"Come on Izuku. let's get this over with. We can have ice cream afterwards, doesn't that sound nice?"

Father pats my shoulder. My eyes widen.

"A-any flavour?"

Father's booming laughter fills the room.

"Of course Izuku, this is a special occasion after all."

The hero before me struggles desperately in her restraints. Tears fall down her face, her hair matted and dishevelled. The tape wrapped over her mouth stops her from being able to speak, but I can still hear a guttural sound in her throat.

"Come on Izuku, you should know what to do by now."

I step forward and place my hand against the woman's forehead. The woman stills. I can see tears gently dripping down her cheeks.

I pull.

"Hrrrrm, sloppy yet again. I thought we were past this Izuku. Your quirk has a unique finesse that my own lacks and yet you are unable to properly utilise it. I expect you to use your quirk to its fullest extent."

Father is disappointed. I bow my head and keep my eyes on the floor.

"Yes, Father. I will continue to strive towards my goals."

The woman is slumped in her chair with eyes unfocused. I make a note to pull in with a more continuous force next time, I started too slow and ended too fast. The process was too much for her and almost knocked her unconscious. Father wants me to perfect my taking and giving by the end of the year. I need to master my quirk. I have to.

Father glances down at the woman. She's struggling in her restraints now, already recovered from having her quirk ripped out. She has tenacity.

Not that it will save her.

"Izuku, why don't you try out your new quirk?"

I slot in the quirk. Raising my palm I activate it for the first time. Viridian flames pour forth from my hand as the air superheats around me. I watch the beautiful flame with amazement. The quirk lived up to its name, Emerald Flame.

"S-such a cool quirk…"

Father grips my shoulders, one on each hand. I straighten my spine and broaden my shoulders, exactly as he taught me. Father seems pleased.

"We can practise with your new quirk a little later on. Now then, let's dispose of her and have our treats, shall we?"

I raise my arm and point it at the woman. There's a brief moment where her eyes meet my own. Emerald Flame erupts from my palm and flows outward. She is incinerated in an instant. All that remains is a pile of ash, even her bones were vapourised. Father takes my hand and leads me from the room.

"Good work Izuku, you performed adequately today."

Father and I have ice cream. It tastes good. Killing people still leaves an uncomfortable feeling in my gut, but I'm getting better at it. Father says those emotions will go with time. I think he's right, it's getting easier each time, and I still have lots of time to get better at it.

I'm only seven years old after all.

Izuku POV, two years later

"Izuku, this is Eva. She is very important. I have elected to acquaint her with you earlier than I originally intended as her progress has been ahead of schedule."

There is a girl standing rigid before me, an emotionless expression on her face. She looks to be my age judging from her height, although I have never met another child apart from Tomura.

Her skin was striking in its paleness, a beautiful marble white in colour. Her hair was snowy white, several shades lighter than her flesh. Her hair was nearly luminescent in appearance as it flowed down her shoulders. Her eyes were deep and milky, with no pupil visible within them. She had an ethereal, almost angelic aura to her appearance.

I stand straighter and square my shoulders, finally remembering my manners.

"Hello."

She bows her head.

"Greetings, Master."

Father claps his hands together with something approaching a smile on his face.

"Izuku, this is Eva. She will become your bodyguard, in much the same way Gigantomachia is mine. Her strength is currently rather minuscule, but with a few additional quirks that will be rectified. With time, she should surpass any and all of my other creations."

My eyes light up in awe.

"Does she have some sort of scaling strength quirk like Gigantomachia? Possibly even multiple instead of having a typical strength enhancer for a base? That would explain why she is currently not very powerful. Gigantomachia has incredible base strength, and his scaling quirks serve to improve upon it. If Eva only has quirks that are designed to grow with time… she would have nearly limitless potential."

Father grips my shoulders firmly. The lack of pain implies he is doing it out of pride, rather than displeasure. He usually didn't like my muttering very much.

"Very astute Izuku, she currently has four quirks, all of which are focused on growth over time. With your help, I expect to be able to implant an additional two without negatively affecting her mind."

Father twists his wrist, tending to a phantom pain likely earnt decades go. I wait patiently for him to continue.

"As much as Gigantomachi is useful, having a mindless brute as a servant has its drawbacks. For you, I have instead sought to create a servant that is strong in both body and mind. Her own studies presently match your own and I expect it to stay that way."

If Father wasn't holding me I would be jumping in excitement.

"Can we talk about what quirks she will have?"

Father lets out another booming laugh.

