"You're commendable for your control over your Quirk, but it just wouldn't go with the aesthetic I'm trying to cultivate. So, goodbye."
This is what Izuku woke up to. He was lying on the road, the ground mostly decimated from All for One's attack. The Villain was talking to someone, but Izuku couldn't see them over the blur in his vision yet. He looked around, seeing that Mt Lady had shrunk back down to regular size and that her, Gang Orca and Tiger had been knocked unconscious by the blast. All of the small army of police that had been with the Heroes were blown away as well, and Izuku turned around in place to look for Best Jeanist, but couldn't find him. Izuku realized that was who All for One must have been talking to.
Izuku scrambled to his feet and looked back at where All for One had been before the attack. He was still floating in the air, but his focus was on Best Jeanist, who was on the ground below him and trying to stand up by the looks of it. Izuku quickly reapplied his rudimentary cast and sling with Blackwhip, as he'd lost it when he'd blacked out. Izuku began to move toward Best Jeanist, hoping to dissuade All for One from killing him somehow, but as soon as he took a step forward, Best Jeanist was hit by a condensed bullet of air that seemed to pierce his torso, sending blood out from the puncture wound and putting Best Jeanist down.
Izuku was unsure if Jeanist was dead, or if he'd just been subdued, but he wasn't going to gamble the Hero's life on his uncertainty. He ran up to Best Jeanist and turned him over, seeing that his eyes were closed and he was breathing, if shallowly. He was alive. Izuku felt himself sag in relief, but tense once more when a large, sturdy hand came down on his shoulder. All for One was touching him. That felt wrong, even though he wasn't even attempting to steal either of his Quirks.
"Izuku, do not fret over such unimportant lives. In the grand scheme of things, only you and I matter, as we'll long outlast any of these Heroes ," All for One said.
"You don't get it. You don't get people. I'm not going to join you. You're gonna have to turn me into a Nomu to get me on your side, but apparently you can't even do that. So, it's not going to happen for you. Do you get that? I will never be on your side," Izuku said, tuning out his senses to avoid thinking about how the King of the underworld was touching him.
"I have to try, Izuku. After all, we're family," All for One said.
"We're not family!" Izuku said, pushing on Smokescreen once more.
A massive cloud of smoke erupted from Izuku, enveloping both All for One and himself. Danger Sense immediately kicked in to compensate for his lack of sight and told him that All for One was directly behind him. Izuku fired up One for All and turned around jumping up slightly in order to get above All for One's head.
"Impact Recoil," All for One said, though his voice was tonally dissonant due to his deafness while within the cloud.
Izuku threw his strongest punch within his safe limit at what he could best approximate was All for One's head, and felt his fist connect with the cool metal of the mask he wore. The mask must have been extremely dense or reinforced with something else, because even though it was either eleven or twelve percent of One for All that was hitting it point blank, it didn't even seem to crack by the sound of it. The shock of the hit just reverberated back through Izuku's arm and the full strength of the blow felt like it was thrown right back at him, sending him back and out of the cloud, tumbling along the ground.
All for One stepped out of the Smokescreen with a booming stomp, clearing the rest of the cloud with the resulting wave of air that rushed away from him. He looked at Izuku with an unreadable expression, due to the mask, but Izuku was fairly sure that he was getting impatient. He'd clearly wanted to get this over and done with without revealing himself before he had to, but now that he'd shredded a street in what looked like a major city, news crews were going to arrive soon, and they'd likely bring backup with them. That was bad, unless it was All Might himself. Izuku wondered where All Might was, if he wasn't on the raid team for All for One's hideout, and how this team had even figured out this location. He didn't know what they'd put together, and that made Izuku nervous. He hoped All Might would get there soon.
"Oh, well. I'll just have to show you what you could have if you were to agree to my terms," All for One said, his voice sounding as it had in the throne room. Calm, collected and in control were the traits he wished to promote in himself, but it was clearly something he was trying to do.
All for One waved his hand, and nine points in the air between him and Izuku began spewing the same black slime that Izuku had thrown up before he'd been warped to All for One's throne room. Over the course of a moment or two, these collections of slime grew and spat out each member of the Vanguard. Warped at roughly the same time were Shigaraki and Kurogiri, then Stain, Dabi, Toga and Spinner, then Compress and Magne, then Twice. They all were thrown to the ground after being warped, groaning about bruises and scrapes.
