapped it with his hand to make sure it was cool. It was. Izuku grabbed the machine and, as his dad had instructed, put the weight on his knees, and lifted the machine off the ground.

Izuku's knees strained slightly, but he had it.

"Oh good. You're strong. Most times if my partner's a boy he'll go on and on about being strong then turn out to be a total wimp."

With one small beckon she turned around and walked out, not even slowing down for the struggling Izuku as she went out her backdoor toward a shed in her backyard. Izuku noted the shed was surrounded by sprinklers and–was that a smoke alarm outside?

"We'll clean out the smoke from my last experiment later. Right now I need to work in my workshop so I won't get grounded if one of my babies sets the house on fire again."

Again? Izuku thought those comments from his dad about constant explosions at that house were jokes and the noises were just from playing violent movies too loud! Did she actually blow stuff up?!

"Here!" she said, tearing the door of a crude wooden shed open and shoving him inside.

"Whoa…" Izuku said, looking around. It was like the combination of a woodshop and a mad science lab. Tools and machinery were scattered along the walls and tables in some sort of order he couldn't discern, while half assembled machines littered the floor. He saw robotic arms, tractor treads, and other strange designs. Also a few that looked suspiciously like weapons.

The girl placed him to the side and said, "Sit here. Do what I tell you."

"Ok?" Izuku said.

She glanced up at him, her eyes looking him over. "You don't talk much. I like that. Much better than the last assistant."

Izuku didn't know how to take that. Then again, someone wanted to spend time with and even compliment him, so he'd let it slide. "I'm Midoriya Izuku by the way. And you ar–"

"Don't care. Name's Hatsume Mei! H-A-T-S-U-M-E, proud founder of Hatsume industries, and future great inventor!" she said, holding her arms out dramatically. Before Izuku could respond, she whirled around and examined the burnt out husk. "Hmmm…looks like a wiring error. Good thing I hadn't installed the flamethrower yet."

That was a joke right?

Hatsume was on the other side of the workshop in a flash, grabbing a tool off the wall. "Here, take this. I need you to help unfasten this baby's servos. I'm going to check the joints. Any questions?"

"Uhhh…how do I do that?"

"Here, like this!" Hatsume ran him through all the steps of unfastening the joints. It was a bit complicated, but Izuku thought he had it. As Izuku was about to start, Mei added, almost as an afterthought, "Just don't touch the wires. They're live."

Izuku yelped. "Uhhh, Hatsume–"

"Mei. Hatsume is my mom or my dad. I am Mei."

"Right. Shouldn't you just…take out its battery?"

Mei blinked. "Huh. I suppose. It'll delay me fixing the arm, but I guess it'll lessen the chance of electrocution."

"That sounds like a good idea Hatsume–MEI!"

"No, no, that's even more formal."

"I meant…Never mind."

Mei did as he suggested, allowing Izuku to do his part with far less stress. Once he was done, Mei looked over his work. "Good, now we need to remove the arm to see what caused the explosion. I may have built this with hydraulics, but I also used flammable materials and chemicals that could–why do you have a notebook?"

Izuku was writing everything down in the notebook he always carried. He usually used it either to sketch or write notes like a detective (like his dad!) "Trying to write what you're saying down so I can understand it later?"

"Oh. Like when I use blueprints." She nodded to her blue pages on the floor, which were filled with designs and other notes scrawled across them in a manner that could charitably be called "messy".

"...Right."

The better part of the next hour was a whirlwind of Mei giving him very confusing directions, repeating them in a more understandable fashion, and all while lecturing him about the various principles of machinery, while he put them in his notebook.

By the end, Mei had taken apart and rebuilt her machine from the scraps around the shed. A miracle given that her blueprints were barely legible. Then again, she barely even used them, assembling most of the machine from memory. The completed product was some sort of robot on treads, with crude arms that had basic joints in its elbows.

"Behold!" Mei said with a bright smile. "My Doombot 300!"

Izuku felt nervous. "Why do you call it that?"

"Because this is the 300th try of course!" she said, her smile not wavering.

"Doombot?"

"Oh, because it's supposed to be a weapon! This Baby when it's finished will be able to swing a hammer at high speed, or set people on fire with its yet-to-be-installed flamethrower !" She threw up her hands like it was a celebration and opened a metal locker to reveal a very suspicious tank of fluid.

"Flamethrower?" Izuku squeaked.

"Later," she said, closing the locker. "Right now we're just testing out its joints to see if it can move fast enough to wield a weapon."

That wasn't much better.

