Chapter 15: Plans set in Motion
"No toasters." Toshinori said automatically.
David rolled his eyes, then spun the bottle around as he unscrewed the cap with a supernatural flick of his thumb. "Sparkling lemon water, asshole."
"Just making sure." Toshinori grinned mischievously, then waited for David to bring the bottle to his lips. "Now, it all began when a supposedly Quirkless Young Izuku hitched a ride on my leg as I jumped across Musutafu."
Liquid sprayed from David's mouth and nose as he coughed in mid gulp. "Hegh whaght- OGH GHOD ID BHURNS!"
Izuku sat on his bed, at war with himself. On one hand, there were things he wanted to get done tonight, all of which were within One for All. He'd given his mother a shard of Boon so that he could finally introduce her. All Might had his own from earlier in the day, so he'd be able to visit the Vestiges as well if and when he managed to get to sleep. He'd already made plans with En earlier for a lesson on how to use smokescreen.
On the other hand, the Vestiges had pretty clearly been watching while he and Uraraka had enjoyed a nice chat after she beat his ass, with her sitting firmly in his lap. He'd had more immediate concerns at the time, such as pain and breathing, but Ashido had oh so helpfully plugged the implications directly into his hind brain and just about fried him. Which the Vestiges had been very, very aware of.
He hadn't heard from Daigoro since. He felt a little guilty about his relief in that regard.
Unfortunately, Nana seemed to have jumped on the bandwagon. She'd been far, far more subtle about it, which was a mixed blessing. While Izuku was running Full Cowling fueled laps around the track with Tenya, she'd began asking him more about his friends. When he'd mentioned Uraraka, Nana had directed the focus gradually onto her. Had Yoichi not joined in, Izuku might not have caught on for a while longer, but the First holder had been a little too inexperienced with teasing others to do so covertly. Thankfully, none of the others had joined in after that.
So far.
'So, do I do something productive with my night, even though it'll mean facing them? Or do I just…' Izuku glanced around. '...Study more for finals?'
Izuku sighed in resignation, then flopped onto his bed. There was only so much more Hero Law he could read before it started wearing on even him. Begrudgingly, he let himself fall into the well of power within.
"Welcome back, Romio-" Yoichi's smirk vanished. "WAIT! DON'T LEAVE! I'M SORRY!"
Izuku let himself settle more firmly within the core, then cocked a brow at the First user. Bruce chucked from his throne, while Nana had the decency to hide her own giggle behind a hand.
"I'll be good." Yoichi grumbled. "The two of you just basically have "Comic book romance" written in flashing neon lights over your heads. It's kind of hard to resist."
"If you say so…" Izuku blushed furiously, but didn't try to retreat again. "I don't even know if she likes me. All of this might have finally made sure she never wants to talk to me again."
Bruce smacked himself in the forehead while Yoichi and Nana exchanged a glance, then all three looked at Izuku.
"You can't be serious." Nana said flatly.
"What?"
"He said "Your heads" for a reason, and he wasn't wrong. If that girl doesn't like you, then something fundamental about human interaction must have changed in the past 40 years." Nana said bluntly.
"You've been able to see her for a few days, most of which you said you wouldn't watch." Izuku pointed out.
"I did warn you that stress brings our attention forward. You're so knotted up over her that every time she's within line of sight we're getting tuned in." Yoichi scoffed.
"Also, we're really bored." Nana admitted. "We have a lot more to do than we did while we floated in the void, but having to remember things for them to work is a pretty big limitation if you're not Mr. Encyclopedic Knowledge of Comics over there."
"Hey! I have some trouble with a page here and there!"
"I'm having plenty of fun." Bruce added in. "Your fault for liking complex, hard to recreate things instead of the simple joys in life."
"Says the Meta Fanatic." Nana sighed, then smiled apologetically at Izuku. "Regardless, we might be peeking a little more than we originally intended. If it really bothers you, we'll try to stop."
"...No." Izuku slumped. "It's fine for the most part, so long as I can actually have some privacy when I need it. It's just… It's embarrassing, knowing you're all in here watching me fumble my way around a crush I was trying really, really hard not to have. Uraraka's this genuinely kind, amazing person who's going to be a fantastic hero. She makes me laugh. She trains with me, and challenges me to be better. She listens when I need someone to talk to, and it kills me not to tell her everything. I don't want to screw up one of the best friendships I've ever had because she also just so happens to be the cutest person I've ever seen and casually makes my brain reboot on a regular basis."
"Izuku, sweetie. If you tell her that, she's going to melt into a happy little puddle. I'm pretty sure I'm half way there by proxy."
Dread pierced through Izuku like a lance. Slowly, he looked upwards.
"My little boy has a crush, and I can't even hug him! I'll be making up for that tomorrow, you hear me?" Inko stood in their old apartment living room, smile giddy and eyes teary. "I can't believe I had to find out by overhearing you tell… your… tenants? Resident ghosts? My, this has been an odd few days."
Izuku blushed scarlet, then dropped his head into his hands.
'Oh, god. This is the worst possible outcome.'
"Er… Izuku?"
Izuku's head snapped upwards, eyes locked onto the second floating room in the sky.
"Did you give me a portion of Boon at some point that I was not aware of?" Tenya asked from his office. The gold-wreathed figure of Tensei stood by a wall, impassive.
"...No." Izuku blinked, then happily heaped the entirety of his focus on this new development instead of the fact that he'd just outed his crush to two extra people. "The only people with Boon are Mom and Toshinori…"
Izuku snapped his focus to Toshinori's Vestige. It was thankfully still an entity of pure golden energy.
"...So that's probably not the reason you're here." Izuku continued as his gaze fell on Tensei's Vestige. A curious thought struck him, and with a flex, Izuku called on his own copy of the Quirk. Rather than his own faded copy appearing, however, Tensei's Vestige above flickered slightly, then vanished from Tenya's office as it appeared next to Izuku.
"Did you just… take Engine back?" Tenya gaped. He raised his arm, and a moment later Engine whined from within it. At the same time, Tensei's Vestige returned to his brother's side.
"I think that's closer to what happened to Toshinori, actually." Yoichi called. "Because he has a Vestige within One for All, he was able to physically manifest here rather than within his own realm. The same principal might be at play here."
"Huh." Izuku stared upwards, then brought a knuckle to his chin. "Clearly, there's still a strong link between the original Engine and the clone of it that I have. One for All maintains a connection to the living person as well, given the fact that Vestiges flesh out when they die. With that in mind, it would make sense for a secondary connection between One for All and the recipient of a Quirk also exists. If that's the case, that might be what let you in here tonight, rather than Boon… Actually, that might be the mechanism that causes anyone to come here at all. Boon might simply act as a conduit for people who haven't been given a Quirk."