Shigaraki was the first to look around, his eyes seemingly adjusting to the low light level of the half-destroyed building. He looked around and met Izuku's eyes, and went to say something before he noticed All for One standing there, and promptly silenced himself in favor of his Master.
"Tomura, are you alright?" All for One asked.
"Yes, Master. Are you …" Shigaraki said, trailing off when he realized what that kind of question implies.
"I am quite alright, Tomura. Izuku Midoriya is not nearly powerful enough to hurt me. You were found out," All for One said, turning his full attention to Shigaraki for a moment.
Shigaraki flinched under the attention of All for One, but quickly calmed himself. He stood up from his spot on the ground and stood tall. He took a few deep breaths, glancing over at Izuku with wide eyes that told him that Shigaraki was conflicted. He had the kind of warring look in his eyes that Izuku guessed was him wanting to ally himself with Izuku, but not being courageous enough to stand up to All for One. That was okay, as Izuku only needed him to leave All for One, not fight him.
"Yes. All Might and the Heroes found the bar. They almost captured us, and one of them did things to Kurogiri and Dabi that put them to sleep, but you saved us. Thank you, Master," Shigaraki said, not sounding too grateful for the help.
Izuku knew that Stain was looking at him. He looked over at the Hero Killer and the two met eyes. It was still hard for Izuku to look directly at Stain, as he still hadn't really dealt with what had happened to him when he'd first seen the man, but it was getting easier. He just had to accept that he'd freaked out, and that it was behind him now. Stain narrowed his eyes at Izuku, and he almost thought Stain was going to attack him, but the older man just nodded to him, then put his hand on his sword's sheath and glanced over at All for One in a signal that, if Izuku wasn't being too optimistic, meant that at least Stain was going to back him up. Izuku gave Stain a small nod to show his appreciation.
"Hmm, typical of All Might to go after someone much weaker than him. What a hypocrite. That's behind us, though, Tomura. Now, we can focus on what really matters; Izuku Midoriya and his power will be very useful to us," All for One said.
Shigaraki's hands closed into fists when All for One said that he was weaker than All Might. Izuku had no clue what he'd been through with the Villain, but the Demon Lord couldn't have been especially kind during Shigaraki's childhood. Izuku was going to change his situation, though. They just had to get out of this alive. Izuku knew that Shigaraki could probably kill All for One in hit touch with his Quirk, but … that was it! All Shigaraki would have to do was Decay the mask, and then they could escape! It was a good plan if All for One was guaranteed to abandon keeping them there to search for a backup, because he had to have even a backup for his backup plan. That was what it hinged on, and Izuku wasn't sure that his time without the mask would be so short as to let his current objective go completely. Izuku supposed he'd put more on the line with less certainty when he'd given himself in, and then argued with a man who could turn him to dust.
"What … exactly is his power, Master?" Shigaraki asked.
"It's … a better version of a power I've been after for a very long time," All for One answered, considering his words carefully so as to not let Shigaraki in on the whole truth. It was disgusting.
What Izuku said in response to this was a calculated risk.
"It's his brother's power," Izuku said, startling all within hearing range. "It was passed down through the ages, and now I have it. It's that simple. He and his brother were opposites, and they fought over it. Master is a tyrant, someone who steals and kills just because he can. Yoichi was much like you, Tenko. Trapped under All for One's control. When Yoichi stepped out of line one too many times, your Master forced a Quirk on his weak body so that he'd submit. He ended up creating the one power he couldn't take, though; mine. Then again, when he made me, he ended up creating a power that he couldn't control, and now he needs me to submit like he needed you and Yoichi to submit. I'm not going to, though, and neither should you, because it's not right! He may want to appear as a caring father to us, but we can build a better family with each other if we just let ourselves. My offer still stands," Izuku continued, locking eyes with a stunned Shigaraki as he did.