"Now, let's fire this baby up, and hope it doesn't explode again!" As Mei readied the remote, Izuku tapped her shoulder.

"Is this safe?"

"It only might explode," she said, still smiling.

" Might ?!"

Mei looked annoyed. "Look, if you want you can wait outside for the rest of the experiment," she said pointing.

Izuku nodded. "Good idea!" He hurried for the backdoor, then stopped. Mei wasn't following.

"Mei, aren't you coming?"

"I have to be here to see how my baby does. Your parents didn't run outside when you first started to walk."

"I wasn't an explosion risk!"

"Don't care! Need to observe how my baby does. If you're scared you can just leave."

Izuku looked back at the sweet safe outside, then at the girl standing uncomfortably close to the possible bomb. He could go outside, but doing so would leave her to possibly be hurt. Hating himself, Izuku stepped over and took his place next to her.

Mei looked at him, surprised. "You're actually staying?"

He threw another look outside, then said, "I guess? Are you?" Please change your mind.

"Yep!" Oh drat. "This is exciting! This is the first time in a while that my baby's father has been here too! Most of them were total deadbeats!" She readied the remote. "Now baby, your mommy and daddy are watching. Show me your stuff!" She hit the remote.

Izuku winced. Then he heard a metallic whirl. The machine's arms rose in tandem with Mei's controls. Then its legs. Then its arms again. It was…working?

"Slight delay, but functional," she said.

Izuku hadn't even noticed. She must have an amazing eye for details.

"Arms moving well enough."

The machine moved forward on a pair of small tractor treads.

"Treads work perfect."

She fiddled with the controls. The machine moved next to a target. Mei placed a hammer in its hand. It fell through. Mei frowned and tried again. After several attempts, the machine actually gripped the hammer's handle, its arm sagging slightly from the weight.

"Grip strength could be improved. Arm strength too. Need better parts."

Izuku realized he should write this down. He got out his notebook. "Could you say all that again?" he said.

She glanced at him confused, saw what he was doing, then beamed. After going through every word again at high speed, with Izuku asking her to stop at least twice, Mei finished her inspection and said, "Great thinking, assistant!"

"My name's Midoriya–"

"Don't care! Creativity and initiative! You're way better than the other assistants."

"Oh. Thanks," Izuku said, ignoring the sort-of-insult.

She stepped next to him and had the arm slam down, the hammer hitting the floor with a light thud. "It could hurt a foot, but not much."

A high pitched whine came from the machine. Izuku glanced at Mei. Was it supposed to sound like that? Mei ignored the sound and had it hit a target above. "Strength is only so-so without the force of gravity. I'll check the exact measurements after."

She had it move across the room again. It was still whining. "Mei? What's that noise?"

"Oh it might explode in a couple seconds. We can still squeeze in one or two tests."

"What?!"

Mei huffed. "I'll duck when it gets close. They explode all the time."

Izuku looked at the machine and at the crazy girl next to him. The machine was trying, and failing, to pick up a bottle of water. The whining was louder now. The machine was smoking.

"Huh," Mei said, setting down the controller and backing away. "It's going faster." She started to turn around. Izuku was about to dive out the door when next to him, Mei slipped.

Izuku didn't even think. He threw the table down between her and the machine, then threw himself over Mei as the machine exploded. The table slammed into the kids' legs while parts flew over them. Many hit the wall and fell around them, while others fell directly on Izuku's back.

Izuku slowly got up and looked behind him. He looked down at Mei. "Mei! Are you hurt?!"

She giggled. "Cool…I now know what went wrong!" She threw Izuku off with only a quick "Thanks assistant" before running to the still red-hot machine. She sprayed it with a fire extinguisher and said, "You can have five minutes, then it's back to work!"

"It just exploded…and you want to build it again?!"

"Of course! Just because it didn't work how I want doesn't make it a failure! I figured out how not to do it!"

Izuku gaped. This girl was crazy.

"You can leave if you have a problem with it. But if not, five minutes."

Izuku really wanted to leave. Staying was a terrible idea. Nevertheless, he didn't want to leave the girl to her highly dangerous work alone. At least not today. So, he reluctantly stayed, hoping that was the most of the girl's explosions.

It wasn't.

There were three more. Each time Izuku objected, each time Mei told him "You can leave," only for him to reluctantly stay. At least once he had to pull Mei back before flames burst from the machine, nearly burning her. She barely thanked him.

Finally, Mei said, "That's about it for the day." She placed her tools down on the table while smoke floated up from the machine's latest iteration. "Tomorrow I have lots more work to do!" She rolled up her blueprints and said, "What about you?"