"If that's the case, then why wouldn't Toshinori or Tensei appear without Boon?" Nana asked.
"It might be a matter of having an active Quirk to serve as a medium of some kind?" Bruce hazarded. "Tensei's Engines became vestigial. One for All might be the same for Eight, able to use the power left behind but incomplete in a way that prevents it from refueling. That would go a long way to explain why and how the 'Embers' work, and how we form after death."
Izuku hummed in agreement. "As it is, the sample size is way too small to say anything definitive. Tenya is the first person to arrive without Boon as a conduit. It could be a freak accident, it could be some lingering connection due to how often he's been subjected to high percentages of Boon, it could even be proximity. His room is just a wall away."
Bruce nodded in agreement, his fingers drumming on the arm of his throne as he thought. Faint arcs of red danced between them as he did so.
"I think this is the first time I've heard someone keep up with Izuku on Quirk theory." Inko murmured from above.
"OH! Right!" Izuku startled at the reminder that his mother was present. He sent out a quick Quirk-wide pulse for everyone to congregate so he could get the introductions underway.
Surprisingly, Kudo was the first to arrive, shortly followed by Kinenkō. Afterwards, there was a lengthy pause as Izuku waited for the remaining three to appear. When they failed to, he mentally prodded them once more.
The three appeared in unison, in the middle of the arc of thrones.
Hikage and En stood tall, a hefty branch slung across both of their shoulders. From the center of the branch, hog-tied and dangling in a slow spin, was Daigoro. His body was almost completely wrapped in rope, save for his head. A silvery stripe of tape covered his mouth below displeased eyes.
Izuku gaped.
"...I'm not sure if I regret showing up, or if this is one of the best things I've seen in years." Kudo sounded genuinely indecisive.
"Um… Izuku?" Inko stared down at the scene below her. "Should I be worried about the kind of company you're keeping?"
The new arrivals all looked upwards at once. En groaned, then hunched into his collar. Hikage shrugged his side of the branch off his shoulders, which spilled Daigoro to the ground with a muffled yelp.
"Sorry." Daigoro popped to his feet, restraints suddenly gone. "I, uh, it's kind of an inside joke?"
Inko waited expectantly.
"I may have slightly overstepped my bounds by poking Izuku about something one too many times. The 'Mute Buttons' here decided to silence me. They just kept me distracted, but I thought it would be funny to make everyone think that's how they shut me up." Daigoro explained as he rubbed the back of his head. "And I was right. It was really funny. Except we weren't expecting you to be here, and now you think we're crazy people. Which isn't really wrong, but this crazy isn't representative of the usual crazy."
"Daigoro the wordsmith, everyone." En sighed.
"Were you, perhaps, poking at him about his crush on Uraraka?" Inko asked archly.
"Er, yeah. Kid's got a criminal lack of self confidence. It was immediately obvious that the crush wasn't a new development, and that he wouldn't have actively and deliberately pursued it unless some outside factor gave him a nudge." Daigoro shrugged. "Life's too short and dangerous to skip the happy parts, so I tried to alternately encourage and goad him into taking the leap."
Inko eyed the large man critically, then gave a sharp nod. "I suppose I can let that slide. Assuming you're willing to share details."
"Mooooom…" Izuku groaned, his face blazing.
"What?" Inko smirked at him. "Clearly I can't trust that you'll tell me about these things, given I only got confirmation by overhearing your conversation earlier. A mother really should know about this kind of thing, sweetie."
"I just…" Izuku hesitated, nervously rubbing one of his scars with a thumb. "I don't want to be a distraction for her, you know? Heroics is an extremely demanding field, and I don't really know how a relationship would work-"
"If I might ask a question, Izuku?" Tenya interjected. At Izuku's surprised nod, he continued. "Where exactly do you believe I came from? Even moreso, where do you think my brother came from? My parents married shortly after their graduation from Shiketsu's Hero course, and had Tesnei at 21. I can't imagine you'd argue that Vivacity and Straightaway were distracted from hero work by their relationship. Additionally, if relationships between students were such a potential hazard for their career, would hero schools not have forbidden them outright?"
Izuku's jaw worked even as his entire argument derailed in spectacular fashion.
"My relationships weren't generally that serious, but I still made time for them." Daigoro added. "Having something happy to look forward to after a grim day of fighting helped me get through some seriously hellish parts of my life."
Nana nodded, though remained silent.
Izuku slumped. "Fine. But the viability of a relationship doesn't change the fact that she might not want one."
"That's easy enough to address." Inko said. "You can ask her."
"And what if she says no!?" Izuku snapped, half panicked at the idea. "What if she says no, and I can't stop thinking about her like this? What if that makes everything weird, and then we stop hanging out, and we stop being friends, and-"
"If you genuinely believe that she wouldn't want to be your friend regardless of your feelings, then I think we might be talking about different people!" Tenya chopped an arm. "Uraraka is one of the kindest people I've ever met, the new prominence of her aggressive streak notwithstanding. If you know her so poorly as to believe she would excommunicate you, then perhaps you really shouldn't seek a relationship with her yet."
Izuku's mouth snapped shut at his friend's rebuke. He wouldn't have expected Tenya of all people to have such insights, which from the looks on the faces of others present had been a common consensus. Clearly, he hadn't given his friend enough credit. "You're right, Tenya. That's not the kind of person she is. I'll… I'll ask."
"Great." Kudo grunted acerbically. "Was this why you called all of us here, or…?"
"Right! Sorry, we kind of got derailed." Izuku flushed. The sheepish trio of Hikage, Daigoro, and En retreated to their thrones. "Everyone, I'd like to introduce my mother, Inko Midoriya. This wasn't… quite how I was planning to do it, but I guess it works. In ascending order of the previous users, this is Yoichi, Kudo, Bruce, Hikage, Daigoro, En, and Nana. Additionally, the man standing next to Yoichi is Doctor Kouki Kinenkō, the original owner of Boon."
"A pleasure to finally meet you all." Inko bowed, in as much as she could when the people it was aimed at were directly above her. "I know you all have a vested interest in taking care of my Izuku, but I appreciate it nonetheless."
"It's our pleasure." Yoichi responded, a sentiment to which Hikage and En nodded agreement.
"He's a fine young man. You did a fantastic job with him." Nana agreed.