Izuku held his good hand out to Shigaraki, keeping his eyes on him as he offered his hand to him. Someone should've done this a long time ago. All for One was stock still, but his fists were clenched, and there was a distinct feeling of wrongness in the air that was probably coming from his anger. Shigaraki looked torn, but he was looking at Izuku. That was good. He just needed to ask for help, and he'd have it. But he couldn't do anything until Shigaraki took that leap. Izuku just prayed that he would. In the meantime, he could reach out to someone else.
"Stain, that offer stands for you, too. I know that you do believe that heroism at its core is good. Your views were warped by a society that believed that strength was more important than doing good where possible, and it turned you into a killer. I can help you, though. I know you heard what I said back at the bar, and all that is still true. All for One may be my father, but I am nothing like him, or what Tenko was swayed to believe about Heroes. He was hurt, and you were let down, and I know that hurts, but we can build a better way together if you'd just take my hand," Izuku said, already knowing that, on some level, Stain was with him. The question was Shigaraki.
Shigaraki was looking considerably less uncertain, and more hesitant when Izuku looked back at him. He'd made up his mind, but he was afraid to speak up about it, because he was afraid of All for One. That was expected. You don't live under the thumb of the most powerful man in Japan and not come out with some of those reservations. Izuku did his best to smile at Shigaraki, despite the way his arm was still throbbing inside the Blackwhip cast. He really needed to get his arm healed one of these days. Izuku searched himself for any way to get Shigaraki to decisively join him, and found it in Nana.
"Did you know that your grandmother was a user of the power I hold? Did Master tell you that?" Izuku asked. He saw the way Shigaraki and All for One both turned to him in shock and, at least for Shigaraki, what looked like pain as he clutched his head again. Izuku had to keep going, though. "Her name was Nana Shimura, and she was a great Hero. I talk to her sometimes, and she's lovely. She was the user before my own master, the one this power was with before me. She trained someone you and I both feel very strongly about," Izuku continued, noting how Shigaraki looked at the ground as his face seemed to change through several different expressions of shock, sadness and joy at the same time.
"Hana … Mon," he said, a few tears coming to his eyes, and Izuku wondered if that was a person or people he'd known.
Izuku would wager a guess and say that All for One had repressed the memories of Shigaraki's life before meeting him so that he'd believe he was the only one he'd ever relied on, or that the thing that had allowed Shigaraki to fall into such a man's hands was so traumatic that he'd repressed those memories himself. It seemed that the more Izuku made him think about where he'd come from and his life before All for One, the more he remembered. It looked like a painful experience, but it would only benefit Shigaraki in the long run.
Seeing his chance to land the final blow, in a way, Izuku took a few steps toward Shigaraki. He didn't get too close, because All for One would probably blow him away if he did, but he got closer so that he could speak in a kinder tone of voice and still be heard from his distance without having to shout and ruin it. He approached Shigaraki, which got him to look up at Izuku, and he smiled.
"They'd forgive you," Izuku said.
That seemed to be what did it, as Shigar—Tenko, Izuku had to correct himself now that he was calling him by his true name. Tenko broke down, openly sobbing as he knelt on the ground. Izuku would go over and comfort him when he wasn't risking getting close to All for One. He stayed there for a moment, but felt that something in the air get stronger, and looked to see that All for One was breathing heavily and shaking in what looked to be rage.
"What have you done, Izuku?" All for One asked.
"I treated him like a person. It's something I gather you have a bad track record with," Izuku said, turning his attention fully on All for One.
"I'll—" All for One roared, balling his fists up and tensing his arms.
"—kill me? You can't do that, or One for All is lost. You need me. The thing about that, though, is that I don't need you," Izuku said, readying himself to call on One for All.
Everyone was silent. Izuku could've sworn he could hear a whistling sound, like a missile in a movie, but ignored it as part of his tired delirium. Izuku heard rocks shuffle behind him, and saw Stain stand at his side out of the corner of his eye. Izuku still didn't like him, but he'd take the help, and help him rehabilitate if he wanted it. But, that wasn't important right now. What was important was staying alive . So, Izuku shifted his feet and planted himself, ready for battle.