"Uhhh…sure…maybe…I'll think about it?"

She looked unimpressed. "Right. Do that. You're welcome to meet me here if you want." She smiled again as she packed up her tools. Once Izuku made sure she wouldn't endanger herself again, he let her go to her house. Izuku then walked through the woods behind her house until he reached his own backyard. He went around and entered through the front.

Izuku took off his winter clothes, then plopped on the floor with a long sigh. That was close. He did not want to do that again. And yet as he sat there, a simple question emerged: What else would he do tomorrow?

When dinner was called, Izuku came as he always did. His dad set out his usual passable-but-really-tried-his-best dinner. "It's not your mother's cooking," he said. "However, her folks still need her for at least the rest of the week."

"Will she be home by Christmas?" Izuku said.

His father's smile strained. "She'll try. I know she misses you, but she doesn't want you to get sick too, so she's waiting for an okay from the doctor. If not, she will be home the day after. Then we'll all celebrate as a family. I promise."

Izuku nodded. "Will you be home for Christmas?"

The smile faded. "Robberies are up, even by Christmas season standards. Crime doesn't stop on a holiday. Someone has to work at the police station on Christmas, and it's my turn this year. I'm sorry. But I promise I'll be there by the day after. I threatened to quit if they didn't let me. I'll help the people in the city, which will make it safer for you here, and then I'll be here to celebrate. On my honor as a police officer."

Izuku nodded. Dad often got called away to solve crimes. He was one of their best. Unfortunately, that often meant leaving Izuku. He always apologized, and he always meant it. And then he came home and was the best father ever. It was why Izuku admired him so much. But right now Mom wasn't here, and Izuku hated the empty house.

Izuku's father was still talking. Trying to make Izuku understand. Izuku leaned in and hugged him. Izuku understood. He always did.

"Thank you, Izuku," his father said, ruffling his hair. "I've arranged for you to spend Christmas at the Bakugos. I promise I'll make it up to you when I get back."

"I know," Izuku said. He tried not to think about how unpleasant that Christmas would be.

"I love you son."

"I love you too."

For the rest of the night, his father was there. They wrestled, played detective (Izuku's favorite game), and watched old cop shows. Dad loved to point out the favorite parts of his mentor Shimura Nana. When the night ended, Izuku went to bed. He'd had a good night. However, he knew when he awoke, his father would have already left for work.

He had nowhere to really go, and he hated being alone in the house. As his mind drifted to sleep, he remembered Mei's invitation.

Toshinori closed the door behind him that morning before setting off to work. He'd left all the ingredients for a master breakfast there. The sort Izuku would love. Unfortunately his boss had called everyone in for this holiday season. It was the downside of being a detective. All the criminals came out on the holidays.

Of course, there was the worst of the lot. All for One. It was him who had outsmarted Toshinori all those years ago, escaping right under his nose. It was him who had been so dangerous that even the most powerful yakuza factions wouldn't go near him.

And it was him who'd cost Shimura Nana her career.

"Watch out!"

"AHHH! MY FOOT!"

"Sorry Captain!"

That evil villain had tricked Nana into running over her captain's foot with her police car. A harrowing day for them all. He wondered what that monster was doing now…

All for One woke up in his pathetic little camper evil lair. It wasn't quite what he'd hoped to afford when he'd turned to crime, however he'd needed to spend his budget on the appropriate resources.

For example, his suits. All for One slipped one on, then went outside to the tent where he kept Tomura.

Tomura had been raised by All for One. A boy who embodied All for One's ideals, who All for One could handle perfectly. It was all part of a subtle revenge plan against Shimura Nana and Toshinori Yagi. All for One had hired the Nakanishi siblings to find a relative of Nana's, then fired them right afterward. The young runaway Tomura had proved the perfect target for brainwashing. Seriously, that kid had been more easily brainwashed than a lab rat. He would believe anything in exchange for video games.

All for One kicked the tent and said, "Get up! We have work to do."

The tent shuffled, and a greasy head poked out. "I was already up! In fact I never went to sleep! I had other priorities."

"You do know that lack of sleep makes you worse at gaming, right?"

Tomura looked down. "That explains why I kept losing in League…"

All for One got into his car while Tomura went to the van. He checked his map of the neighborhood. Each house where the family had left had been thoroughly mapped out, down to the times their automatic lights turned on. He smiled. While the police focused on the town, he would invade the heart of the kingdom and raid the very castles of the absent lords. They'd come home to find he was already gone from their ransacked houses. He didn't need the Yakuza's approval or help. Those houses were there, and nobody was there to stop him.