"I did my best, but Izuku made it quite easy for me." Inko beamed with pride. "I understand you've been doing a great deal to help him better control his abilities, which has helped alleviate a number of my fears. While I'm aware that UA produces remarkable heroes, my experience thus far has been… worrying. Knowing that he has a group of experienced professionals dedicated to watching over him specifically is a relief."
Kudo and Bruce glanced at one another, but said nothing.
"We do what we can." Yoichi replied diplomatically. "Izuku's growth is our top priority, and his safety is part of that. Rest assured, we'll look out for him for as long as we remain with him."
Inko nodded, then glanced towards Izuku. "So, what are we doing now?"
Izuku paused for a moment. "Um. I was planning to have En train me with Smokescreen tonight, given I haven't really had an opportunity before now. I'd offer to have you watch, but… I kind of suspect the whole point of Smokescreen is to make sure people can't watch."
"Oh. Okay." Inko replied. Though she hid it well, Izuku could still hear the disappointment in her voice. He instantly felt guilty he hadn't planned her introduction better. Thankfully, Nana stepped in to save him.
"Well, if you were planning to stay up for a while anyway, I don't suppose you'd be willing to spend some time with me?" Nana asked, then glanced around herself. "Not to disparage my companions, but after so long in here with only men around, the opportunity to talk to another woman sounds absolutely fantastic. There's only so much of… thisI can deal with, and that point is looooong past."
"Oh!" Inko was startled for a second, then glanced around the other Vestiges. "Honestly, it's been a while since I went on a girls night with Mitsuki as well. But I wouldn't want to be rude…"
Daigoro waved her off. "You'll have plenty of time to get to know the rest of us later."
"Go ahead, Mom." Izuku smiled in relief. "Enjoy your night, one way or the other. We can spend some time together soon, I promise."
Inko glanced around a final time. When there were no objections, her gaze returned to Nana. "In that case, I'd be happy to. How do I…?"
"For all intents and purposes, your little pocket of reality will just be transplanted into Nana's realm." Yoichi said. "From what Sorahiko said, it'll probably feel kind of like a particularly fast elevator for a second."
With a final wave to Izuku, Inko's realm vanished in a flash, as did Nana.
"Tenya? Do you want to get some rest, or would you rather stick around?" Izuku asked. "Yoichi can probably figure out how to kick you out if you're tired."
"That depends. Do you know how much visiting realms can be altered?"
"Well, Sorahiko was able to conjure things pretty easily… What are you trying to do?"
Rather than going to En's realm, Izuku brought En to his. The glittering waters of Dagobah Beach at sunrise spread out before them, fading into darkness at the far edge. With a flex of Izuku's will, the lighting shifted. The world around him brightened, shadows shrank, and the air warmed. It was an interesting experience; even if it seemed like a source of light was directly overhead, a sun wouldn't be present.
Something else was, however.
Above, a massive track hung in the sky overhead. An expansive and well kept topiary garden encircled it, depictions of everything from Cheetahs to what Izuku suspected were Tenya's ancestors wrought from foliage. His friend stood in the center, inspecting Izuku's realm even as he returned the favor.
"Dagobah Beach?" Tenya asked. "I'd heard about its restoration, but I've never visited."
"Toshinori helped me strengthen my body by having me clean the whole thing. This is from the morning that I received One for All." Izuku replied fondly, then nodded upwards. "I'm guessing that's your family's?"
"Indeed it is! The pride and joy of the Iida estate." Tenya beamed. "This shall be much better than the Dorm track, and I'll enjoy it far more than UA's larger one."
"I hope you do!" Izuku turned his attention to En as Tenya's Engines spun to life. With a moment of focus, the loud sound faded into the background. En leaned against the sea wall, a small smile on his face. "Where should we begin?"
"Probably some basic information." En lifted an arm, then rolled back his sleeve. A thick haze of purple smoke rose from the bare skin with a hiss, which cast a dancing shadow on the ground. "Smokescreen's one of those Quirks that was named because of how it looks, rather than something scientifically correct. In large part because whatever this stuff is, it's not really anything that scientists in my day in age could pin down. It mostly looks like smoke, smells like smoke, and acts like smoke, but it disappears with no trace after a few minutes."
Izuku brought a knuckle to his chin. "It almost sounds like some kind of illusory ability."
"I thought that for a while when I was a kid, but there were too many things that didn't line up with that. The Docs eventually gave up and called it a 'semi-corporal pseudo-matter' that behaves sort of like smoke, with a few bonuses thrown in. It also dampens infrared light and radio waves."
"Huh." Izuku examined the smoke that still flowed from En's arm. "Are you making the smoke denser? It looks different from mine."
"Oh?" En seemed surprised. "I can, but I'm not doing that right now. What does my smoke look like to you?"
"A thick purple haze?" Izuku hazarded, confused. "When I used it, it looked more like a purplish fog. It impaired my vision, but I could still pretty easily see through it. Yours looks… actually, it looks a lot like what I saw in the recording of the rescue race…"
"Interesting. What you described seeing from your own smoke is how mine looks to me as well." En said. "I'd assumed we would be able to see through each other's as well as our own, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Regardless, our smoke is easier for us to see through, while it's far more opaque to others. Enough to give us the upper hand, even if we're impaired by it too."
Izuku rolled back his sleeve, then focused. A plume of Smokescreen rose from his arm. He pressed harder, and the amount of smoke that poured out grew. Soon, he was surrounded by a dark fog, but he could still just barely pick En out from about ten feet away. Izuku cut the flow, then scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, I probably should have warned you before I did that."
"No, it's fine." En chuckled, waving a hand to clear the smoke. "It was kind of interesting to experience my Quirk from the outside."
"So, you said that we can make the smoke thicker. I assume that would make it harder for us to see through."
"That it would." En nodded. "Also ups the suppressive effect it has on infrared and radio, and starts having an impact on air quality. At about half the max, it makes it hard to breathe, though that fades when the smoke does. At maximum density, it's heavier than air and kind of acrid, which has its own uses."
"That sounds like it could be extremely useful." Izuku said. "Why on earth did you shortchange yourself when we first met?"
"I'm up against flight, eldritch grabby tentacles that also happen to be sentient now, and the ability to sense hostile intent." En said flatly. "That's not getting into Bruce and Kudo's, and I don't think I need to wax poetic about the benefits of One for All. Smokescreen has its uses, but for the most part it's just the ability to make an area harder to see in for a little bit. I made it work, but for the purposes of combating a machiavellian supervillain, it's not exactly notable. It doesn't really have much offensive potential unless you're already using One for All, at least not without a prohibitive amount of effort put in."
"I still think you're selling yourself short." Izuku grumbled, but relented. "Can you show me the focused smoke burst you mentioned?"