Izuku POV, one hour later

I kick my legs back and forth on my bed as I read over my notes. Father has left for his study, while Eva has gone back to train. She was apparently from Iceland and had been within Father's operations since birth. She's a month older than me but has been training for just as long as I have, if not longer.

I'm excited to meet her again. I sometimes found it… boring being down here with just Father and Tomura. Father doesn't want others to meet me very much. He says my existence is to be considered top secret and should be kept that way at any cost. He specifically avoids me seeing The Doctor, saying I should keep away from him whenever possible.

I flip through my book with my pen in hand, looking for the page where I had written my notes on Eva's quirks. I had first listed her four current quirks (including her base quirk!), as well as the additional two that I will be implanting. If father were to perform the transfer she would up braindead, but with my quirk, I should be able to slot them into her without too much strain.

I flip to the correct page and open it, reading over her list of quirks.

Resilience:

This was Eva's base quirk, it would provide protection against any and all negative effects. It provided a strong defense against traditional attacks, but would also offer resistance to more esoteric means. Father stated that it would make five-point quirks such as Tomura's ineffective. It would also nullify poison, thermal, biological, and even mental quirks. Most importantly, it would protect her mind and body from the effects of having additional quirks implanted.

Rapid Improvement:

The quirk caused her body to respond to training at superhuman rates, allowing her to improve many times faster than was typically possible. The quirk had originally belonged to a top-rated Hero before Father decided to requisition it. Unfortunately, as the user trained their body, the quirk would become less and less responsive. Eventually, the diminishing returns would become too great and the user's body would reach its limit.

Exponential Growth:

This quirk behaved very similarly to Rapid Improvement. The key difference was that the quirk became more effective the stronger the user was. As well as this, growth was primarily affected by the strength of the stimulus provided. An extremely hard battle could result in sudden, exponential leaps in power that would be vital for keeping her ahead of the curve.

Limit Breaker:

The quirk did roughly as one would expect, removing all typical limiters that held back the human body. One could continue training their body far beyond what would be normally possible, never reaching diminishing returns. Limit Breaker was originally given to one of Father's subordinates who had used it to great effect with their strength quirk. When combined with Rapid Improvement and Exponential Growth, she would theoretically have unlimited growth potential.

Beyond these four were the two quirks that were to be given to her within the coming weeks.

Super Enhancer:

An extremely simple quirk, it made the user much stronger and faster than normal. According to Father it was one of the strongest quirks he had come across and would make her a very potent fighter with just it alone. Father stated that the key behind Super Enhancer was that it was able to draw energy from other sources, meaning it perfectly synergised with the next quirk.

Energy Stockpile:

Father had sounded rather uncertain when describing this quirk. He stated it had been a difficult decision for him to include it, but did not elaborate as to why. He seemed utterly confident that this quirk was the key to Eva's success, although seemed almost afraid to include it. Perhaps it had a resemblance to another quirk that an enemy of his had used in the past?

The quirk itself would store increasing amounts of energy that could be accessed and used to create immeasurable power. The energy itself would not deplete with actual usage. I pointed out to Father that it was less a 'stockpile' of energy and served more so a pipe that accessed a well of energy, that could then be widened with training. He praised me for my analysis, saying that he had not thought of it that way.

With these six quirks, Eva had unlimited potential. She would be the ultimate bodyguard. Although to be honest, I wasn't interested in Eva for the prospect of having a bodyguard. I wished to simply make my first friend. One that wasn't Tomura and didn't threaten to dust me every time Father walked out of the room.

I hope Eva is nice.

Izuku POV, one year later

The bunker shakes. Concrete dust pours from the ceiling. There's a horrible thump thump thump from above. Eva stands before me and snaps her eyes around the room, trying in vain to protect me from whatever it was above.

"Izuku. It is time."

Father has a look I have never seen before. There was something feral in his eyes, something vicious. He was distressed. If I didn't know better I would have said he looked almost fearful.

"Kurogiri, take them to Base Delta. It seems the heroes are performing simultaneous strikes on our compounds. Delta is the safest base that has not been hit yet."

Father's arms bulge.

"I will deal with All might."

Eva and I run through Kurogiri's portal just as the ceiling collapses. The last thing I see of Father is a look of rage on his face as dust pours around him.

He doesn't even glance at me.

Izuku POV, one hour later

The next hour feels frantic. Base Delta is special. It was carved from immaculate marble with the entire bunker several hundred metres underground. Special quirks were used to allow Base Delta to have contact with the outside world, but still remain secure. Most of my life so far has been spent here.