Izuku swallowed the last of his breakfast, savoring the taste. After that he wandered around bored for an hour, playing with his toys and the like. He considered going and playing on his computer for a while, which had plenty of games courtesy of Dad.

However…

Izuku glanced outside at the new layer of snow. The snow was nice, it'd be a shame to miss it. Minutes later he'd exited in full snow gear with his sled. Down the street, the other kids were having a snowball fight. Izuku considered joining. Although he was frequently ignored, bigger games were usually safe to play

On the other hand Kacchan might rally them against him for fun like last time. On the other other hand…

Izuku glanced the other way, toward Mei's. He shouldn't. The crazy girl would almost certainly just cause more explosions. But she had invited him, and he had kinda enjoyed being helpful. Besides, if he didn't go she might hurt herself.

Izuku was still thinking when he noticed he was in front of her door. He knocked. No answer. He knocked again. He was about to knock a third time when he heard noise from the shed behind the house.

Izuku looked to the side of the house. Would it be trespassing to just go there? Then again, Mei had invited him. Reluctantly, Izuku made his way around. He approached the shed, where he could hear a hammer striking along with the whining of power tools. Izuku knocked on the door and waited.

The sounds of work stopped. He saw movement through the door's crack, before the door slowly opened. Mei poked her head out. "You came?"

"Um, yes?" Izuku said.

Mei threw open the door and dragged him in. "Well welcome in! I didn't expect to see you again! Most people say they'll think about it then hide from me for the next week."

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Mei said with a bright smile. "You're the first one with any guts! Now hang up your coat and stuff and let's make more adorable babies!"

Izuku hung his coat up then took off his fleece and gloves. As he took a spot by Mei, he pulled out his notebook. "Ready."

"Great! What was your name again?"

Izuku sighed. "Midoriya Izuku."

"Right! This baby is making great progress! With any luck I might even be able to attach the flamethrower within the week!"

"Is that legal?"

"If I said no, will you snitch?"

Izuku gulped.

In another house, a duo of idiots squabbled. (Exactly the kind of fools who All for One deserved as minions.)

"Hey, are you stealing video games again?"

Tomura glared unrepentantly at Dabi. "Yeah. They're cool and we're already stealing everything else. Like that shampoo you pocketed last time!"

"That was actually important (and saved me a store run)!" Dabi said as he swept several priceless pieces of glassware into his bag, ignoring the sound of glass shattering. He picked up a family photo. "I hate kids."

"You're just mad about those ones who mugged you in Otheon."

"Well, those brats jumped me while I was eating some food I normally couldn't afford–"

"In a dumpster."

"I was low on cash and restaurants throw out food for no reason all the time! Anyway, those three brats and their bird stole my bandana and sunglasses!"

Tomura rolled his eyes. "I pwn kids all the time on League, so I guess that makes me tougher than you. Also, I actually won when I fought my sister. I think. I don't really remember." (There's no need to fear for Shimura Hana, she was attending college in Tokyo. Her brother simply had a bad memory.)

"Some people have all the luck." Dabi sneered.

"I doubt that."

"Trust me, there's no way All for One was worse than my dad." (As usual, Dabi was exaggerating. In this universe, Enji Todoroki was one of Toshinori's colleagues, a respected detective with a stable and loving marriage. Dabi just sucked anyway.)

"Whatever."

"I'm serious!" Dabi cried. "Dad ignored me in favor of my brother after my brother burned his face. And then he went and was all comforting to Mom instead of paying attention to my great achievement of burning paper! What a scumbag. Then he even put me into therapy saying I had low empathy. You can never understand how oppressed I was before I ran away."

" Would you two just focus on the job? " All for One's voice said out of their radio.

"Yes sir," they both said.

" Besides, neither of you could ever compare to my own tragic backstory. " All for One adopted a gratingly familiar monologue tone. " My mother was a prostitute and my father didn't even exist. I was born beside a river, probably because she was trying to flush me away before she died. The day I was born, rats came to eat me. I had to swim away from them all while carrying my weak, fragile little brother."

Tomura wiped a tear from his eye. "That's such shocking lore, Sensei."

"You seriously believe that?" Dabi raised an eyebrow. "It sounds like he just took a couple different tragic fictional stories and crammed them together."