The tense atmosphere exploded into chaos, as a blur of color slammed into the All for One from above, and Izuku's eyes may have deceived him, but he could've sworn he'd seen the Villain move before the impact. A blast of air pushed everyone back, dust flying in their faces and rocks hitting them in the faces as they were all thrown away from the impact zone. Izuku landed with the Vanguard, and looked around at them as he re-applied his Blackwhip cast. They were all looking at him expectantly, like they wanted him to say something. So, Izuku turned to the members he hadn't exactly connected with so far, at least those that were awake.
"You're welcome to come with me when this is over, too. I believe you're not bad people, you've just been forced into bad situations," Izuku said, addressing Toga, Twice, Compress, Magne and Spinner. They looked conflicted about that, but at least they were thinking about it.
Izuku looked back over at All for One and saw that All Might had been the thing that had hit him. Izuku felt a surge of relief at All Might being here, but now that they were grappling he could tell that they were about evenly matched, even in their injured states. Izuku briefly thought about going to help, but quickly figured that being close to them would mean that All Might would limit himself to lower power outputs in order to not hurt Izuku, and that would mean All for One would be the more powerful of the two, because he likely thought that whatever damage Izuku sustained in this fight could just be healed with a regenerative Quirk or two. He was probably right, but that didn't make his actions justified. Izuku turned back to the Vanguard.
"Look, you guys don't have to fight with me if you don't want to, but I have a plan that could work. One of my powers is this smoke that even Quirks can't sense through. I've used it on him a few times, and it all but removed all of his senses. He's really messed up internally, so most of his senses are substituted with Quirks. If I can cover him in the Smokescreen, Tenko could Decay his oxygen mask, and then it's just a matter of time before he suffocates," Izuku rambled at what felt like lightspeed. The Vanguard all looked at him strangely, but Izuku knew exactly what they were thinking.
"Your plan is to take an old man off life support?" Compress asked.
"It's kind of morbid, I know, but it's the only plan I have," Izuku admitted.
"Fair enough. There's not much you can do against someone like that. Even All Might's struggling to just match his pace," Stain said, a kind of grim, sober look in his eye. Izuku had read that he believed All Might to be one of the only true Heroes in society, and seeing what had to be his personal hero brought back down to reality in this way had to be disappointing.
"Well, I don't see a flaw in it. Aside from having to get close to them, that is," Compress said.
There was a lot of displaced air whipping about due to the wrestling match between All Might and All for One. Izuku wished he could've heard what they were saying, but there was too much noise for that. Even further, Izuku wasn't sure that just eleven or twelve percent of One for All would be enough to break through all that. Those two were going at it with all they had, and were even moving slightly away from Izuku and the Vanguard by the looks of it, so they had to act fast or leave now. Izuku figured that he could get a Blackwhip Shield to be sturdy enough to keep them all from being blown away, but they'd need the cover of Smokescreen to even get close, and it wasn't guaranteed that All for One was distracted enough for that to work.
Izuku shook himself out of those thoughts. This was going to work. Izuku turned to the Vanguard and told them his plan, to which Tenko, Stain, Compress, Twice, Magne and Spinner and Toga all reluctantly agreed. Dabi and Kurogiri were still unconscious, which made Izuku wonder what exactly the Heroes did to them at the bar. Izuku realized, once they'd worked out the specifics of the plan, that Compress could also do the job if Tenko wasn't able to Decay the mask, and kept that in mind as a Plan B.
"Are we ready?" Izuku asked.
The Vanguard all gave affirmatives in their own ways. Stain and Tenko nodded grimly, Twice and Toga called out that they were ready with energy, Compress said that he was organized, and Magne said to start the show already. They certainly were a group of … personalities , but he wouldn't pretend that it wasn't what made them all uniquely special. Izuku fired up One for All and threw out Blackwhip Shields from his good arm and got enough out of his torso and legs for one big shield to cover the area in front of himself. Danger Sense told Izuku that All for One was in the direction he was already facing, so he got to work on plowing through the blaring winds.
It was difficult, but Izuku was able to keep moving forward through the powerful air currents. He was using Blackwhip to put a shield out in front of him and the Vanguard, anchor himself to the ground between steps and anchor him and his new allies together so that nobody flew away. When they were about halfway there, Izuku began releasing Smokescreen at full blast, covering the area immediately around him in a large, thick cloud of smoke that was immediately blown away by the intense winds.