And yet, I have never felt so afraid in my life as I pace back and forth.

"Why hasn't he returned…"

Eva stands at attention before me, ever vigilant and surveying for threats. Tomura is playing on his gaming console in the background. The older boy and I had never gotten along, not that Father seemed to notice. He was always violent and angry. He never studied and couldn't grasp the concepts Father attempted to convey to him. I have the uncomfortable feeling that the only reason he did not dust me was because Father would be upset.

Speaking of Father, shouldn't he have returned by now? What if the Heroes come here too… could we stop them? Eva and Tomura were powerful, but Eva was still too young to battle top heroes, and Tomura was too incompetent to be of any great use. My own stockpile of several dozen quirks would be useful but would prove inadequate to defeat a top-ten-ranked hero.

Eventually, after many more minutes of anguished waiting, Kurogiri's portal finally opens. I leap to my feet.

"Father I-"

Kurogiri steps through with blood and dust matting his suit. Father is not with him. I pause.

"Where is Father?"

Kurogiri's eyes dim.

"He… didn't make it. All might killed him, as well as destroying Base Alpha. All other primary bases appear to have been either captured or destroyed."

Everything. Everything was gone. Tomura scowls, scratching at his neck suddenly. The older boy stands and starts growling like an animal.

"So the heroes won? Game over? Cheating bastards, what kind of glitch did they use to kill Sensei? This is BULLSHIT!"

Tomura begins to rage, dusting objects at random. I take this time to take a deep breath and clear my mind.

With Father out of the picture I need to step up. I need to fulfil my new duties.

"Kurogiri, we need to start recounting assets. We need to determine what we have left and what we can do with it."

My body is shaking, but I try to hide it. Father is dead. I am his heir. This is my destiny, to rule.

To become the Symbol of Evil.

Izuku POV, one week later

I look through Father's computer carefully as I catalogue information, writing keynotes onto my own document. Eva and I are working together to determine our remaining assets, while Kurogiri surveys sites with his portals.

Most of Father's empire within Japan appears to have been either captured or destroyed. Many overseas operations have suffered similar fates at the hands of their respective authorities. In an instant, Father's empire was reduced to rubble and was now resting in the hands of two ten-year-olds. The pressure was immense. Even with years of tutoring from Father, I was still unsure if I could do this.

I turn to my companion.

"Eva, how are our funds looking?

She cocks her head as she flicks her spreadsheet to my display. She has been working on capital reconciliation for the last several hours, documenting all sources of funds that remain.

"Our immediately liquidatable stock assets are valued at just over a billion dollars. Total stock assets held by Sensei is somewhere in the thirty-eight to fourty-six billion mark. A further one-hundred to two-hundred billion in shares are held by third parties in our name. That portfolio is likely not liquidatable, at least not without giving a favour to each of the dozens of parties involved. We can likely leverage our third-party portfolio for trading with more liquid assets if ever required."

I hum to myself. It was a respectable sum of capital. The problem is, how do we use it? We have no staff and no groups under our control, and we lack the presence to reclaim them. We cannot simply announce ourselves and start reclaiming lost ground. The heroes would have moles everywhere, they would figure out what is happening and crush us. When Father falls, his empire falls with him.

I stretch my arms overhead as I add my own information to the discussion.

"In terms of combat assets, we currently lack contact with any of Father's subordinates. As it is now, it's too risky to talk to any of them due to potential compromise. We may be better off simply reclaiming as many capital assets as possible and leaving everything else for the heroes…"

Eva nods sharply.

"I concur. We currently are in little position to pay the salary of All for One's staff as we lack a feasible way to convert capital to yen. It will take us several years to develop the structures involved to launder money from our overseas assets, until then we cannot fund any major operations. We should cut ties and perhaps start over with everything. Once we sort out our affairs we can begin recruiting and reclaiming what we lost."

These are the times when I am eternally grateful to have Eva on my side. She has a truly brilliant mind, there is no one else I would trust more to handle this. I give her an affirmative nod and leave her to her work.

Presently I am reading through Father's personal notes, looking for keywords. I search "gold" on a whim and hit enter. There are a lot more results than I expected.

"Kurogiri, it appears that Father has made stashes of various precious metals throughout the country. I will compile a list of coordinates and send them to you, we will perform retrieval by tomorrow. Eva will do the physical lifting, while you can form portals to the primary storage facility."

The two declare their affirmations. I take a deep breath and lean back in Father's oversized chair.