(I hate to agree with Dabi on anything, but Dabi was right. This was total nonsense. In this universe, both me and my brother had an ordinary suburban childhood with two completely normal parents. Our mother was a successful painter married to an accountant. We were born in a hospital in Nagano. We had separate rooms! But my older brother always considered himself too good to be normal, and he also had trouble telling fiction from reality. Even in our original universe, where we had a rough time due to discrimination during the dawn of the age of quirks, big brother still exaggerated in a weird attempt to make himself look like he'd been born evil or maybe to indebt me to him. We had a father, even if our mom didn't know who he was. Rats did not try to eat us. And babies can't swim. Hey, why is this important information crossed through? Did my brother do this or something?!)

"Enough talking! Back to work! " All for One barked. " And try not to break everything. Broken goods are unsellable. "

Tomura and Dabi both checked their bags. They upturned them, dropping all the glassware on the floor to shatter completely. They made sure to pack the remaining glassware on the shelves a little more gently.

As he stored the goods, Tomura said, "I was always told theft is a good thing that helps society. Also that the attitude of fellow League players is the model for how to treat others."

Dabi muttered something suspiciously like, "At least I know my dad sucks."

Tomura passed some toys. Probably for some obnoxious brats. He kicked a stuffed bear, but petted the stuffed corgi. It reminded him of his beloved dog Mon before he passed. (Of old age.)

"What bullshit," Dabi said, throwing a family photo to the ground. "Everyone knows those are staged. Families are just miserable little death traps."

"I know. Sensei saved me from a lousy one." He'd run away after his dad flipped out at Tomura while he'd been minding his own business and blowdrying his hair in the bathtub. Wait a minute.

"Not as much as mine. My brother was so irritating. Always demanding we give him what he wanted but never telling us what. What a brat ."

"Wasn't he like three when you ran away?"

Dabi looked up. "Yeah, why?"

"Never mind."

The two finished up. Tomura reached into his pocket to leave their calling card. He'd spent hours creating one that looked just like his favorite game character. Dabi had contributed by slightly singing it with his lighter.

Over the speaker, All for One said, " Don't leave anything that would trace back to your real identity. "

Tomura complained, "But all great criminals leave their mark."

Dabi added, "Was Al Capone afraid of the spotlight?"

All for One growled, " Al Capone was dumb enough to evade taxes, so don't live by his example. Trash the card or I'm deleting your save files. "

Tomura's hand moved on its own, desperate to protect his precious saves.

As they left, All for One muttered something suspiciously similar to, "They're still better than the Nakanishi siblings. In that they're slightly less dense than a black hole." He then seemed to add, "A shame Compress never returned my calls."

To make matters worse, the rest of the trip was filled with All for One regaling them with stories about the exploits of some thief named Mr. Compress in the area. Avoiding military-grade alarms this, leaving no trace that, it didn't matter. Tomura couldn't possibly learn anything from someone with such a dumb name.

As they left the block, Tomura took one last look at the wealthiest house there. The Big Score, filled with highly valuable furniture, jewels, and apparently technology . Both parents were highly accomplished inventors, who might keep all sorts of tech in their homes. The sort that would look very good on the black market. Tomura dreamed of having special gloves he could use to decay walls with a touch or a flamethrower. Then he'd finish his jobs twice as fast and return to his games without needing to mess around with any slow nonsense like lockpicking and opening windows.

As the block disappeared from view, All for One told them the agenda. They'd hit a few more houses first. Then…they were going there.

OMAKE TIME!

Izuku: I finally made a friend, even if she calls me her lab assistant.

Mei: This is a friendship for people with no standards. Including safety standards!

#

Izuku: Uh, the part where we're making an airplane from scratch seems…unsafe.

Mei: You can leave. (Just like everyone else.)

Izuku: Not if you're still here! I can't leave you alone in danger!

Mei: Does not compute. 404 Error Message. I guess you just love inventing like me.

#

Izuku: All I wanted for Christmas was All Might as a dad instead of All for One. Best AU ever!

#

Yakuza Boss: Work with All for One? I'd rather feed my head through a woodchipper or worse, hear another of Chisaki's grand plans for overthrowing society before I spend another minute talking with that blowhard. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to buy a Christmas present for my adorable new granddaughter.

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Izuku: *folded hands* It's me again. Can I please not be alone this Christmas? Maybe you could send me a friend. The sweetest, kindest friend you have.

Mei: *surrounded by flames* HAHAHAHAHA! MORE IDEAS FOR MY BABIES!

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All for One: Raising Tomura was easy. I just showed him a handy life simulator known for inspiring advanced ethics called "Grand Theft Auto V."