"Shit. My Smokescreen is being broken up by the winds. I won't be able to conceal us any further," Izuku yelled back at the Vanguard.
"Just get me close to him. I don't care about concealment," Tenko said, his glare sharp.
"Alright. I'm gonna drop the shield, but you should all still have the tether if all goes according to plan," Izuku said, readying himself to ramp up his One for All percentage.
The Vanguard all gave affirmative nods, and then Izuku let the shield in front of them all drop and sink back into his body. The winds immediately hit them, but Izuku turned One for All up to fifteen percent, over the limit of safe handling, but not enough to break bones. Just enough to snap tendons if he pushed it. Full Cowling made it so that the strain was lessened, but not removed, and Izuku's whole body started burning slightly as he settled at fifteen percent.
Izuku grabbed Tenko by the arm and quickly released Blackwhip so that it was coating him on the arm and down around the waist, making sure that Izuku couldn't let go of him when moving too fast. When they were sealed together, Izuku began moving. Fifteen percent, paired with his pseudo-boots made of Blackwhip that anchored him to the ground, was more than enough to keep him steady. It was that Tenko was being pushed back by the winds, and it was slowing his progress. Izuku decided that this was a good enough cause, and broke out into a sprint when he saw that he was progressing through the battlefield so slowly.
The two of them, with the power of fifteen percent, moved across the battlefield and broke through the winds easily. It was like a knife through butter. Izuku was standing next to All for One and All Might before he knew it, and the two of them looked down at him in equal parts horror and fascination as their brawl came to a momentary pause, the two of them still locked into place with each other's hands keeping them in place. Izuku then spun, pushing Tenko closer to All for One and getting him within arm's reach.
Izuku watched as Tenko's hand pressed down on the black, featureless mask that All for One wore, and how the cracks spread throughout it like a spiderweb of glass. It broke into pieces and shattered into almost nothing, a few puffs of dust exploding away from All for One's non-face. All for One screamed, a low, animalistic roar, and took his hands off All Might to clutch at his own neck. All Might and Izuku shared a look, which Izuku took to mean 'get as far away as you can'. Izuku would gladly take that warning, and switched gears to sprint with the same fifteen percent he'd used to get there and book it away from what was likely to be an explosive end to the fight.
The strain of using One for All this way was catching up to Izuku. He felt his legs screaming at him, and everything else creaking together and begging for a release. Izuku knew that he couldn't give himself that release until he and those who were going with him were safe. Izuku momentarily thought that someone was screaming his name, but dismissed that as a trick of the wind as it stopped whipping around and settled into a calmer atmosphere.
When the two of them returned to the Vanguard, they collapsed on the ground, out of breath. Izuku didn't know about Tenko, but that had been the scariest few seconds of his life. He looked up in the sky, and saw something that he thought must have been a hallucination at first. He thought he'd seen two figures that looked like Ochako and Bakugo, flying through the air and the faint noise of them screaming his name. When he looked closer at them, however, he saw that it was indeed them and that they were screaming at him to follow them in the sky and get away from the battlefield.
"Izuku!" Ochako called. Izuku saw the look in her eyes, frantic and desperate, and felt something in his chest. It was as if his heart had restarted at seeing her face, and Izuku knew that he needed to go to her. Izuku knew an opportunity when he saw it, and stood up to turn to the Vanguard.
"Last call for redemption, 'cause we're getting out of here. I could carry you all, but we're gonna fly, so be warned," Izuku said, already cranking One for All up to fifteen percent, despite his straining muscles and aching limbs, and summoning Blackwhip to give to Tenko and Stain so that they could follow.
In the end, Tenko, Stain, Twice and Toga were the ones that took his offer of help. Izuku respected the others' choice, and wouldn't force them if they didn't want help, but he would have to apprehend them another time. Once everyone was connected with Blackwhip, Izuku took the unconscious Kurogiri and Dabi and hooked them into the system of people as well. Izuku felt the strain of One for All with this much weight added onto him, but his strength was enough to handle it. Izuku used his good hand to hold all of the willing Vanguard up as he used Float prematurely.
Izuku took a deep breath, and jumped up to freedom.