"Thank you Eva. I couldn't do this without you."

She straightens, seemingly unsure how to answer my praise.

"It is of no problem Master."

I chew my lower lip. Father would disapprove… but he's no longer in the equation.

"Eva, please refer to me as Izuku from now on."

Her eyes widen.

"Of c-course, Izuku."

Even with all the chaos, I still find it within me to smile.

Izuku POV, six months later

It has been half a year since the death of Father. Progress towards rebuilding Father's empire has been slow, but steady. Between Eva, Kuogiri, and I, we are making fantastic progress. Kurogiri was able to retrieve well over two billion dollars in precious metals. Eva still believes there is more hidden, but I can't find any evidence from Father's writings. Father's journal has been a library of information and something I was finding deeply fascinating to read through.

It dated back over 200 years. Reading the history between Father and One for All was… enlightening.

Some sections were rather… displeasing, however. Learning that Father disposed of my mother after my birth made me feel strangely sick. The human experimentation and unnecessary torture were also very, very much beyond my comfort. I decided to vow to dismantle such things in my growing empire. Father may have been comfortable with it but I was not.

Unfortunately, not all was going well in our newly forming empire. Tomura has become increasingly problematic for our operations. He has become irrational, lashing out and threatening others. He says he is entitled to Father's empire due to being the oldest and says he will kill me if I do not yield. Now that Father is gone, he seems to have given up controlling himself. I fear if I do not do something, I will end up dead within the month.

So, Eva and I do what we do best. We formulate a plan.

Izuku POV, one week later

"Are you ready?"

Eva nods before slinking behind a pillar. I take a deep breath before removing one of the marble floor tiles beneath Kurogiri's bar. I unplug several sets of cables in quick succession. The exact mechanics of how the internet connection worked down here was beyond my current studies, but my understanding was it involved some sort of portal quirk and a rather complex VPN setup with various proxies. The engineer who had planned it all out was clearly very talented.

Climbing out from under the tiling I climb to my feet and replace the tile. All that is left now is to wait for the inevitable chaos. I decided to keep Kurogiri out of this, as he ultimately wasn't necessary. This would also provide a valuable learning experience for Eva and I.

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long as Tomura suddenly stomps into the central chamber.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"

Tomura storms in with a scowl and hatred in his eyes. I straighten my shoulders and look him dead on.

"I unplugged your internet connection."

The older boy pauses. He takes a long moment to think, standing utterly still.

"I am going to kill you."

If Tomura was smarter, he would have noticed how peculiar it was for me to be alone. He would have noticed that Eva was not in sight when normally she spent every waking second by my side. Unfortunately for him being a fool is an easily exploitable weakness.

The teenager begins to lunge toward me. Eva steps out from behind the vast marble pillar. Tomura hears her steps and tries to turn, but it's too late to react now. There's a flash of lightning as Eva suddenly appears behind him, a fist cracking into the back of his neck. The teenager goes limp as his spine is severed in an instant.

We stand back and watch Tomura scream in agony for a long moment, waiting to ensure he is truly paralyzed. Once I feel certain his stillness is not a deception I move toward him.

"W-wait!"

I crouch and place a hand against his forehead.

"It's too late now, Tomura-chan."

I rip his quirk from his body. The teenager is left weeping at my feet while I shudder as the endorphins hit, the pleasure of taking a new quirk placing a grin on my face. The pleasure is as much psychological as it is physical, my quirk feeding into my own interests. Taking a quirk feels powerful, and exhilarating.

But, I am distracting myself. It is time to deal with the matter at hand.

"Goodbye, Tomura. You were a fool and a disgrace to Father's name."

I reach my hand out and place four fingers on his head, my pinky raised.

"P-please…"

I activate Decay. Tomura's body is reduced to dust in an instant. I have never really seen the boy use his quirk at full power, but I suddenly understood why Father thought it was impressive. His body had disintegrated quite literally faster than I could blink. Perhaps this quirk could be of use for later? Mhhm, a thought for another day.

I stand up and brush myself off.

"Good work Eva."

She looks utterly calm as expected. Defeating the older boy was a trivial task for her. She regards me with her milky eyes for a moment before giving me a nod.

"It is of no effort, Izuku."

I smile. Things are starting to come along nicely.

Author note:

You may notice that I reiterate "Izuku POV, X time later" repeatedly. I'm keeping the timeline clear as I intend to skip through periods of time throughout the coming chapters to help get through his early years a bit faster.