"Sure." En spread his arms, and smoke began to seep from his clothes. It gradually began to darken the air around him, though it would take a while to completely hide him from view. "Smokescreen can be released across the entire body. I'll stay at low output for the sake of the demonstration. As you can see, that's not exactly doing much."
Izuku nodded.
"Now, as you've already found, you can release it from a smaller area. When you do that, the volume of smoke being released stays the same. As a result, the smoke is ejected with greater force." The smoke from around En's head and legs stopped flowing, while at the same time a greater amount of smoke began to billow from his sleeves. "There's a limit to how small that area can be. My soft limit is about 30 square inches."
En's smoke production moved to his palms and part of his arm. It buffeted out, a violet cloud rushing across the sand to flow over the water. Then it narrowed further, and the cloud flowed forward faster.
"That's closer to 20 inches. Takes a lot of focus, and that's on the edge of starting to damage my skin." En sounded strained. "Not going to go any lower, because you're not going to either. Clear?"
"Crystal." Izuku said. "What does that look like at maximum intensity?"
"At maximum, I wouldn't want to go below 30. But that still gets you a whole lot of smoke going pretty fast. Enough to bowl people over, fill a room, or give me a bit of extra lift for a jump." En grunted. Suddenly, the smoke cloud surged into a wave. It rolled forward with a low roar of rushing air. It struck the outer limits of Izuku's realm, the surge breaking to blast out in all directions and shroud the faux-ocean.
En cut off the flow of smoke, then dropped his arms to his sides. He let out a slightly haggard breath, then turned to face Izuku once more. "With One for All actively fueling it, the output volume can get genuinely stupid. I could use it to hover, but that also blanketed a city block in a few seconds, so it wasn't especially practical."
"Even if the application is limited, that's an impressive display." Izuku gazed out at the massive plume of smoke. "I could get support gear to let me focus the flow, maybe some kind of compressing container to make a smoke grenade…"
Izuku trailed off into a mumbled string of ideas, things he'd need to test, and potential applications. He pondered a variety of ideas, some with potential, others so dubious even he dismissed them.
'Ingenium had airbags in his costume, I could add something like that to inflate with-' Izuku blinked as the hand being waved in front of his face finally registered. He glanced at En, who looked amused.
"Appreciate the enthusiasm, but…"
"Right." Izuku nodded. "Learn the basics first."
"That would likely be best." En nodded. "It's really pretty simple, so you'll be free to experiment soon enough. I'll run you through some drills, then we'll go from there."
"Oh, this is gorgeous!" Inko exclaimed. The feeling of the transition had been more or less as described, though the way she could still feel her weight pressing into the couch despite it had been somewhat disorienting. Now that she'd arrived, however, the sight of the woodland house was a delight. "I'd always wanted a nice home somewhere out of the way, but my husband's job always kept us near the city. Once Hisashi left for Egypt, I was tempted to jump for this little place in the woods I found, but the distance to the nearest town was simply too much."
"Egypt, huh?" Nana asked. "That's quite the move."
"Yes. A promotion. Apparently, the fact that his Fire Breath came with a resistance to high temperatures helped him land it. Not that he needed much of an incentive to leave, I'm afraid." Inko sighed, then caught herself. "Oh, I'm sorry! I can't imagine you wanted to hear about my marital problems when you invited me here."
"Honestly, it's refreshing to hear about something other than fighting and hero work. It sounds like this is something you've been carrying around for a while as well. If you're comfortable telling me about it, I'll listen." Nana shook her head. "Frankly, he sounds like a fool for leaving. Izuku's been a delight for as long as I've known he existed, back when we caught flashes through Toshinori. I can't imagine the person who raised him would be much different."
"You're too kind." Inko sighed. After a moment's further hesitation, she continued. "We were on the rocks for a while before he was offered the position. Izuku was… something of a surprise, and Hisashi had been hesitant about children to begin with. He tried to be a good father, but he started spending more and more time at work. Then, Izuku was diagnosed as Quirkless, and I… admittedly became pretty overbearing. Hisashi wanted to just ignore it, but he rarely saw how much it hurt Izuku. We grew further and further apart, and eventually fell out of love entirely. The promotion was simply the finishing blow."
"But you still call him your husband?"
"Legally speaking, he is." Inko glanced at the simple silvery band she still wore. "We don't hate each other, we just don't love each other. When we realized that it would cost us both less to simply stay married and have him pay the equivalent of alimony, that's what we did. If either of us ever found love elsewhere, we agreed to end things formally, but so far he's continued to be a workaholic, and I've been a dumpy stay-at-home mother."
"That's certainly unconventional, but at least it's civil." Nana floated upwards to inspect Inko more closely. "And I think I see where Izuku gets his unfounded self deprecation streak from. You're adorable!"
"Says the flying muscular goddess in tight spandex." Inko crossed her arms and dragged her eyes up and down Nana's figure. "Adorable is exactly what I want to be called in my 40s."
"Well, what would you prefer? I can think of several options." Nana spun lazily above Inko, a small smirk on her face.
Inko huffed, the familiar warmth of an embarrassed blush on her cheeks. "Oh don't you start. I know I let myself go over the years, but I've never felt it so keenly as I have within the literal first 24 hours at UA. Everyone's so ridiculously fit! Then I get in here, and the only exceptions to the rule are poor Yoichi, who looks half way ready to keel over, and Dr. Kinenkō, who's apparently in his 90s despite looking like he's 63. Even All Might, who's the frailest looking person I've ever encountered, is… well, All Might."
"Hero work is demanding." Nana agreed. "You're comparing yourself to people who have 'borderline or literally supernatural fitness' as the most basic of job requirements. I don't think that's a fair standard to hold a stay at home mother to. But if you really want to work towards it, now is probably the best chance you'll get."
"How so?" Inko asked. "I have a full time job again. If anything, all the years of sitting at home and reading or baking while Izuku was at school would have been perfect."
"True." Nana agreed. "But you also live a few rooms away from one of the best fitness setups anyone could hope for. There's nothing stopping you from making a few good habits out of it."
Inko opened her mouth… then slumped. "You know, I'd kind of just categorized that as something the students could use."
"If nothing else, I'm sure Izuku wouldn't mind some extra company during his morning routines." Nana suggested.
'That… actually does sound rather nice.' Inko admitted to herself. 'A little more time with Izuku, and some exercise on the side.'
"Wow." Nana giggled softly. "You and Izuku have a very similar determined expression."
"I've been told he takes after me once or twice." Inko flushed slightly, but couldn't help a smile. "I apologize again for this whole… vent. Mitsuki's never been great at emotional intelligence, so her primary method of helping was to try to distract me. She even bit her tongue and watched a season of Silken Tidings with me right after- GAH!"
Nana had pressed herself flat against the border of her realm. "YOU WATCH SILKEN TIDINGS?!"
Inko gasped, delighted. "YES! It's been my favorite show since I was old enough to watch! The intrigue, the production quality, the romance! Nobody else I knew liked it as much as I did, and Mitsuki HATED it, so I never really got to share it with anyone!"
"It was my guilty pleasure show!" Nana laughed. "God, I was looking forward to the new episode so badly before everything went to shit. What ever happened with Daisuke and Aya?"
Inko's eyes widened. "What was the last episode you were able to watch?"
"Season 4, episode 7."
Inko slapped her hands over her mouth, but she couldn't keep the squeal of excitement in. "That means I get to tell you what happens with Haruko too!"
Nana's eyes lit up. "Tell. Me. Everything!"
A fist lanced thought a plume of opaque smoke. Izuku danced back, then swept an arm forward. His own ephemeral vapor burst forward, which briefly revealed En's head and shoulders before another blast surged from the Sixth user.
With the sound of displaced sand, Izuku leapt back even as he unleashed his own violet cloud. The two roiling masses clashed as blasts met in the middle. They seemed to be at a stalemate for a second, until a pitch black cloud punched through the heart of Izuku's wispy sanctuary. Izuku responded with a dense surge of his own as he double checked his respirator, but En's flow of smoke exploded around Izuku's counter, and he found himself surrounded within seconds.
Izuku spun sharply even as he kicked his output to the max. A choking vortex of dark purple roared out around him, so thick even he couldn't see through it.
'Can't see him. Need to figure out where he is without tipping him off. How can I… Hmmm…'
Izuku focused on Smokescreen. He cut off the flow of smoke to everything but his right arm, then went further. It took some effort, but soon enough smoke hissed from a single stripe down the limb's length.
'Perfect.'
He lashed out with a sharp spin even as he pushed as much thin smoke through the compressed line as possible. Under such pressure, it cut a trough of visibility through the dense haze, though it didn't penetrate as far as Izuku would have liked. Even so, Izuku scanned the opening carefully.
If En was still producing smoke, the movement of it should disrupt the visible ring more quickly. However, Izuku hadn't considered several key flaws in his plan.
The first thing that went wrong was when his arc of smoke began to rise unevenly. Initially, he thought it was a sign of En's presence, but the actual explanation was far simpler. The thin smoke was lighter, and was rising within the dense smoke that surrounded him.
The second was just how loud his maneuver had been.
The third was the strike that he couldn't see coming, because it came from within the ultra-dense smoke that frothed around his knees.
Izuku tumbled backwards into the thick purple haze. He tried to recover with a roll, but a hand clasped into the back of his hood and yanked. He yelped, then coughed as the horrible acrid smoke flooded his face.
En had managed to dislodge his respirator.
Izuku lashed out, and his foot struck something solid. Unfortunately, En didn't seem to care as he drove a knee into Izuku's chest. Against his wishes, Izuku's breath hissed between his teeth, and he was forced to take a gasping breath.
'Cant breathe stings burns get out get out get out!'
Izuku blasted smoke upwards into the space En occupied, then widened his focus to force the heavy smoke away. En wasn't pushed off, but his grip did weaken enough for Izuku to cough out a cloud, then suck in a less polluted breath. He tried to buck En's weight, but the more experienced combatant held on relentlessly, then countered viciously.
En unleashed another pitch black blast of smoke directly into Izuku's face. He tried to counter it out with a wave literally launched from his face, the sensation deeply unsettling in its own right, but his smoke was overwhelmed. Blind and choking, Izuku slapped the sandy ground frantically.
Immediately, the stream of smoke cut off as En stood up. With a wave of his arm, he cleared the air around them. Izuku rolled, coughing harshly. Small puffs of smoke escaped his mouth, but thankfully he was able to replace them with clean air. Once the worst of the sensation had faded, Izuku managed to gather his wits enough to manually clear his lungs with a flex of will. He shook his head, then pushed himself to his knees.
En pulled the collar of his coat down, which pulled the respirator built into it away from his face. "Sorry about that one. Want a hand up?"
"It's fine." Izuku took the offered hand, stood, then shook sand from his suit. "I'm certainly not going to forget that maneuver. You were crawling through my own heavy smoke to sneak up on me, right?"
En nodded. "It's easy to assume you control anywhere covered by the stuff, even if you can't see through it. It's a mistake."
Izuku nodded. "Lesson very much learned. How did you manage to move across the sand so quietly, and how could you keep track of me in the smoke even when I wasn't moving?"
"Moving quietly is all about managing force and weight distribution. I can show you some stealth tricks later, if you'd like." En replied. "As for tracking you, it's an acquired skill. Learning to fight blind helps with spatial awareness and keeping track of things you can't see. That's something else we can work on once you've finished getting a handle on Smokescreen. You're making fantastic progress already."
"Thank you!" Izuku rolled his shoulders. "Up for another round?"
Something tickled faintly at the back of Yoichi's mind.
He glanced up from his comic book, staring into the void as he focused on the sensation. He hadn't noticed anything when outsiders had arrived before, but he also hadn't really been paying specific attention. The first time, he'd had the greater issue of getting Izuku into the Core. The second, he'd been focused on everyone's reactions to Sorahiko and Toshinori arriving. The third… ok, maybe he'd been looking forward to teasing Izuku just a bit too much. Sue him.
After Bruce and Izuku's rapid deconstruction of Tenya's unexpected arrival, however, he had good reason to pay attention.
With some effort, he managed to get a lock on the sensation. It was something distant, faint, but familiar. Kinenkō. Toshinori. One for All. Yoichi glanced to the side, where he could now see Toshinori's Vestige begin to flicker and shift.
'Well damn. They might have been right about the visitors being a function of One for All.' Yoichi mused. Now that he knew what to look for, he probed further. The sensation he found was slightly different, but he found it all the same.
Tenya. Tensei. One for All. No trace of Boon anywhere, simply an ephemeral strand of connection between himself and Tenya through Tensei's Engine.
Yoichi shook his head, bemused. 'They're inside my Meta Ability, one of them is literally made from it, and they can figure things out about it that I never even considered. I don't know if I'm an idiot, they're savants, or it's both.'
With a flick of his wrist, Yoichi dismissed his comic and stood. A moment later, Toshinori finished coalescing and glanced around. The large man smiled widely as he stood and stretched, a pleased groan escaping his lips as he did so.
"Welcome back, Toshinori."
"Thank you, Yoichi. It's delightful to return." Toshinori sent him a grin. "Tonight has turned out far better than I'd thought it would. Where is everyone?"
"Izuku and En are training in Izuku's recreation of Dagobah Beach, along with Tenya. Apparently, giving someone a Quirk can make Boon unnecessary. We were introduced to Mrs. Midoriya, which was…" Yoichi momentarily debated looping Toshinori in on Izuku's crush, but opted not to. That would be a bridge too far. "Interesting. She and Nana are having a 'girls night' because 'the raw masculinity within One for All has been too much.'"
Toshinori cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Those may not have been her exact words." Yoichi admitted with a chuckle, then went still as he felt another presence press towards the core. He blocked it quickly, then turned his attention back to Toshinori. "Regardless, I think they're having a good time. It's been a few hours, so I don't think she'd mind a visit now that you're here."
"I wouldn't want to interrupt…"
"I think you're an exception to the 'Too many men' problem." Yoichi clapped the much larger man on the shoulder. Honestly, she might kick my ass for keeping you here as long as I have."
Toshinori shook his head with a huff. "Then I'd best be on my way. Enjoy your night, Yoichi."
"Will do!"
Once Toshinori had faded entirely, Yoichi released both a sigh and the blockade he'd put up around the Core. A second later, a bemused looking Bruce and a dour Kudo appeared on their thrones. Bruce twirled a combat knife between his fingers, the repeated motion making the red sparks of Fa Jin dance along the digits.
"Man, traffic was awful getting here." Bruce said. "It seems it made us miss our audience with the illustrious All Might."
Yoichi rolled his eyes. "It's been less than a week since we had any means of communication, and his entire world has effectively been turned upside down. At least let him try to improve before the two of you jump him."
"I have no idea what you mean." Bruce said innocently. With a flick of his wrist and a flash of red, the knife vanished as though it had never been there. "Izuku himself wanted us to chat with him. I don't know why you'd get in the way of that."
"Because I'm fairly sure Izuku didn't intend to feed his idol to a pair of sharks." Yoichi grunted.
"He's far too kind for that." Bruce nodded soberly. "I wish that wasn't a mixed blessing. The fact that it is makes me sick."
Yoichi slumped. "We can agree on that."
Silence.
"You know we'll have to confront Eight about this travesty he calls Peace eventually, right?" Kudo asked as he stared out into the void beyond. "The rest of you might be willing to accept it, but we won't. Not without at least trying to prove our point."
"I know, Kudo." Yoichi nodded resignedly. "I just hope you don't break him."
Toshinori stepped into Nana's realm, aiming for the faint but deeply familiar beacon of her presence. "Hello, NanAGH!"
The moment he fully manifested, Nana shot towards him. Rather than a hug, however, she whipped upwards and grabbed him by the back of his costume like she was picking up a kitten by its scruff. In a flash, she'd dragged him bodily through the air and dumped him unceremoniously on the couch along one wall of her living room.
"Hi, Toshi! Sorry about that, but you kind of appeared in the middle of my plot map." Nana smiled apologetically, then dipped down for a hug. "It's great to see you again!"
"...You too…" Over her shoulder, Toshinori could now see that most of the floor was covered in sticky notes, red twine affixed to bobby pins running between them in a baffling web. He couldn't see what exactly was written on them, but some of the notes were packed absolutely to the brim. "Sooooo… should I be worried about hiding a body for you?"
"Nope! The body hiding part wrapped up a season ago, it's in the far corner behind the coffee table." Nana said cheerfully, which only amplified his confusion.
He glanced in the direction she indicated to see a small but dense knot of red string, which occasionally shot a strand out to some disparate corner of the room.
A bit of movement above caught his eye, and Toshinori glanced toward the ceiling. Or, rather, where the ceiling would ordinarily be. Instead, he found that it and the upper floors of the house were transparent, allowing him to see Inko in a familiar looking apartment above.
"Ah, hello Mrs. Midoriya!" Toshinori waved hesitantly. "Sorry to intrude!"
"Oh, it's all right." Inko didn't sound entirely convincing, but far be it from him to call her out on it. "Nana, should we put this on hold so you can-"
"Nah, Toshi can wait. We were almost done with season 9, and I'm not stopping until I figure out what they were setting up for with those Yakuza connections." Nana zipped back towards the dining table, which had a veritable net of strings leading both under and over it. "You said that Isamu's missing heirloom could be seen in Yuto's Kyoto Complex office, right?"
"Yes!" Inko visibly perked up. "I still can't believe you thought to ask about it! I'd almost forgotten about it myself!"
"I took a chunk out of an ancient super villain's hidden cabal, honey." Nana rounded the table, eyeing a red strand that led to a note dappled section of wall. "This is nothing by comparison, especially with yourself as such a helpful wellspring of information."
Toshinori blinked, the subject vaguely familiar to him. He glanced down at the nearest arm of the web. At its center, a note read 'Daisuke is kidnapped by Akemi in an attempt to save him from his father's retribution. In the attempt, the lock on the front door is broken, and Kedama escapes.' Lines stretched out from it like a starburst, leading to everything from 'The heirloom is stolen by a street thug' to 'Kedama is captured by Animal Control, but is adopted by Aya when she recognizes him. She tries to check up on Daisuke, and after finding the house in shambles, opens an investigation.'
"Oh. You're talking about Silken Tidings."
Nana whipped around to stare at him so quickly the nearby sticky notes rustled, only held down by the pins punched through them. Above, Inko had similarly snapped her attention back to him, clearly surprised.
"...I thought you couldn't stand the show. Too much drama for your tastes." Nana eyed him, then the notes he'd been looking at. "Those are from season five, and we're talking about things waaaay past that."
"I… may have given it a chance later on?" Toshinori admitted sheepishly. "After a few years in America, I overheard someone talking about it. I decided to see if I could find what you saw in it. I still can't say it was my favorite show, but… it reminded me of you, so I'd say it's in the top five-"
Nana's arms wrapped tightly around him. He returned the hug with just as much vigor. After a moment, she pulled away, a massive smile on her face. "What did you think of the season 6 plot twist? God, I wish I could watch it, it sounds like it was fantastic."
Toshinori blinked. "Er, it's been a while. Was that the part where Gin turned out to be the bartender?"
"No. That was a few episodes into season 7." Inko called from above, eyeing him appraisingly. "It was the big reveal of where Daisuke's lab actually was the whole time."
Toshinori blinked, then barked a laugh. "Oh! Yes, now I remember. I'd been so convinced it was one of the defunct Yakuza labs that he'd renovated. When it turned out to be in the rubble of Origin Industries, I thought for sure I'd accidentally sat on the remote and skipped an episode or three."
Nana snickered as she glanced up at Inko, who looked vaguely embarrassed. "I… may have had a very similar reaction. But it made so many little details fit together perfectly in retrospect!"
"It grew on me." Toshinori nodded. "Once things started clicking into place, it made a lot of sense. But the complete 180 on what I expected threw me pretty badly at the time. Personally, I liked the twist in season 5 better…"
All for One dismissed Telepathic Contact, his latest update from the sniveling wretch of a mole complete. The sobbing of the Meta Ability's Vestige faded into the background as he released it, which was a shame. Even after all these years, it was so satisfying to hear.
Unfortunately, there were more important matters at hand.
'I'm not sure if the buffoon finally passing the torch is a stroke of luck or the worst thing he could have done.' He carefully brushed his hand along the table next to his reclined seat until the tips of his fingers bumped against the base of his wine glass. Even if his infrared vision was better than the accursed darkness he'd suffered after All Might's killing blow, it fell terribly short in everyday use. While he could see Kyudai across the room, fiddling away with something on his dissection table, most of the room itself was an indistinct blur. He wrapped his fingers around the stem, then brought it to his lips to take a small sip. 'If he hadn't, it's likely it never would have reached Singularity. That would have made it so much easier to handle. But now, he's working on fumes, and the child he's given it to can't wield the entirety of its power without crippling himself. A delightful irony, really.'
All for One absently tapped a nail against the glass, and it rang with a clear crystalline note.
'However, even if inexperienced, that child has potential to be… problematic. Access to at least Blackwhip and Smokescreen already means he'll likely have the rest before long. And if the healing ability he claims to have is another past user whom I missed…' All for One carefully resisted the urge to annihilate his glass. A wine from the pre-Meta era wasn't to be wasted over mere wrath. 'Who knows how many more Meta Abilities it may have in store, or how potent they may have become. Even just the ones I know of, fueled by the power All Might cultivated…'
Once again, the start of his living nightmare flashed through his mind.
It had been unspeakably satisfying to dangle the fate of the fool's predecessor before his nose, to see his world crumble around him. He'd been so easy to play. A simple illusion, an unassuming stealth ability, and he'd been a mere breath away from All Might before the man could react.
And yet he had. With mere inches to spare, he'd managed to avoid the worst of All for One's blow. Even so, the sight of All Might, kneeling in a pool of his own blood and desperately trying to keep any more shredded viscera from sloughing out had been a pleasing one.
Until All Might had looked up at him, face a bloody embodiment of wrath, and MOVED.
The last thing All for One had ever truly seen was a fist approaching his face, too fast for even him to dodge. It hadn't even been the fist that had stolen his sight; The mere air pressure of the approaching punch had ruptured his eyes like grapes, despite the countless durability enhancements he'd been using. The next thing he'd known, he'd awoken to a world of darkness and agony strapped to Kyudai's table, the Doctor's latest dark miracle the only reason he was 'alive' at all.
An involuntary tremor ran through his body, and the glass held within his hand cracked delicately. All for One frowned at his body's betrayal, then grasped the wine directly through Liquid Manipulation and discarded the glass. It was less than the wine deserved, but better than wasting it or gulping it down.
'All Might must fall, and his successor's potential cannot go unanswered. The time has come to bring a few plans to fruition.'
All for One languidly lifted a hand, then pressed his fingertip to the bank of servers that stood by his side. With a crackle of static, Integrate gave him access to the information stored within. Hundreds upon hundreds of directories, indexes, folders, and files flooded his senses, but he was familiar enough with the ability to filter most of them away. He had a few particular items of interest he wanted to review.
Aeolia. Basophobia. The Precursor Program. The Fourth Horseman Project.
Aeolia had started as an amusement, more than anything. When Kurogiri had first received the request from Giran, All for One had hardly believed his luck, or the sheer idiocy on display. A man named Samuel Abraham, who had been confirmed to be none other than the assistant of David Shield, had been seeking Villains willing to attack I-Island for weeks. The missive had claimed that the island's oversight council had locked away an invention that would be worth billions, which he'd be willing to split with any Villains able to assist in its retrieval.
As if he genuinely thought anyone capable of such a feat would treat him as an equal partner.
Initially, All for One had merely initiated negotiations in the hopes he might finally discover a means of getting to David Shield, as a final crushing blow against All Might. When he'd learned that the target in question was a Meta Amplification Device, he'd suddenly found the actual goal of substantial interest as well.
It was immediately obvious who Shield intended the device for. It was equally obvious that it must never, under any circumstances, fall into a One for All wielder's hands. Unfortunately, Tomura was far from sufficiently prepared to take on such a task. Machia would simply sink the Island, with no guarantee that the specific target would be retrieved or destroyed. The new members of the league were far too recent an addition to trust, though if Compress was even a quarter the man his ancestor had been, he might have been able to pull the job off on his own. Which left him with two further options.
All for One quickly reviewed Basophobia for any new breakthroughs the Doctor might have made, but found himself disappointed, as he'd expected to be. The Meta Ability was still rejecting any body it was grafted into. Despite the state he'd left the Vestige in, it seemed her defiance yet lingered.
He'd have to pay her another visit some time soon.
That option discarded, he moved to consider the second. It seemed the most recent subject of the Precursor Program was bearing fruit, though results were varied. From the post-procedure testing, it seemed Nine had little trouble ripping the factors out of people, and was equally capable of utilizing the Meta Abilities he acquired. Even with a heavily restricted version of All for One, he seemed an excellent sign for the project's future.
Unfortunately, other results in the file left much to be desired. Nine's original Meta Ability, Weather Control, was breathtakingly powerful. It was, perhaps, the closest he'd ever personally seen a fully natural Quirk to reaching Singularity, though it was still a ways off. Unfortunately, the raw power of it left the factor unstable, something which even the application of… limited resources… had failed to rectify.
All for One frowned. Those screams were ones he never wanted to hear again.
Beyond that, there were only two further points of particular interest. Firstly, Nine was evidently unable to perceive the Vestiges of any Meta Abilities in his possession. Ordinarily, that was to be completely expected; Only a scant few people he'd given a power to could sense or interact with the Vestige connected to it, which was largely for the best. People generally didn't take well to extra voices in their head, especially when those voices were screaming and wailing after All for One was done with them.
But the fact that Nine couldn't interact with them came as a surprise. Either whatever part of the ability that enabled it was lost in the process of crippling Nine's copy, or the ability to communicate with the Vestiges wasn't an innate property of All for One itself. The thought that he himself might have simply been lucky to be able to interact with them was unsettling. While they were mostly just entertaining nowadays, they were an invaluable source of knowledge in his formative years.
Even if he'd needed to pry that knowledge from between screaming lips.
Secondly, Nine's mental profile indicated he was obscenely power hungry. That seemed a likely factor in his successful integration of All for One in the first place, however… If Nine caught wind of what, precisely, the target of the I-Island raid was, he'd likely get ideas. All for One certainly would, in his position.
Which, unfortunately, left him with no reliable internal options to address the Aeolia project.
'So it's outsourcing then.'
All for One tilted his head to rest on his knuckles as he considered the possibility. Outsourcing was always a mixed bag. On one hand, it was deeply amusing to puppeteer those who thought themselves his equals, ill informed as they were. On the other hand, such arrangements by their nature meant his lessers had to be given some form of incentive, rather than simply complying with his demands. It also left a greater risk of the fools attempting to subvert his will, though they never really thought of something he hadn't planned around.
The problem was, this was a substantial project, which would require a great deal of compensation. Compensation that, thanks to All Might's brutal mauling of his organization, he was embarrassingly limited in his ability to provide. Similarly, between All Might's presence and the HPSC's back alley assassinations, competent local help was rather slim pickings.
'Those MLA fools are too proud of their resistance against me, faulty as their assumptions of success are, to ever agree to help in this. They'd be just as likely to fight over the prize as Nine, even if they did. The Creature Rejection Clan is too scattered to be of use to anyone. Veles and his Krasnyy Priliv organization would be almost perfect, but I doubt he'd be willing to work with me despite my graciousness in allowing his little outpost to survive somewhere outside Russia's borders. Little Kai would lead his Yakuza to their death resisting my control. Truly a shame the complexity of Overhaul is beyond my abilities now…'
Slowly, a smile spread across All for One's face.
"Kyudai, I seem to remember a report saying that the little Cult that sprung up around your thesis was doing business with the Shie Hassaikai."
"Yes, my Lord. They call themselves Humarise." The faint sounds of clicking metal cutting flesh stilled, and Kyudai's heat signature turned to face him. "They're becoming quite the force, nowadays. They're after enhanced forms of Ideo Trigger to use as a bioweapon against the Quirked."
"I hate that the world has taken to calling Meta Abilities something so childish." All for One's smile dropped into a sneer. "As for Humarise, I look forward to slaughtering the lot of them after they've been harvested. But perhaps it's finally time to put them to use. How do you believe they'd feel about handling the Aeolia job, with the promise of 'saving' a few from their 'curse' as payment?"
A wide slash of white split the red and yellow tones of Kyudai's face as he smiled. "I believe they'd be quite receptive."
"Marvelous. Open negotiations. The retrieval or destruction of both David Shield and the device are the top priorities. If they manage to sink the damnable island while they're at it, the reward will be doubled." A cruel grin split All for One's face. "Additionally, I'm willing to offer a little help to anyone on the attack force willing to accept another 'curse' for the greater good, in the interest of ensuring the operation is a success."
Kyudai chuckled. "I'll be sure to make a special note of that."
All for One settled back into his seat, then drew a ribbon of wine from the orb he still held in the air. Addressing the I-Island situation was a good first move, however there was still much work to be done. After all, the Nomu project needed test subjects, and even more than that, Meta Abilities to utilize. There were only so many clones they could produce, and the stability of them still left a great deal to be desired.
With that in mind, All for One returned his attention to the files. It was a simple matter to skim a Quirk Directory for suitable abilities, which he organized into a hit list ranked based on priority. Given the offer to let Nine keep one in five Meta Abilities retrieved, he looked forward to the man being quite productive with his newfound power. That resource properly tapped, All for One turned his attention to the final file.
The Fourth Horseman Project.
It had been one of his pet projects for a decade, a finely tuned time bomb simply waiting to go off. He'd been considering setting that moment in motion for several years, but he'd hesitated to tip his hand. After all, the potential harvest only ever increased, and the best of any dieoff made its way to him regardless. There was a time limit he had to respect, but the subject would last at least another year, perhaps two. Why rush, when patience was so clearly a winning strategy?
Now, however, seemed the right time. Everything would be coming to a head sooner rather than later, and his hesitance might have already cost him the opportunity to use his investment fully.
"Kyudai, one additional request."
"Whatever you need, my Lord."
"Prepare lab 13. I'm expecting quite the harvest in the coming days."
"That's wonderful news!" Kyudai perked up visibly. "Thank you, my Lord! I look forward to the opportunities this will afford us!"
"I'm sure you do." All for One smirked, then once more pulled on Telepathic Contact. When her screaming renewed, he permitted himself a moment to appreciate it. She might have caused him more trouble than any person had a right, but the eventual acquisition of her Meta Ability made it almost worthwhile. Unbounded communication, and all it took was an introduction to add someone to his contacts. The limited number he could maintain at any time was frustrating, but it was a small price to pay for something instantaneous and borderline untraceable.
All for One briefly touched the eldritch jumble of Kurogiri's mind, informing him that he was to be on standby until All for One said otherwise, then moved on to prod the mind of his next target. Thankfully they seemed to be awake despite the late hour, which saved him the effort of waking the pawn up.
'Otoreru.' All for One intoned, altering his projected voice to sound deeper. More resonant. Divine. 'Your time has come, my child.'
'Oh blessed day! My God, you've returned to me!' Otoreru responded instantly, his words twitchy and off putting even through a mental link. 'I've remained hidden among this wretched filth as you've requested. Is their time of reckoning finally upon them?'
All for One allowed himself a smirk. Religion was such a fantastic tool, when wielded properly.
'It has, my Child. It is time to bring my Judgement upon the filthy masses of the pit.' All for One instructed. 'For your service, you shall be saved.'
'Thank you, my God!' The poor fool actually sounded like they were crying. 'Your glory shall reach even these depths, and your wrath shall cleanse the nonbelievers!'
'So it shall be.' All for One released Mental Communication, then settled back into his seat. He loathed the way even such paltry efforts sapped his strength. He could have leveled a city block without tiring himself out this much, back before his injury. However, he knew that the following days would make it more than worthwhile.
'Such a delightful amalgamation of Meta Abilities. Hopefully it doesn't get too out of hand.' He chuckled in dark amusement, then sipped down the last of his wine. 'I do so look forward to hearing how they handle this.'